CHAP. I. Ʋniversal Reason is the Wisdom of God himself. All Men have some Communication with God. True and False, Just and Ʋnjust is the same in respect of all intelligent Beings, and of God himself. What Truth and Order is, and what we must do to avoid Error and Sin. God is essentially Just; he loves the Crea­tures according as they are amiable, or as they resem­ble him. We must be Perfect to be Happy; Vertue, or the Perfection of Man consists in a Submission to the immutable Order, and not in following the Order of Nature. The Error of some of the Heathen Philoso­phers in this Matter, grounded upon their Ignorance of the simplicity and immutability of the Divine Conduct.

I. THE Reason of Man is the Word, See the first and second Christian Meditation, or the Illu­stration on the Nature of Ideas, Search af­ter Truth, Tom. 3. or the Wis­dom of God himself; for every Creature is a particular Being; but the Reason of Man is Universal.

II. If my own particular Mind were my Reason and my Light, my Mind would also be the Reason of all intelligent Beings; for I am certain, that my Reason enlightens all intelligent Beings. No one can feel my Pain but my self, but every one may see the Truth which I contemplate; so that the Pain which I feel is a Modification of my own proper Sub­stance, but Truth is a Possession common to all Spi­ritual Beings.

III. Thus, by the means of Reason, I have, or may have some Society with God, and all other in­telligent Beings; because they all possess something in common with me, to wit, Reason.

IV. This Spiritual Society consists in a participation of the same intellectual Substance of the Word, from which all Spiritual Beings may receive their Nourish­ment. In contemplating this Divine Substance, I am able to see some part of what God thinks; for God sees all Truths, and there are some which I can see. I can also discover something of the Will of God; for God wills nothing but according to a certain Or­der, and this Order is not altogether unknown to me. It is certain that God loves Things according as they are worthy of Love; and I can discover that there are some Things more Perfect, more Valuable, and consequently more worthy of Love than others.

V. It is true, indeed, that I cannot by contemplating the Word or consulting Reason, be assur'd whether God doth actually produce any thing out of his own Being or no. For none of the Creatures proceed natu­rally from the Word; nor is the World a necessary ema­nation of the Deity; God is fully sufficient for himself; and the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect, may be con­ceiv'd to subsist alone. The Creatures then suppose in God free and arbitrary Decrees, which give them their Being. So that the Word, as such, not contain­ing in it the Existence of the Creatures, we cannot by the Contemplation of it be assur'd of the Action of God: But supposing that God doth act, I am able to know something of the manner in which he acts, and may be certain that he doth not act in such or such a manner; for that which regulates his manner [Page 3]of Acting, the Law which he inviolably observes, is the Word, the Eternal Wisdom, the Universal Rea­son, which makes me Rational, and which I can in part contemplate according to my own desires.

VI. If we suppose Man to be a Rational Creature, we cannot certainly deny him the Knowledge of some­thing that God thinks, and of the manner in which he acts. For by contemplating the substance of the Word, which alone makes me and all other intelligent Beings Rational, I can clearly discover the Relations or Proportions of Greatness that are between the in­tellectual Ideas comprehended in it; and these Rela­tions are the same eternal Truths which God himself sees. For God sees as well as I, that twice two is four, and that Triangles which have the same Base, and are between the same Parallels, are equal. I can also discover, at least confusedly, the Relations of Perfe­ction which are between the same Ideas; and these Relations are that immutable Order which God con­sults when he acts, and which ought also to regulate the Esteem and Love of all intelligent Beings.

VII. From hence it is evident, that there are such things as True and False, Right and Wrong, and that too in respect of all intelligent Beings; that whatso­ever is true in respect of Man, is true also in respect of Angels, and of God himself; that what is Injustice or Disorder with relation to Man, is so also with re­lation to God. For all Spiritual Beings contemplat­ing the same intellectual Substance, necessarily disco­ver in it the same Relations of Greatness, or the same speculative Truths. They discover also the same pra­ctical Truths, the same Laws, and the same Order, when they see the Relations of Perfection that are be­tween those intellectual Beings comprehended in the Substance of the Word, which alone is the immediate Object of all our Knowledge.

VIII. I say, when they see these Relations of Per­fection or Greatness, and not when they judge of them; for only Truth or the real Relations of Things are visible, and we ought to judge of nothing but what we see. When we judge before we see, or of more things than we see, we are deceiv'd in our Judgment, or at [Page 4]least we judge ill, tho' we may happen by chance not to be deceiv'd: For when we judge of things by chance, as well as when we judge by Passion or In­terest, we judge ill, because we do not judge by Evi­dence and Light. This is Judging by our selves and not by Reason, or according to the Laws of Univer­sal Reason: That Reason, I say, which alone is su­periour to Spirits, and hath a Right to judge of those Judgments which are pronounc'd by them.

IX. The Mind of Man being finite, cannot see all the Relations that the Objects of its Knowledge bear to one another; so that it may be deceiv'd when it judges of Relations which it doth not see. But if it judg'd of nothing but just what it saw, which without doubt it may do; certainly, tho' it be a finite Spirit, tho' it be Ignorant, and in its own Nature subject to Error, it would never be deceiv'd; for then the Judg­ments fram'd by it would not proceed so much from it self, as from the Universal Reason pronouncing the same Judgments in it.

X. But God is infallible in his own Nature; he cannot be subject to Error or Sin, for he is his own Light, and his own Law; Reason is consubstantial with him, he understands it perfectly, and loves it in­vincibly. Being infinite, he discovers all the Rela­tions that are comprehended in the intellectual Sub­stance of the Word; and therefore cannot judge of what he doth not see. And as he loves himself invin­cibly, so he cannot but esteem and love other things according as they are valuable and according as they are amiable.

XI. It is probable that Angels and Saints, tho' in their own Nature subject to Error, are never deceiv'd; because the least attention of Mind represents to them clearly the Ideas of things and their several Re­lations; they judge of nothing but what they see; they follow the Light, and do not go before it; they obey the Law, and do not set themselves above it: In them Reason alone judges definitively and without appeal. But Man, such as I find my self to be, is of­ten deceiv'd, because the labour of Attention is ex­tremely tiresom to him; and tho' his Application be [Page 5]strong and painful, he hath commonly but a con­fus'd fight of Objects. Thus being weary and not much enlightned, he reposes himself on probability, and contents himself for some time with the enjoy­ment of a false Good; but being soon out of relish with it, he begins his search anew, till being tir'd or seduc'd again he takes some rest, till he be in a con­dition to begin afresh, tho' weakly, his difficult en­quiries.

XII. Since speculative and practical Truths are no­thing else but relations of Greatness or Perfection, it is evident that Falshood is not any thing real. That twice two is four, or that twice two is not five is true, because there is a Relation of Equality be­tween twice two and four, and a relation of Inequali­ty between twice two and five. And he that sees these relations, sees Truths, because the relations are real. That twice two is five, or that twice two is not four is false, because there is no relation of equa­lity between twice two and five, nor of inequality be­tween twice two and four. And he that sees, or ra­ther believes he sees these relations, sees Falsities. He sees relations that are not. He thinks he sees, but indeed he doth not see; for Truth is intelligible, but Falshood in it self is absolutely incomprehensible.

XIII. In like manner, that a Beast is more valuable than a Stone, and less valuable than a Man is true; because a Beast bears a greater proportion or relation of perfection to a Stone, than a Stone doth to a Beast; and a Beast hath a less proportion of perfection com­par'd to a Man, than a Man hath compar'd to a Beast. And he that sees these Relations, sees such Truths as ought to regulate his esteem, and consequently that sort of Love that is determin'd by esteem: But he that esteems his Horse more than his Coachman, or thinks that a Stone is in it self more valuable than a Flie, or than the very least of organiz'd Bodies, doth not see that which perhaps he thinks he doth; it is not universal Reason, but his own particular Reason, that makes him judge after that manner: It is not the love of Order, but self-love, which inclines him to love as he doth. That which he thinks he sees, is [Page 6]neither visible nor intelligible; 'tis a false and imagi­nary Relation: And he that governs his esteem or love by this or the like Relation, must necessarily fall into Error and Irregularity.

XIV. Since Truth and Order are Relations of great­ness and perfection, real immutable and necessary re­lations, relations comprehended in the substance of the Divine Word; he that sees these relations, sees that which God sees: He that regulates his Love according to these Relations, observes a Law which God invincibly Loves. So that there is a perfect conformity of Mind and Will between God and him. In a word, seeing he knows that which God knows, and loves that which God loves, he is like God, as far as he is capable of be­ing so. So likewise since God invincibly loves himself, he cannot but esteem and love his own Image. And as he loves things in proportion to their being amiable, he cannot but prefer it before all those Beings which either by their nature or corruption are far from re­sembling him.

XV. See the 3. Discourse of the Treatise of Nature and Grace. Man is a free Agent, and I suppose him to have all necessary assistances: In respect of Truth, he is capable of searching after it notwithstanding the dif­ficulty he finds in Meditation; and in respect of Or­der, he is able to follow it, in spite of all the efforts of Concupiscence. He can sacrifice his Ease to Truth, and his Pleasures to Order. On the other side he can prefer his actual and present Happiness before his Du­ty, and fall into error and disorder. In a word, he can deserve well or ill by doing good or evil. Now God is just; he loves his Creatures as they are wor­thy of Love, or as they resemble him. His Will there­fore is, that every good action should be rewarded, and every evil one punished; that he who hath made a good use of his Liberty, and by that means hath ren­der'd himself in part perfect and like God, should be in part happy as he is, and the contrary.

XVI. See the Re­marks upon the seeming efficacy of second Causes, or the 5 and 6 Christian Meditations. It is God alone that acts upon his Creatures; at least he hath a power of acting on them, and can do what he pleases with them. He hath power there­fore to make spiritual Beings happy or miserable; happy by the enjoyment of Pleasure, and miserable by the suffering of Pain. He can exalt the just and per­fect [Page 7]above other Men; he can communicate his Pow­er to them for the accomplishment of their desires, and make them occasional causes for himself to act by in a Thousand manners. He can pull down the wicked, and make them subject to the action of the lowest Beings: This Experience sufficiently shews, for we all, as we are Sinners, depend upon the action of sensible objects.

XVII. He therefore that labours for his Perfection, and endeavours to make himself like God, labours for his Happiness and Advancement. If he doth that which in some sort depends upon himself, that is to say, if he deserves well by making himself perfect, God will do that which in no sort depends upon him, in making him happy. For since God loves all Beings propor­tionably as they are amiable, and the most perfect Beings are the most amiable; the most perfect Be­ings shall be the most powerful, the most happy and the most contented. He that incessantly consults his Reason, and loves Order, having a share in the Per­fection of God, shall have also a share in his Happi­ness, Glory and Greatness.

XVIII. Man is capable of three Things; Knowing, Loving, and sensibly Perceiving; of knowing the true Good, of loving and enjoying it. The knowledge and love of Good are in a great measure in his own power, but the enjoyment of it doth not at all depend upon himself. Nevertheless, seeing God is just, he that knows and loves him, shall also enjoy him. God being just, must of necessity give the pleasure of enjoyment, and by it Happiness, to him that by a painful application seeks the knowledge of the Truth, and by a right use of his Liberty and the strength of his Resolution, conforms himself to the Law of God, the immuta­ble Order, notwithstanding all the efforts of Concupi­scence, enduring Pain, despising Pleasure, and giving that Honour to his Reason, as to believe it upon its Word, and to comfort himself with its Promises. It is a strange thing! Men know very well that the enjoyment of Pleasure and avoiding of Pain do not depend immediately on their Desires: They find on the contrary that it is in their own power to have [Page 8]good Thoughts, and to love good Things, that the light of Truth diffuses it self in them as soon as they desire it, and that the loving and following of Order depends on themselves. This Age is so ill-na­tured or so nice, that there are some­things which it is not suf­ficient for a Man not to say, but he must also assure the World and, that more than once that he doth not say them. And therefore my Readers must pardon me if I seem to di­strust their equity. (I still suppose those ne­cessary assistances which are never wanting to those who have Faith, but through their own negligence.) And yet they seek after nothing but Pleasure, and ne­glect the foundation of their eternal Happiness, that knowledge and love which resemble the knowledge and love of God, the knowledge of Truth and the love of Order; for as I said before, he that knows Truth and loves Order, knows as God knows and loves as he loves.

XIX. This then is our first and greatest Duty, that for which God hath created us, the love of which is the Mother of all Vertue, the universal, the funda­mental Vertue; the Vertue which makes us just and perfect, and which will one Day make us happy. We are rational Creatures; our Vertue and Perfecti­on is to love Reason, or rather to love Order. For the knowledge of speculative Truths, or relations of Greatness doth not regulate our Duties. It is princi­pally the knowledge and love of the relations of Per­fection, or practical Truths wherein consist our Per­fection. Let us apply our selves then to know, to love and follow Order. Let us labour for our Per­fection; as for our Happiness, let us leave that to the disposal of God, on whom it wholly depends. God is just, and necessarily rewards Vertue: Let us not doubt then but that we shall infallibly receive all the Happiness that we have deserv'd.

XX. The Obedience which we pay to Order and submission to the Law of God, is Vertue in all Senses. Submission to the divine Decrees, or to the power of God is rather Necessity than Vertue. A Man may follow Nature, and yet walk irregularly, for Nature it self is irregular. On the other side, he may resist the action of God, without opposing his Orders; for oftentimes the particular action of God is so deter­min'd by second or occasional Causes, that it is not conformable to Order. It is true indeed that God wills nothing but according to Order; but he often [Page 9]acts contrary to it: For Order it self requiring, See the 7 and 8 Chri­stian Medit. that God as the general cause, should act in a constant and uniform manner according to certain general Laws which he hath establish'd, the effects of that cause are many times contrary to Order. He forms Monsters, and is subservient as it were to the Wickedness of Men in this World, by reason of the simplicity of those ways by which he executes his Designs. So that he who should think to obey God, in submitting to his Power, and in following and observing the course of Nature, would offend against Order, and fall into Disobedience every Moment.

XXI. If all the motions of Bodies were caus'd by particular acts of the Will of God, it would be a sin to avoid the Ruins of a falling House by flight; for we cannot without injustice refuse to render back to God that Life which he hath given us, when he re­quires it again. At this rate it would be an Affront to the Wisdom of God, to alter the course of Rivers, and to turn them to Places that want Water; we should follow the Order of Nature and be quiet. But since God acts in consequence of certain general Laws, we correct his Work, without injuring his Wisdom: We resist his action, without opposing his Will; be­cause he doth not will positively and directly every thing that he doth. For example, he doth not direct­ly will unjust Actions, tho' he alone gives motion to those that commit them: And tho' it be only he who sends Rain, yet every Man hath a liberty to shelter himself when it Rains. For God doth not send Rain but by a necessary consequence of general Laws; Laws which he hath establish'd, not that such or such a Man should be wet through, but for greater ends, and more agreeable to his Wisdom and Goodness. If the Rain fall upon Men, upon the Sea, or upon the Sand, it is because he is not oblig'd to alter the uniformity of his Conduct, for the uselessness or inconvenience of the con­sequences of it.

XXII. The case is not the same between God and Men, between the general cause and particulationes. When we oppose the action of Men, we offend them; for since they act only by particular motions of the [Page 10]Will, we cannot resist their action without opposing their Designs. But when we resist the action of God, we do not at all offend him, nay we often promote his Designs: For since God constantly follows those general Laws which he hath prescrib'd to himself, the combination of those effects which are the necessa­ry consequences of them, cannot always be conforma­ble to Order, nor proper for the execution of his Work. And therefore it is lawful for Men to divert these natural effects, not only when they may be the occasion of their Death, but also when they are in­convenient or disagreeable. Our Duty then consists in submitting our selves to the Law of God, and fol­lowing Order: For to submit to his absolute Power is necessity. This Order we may know by our union with the Word; so that the immutable Order may be our Law and our Guide. But the Divine Decrees are absolutely unknown to us: And therefore let us not make them our Rule. Let us leave that chimerical Vertue of following God or Nature, to the Sages of Greece and the Stoicks. But let us consult Reason, let us love and follow Order in all things; for then we truly follow God, when we submit to a Law which he invincibly loves.

XXIII. But tho' the Order of Nature be not precisely our Law, and a submission to that Order be by no means a Vertue, we must observe nevertheless that we ought oftentimes to have a regard to it: Yet still this is because the immutable Order so requires, and not because the Order of Nature is an effect of the Power of God. A Man that suffers Persecution, or rather one that is tormented with the Gout, is oblig'd to bear it with Patience and Humility, because being a sinner, Order requires that he should suffer, besides other Reasons which need not here be produc'd. But if Man were not subject to Sin, and the immutable Order did not require that he should suffer to deserve his Reward, certainly he might, nay and ought to seek his ease, and avoid all sorts of inconveniences, tho' he were persecuted, if that were possible, by the inclemency of the Seasons, and by the Miseries which Sin hath brought into the World. And a Man, tho' [Page 11]he be a sinner, may shelter himself from the Rain and the Wind, and avoid the action of an avenging God; because Order requires that he should preserve his Strength and Health, and especially the liberty of his Mind, to think upon his Duty, and search after Truth: And because Rain and Wind being conse­quences of the general laws of the Order of Nature, it doth not plainly appear that it is the positive Will of God that he should suffer that particular inconve­nience. For it would be a hainous Crime in us to avoid the Rain, if God should make it Rain on pur­pose to wet and punish us: As it was in our first Pa­rent to eat of a Fruit, because of the express Prohi­bition, and his formal Disobedience. But if Vertue consisted precisely in living in that condition where­in we are plac'd in consequence of the Order of Na­ture, he that is born in the midst of pleasure and abun­dance, would be vertuous without pain; and Nature having been happily favourable to him, he would fol­low it with pleasure. But Virtue must be painful at present, that it may be generous and meritorious. A Man ought to sacrifice himself for the possession of God: Pleasure is the Reward of Merit, and there­fore cannot be the foundation of it, as I shall shew hereafter. In a Word, Truth it self informs us of one that was commanded to sell his Goods, and distri­bute them to the Poor, if he would be perfect; which was to change his state and condition. Perfection then or Vertue doth not consist in following the Order of Nature, but in submitting wholly to the immutable and necessary Order, the inviolable Law of all intelli­gent Beings.

CHAP. II. There is no other Vertue but the Love of Order and Rea­son. Without this Love all Vertues are false. We must not confound Duties with Vertues We may dis­charge our Duties without Vertue. 'Tis for want of con­sulting Reason that Men approve and follow damna­ble Customs. Faith serves or conducts to Reason: For Reason is the supreme Law of all intelligent Be­ings.

I. THE Love of Order is not only the chief of all moral Vertues, but the only Vertue: It is the Mother Vertue, the fundamental, universal Ver­tue; the Vertue which alone makes the Habits or Dis­positions of our Minds vertuous. He that bestows his Goods on the Poor out of Vanity or natural Com­passion, is not liberal; because it is not Reason that guides him, nor Order that governs him, it is no­thing but Pride or Mechanism. Officers that voluntari­ly expose themselves to Dangers are not brave, if it is Ambition that animates them; nor Soldiers, if it is only an abundance of Spirits, and the Fermenta­tion of the Blood. This imaginary noble Ardour, is nothing but Vanity or Clock-work: A little Wine oftentimes is sufficient to produce a great deal of it. He that bears the Injuries that are offer'd him, many times is neither moderate not patient: 'Tis his Slothfulness that makes him immoveable, or his ridicu­lous and stoical Bravery that bears him up, and in imagination sets him above his Enemies: It may be nothing but the disposition of the Machine, want of Spirits, coldness of Blood, Melancholy, and perhaps above all some contagious Distemper of a strong Ima­gination. The same may be said of all the other Ver­tues. If the love of Order be not the foundation of them, they are false and vain, and altogether unbe­coming a reasonable Nature, which bears the Image of God himself, and hath a communication with him: [Page 13]They derive their Original from the Body only; they are not form'd by the Holy Ghost, and whoever makes them the Object of his Desires, and the Foun­dation of his Glory, hath a base and abject Mind, a mean Spirit, and a corrupted Heart. But whatever a rebellious Imagination may think, it is not mean nor servile to submit to the Law of God himself; no­thing is more just than to be conformable to Order; nothing is more great and noble than to obey God; no­thing is more brave and generous than to follow the Party of Reason with an unshaken Constancy and in­violable Fidelity, not only when one may follow it with Honour, but then more especially when the cir­cumstances of Times and Places are such that one can­not do it without the greatest Shame and Disgrace: For he that passes for a Fool in following Reason, loves Reasom more than himself: But he that follows Order only when it shines and sparkles in the Eyes of the World, seeks only Glory; and though he may appear very Glorious in the Eyes of Men, he is an Abomination in the Sight of God.

II. I know not whether I may be mistaken or no, but I believe there are abundance of People that do not rightly know what true Vertue is; and even those that have writ of Morality, do not always speak very clearly and exactly of it. It is certain that all those great Names which they give to Vertues and Vices, produce rather confus'd Sensations in the Mind than clear Ideas: But because these Sensations affect the Soul, and abstracted Ideas, tho' clear in themselves, do not diffuse their Light but in attentive Minds. Men most commonly rest satisfied with these words, which please the Senses, but leave the Mind in the dark. They fancy that a Discourse the more briskly it strikes upon the Imagination, the more Solid it is; and look upon those exact Reasonings, which disappear when Attention is wanting, as Spectres and Illusions; like Children, who judging of Objects by the Impres­sion they make on their Senses, imagine that there is more Matter in Ice than in Water; in Gold, and heavy and hard Metals, than in the Air which sur­rounds them almost without being felt.

III. Besides, whatever is familiar to us doth not surprise us, we never stand to examine it; we think we conceive very well what we have said our selves, or heard others say a great many times, tho' we have never examin'd it: But the most solid and evident Truths always create Distrust in us, when they are new. Thus a Word of an obscure and confus'd Sig­nification, seems clear and obvious, how equivocal soever it be, if common use hath made it current; but a Term which contains nothing equivocal in it, seems obscure and dangerous, if we have never heard it us'd by those Persons whom we love and esteem. This is the cause that the Terms of Morality are the most obscure and confus'd, and especially those which we look upon as the most clear, because they are the most common. Every one, for Example, imagines he understands very well the Signification of these Terms; Loving, Fearing, Honouring, Charity, Humi­lity, Generosity, Pride, Envy, Self-love; and if a Man should join clear Ideas to these Terms, and to all the Names which are given to Vertues and Vices, besides that, this supposes more Knowledge than is generally believ'd, he would certainly take the most confus'd and perplex'd way to treat of Morality: For it will appear in the sequel of this Discourse, that to define these Terms rightly, he ought first clearly to compre­hend the Principles of that Science, and to be well vers'd in the Knowledge of Human Nature.

IV. One of the greatest Defects observable in the Moral Writings of some Philosophers, is, that they confound Duties with Vertues, or that they give the name of Vertues to simple Duties: So that tho' pro­perly there be but one Vertue, to wit, the love of Order, they make an infinite number of them. This is it which causes such Confusion and so perplexes that Science, that it is very hard to understand throughly what a Man must do to be perfectly Good and Ver­tuous.

V. It is evident that Vertue ought to render him Vir­tuous that possesses it; and yet a Man may acquit himself of his Duty, and with ease perform acts of Humility, Generosity or Liberality without any of [Page 15]these Vertues: So that a disposition or facility of per­forming such Duties is not properly Vertue, without the love of Order. When a Man discharges his Duty, he is Vertuous in the Eyes of Men; when he bestows part of his Goods on his Friend, he appears Liberal and Generous: But Men are not always such as they seem to be; and he that never neglects the outward Offices of Friendship, but when they are contrary to the inviolable Order, tho' he may sometimes seem guilty of Infidelity, is a truer and more faithful Friend; at least he is a more Vertuous Man and more worthy of Love, than those hot and zealous Friends who Sa­crifice their Kindred, their Life and their eternal Sal­vation to the Passions of their Friends.

VI. We must not then confound Vertue with Du­ties by reason of a similitude of Names; it is this that deceives Men. There are some who imagine they follow Vertue, when they follow only a natural In­clination they have to perform some certain Duties; and because they are not guided by Reason, they are in truth Vicious in excess, when they fancy them­selves to be Heros in Vertue. But the greatest part of Mankind, being deceiv'd by this confusion of Terms and the splendour of Names, rely upon, and value them­selves without Reason, and often judge ill of the most Vertuous Persons; because it is impossible that good Men should follow the Rules of Order any long time, without failing according to outward appearance in some essential Duty. For in short, to be Prudent, Good-natur'd and Charitable in the Eyes of the World, a Man must sometimes commend Vice, or at least hold his Tongue when he hears it commended: To be esteem'd Liberal, he must be Prodigal: If he be not Rash, he shall hardly be accounted Valiant; and if he be not Superstitious or Credulous, let his Piety be never so great, he may perhaps pass for a Libertine in the Opinion of others.

VII. It is certain that Universal Reason is always the same, Order is immutable, and yet Morality changes according to Places and Times. It is a Ver­tue among the Germans to drink hard; and a Man can have no conversation with them if he be not drunk: [Page 16]It is not Reason, but Wine that unites their Societies, settles their Agreements, and makes their Bargains. 'Tis reckon'd Bravery in a Gentleman to shed the Blood of him that gives him the Lie. Duelling was for a long time a lawful Action amongst the French; and as if Reason was not worthy to determine their Differences, they decided them by Force: They pre­fer'd the Law of Brutes or Chance, before the Law of God himself. Nor must we imagine that this Cu­stom was in use only amongst the Men of the Sword, it was in a manner general; and if the Clergy did not fight themselves out of respect to their Character, they had their Champions who represented them, and maintain'd their Quarrel by shedding the Blood of their Adversaries: Nay, they imagin'd that God approv'd this manner of proceeding; and whether their Dif­ferences were decided by the Sword or by Lot, they did not doubt but that God sat as Judge in the Cause, and gave it in favour of him that had Right on his side. And indeed, if we suppose God to act by par­ticular wills, where is the Impiety of believing, either that he favours Injustice, or that his Providence doth not extend to all things?

VIII. But without going to seek for damnable Cu­stoms in the past Ages, let any one, by the Light of Reason, judge of those that are at present kept up a­mong us; or let him only observe the Conduct of those very Persons who are appointed for Guides to others. Without doubt, we shall often find that every one of them hath his particular Morality, his own private Re­ligion, and his favourite Vertue; that one talks of nothing but Penance and Mortification; another esteems only the Duties of Charity; and a third cries up nothing but Meditation and Prayer. From whence can this diversity proceed, if the Reason of Man be always the same? From hence no doubt, that they leave off consulting Reason, and suffer themselves to be guided by Imagination, its Enemy; in stead of ob­serving the immutable Order, as their inviolable and natural Law, they frame to themselves Ideas of Ver­tue, conformable at least in some things to their own Inclinations. For there are some Vertues, or rather [Page 17]Duties, which have a relation to our Tempers or Hu­mours; there are shining and glittering Vertues proper for fierce and lofty Souls; low and humble Vertues which are fit for timorous and fearful Minds, and soft and effeminate Vertues, if I may so call them, which suit very well with Laziness and Inactivity.

IX. It is true, they agree that Order is the invio­lable Law of Spiritual Beings, and that nothing is regu­lar, if it be not conformable to it. But they maintain a little too stifly, that they are not capable of consulting this Law; and tho' it be graven upon the Heart of Man, so that he need only retire into himself to be in­structed in it, they think, like the gross and carnal Jews, that it is as hard to discover it, as to climb up into Hea­ven, or go down into Hell, as the Scripture speaks.

X. I must confess, that the immutable Order is not easie to be found; it dwells within us, but we are al­ways roving abroad: Our Senses unite our Soul to all the parts of our Body, our Imagination and Passions extend it to all the Objects which surround us, and of­ten carry it into a World that hath no more reality than imaginary Spaces; this is undeniably so: But then we should endeavour to silence our Senses, Imagination and Passions; and not fancy that we can be reasonable with­out consulting Reason. But this Order by which we ought to be govern'd, is a Form too abstracted to serve as a Model for grosser Spirits; I grant it: Let us then give it a Body, let us make it sensible, let us cloath it in several Dresses to render it agreeable to carnal Men; let us, if I may so speak, incarnate it, yet so as it may be always known again. Let us accustom Men to di­stinguish true Vertue from Vice, from seeming Vertues, and from simple Duties, which a Man may often per­form without Vertue, and not set before them Phantoms or Idols, which attract their Admiration and Respect, by the sensible Splendour and Pomp that surrounds them. For in short, if we are not guided by Reason, if we are not animated by the Love of Order, how exact soever we may be in the performance of our Duties, we can never be solidly Vertuous.

XI. But, say they, Reason is corrupted, it is liable to Error, it must submit to Faith: Philosophy is but a Servant, we ought to distrust the Light which that af­fords. [Page 18](All equivocal Terms.) Man is not his own Light: Religion is the true Philosophy. It is not, I confess, the Philosophy of the Heathens, nor that of those great Talkers, who speak to others before Truth has spoke to them. Reason is immutable, incorruptible, infallible, and ought always to govern; God himself follows it. In a word, we ought never to shut our Eyes against the Light; but we should accustom our selves to distingush it from Darkness or false Glares, from con­fus'd Sensations, from sensible Idea's, which appear bright and shining Lights to those who are not accu­stom'd to distinguish Truth from Probability, Evidence from Instinct, and Reason from its Enemy, Imagination. Certainly Understanding is preferable to Faith; for Faith will have an end, but Understanding will remain for ever. Faith is, indeed, a very great good; but it is because it leads to Understanding, and without it we cannot deserve the Understanding of some necessary and essential Truths, without which it is impossible to at­tain either to solid Vertue or everlasting Happiness: Nevertheles, Faith without Understanding, I speak not here of Mysteries of which we can have no clear Idea; Faith, I say, without any Light, if that be possible, can­not make a Man solidly Vertuous: It is the Light which perfects the Mind and regulates the Heart; and if Faith did not enlighten a Man and lead him to some Under­standing of the Truth, and some Knowledge of his Duty, without doubt it would not have those Effects which are attributed to it. But Faith is a Term as equivocal as that of Reason, Philosophy, and human Sciences.

XII. I grant then, that those who have not Light enough to guide themselves, may attain to Vertue, as well as those who can retire into themselves to consult Reason, and contemplate the Beauty of Order; because the Grace of Sense or preventing delectation, may sup­ply the want of Light, and keep them firm and stedfast in their Duty. But that which I maintain, is, First, That supposing all other things equal, he that enters farthest into himself, and hearkens to the Truth within him in the greatest silence of his Senses, Imagination and Passions, is the most solidly Vertuous. Secondly, That such a Love of Order as hath for its Foundation more of Reason than of Faith, that is, more of Light [Page 19]than of Pleasure, is more solid, meritorious and valuable, than another Love which I suppose equal. For indeed, the true good, the good of the Soul should be lov'd by Reason, and not by the instinct of Pleasure. But the condition to which Sin hath reduc'd us, makes the Grace of Delight necessary to counterpoise the continual endeavours of our Concupiscence. Lastly, I assert, That if a Man should never, I say, never retire into himself, his imaginary Faith would be wholly useless to him. For the Word became sensible, only to render Truth intelligible. Reason was made incarnate for no other end, but to guide Men to Reason by their Senses; and he that should do and suffer all that Jesus Christ did and suffer'd, would be neither reasonable nor a Christian, if he did it not in the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Order and Reason. But there is no cause to fear this; for it is absolutely impossible, that any Man should be so far separated from Reason, as never to retire into himself to consult it. And tho' there are many People who perhaps know not what it is to retire into them­selves, yet it is impossible but that they must do it some­times, and must sometimes hear the Voice of Truth, notwithstanding the continual Noise of their Senses and Passions: It is impossible but that they must have some Idea of Order, and some Love for it, which without doubt they cannot have but from something which dwells in them, and renders them so far just and reasonable; for no Man is himself the ground of his Love, nor the Spirit that inspires, animates and guides it.

XIII. Every Man pretends to Reason, and yet every Man renounces it. This may seem a Contradiction; but there is nothing more true: Every Man pretends to Reason, because every Man hath this engraven on the very Foundation of his Being, that it is an essential Right of human Nature, to have a share of Reason. But all Men renounce Reason, because they cannot unite themselves to it, and receive from it Light and Under­standing, without a sort of Labour which is very dis­couraging, because it hath nothing that pleases the Senses. And therefore since they invincibly desire to be happy, they quit the Labour of Attention, which renders them actu­ally unhappy; but yet when they quit it, they com­monly fancy they do it by Reason. The voluptuous [Page 20]Man thinks he ought to prefer the actual Enjoyment of Pleasures before a barren and abstracted View of Truth, which costs him nevertheless abundance of Pains. The ambitious Man imagines that the object of his Pas­sion is something real, and that intellectual Enjoyments are nothing but Phantoms and Illusions; for commonly Men judge of the Solidity of good things by the Impres­sion they make on the Imagination and Senses. Nay, there are some Persons of Piety, who prove by Reason, That we ought to renounce Reason; That we are not to be guided by Light, but by Faith alone; and that blind Obedience is the principal Vertue of a Christian. The Laziness of Inferiours, and their proness to Flatter, is often satisfied with this fancied Vertue, and the Pride of Superiours is always very well pleas'd with it: So that perhaps there may be some Persons, who will be of­fended with me, for giving so great an Honour to Rea­son, as to set it above all other Powers; and think me a Rebel against lawful Authorities, because I take the part of Reason, and maintain that it belongs to Reason to decide and govern. But let the Voluptuous follow their Senses; let the Ambitious suffer themselves to be carried away by their Passions; let the generality of Mankind live by Opinion, or follow wherever their own Imaginations lead them: But let us endeavour to still that confus'd Noise which sensible Objects cause in us; let us retire into our selves, and consult the in­ward Truth, yet let us take great care not to confound its Answers with the malignant Influences of our cor­rupted Imagination. For it is better, infinitely better for a Man to obey the Passions of those who have a right to command and guide him, than to be wholly his own Master, to follow his own Passions, and voluntarily to blind himself, by assuming such an Air of Confidence in Error, as only the discovery of Truth ought to give him. I have elsewhere laid down the Rules which we ought to observe for avoiding this Miscarriage; but I shall say something of it also in this Discourse, for with­out this, we cannot be solidly and rationally Vertuous.

CHAP. III. The Love of Order doth not differ from Charity. Two sorts of Love, one of Ʋnion, and the other of Benevolence. The former is due only to Power, to God alone: The latter ought to be proportion'd to personal Merit, as our Duties to relative Merit. Self-love enlightned is not contrary to the love of Ʋnion. The love of Order is common to all Men. The Species of the love of Order, natural and free, actual and habitual. Only that which is free, habitual and ruling renders us just in the sight of God. Vertue consists in nothing but a free, habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order.

I. THO' I have not express'd the Principal or Mo­ther Vertue by the authentick name of Charity, I would not have any one imagine that I pretend to de­liver to Men any other Vertue than that which Christ himself hath establish'd in these Words: ‘All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two Command­ments: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, Mat. 22.37. with all thy Heart, and with all thy Strength, and thy Neigh­bour as thy self:’ And of which St. Paul hath given us the elogy in that admirable Chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, which begins thus: 1 Cor. 13.1. ‘Tho' I spake all Languages, even that of Angels themselves, yet if I had not Charity. I should be but like sounding Brass, or a tinkling Cymbal.’ The ways of Speaking are different according to the diversity of Persons spoken to. The Scripture which is written for all the World, expresses the Truths it contains, in such Terms only as are authoris'd by the most common Use. But he that would convince and inform the most obstinate Persons, I mean those Men of strong Reason as they fancy them­selves, and those whom they call Philosophers, People that find difficulties in every Thing, must endeavour to explain his Sentiments by Terms that as far as may be are free from an equivocal Signification.

II. These Words, [Thou shalt Love God with all thy Strength, and thy Neighbour as thy Self] are clear, but it [Page 22]is chiefly to those who are inwardly Taught by the Unction of the Spirit: For as to others, they are more obscure than is commonly imagin'd. To [Love] is an equivocal Term: It signifies two Things among many others, First, to unite our selve by the Will to any ob­ject as to our Good, or the cause of our Happiness; and Secondly to wish Well to any one. We may love God in the first Sense, and our Neighbour in the Se­cond. But it would be Impiety, or at least Stupidity or Ignorance to love God in the latter Sense, and a kind of Idolatry to love our Neighbour in the for­mer.

III. The word [God] is likewise Equivocal, and much more than it is thought to be: A Man may fancy he loves God, when indeed he loves only a vast immense Phantom which he hath form'd to himself. He may think he loves God when at the same time he lives in Disorder, or without loving Order above all Things. But he is mistaken; for he is so far from loving him, that he doth not so much as know him. 1 Joh. 2.4, 5. For he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his Commandments, is a Lier, and the Truth is not in him: But whoso keepeth his Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected, or he perfectly loves God, v. 3. saith St. John. Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his Commandments.

IV. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Strength. The word [all] is clear enough; but [thy Strength] may Minister occasion of Error to those who either have no Humility, or a false and mistaken one. The former may draw from it some ground of Vanity, and the latter of a sinful Negligence. [And thy Neighbour as thy self.] Our Saviour tells us in the Parable of the Samaritan, that all Mankind is our Neighbour. So that the word [Neighbour] is not very clear; and so we find the Jews always took it in a wrong Sense. [As thy self.] Certainly there are none but those that love the true and real good, who fulfil this Commandment in loving their Neighbour as themselves. For a Father who loves his Son with the greatest Tenderness, and carefully procures for him all sensible good Things, what love soever he may have for him, is very far from loving him as God commands us to love our Neigh­bour.

V. These words then, [Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, &c.] are obscure: But in Truth they are obscure only to those who have a mind to Dispute, or who will not retire into themselves, to behold this Commandment written there with the Finger of God: The Holy Scrip­ture is a clos'd Book only to those who are not in­structed by the unction of the Spirit. For pious Men tho' never so Dull and Stupid, understand this Precept very well. They know that all the application of our Mind, and all the motions of our Heart ought to tend toward God; that we should employ our Thoughts on nothing but him, as far as it is possible: That we do not truly Love him, if we are not nice and exact in doing our Duty: And that to violate the order of Justice, or the immutable Order, is in effect to offend against the Di­vine Majesty. They are so far from loving Men as capable of doing them Good, that they are afraid to come near great Persons, and are only pleas'd to be amongst those who stand in need of their Assistance. They love Men not as their Good, nor as capable of enjoying transitory Goods with them, Goods which only serve to cause division every where: But they Love them as Co-heirs of the true Goods; true Goods, be­cause they are possess'd without division, enjoy'd with­out satiety, and lov'd without any fear of losing them, like the Pleasures of this present Life. The Father loves his Son; but he had rather see him Deform'd than Disorderly. He had rather see him Sick, Dead, or at the Gallows, than see him Dead in the Eyes of him, who never had a more agreable Sight than that of his only Son fasten'd to the Cross to re-establish Order in the World. Pious Men understand the Law of God, be­cause they are instructed by the same Spirit that dictated it. But because this Discourse is intended chiefly for Philosophers, and it lies not in my Power to communi­cate that holy Unction which produces Light in the Minds of Men; I think my self oblig'd to endeavour to prove by Reason, and explain as far as I am able in clear Terms, those Truths of which perhaps they are not sufficiently Convinc'd.

VI. I think then I may say, that justifying Charity, or that Vertue which renders the possessors of it truly Just and Vertuous, is properly a ruling Love of the im­mutable [Page 24]Order. But that I may clear those Obscurities which ordinarily attend abstract Ideas, I must explain these Terms a little more at large.

VII. I have already said that the immutable Order consists in nothing else but in those proportions or rela­tions of Perfection which are between the intellectual Ideas comprehended in the substance of the eternal Word. Now we ought to esteem and love nothing but Per­fection. And therefore our esteem and love should be conformable to Order. From hence it is evident that Charity or the love of God, is a consequence of the love of Order, and that we ought to esteem and love God not only more, but infinitely more than all other Things; for there can be no finite relation between in­finite and finite.

VIII. There are Two principal kinds of Love, a Love of Benevolence, and a Love which may be call'd Love of Ʋnion. A sensual Man Loves the object of his Passion with a Love of Ʋnion; because he looks upon that Object as the cause of his Happiness, and there­fore he desires to be united to it, that it may act upon him and make him Happy. He is carried towards it as well by the motion of his Heart, or by his Affections, as by the motion of his Body. The Love which we bear to Persons of Worth and Merit, is a love of Bene­volence; for we love them even when they are not in a condition to do us any good: We Love them because they have more Perfection and Vertue than other Men. So that the power to do us Good, or that kind of per­fection which relates to our Happiness; in one Word, Goodness excites in us a love of Ʋnion, and all other perfections a love of Benevolence. Now God only is Good: He alone hath the Power of acting on us. He doth not really communicate that Perfection to his Creatures; but only makes them occasional Causes for the producing of some Effects: For true and real Pow­er is Incommunicable. Therefore all our love of Union ought to tend toward God.

IX. We may, for Instance, bring our Body to the Fire, because Fire is the occasional cause of Heat, which is necessary for it: But we cannot love it with a love of Ʋnion, without offending against Order; because the Fire is so far from having any power over that part of us which is capable of Loving, that it hath no Power at all. The same may be said of all other Creatures, even Angels and Devils; we ought to love none of them with a Love of Union, with that Love which is an Ho­nour given to Power; for all of them being absolutely impotent, we should by no means love them. When I speak of loving, I mean also fearing and hating them; I mean that the Soul should remain unmov'd in their Presence. The Body by a local Motion may come near the Fire, or avoid the Fall of a House; but the Soul must fear and love nothing but God; at least, it must love none but him, with a love of Freedom, Choice and Reason: For since the Union of the Soul and Body is chang'd into a dependance, it is hardly in our power to hinder sensible Goods from exciting in us some love for them. The motions of the Soul naturally an­swer those of the Body; and the Object which makes us fly from it, or attracts us to it, almost always begets in us Aversion or Love.

X. But the Case is not the same with the Love of Benevolence, as with the Love of Union; God is in­finitely more amiable with this sort of Love, than all his Creatures together: But as he hath really commu­nicated to them some Perfection, as they are capable of Happiness, they really deserve our Love and Esteem. Order it self requires that we should esteem and love them according to the measure of Perfection which they enjoy, or rather according to that which we know to be in them: For to esteem and love them exactly in pro­portion to their being amiable, is utterly impossible; because many times their Perfections are unknown to us, and we can never know exactly the proportions that are between Perfections; for we cannot express them either by Numbers, or incommensurable Lines. Ne­vertheless, Faith takes away a great many difficulties in this matter. For since a finite Being by the relation it hath to infinity, acquires an infinite Value; it is evi­dent that we ought to love those Creatures which have, [Page 26]or may have a great relation to God, infinitely more, than those which do not bear his Image, or which have no immediate union with, or relation to him: It is plain that all other things being equal, one righteous Man, one member of Jesus Christ deserves more of this kind of Love, than a thousand wicked Men; and that God who judges truly and exactly of the Value of his Creatures, prefers one of his adopted Children, before all the Nations of the Earth.

XI. It is certain, that our Duties ought to be regu­lated by the Love of Esteem or Benevolence; but yet we must not imagine that we always owe more Duties to righteous Men than to Sinners, to the Faithful than to Hereticks, or even Heathens themselves. For we must observe, that there are Perfections of several sorts, some Personal or Absolute, and others Relative: Perso­nal Perfections ought to be the immediate Object of the Love of Esteem and Benevolence; but relative Perfe­ctions do not deserve either this or any other kind of Love, but only the Object to which these Perfections have a relation. We should love and honour Merit where-ever we find it, for Merit is a personal Perfection which ought to regulate our Love of Esteem and Bene­volence; but it ought not always to regulate the great­ness and quality of our Duties. On the contrary, we owe a great many Duties to our Prince, to our Parents, and to all those that are in Authority; for Authority is necessary for the preservation of Order in States, which is the most valuable thing in the World: But the Honour which we pay to them, the Love which we bear them ought to terminate in God alone: Colos. 3.23. As to the Lord, and not unto Men, saith St. Paul. The Honour which we give to Power must be refer'd to God and not to Men; for the power of Acting is in God alone. In like manner, if a Man have such natural endowments as may be serviceable for the Conversion of others, tho' he have no personal Merit or Vertue, we ought to love him with a love of Esteem which hath a relation to something else; and we are oblig'd to many more Duties towards him, than towards another Man who hath a great deal of personal Merit, but is not capable of being useful to any but himself. But I shall explain this matter-more at large in another place; what I have said of it here, is [Page 27]only to prevent the Reader from running insensibly whi­ther I have no design to lead him.

XII. Self-Love, the irreconcileable Enemy of Vertue, or a ruling Love of the immutable Order, may agree with the Love of Union, which is refer'd to, and ho­nours a Power capable of acting on us; for it is suf­ficient for that purpose, that this Self-love be enlightned. Man invincibly desires to be happy; and he sees clearly that God alone is able to make him so: This being sup­pos'd and all the rest excluded, of which I do not speak, it is evident that he may desire to be united to God. For to take away every thing that may be equivocal, I do not speak of a Man who knows that God rewards only Me­rit, and who finds none in himself; but I speak of one who considers only the Power and Goodness of God, or one to whom the Testimony of his Conscience and his Faith give a free access, as I may so say, to draw near to God, and join himself to him.

XIII. But the case is different with the Love of Esteem or Benevolence which a Man ought to bear to himself; Self-love makes it always irregular. Order requires that the Reward should be proportionable to the Merit, and the Happiness to the Perfection of the Soul, which it hath gain'd by a good use of its Liberty; but Self-love can endure no bounds to its Happiness and Glory. Tho' it be never so much enlightned, yet if it be not just, it must of necessity be contrary to Order; and it cannot be just without diminishing or destroying it self. Nevertheless, when Self-love is both enlightned and just, whether it be destroy'd by, or confounded with the Love of Order, a Man hath then the greatest Perfection that he is capable of. For certainly he that always places himself in the rank that belongs to him, who desires to be Happy no farther than he deserves to be so, and seeks his Happiness in the Justice which he expects from the righteous Judge; who lives by Faith, and rests contented, stedfast and patient in the hope and foretast of the true Goods; he, I say, is really a good Man, tho' the love he bears to himself re­form'd indeed and corrected by Grace, be the na­tural Foundation of his Love of Order above all Things.

XIV. We must not imagine that the love of Order is like those Vertues, or rather particular Dispositions which may be lost or got. For Order is not a particu­lar Creature which we may begin or cease to love; it is the Word it self, the natural Object of all the Mo­tions of Spiritual Beings. We may begin or cease to love a Creature, because we are not made for them; but we cannot entirely renounce Reason, nor cease to love Order; because Man is made to live by Reason, and according to Order: So that the love of Order na­turally Reigns where-ever Self-love is not contrary to it. Nay, it often Reigns, tho' Self-love or Concupiscence oppose it; I say, it Reigns not only in good Men, where it hath an absolute Dominion, but also in the wicked, where Self-love bears the Sovereign sway.

XV. It is certain that a Man sees only as he is en­lightned by God; he wills only as he is animated and moved by him. Now God enlightnes him only by his Word, he moves him only by the Love which he bears to himself: For God cannot enlighten Man by a false Reason, nor imprint on him a Love contrary to his own. All Light therefore comes from the Word, and all Motion from the Holy Ghost, seeing it is God alone that acts, and that only by the Wisdom which enlightens him, and the Love which he bears to himself. So that as long as a Man Thinks and Loves, he cannot be to­tally separated from Reason, nor altogether without the love of Order. To fall into Error, he must make an ill use of Reason; but still he must make use of it; for he that sees nothing, and can judge of nothing, cannot fall into Error. In like manner to love Evil, he must love Good; for he cannot love Evil, but because he looks upon it as Good. Therefore Self-love doth not wholly destroy the Love of Order, but only Vitiates and Corrupts it, by referring that to its self which hath no relation to it. For a Man, whether he loves the Objects with a relation to himself, or otherwise, al­ways loves those that are or seem to be the best; be­cause the love of Order, or the love of good things pro­portionable to their Perfection or Goodness, is a natural and invincible Love.

XVI. This I say principally, That the Wicked may at least know themselves to be such, and the Righteous [Page 29]may distrust their Vertue. For since Men, tho' they are never so wretched and miserable, find in themselves some rectitude or some natural love of Order, they imagine that they are really Vertuous. But to obtain the possession of Vertue, it is not sufficient that we love Order with a natural Love, but we must also love it with a free, enlightned and reasonable Love. It is not sufficient to love it, when it agrees with our Self-love. We must Sacrifice every thing to it, our actual Happi­ness, and if it should require it of us, our very Being. For Vertue consists in a ruling Love of the immutable Order. Our Heart is never rightly disposed, but when it is ready to conform it self to Order in all things; and he that would have Order conformable in some things to his particular Inclinations, hath a perverted Mind and a corrupt Heart. There is no Man, let him be never so Wicked, who doth not sometimes find a beau­ty in Order that charms him. In all probability the Devils themselves have some Love for Order. They are ready to obey it, when it requires nothing of them contrary to their Self-love: And perhaps some of them would willingly offer some slight Sacrifice to it. They are not all equally Wicked; and therefore they do not all equally oppose Order. Judas was a Wretch govern'd by Avarice; yet it is reasonable to believe that to deli­ver his best Friend from Death, he would have Sacri­ficed a little Mony. He Sold our Saviour for thirty Pieces of Silver, but perhaps he would not have betray'd him for a less Sum. So then to be Vertuous, it is not sufficient to love Order, but we must love it more than all other things: We must have a firm Resolution to follow it every where, whatever it cost us. We must be ready to Sacrifice to it not a few inconsiderable Plea­sures, or slight Pains, but our Happiness, our Reputa­tion, and our very Being, in hopes of receiving from God a recompence befitting him to give.

XVII. But besides all this I must add, that a simple Resolution, tho' never so strong, of following Order in all things, doth not justify us in the fight of God. For God, who makes a true Judgment of the dispositions of our Minds, doth not judge any soul according to its actual and transient Motions, but by that which is fix'd and permanent in it. Simple acts are transient: And a Man that finds [Page 30]himself throughly affected with the Beauty of Order, and thereupon takes a holy Resolution of Sacrificing all other things to it, ought still to be in fear for himself. For it scarce ever happens that one single act produces the strongest Habit, and that the actual motion of the Soul, destroys an inveterate Disposition of obeying the incli­nations of Self-love. On the contrary Habits are per­manent; and tho' a just Man fall seven times a Day, let him comfort himself, God knows the bottom of his Heart. But let him take heed that he be not seduc'd and corrupted by Concupiscence, and that his imagina­tion receiving dangerous Impressions every Moment from sensible Objects, do not some time or other openly rebel against those severe Laws which are so damping and disagreeable to it. For we must observe that the Habit of Charity is much more tender, and more diffi­cult both to acquire and preserve than sinful Habits: For one single deliberate Act, one mortal Sin always destroys it. A Man is just in the sight of God when his Heart is really more dispos'd to love good than evil, with a free and rational Love, whether this disposition be acquir'd by free and rational acts of Love, or other­wise. But because we know only that which actually passes in our Soul, and Charity doth not discover it self sensibly as Concupiscence doth, we cannot be assur'd of the state we are in. Therefore we ought always to di­strust our selves without desponding, and to Labour even till Death to destroy Self-love and Concupiscence, which continually renews it self, and to fortify the love of Or­der, which is weakned or destroy'd when we cease to keep a watch over our selves.

XVIII. For the right understanding of what follows, we must observe that the acts of Love are of two sorts; natural or purely voluntary Acts, and free Acts. All Pleasure infallibly produces in the Soul the natural mo­tion of Love, or makes us love the Object which causes or seems to cause that Pleasure, with a natural, necessa­ry or purely voluntary Love. But every Pleasure doth not produce a free Love; for free Love is not always conformable to the natural Love. This Love doth not depend upon Pleasure alone; but upon Reason, upon Liberty, upon the Power which the Soul hath to resist any Motion that presses it. It is the consent of the Will [Page 31]which makes the essential difference of this species of Love. Now these two different acts of Love produce two different Habits. The natural Love begets in the Soul a disposition toward natural Love: And the love of Choice leaves in it a Habit of that Love. For when a Man hath consented several times to the love of any Good, he hath an inclination or facility to consent to it again.

XIX. We must know then, that every disposition of Love, whether natural or free, corrupts the Soul, and renders it odious to God, if the object of it be a Crea­ture; but if it be applied to the Creator, it makes the Soul righteous and acceptable to God: Provided never­theless that the disposition of natural Love be alone in the Heart; for if there be two Habits of Love of different kinds in the Heart, God doth not regard the natural Love, but only that which is free.

XX. For Example, an Infant at his first coming into the World is a Sinner and deserves the wrath of God, because God loves Order, and the Heart of that Infant is irregular, or turn'd toward the Body by an habitual disposition of a natural, necessary, or merely voluntary Love See l. 2. c. 1. of the Search after Truth, and the Notes upon that Chap. which he derives from his Parents, without any consent on his part. Adam at the first instant of his Crea­tion was Just, because his Heart was dispos'd to love God, tho' he had not as yet acquir'd a habit of consent­ing to that Love. So that a natural disposition or habit when it is alone, corrupts or justifies the Soul. For when there is but one habitual Love in the Heart, if that love be Good, there is nothing in it but what is amiable in the Eyes of him who loves Order; and the contrary, if that Love be evil. But when there are two habits of Love of different kinds, God hath no regard but to that which is free. It is probable that the Just have a much greater facility and natural disposition to love the Goods of the Body than the true and real ones. The Pleasures of Sense being almost continually before them, and the preventing delight of Grace much more rare, they are more strongly disposs'd by this sort of Ha­bit, which is a natural consequence of Pleasure, to love sensible Objects than the true Good. This is evident by what happens to them in Sleep, or when they are not upon their Guard, but act without Reflection: For [Page 32]then they most commonly follow the motions of Con­cupiscence. But these irregularities do not corrupt them, because the Habit of Vertue is not chang'd; for those acts which are not free, cannot change free Ha­bits, but only the Habits of the same kind. From what hath been said it is plain, that the love of Order which justifies us in the sight of God, must be an habitual, free and ruling Love of the immutable Order. And therefore where I speak of the love of Order in the se­quel of this Discourse, I generally understand by it this kind of habitual Love, and not an actual not an habi­tual natural Love, not a love which is not predominant, nor any other motion or disposition of the Soul.

CHAP. IV. Two fundamental Truths belonging to this Treatise. I. Acts produce Habits, and Habits Acts. II. The Soul doth not always produce the Acts of its ruling Habit. The Sinner may avoid committing any particular Sin, and the just Man may lose his Charity, because there is no Sinner without some love for Order, and no just Man without Self-love. We cannot be justified in the sight of God by the strength of Free-will. The means in general of acquiring and preserving Charity. The me­thodus'd in the explication of these means.

I. THat I may give a clear explication of the means of acquiring or preserving the ruling Love of the immutable Order, I shall lay down two fundamental Truths belonging to the first Part of this Treatise. First, that Vertues are generally acquir'd and fortified by Acts. Secondly, that when we act, we do not al­ways produce the acts of the ruling Vertue: What I say of Vertue, must be also understood of all Habits good or bad, and even of the Passions which are natural to us.

II. Every one is sufficiently convinc'd by his own Experience, that those Habits which have a relation to the Body are form'd and preserv'd by Acts. Thus it is universally agreed, that by the acts of Dancing, Playing [Page 33]on an Instrument or speaking a Language, those Habits may be acquir'd. Most People are persuaded that Men get a Habit of Drunkenness by drinking much; that the company of Women makes a Man soft and effemi­nate, and that those who converse with Souldiers be­come generally Stout or Brutish. But there are few who seriously consider, that the Soul it self by its own Acts gets such Habits, as it cannot easily get rid of. A Mathematician is apt to imagine, that it is in his own power not to love the Mathematicks, and to give over the Study of them: An ambitious Man foolishly per­suades himself that he is not a slave to his Passion: And every one believes, that tho' he be in a miserable sub­jection to some vitious Habit, he is able whenever he pleases to break the Chains that hold him in Captivity. It is upon this Principle that Men still delay their Con­version; for seeing there is nothing more requir'd to Conversion, than to despise those Enjoyments which they own to be vain and contemptible, and to love God, who certainly alone deserves to be lov'd; every one per­suades himself that he hath, and always shall have Rea­son and Strength enough to form and put in Execution a Design so just and reasonable.

III. Besides, as the Will is never forc'd, we imagine that whatsoever we will, we will just so only because we will. We do not consider that the acts of the Will are produc'd in us, in consequence of our inward Dis­positions; which Dispositions being in truth certain modifications of our own proper Being, but unknown to us, cause us to will in such a manner, that this Vo­lition seems to depend wholly on our selves; for we will so freely and readily, that we think nothing obliges us to do it. It is true, indeed, that nothing obliges us to will but our selves; but then that which we call [Our Selves] is not our Being purely natural, or per­fectly free in respect of Good and Evil; but our Be­ing dispos'd toward one of them by certain Modifica­tions, which either corrupt or perfect it, and render us in the sight of God either Just or Sinners; and these Dispositions we should encrease or destroy by Acts which are the natural Causes of Habits.

IV. But to do this, we must farther suppose that o­ther important Truth, that the Soul doth not always produce the Acts of its predominant Habit. For it is evident, that if a Man whose ruling Disposition is Ava­rice, should never act but by some Motion of Avarice; he would be so far from ever becoming Liberal, that his Vice would continually augment; according to that Principle which we have before laid down, that Acts produce and fortifie Habits. Nay, we must allow that it is in the power of a vitious Man to perform some Acts of Vertue, in order to free himself from his vitious Habits, and to become a good Man; but this Proposi­tion requires a little further Explication.

V. I say then in respect of particular Habits, First, That a covetous Man, for Example, may act by a mo­tive of Ambition; this is neither difficult to believe nor prove. Secondly, That a covetous Man may do an Action contrary to Avarice, by which he is govern'd; for a covetous Man may be also Ambitious. This being suppos'd, I say that if his Passion for Riches be not mov'd, and his Ambition be; or if his Avarice be less excited than his Ambition, in a reciprocal Proportion of the force of these two Passions, it is certain that the cove­tous Man will do an act of Liberality, if at that in­stant he determines himself to act, which is certainly in his own power to do. For a Man can will nothing but Good; and at that instant the covetous Man will think it better to do that act of Liberality than not do it; he will Sacrifice his love of Mony to that of Glory. Thus it is evident, that the Sinner may for Reasons of Self-love, avoid following any certain determinate Mo­tion of his Passions, if he can but excite some contrary Passions, and till then suspend the consent of his Will. But still this is not sufficient to prove that he who Sins may help Sinning; that the Sinner may rid himself of his vitious Habits, and the just Man lose his Charity.

VI. Indeed the Case of particular Habits, as Ava­rice or Liberality, is not the same with that of the Love of Order, or Self-love; and tho' perhaps it may be granted, that a covetous Man may do an act of Libe­rality; yet without doubt it will not be so readily a­greed, that a Heathen can do an action conformable to Order, or for Love of Order. For my part, I shall [Page 35]not dispute it; but only endeavour to explain my own Sentiments clearly. Let every one follow that which the Evidence of Reason and the Authority of Faith ob­lige him to believe; and leave me, when I go out of the Way, which should lead me in the Search of Truth.

VII. If Sinners or Heathens had no Love at all for Order, they would be altogether incorrigible; and if the Righteous had no Self-love, they could not possibly Sin; for according to my first Principle, Habits are form'd and preserv'd by Acts. The Sinner being sup­pos'd to have no Love but for himself, cannot act but by Self-love, and therefore all his Actions must encrease the Corruption of his Heart. On the other side, if the righteous Man be suppos'd to have no Love but for Order, he cannot act but by the Love of Order; and then all his Actions must still encrease his Vertue: So that upon this Supposition, that a Sinner or a Heathen hath no Love but Self-love, and a just Man no Love but the Love of Order, the Sinner must be incorrigible, and the just Man impeccable. But I think I have sufficient­ly prov'd in the foregoing Chapter, that the greatest Sinners have always some disposition to love Order; and I think it cannot be doubted, but that the best Men always retain some Relicks of Self-love.

VIII. It is true indeed, that a Heathen can never acquire Charity, nor do any Action that may merit those Assistances that are necessary for obtaining the ruling Love of the immutable Order; but he may do A­ctions conformable to Order, he may perform good and meritorious Actions: Chap. I. For a Heathen has always some Idea of Order; this Idea is indeleble: He hath al­ways some Love for Order; Chap. III. this Love is natural and immortal. Now all Love is active, when once it is ex­cited. And therefore if his Self-love do not oppose the Action of his Love of Order, his Love of Order will act and produce its proper Acts: Nay, tho' his Self­love should oppose his Love of Order, yet if his Love of Order be more excited than his Self-love, in a reci­procal Proportion of the greatness of these two habitual Loves and their actual Motion, his Love for Order would surmount his Self-love, if at that instant he de­termin'd himself to act.

IX. For instance, an innocent Man is led to Execu­tion. This is contrary to Order. A Heathen knows it, and can by a word speaking, prevent the breach of Order. I suppose that his Self-love is not at all con­cern'd in the Life or Death of the Man. Certainly he will prevent, or at least will have Strength and Reason enough to speak and prevent this Offence against Or­der. For my part, I do not doubt, upon the Suppo­sition which I have made, but that he would prevent it. For all Men naturally love Order and are so united to it, that one cannot violate Order, without offending them in some measure. The same things being suppos'd, tho' this Man we speak of were covetous, yet if his Pas­sion for Mony were laid a sleep for a little while, or, tho' it were excited, yet if only a Penny were desir'd of him to save the Life of that innocent Man, certainly he would, or at least might do an action contrary to his Self-love; for in truth, that opposition is but inconside­rable; but it would be a very great Offence against Order, which he is naturally dispos'd to Love, if he should not offer that small Sacrifice to it.

X. Now those actions are good, because they are conformable to Order; and they are meritorious, be­cause they are accompanied with a Sacrifice of Self-love to the Love of Order: But they are not meritorious in respect of the true Goods, nor of any thing that leads to the Possession of them, because those Sacrifices they offer are but inconsiderable; and besides, they proceed from a corrupted Heart, where Self-love hath an abso­lute Dominion.

XI. A Man can have no Right to the true Goods, if he be not just in the sight of God; and he cannot be just before God, if he be not more dispos'd to love Order than to love any Thing, and even his own self; or if he be not dispos'd not to love himself but accord­ing to Order. So that tho' we should suppose a Hea­then to love Order above all other Things with an actual Love, which cannot be done but by the Motion of Grace; yet God who judges the Soul not according to that which is transient in it, but according to its six'd and permanent Dispositions, could not look upon him as Just and Holy. For one single Act of loving God above all Things, cannot naturally change an in­veterate [Page 37]Habit of Self-love. This cannot be done with­out I shall ex­plain this in Chap. 8. the use of the Sacraments, which Christ hath in­stituted for our Justification, whereby one single Act of the love of God hath power to produce a Habit of it, which alone gives us a Right to the true Goods. And therefore none of the Philosophers, not Socrates, nor Plato, nor Epictetus, how enlightned soever they were, in respect of their Duties, nor even those who may be suppos'd to have shed their Blood for the Order of Ju­stice, can be saved, if they did not receive that Grace which is to be obtain'd by Faith alone; because God, the just Judge, could not judge them but according to the permanent Disposition of their Wills; and tho' it were naturally possible for a Man to lay down his Neck by an actual Motion of the love of Justice, yet this alone would not change the natural and inveterate Habit of his Self-love, a Habit confirm'd and augment­ed every moment by the Motions of Concupisence, dur­ing the whole Course of his Life.

XII. Nevertheless, since Heathens always retain some love for Order, they may avoid the Sin which they com­mit, by reviving that Love, by declining every thing that may excite Self-love, and by not consenting before they are forc'd to it, as I shall shew hereafter; but in­deed, they cannot fulfill the Commandments of God; they cannot love Order more than themselves in all Ca­ses. This Reason may convince us of, and Faith in­forms us that it is impossible for them to do; only those who have Faith can do this, and even amongst them, all have not an equal Power; there are none but the Just, to whom nothing is wanting; for the rest, they may have recourse to Prayer, if they are sensible of their own Weakness; they may by the assistance of their Faith, and in consequence of the Promises of Jesus Christ, not by the necessity of the immutable Order of Justice, merit the next degree of Power to keep the Command­ments of God upon all Occasions.

XIII. I shall repeat in a few words, those essential Truths which I have here prov'd, and which are ne­cessary for the right understanding of the sequel of this Discourse. Habits are acquir'd and confirm'd by Acts; the ruling Habit doth not always act: A Man may do such Acts as have no relation to it, and sometimes such [Page 38]as are contrary to it; and therefore he may alter his Habits.

XIV. Again, there is no Man, let him be never so vitious, who hath not some disposition to love Order: And therefore every free and rational Man may, I do not say become just, but correct and amend himself.

XV. But supposing the assistance of Grace, every Man may become just: For the ruling Love of the immutable Order which justifies us in the sight of God, is a fix'd and permanent Disposition, it is a Habit. Now we may acquire this Habit by the assistance of Grace, not only because we may by the help of actual Grace free­ly perform so many or such vigorous Acts of the love of Order above all Things, as will produce the Habit of it; but with more ease and certainty, because we may come to the Sacraments by the motion of this Love, and the Sacraments of the New Testament infuse into our Hearts justifying Charity.

XVI. All then that we have to do to acquire and pre­serve the ruling Love of the immutable Order; or in shorter terms, the love of Order consists in searching di­ligently what are the things that excite this Love and make it produce its proper Acts, and what those are that can stop the actual Motion of Self-love. Now I know but two Principles which determine the na­tural Motion of the Will, and stir up the Habits, to wit, Light and Sense. Without one of these Princi­ples, no Habit is form'd naturally, and those which are form'd remain unactive. If any one will take the pains to consult what he finds within himself, he will easily be satisfied, that the Will never actually loves any good, except the Light discovers it, or Pleasure renders it present to the Soul: And if we consult Reason, we shall be convinc'd that it must be so; for otherwise, the Author of Nature would imprint useless Motions on the Will.

XVII. There is nothing then but Light and Pleasure which produce any actual Motion in the Soul. Light discovers to it the Good which it loves by an irresistible impression; and Pleasure assures it, that that Good is actually present; for the Soul is never more fully con­vinced of its Good, than when it finds it self actually touch'd with the Pleasure which makes it happy. Let us [Page 39]therefore enquire into the Means by which we may cause the Light to diffuse it self in our Minds, and make our Hearts be touch'd with such Sensations as are suitable to our Design, which is to produce in us the Acts of the Love of Order, or to hinder us from form­ing those of Self-love; for it is evident, that all the Pre­cepts of Morality absolutely depend on these Means. In this enquiry, I shall observe the following Method.

XVIII. First, I shall examine by what Means we may be enlightned as to our Duties: For the Light ought always to go first; and besides, the discovery of Good depends much more upon our selves than the relish of it. For generally our Wills are the occasional, di­rect and immediate Causes of our Knowledge, but ne­ver of our Sense. Afterwards I shall enquire into the occasional Causes of our Sensations, and the power we have over them, that by their means we may dispose the Author of Grace and Nature to affect us in such a man­ner, that the Love of Order may be excited in us and quicken us, and Self-love or Concupiscence may remain without Motion.

XIX. I shall first speak of those Sensations which God produces in us in consequence of the Order of Grace, because these have power to produce in us such Acts of the Love of Order as are capable of forming the Habit of it. After that, I shall treat of those Sensations pro­duc'd in us by God, in consequence of the Order of Nature; which cannot weaken our vitious Habits, but indirectly, and which we are almost always concern'd to avoid, that we may preserve in our Soul the Power and Liberty of loving the true Good, and living ac­cording to Order. For the different ways by which we avoid these Sensations, make one of the principal parts of Morality; and most of the Names of Vertue were invented only to express the acquir'd Dispositions of avoiding them.

CHAP. V. Of the Strength of the Mind. Our Desires are the occa­sional Causes of our Knowledge. The Contemplation of abstract Ideas is difficult. The Strength of the Mind consists in an acquir'd Habit of enduring the Labour of Attention. The way to acquire it is to Silence our Sen­ses, Imagination and Passions, to Regulate our Studies, and to Meditate only on clear Ideas.

I. WE are assur'd both by Faith and Reason, That God alone is the true Cause of all Things: But Experience teaches us, That he never acts but ac­cording to certain Laws which he hath prescrib'd to him­self, and which he constantly observes: For instance, it is God alone that moves all Bodies, which perhaps would require a great many Words to convince some People of. But this being suppos'd, as having been prov'd else­where, it is evident from Experience, that God never moves Bodies but when they strike against one another. So that this Impulse of Bodies may be said to be the Oc­casional Cause which infallibly determines the Efficacy of that general Law, by which God produces a vast Variety of Motions in his Workmanship.

II. Again, it is God alone that diffuses Light in all spiritual Substances; this is a Truth which I have suf­ficiently explain'd already: But for the Occasional Cause which determines him to communicate it to us, we must search no where but in our selves. God by a ge­neral Law which he constantly observes, and of which he hath foreseen all the consequences, hath annex'd the presence of Ideas to the Attention of our Mind; so that when we can command our Attention, and make use of it, the Light never fails to diffuse it self in us propor­tionably to our Labour. This is so true, that ungrate­ful and stupid Man makes it a ground of his Vanity; he imagins himself to be the Cause of his Knowledge, because God always answers his Desires so faithfully and constantly. For having an inward Sense of his own Attention, and no Knowledge of the operation of [Page 41]God, he looks upon the endeavour of his desires, Page 9. which should convince him of his Impotence, as the true cause of those Ideas which accompany that endea­vour.

III. Now God must have plac'd the occasional causes of our Knowledge in our selves for several Reasons, the chief of which is, that otherwise we should not have been Masters of our Wills. For since our Wills must be enlightned before they can be mov'd; if it were not in our power to Think, it would not be in our power to Will. We should not be perfectly free, nor consequent­ly in a condition to merit the true Goods, for which we are Created.

IV. The attention of the Mind then is a kind of na­tural Prayer, by which we obtain the illumination of Reason. But since Sin enter'd into the World, the Mind often finds it self in the midst of barren and dis­mal Solitudes; it cannot Pray; the labour of Attention wearies and disheartens it. Indeed the Labour is at first very great, and the recompense but small; and besides we find our selves continually sollicited, press'd and agitated by the Imagination and Passions, whose inspiration and motions we follow with Pleasure. How­ever there is a necessity for it, we must call upon Rea­son if we will be enlightned by it: There is no other way to obtain Light and Understanding, but by the labour of Attention. Faith is a Gift of God, which we cannot merit; but Understanding is generally given on­ly to merit. Faith is purely Grace in all Senses: But the understanding of Truth is Grace only in such a Sense, that we must merit it by our own Labour, or by co­operating with Grace.

V. Now those who are fitted to undergo this Labour, and are always attentive to the Truth that should guide them, have such a disposition as without doubt deserves a more magnificent Name than any of those that are given to the most splendid Vertues. But tho' this Ha­bit or Vertue be inseparably joyn'd to the love of Or­der, it is so little known among us, that I know not whether we have given it the honour of a particular Name. I shall therefore take the liberty to call it by an equivocal Name, Strength of Mind.

VI. For the obtaining this true Strength whereby the Mind is enabled to bear the Labour of Attention, we must begin to Labour betimes; for naturally we can­not acquire any Habits but by Acts, we cannot gain Strength but by Exercise: But perhaps the great diffi­culty lies in beginning. We remember that we have begun, and have been forc'd to leave off. This dis­heartens us, we think our selves incapable of Medita­tion, and renounce Reason. If this be the case, what­ever we can say to excuse our Sloth and Negligence, we must also renounce Vertue, at least in part. For without the Labour of Attention, we can never com­prehend the greatness of Religion, the sanctity of Mo­rality, the littleness of every thing but God, the ridi­culousness of our Passions, and all our inward Miseries. Without this Labour, the Soul will be in continual Darkness and Disorder; for there is naturally no other way to obtain the Light which should guide us; we shall be eternally disquieted and strangly perplex'd; for we are afraid of every thing when we walk in the Dark, and think our selves environ'd with Precipices. Faith indeed doth guide and support us; but that is be­cause it always produces some Light by the Attention which it stirs up in us: For there is nothing but Light that can give us Courage and Assurance, when we have so many Enemies to fear.

VII. What must we do then to set about our Work without being discourag'd? Let us see what it is that puts us out of Heart. We meditate with Pain, and without recompense. The Pain on one side disheartens us, and on the other the Reward does not sufficiently encourage us. We must then make the Pain less, and the Reward greater. This is plain. But there is no­thing more difficult: Nay, it is impossible for the great­est part of Mankind. And for this Reason it is, that we need a more compendious way to be assur'd of the Truth, and that the visible Authority of the Church is necessary for our Conduct. For even those of the great­est Genius, if they deviate from Faith, or abandon the Analogy of Faith, wander out of the way which leads to Understanding; they break the Chain of Truths, which are all link'd together in such a manner, that one single Falshood being granted for truth, a Man may overthrow [Page 43]all the Sciences, if he knows how to argue by a de­duction of Consequences.

VIII. To lessen the Pain which we find in Medita­tion, we must avoid every thing that takes up any room in the Mind unprofitably: And as there is no­thing that possesses it more than that which touches, strikes and agitates it; it is evident that we must care­fully avoid all Objects that please our Senses and excite our Passions. The Senses and Passions being certain Modifications of the proper substance of the Soul, all intellectual Ideas which do not modify it, must of ne­cessity disappear in the presence of sensible Objects, tho' we strive never so much to retain them, and to discover their Relations. Besides, we are perswaded that it is in our own power to recal these intellectual Ideas; but Experience assures us that our Wills are not the occasional causes of our Senses. And therefore we readily lay hold of those Sensations, by which we en­joy those Delights that pass away, and cannot be re­call'd; and neglect the pure Ideas whereby we discover the Truth which remains fix'd, and which we can con­template whenever we please. For we must resolve speedi­ly as to those Goods which fly away from us, but we may defer the examination of those that are stable and always present. In short we would always be actu­ally happy: We would never be actually Miserable. Actual Pleasure makes us actually Happy, and actual Pain actually Miserable. Therefore every Sensation which participates of Pleasure or Pain, possesses the Mind: Every motion of the Soul, which hath actual good or evil for its Object, governs the Will. So that we must use very strong endeavours to contemplate Truth, when our Senses are affected, and our Passions stir'd: And since we find by Experience, that these en­deavours are at that time very insignificant, it is im­possible but that the Soul being spent and tir'd must be discontented and discourag'd. And therefore those who treat of Prayer, give us this weighty Admonition, to la­bour incessantly in mortifying our Senses, and not to meddle with those things which do not concern us, and which may in the sequel by our indiscreet engaging in them, excite in us a Thousand troublesom Mo­tions.

IX. The next thing we have to do, is to avoid as much as we can, all those Sciences and Occupations which have nothing but shew and outward splendor; those Sciences in which the Memory only is employ'd, those Studies and Occupations in which the Imagina­tion is too much exercis'd. When a Man's Head is full, he is content with his imaginary Riches, and being swell'd with Pride, he scorns the labour of Attention; or if he owns the necessity of it, it will cost him too much Pains to remove all those false Ideas which his Memory furnishes him with. And when the Imagina­tion is too much exercis'd, the evidence of Truth doth not make a lively impression on us: For it is certain that there is nothing more opposite to Reason, than an Imagi­nation too well furnish'd, too nice, too active, or rather a malignant and corrupted Imagination: For the Imagination ought always to be silent when Reason Speaks; but when we have us'd our selves to employ it much, it continually interrupts and opposes it. And therefore we see that those Men of Sense I speak of, and your great. Wits as they fancy themselves, have not much Piety or Religion; for indeed there are no Men more blind than they. All the Light in them is extinguish'd by Pride; for being always highly con­ceited of themselves, and satiated or rather having no Appetite to Truth, they cannot bring themselves to think of earning by the Sweat of their Brow the Bread of the Soul, a Nourishment of which they have no man­ner of Relish.

X. A Man must labour with the Soul to maintain the life of the Soul; this is absolutely necessary. But nothing is more servile than to employ the labour of the Soul in getting Mony or Honour. That a Me­chanick should labour with the Body to maintain the life of the Body, to get Bread, this is conformable to Order; at least while his Body is at Work, he may feed his Mind, and employ it in good Thoughts: But for a Magistrate, a States-man, a Merchant, to lavish away the strength of his Mind in getting those Goods that are many times of no use for the life of the Body, and always dangerous to that of the Soul, is a very great Folly. And therefore we should in the third Place avoid all such Employments as deprive us of the liberty of the [Page 45]Mind, except God engages us in them by an extraor­dinary Vocation. For if Charity, or the Laws of the Community in which we live, oblige us to them, and we take upon us no more than we are able to bear; God will make up in us an equivalent to that which we might have obtain'd by the labour of Meditation. And even then we shall find time enough to examine our selves in relation to our Duties, if we are not go­vern'd by Ambition or Interest in the exercise of our Calling.

XI. Every Man knows well enough what things are apt to agitate and distract his Mind; at least he may be inform'd by consulting Experience, or that inward Sense which he hath of himself. And therefore I shall not dwell any longer in setting down particularly what we must do to make Meditation easy to us. It is only the Body which makes the Soul dull and heavy: This is the ground of our Stupidity. Now all sensible Ob­jects work upon us only by means of the Body. There­fore it is evident that to hearken without Pain to the Answers which Truth pronounces within us, we have nothing to do but to silence our Senses, Imagination and Passions; or in a Word, to still that confus'd Noise which the Body makes in us. Now every Man knows by his own Experience, that the Body is quiet enough, when nothing stirs it from without, or hath not too much stir'd it before. For since it retains a long time those impressions and motions which it hath receiv'd from sensible Objects, I confess that the Imagination re­mains polluted and hurt, when we have been so indis­creet as to be too familiar with Pleasure. Notwith­standing the Wound will close up of it self, and the Brain will return to its former state, if we carefully avoid the action of all Objects that strike our Senses; which we are always able to do, at least in some mea­sure, with those necessary Helps, which I all along suppose. Let us do what we can on our part, and we shall be so far from being out of love with Meditation, that we shall find our selves so well rewarded, that we shall not repent of our Pains; provided nevertheless that we observe the following Rule, without which, not­withstanding all our Meditation, we shall never be rewarded with a clear view of Truth. My Design here [Page 46]is not to teach the Art of Thinking, nor to deliver all the Rules by which the Mind ought to regulate every step in takes in the search of Truth. The Subject of this Discourse is Morality; a Science necessary for all Mankind; and not Logick, which only they who would be capable of discovering Truth in all manner of Subjects are oblig'd to study throughly.

XII. The only Rule which I would have carefully observ'd, is to meditate only on clear Ideas and unde­niable Experiments. To meditate on confus'd Sensations and doubtful Experiments, is lost labour; this is to con­template nothing but Chimeras, and to follow Error. The immutable and necessary Order, the divine Law is also our Law: This ought to be the principal Sub­ject of our Meditations. Now there is nothing more abstracted and less Subject to Sense than this Order. I grant that we may also be guided by Order made sen­sible and visible by the actions and precepts of Jesus Christ: Yet that is because that sensible Order raises the Mind to the knowledge of the intellectual Order; for the Word made Flesh is our Model, only to con­form us to Reason, the indispensable Model of all intel­ligent Beings, the Model by which the first Man was form'd, and according to which we are to be reform'd by the foolishness of Faith, which leads us by our Senses to our Reason, and to the contemplation of our intel­lectual Model.

XIII. A Man that is thrown down on the Ground, supports himself with the Ground, but 'tis in order to rise again. Jesus Christ accommodates himself to our Weakness, but 'tis to draw us out of it. Faith speaks to the Soul only by the Body, it is true; but it is to the end that a Man should not hearken to the Body, that he should retire into himself, that he should contemplate the true Ideas of things, and silence his Senses, Ima­gination and Passions: That he should begin upon Earth to make the same use of his Mind that he shall do in Heaven, where Understanding shall succeed Faith, where the Body shall be subject to the Soul, and Reason shall have the sole Government. For the Body of it self speaks to the Soul only for it self; this is an essential Truth, of which we cannot be too fully convinc'd.

XIV. Truth and Order consist in nothing else but in the relations of Greatness and Perfection which Things have to one another. But how shall we discover these Relations evidently, when we want clear Ideas? How shall we give to every thing the Rank which belongs to it, if we measure nothing but with relation to our selves? Certainly, if we look upon our selves as the Center of the Universe, a Notion which the Body is con­tinually putting into us; all Order is destroy'd, all Truths change their nature; a Torch becomes bigger than a Star; a Fruit more valuable than the safety of our Country: The Earth, which Astronomers consider but as a Point in respect of the Universe, is the Uni­verse it self. And this Universe is yet but a Point in respect of our particular Being. At some certain times when the Body speaks to us, and the Passions are ex­cited, we are ready, if it were possible, to sacrifice it to our Glory and Pleasures.

XV. By clear Ideas, which I make the principal Object of those who would know and love Order, I mean not only those between which the Mind can dis­cover the precise and exact Relations, such as are all those which are the Object of Mathematical Knowledge, and may be express'd by Numbers, or represented by Lines: But I understand in general by clear Ideas, all such as produce any Light in the Mind of those who contemplate them, and from which one may draw cer­tain Consequences. So that I reckon amongst clear Ideas not only simple Ideas, but also those Truths which con­tain the Relations that are between Ideas. I compre­hend also in this Number common Notions and Principles of Morality, and in a word all clear Truths which are evident either of themselves, or by Demonstration, or by an infallible Authority; tho' to speak nicely, these last are rather certain than clear and evident.

XVI. By undeniable Experiments, I mean chiefly those matters of Fact which Faith informs us of, and those of which we are convinc'd by the inward Sense we have of what passes within our selves. If we will be govern'd by Examples, and judge of Things by Opinion, we shall be deceiv'd every Moment; for there is nothing more equivocal and more confus'd than the Actions of Men, and many times nothing more false than [Page 48]that which passes for certain with whole Nations. Fur­ther, it is a very fruitless thing to meditate upon that which passes within our selves, if we do it with a Design of discovering the nature of it. For we have no clear Ideas of our own Being, nor of any of its Modifications; and we can never discover the nature of any Beings, but by contemplating the clear Ideas by which they are represented to us. But we cannot meditate too much upon our inward Sensations and Motions, to discover their Connexions and Relations, and the natural or oc­casional causes which excite them; for this is a thing of infinite consequence in relation to Morality.

XVII. The knowledge of Man is of all the Sciences the most necessary for our purpose: But it is only an experimental Science, resulting from the reflection we make on that which passes within us. This Reflection doth not discover to us the nature of those two Sub­stances of which we are compos'd, but it teaches us the Laws of the union of the Soul and Body, and is serviceable to us in establishing those great Principles of Morality, by which we ought to govern our Acti­ons.

XVIII. On the contrary the knowledge of God is not at all Experimental: We discover the Divine Na­ture and Attributes, when we can contemplate with Attention the vast and immense Idea of an infinitely per­fect Being; for we must not judge of God but accord­ing to the clear Idea we have of him. This is a thing not sufficiently taken notice of: For most Men judge of God with a relation to themselves: they make him like themselves a great many ways; they consult them­selves, instead of consulting only the Idea of an infinite­ly perfect Being. Thus they take away from him those divine Attributes which they cannot easily conceive, and attribute to him a Wisdom, a Power, a Conduct, in a word Sentiments resembling, at least in some mea­sure those which are most familiar to them. And yet the knowledge of our Duties supposes that of the Divine Attributes; and our Conduct can never be sure and well grounded if it be not built upon and govern'd by that which God observes in the execution of his De­signs.

XIX. The Knowledge of Order, which is our in­dispensable Law, is compounded of both these, clear Ideas and inward Sensations. Every Man knows that it is better to be Good, than Rich, a Prince, or a Con­queror; but every Man doth not see it by a clear Idea. Children and ignorant People know well enough when they do ill; but 'tis because the secret Check of Rea­son reproves them for it, and not always because the Light discovers it to them. For Order consider'd spe­culatively and precisely, only as it contains the Rela­tions of Perfection, enlightens the Mind without mo­ving it; if it be taken only for the Law of God, the Law of all Spiritual Beings, and consider'd only so far as it hath the force of a Law, (for God loves Order himself, and irresistibly wills that we should love it, or that we should love every Thing in proportion to its being amiable); Order, I say, as it is the natural and necessary Principle and Rule of all the Motions of the Soul, touches, penetrates, and convinces the Mind without enlightning it. So that we may discover Order by a clear Idea, but we know it also by Sensation; for since God loves Order, and continually imprints on us a Love and Motion like his own, we must necessarily be inform'd by the sure and compendious way of Sensation, when we follow or for­sake the immutable Order.

XX. But we must observe, that this way of discover­ing Order by Sensation or Instinct, is often render'd uncertain by Sin, which hath introduc'd Concupiscence; because the secret influences of the Passions are of the same nature with that inward Sensation. For when we act contrary to Opinion and Custom, we often feel such inward Checks as very much resemble those of Reason and Order. Before Sin enter'd into the World, the Sense of inward Reproof was a sign that could not be mistaken; for then that alone spoke with Authority; but since that time, the secret inspirations of our Pas­sions are not subject to our Wills: So that they are easily confounded with the inspirations of inward Truth, when the Mind is not enlightned. Hence it is that there are so many People who seriously and in good earnest maintain abominable Errors. A false Idea of Religion and Morality, which agrees with their In­terests and Passions, appears Truth it self to them; and [Page 50]being convinc'd by a pleasing Sense within them, which justifies their excess, they drive on their rash and indis­creet Zeal with all the Motion of Self-love.

XXI. There is nothing then more certain and secure, than Light; we cannot six our Attention too long on clear Ideas; and tho' we may suffer our selves to be ani­mated by the inward Sense, yet we must never be guid­ed by it. We must contemplate Order in it self, and permit this Sensation only to keep up our Attention by the Motion which it excites in us; otherwise our Me­ditations will never be rewarded with a clear prospect of Truth; we shall be disgusted every moment, and being always inconstant, doubtful and perplex'd, we shall suffer our selves to be blindly led by our Fancy.

XXII. Indeed, when our Heart is corrupted, we are not in a Condition to contemplate Order as it is in it self; we consider with Pleasure, only those imaginary Relations which things have to our selves, and neglect those real Relations which they have to one another. We may then love the Mathematicks; but it is because they bring us Reputation or Profit, and because they examine only the Relations of Greatness; whereas Or­der Consists in the Relations of Perfection. The Evi­dence of Truth is always agreeable, when it doth not clash with our Self-love; but naturally we do not love a Light which discovers our hidden Disorders; a Light which condemns, punishes, and covers us with Shame and Confusion. Order, the Divine Law, is a terrible, threatning and inexorable Law: No Man can think up­on it without fear and horror, when he will not obey it; all this is true. But yet, tho' the Heart be corrupted, Self-love enlightned may sometimes stop or diminish the Motion of the Passions. We do not love Disorder for Dis­order's sake; and a Man may desire his Conversion, when he hopes to heighten his Pleasures by it. After all, I sup­pose the necessary helps; for I confess, that without the assistance of Grace, we cannot labour in our Conversion as we ought, nor so much as have one good Thought which may contribute to the Cure of our Distempers.

CHAP. VI. Of the Liberty of the Mind. We should suspend our Assent as much as we can, which is the great Rule. By the Liberty of the Mind we may avoid Error and Sin, as by the Strength of the Mind we free our selves from Ig­norance. The Liberty of the Mind, as well as the Strength of it, is a Habit which is confirm'd by use. Some instances of its Ʋsefulness in Physicks, Morality, and Civil Life.

I. WE cannot discover Truth without the Labour of Attention, because this Labour alone is re­warded with Light. Before a Man can support and continue the Labour of Attention, he must have gain'd some Strength of Mind, and some Authority over the Body to impose Silence on his Senses, Imagination and Passions, as I have shew'd in the foregoing Chapter. But how great Strength of Mind soever he hath acquir'd, he cannot Labour incessantly; and if he could, yet there are some Subjects so obscure, that the Mind of Man cannot penetrate into them. Therefore to keep him from falling into Error, it is not sufficient to have a strong Mind to endure Labour, but he must also have another Vertue, which I cannot better express than by the Equivocal Name of Liberty of Mind; by which a Man witholds his Assent till he be irresistibly forc'd to give it.

II. When we examine any very compounded Que­stion, and our Mind finds it self surrounded on all sides with very great Difficulties, Reason permits us to give over our Labour, but it indispensably requires us to suspend our assent, and to judge of nothing, when no­thing is evident. To make use of our Liberty as much as we can, is an essential and indispensable Precept both of Logick and Morality: For we ought never to be­lieve, till Evidence obliges us to it; we ought never to love that which we may without Remorse hinder our selves from loving. I speak of Man only as he is Ra­tional, or as he governs himself only by Reason: For [Page 52]the Faithful, as such, have other Principles than Light and Evidence. The Statesman, the Burgher, the Re­ligious, the Souldier, have each of them Principles of their own; and it is reasonable that they should follow them, tho' they do not clearly and evidently see that they are conformable to Reason. But when Faith gives no determination, we should believe nothing but what we see. Where Custom prescribes no Rules, we should follow only Faith and Reason; and tho' human Au­thority doth determine, and Custom authorizes any thing, yet if we know clearly and evidently that their Determinations are false and erroneous, we had better renounce every thing than Reason: I say Reason, and not our Senses, our Imagination, or the secret inspira­tions of our Passions, which I desire may be taken no­tice of. I speak also of Authority subject to Error, and not of the infallible Authority of the Church; which can never be contrary to Reason. For Jesus Christ can never contradict himself; Truth incarnate can never be contrary to Truth intellectual, nor the Head which go­verns the Church to universal Reason, which enlightens all Spiritual Beings.

III. The Strength of the Mind is to the search of Truth, what the Liberty of the Mind is to the Posses­sion of the same Truth, or at least to Infallibility or exemption from Error: For by the use we make of the Strength of our Mind we discover Truth, and by using the Liberty of our Mind we avoid Error. The Strength and Capacity of the Mind being deficient, Liberty was necessary for it, that by suspending its Assent it might avoid Error, and that the Author of its Being might not also be the Author of its Disorders. For the Liberty of the Mind makes amends for its Weakness and Li­mitation; and he that hath so much Liberty as to be always able to suspend his Assent, tho' he cannot deli­ver himself from Ignorance, (a necessary Imperfection of all finite Spirits,) may yet avoid Error and Sin, which render a Man contemptible, and make him liable to Pu­nishment.

IV. It is certain, that if we always made use of our Liberty, as far as we are able, we should never assent but to Evidence, which alone doth never deceive, as I have prov'd elsewhere, and which also obliges the [Page 53]Will to give its Assent. For when the Mind sees clear­ly, it cannot doubt that it sees; when it hath examin'd every thing that there is to examine, in order to the dis­covery of those Relations or Truths which it searches after, it is necessary that it should rest there, and give over its Enquiries. In the same manner, as to Sin, he that loves nothing but what he evidently knows to be the true Good, nothing but what he cannot help loving, is not irregular in his Love. He loves nothing but God; for there is nothing else which we cannot with­out Remorse hinder our selves from loving. There is nothing but God which we clearly and evidently know to be really Good, to be the true Cause of Happiness, a Being infinitely Perfect, an Object capable of con­tenting the Soul, which being made for the enjoyment of all Good, may suspend its Assent of loving that which doth not contain every thing that is Good.

V. Strength and Liberty of Mind then are two Ver­tues, which we may call General, or to use the com­mon Term, Cardinal Vertues. For since we ought never to Love any thing, not do any Action, without good Consideration, we must make use of the Strength and Liberty of our Mind every moment: These Vertues, according to my Notion of them, are not natural Fa­culties common to all Men: There is nothing more rare, nor is there any Man who possesses them perfectly. I know well enough that Man is naturally capable of some Labour of Mind, but that doth not make him have a strong Mind: He can also suspend his Assent; but his Mind is not therefore naturally free, in such a manner as I mean. The Strength and Liberty of Mind, of which I speak, are Vertues which are gotten by use: But because these Vertues add Perfection to the Soul, and restore it in some measure to its original State, (for before Sin, the Mind was every way strong and free); Men do not generally look upon them as Vertues: For they imagine that Vertue instead of correcting and re­pairing Nature, ought to change or destroy it. Nay, there are some People who think that Strength and Li­berty of Mind are Faculties of the Soul, subsisting in a kind of individual; and judging of others by them­selves, they imagine that it is impossible to be attentive to those Subjects which frighten and discourage them, [Page 54]and that it is Obstinacy not to Assent to Probabilities by which they are deceiv'd.

VI. But the Strength and Liberty of the Mind are unequal in all Men. There are no two Persons equal­ly fit to retire into themselves, nor equally capable of suspending their Assent: Nay, the same Person doth not long preserve the Strength and Liberty of his Mind in the same Condition: If they do not encrease by Use and Exercise, they must necessarily decrease; for there are no Vertues more oppos'd by, and more contrary to the continual Motions of Concupiscence. Most Vertues agree well enough with Self-love, for we may often perform a great many Duties with Pleasure, and by a motive of Self-love. But we cannot meditate long with­out Pain, and much less suspend our Assent, or the Judg­ment which determines the Motions of the Soul and Bo­dy. When any Good discovers it self to the Soul, and attracts it by its Charms, it is not at ease, if it remains unmov'd; for there is no harder Labour than to keep our selves firm and steady in a Current; when-ever we cease to act, we are carried away with the Stream.

VII. Thus we see there is scarce any Man that ap­plies himself to Meditation; and that those who under­take the search of Truth, often want Strength and Cou­rage to bring them to the place of its Habitation; tir'd and dishearten'd, they strive to content themselves with what they already possess, or perhaps comfort themselves with a ridiculous contempt of what they cannot attain to, or a cowardly and mean spirited Despair. If they are deceiv'd, they turn Deceivers; if they are tir'd themselves, they infect others with Sloth and Idleness; and but to see them, is enough to make one like them­selves, discourag'd with Labour, and out of relish with Truth. For such is the Nature of Men, that they had much rather deceive one another, than consult their com­mon Master; they are so credulous in respect of their Friends, and so unbelieving or so little attentive to the Answers of the Truth within them, that Opinion and Party are the general Rule of their Thoughts and A­ctions.

VIII. In order to gain some Liberty of Mind, and to accustom our selves to suspend our Assent, we must con­tinually reflect on the prejudices or pre-occupations of [Page 55]our Minds, and the cause of them. We fancy we com­prehend things very well, when we cease to admire them; and their familiarity ridding us of all apprehen­sion, our Mind readily gives its assent, because it hath no interest to with-hold it. It signifies nothing to sus­pend our Assent, if we have no design to examine; for what matter is it if we do fall into Error? But it is great and agreeable to judge of every Thing. Now we can­not examine without Pain; at least we must spend some time in Examination, which the Soul created to be happy, thinks lost, when it is not kept in motion by Pleasure, Vanity or Interest. Hence it is, that the or­dinary Language is nothing but perpetual Jargon. For every Man thinks he understands very well what he says himself, or hears another say, when he hath said it, or heard it said a great many times over: They are only new Terms which cause uneasiness, and awa­ken the Attention; and these new Terms, tho' never so clear and free from equivocal Significations, are al­ways suspected; because every one is capable of Sus­picion and Apprehension, but there are few People ca­pable of Attention sufficient to discover Truth, and free themselves from Apprehension. I could fill whole Volumes with Examples of expressions which are uni­versally receiv'd, and yet their Sense is undetermin'd and confus'd. But every Man should take delight to joyn clear Ideas, if he can, to his ordinary Discourse; for there are few Employments more agreeable than this, or more proper to free us from our Prejudices, and to procure us some Liberty of Mind.

IX. By the same Principle it is that most Men ima­gine they know well enough the Causes of those natu­ral Effects which are common and ordinary; and when you ask the reason of them, they think you must be satisfied, tho' they tell you nothing but what you know already; for they believe that we ought to give over our Enquiries, when we cease to wonder, and that we should assent to every thing, if we have nothing to fear or hope. How comes an Egg to produce a Chicken? 'Tis the Heat of the Hen which Hatches it. This is clear; there is nothing more common; you must be sa­tisfied with this. What is it that causes a Grain of Wheat to shoot out and make way thro' the Earth to [Page 56]spread its Root there, and produce the Ear? 'Tis the Rain that does all this; What would you have more? Or if you be not contented with these or the like An­swers, those who pass for Philosophers will tell you, that Heat and Moisture, Terms clear enough in all Con­science, are the fruitful Principles of the generation and corruption of all Things. They will tell you that the little Animals are engender'd of Corruption and Putrefa­ction; that the great ones preserve their Species by cer­tain seminal or prolifick Powers, which form and rank all the parts of the Foetus: But that the Sun and Moon preside over all, or it may be a Primum Mobile, which gives motion to all the Bodies which it contains. These fine Things, or the like, we have heard, when we were Boys from grave Men whom we call'd our Masters. And because we could never learn if we did not believe without Examination, retain and repeat well, we have believ'd and repeated these Impertinences so many times, that afterwards we cannot hinder our selves from be­lieving them and teaching them to others.

X. If an Ox or any Animal of a new Species should drop from the Clouds, all the Virtuoso's and curious Wits would make abundance of Reflections on a thing that very little deserv'd their application. But that all Animals should come out of the Womb of their Mothers in a uniform manner, and according to infinitely wise Laws; this is a thing too common to be the subject of their Reflections and Enquiries. 'Tis Nature that doth all those wonderful Things. This great Word explains every Thing. We rest satisfied with it; we do not suspend our Judgment. We believe: But what is it that we believe? Why that Nature does every Thing: Nothing is plainer. Shall we doubt of this! Shall we examine things that we have said and heard a Thou­sand and a Thousand times? And what will this bring us to? To meditate? No, that costs too much Pains. To go to School and learn? No, that Time's past. We are now ask'd our Opinion: And therefore our Pro­vince is now to determine and to judge.

XI. There would be no Atheists or Libertines, if Men would reflect a little, I will not say on themselves, but on the least considerable of the Works of God, on a Leaf, a Grain or a Fly. But they have seen these Won­ders [Page 57]when they were Children. They have been us'd to them before they could think in Order, before they could reflect and suspend their Assent. They have been taught to slight and pass them by without regard. Thus they are surrounded with wonderful Works, and do not know it. They are themselves the Master­piece of God's Workmanship, and yet they think the least of any thing of examining what they are.

XII. But the advantage of suspending our Assent is much greater in matters of Morality than in any other' Case whatsoever. For that which relates to Manners is very little known, and very difficult to be known exactly, because the Principles and Idea's which we have of that matter, are obscur'd by the Passions, which leave us no liberty of Mind, but in respect of those Truths which do not much concern us. So that in mat­ters of Morality we avoid Error almost as often as we suspend our Assent; and these Errors are always of Con­sequence. Not but that we are often oblig'd to act, before we know clearly what we ought to do. But whatever we ought to do, we ought never to believe, before Evidence obliges us to it. Nor do I say that we must always remain in doubt: For there are infinite differences between doubting and believing, which have no particular Names. We doubt when every thing is equally probable. We believe when every thing is evident. But as there are innumerable degrees of Pro­bability greater and less, the Mind must place every thing in it's proper Rank, if it would judge rightly. And its decisions ought always to be guided by Light and Evidence. For tho' a Principle be not evident, yet perhaps it is evident that this Principle is probable. And therefore the Mind should suspend its Assent, and examine it, if the time permits. It should look upon it as probable, and give it that degree of probability which Light and Evidence allow it. For in fine, the Judgments of the Will ought not to have a greater la­titude than the perceptions of the Mind: We should follow the Light step by step, and not go before it. When we judge upon no other ground but because we will judge, and before we are oblig'd to it by Evi­dence, this Judgment being of our own production, and not proceeding from the action of God within us, is [Page 58]liable to Error; and tho' it may by Chance be right, yet it is not rightly made, because, as I have said seve­ral times, we should make use of our Liberty as much as we can.

XIII. Let a Man spend but one Year in the Conver­sation of the World, hearing every thing that is said, and believing nothing, retiring every Moment into him­self, to hearken whether the Truth within him speaks the same Language, and still suspending his Assent till the Light appear: I shall reckon such a Man more learned than Aristotle, wiser than Socrates, and more illuminated than the Divine Plato. Nay, I esteem the facility which he will thereby gain of meditating and suspen­ding his Assent, more than all the Vertues of the great­est Men among the ancient Heathens; for if he culti­vates a Soil that is not ungrateful, he will gain by his Labour more strength and liberty of Mind than can be imagin'd. What a vast difference there is betwixt Reason and Opinion; betwixt the Sovereign within which convinces by Evidence, and Men who persuade by Instinct, by their Gestures, Voice, Air and Behavi­our; betwixt Men both deceivers and deceiv'd, and the eternal Wisdom, Truth it self! Let those who have not reflected on these things condemn me if they please, and let them begin their Censure by renouncing Rea­son.

XIV. But farther, if Men would suspend their As­sent also touching matters of Fact, of which they can­not be inform'd by consulting the inward Truth, but seem in a manner oblig'd to believe what they are told; how many mistakes and disturbances would they avoid by making a little use of their Liberty? There is nothing does more mischief in the World than the Opinion Men have of Things: But the Opinion they have of Persons excites also an infinite number of Passions. Slander, Calumny and false Reports, are oftentimes the cause of the oppression of Innocence, of irreconcileable Hatreds, and sometimes also of Battels and bloody Wars. A Word ill understood and worse interpreted, is a sufficient ground for a Challenge with Men of a light and hasty Disposition. They will not submit to have Matters fairly clear'd: Or if they would, People are not always in a Humour to give them this [Page 59]Satisfaction. What then must we do in this Case? We should believe nothing that is said, we should suspend our Assent, and remember these Words of the wise Man, "He that is hasty to believe is light in Heart: For it is the greatest mark of a weak Mind, to believe lightly every thing that is said. Do not we know that the greatest part of Mankind is apt to Poison the most in­nocent Words and Actions, I do not say out of wilful and devilish Malice, but for their Interest or Diversion, to shew their Wit, or from the natural Malignity of their Temper? Have we not observ'd that almost all common Reports prove false in the end; and that when it is the interest of a Party, that any one should be a Man of Probity and Vertue or the contrary, common Fame disguises and transforms him in a Moment? Let every Man reflect but upon himself. How many false and rash Judgments hath he made of every thing that hath been told him of Persons whom he doth not Love? But let him take notice, that if he once suffer himself to believe all the Ill he hears, his Imaginations and Passions will not be quiet, but will make him believe a great deal more. For the Imagination and Passions never cease to communicate their own Dispositions and ma­lignant Qualities to the Objects which excite them; as the Senses imprint on Bodies those sensible Qualities with which they themselves are affected: For else how could the Passions justify all the Extravagances and Wrongs they commit? We must not always attribute to others what we feel within our selves: This miscarriage is so frequent, that whenever any one speaks of another, we have reason to be apprehensive of falling into it, and to fear that he doth not speak so much what is true, as what he believes to be true. So that if we would not be deceiv'd in our Opinions of Persons, we should suspend our Assent, and look upon that which is said of them only as probable. Prudence requires us to distrust Men, and to be always on our guard against their Ma­lignity. But we are not allow'd to condemn them within our selves: We must leave the quality of Judge and searcher of Hearts to God alone, if we will not run the hazard of committing a thousand Wrongs.

XV. That we may clearly comprehend the necessity of endeavouring to gain some liberty of Mind, or some facility of suspending the assent of the Will; we must know that when two or more Goods are actually pre­sent to the Mind, and the Mind determines its choise in relation to them, it never fails to choose that which at that instant appears to be the best; supposing an equality in every thing else. For the Soul being ca­pable of loving only by the natural tendency which it hath toward Good, must of necessity love that which hath the greatest conformity with what it loves irresisti­bly.

XVI. But we must observe, That the Soul may still suspend its Assent, and not determine it self finally, even when it doth determine it self; especially in regard of false Goods. (I suppose the room which it hath for thinking, not to be taken up by any over-violent Sen­sations or Motions.) For in fine, we may with-hold our Assent, till Evidence obliges us to yield it. Now we can never evidently see that false Goods are true ones, because we can never evidently see that which is not. So that tho' we cannot hinder our selves from de­termining in favour of the most apparent Goods, yet by suspending our Assent, we may love none but those that are most solid. For we cannot suspend our Judg­ment without exciting our Attention; and the Attention of the Mind dispels all those vain appearances and pro­babilities, which deceive the negligent and weak, those servile Minds which are sold to Pleasure, and will not fight for the preservation and enlargement of their Liber­ty; in a Word, those who cannot undergo the labour of Examination, but assent imprudently to every thing that pleases their Concupiscence. There is nothing then more necessary than the liberty of the Mind to make us love none but the true Good, live according to Order, inviolably obey Reason, and to procure us true and solid Vertue. And all such Occupations as may any way con­tribute to gain the Mind a liberty of suspending its As­sent, till the light of Truth appears, are always very profitable to Men, who have a natural inclination to judge boldly and adventurously of every thing, and by consequence are extremely liable to fall into Error and Disorder.

CHAP. VII. Of Obedience to Order. The means of acquiring a firm and ruling Disposition to obey it. It cannot be done without Grace. How far the right use of our Strength and Liberty contributes toward it, by the Light it pro­duces in us, by the contemptible Opinion it gives us of our Passions, and by the Purity which it preserves and establishes in our Imagination.

I. THE facility of rendering the Mind attentive, and of with-holding its Assent, till Evidence obliges it to give it, are Habits necessary for such as would be substantially Vertuous. But solid Vertue, Vertue every way compleat, doth not consist only in those two noble and extraordinary Dispositions of the Mind; there is requir'd besides an exact Obedience to the Law of God, a general Nicety in all our Duties, a firm and govern­ing disposition of regulating all the motions of our Hearts and all the actions of our Life by the known Order; in a Word, the love of Order. For what advantage is it to a Man to have strength and liberty of Mind suffici­ent to discover the most hidden Truths, and to avoid even the smallest Errors, if he doth not govern his Acti­ons by his Light, if he opposes or forsakes the Truth which he knows, and withdraws himself from the Obe­dience which he owes to Order, the inviolable, the eter­nal and divine Law? Certainly this will serve only to render him more Criminal, and to enhance his Guilt in the Eyes of him who invincibly loves Order, and in­dispensably punishes every breach of it.

II. But how must we gain this fix'd and ruling Dis­position of governing all the motions of our Heart, and all the actions of our Lives by the known Order? What we are to do for this end is evident from that which hath been said in the fourth Chapter. Habits are form'd by Acts: We must therefore frequently make firm and constant resolutions of obeying Order, and sa­crificing every thing to it. For by often repeating these actual Resolutions, and pursuing them at least in part, [Page 62]we may by degrees gain some kind of habitual Dispo­sition. This is easy enough to be conceiv'd; but it is by no means easy to be practis'd. For which way can we frame this heroick Resolution of sacrificing even our predominant Passion to the divine Law? Certainly it is not possible to be done without the assistance of Grace. A Man without Grace may kill himself, he may desire to return again into Nothing: But Nothing is not so ter­rible as that disconsolate condition of living without that which we love. Nothing is a middle state be­tween Happiness and Misery: So that we may wish not to be, when we are miserable, and desperate in our Misery. But we cannot wish to be miserable, because the desire of Happiness is invincible and irresistible. And therefore without a firm Faith, and the hope of enjoy­ing a Happiness more solid than that which we part with, Self-love tho' never so much enlightned, cannot beget in us a bare resolution of sacrificing our predo­minant Passion. This is without Dispute.

III. Now that this Faith and Hope are the Gifts of God [...] be prov'd by several Reasons, the chief of which I take to be this, That it is naturally impossible for a Man who is continually distracted by Objects which please his Senses, and excite his Passions, to have so much command over himself, as to examine the Truths of Religion, with that attention and perseve­rance which is necessary to be fully convinc'd of them and submit to them, unless God by a particular favour make him find some delight in this kind of application. Nevertheless, since we may make Nature subservient to Grace a great many ways, we should, out of a Principle of Self-love enlightned, endeavour to retire into our selves, to confirm our Faith, and encrease our Hope. But these Truths require a fuller explica­tion.

IV. Every Man invincibly desires to be Happy, but with a solid and durable Happiness. No Man would be deceiv'd, especially in a matter of so great conse­quence as eternal Salvation. And therefore every Man who hath already gain'd some force and liberty of Mind, or indeed every Man who is not so much a Slave to Sin, and so much in subjection to actual Pleasure, that he cannot make any reflection on the way which leads' [Page 63]to Life, should and may satisfy himself once for all, whether his Being is immortal or not; whether there be a jealous and inexorable God; whether Order is an inviolable Law, and whether every Action confor­mable or contrary to that Law shall be infallibly rewar­ded or punish'd. Self-love enlightned, and the desire of being substantially happy, is without doubt a suffi­cient Grace to incline us to make some examination of the Truths of Religion. We may deprive our selves for a moment of a slight Pleasure, to look after the en­joyment of a solid and durable one. For nothing is more reasonable and more agreeable to Self-love en­lightned, than to be willing to cease from being actu­ally happy for some time, that we may be solidly hap­py to all eternity.

V. It is not in a Man's own choice to have the Gos­pel preach'd to him. It doth not depend on his own election to happen into a Conversation, or to light of a Book, which may convince and convert him by means of the favourable circumstances of Grace and of his pre­sent Condition. But it is, or hath been in his own power to preserve some strength and liberty of Mind, and not suffer his Imagination to be corrupted to that degree, as to render Grace when it is given him ineffe­ctual; and to make him in a manner insensible of the tast of true Good and spiritual Delight, through the abun­dance, the sprightliness and force of sensible Pleasures which disturb and captivate him. For, as I have already said, it is by the means of this spiritual Delight, that the Truths of Religion make a lively impression on the Mind. Without this we read the Scripture, like the Jews, with a Vail over our Eyes. The Preacher speaks to the Ears; Miracles and Prodigies astonish the Senses; but God doth not speak to the Heart. It is Attention that is the natural cause of Light. But most commonly, as soon as Pleasure ceases, the Attention also fails; at least that kind of favourable Attention which renders the Light agreeable and lovely, and prepares the Soul for a tendency toward Good; because Pleasure is the natural Characteristick of Good, and the Soul invincibly desires to be always happy.

VI. Nevertheless, as we desire to be solidly happy, we may in some measure sacrifice false Pleasures, tho' pre­sent, [Page 64]to solid Pleasures, tho' future: Nay, we may seek the latter rather than the former, when the actual hope and the actual appearance of Good are in a reci­procal proportion to each other. Experience teaches us these Truths; for we often quit a slight Pleasure when we hope to enjoy one more solid. But because we invincibly desire to be happy, and to be actually happy, we cannot long resist the actual and continual allurement of sensible Pleasures, how great Strength and Liberty of Mind soever we have acquir'd: We cannot be willing to put off our Happiness till after Death, which the Imagination looks upon as a true annihila­tion; the Imagination, I say, which without Grace is always the Mistress of Reason, the Governess of the Passions, and the inward Principle of all the violent Motions which shake the Soul. Thus it is evident, that on the one side, he that commits Sin, and doth not labour to maintain the Strength and Liberty of his Mind, deserves Punishment; and on the other, that neither the most enlightned Law, nor the clearest Philosophy, can impart to the Soul, corrupted and weaken'd by ori­ginal Sin, sufficient soundness and strength to walk in the way which leads to Happiness: This St. Paul shews all through his Epistle to the Romans.

VII. It is necessary then that Man who is capable of Reason and Happiness, should make use of all the Strength and Liberty of Mind that is left him, to in­form himself of those things that may encrease his Faith and strengthen his Hope, which may put him in the way to Happiness; and without which, as I have shewn, it is not possible for him so much as to form a Resolu­tion of Sacrificing his predominant Passion. But what! must we Sacrifice our predominant Passion to be happy? This is a Contradiction; at least, it is very harsh and terrible: It is so; but that is when our Passion appears drest in all its Charms; we must therefore strip it of them. I do not say, that we must Sacrifice it with all those Ornaments which disguise it: On the contrary, seeing we would not be deceiv'd, seeing we would be solidly happy; I say we must endeavour to know it for what it really is, to discover the Ridiculousness of it, which may make us despise it, or the Deformity of it, which may create in us an aversion for it. This I say, [Page 65]that we should and may by the Strength of our Hope and Faith bring our Mind to such a Temper, that with the help of Grace, it may perform this Sacrifice which appears so terrible, with Pleasure, or at least with Joy and Satisfaction: After all, there is a necessity for it. We must either unavoidably perish together with our imaginary Riches, or throw them over-board to arrive happily at the Port, where we shall find solid and sub­stantial Wealth, not subject to Storms and Tempests.

VIII. For this end, we must study the Nature of Man; we must know our Selves, our Greatness, our Weakness, our Perfections and Inclinations; we must be fully satisfied of the Immortality of our Being; we must carefully examine the difference between the two Parts of which Man is compos'd, and the admirable Laws of their Union; from thence we must raise our Minds to the Author of these Laws, and the true Cause of all that passes within our selves, and in the Objects that are about us. We must contemplate God in those Attributes which are contain'd in the vast and bound­less Idea of an infinitely perfect Being, and never judge of him with relation to our selves; but support the View of our Mind, if there be occasion, in so abstract­ed and profound a Subject, by the visible Effects of the universal Cause: Above all, we must examine the Re­lations which the Conduct of God hath to the Divine Attributes, and find out how his Conduct ought necessarily to be the Rule of ours: Finally, we must penetrate into his eternal Designs, and know at least that he is himself the end of his working, and that the immutable Order is his Law. Then we must go back again to our selves, compare our selves with Order, and discover that we are wholly corrupted; we must be sensible and asham'd of our low and unworthy Inclina­tions; and condemn our selves as guilty, as Enemies of our God, as not engaging in his Designs, as not o­beying his Law, but the filthy Law of Flesh and Blood; we must humble our selves and tremble before a God jealous of his Glory, and a punisher of Crimes; we must dread his just and terrible Vengeance, Death and Hell; seek for a Mediator with the greatest concern, and find him at length in the Person of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God; who was once offer'd as a Sa­crifice [Page 66]upon the Cross, for the Sins of the World, and is now seated at the right hand of the living God, made Lord of all things, and consecrated a High Priest of the true Goods; once put to death as a Malefactor without Jerusalem, and now within the Temple, in the Holy of Holies, before his Face of the Father, always living to make intercession for Sinners, and to shower down Blessings and Graces upon them; but after all, their inexorable Judge in the day of the Vengeance of the Lord; that eternal Day which shall put an end to all Time, and fix the measures of Good and Evil to all Eternity.

IX. Can we think of these great Truths, and be con­vinc'd of them by frequent Meditations, and yet find our Passions still the same? Can that sensible Pomp and those Charms which surround them; can they, I say, bear that strong and penetrating Light which diffuses it self in the Mind, when we think of Death and Hell, and the World to come, that heavenly Jerusalem en­lightned with the Splendor of God himself, and environ'd with the River of his Pleasures? Certainly, the thought of Death alone must change the whole Face of things in those who have any Sense left, or retain any Strength and Liberty of Mind. But that unavoidable Alterna­tive of two Eternities, so opposite to each other, which succeed our latest Moments, must needs break all the Designs, and blot out all the Ideas which our Passions represent to us; at least, they cannot possibly justify their Extravagancies and Irregularities in these times of Reflection.

X. If to those Truths which Reason discovers when it is guided by Faith, we add that which Reason by it self informs us, of the difference between the Soul and the Body, and of the Laws of the Union of these two Sub­stances; it will not be so difficult to discover the Ma­lignity of the Passions, and to despise their flattering Caresses which irresistibly seduce weak Minds. For when we reflect seriously on the movement and work­ing of our Machine, we sometimes choose rather to go­vern the Springs of it our selves, than to be carried a­long with its Motions; and when we are fully con­vinc'd, that all the Splendor and all the Charms of sen­sible Objects depend only on the manner in which the [Page 67]Fermentation of the Blood and other Humours repre­sent them to us, the desire which we have of being so­lidly happy carries our Thoughts another way, and sometimes makes us loath and abhor those vain Ob­jects; vain and contemptible without doubt, as well because the Splendor of them vanishes, when the Fer­mentation abates, or when the Circulation of the Blood supplies the Brain with Spirits of a different Quality, as for a great many other Reasons which need not here be alledg'd; they pass away, and that is sufficient. But they pass away in such a manner, that they draw along with them those that fasten themselves to them, and de­stroy them for ever.

XI. Let every one then examine his predominant Passion by the Principles of the true Philosophy, and those Truths which Faith teaches him, of which he ought to satisfy himself by a good use of Grace and Liberty; (for nothing is more reasonable than Religion, tho' we stand in need os some help to make us throughly com­prehend it, and submit our selves to it;) let every one, I say, examine by the Light of Reason and of Faith, the Passion which holds him in Captivity; and he will find in himself, some desire, at least, to be deliver'd from its Tyranny: The Enchantmens which bewitch'd him, will vanish by degrees; he will be asham'd of himself for being so easily seduc'd, and if the Fermen­tation of the Blood and Humours ceases for a little while, and the animal Spirits change their Course, he will find himself so displeas'd with the Object of his Incli­nations, that he will not be able so much as to endure the Presence of it.

XII. But notwithstanding this, we must not cease to watch over our selves, to distrust our own Strength, and to meditate on those Subjects which render out Passions ridiculous and contemptible; for we must not imagine our selves at liberty, because we are not actu­ally ill us'd by them. Our Imagination remains a long time polluted by the impression of the Passion which hath once reign'd in us; for the Wounds which the Brain hath receiv'd from the Action of Objects and the Motion of the Spirits, are not easily cur'd; the animal Spirits flowing naturally to those parts of the Brain which are most open or lie most ready to receive them; it is impossible to heal the Wounds of the Imagination, [Page 68]but by continually turning the Course of the Spirits which renews them; as it is impossible for a Wound in the Body to close up, if you thrust the Sword which made it, every moment into it, or any thing which renews and enflames it.

XIII. But the Spirits do not only of themselves, and as it were fortuitously, flow into the Wounds which the Brain hath receiv'd from the Action of sensible Ob­jects; they are determin'd also to pass thither continu­ally, by the Pleasure which the Soul receives from thence, and especially by the admirable Construction of the Machine, which goes on in its Motion, without ex­pecting the Orders of the Will, and many times by reason of Sin, contrary to them. So that whenever we cease to resist and divert the Course of the Spirits, the Passions renew and encrease their Strength. Now the only way to make a Diversion and Revulsion in the Spi­rits, is to set before our Minds those Objects, and employ our selves in those Thoughts to which different courses of the animal Spirits are joyn'd, by the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body: For the Course of the Spirits doth not depend immediately on our Will; but only because the Thoughts which determine the Mo­tion of the Spirits depend on it, as I have shewn in the Fifth Chapter. It is impossible then to deliver our selves from our Passions, if we do not carefully avoid the Ob­jects which excite them, and employ our Minds in such Thoughts as are proper to make them ridiculous and contemptible. But I shall treat of this more particularly hereafter.

XIV. To make Men reflect yet farther on the Truths which I have here set down, I think my self oblig'd to add this in particular, That neither the Prayer of Invo­cation, nor good Works, no nor the Grace of Jesus Christ, doth heal the Wounds which the Brain receives from the violent and irregular Motion which the Passions excite in the animal Spirits: No, the most sublime Grace of Christ, that of Baptism, that which the Soul receives in the Holy Communion, when it comes to it with the most sanctified Dispositions, do not cure this kind of Distempers without a Miracle. It is true, in­deed, that the Grace of Justification gives us a Right to those Succours which are necessary to resist the actual [Page 69]Assault of the Passions; but it doth not deliver us from their Attacks, it doth not close the Wounds which the Brain hath receiv'd from the Action of sensible Objects. God doth not work Miracles on our Body when he ju­stifies us; he still leaves us all our Weaknesses: Bap­tism doth not free us from our Concupiscence; and the new Christian who is tormented with the Gout, or dis­quieted with any Passion, doth not find himself cur'd of those troublesome Distempers; he only re­ceives the assistance necessary to make him bear patient­ly the Pain which afflicts him, and uneasily, tho brave­ly, the Caresses of the Passion which Courts and Flat­ters him.

XV. The same thing almost may be said of Prayer and good Works; they obtain of God the Succours necessary for the Fight, but they do not deliver us from our Miseries; unless it be that continual fighting and resisting naturally makes the Spirits take another Course, and then the Wounds close up and heal of them­selves; for to cure the Wounds of the Brain, as well as those of the other parts of the Body, it is sufficient that there be nothing to hinder the separated parts from reuniting.

XVI. Now the Reason why Grace doth not deli­ver us from our Passions, nor Baptism from the con­tinual Assaults of our Concupiscence, is because the power of the Grace of Christ appears much more by the continual Victories which the Just obtain over their Do­mestick Enemies; the Merit of the Saints by this means becomes more pure and illustrious; and since Glory is proportion'd to Merit, the holy City, the eternal Tem­ple, the great work of Christ receives innumerable Beau­ties, which it would not have, if our Passions did not give us continual Assaults. St. Paul was just, but yet he found in his Flesh a Law opposite to that of the Spi­rit, by which he was animated: He often besought Christ that he would deliver him from that which he calls, A Thorn in the Flesh. But Christ answers him; 2 Cor. 12. v. 8, 9. ‘My Grace is sufficient for thee; for it is in Weak­ness that my Power appears, and that Vertue purifies it self. Therefore St. Paul gloried in Infirmities, in Persecutions, in Reproaches, that the Power of Christ, as he saith,’ might rest upon him.

XVII. Let us not wonder therefore if the Sacraments leave the Body in the same condition in which they found it, and strengthen only the inward Man, of which we have no perfect Knowledge; nor let us despair, because we see our selves still insulted and ill-us'd by sinful Passions, if we always continue stedfast in our Faith, contented with our Hope, and thereby unshaken in our Resolution of Sacrificing all Things to God. But if we would, as indeed we ought, (for we ought always to avoid Dangers;) if we would, I say, deliver our selves from those troublesome Motions which the Passions excite in us, we must absolutely make use of that Remedy which I have prescrib'd, and fill our Minds with such Thoughts as may make a Diversion and Revulsion in the animal Spirits, and render the Passions ridiculous and contemp­tible; there is no other way. But those who either upon Philosophical grounds, or by motives of Self-love enlightned, condemn the Passions as Criminal, must not presently imagine that they are just in the sight of God, nor too hastily esteem themselves above their Brethren. We must, as much as we can, make Nature subservient to Grace; but we must still remember, that Nature doth not justify, and that Grace many times operates in Mens Minds and converts them, and yet they perceive no alteration in them.

CHAP. VIII. The Means which Religion furnishes us with to gain and preserve the Love of Order. Jesus Christ is the occa­sional Cause of Grace: we must call upon him with con­fidence. When we come to the Sacraments, the actual Love of Order is chang'd in [...] habitual, in consequence of the permanent desires of [...]rist: The Proof of this Truth being essential to the Conversion of Sinners. The fear of Hell is as good a motive as the desires of eter­nal Happiness. We must not confound the Motive with the End. The desire of being Happy, or Self-love, should make us conformable to Order, or obedient to the Law of God.

I. WE cannot obtain nor preserve Vertue or the Love of Order, but by actual resolutions of Sacrificing every Thing to it; because naturally Habits are got and maintain'd by Acts: But we cannot frame a resolution of Sacrificing our predominant Passion, without a lively Faith, and a firm Hope; especially when this Passion appears with all its Charms and Al­lurements. And therefore since it is Light and Under­standing which illuminates Faith, strengthens Hope, and discovers to the Mind the ridiculousness and defor­mity of the Passions, we should continually meditate on the true Goods, and seek and carefully lay up in our Memory the Motives which may induce us to love them, and to despise transient Enjoyments; and that with so much the greater diligence, because the Light is subject to our Wills; and if we live in Darkness, it is most commonly our own fault. I think I have suffici­ently prov'd these Truths.

II. But when our Faith is not lively, nor our Hope strong enough to make us resolve to Sacrifice a Pas­sion, which hath got such a Dominion over our Heart, that it corrupts our Mind every Moment, and draws it to its Party; the only thing we ought to do, and per­haps the only thing we can do in this Case, is to seek for that in the fear of Hell, and the just Indignation [Page 72]of an avenging God, which we cannot find in the hope of an eternal Happiness; and in the Motion which that Fear excites in us, to pray to the Saviour of Sinners, that he would encrease our Faith and Confidence in him, not ceasing in the mean time to meditate on the Truths of Religion and Morality, and on the Vanity of transitory Enjoyments; for without this we cannot be sensible of our Miseries, nor call upon our Deliverer. Now when we find in our selves st [...]ngth enough to form an actual resolution of Sacrificing our Passions to the Love of Order; then, tho' according to the Principles which I have laid down in the foregoing Chapters, we may through the assistance of Grace, by repeating the like Acts, absolutely acquire Charity, or the habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order; yet it is better, without delay, to come to the Sacraments, and in that actual Motion which the Holy Ghost inspires in us, to wash away our Sins by Penance. This is un­doubtedly the most compendious and certain way to change the Act into a Habit; the Act, I say, which is transient and doth not work Conversion, into a Habit which remains and which justifies. For God doth not Judge us according to that which is actual and transitory, but according to habitual and permanent Dispositions; and by the Sacraments of the New Testament, we receive justifying Charity, which gives us a Right to the true Goods, and the assistances necessary for the obtaining of them. These Truths I shall here explain either by certain Principles, or by Evidence, or by Faith.

III. I think I have shewn in several places, and by se­veral ways, That God always executes his Designs by general Laws, the Efficacy of which is determin'd by the action of occasional Causes. I have prov'd this Truth by the Effects of those second Causes which are known to us, and I think I have demonstrated it from the Idea of God himself, because his Action ought to bear the Character of his Attributes. And therefore I refer the Reader for this Matter to my other Writings. But if Reason could not lead us to this Truth, yet the Holy Scripture would not suffer us to doubt of it, in relation to the Subject which I now treat of: For the Scripture teaches us that Jesus Christ, as Man, is not only the meritorious, but also the distributive or oc­casional [Page 73]Cause of all Graces; that by his Sacrifice of himself he hath gain'd a Right over all the Nations of the World, to make use of them as Materials in build­ing the Spiritual Temple of the Church, of which the stately Temple of Solomon was but a Shadow and a Fi­gure; and that now, and ever since the day of his Ascen­sion, he makes use of that Right, and raises that eter­nal Temple to the glory of his Father, by the Power which he receiv'd from him in the day of his Victories, when he was made High Priest of the true Goods, af­ter the irrevocable Order of Melchisedech. Eph. 4.15, 16. Christ is the Head of the Church; he continually infuses into the Members of which it is compos'd, 1 Joh. 2.1. 1 T [...]m. 2.5. Eph. 5.23. Heb. 7.25. Joh. 11.42. Mat. 28.18. Joh. 13.5. the Spirit which gives it Life and Holiness: He is the Advocate, the Mediator, the Saviour of Sinners: He is in the Holy of Holies, always Living to make intercession for us, and all his Prayers and Desires are heard. In a word, he himself tells us, That all Power was given to him in Heaven and in Earth. Now he did not receive this Power, as God equal to the Father, but as Man like unto us; and God communicates his Power to the Creatures no farther, than as he executes their Wills, and by them his own Designs; for God alone is the true Cause of every thing that is done both in Nature and Grace. Thus it is certain from the Scripture, that Jesus Christ as Man is the occasional cavse which deter­mines the efficacy of that general Law, whereby God would Save all Men in and by his Son.

IV. It is necessary that we should be well convinc'd of this Truth which is essential to Religion, by reading the New Testament, and particularly the Epistle to the Hebrews: And having, as I think, sufficiently prov'd it in my Treatise of Nature and Grace, and in my Chri­stian Meditations, I shall not insist any longer upon it. I write for Philosophers, but they are Christian Philo­sophers, such as receive the Scripture and the infallible Tradition of the Universal Church; and I endeavour to explain the Truths of Faith by clear and unequivo­cal Terms. This makes me say, that Jesus Christ as Man and High Priest of the true Goods, is the occasional cause of Grace. I might have call'd him the natural, instrumental, second, distributive Cause, or have made use of some other more common Term: But the com­monest [Page 74]Terms are not always the clearest. Tho' People fancy they understand them perfectly, yet commonly they scarce know what they say, when they use them; and if they would take the pains to examine these which I have mention'd they would find that the Term of natural Cause raises a false Idea; that that of instru­mental is obscure; that of second so general, that it gives no distinct Idea to the Mind; and that of distri­butive at least equivocal and confus'd. Whereas this which I have made use of, [the occasional cause of Grace] hath, I think, none of these defects, at least as to those Persons for whom alone I writ the Treatise of Nature and Grace, tho' many others have taken upon them to judge of it who scarce understand the Prin­ciples which I have there laid down. For this Term denotes precisely that God who doth every thing as the true cause, which I think I have prov'd in several places, imparts his Grace only by Jesus Christ, the Sa­crifice once offer'd on the Cross, and now glorified and consummated in God, the High Priest of good Things to come, the Head of the Church, and the Architect of the eternal Temple. It clearly denotes that the ge­neral Law of the Order of Grace is that God would Save all Men in and by his Son: A Truth which S. Paul repeats upon all occasions, as being the Foun­dation of the Religion which we profess. It may be I have not light on the proper Word to express clearly that which Faith teaches us concerning Jesus Christ. But let not any one therefore be offended with me, I am willing to be Taught, and shall never contend with Heat and Obstinacy for Terms. When any one will give me better, I will make use of them. But I think that the clearest are the best. For we should consider, that Words are design'd only to express our Thoughts. So that those Words which clearly express false Conceptions, are in themselves preferable to those which express the most solid Thoughts confusedly: Especially when Men make use of them as I do, with a design to explain and prove clearly those Truths which Philosophers themselves do not very well comprehend.

V. But I desire that the World would do me that Justice, or have so much Charity for me as to believe, that my introducing some Ideas which I make use of [Page 75]in this Treatise, proceeds neither from a resentment against any Persons, nor from a desire of justifying my own Notions or ways of Expression. I believe that those who have not done me Justice, had no design to injure me; and that if they judg'd a little too hastily of my Opinion from Terms which they do not understand, it was their love to Religion which prompted them to it: A Love which cannot be too great, and which is hard to be kept within Bounds, when it is so fervent as I know it to be in some of my Adversaries. The Reader will pardon this short Digression, I return to my Sub­ject.

VI. God never acts without Reason, and there are but two general Reasons which determine him to act: Order, which is his inviolable Law, and those general Laws which he hath establish'd, and which he constantly observes, that so his Actions may bear the Character of his Attributes. Therefore seeing that nothing happens in the Creatures, which God doth not do, and that as to Sinners, the immutable order of Justice doth not re­quire that God should do any good to them; the Sin­ner cannot obtain any Good, much less Grace, with­out having recourse to the occasional cause, which de­termines the true cause to communicate it to Men. So that there is a kind of necessity that we should know distinctly and precisely what is that occasional cause, that so we may make our applications to it with con­fidence, and obtain those assistances, without which, as I have shew'd, it is not possible so much as to form a resolution of sacrificing our predominant Passion to the Law of God.

VII. When a sick Man is in fear of Death, and is fully satisfied that there is but one certain Fruit which can restore him to his Health again; his Fear is suffi­cient to make him use some endeavours to get that Fruit. The first Man was immortal only because he knew that the Fruit of the Tree of Life could preserve vigour and give Immortality, and that it was in his power to Eat of it. So when we are in fear of Hell, and know distinctly that Christ is the Tree of Life, whose Fruit gives Immortality, or to speak clearly and unequivocally to Philosophers, when we know that Christ is the occa­sional cause of Grace, the actual fear of eternal Death [Page 76]is sufficient to make us call upon him, and pray that he would with relation to us, form such desires as may determine God the true cause to deliver us from our Miseries.

VIII. I say once again, for we cannot imprint this Truth too deeply in our Minds, that Jesus Christ as Man is alone the occasional cause of Grace, and it is more certain that his desires procure for us the Spirit which quickens us, than it is that to Morrow the Sun will diffuse its Light, or the Fire its Heat and Motion. The Fire hath sometimes respected the Bodies of Mar­tyrs; the Sun is often eclips'd, and every Night leaves us in Darkness: But Christ never pray'd in vain. For if before he had compleated his Sacrifice, by which he merited the Glory he now possesses, speaking to his Father, Joh. 11.42. he said of himself; I knew that thou hearest me always; Certainly now that he is entred by his Blood into the Holy of Holies, and is ordain'd a High Priest of true Goods, it would be a very great infidelity to want confidence in him. But it may be objected, that the Fire communicates its Heat by the necessity of na­tural Laws, and that we cannot come near it without feeling its action; whereas on the contrary it depends on the Will of Christ whether he will Pray for those which call upon him. This difference is true. But what! Shall we doubt of the goodness of Christ? Can we forget that he bears the Character of the Saviour of Sinners? Shall we distrust the promises which he hath made us in so many places of his Gospel? Heb. 4.14, 15, 5, 9. Let us remem­ber that we have in him a High Priest who hath expe­rienc'd our Miseries, and sympathizes with our Infirmi­ties: That he desires nothing so much as to finish his great Work, the eternal Temple, of which we should be living Stones; Luk. 15.7. and that, as he saith himself, there is Joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repenteth: And in those Thoughts let us approach with Confidence the Throne of his Grace, the true Mercy-seat. Let us ask, and we shall receive: Let us seek, and we shall find; let us knock, and we shall at last have leave to enter. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be Sav'd. Joel 2.32. The Scripture teaches us these Truths.

IX. So then, supposing that a Man fears the terrible Judgments of the living God, believes in Christ, and calls upon him as his Saviour, and that in fine he hath receiv'd from him sufficient Strength to form that noble resolution of renouncing his predominant Passion: That which he ought to do in this case, is to come without delay, and throw himself at the Feet of the Priest, that by the Sacrament of Penance he may receive absolution of his Sins, and justifying Charity, which Sinners re­ceive by this Sacrament, when they come to it in the motion which the Holy Ghost inspires, tho' he doth not yet dwell in them.

X. To prove the Truth of what I here assert, I say, that Christ after his Resurrection appear'd to his Apo­stles, and said to them: Peace be unto you. Joh. 20.21.As my Fa­ther hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose Sins ye do remit, they are remitted unto them, &c. From whence it is manifest, first that the Apostles, and consequently Priests have power to for­give Sins; this I think cannot be denied. Secondly, that this Sacrament as also all those of the New Testament, tho' for other Reasons than these which I here make use of, do confer justifying Charity, or an habitual and ru­ling Love of the immutable Order. For God doth not judge of a Man by that which he knows to be transient and actual in him, but by fix'd and permanent Dispo­sitions. Therefore an actual love of Order doth not justify, but only an habitual Love. For God who in­violably loves Order, cannot love a Heart that is irre­gular, and more dispos'd toward evil than toward good. Now the Priest hath power to forgive Sins: Therefore he hath power to render a Sinner acceptable to God. His Absolution then changes the Act into a Habit and a per­manent Disposition. For the Priest cannot judge of the state of the Penitent, but only of his actual Resolution. He cannot judge of the Penitent but only by the decla­ration which the Penitent himself makes to him, and the Penitent himself cannot tell whether the love which he hath for Order be habitual or not. For a Man cannot judge of himself but by the inward sense he hath of him­self, and this sense represents to him only the acts which [Page 78]he actually perceives, and not the Habits if they be not form'd in him.

XI. From hence it is evident, that it is a pernicious Error to believe that the Absolution of the Priest deli­vers the Penitent only from the eternal Punishment due to Sin. For the Priest having no way to be morally assur'd that a Penitent is justified in the sight of God, could never give Absolution but at a venture, if the Sa­crament did not change the Act or the actual resolution of which we have an inward sense, into an habitual Disposition, which is not perceiv'd. And besides, how could this be a power of forgiving Sins, to leave the Sinner in the Death of Sin, and to do good only to the Righteous? It is certain then that there is in Jesus Christ a permanent and efficacious desire in consequence of the power which God hath given him, by making him the occasional cause of Grace; that the state of the Penitent is chang'd by the absolution of the Priest; and that he is deliver'd from the guilt of Sin, as well as from the eternal Punishment which is due to it.

XII. Certainly, if we compare God's two Cove­nants with Men together, to discover their several rela­tions, the Blessings promis'd by the Law, with those which Christ hath merited for us, and of which he is the dispenser; we shall see plainly that as the Author of the Law gave a Right by his promises to temporal Goods, so Jesus Christ the Mediator of the new Cove­nant must also give a Right to real and eternal Goods: And therefore our Sacraments must operate, in those who receive them Grace or justifying Charity, which alone gives a Right to these true Goods. For it is cer­tain, that God who loves Order, cannot give Heaven to those who are more dispos'd to Evil than to Good, and are actually in Disorder. After all, the Council of Trent hath determin'd the same thing which I here assert. Sess. 7. Can. 8 Sess. 14. Chap 4. Cap. 5. It is an Article of our Faith, that the Sacraments of the New Testament operate Grace, or justifying Cha­rity; and that the Sinner who comes to the Sacrament of Penance by the motion which the Holy Ghost inspires in him, a motion which doth not justify, for the Holy Ghost doth not yet dwell in him, as the Council de­clares, and for those reasons which I have set down; that the Sinner, I say, truly receives the habitual Cha­rity [Page 79]of Justification by the efficacy of the Sacrament, which the Saviour of Sinners hath instituted to deliver them from the captivity of Sin.

XIII. So then it is evident, that the Sinner who is made contrite by any motive whatsoever, for it mat­ters not what it is, when he feels himself touch'd with Repentance, and hath obtain'd by his Prayers or other­wise, sufficient strength to form the generous resolution of sinning no more, or of renouncing his predominant Passion, ought speedily to have recourse to Penance, that so he may receive by this Sacrament, that which in all probability he could never obtain by the ordinary way of Prayer.

XIV. I know very well that many People condemn the fear of Hell, as a motive of Self-love which can never produce any Good: Notwithstanding I have made use of it, as being the most lively and the most common Motive to excite us to do those things which may contribute to our Justification. I know that they reject this motive as useless, and on the contrary approve only of the hope of an eternal Reward, as a holy and reasonable Motive, by which most good Men are ani­mated to Vertue, according to those Words of David, who was always so full of Fervour and Charity; I have enclin'd my Heart to perform thy Statutes alway, Psal. 119.112. [...]. Sept. prop­ter retribu­ionem Vulg. Lat. be­cause of the Reward. Notwithstanding, to desire to be Happy, or to desire not to be Miserable, is the same thing, there is nothing more easy to be conceiv'd than this. The fear of Pain and the desire of Pleasure are both of them but motions of Self-love. Now Self-love in it self is not Evil. God continually produces it in us. He irresistibly enclines us to Good, and by the same Motion irresistibly diverts us from Evil. We can­not hinder our selves from desiring to be Happy, and consequently from desiring not to be Miserable. So then the fear of Hell, and the hope of Heaven are two Motives equally Good: Only that of Fear hath this advantage over the other, that it is more lively, strong and efficacious: because generally, supposing all other things equal, we fear Pain, more than we desire Plea­sure: Of this every Man may consult himself. Nor let any one say that the eternal Reward comprehends in it the vision of God; and therefore the hope of Reward [Page 80]is a good Motive: For the same Reason will serve for Fear. Hell excludes the Vision of God; and the fear of not enjoying God, is the same thing with the desire or hope of enjoying him. So that if we compare Plea­sure with Pain, the loss of God with the enjoyment of him, fear is as good a Motive as desire or hope. But besides, it hath this advantage, that it is proper to awaken the most drowsy and stupid; and for this rea­son it is that the Scripture and the Fathers make use of this By Mo­tive I under­stand that which excites in the Soul any actual motion of that kind of Love which I call'd be­for love of Union. Motive upon all occasions. For after all, it is not properly the Motive which regulates the Heart, but the love of Order. Every Motive is grounded on Self-love, on that invincible desire of being happy, which God continually inspires into us, in a Word on our own Will; for we cannot Love but by our Will. And a Man that burn'd with a desire of enjoying the presence of God, to contemplate his Perfections, and have a share in the felicity of the Saints, would still de­serve the punishment of Hell, if he had a disorder'd Heart, and refus'd to sacrifice his predominant Passion to Order. As on the contrary, one that was indifferent as to eternal Happiness, if that were possible, but in all other things was full of Charity, or the love of Order in which Charity is comprehended or of the love of God above all other things, he I say, would be a just Man and solidly Vertuous; for as I have already prov'd at large, true Vertue, or a conformity to the Will of God, consists wholly in an habitual and ruling Love of the eternal and divine Law, the immutable Order.

XV. A Man ought to love God not only more than this present Life, but also more than his own Being: Order requires it. But he cannot be excited to this love any other way, than by the natural and invincible love which he hath for Happiness; He cannot love but by the love of Good or his own Will. Now he cannot find his Happiness in himself: He can find it only in God, because there is nothing but God alone capable of acting on him, and making him happy. Again, it is better not to be than to be Miserable: It is better then, not to be than to be out of favour with God: Therefore we ought to love God more than our selves, and pay him an exact Obedience. There is a difference between the Motives and the End. We are excited by [Page 81]the Motives to act for the End. It is the greatest Crime imaginable to place our End in our selves. We should do every thing for God. All our Actions should be re­fer'd to him from whom alone we have the power to do them: Otherwise, we violate Order, we offend God, and are guilty of Injustice. This is undeniable. But we should seek for the motives which may make us love Order, in that invincible Love which God hath given us for Happiness, For since God is Just, we cannot be happy, if we are not obedient to Order. It matters not whether those Motives be of Fear or of Hope, if they do but animate and support us. The most lively, the most strong, solid and durable are the best.

XVI. There are some People that make a Thousand extravagant Suppositions, who for want of a true Idea of God, suppose, for instance, that he hath design'd to make them eternally Miserable. And in this Supposi­tion, they think themselves oblig'd to love this Chimera of their own Imagination above all Things. This per­plexes them extremely: For indeed how is it possible to love God, when they deprive themselves of all the rational Motives of loving him; or rather, when in­stead of him, they represent to themselves a terrible Idol with nothing in it capable of being Lov'd? God would have us Love him such as he is, and not such as it is impossible for him to be. We must love an infinitely perfect Being, and not a dreadful Phantom, an unjust God; a God, powerful indeed, absolute and supreme, such as Men wish to be, but without Wisdom or Good­ness, Qualities which they do not much esteem. For the ground of these extravagant Fancies, which frighten those that form them, is that they judge of God by the inward sense which they have of themselves, and with­out considering imagine that God may form such De­signs as they find themselves capable of forming. But they have no Reason to fear; if there were such a God as they Fancy, the true God, who is jealous of his Ho­nour, would forbid us to adore and love him: They should endeavour to satisfy themselves, that perhaps there is more danger of offending God, in giving him so horri­ble a form, than in despising that Phantom of their own. We should continually seek for those Motives which [Page 82]may preserve and encrease in us the love of God, such as are the Threatnings and Promises which relate to the immutable Order; Motives proper for Creatures who invincibly desire to be happy, and of which the Scrip­ture also is full; and not destroy those reasonable Mo­tives, and render the Fountain of all Good odious. For the reason why the Devils cannot love God, is because they have now, through their own fault no motive to Love-him: It is decreed, and they know it, that God will never be good in respect of them. For since it is impossible to love any thing but Good, or that which is capable of giving Happiness, they have no motive to love God, but they have to hate him with all their power as the true but most just cause of the Miseries which they suffer. They cannot love God, and yet they are oblig'd to love him, because Order requires it; Or­der, I say, which is the inviolable Law of all intelli­gent Beings, in what state soever they be, Happy or Miserable. Therefore, since they deserve that which they suffer, they are in a state of disorder, and will be incorrigible in their Wickedness to all eternity. What I have said of this matter is only to shew, that no­thing can be Evil, nor ought to be rejected, which may make us love God, have recourse to Jesus Christ, and live according to Order. If I am deceiv'd, I desire to be better inform'd, for this is a matter of great conse­quence.

CHAP. IX. The Church in its Prayers Addresses its self to the Father by the Son, and why. We should Pray to the Blessed Virgin, Angels and Saints, but not as occasional causes of inward Grace. The Angels, and even the Devils have power over Bodies, as occasional causes. By this means the Devils may tempt us, and the Angels pro­mote the efficacy of Grace.

I. JESUS CHRIST consider'd in his humane Na­ture, being alone the true Propitiatory, or the occa­sional cause of Grace, as I have shewn in the former Chapter, it is evident that we must apply our selves to him alone for the obtaining of it. Nevertheless we may call upon God, nay, we must Worship or call upon none but him as the true cause of our Good. We may Pray to the Blessed Virgin, to Angels and Saints, not as true causes, nor as occasional or distributive causes of Grace, but as Friends of God, or intercessors with Je­sus Christ. We may also Pray to the Angels, as our protectors against the Devil, or as occasional causes of certain effects, which may dispose us to receive inward Grace profitably. But I must explain those Truths more at large, for they are of the greatest Importance; for regulating our Prayers, our Worship, and all our Du­ties.

II. The Church being guided by the Spirit of Truth generally addresses her Prayers to the Father by the Son; and when she addresses them to the Son, she con­siders him as equal to the Father, and consequently calls upon him not simply as he is Man, but as he is God and Man. This appears from the ordinary con­clusions of our Prayers: Through Christ our Lord, or, through Jesus Christ our Lord, or, who livest and reignest one God, &c. For since God alone is the true cause, who by his own power can do all that we desire, it is necessary that the greatest part of our Prayers and all our Worship should be refer'd to him. But as he never acts but when the occasional causes which he hath ap­pointed [Page 84]determine the efficacy of his Laws, it is fit that the manner of our calling upon him should be con­formable to this Notion of him.

III. If Jesus Christ as Man did not intercede for Sinners, it would be in vain for them to call upon him. For since Grace is not given to Merit, the immutable Order of Justice doth not oblige God to grant it to Sin­ners who Pray for it. It must therefore be the occasio­nal cause which obliges him to do it, in consequence of the Power given to this cause by the establishment of the general Laws of the Order of Grace: Because, as I said before, God never acts but when the immuta­ble Order requires it, or when the occasional or par­ticular Causes oblige him to it. But tho' Christ alone as Man be the particular cause of the good Things which we receive, yet if the Prayers of the Church were always Address'd directly to him, this might give Men some occasion of Error, and induce them it may be to Love him as he is Man, with that kind of Love which is due only to the true Power, and to Worship him even without regard to the divine Person in which his humane Nature subsists. Now Adoration and Love of Union, which are Honours belonging to Power, are due to the Almighty alone: For Christ himself challenges our Adoration and this kind of Love, only as he is at the same time both God and Man.

IV. Therefore the Church hath very great reason to Address her Prayers to God, the only true Cause; but through Christ, who is the occasional and distributive Cause of the good Things which we Pray for. For tho' Sinners never receive Grace, but when Christ Prays for them by his Desires either Actual or Habitual, Transient or Permanent, yet we must always remem­ber that it is God alone who gives it as the true Cause, that so our Love and Devotion may be ultimately re­fer'd to him alone. Nevertheless, when we apply our selves to the true and general Cause, it is the same thing as if we did it to the particular and distributive Cause: Because Christ as Man being the Saviour of Sinners, Order requires that he should be acquainted with their Prayers; and he is so far from being Jea­lous of the Honour which we give to God, that he [Page 85]himself as Man always acknowledges his Impotence and Subordination; and will never hear those, who like the Eutychians, look upon his humane Nature as trans­form'd into the Divine, and so take from him the qua­lities of Advocate, Mediator, Head of the Church, and High Priest of the true Goods. Thus we see on one side, that to make our Prayers effectual, it is not absolutely necessary that we should know the Truths, which I have here explain'd so precisely and distinctly; and on the other, that the Churches proceeding agrees perfectly with the fundamental Vertue of Religion and Morality, namely, that God alone is the final Cause of all Things, and that we cannot have access to him, but by Jesus Christ our Lord. This I think will easily be granted.

V. But the case of the Blessed Virgin, Angels and Saints, hath somewhat more difficulty in it. Never­theless the sense of the Church is, that they know our Necessities when we call upon them, and that being in favour with God, and united to Christ their Head, they may by their Prayers and Desires sollicite him to deliver us from our Miseries. Nay it seems to be be­yond Dispute from the example of S. Paul and all the Saints, who constantly recommended themselves to one another's Prayers. For if the Saints on Earth as yet full of Imperfection, can by their Prayers be beneficial to their Friends; I see no sufficient reason to deny the Saints in Heaven this Power. Only we must observe, That they are not occasional causes of inward Grace. For this Power was given to Christ alone, as the Architect of the eternal Temple, the Head of the Church, the ne­cessary Mediator, in a Word as the particular or di­stributive cause of the true Goods.

VI. So then we may Pray to the Blessed Virgin, to Angels and Saints, that they would move the love of Christ on our behalf. And probably there are some cer­tain times of Favour for each particular Saint, such as are the Days on which the Church celebrates their Festivals. It is possible also, that as natural or occasio­nal Causes, they may have a Power of producing those effects which we call Miraculous, because we do not know the Causes of them; such as the curing of Diseases, plentiful Harvests, and other extraordinary changes in [Page 86]the position of Bodies, which are Substances inferiour to Spirits, and over which it should seem that Order requires or at least permits them to have some Power, as a reward of their Vertue, or rather as an inducement to other Men to admire and imitate it. But tho' this be not altogether certain as to Saints, yet I think it cannot be doubted as to Angels. This Truth is of so great Importance on several Accounts, that I think it necessary to give a brief explication of it from the manner of God's proceeding in the execution of his De­signs.

VII. God could not act but for his own Glory; and not finding any Glory worthy of himself but in Jesus Christ, he certainly made all Things with respect to his Son. This is so evident a Truth, that we cannot possibly doubt of it, if we do but reflect a little on it. For what [...]elation is there between the Action of God and the product of that Action, if we separate it from Christ by whom it is Sanctified? What proportion is there between an unhallow'd World which hath no­thing of Divinity in it and the Action of God which is wholly Divine; in a Word, between Finite and Infi­nite? Is it possible to conceive, that God who cannot act but by his own Will, or the Love which he bears to himself, should act so as to produce nothing wor­thy of himself, to create a World which bears no pro­portion to him, or which is not worth the Action where­by it is produc'd?

VIII. It is probable then, that the Angels immedi­ately after their Creation, being astonish'd to find them­selves without a Head, without Christ, and not being able to justify God's design in Creating them, the Wicked ones imagin'd some Worth in themselves with relation to God, and so Pride ruin'd them: Or suppo­sing, which seems most probable, that the eternal Word, to justify to them the Wisdom of God's proceeding, acquainted them that he had a Design to make Man, and to joyn himself to the two Substances of which Man is compos'd, Soul and Body, thereby to Sanctify the whole Work to God, which is also compos'd of none but these two sorts of Beings: The wicked An­gels oppos'd this Design, and would not Worship Je­sus Christ, nor submit to one whom they thought their [Page 87]equal, or even inferiour to them in his own Nature, how much soever that might be exalted by the hypo­statick Union. Upon this, two opposite Parties were form'd in the Workmanship of God, S. Michael and his Angels, and Satan and his Ministers, the Founda­tion of the two eternal Cities, Jerusalem and Babylon.

IX. The Angels then having a Power over Bodies, either by the Right of their own Nature, for Order seems to require that superior Beings should act on those that are below them: Or rather by the Decree which God had establish'd, to execute his own Designs by them as occasional Causes of certain Effects, to build the holy City, the heavenly Jerusalem, his great Work, in which the Angels are employ'd under the Wise and only Architect our Lord Jesus Christ, ac­cording to the Holy Scriptures: And by this means to manifest the Power of his well-beloved Son, who wanted Enemies to Fight with and overcome; which Power of his never appear'd more illustrious, than when he dethron'd the rebel Prince who had brought all the World under subjection to his Laws. (For the Power of a Deliverer is never more Conspicuous, than when our Enemy hath gain'd an absolute Dominion over us, when we have no Power to resist him, and have groan'd a long time under his Tyranny.) The Angels, I say, having an immediate Power over Cor­poreal Substances, and by them an indirect Power over spiritual Substances, as soon as our first Parents were Created, the wicked Angels tempted the Woman in that manner which we all know, probably grounding their Temptations on the known Design of God, that the World should unite it self to the Soul of Man to Sanctify him, as may be gather'd from these Words, Ye shall be as Gods, knowing Good from Evil. Gen. 3.5. For I do not see that illuminated Minds could have any other Motive formally to disobey God, but that of being tran­slated from a profane State to one Divine and worthy of God, by a particular union with the universal Rea­son, the Eternal Word, for whom and by whom they knew that they were first form'd, and by whom they were to be form'd anew, they who were all of their kind upon the Earth, and the Heads of that Posterity which might spring from them. Thus the Devils con­quer'd [Page 88]them, and became Masters of them and all their Posterity: And thereby, tho' indeed they promo­ted the Design of the Incarnation of the Word, for the Sin of the first Man made it necessary upon several Accounts, yet they thought they had overthrown it; imagining belike that the Union with God was to be merited by an exact Obedience to his Orders.

X. We must know, that not only for Reasons which I have given in my Search of Truth, 2d Part of the 1st Re­mark. when the first Man had Sin'd there was a necessity in consequence of the Laws of the union of the Soul and Body, and the immutabi­lity of Order, that his Flesh should rebel against his Mind, and also that Concupiscence should be transmitted to all his Posterity, but for other Reasons which I have examin'd in another Place of the same Book. See the Re­mark on original Sin. Now Concupiscence is the universal Instrument of that Ini­quity which over-ran the whole Earth. And being in the Hands of the Devil, who hath a Thousand ways to stir it up by the Power which he hath over Bodies, he reign'd by the help of that till the coming of Christ, who by his Sacrifice merited the quality of High Priest of the true Goods, and of the occasional cause of in­ward Delight, which alone can counterpoise the force of Concupiscence, and render that Instrument of the Devils Conquests useless to him: For since Man invin­cibly desires to be happy, there is nothing can cure his Heart corrupted with sensible Pleasures, but the Unction of Grace, the Earnest or Fore-tast of true Joys. For the good Angels having no Power to infuse into the Heart of Man the Grace of Sense, and the bad ones having a Power to stir up Concupiscence in it; Sin must necessarily have reign'd, not only among the ido­latrous Nations, but even among the Jews also. And therefore we find that that People was very Gross and Carnal, always prone to Idolatry, and frequently re­lapsing into it, notwithstanding the extraordinary Mi­racles which S. Michael and his Angels wrought in fa­vour of them, and in spight of the Promises and Threats of temporal Good and Evil, which were the Objects of their Concupiscence. For the Angels themselves pre­serv'd the Worship of the true God, among those that follow'd their Conduct, and kept them in their Duty, only by motives of Self-love, and by promising them [Page 89]such Enjoyments, as true Christians think altogether unworthy of their Love.

XI. There are several Reasons why the Law did not promise the true Blessings; but one of the chiefest is, that since this sort of Enjoyments cannot be the Object of Concupiscence, the knowledge and worship of the true God would have been soon lost among the Jews, and that chosen People reduc'd to a Handful of Men, belonging to Christ, and Sanctified in every Age by in­ward Grace. But it was necessary that the knowledge of the true God should be preserv'd with some lustre among the Jews, a prophetical People, and an unex­ceptionable Witness of the Truths of Religion, in spight of all the Power and Artifices of the Prince of this World, till at length the only begotten Son of God, for and by whom all things were made, should come down from Heaven to change the Face of Things over all the Earth, and to open the surprising and wonder­ful Scene of God's Conduct. A Scene which will end with the indissoluble Marriage of the Bride and Bride­groom, who shall enjoy together in Heaven an eternal Felicity in the midst of the divine Brightness, singing Songs of Praise without ceasing to the Glory of him, who shall have put all their Enemies under their Feet by the invincible Power of his Arm, and by ways perfectly suitable to his Wisdom and other Attributes.

XII. These great Truths do without doubt deserve to be prov'd and explain'd more at large, but this is not a place for it. My Design here is chiefly to shew, Heb. 1.14. that the Angels are Ministers of Jesus Christ, sent forth, as S. Paul saith, to Minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation: And that, as occasional Causes; for God communicates his Power no other way to the Crea­tures; they have a Power, not of giving inward Grace, but of producing in the Bodies, and by their means in the Souls wihch are united to them, certain effects, which may promote the efficacy of Grace, and keep Men from those Stumbling-blocks which the Devils continually lay in their way: For, as the Psalmist saith, Psal. 91.11, 12. He hath given his Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways: They shall bear thee up in their Hands, lest thou dash thy Foot against a Stone.

XIII. So then we may pray to the Angels, and de­sire their protection against that roaring Lion; who, as St. Peter saith, walketh about, seeking whom he may de­vour: Eph. 6.12. Or, to use St. Paul's words, Against those Prin­cipalities and Powers, against the Rulers of the Darkness of this World, those Princes of the World full of Dark­ness and Error, against spiritual Wickedness in high places, those evil Spirits which are scatter'd through the Air; For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood only. But we must not look upon the Angels as distributive Causes of Grace, nor give them that Worship which is due to Christ alone. Col. 2.18, 19. ‘Be not deceiv'd, saith St. Paul, by those who in a voluntary Humility, pay a super­stitious Worship to Angels, who meddle with those things which they do not understand, being dazled by the vain Imaginations of their fleshly Mind; and not keeping themselves united to the Head, from which the whole body of the Church receives the Spirit which gives it Growth and Life, v. 15. even to Je­sus Christ, who having spoil'd Principalities and Pow­ers, which he had vanquish'd by his Cross, made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.’

CHAP. X. Of the Occasional Causes of the Sensations and Motions of the Soul which resist the Efficacy of Grace, either of Light or Sense. The Ʋnion of the Soul with God is immediate, not that of the Soul with the Body. An Explication of some general Laws of the Ʋnion of the Soul and Body, necessary for the right understanding the rest of this Treatise.

I. IN the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Chapters, I have spoken at large of the occasional Cause of Light; and in the two last, I have endeavoured to shew what is the occasional Cause of the Grace of Sense, and what we must do to obtain it. And therefore, seeing there is nothing beside Light and Sense which determines the Will, or the tendency which the Soul hath toward Good in general; all that now remains in relation to the Means of acquiring or preserving the habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order, is to explain the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body, or the oc­casional Causes of all those lively and confus'd Sensa­tions, and those indeliberate Motions which unite us to our Body, and by that to all the Objects which are a­bout us. For, to make us love Order and to acquire Vertue, it is not sufficient to obtain the Grace of Sense, which alone can stir the Soul and put it in Motion to­ward the true Good; but we must also manage our selves so, that this Grace may work in our Hearts with its full Efficacy. For this end we must carefully avoid the occasional Causes of those Sensations and Mo­tions which resist the Operation of Grace, and some­times render it altogether ineffectual. This is the most general Principle of all that I shall say in the First Part of this Discourse.

II. The Soul of Man hath two essential and natural Relations; one to God, the true Cause of all that pas­ses within him; the other to his Body, the occasional Cause of all those Thoughts which relate to sensible Objects. When God speaks to the Soul, it is to unite [Page 92]it to himself; when the Body speaks to it, it is only for the Body to unite the Soul to sensible Good: God speaks to the Soul to enlighten and render it perfect; the Body only to darken and corrupt it, in favour of it self: God by the Light, conducts the Soul to its Happiness; the Body by Pleasure, involves the whole Man in its ruin, and throws him headlong into Mi­sery. In a word, tho' it is God that doth every thing, and tho' the Body cannot act upon the Soul, no more than the Soul can upon the Body, but as an occa­sional Cause, in consequence of the Laws of their Union, and for the Punishment of Sin, which without medling with those Laws, hath chang'd the Union in­to a Dependence; yet we may say, that it is the Bo­dy which darkens the Mind, and corrupts the Heart; for the Relation which the Soul hath to the Body is the Cause of all our Errors and Disorders.

III. Notwithstanding we should be throughly con­vinc'd of this, and never forget it, that the Soul can have no immediate Relation but to God alone, and that it cannot be united directly to any thing but to him; for the Soul cannot be united to the Body, but as it is united to God himself. It is certain for very many Reasons, that if I feel, for instance, the pain of a Scratch, it is God that acts in me, tho' in consequence of the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body; for those Laws derive their force from the Operation of the Divine Will, which alone is capable of acting in me: But the Body by it self cannot be united to the Soul, nor the Soul to the Body. They have no Rela­tion to one another, nor any one Creature to another: I speak of Relations of Causality, such are those which depend on the Union of the Soul and Body. It is God that doth every thing; his Will is the Union of all Unions; the Modifications of Substances depend on him alone, who gives and preserves their Being. This is an essential Truth, which, I think, I have sufficient­ly prov'd in another place.

IV. But tho' the Soul cannot be united immediately to any Thing but God, yet it may be united to the Creatures by the Will of God, who communicates his Power to them, in making them occasional Causes for the production of certain Effects. My Soul is united [Page 93]to my Body, because on one side my Will is made the occasional Cause of some changes which God a­lone produces on it; and in the other, because the changes which happen in my Body are made occasional Causes of some of those which happen in my Soul.

V. Now God hath establish'd these Laws for many Reasons which are unknown to us. But of those which we do know, one is, that God in following them, acts in a uniform and constant manner, by general Laws, by the most simple and wisest ways; in a word, he Acts in such a manner as admirably bears the Chara­cter of his Attributes. Another Reason is, because the Body of Man is his proper Sacrifice; for it seems to Sacrifice it self by Pain, and to be Annihilated by Death. The Soul is in a State of Probation in the Bo­dy; and God who desires in some measure to be me­rited, and to proportion Rewards to Merits, doth by the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body, a sim­ple, general, uniform and constant Method, furnish us with various ways of Sanctifying our selves, and Me­riting the true Goods. I have explain'd these Truths elsewhere, but it is necessary to remember them here.

VI. This kind of Union of the Soul with God, which hath no Relation to the Creatures, is look'd upon by many People as a groundless Imagination. For the Operation of God not being sensible, we think we an­swer and reprove our selves, when it is the universal Reason which answers and reproves us in the most se­cret part of our selves. It is certain, that he who knows not what Truth and Order is, knows not this Union, tho' perhaps it may act in him; as he who doth not love Truth, nor obey Order, breaks the U­nion, tho' perhaps he knows it.

VII. But as for that kind of Union of the Soul with God, which relates to the Creatures, we believe it real, but we have a wrong Notion of it. For we im­agine that we receive from the Objects that which comes from God alone: The Cause of this Mistake is the same with that of the former: The Divine Operation not being visible, we attribute to the Objects which strike our Senses, all that we feel in their Presence; tho' they are no otherwise present to the Soul, than as God, who is more present to us than we are to our [Page 49]selves, represents them to us in his own Substance, which is the only intellectual Substance, the only Sub­stance capable of acting on us, and of producing in us all those Sensations which render intellectual Ideas sen­sible, and make us judge confusedly, not only that there are Bodies, but also that they are those Bodies which operate on us, and make us happy, which is the most general Cause of all our Miscarriages.

VIII. We would always be happy, and never misera­ble: Actual Pleasure causes actual Happiness, and Pain, Misery. Now we feel Pleasure and Pain in the pre­sence of corporeal Objects, and believe those Objects to be the true Causes of them. So that there is a ne­cessity almost that we should fear and love them: Nay, tho' we are convinc'd by Metaphysical and cer­tain Demonstrations, that God alone is the true Cause; yet this doth not give us Strength enough to slight and disregard them, when we actually enjoy them. For the judgments of the Senses work more powerfully on us than the most solid Reasons; because it is not Light, so much as Pleasure which stirs the Soul and puts it in Motion.

IX. So then it is evident, that to preserve a ruling Love of the immutable Order, we must on the one hand use all our endeavours to strengthen this kind of Union of the Soul with God, which hath no Relation to sensible Objects; and on the other, we must slacken, as much as we can, that kind of Union which relates to Bodies, Substances inferiour to ours, which are so far from being able to make us perfect, that they have no power to act on us, nor corrupt us; but only be­cause the Sin of our first Parent hath brought in Con­cupiscence, which consists wholly in the Loss we have sustain'd of the power to stop, or suspend the Laws of the Communication of those Motions, by which the Bodies that are about us act on that Body which we animate, and by that on our Mind, in consequence of the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body.

X. Christian Meditat, 13, 14, &c. I think I have sufficiently prov'd already, at least as to some Persons, that since all the Motions of the Soul depend on Light and Sense, to excite in us that Motion which carries us toward God, and keeps us united to him; it is necessary that we should continually [Page 95]exercise our selves in the Labour of Attention, the oc­casional Cause of Light; and frequently call upon Je­sus Christ, the occasional Cause of the Grace of Sense. I shall now examine the Means whereby we may di­minish the Union that is between Us and the Crea­tures, and hinder them from having any share with God in our Mind and Heart: For we are so plac'd be­tween God and corporeal Objects, that we cannot move toward them, without departing from God; and the breaking off our Correspondence with them, is suffici­ent to unite us to God, through the continual influ­ence which Christ sheds on his Members.

XI. That which I shall say of this matter is not so necessary for those that have read and consider'd the Prin­ciples which I have laid down in the Search of Truth: And if all Men were capable of so much Reason as to think methodically, or at least had so much Justice as to believe that an Author hath thought of the Subject he treats of more than they; I should not be oblig'd to repeat in general, what I have already said or prov'd in other places, and in various manners. No body reads Apollonius or Archimedes, that hath not learnt Euclid; because he can understand nothing of Coni­cal Sections, without knowing the common Elements of Geometry; and in Geometrical matters, when a Man doth not understand a thing, he knows he doth not understand it. But in matters of Morality or Re­ligion, every one, I know not why, thinks himself suf­ficiently capable of comprehending whatever he reads: So that everyone takes upon him to judge, without con­sidering, that Morality, for instance, I mean Morality demonstrated or explain'd by Principles, is to the Know­ledge of Man, what the Science of curve Lines is to that of strait Lines.

XII. Wherefore I think it requisite in this place, to suppose certain Principles which I have prov'd else­where, and which are necessary for the sequel of this Discourse. This will perhaps illustrate many Things which I have said, and which I very much fear have not well been understood; but these suppositions are not design'd for those who have consider'd the Principles which I have elsewhere explain'd, or fully comprehend what I have said hitherto. They may go on to the next Chapter, and save themselves a needless Labour.

XIII. First then, I take it for granted, that to have a right Notion of the Union of the Soul and Body, we must not confound the Ideas of these two Substances, as most do, who join them together by extending the Soul to all the parts of the Body, and attribute to the Body all the Sensations which belong to the Soul. The Union of the Soul and Body consists in the mutual and recipro­cal Action of these two Beings, in consequence of the Operations of the Divine Will, which alone can change the modifications of Substances. The Soul thinks, and is not exended. The Body is extended, and doth not think: Therefore the Soul cannot be united to the Bo­dy by Extension, but only by Thinking; nor the Bo­dy to the Soul by Sensation, but only by Situation and local Motion. The Body is wounded, but the Soul feels it. The Soul fears an Evil, and the Body flies from it. The Soul would move the Arm, the Arm im­mediately moves it self; and the Soul sees and feels it. Thus there is a mutual Correspondence between cer­tain Thoughts of the Soul, and certain Modifications of the Body, in consequence of those natural Laws which God hath establish'd, and which he condantly ob­serves. Herein consists the Union of the Soul and Body: The Imagination may raise other Ideas of all this: But this Correspondence is undeniable, and is sufficient for my purpose. So that I neither do, nor ought to build on uncertain Foundations.

XIV. Secondly, I suppose it to be known, that the Soul is not join'd immediately to all the parts of the Body, but only to one part, which answers to all the rest, and which I call, without knowing what it is, the Principal Part; so that, notwithstanding the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body, a Man may have his Arm cut off, and yet have no thought arise in his Soul Correspondent to it; but it is not possible that the least change should happen in the Principal Part of the Brain without causing also some alteration in the Soul. This is verified by Experience; for sometimes parts of the Body are cut off without being felt, because then the Motion of the Amputation doth not communicate it self to the Principal Part. As on the contrary, those that have lost an Arm, often feel a real pain in that very Arm which they have not, because there is the same [Page 97]Motion in the Principal Part of the Brain, as if the Arm was hurt!

XV. The first Man before his Sin, had an absolute power over his Body; at least he could, when he pleas'd, hinder the Motion or Action of Objects from commu­nicating it self to the principal part of the Brain, from the Organs of the Senses which might be touch'd by those Objects; and this he did probably by a kind of revulsion, somewhat like that which we make in our selves, when we would fix our Attention on those Thoughts which disappear in the presence of sensible Objects.

XVI. But I suppose in the Third place, that we have not now that power; and therefore to obtain some Li­berty of Mind, to think on what we will, and love what we ought, it is necessary that the principal part should be calm and without agitation, or at least that we should still be able to stop and turn it which way we please. Our Attention depends on our Will; but it depends much more on our Senses and Passions. It is a very difficult thing not to look upon that which touches, not to love that which pleases; that which touches, I say, and pleases the Heart. The Soul is ne­ver sooner tir'd, than when it fights against Pleasure, and makes it self actually Miserable.

XVII. Fourthly, I suppose it to be known, that the principal part is never touch'd or shaken in an agreeable or disagreeable manner, but it excites in the animal Spirits some Motion proper to carry the Body toward the Object which acts upon it, or to separate it from it by flight; so that those Motions of the Fibres of the Brain which relate to Good or Evil, are always fol­low'd by such a course of the Spirits as disposes the Body rightly with relation to the present Object; and at the same time those sensations of the Soul which are correspondent to those agitations of the Brain, are fol­low'd by such motions of the Soul as answer to this course of the Spirits. For the impressions or motions of the Brain are in respect of the course of the Spirits, what the sensations of the Soul are in respect of the Passions; and these Impressions are to the Sensations, what the motion of the Spirits is to the motion of the Passions.

XVIII. Fifthly, I suppose that Objects never strike the Brain without leaving some marks of their Action, nor the animal Spirits without leaving some Tracks of their Course; that these Tracks or Wounds are not easily clos'd up or effac'd, when the Brain hath been of­ten or forcibly struck, and when the Course of the Spi­rits hath been violent, or hath often begun again in the same manner: That Memory and corporeal Habits con­sist in nothing else but those Tracks or Impressions which cause in the Brain and other parts of the Body, a par­ticular facility of obeying the Course of the Spirits; and that by this means the Brain is hurt, and the Ima­gination polluted, when we have had the enjoyment of Pleasures, without apprehending the danger of Familia­rity with sensible Objects.

XIX. Lastly, I suppose that we conceive distinctly, that when many of these Tracks have been made at the same time, we cannot open any one of them, without opening all the rest in some Measure; whence it comes to pass, that there are always many accessory Ideas which present themselves confusedly to the Mind, ha­ving a Relation to the principal Ideas to which the Mind particularly applies it self: There are also many confus'd Sensations and indirect Motions that accompa­ny the principal Passion which moves the Soul, and car­ries it toward some particular Object. There is no­thing more certain than this connection of Impressions, with one another, and with the Senses and Passions. Any one that hath but the least Knowledge of the Na­ture of Man, and will make but the least reflection on the inward Sense he hath of what passes within himself, may discover more of these Truths in an Hour, than I can tell him in a Month; provided he doth not confound the Soul with the Body, in making the Union betwixt them, and carefully distinguishes the Properties of which the thinking Substance is capable, from those which be­long to the extended Substance. And I think it neces­sary to Advertise the Reader, That this kind of Truths is of very great importance, not only for the distinct Conception of what I have hitherto said, and shall here­after say, but generally for all the Sciences that have any Relation to Man. Having handled this Subject at large, in the Search of Truth, particularly in the Se­cond [Page 99]Book, I thought not to have said any thing of it here; and if these Suppositions seem obscure to the Reader, and do not give him light enough to compre­hend clearly what I shall say in the remaining part of this Treatise, I must refer him to that Book; for I can­not persuade my self to give a long Explication of the same thing over and over.

CHAP. XI. What kind of death we must die to see God, to be united to Reason, and to deliver our selves from Concupiscence. It is the Grace of Faith that gives us this happy death. Christians are dead to Sin by Baptism, and alive in Christ by his Resurrection. Of the Mortification of the Senses, and the use we should make of it. We should unite our selves to corporeal Objects, or separate our selves from them without loving or fearing them. But the surest way is to break off all Correspondence with them, as far as is possible.

I. DEath is a compendious way to be deliver'd from Concupiscence, and to break off at once, that unhappy Union which hinders us from being re­united to our Head. But it is needless to prove here that to procure our own Death, is a Crime, which will be so far from reuniting us to God, that it will for ever separate us from him. It is lawful to despise Life, and even to wish for Death, that we may be with Christ, as St. Paul does: Having a desire to be dissolv'd, Phil. 1.23. and to be with Christ. But we are oblig'd to preserve our Health and Life; and it is the Grace of Christ that must deliver us from Concupiscence, or that Body of Death, which joyns us to the Creatures. The same Apostle cries our, O wretched Man that I am! Rom. 7.24. who shall deliver me from this Body of Death? The Grace of God through Jesus Christ.

II. It is certain, Exod 33.20. that we must die before we can see God and be united to him; for no Man can see him, and live, saith the Scripture. But we truly die, so far as we quit the Body, as we separate our selves from the [Page 100]World, and silence our Senses, Imagination and Passions, by which we are united to our Body, and by that to all those that surround us. We die to the Body and to the World, when we retire into our selves, when we consult the inward Truth, when we unite our selves and are obedient to Order. Job 28.21. The eternal Wisdom is hid from the Eyes of all Living. But those who are Dead to the World and to Themselves, who have cru­cified the Flesh with its disorder'd Lusts, who are cru­cified with Christ, and to whom the World is cru­cified; Blessed are the pure in Heart, for they shall see God, Mat. 5.8. 1 Cor. 13.12. in a word, those who have a clean Heart, a pure Mind, and an unspotted Imagination, are capa­ble of beholding Truth. Now they see God but con­fusedly and imperfectly, in Part, through a Glass, in a Riddle; but they see him truly, they are closely and immediately united to him, and shall one day see him Face to Face; for we must know and love God in this Life, to enjoy him in the next.

III. But those who live not only the Life of the Body, but also the Life of the World; who live in the enjoyment of Pleasures, and spread themselves as it were over all the Objects that are about them, can ne­ver find out Truth. Job 28.13. For, as the Scripture saith, Wis­dom doth not dwell with those that live Voluptuously; Non invenitur in terra suaviter viventium. We must then procure our selves not that Death which kills the Bo­dy, and puts an end to Life, but that which brings the Body under, and weakens Life; I mean the Union of the Soul with the Body, or its dependence on it. We must begin and continue our Sacrifice, and expect from God the Consummation and Reward of it. For the Life of a Christian here on-Earth is a constant Sacri­fice, by which he continually offers up his Body, his Concupiscence and Self-love, to the Love of Order; and his Death, which is precious in the Sight of God, is the day of his Victories and Triumphs in Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, the forerunner of our Glory, and the model of our eternal Reformation.

IV. Rom. 6.6. St. Paul tells us, That our old Man is already crucified with Christ; for by the Sacrifice which Christ hath offer'd on the Cross, he hath merited for us, for us, I say, particularly who have been washed in his Blood by Baptism, all the Graces necessary to balance, [Page 101]and even to diminish, by degrees, the weight of Con­cupiscence; so that Sin no longer reigns in us but by our own Fault. Let us not therefore think to excuse our Slothfulness by imagining that we are not able to resist the Law of the Flesh, which continually rebels against the Law of the Mind. The Law of Sin would have an absolute Dominion over the Motions of our Heart, if Christ had not destroy'd it by his Cross. But we who are dead and buried to Sin, by Baptism; Rom. 6.4, v. 11. who are justified and rais'd to life again in Jesus Christ glorified; who are animated by the influence of our Head, by the Spirit of Christ, and by a Power wholly Divine; we, I say, ought not to believe that Heaven forsakes us in our Combats; and that if we are over­come, it is for want of Succours. Christ never neg­lects those that call upon him; 'tis impious to believe it; for all the Scriptures say, Act. 2. [...]1. Rom 10.13. Joel 2.34. That whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be sav'd.

V. It is certain, that we could never be glorified and seated in Heaven with Jesus Christ, we could not have eternal Life abiding in us, we could not be Heirs of God, and Joint-heirs with Christ, Citizens of the holy City, and adopted Children of God himself, all which things the Apostles say of Christians, if God were not faithful in his Promises, if he suffer'd us to be tempted above our Strength; 1 Cor. 10.13. which St. Paul also forbids us to believe. But we may truly say, That we are already glorified in Christ, &c. because in effect it depends only on our selves, to preserve by Grace, the Right which the same Grace gives us to future Bles­sings; and it is a kind of brutish stupidity in a Man, which one would think should astonish a rational and spiritual Being, to lose infinite Happiness by his own Fault, and incurr eternal Damnation through his own Negligence.

VI. This Truth being suppos'd, as undeniable, let us awaken our Faith and Hope, let us search after the Means to secure our Salvation; and let us Act in such sort, that the Grace which God cannot infuse into us, with any other design but to sanctify and save us, may effectually sanctify us, and make us worthy to enjoy the true Good. Ye are dead, saith St. Paul, [...]and your life is hid with Christ in God, Mortify therefore your [Page 102]Members which are upon the Earth. We are dead to Sin, because living in Christ our Head, we should, and by his influence may kill the old Man; it lies in our own power to do it. But to put this Design in execution, according to the Advice which St. Paul here gives, we must labour all our life in the Mortification of our Senses, we must endeavour with the utmost Diligence to keep our Imagination pure and undefil'd, we must regulate all the Motions of our Passions by Order; in a word, we must diminish the weight of Sin, which by the actual Efforts of Concupiscence provok'd and stir'd up, is able to balance the strongest Graces, and to separate us from God. Mortify therefore your Members which are upon the Earth. If we do what depends on us, Grace will work in our Heart with its full Efficacy, we shall die in the sense of St. Paul, and our life being hid with Christ in God, shall appear with Glory, when Christ himself shall appear cloth'd with Majesty and Honour. Col. 3.4. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in Glory.

VII. Of all the Exercises proper to promote the Ef­ficacy of Grace, there is no one more necessary than that of the Mortification of the Senses; for it is our own Body alone that unites us to all other Bodies. It is chiefly by the Senses that the Soul stretches it self, as I may say, to all the parts of the Body, and by the Ima­gination and Passions it is carried abroad, and extends it self to all the Creatures. But as Objects are pre­sented to the Mind by the Senses, the Imagination and Passions suppose and depend on them. For it is cer­tain, that the corporeal Image of a sensible Object (I do not here speak of Mathematical Figures) is nothing but the Impression and Motion which that Object hath made in the Brain by means of the Senses; which Im­pression is renewed by the Action of the Imagination, or the Course of the Spirits. And as for the Passions, they cannot be excited but by the Motion of the animal Spirits, which always supposes that the Brain, the Maga­zene of these Spirits, is shaken either by the Senses or the Imagination: So that he who mortifies his Senses, attacks the very Foundation of the Union of the Soul with the Body, or rather of its dependence on it; he weakens the animal Life, and diminishes the weight of [Page 103]Sin, Concupiscence; he promotes the Efficacy of Grace, which alone can reunite us to our first Principle: Fi­nally, he procures himself that kind of Death, without which, as the Scripture speaks, it is not possible to see God.

VIII. The most capacious of all the Senses, that which ministers to all the rest, and without which, the Imagination and Passions would be but faint and languishing, is the Sight. We need but reflect a little on our selves, and on the use we may make of our Eyes, to be convinc'd that they expose us daily to a thousand Dangers. One indiscreet look is certainly suf­ficient to throw us into Hell. It made David fall into an Adultery, which afterwards engag'd him in a Mur­der: Eve suffer'd her self to be seduc'd by the Devil, because she ventur'd to look fixedly on the forbidden Fruit, and found it pleasant to the Eyes. Gen. 3.6. If they had distrusted their Senses, as fallacious, and rejected their Testimony, they had, both of them, preserv'd their Innocence. I think it not much to my present purpose, to enlarge on the mischievous effects of the Sight, and from thence to prove the necessity of shutting our Eyes in many Cases. I rather choose to examine Things in their first Principles, and to shew the use we may law­fully make of all our Senses in general, which I shall confine within the straitest Bounds that can possibly be set to it.

IX. One of the Principles which I think I have de­monstrated several ways in the First Book of the Search of Truth, is this; That our Senses are given us only for the preservation of our sensible Being: In relation to this end, they are perfectly well regulated; but with respect to the use which the World makes of them, there is nothing more false, deceitful and irregular. To prove this, we must consider that we are compos'd of a Soul and a Body, and that we have two sorts of Good to look after, that of the Soul and that of the Body. The Good of the Soul is found out by the Light; for it is the true Good: That of the Body is discover'd by Sense, for it is a false Good; or rather no Good at all. If Men knew sensible Objects only as they are in themselves, and without a sensible per­ception of that which is not really in them, they could [Page 104]not possibly seek after them and fill themselves with them, without regret and a kind of detestation; and if they had a sense of the true Good, different from what it really is, and without knowing the true Nature of it, they would love it sensually and not meritoriously. For the Soul neither can, nor ought to live but by the intellectual Substance of Reason; and the Body can­not receive Nourishment and Growth but from Bodies. Intellectual Goods do not suit with the mechanical Frame of the Body, and sensible Goods disorder the Soul: Thus Light and Evidence are to the Goods of the Soul, what Sense and Instinct are to those of the Body. This, I think, cannot be denied.

X. The reason of all this is, that God created the Soul only for himself: He did not make it that it should employ it self about sensible Objects, nor that it should preserve and govern by Reason the Body which it Informs. If we would know distinctly and rationally, the infinite Relations that are between the Bodies which surround us, and that which we animate; if we would know, for instance, when we ought to eat, how much, and what kind of Food is precisely neces­sary to preserve our Health and Life, we must do no­thing else but study Physicks; and certainly we should not live very long, at least Children would not, be­cause they want Experience. But Hunger informs us of the necessity of Food, and thereby regulates the quantity of it pretty near the matter. Once it did it truly and exactly, and would do so still, if we would eat the Fruits of the Earth just as God provides them for us. The Taste is a short and unquestionable Tryal, whether such and such Bodies are proper for Nourish­ment or not. Without knowing the Texture of a Stone or a strange Fruit, we need only present it to the Tongue, the faithful Door-keeper, at least before Sin, of all that ought to enter into the House, to be assur'd whether it will make any disturbance within. The same may be said of all the other Organs of our Senses. Nothing is quicker than the Touch, to inform us that we are burnt, when we touch a hot Iron without our Know­ledge. Thus the Soul leaving the Government of the Body to the Senses, may apply it self to the search of the true Good, contemplate the Perfections and [Page 105]works of its Maker, study the Law of God, and govern all its motions by that. The Senses should only inform it with respect, and cease to interrupt it, when it im­poses Silence on them. Thus it was once, but the Sin of our first Parent hath chang'd that admirable Order; and the union of the Soul and Body remaining still the same, the Soul is reduc'd to a dependence on the Senses, and is check'd and controul'd by them, because, as I have often said, it hath lost the power to command them.

XI. The Senses then were ordain'd to furnish us with short and certain ways to distinguish Bodies with respect to the preservation of our Health and Life. Therefore we may make use of them to unite our selves by the Body to sensible Objects, or to separate our selves from them; this is agreable to Order. I say, to unite or separate our selves: Not to love or fear them. For Love and Hatred are Motions of the Soul which should never be determin'd by confus'd Sensations; they ought to be guided by Reason, and not by Instinct. It is in­different to the Body whether the Soul loves Bread or not. If we Eat it without loving it, the Body will nevertheless be nourish'd by it; and if we love it with­out eating it, the Body will be never the stronger; but the Soul will thereby be corrupted and disorder'd. For every motion of the Soul, which instead of tending towards him who continually imprints this Motion on it, that it may love him alone, tends toward Bodies, dead, inferiour and impotent Substances; is blind, ir­regular and sensual. These are not abstracted Chimeras, but necessary Truths, immutable Laws and indispensa­ble Obligations.

XII. But what! Can we unite our selves to Bodies without loving them? Can we fly from our Enemy without fearing him? Yes without doubt we may: For I speak principally of free and voluntary Motions, which certainly we may hinder from following the natural Motions. But supposing we could not: What then must we conclude from thence, but that the Heart of Man is so Corrupted, that his Disease is incurable, and that he cannot make use of his Senses, without inflaming and renewing his Wounds; and consequently that the mortification of the Senses is the most necessary thing in [Page 106]the World in that condition to which Man is reduc'd? For after all, can it be doubted that God acts only for himself, that he imprints no motion on the Soul but for himself alone, that all love of corporeal Objects is Vi­tious and Irregular, in a Word, that we are indispensa­bly oblig'd to love God with all our Heart, with all our Soul and with all our Strength?

XIII. When the Soul is penetrated with the presence of God, and beholds him Working continually in the Objects which strike the Senses; when the Mind is actually convinc'd of the impotence of the Creatures in general, and applies it self to govern the Heart ac­cording to the Light it hath receiv'd; without doubt it may at that instant unite it self to Bodies, or separate it self from them, without loving or fearing them. Indeed this time of Reflection cannot last long. The Mind is soon tir'd with attention to its Duty; and when the Senses come to be touc'h with any Object that pleases them, the Soul being struck with the first appearance of Good and contented with it, constantly follows by its own Motion, that of the Humours and Blood. All Pleasure excites and determines the natu­ral motion of the Soul; and because Man would al­ways be happy, the free motion of the Will readily conforms it self to the natural Motion which is excited by the Senses. We must resist, if we would not follow that Motion: But we are soon tir'd with resisting, we lose our beloved ease and become Miserable, when we cease to follow the attraction of Pleasure, which makes us happy.

XIV. It is better to get out of a Stream which carries us away with it, if we cease but one Moment to strive against it, than to remain there in continual action; at least this is the surest way. It is better to break off, as far as we can, the correspondence which we maintain by the Senses with sensible Objects, than to expose our selves to innumerable Dangers, by relying on our own Strength which is vain and deceitful. The Imagination may magnify it, the Pride of Man may de­fend it; but Experience overthrows it, Faith condemns it, and makes it weak and despicable. At least let us take the safest course: The thing in question is Eternity, the dreadful alternative of the Felicity of the Saints, [Page 107]or the punishments of the Devils for infinite Ages. We may successfully stop the Passages by which this dange­rous Correspondence between the Senses and false Goods is maintain'd. The motion of our Hands and Feet is subject to our Will. It is in our own Power to bend our Eyes downward, to turn our Head, and Fly. Thus we may avoid the Blow level'd at us by a murtherous Object. But if we stand to receive it, it wounds the Brain, it defiles the Imagination, it penetrates and cor­rupts the Heart. Whatever effects the force of that Blow produces in the Brain, and in the Nerves which excite the Passions, they are in no wise subject to our Will. So that we may without much difficulty pre­vent the Mischief by the mortification of our Senses, but we cannot cure it without infinite Conflicts. How happy should we be, if we would learn so much Wis­dom by costly Experience, as to hinder it from spreading, and throwing us headlong into Hell!

XV. Let us endeavour then to convince our selves throughly, that our Senses are false Witnesses, which constantly give their Testimony against us in fa­vour of our Passions: That if we are permitted to hearken to them for the good of the Body, nothing is more dangerous than to consult them for the good of the Soul: That if it be very ridiculous to go to prove by Reason, that Gold, for instance, or precious Stones are not proper for Nourishment; it is also contrary to Or­der and good Sense, to examine by the Tast, whether Wine be an Object worthy of our Love and Applica­tion: That the motions of the Soul should be govern'd by Light, and the motions and position of the Body by Pleasure and Instinct: That Light never deceives, and that it leaves the Mind at liberty, without driving it forcibly toward the Good which it presents, that so the Mind may love it with Freedom and Reason; that Pleasure on the contrary is always deceitful, that it takes away or abridges the liberty of the Mind, and carries it naturally not toward God the true Author of that Pleasure, but toward the sensible Object which seems to be the cause of it. Let us remember these Principles, and draw this consequence from them, that the mor­tification of the Senses is the most necessary exercise for him that designs to live by Reason to follow Order, to [Page 108]labour for Perfection, and to secure to himself a solid Happiness, and an eternal Felicity.

XVI. Having prov'd at large in the first Book of the Search of Truth, that our Senses generally speaking deceive us in every thing, I think I need not insist any longer on demonstrating what I have here laid down. I rather fear that those who have read and con­sider'd my other Writings, will find Fault with me for repeating the same things over and over. But this Trea­tise being design'd for all sorts of People, it could not be avoided: For all these Truths have a connexion and relation to one another. We must know the Nature of Man and his Diseases, at least in some measure, be­fore we can comprehend the Remedies of them, and understand Morality by Principles. If I should lay down as known all those Truths which I have else­where prov'd, every Reader would not understand what I meant by them, many perhaps would be afraid of them as dangerous, and this Book would in all pro­bability have the same Fate with the unfortunate Trea­tise of Nature and Grace, which, tho' it were written only for those who had a distinct conception of the Truths which I had before sufficiently explain'd, as I then declar'd; underwent so furious a Censure, that those very Heresies were charg'd upon me, which I had there overthrown in their first Principles.

CHAP. XII. Of the Imagination. This Term is obscure and confus'd. What it is in general. Several sorts of Imaginati­on. Its effects are dangerous. Of that which the World calls Wit. That quality is very opposite to the Grace of Christ. It is fatal to those who possess it, and to those who esteem and admire it in others, tho' they have it not themselves.

I. THo' the Senses are the first original of our Disor­ders, or the foundation of that union of the Soul and Body which now separates the Soul from God; yet it is not sufficient to regulate the use of them, that Grace may operate in us with its full Strength, but we must also silence our Imagination and Passions. The Imagination doth depend indeed on the Senses, as well as the Passions; but it hath its particular Maligni­ty. When it is stir'd up by the Senses, it produces of it self extraordinary effects: And many times tho' the Senses do not actually move it, it acts by its own Strength. Nay sometimes it disturbs all the Ideas of the Soul by the Phantoms which it produces, and en­rages the Passions by the violence of the Motions which it excites. But for fear lest some Persons may not clear­ly comprehend these Truths, I must give a more di­stinct explication of them.

II. This Term Imagination is very much us'd in the World: But yet I can hardly believe that all those who pronounce the Word distinctly, joyn a distinct Idea to it. I have said already, and say again, for there is no harm in reflecting on it more than once; that the com­monest Words are the most confus'd, and that Men's ordinary Discourse is many times nothing but an empty sound of Words without Sense, which they hear and repeat like Echo's. If a Conversation doth but entertain them agreably, and serves them to communicate their Affections, and to create a mutual esteem of one ano­ther, they are satisfied with it. They make the same use of Words as they do of a Man's Air and outward [Page 110]Behaviour. They unite themselves to one another by the Senses and Passions; and many times Reason hath no other share in the Society, than to promote their unjust Designs. For Truth is of no use in this World. Those that employ themselves in the search of it are Enthusiasts, singular and dangerous Persons, who must be shun'd like an infectious Air. Thus Words, whose, chief use should be to represent the pure Ideas of the Mind, generally serve only to express Ideas of Sense and those motions of the Soul which are but too apt to communicate themselves by the outward demeanour, the Air of the Face, the Tone of the Voice, and the Posture and Motion of the Body.

III. Imagination is one of those Terms which Use hath made current, without clearing the signification of it. For common Use explains only those Words that excite, sensible Ideas. Those by which it expresses pure and intellectual Ideas, are all of them either equivocal or confus'd. Thus the Imagination not being sensible but only by its Effects, and the nature of it being hard to understand, every one makes use of the same Word, without having the same Idea; nay perhaps many Peo­ple have no Idea of it at all.

IV. The Imagination may be consider'd in a twofold respect, either as to the Body, or as to the Soul. In relation to the Body, it consists of a Brain capable of Impressions, and of animal Spirits fit to make these Im­pressions. We may conceive the animal Spirits to be whatever we will Fancy them, provided we understand them to be Bodies, which by their motion are capable of acting in the substance of the principal part of the Brain. In relation to the Soul, the Imagination con­sists of Images that answer to the Impressions, and of At­tention capable of forming these Images or sensible Ideas. For it is our Attention, which as the occasional cause determines the course of the Spirits whereby the Im­pressions are form'd, to which Impressions the Ideas are annex'd: And all this in consequence of the Laws of the union of the Soul and Body.

V. These Images or Impressions which are form'd as well by the strength of the Imagination, as by the action of Objects, dispose the Brain, the Store-house of the Spirits, in such a manner, that the course of [Page 111]these Spirits is determin'd toward certain Nerves, some of which run to the Heart and other Viscera, and cause there Fermentation or Refrigeration, or in short, pro­duce different Motions according to the quality of the Object which is present to the Senses, or the Imagina­tion: The rest of the Nerves answer to the external Parts, and by them the Body is plac'd in such a Posi­tion, and dispos'd to such a motion as the present Ob­ject requires.

VI. The course of the animal Spirits toward those Nerves which answer to the internal parts of the Body is accompanied with Passions on the part of the Soul: Which Passions arising originally from the action of the Imagination, do by the great abundance of Spirits which they send up to the Head, fortify the Impression and Image of the Object which produc'd them. For the Passions excite, support and strengthen the Atten­tion, the occasional cause of that course of the Spirits, whereby the Impression of the Brain is form'd, which Impression determines another course of the Spirits to­ward the Heart and other parts of the Body, to keep up the same Passions; all this proceeds also from the admirable constitution of the Laws of the union of the Soul and Body. This is sufficient to give a slight Idea of the Imagination, and of the relation it hath to the Passions. I have handled this matter more at large in another place. But this I think is sufficient to make attentive Readers understand in some measure what I mean by Imagination in general.

VII. In particular by a defil'd and corrupt Imaginati­on, I understand a Brain which hath receiv'd some Im­pressions so deep as to carry the Soul and thereby the Body, to Objects unworthy of and unbecoming the dignity of Man's Nature; and by purity of Imagination, I mean a sound and entire Brain without any of those vitious Impressions which corrupt the Mind and Heart.

By a weak and tender Imagination, I mean a Brain whose principal part, on which the course of the Spi­rits depends, is easy to be penetrated and shaken.

By a nice and curious Imagination, I understand a Brain whose Fibres are of so fine and curious a Texture, that they receive and preserve the least Impressions made between them by the course of the Spirits.

By a strong and lively Imagination, I mean that the animal Spirits which form the Impressions are too much agitated in proportion to the consistence of the Fibres of the Brain.

By a large and spacious Imagination, I understand such an abundance of Spirits as is able to keep wide open a great many Tracks or Impressions of the Brain at once.

By a regular and well order'd Imagination, I mean a Brain whose principal part which should obey the attention of the Mind hath none of its Fibres broken by the Passions or any other accident.

By an Enthusiast or visionary, I mean one whose at­tention doth indeed determine the course of the Spirits, but cannot moderate their force, nor stop their motion. He thinks on what he pleases; but he sees nothing as it is. For the Impressions being too large or too deep, no­thing appears to him in its natural shape: Whatever he saith must always be taken with some allowance or de­duction. In this sense every Man is an Enthusiast in respect of some Things: Those that know them best are the Wisest.

By a senseless and stupid Man, I mean one whose At­tention can neither stop nor determine the course of the Spirits.

By a contagious and headstrong Imagination, I under­stand such an abundance of animal Spirits, and those so agitated, that they diffuse over all the Body, espe­cially the Face, an Air of Confidence which persuades others. All Men when they are mov'd with any Pas­sion, and Enthusiasts at all times, have this kind of Ima­gination.

VIII. The substance and disposition of the Fibres of the Brain being different in different Persons, and in the same Persons at different Ages, and the animal Spirits being more or less subtle, in greater or less quantity, more or less agitated; it may easily be judg'd that there are a great many more sorts of Imaginations than those I have here mention'd, and that we have not Terms enough to denote exactly the differences of them. For this word Imagination is a comprehensive Term expressing not only many Ideas, but also an in­finite number of Relations arising from the comparison [Page 113]of these Ideas; which relations make the particular character of the several sorts of Imaginations. The Brain of it self in such or such a disposition, consider'd without the relation it hath to the motion, abundance or solidity of the Spirits, doth not make such or such a particular sort of Imagination; but the relation which arises from the quality of the Spirits compar'd with the substance of the Fibres of the Brain. For a Man that hath a great abundance of Spirits very much agitated and very solid, hath not therefore a lively and spacious Imagination, if the Fibres of his Brain are too solid, too moist, too much interwoven one within another, &c.

IX. These things being granted, I say that the Ima­gination produces as dangerous effects as the Senses; and consequently that it is necessary to keep it silent, if we desire that Grace should operate in us with all its efficacy.

X. For First, the Imagination, as well as the Senses, speaks only for the good of the Body; for naturally whatsoever comes to the Soul by the Body, is only for the Body. This is a great and Fundamental Prin­ciple.

XI. Secondly, the Imagination, when it is heated, continually interrupts the Soul: It often forces the Mind to answer and discourse with it to the prejudice of Reason. Besides, we may easily avoid the action of sensible Objects, and by that means make our Senses silent: For it is in our own Power to shut our Eyes; or betake our selves to Flight. But we cannot easily dispel the Phantoms rais'd by the Imagination; the Mind cannot avoid contemplating whatever passes in the Brain.

XII. Thirdly, the Senses represent sensible Objects near enough to the Life: But the Imagination extends and enlarges them in such a manner, that the Mind is sometimes charm'd and sometimes terrified with them. A Man whose Heart is corrupted by the irregular de­sires which the Imagination of its self hath stir'd up in him, sometimes finds him self cur'd by the accomplish­ment of those Desires. The actual enjoyment of the Object of his disorders, delivers him at least for some time from a Passion which ow'd all its force and vehe­mence to the Imagination.

XIII. Fourthly, the Senses joyn us only to certain Objects that lie round about us, and are within their Sphere: But the Imagination makes the Mind a Slave to every thing. It unites it to the past, present and fu­ture, to Realities and Chimeras, to possible Beings, and to those which neither God himself can create, nor the Mind comprehend. It forms dreadful Phantoms, and then is scar'd at them. It raises delightful Apparitions, and is pleased with them. It alters and destroys the nature of all Beings, and forms a Thousand extrava­gant Designs in a World of its own making, compos'd of Realities and Fictions.

XIV. Lastly the Imagination, without going so far as downright Madness, disturbs and dissipates all the true Ideas, and corrupts the Heart by innumerable ways. It would be too long to set down the different effects of the several kinds of Imagination. But that which is most opposite to the efficacy of the Grace of Christ, is that which in the Language of the World is call'd Wit; for the better the Imagination is furnish'd, the more dangerous it is; subtilty, delicacy, vivacity and spaciousness of Imagination, great qualities in the Eyes of Men, are the most prolifick and the most general causes of the blindness of the Mind and the corruption of the Heart. What I here assert being a Paradox, I must not expect to be believ'd without Proof.

XV. The Soul is rational only by Reason: It is re­gular only by Order: It derives its perfection wholly from the immediate and direct union it hath with God. On the contrary, its union with the Body fills it with Darkness, and puts it in disorder: Because in our pre­sent Condition we cannot strengthen this union without weaking that which is opposite to it. Now it is by the Imagination that the Soul dilates and spreads it self over the Creatures; for it is united to Truth only by pure Ideas free from all imaginary and fantastical Ap­pearances. So that the more strength, vivacity and ex­tent the Imagination hath, the more the Mind employs it self about sensible Objects; all this I have said be­fore. Now when the Imagination is beautiful, easy, clear and sprightly, the Images which it forms are live­ly, animated and delightful, always drawn to the Life and even beyond it. Thus he who by the strength of [Page 115]his Imagination raises a great variety of different Ob­jects in his Mind, who makes his Phantoms always ap­pear in a fashionable Dress, and puts them into certain regular and harmonious Motions which give an agree­able agitation to the whole Brain: He, I say, is charm'd with his own productions, and instead of contemplating things as they are in themselves and as their Ideas repre­sent them, delights continually in seeing his own Farces acted, and applauds the Fictions of his own Brain.

XVI. It is natural for all Men to seek Admirers, and the Man of Wit never fails of them. When he speaks, as he speaks well, all the World hearkens to him with Esteem; as he speaks agreably, they hear him with Pleasure; as he advances only certain sensible Truths, which are really false ones (for that which is true to the Senses, is false to the Mind) every one applauds him. Now is it possible for one who knows, or rather by the air and behaviour of his Auditors, is strongly and sensibly persuaded that they admire, love, honour and respect him, is it possible, I say, for such an one to distrust his own Thoughts, and believe that he is mistaken? Can he avoid uniting himself not only to his own Visions which enchant him, but also to that World which applauds him, to those Friends which caress him, and to those Disciples which adore him? Can he be closely united with God who hath so many ties and relations with the Creatures?

XVII. The Wit is a Man of Honour, I allow it: Yet he may be a Cheat, and there are as many of them of that Character, as any other. He is not Vicious, I grant it: Tho' there are Debauchees among them, and a great many too. But certainly the Man of Wit is ma­ny ways allied to the World: For how can he be Dead to the World, when the World is so much Alive to him? He is continually agitated by motions of Vanity: For every one that he converses with doth nothing but pro­voke in him the Concupiscence of Pride. The Man of Wit, I speak still of such a one as lives in a select and chosen World, one whose whole design is to gain an advantageous Post in Mens Minds, or by the Reputa­tion he hath already gotten, is become in reality the Slave of all those who look upon him as their Master: He, I say, is separated from God at a greater distance [Page 116]than any other, and there is no likelyhood of his return. The delight of Grace may diffuse it self in his Heart ten times a Day; it will always find that Heart fill'd with Sensations and Motions that will choke it. The Light may illuminate his Mind, and dispel its Phantoms; the Imagination will easily produce them again. There are too many Fetters to break, too many Chains to burst, before this Captive can be deliver'd. But he is in love with his Chains, he is not sensible of his Slavery, or he glories in it.

XVIII. The Debauchee is not always actually in a Debauch; his Blood and Humours cannot hold out to maintain it; and when the Fermentation ceases, he is asham'd of his Disorders. But the Blood is always in a condition to furnish Spirits enough to keep up the Lust of Pride. What time then can be favourable for the efficacy of Grace? The Cheat feels continual checks of Conscience which trouble and disquiet him, but the Wit feels no remorse. He will say, is it a Crime to have Wit, and to merit the esteem of Persons of Worth and Reputation? No, it is no Crime to have Wit, but it is an Error to take the Imagination for the Mind. It is not a Crime to merit the esteem of others, but it is an illusion to think that a Man merits it, I will not say, for having abundance of animal Spirits in his Head, or a just proportion of the Fibres of his Brain to the Spirits, but even for being united to Reason in the purest and closest manner that is possible. There is no Merit in the sight of him who alone can judge of, and reward Merit, but by a conformity to Order, and a right use of Liberty: A use which cannot be well regulated without the assistance of Grace, and of which he who values himself upon it loses the Merit, because he doth not render to God alone the Glory which is due to him. Do we think that God hath created other Men to employ their Thoughts and bestow their Love on us; to turn towards and admire us; to run after and rely upon us? Certainly God would be worship'd by his Creatures. But how! by prostrating themselves before his Altars, by burning Incense, by joining Voices with Instruments, and making the Churches resound with harmonious Airs compos'd in his Praise? No, with­out doubt God is a Spirit, and will be worship'd in [Page 117]Spirit and in Truth. He will have the whole Man, his Thoughts, Motions and Actions. But the Man of Wit, more than any one, attracts the Eyes of other Men, and fixes their Motions on himself. Instead of putting himself in a posture of Adoration, and turning the Minds and Hearts of others towards him who alone ought to be worship'd, he exalts himself, and assumes an honourable Place in Mens Minds, he enters even in­to the Sanctuary of that Holy Temple, the principal Habitation of the living God, and by the sensible Pomp and Splendor which surrounds him, he prostrates weak Imaginations at his Feet, and makes them pay him a true and spiritual Worship, a Worship which is due to God alone.

XIX. Now can he who seeks the esteem of Men, and robs God of that which he most values in his Creatures, can he I say, 1 Pet. 5.5. draw down upon himself the favours of Heaven? Will God who resists the Proud prevent him with his Blessings? The Spirit of God willingly rests on such as are humble, such as the World despises, These Truths the Scripture assures us of. He enlight­ens those that retire into themselves: This Experience shews. But he blinds those lively and sparkling Ima­ginations, which are always roving abroad: For Truth dwells within us. Besides, the Grace either of Light or Sense, doth not work its effect in the Mind and Heart of those who are united to every thing that is about them: This is evident from what hath been here said. So then the Man of Wit who seeks after Glory, shall find only a vain and transitory one, and shall fall for ever with those proud and ambitious Spirits, into the disgrace which he deserves.

XX. But this beautiful ornament of Wit; so fatal to those who possess it and value themselves upon it, is also very dangerous to those who esteem and admire it in others without possessing it themselves. This is a Truth necessary to be known. There is nothing more contagi­ous than the Imagination; and those in whom it is strong and governing, are alway Masters of those that look intently on them. Their Air and Behaviour, do, as I may say, diffuse conviction and certainty in all that behold them: For they act every thing with so much Passion and Life, that if a Man doth not retire into him­self, [Page 118]to confront that which they say with the answers of inward Truth, which is very hard to do in their Pre­sence; he is convinc'd, without knowing precisely what it is he is convinc'd of; because he is struck, he is dazled, and subdu'd by force.

XXI. Nevertheless, we must know, that those that have this lively and domineering Imagination, are of all Men the most subject to Error, their Sentiments are the most dangerous, and their Motions the most irregular. For the fuller the Brain is of Spirits, the more rebel­lious the Imagination is, the Passions are the more vio­lent, the Body speaks in a higher Tone, which never speaks but in favour of the Body, to unite and subject the Soul to the Body, and to separate it from him who alone is able to give it that perfection it is capable of. We should therefore endeavour to silence our own Ima­gination, and be upon our guard against those that please and excite it. We should as much as is possible avoid the Conversation of the World. For when the Lust either of Pride or Pleasure, is actually provok'd, Grace cannot operate in us with its full efficacy.

XXII. Man is subject to Two sorts of Concupi­scence, one of Pleasure, and the other of Grandeur. This is a thing not sufficiently taken notice of. When a Man enjoys sensual Pleasures, his Imagination is polluted, and carnal Concupiscence exerts and fortifies it self. In like manner, when he goes abroad into the World, and seeks to advance himself in it, when he pro­cures Friends, and gains Reputation, the Idea which he hath of himself stretches and grows larger in his Ima­gination, and the concupiscence of Pride gains new and greater Strength. There are some impressions in the Brain naturally form'd for maintaining civil Society, and advancing a Man's private Fortune; as there are others relating to the preservation of his Life, and the propagation of his Species. We are united to other Men by a thousand Relations, as really as we are to our own Body: and every union with the Creatures disunites us from God in the State we are now in, be­cause the impressions of the Brain are not subject to our Wills.

XXIII. All Men are well enough convinc'd of the pravity of carnal Concupiscence, they have some fear [Page 119]and abhorrence of it, and in some measure avoid every thing that may provoke it. But there are very few that seriously reflect on the concupiscence of Pride, or ap­prehend the danger of raising and augmenting it. Every one rashly throws himself into the Conversation of the World, and embarks without fear on that tempestuous Sea, as S. Augustine calls it. We suffer our selves to be govern'd by the Spirit that reigns in the World, we aspire to Greatness, and pursue Honour: For indeed how is it possible to remain unmov'd in the mid'st of that Torrent of People that surrounds us, who insult and domineer over us, if they leave us behind them? In fine we get a Name, but it is such a Name as makes a Man the more a Slave, the more Pains he hath taken to deserve it; a Name which straitly unites us to the Creatures, and separates us from the Creator; a Name illustrious in the esteem of Men, but a Name of Pride which God will destroy.

CHAP. XIII. Of the Passions. What they are. Their dangerous effects. We must moderate them. The conclusion of the first Part.

I. THE Senses, Imagination and Passions go always in company together: We cannot examine and condemn them apart. That which I have said of the Senses and Imagination, naturally reaches the Passions also. So that the Reader may easily judge what I am going to say, by what I have already said: For I shall only explain a little more at large what I have been already oblig'd to say in part, by reason of the close union that is between all the parts of our Being.

II. By the Passions I do not mean the Senses, which produce them, nor the Imagination which excites and keeps them up: But I mean those notions of the Soul and animal Spirits which are caus'd by the Senses and Imagination, and act reciprocally on the cause which produc'd them: For all this is nothing but a continual [Page 120]circulation of Sensations and Motions which mutually produce and fortify one another. If the Senses produce the Passions, the Passions in return, by the Motion which they excite in the Body, unite the Senses to sensible Objects. If the Imagination stirs up the Pas­sions, the Passions, by a Counter-motion of the Spirits raise the Imagination; and each of them is reciprocally supported or produc'd anew by the effect of which it is the Cause; so admirable is the oeconomy of Man's Body and the mutual Relation of all the parts which compose it. But this matter deserves a fuller Explication, in respect of the Consequences which we should draw from it.

III. The Passions are Motions of the Soul which ac­company that of the Spirits and the Blood, and pro­duce in the Body, by the mechanical Frame and Con­stitution of it, all the dispositions necessary to support and keep up the Cause from whence they arise. At the sight of any Object which moves the Soul, (we will suppose that Object to be some Good) the animal Spirits which come from the Brain to the other parts of the Body, divide themselves into two Branches or Courses. One of these Courses runs, or hath a tendency to run to the external parts, the Legs and Arms; or if they are unserviceable, then to the Lungs and Organs of the Voice, in order to dispose us and those that are with us, to unite us to the Object. The other part of the Spirits goes into the Nerves belonging to the Heart, Lungs, Liver and other Viscera, to proportion the Fer­mentation and Course of the Blood and Humours, to the quality of the present Good. By this means the Impression which the presence of any Good, or the Imagination forms in the Brain, and which determines the two Courses of the Spirits, is preserv'd and main­tain'd by new Spirits, with which the latter Course en­deavours to supply the Brain by the repeated and vio­lent Shocks wherewith it shakes the Nerves that en­compass the Vessels containing the Humours and Blood, the Matter of which the Spirits are continually made.

IV. The Nerves which are distributed into the Limbs being full of Spirits, from their origine in the Brain, even to their extremities; and the Impression of the Object forcibly driving the Spirits into all the [Page 121]parts of the Body, to give them a violent and extra­ordinary Motion, or put them into a forc'd Position, the Blood must of necessity ascend up to the Head speedily and in great abundance, by the Action of the Nerves which surround, and compress or dilate the Vessels wherein it is contain'd. For if the Brain did not send a sufficient quantity of Spirits into the Members of the Body, we could not long preserve the Air, Posture and Motion necessary for the acquisition of Good and the avoidance of Evil. Nay, we should fall into Swoun­ings and Faintings; for this constantly happens when the Brain wants Spirits, and when the Communication which it hath by their means with the other parts of the Body is interrupted.

V. Thus the Body is an admirable Machine, com­pos'd of an infinite number of Pipes and Cisterns, which have all innumerable communications with one another. The wonderful operation of this Machine de­pends wholly on the Course of the Spirits, which is differently determin'd by the elastick force of the several Springs, and the opening and shutting of the Passages by the Action of Objects on the Senses, and the Motion of the principal part of the Brain; which Motion de­pends partly on the Will, and partly on the Course of the Spirits, excited by the Impressions of the Ima­gination and Memory.

VI. But that which I would have chiefly observ'd here, is, That the Course of the Spirits in the Nerves, belonging to the Viscera, which drives the Blood up into the Head for the production of Spirits, necessary to dispose the outward parts of the Body, with rela­tion to the present Object, acts with choice, and fur­nishes the Brain only with such Humours as are pro­per for the preservation of that Impression by which the Passion is excited; or, which comes all to one, the Blood and Humours which ascend up to the Head, divide themselves in such a manner, that so much of them as is fit for the production of Spirits, agreable to the prevailing Passion, remains there, and the rest re­turns by the circulation, to the places from whence it came. These Spirits being made, are presently deter­min'd toward the Impression which is the original Cause of all these Motions, to preserve it, and also to revive [Page 122]all the accessory Impressions which may any way for­tify and confirm it. From those Impressions both the Principal one and the Accessories, the new Spirits do also receive their direction, and are divided, as the first were, into two Branches; one for the outward, and the other for the inward parts of the Body: For as long as the Passion lasts, this admirable Circulation of the Spirits and Blood is continually made, which sets the Machine a going, according as the present Object requires, with a wonderful Regularity and Order.

VII. From hence it appears, that the Passions which are most wisely ordain'd, with relation to their proper end; namely, the preservation of Health and Life, the conjunction of Man and Woman, Society, Commerce, and the acquisition of sensible Goods, are extremely opposite to the acquisition of the true and spiritual Goods, the Goods due to Vertue and Me­rit.

VIII. For 1. The Passions are not subject to our Wills: Nothing is more difficult than to govern them, because we have lost that Power by Sin, which other­wise we should have had over our Bodies.

2. They are so contrary to Vertue and Merit, that a Man must sacrifice and destroy them, if he would de­serve the Name and Reward of a truly vertuous Man, or a perfect Christian.

3. Every Motion which they naturally excite in the Soul, is only for the good of the Body, according to this Maxim, That whatever happens to the Soul by the Body, is only for the Body.

4. When they are rais'd, they take up the whole con­tent of the Mind and Heart. The impressions and agi­tation of the Brain, which they fortify by the Contri­butions they draw from the Intestines, and send up speedily and abundantly into the Head, disturb all our Ideas; and the Shock and Motion they give the Will by that lively and agreeable Sensation which accompa­nies them, corrupts our Hearts, and throws us into in­numerable disorders.

But 5. when their Agitation is ceas'd, yet the Imagi­nation remains polluted by the Impressions which they have made on the Brain, whose Fibres have been bent or broken by the violence of the Spirits which they [Page 123]have put in Motion. These Impressions often dis­sipate the attention of the Mind, and generally revive the same Passions which produc'd them, when the Blood is impregnated again with Particles fit to raise such a Fermentation as may produce abundance of Spirits agreeable to the nature of those Passions.

6. The Passions by their rapid Course make a smooth and easy way for themselves into the Nerves which go to the Heart and other inward parts of the Body, and there excite such Motions as are proper to revive them again; so that the least thing that shakes the Brain, is capable of renewing them.

7. Lastly, all the Passions justify themselves in such a manner, that it is not possible at the time that they agi­tate the Mind, to make a solid and impartial Judg­ment of the Objects which excite them; for such is their malignant quality, that they are not satisfied if Reason too doth not give Judgment in favour of them.

IX. For I. They confirm the Judgment of the Sen­ses, tho' they are so far from being competent Judges in the Eye of Reason, that they are false Witnesses. II. They shew only the wrong side of Objects, and always represent them in that deceitful Shape which suits best with their Interest. III. They revive all those Impressions and accessory Ideas which side with them, and suppress all the rest. IV. They cover their irregu­lar Proceedings and vitious Designs, with the specious appearances of Reason, Justice and Vertue. The co­vetous Man, for instance, conceals from himself the Shamefulness, Injustice and Cruelty of his Avarice: He disguises his Passion with notions of Temperance, Mo­deration, Prudence, Penance, or it may be of Charity, Liberality and Magnificence, by forming imaginary Designs which he will never put in execution; for the Passions are cunning enough to make even the Vertues opposite to them serve for their Justification. V. Lastly, the Passions are always accompanied with a certain pleasant Sensation, which bribes their Judge, and if he favours them, pays him to his content; whereas if he condemns them, they handle him very cruelly: For what Present can be offer'd more grateful and charm­ing, to one that irresistibly desires to be happy, than Pleasure, when it is actual Pleasure that gives actual [Page 124]Happiness? And what Treatment can be more rough, than that which the Soul receives from the Passions, when it would Sacrifice them to the Love of Order? We cannot strike them without wounding our selves; for when they are upon their Guard, the blow which we aim at them, if it takes away their Life only for a little while, recoils back upon our selves and mortally Wounds us; or rather reduces us to such a condition, as often seems worse than Death it self.

X. So then it is evident, that those who are so far from moderating their Passions, that they do all they can to gratify them, who live by Humour, and act by Inclination, and judge of every thing by Fancy; in a word, those who follow all the motions of the Machine, and suffer themselves to be led, without know­ing who it is that leads them, or whither they go; are continually departing from their true good, and by de­grees lose sight of it quite; they blot out the very Remembrance of it, and blindly run head-long into the Abyss where all Evils dwell, and the eternal Pri­vation of all Good.

XI. It is true, indeed, that sometimes Grace is strong enough to stop in his full career one that aban­dons himself to the motions of his Passions, and that God in goodness speaks to the Soul in Thunder and Light­ning, and with a terrible Voice, which overthrows the Man and the Passion that hurries him away. But Christ very rarely bestows such Favours; and that Man is very senseless, who throws himself into a Precipice, in expectation that God should work a Miracle to save him from death.

XII. What then must we do to moderate our Pas­sions? I have already spoke of this in the Seventh Chapter and elsewhere; but I shall sum it up here in few words. I. We should avoid the Objects which excite them, and mortify our Senses. II. We should keep our Imagination within the bounds of that respect which it ows to Reason, or makes a continual revulsion in the animal Spirits, which by their Course keep up, and fortify the sinful Impressions. III. We should seek after the means to make our Passions appear ridiculous and contemptible, we should examine them by the Light, confront them with Order, and use our utmost endea­vours [Page 125]to discover the foulness, injustice and irregula­rity of them, and their fatal consequences, as well in respect of this life as the other. IV. We should form no Design when they are excited, nor ever enter upon any Business by their direction or influence. V. We should get a Habit, and lay an Obligation on our selves of consulting Reason in every thing; and when­ever we have neglected to do it, either by surprize or for any other reason, we should change our manner of proceeding, and at least take upon us the shame we de­serve, for having acted like Brutes by the construction and motion of the Machine; much less should we ju­stify the foolish step we have made by continuing in a vitious and sinful Course. VI. We should labour to augment the strength and liberty of our Mind, that we may be able to undergo the labour of Attention, and to suspend our Assent till Evidence forces it from us. Without these two Qualifications, we cannot receive from Reason any certain Rules for the Government of our selves. VII. Lastly; that we may be in a capacity to follow those Rules which destroy the Passions, we should, above all things, have recourse to Prayer, and with confidence and humility draw near to him who came to deliver us by the strength of his Grace, from that Body of Death, or that Law of the Flesh which re­bels every moment against the Law of the Spirit. For I have often said already, and do not stick to repeat it here again, because I think there is no fear of reflecting on it too much, That neither Reason by it self, nor all the helps which Philosophy affords us, can without the influence of the second Adam deliver us from the ma­lignity of the first.

XIII. The sum of what hath been said relating to the First Part of this Moral Essay, is this; First I shew'd, that Vertue consists precisely in an habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order. Then I spoke of the two principal Qualities necessary for the acqui­sition of Vertue. After that I laid open the occasional Causes of Light and inward Sense, without which we cannot acquire or preserve the Love of Order. And lastly, I examin'd into the occasional Causes of certain Sensations which are contrary to those of Grace, and a­bate the Force and Efficacy of them, that we may avoid [Page 126]them. So that, I think, I have omitted nothing neces­sary for the acquisition and conservation of Vertue in general. I come now to the Second Part, which treats not of Vertues, but of the Duties of Vertue: For I know of but one single Vertue, which renders those that possess it truly and substantially Vertuous; namely, an habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order.

CHAP. I. Good Men often do wicked Actions. The Love of Order must be enlightned to make it regular. Three Condi­tions requir'd to make an Action perfectly Vertuous. We should study the Duties of Man in general, and take some time every day to examine the Order and Circumstances of them in particular.

I. THE Actions of those that have attain'd to the true and solid Vertue, are not therefore all so­lidly and substantially Vertuous. There is in a manner always some deficiency or imperfection in them; nay, many times they are really sinful. The reason of this is, because a Man doth not always Act by the influence of his predominant Habit, but sometimes by the operation [Page 2]of the Passion, which is actually excited in him. For if the predominant Habit be asleep, as I may say, and the rest awake, the Actions of a good Man may be many ways sinful: But besides, tho' the predominant Habit of the Love of Order be actually excited in a good Man, yet at the same time his Actions may be defective and im­perfect, and even directly opposite to Order which he actually loves, and designs to follow. For, beside the difficulty of paying an exact Obedience to the Order which we do know, indiscreet and ill govern'd Zeal of­ten makes us Act contrary to the Order which we do not know. Wherefore that an Action may be com­pleatly Vertuous, it is not sufficient that it proceed from a good Man, nor from a Man actually mov'd by the Love of Order, but it must also be conformable to Order in all its Circumstances; and that too not by a kind of Chance luckily determining the actual Motion of the Soul, but by the strength of Reason, guiding and governing us in such a manner as to make us ful­fill all our Duties.

II. So then, tho' it be sufficient to make us just and acceptable to God, that the Love of Order be our pre­dominant Habit; yet if we would be perfect and com­pleat, we must be able to govern this Love by an ex­act Knowledge of our Duties. Nay, I may say, that he who neglects or slights this Knowledge, what Zeal soever he may find within himself for Order, his Heart is by no means rightly dispos'd. For Order would be lov'd by Reason, and not altogether by the Heart and fervency of Instinct, which often fills with indiscreet Zeal those whose Imagination is too brisk and lively; who are not us'd to retire into themselves, but are continually apt to mistake the secret inspirations of their Passions, for the infallible Answers of the inward Truth.

III. Indeed, those whose Mind is so weak, and their Passions so strong, that they are not capable of giving Counsel to themselves, or rather of taking Counsel of him who enlightens all Men, are excusable before God; if they sincerely desire and follow the Advice of such as they believe to be the best and wisest Men. But those who have or pretend to have Wit and Sense, are guilty in the sight of God, if they undertake any De­sign [Page 3]without consulting him, that is, without consulting Reason, how fervent soever the Zeal may be which transports them. For we must distinguish the Answers of the inward Truth which illuminates the Mind by the Evidence of its Light, from the Language and secret Inspirations of the Passions, which confound and deceive it by such Sensations as are indeed lively and agreeable, but always obscure and confus'd.

IV. The Love of Order therefore requires of us three Conditions to make any of our Actions conforma­ble to it: First, That we examine the Action in it self, and all its Circumstances, as far as we are able. Se­condly, That we suspend our Assent till Evidence forces it from us, or the Execution, till Necessity obliges us to defer it no longer. Thirdly, That we readily, ex­actly, and inviolably obey Order as far as it is known to us. Strength of Mind must make us couragiously undergo the labour of Attention: Liberty of Mind must moderate and wisely govern the desire of Assent: Submission of Mind must make us follow the Light step by step, without ever going before it, or forsaking it; and the Love of Order must animate and quicken these three Faculties; by which, tho' it be hid in the bottom of our Heart, it discovers it self to the Eyes of the World, and sanctifies all our Actions in the sight of God.

V. But since it is impossible for a Man that is not vers'd in the Science of Morality, to discover the Order of his Duties in sudden and unexpected Occa­sions, tho' he have never so great strength and liberty of Mind; it is necessary for him to provide against those Occasions, which leave him no time for Examination, and by a prudent foresight to inform himself of his Duties in general, or of some certain and undeniable Principles to govern his Actions by in particular Ca­ses. This study of a Man's Duties, ought without doubt to be prefer'd before all others: Its End and Reward is Eternity. He that applies himself to Languages, to the Mathematicks, to Business, and neglects the study of the general Rules for the Government of his Life, is like a foolish Traveller, who loiters by the way or rambles out of it, and is overtaken by the Night, an eternal Night, which will deprive him for ever of the [Page 4]sight of his Country, fill him with immortal despair, and leave him expos'd to the dreadful wrath of the Lamb, and the power of the Devils, or rather the ju­stice of an avenging God.

VI. He that should go about to examine in particular all the Duties belonging to the several conditions of Men, would undertake a Work which he could never finish, how indefatigable soever he were. For my part, I am too sensible of my own weakness to engage in so vast and difficult a Design; and all that I here pre­tend to, is to set down in general, and that chiefly for my own private use, the Duties which all Men, as far as they are able, ought to pay to God, their Neigh­bour and Themselves. Every Man must examine his own particular Duties himself, as they relate to the general and essential Obligations, and according to Circumstances which vary every moment: We should set apart some time for this every day, and not ex­pect to find in Books, nor it may be in other Men, so much Certainty and Light as we may in our selves, if we consult the inward Truth sincerely, faithfully and in the motion of the Love of Order.

CHAP. II. Our Duties toward God must be refer'd to his Attributes, to his Power, Wisdom and Love. God alone is the true Cause of all Things. The Duties we owe to Pow­er, which consist chiefly in clear Judgments, and in Motions govern'd by those Judgments.

I. THe immutable and necessary Order requires that the Creature should depend on the Creator, that every Copy should answer to its Original; and that Man being made after the Image of God, should live in Obedience to God, united to God, and like God as far as is possible; obedient to his Power, united to his Wisdom, and perfectly like him in all the motions of his Heart. Mat. 5.48. Be ye perfect, saith our Saviour to his Dis­ciples, even as your Father which is in Heaven is per­fect. Indeed, we shall not be truly like God, till be­ing [Page 5]swallowed up in the contemplation of his Essence, we shall be wholly penetrated with his Light and Plea­sure: But thither it is that we must tend; it is that which Faith gives us a Right to hope for; that to which it conducts us; that which it gives us an ear­nest of by the inward Reformation which the Grace of Christ works in us. For Faith leads us to the under­standing of the Truth, and merits for us the Grace of Charity. Now Understanding and Charity, are the two essential strokes which draw our Minds anew after our Original, who is call'd in the Scriptures Truth and Love. Beloved, saith St. John, 1 John 3.2, 3.now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every Man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Mat. 5.8.Blessed are the pure in heart, saith Christ himself, for they shall see God.

II. To discover the Duties which we owe to God, we must attentively consider all his Attributes, and con­sult our selves in reference to them: Especially, we must examine his Power, Wisdom and Love; and on our own part, our Judgments and Motions: For it is only by the Judgments and Motions of our Minds, that we render to God that which we owe him; as it is chief­ly on the account of his Power, Wisdom and Love, that we indispensably owe him the greatest Duties.

III. When in thinking on God, we consider him only as a Being of infinite Reality or Perfection, we are convinc'd that Order requires us to esteem him infinitely. But we do not naturally conclude from this alone, that we ought to worship, fear or love him, &c. The consideration of God barely in himself, or with­out any relation to us, doth not excite those Motions in the Soul which carry it towards Good, or the cause of its Happiness, and produce in it fit dispositions to receive the influence of that Good. There is nothing more evident, than that a Being infinitely perfect ought to be infinitely esteem'd: No one can refuse God this speculative Duty; for it consists only in a simple Judg­ment, which no one can suspend when the Evidence is full and convincing. And therefore wicked Men, those that have no Religion, those that deny the Providence [Page 6]of God, willingly pay him this Duty. But as they imagine that God doth not concern himself with our Affairs, that he is not the true and immediate Cause of every thing that is done here below, and that we can have no Communication, no Society, no Union with him, neither by a Reason, nor a Power in some sort common both to him and us; they brutishly follow the agreeable Motions of their Passions, and pay those Du­ties to a blind Nature, which are due only to the Wis­dom and Power of the Creatour.

IV. These mistaken Men argue and conclude right enough, but it is from false Principles; and you can­not easily make them understand that God requires any Duties of his Creatures, if you do not first rid them of a great many false Maxims; such as these, for in­stance. That if God concern'd himself with our Affairs, the World would not go as it doth; that Injustice would never be advanc'd to the Throne, and that Bo­dies would not be rang'd so irregularly as they are; that so deform'd and mishapen a World as this is, can be nothing but the work of a blind and unintelligent Nature, and that God doth not require of us vile Creatures, Honours unbecoming his Nature; that that which appears right and just to us, is not so in it self or in the sight of God, who if it were, would often Punish those that he ought to Reward; for many times we meet with the greatest Misfortunes, when we are doing the best Actions. I have elsewhere confuted these Principles; and if the Reader doth not clearly comprehend what I am going to say, he may read the first Eight of my Christian Meditations.

V. Wherefore that we may discover the Foundation and Original of our Duties, it is not sufficient to con­sider the infinitely perfect Being, without the relation it bears to us. On the contrary, we must above all things take notice, that we depend on the Power of God; that we are united to his Wisdom, and that we have no Motion but from his Spirit, from the Love which he bears to himself. We depend on the Power of God; for we have our Existence from that alone, we act by that alone, and can do nothing but by that. We are united to the Wisdom of God; for by that alone we are enlightned, in that alone we discover [Page 7]Truth, we are rational only by that, for that alone is the universal Reason of all intelligent Beings. Lastly, we have no Motion but from the Spirit of God; for as God acts only by his own Will, or by the Love which he bears to himself; so all the Love which we have for Good, is only an Effusion or Impression of that Love with which God loves himself. We love nothing invincibly and naturally but God, because we love, and can love nothing but Good; and Good, I mean the cause of Happiness, is no where but in God; for no Creature can of it self Act on spiritual Substances. I must explain these things more at large, in order to de­duce from them the Rules of our Conduct: I begin with Power, and the Duties we owe to it.

VI. Glory and Honour belong only to God: 1 Tim. 1.17. All the Motions of our Souls ought to tend toward him a­lone, for in him alone Power resides. All the Wills of the Creatures are of themselves impotent and ineffectual. He alone who gives them their Beings, can give them the Modes of their Beings; for the different Modes of Beings are nothing but the same Beings in such and such particular Fashions or Dispositions; nothing is more evident to one that can sedately and silently consult the inward Truth. For what can be plain­er, than that if God, for instance, will keep any Body always in one place, no Creature can remove it into another; and that Man cannot so much as move his Arm, but only because God is pleass'd to do that which ungrateful and senseless Man thinks he doth him­self? It is the same with the Modifications of spiritual Beings. If God creates or continues a Soul in the Modification of Pain, no other Spirit can deliver it from that Pain, nor make it feel Pleasure, except God gives his Assent, I am the Lord, that is my Name, [...] Glo­ry will not give to ano­ther, Isa. 42.8. and co-operates with it in the accom­plishment of its desires. By this extraordinary Con­cession and Liberality it is, that God without losing any thing of his Power, without diminishing his Greatness or lessening his Glory, imparts to the Creatures his Glory, Greatness and Power.

VII. God hath subjected this present World to the Angels; it is they that act, and God that doth every thing. He hath given to Jesus Christ as Head of the Church, a Sovereign Power over all the Nations of the Earth: Christ distributes the true Goods; but it [Page 8]is God alone who sends them, it is he alone that acts in our Souls, and penetrates the hardness of our Hearts. Christ as he is Man, prays, intercedes, desires and per­forms the Office of Advocate, Mediator and High-Priest. But it is God alone that operates, he only hath power, he is the sole cause and beginning of all Things, and ought to be the sole end. All the Mo­tions of our Souls should tend towards him, and to him alone belong Glory and Honour. This is that eternal, necessary and inviolable Law, which God hath esta­blish'd by the necessity of his own Being, by the love which he necessarily bears to himself; a Love which is always conformable to Order, and makes Order to be the inviolable Law of all spiritual Beings. When God ceases to know himself to be what he is, and to love himself as much as he deserves, to act according to his own Light, and by the Motion of his own Love, when he ceases to observe this Law, then it will be lawful for us to desire Glory our selves, or give it to any other beside God; then we may without fear, delight in and make much of the Friendship of the Creatures; we may love and be belov'd, give and re­ceive Worship and Adoration; we may then shew our selves to the World, to attract the Esteem and Love of the World; we may exalt and expose our selves to View, as Objects fit to employ those. Minds and Hearts which God hath made only for himself; we may then employ our selves either about our selves, or the imaginary Power of the Creatures.

VIII. There is nothing certainly more agreeable both to Christianity and Reason, than this Principle, That it is God alone who doth every thing; and that he com­municates his Power to the Creatures no otherwise than as he makes them Occasional Causes for himself to act by, in such a manner as bears the Character of an in­finite Wisdom, an immutable Nature, and an universal Cause; in such a manner, that all the Glory which the work of the Creature deserves, is refer'd to the Creator alone; when the Creatures by a Power which they have not in them, execute such Designs as were form'd before their Creation. What is more holy than this Principle, which clearly shews to such as are ca­pable of rightly understanding it, that in many Cases it [Page 9]is lawful for us to approach the Objects of our Senses by the Motion of our Body; but that we must reserve all the Motions of our Soul for God alone? For we may, nay and many times ought to move toward the occasional Cause of our Sensations, but we must never leave it: We may join our selves to other Men; but we must never adore them with the Motion of our Love, either as our Good, or as capable of procuring us any Good: We must love and fear only the true Cause of Good and Evil: We must love and fear none but God in the Creatures. Jer. 17.7, 5. Blessed is the Man that trusteth in the Lord, and cursed is the Man that trusteth in Man, and maketh flesh his Arm.

IX. This probably was the Philosophy of the noble Mordecai, which he taught his adopted Daughter Esther: For the Jews had a more divine Philosophy, than that which the Heathens have left us. In a Motion con­formable to the Principles of that Philosophy without doubt it was, that she makes this Prayer to God, and lays before him the true Sentiments of her Heart. ‘Deliver us, O Lord, with thine hand, Esther 14.14, &c. and help me that am desolate, and which have no other helper but thee. Thou knowest all things, O Lord; thou knowest that I hate the Glory of the Unrighteous, and abhor the Bed of the Uncircumcised, and of all the Heathen. Thou knowest my necessity; for I abhor the sign of my high Estate, which is upon mine Head, in the days whereon I shew my self, and that I wear it not when I am private by my self: And that thine Hand-maid hath not eaten at Haman's Table, and that I have not greatly esteem'd the King's Feast, nor drunk the Wine of the Drink Offerings: Neither had thine Hand-maid any joy since the day that I was brought hither to this pre­sent, but in thee, O Lord God of Abraham.’ This great Queen takes God to witness, ‘That she had no joy but in him alone.’ Tho' she were Wife to a Prince that commanded a Hundred and seventeen Pro­vinces, and liv'd in the midst of Pleasures, yet she de­spises her Greatness, and abhors the Delights of a vo­luptuous Court: She remains unmov'd in the midst of so many Allurements, and God alone is the Object of all the Motions of her Soul. ‘Thine Hand-maid [Page 10]never had any joy but in thee, O Lord God of Abra­ham.’ What constancy of Mind! what greatness of Soul! This is it which the Law of God teaches us; and this also is demonstrated by that Principle, that God alone doth every thing, and that the Creatures are only the Occasional Causes of that Splendor which seems to environ them, and of those Pleasures which seem to flow from them. But the Duties we owe to Power, which is in none but God, require a more particular Explication.

X. All our Duties consist properly in nothing but cer­tain Judgments and Motions of the Soul, as I said be­fore. ‘For God is a Spirit, and will be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth:’ All our outward Actions are but Consequences of the Action of our Mind. This clear Perception, That God alone hath Power, obliges us to form the following Judgments.

1. That God alone is the Cause of our Being.

2. That he alone is the Cause of the duration of our Being, or of our Time.

3. That he alone is the Cause of our Knowledge.

4. That he alone is the Cause of the natural Motions of our Will.

5. That he alone is the Cause of our Sensations, Pleasure, Pain, Hunger, Thirst, &c.

6. That he alone is the Cause of all the Motions of our Body.

7. That neither Men, nor Angels, nor Devils, nor any other Creature, can of themselves do us either good or harm: That they may nevertheless, as Occasional Causes, determine God in consequence of certain gene­ral Laws, to do us good or harm, by means of the Bo­dy to which we are united.

8. That in like manner we can do neither good nor harm to any one by our own strength, but only oblige God by our practical Desires, in consequence of the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body, to do good or harm to other Men: For we, indeed, have the Will to move our Tongue or Arm; but it is God alone who can and doth actually move them.

XI. These Judgments require of us the following Motions.

1. To love none but God with a Love of Ʋnion or Conjunction, because he alone is the Cause of our Happiness, either small or great, transitory or durable: I say with a Love of Ʋnion; for we must love our Neighbour not as our Good, or the Cause of our Happiness, but only as capable of enjoying the same Happiness with us. The word Love is equivocal, and therefore we must take care of it.

2. To have no joy but in God alone; for he that rejoyces in any other thing, judges that that other thing can make him happy; which is a false Judgment, and can cause only an irregular Motion.

3. Never to unite our selves to the occasional Cau­ses of our Happiness, contrary to the Prohibition of the true Cause; for that would be to oblige God in consequence of his Laws, to promote Iniquity.

4. Not to unite our selves to them without a parti­cular necessity; for the Sinner ought to avoid Pleasure, because actual Pleasure gives actual Happiness, and Happiness is a Reward which the Sinner doth not de­serve; besides, the Pleasures which we enjoy by the means of the Body, fortify Concupiscence, disturb the Mind, and corrupt the Heart a thousand ways. This is the Ground of the necessity of Penance.

5. To fear none but God, because he alone can Pu­nish us. We must fear God in this life, to keep us from offending him. The happy day will come, which ex­cluding Sin, shall also banish Fear.

6. To be sorry for nothing but our Sin, because no­thing but Sin can oblige a just God to make us mise­rable. He that grieves at the loss of a false Good, gives Honour to it, and considers it as a true Good. And he that grieves at a Misfortune which he cannot remedy, afflicts himself in vain. Self-love enlightned, is griev'd only for its own Disorders, and Charity for those of others.

7. Tho' God alone can make us miserable, yet we must not hate him, tho' we may fear him. Only he that is harden'd in Sin, hates God out of Self-love; for being sensible that he will not obey God, or knowing, as the damn'd do, that in the condition which he likes and is pleas'd with, he hath no means of access or re­turn to God, the invincible love of Happiness inspires [Page 12]him continually with an invincible hatred against him who alone can be the cause of Misery.

8. We must not hate nor fear the occasional causes of physical Evil or Misery. We may separate our selves from them. But we must not do that neither against the Will of the true Cause, I mean contrary to Order or the Law of God.

9. We should will nothing but what God wills; because we can do nothing but what God doth. If we have not the Power to act, it is plain that we should not have the Will to act. Order or the divine Law should also be our Law or the Rule of our Desires and Actions; because our Desires are efficacious only by the power and action of God. I cannot move my Arm by my own Strength: And therefore I ought not to move it according to my own Desires. The Law of God should govern all the effects of Power, not only in God, but also in the Creatures. Order or the Law of God is common to all spiritual Beings: The Power of God is common to all Causes. Therefore we cannot dispense with our Obedience to that Law, because we cannot act but by the efficacy of that Power.

10. We may nevertheless desire to be happy; nay we cannot desire to be miserable. But we must neither desire nor do any thing to make us happy, but what Order allows of. We shall never find Happiness, if we seek it by the Power of God contrary to his Law. It is an abuse of Power to use it against the Will of him that communicates it. The voluptuous Man who desires to be happy in this World, shall be so perhaps in part, in consequence of the Laws of Nature: But he shall be eternally miserable in the other, in consequence of the immutable Order of Justice, or by the necessity of the divine Law, which requires that every abuse of divine Things should be eternally punish'd by the di­vine Power. For we should take good notice, that nothing is more holy, more sacred, and more divine than Power: And he that attributes it to himself, he that makes it subservient to his Pleasures, his Pride, or his own particular Desires, commits a Crime, the enor­mity of which God alone knows and can punish.

11. It is an abominable piece of Injustice in any Man, to be proud of his Nobility, Dignity, Quality, Learn­ing, Riches or any other thing. ‘He that glorieth, 2 Cor. 10.17. let him glory in the Lord, and refer all things to him, for there is no Greatness nor Power but in God.’ A Man may set some value on himself, and prefer him­self before his Horse: He may and ought to esteem other Men, and all the Creatures. God hath really im­parted to them his Being. But to speak properly and exactly, he hath not imparted to them his Power and Glory. God doth every thing that we think we do our selves: He alone deserves all the Honour which is given to his Creatures: He alone deserves all the motions of our Souls. So that he who would be belov'd, honour'd and fear'd by other Men, would put himself in the place of the Almighty, and share with him the Duties which belong to Power.

12. In like manner, he that fears, loves and honours the Creatures, as real Powers, commits a kind of Ido­latry; and his Crime becomes very hainous, when his fear or love runs to that excess, that they rule in his Heart above the fear and love of God. When he is less dispos'd to employ himself about the Creator than about the Creatures, by a disposition acquir'd by his own choice, or by free and voluntary Acts, he is an abomina­tion in the sight of God.

13. All the time that we lose, or do not employ for God, who is the sole cause of the duration of our Be­ing, is a Robbery, or rather a kind of Sacrilege. For since God acts for his own Glory, and not for our Pleasure, we do then, as much as in us lies, render his Action unserviceable to his Designs.

14. In general, every Gift that God bestows on us, which we render useless in relation to his Glory, is a Robbery; and God, by the necessity of his Law, will call us to an account for it.

15. Lastly, the Power by which God Creates us and all our Faculties every Moment, gives him an un­questionable Right over all that we are, and over all that belongs to us; which certainly belongs to us no otherwise, than that we may return it to God with all possible fidelity and thankfulness, and by the Gifts of God merit the possession of God himself, through Jesus [Page 14]Christ our Lord and Head, who takes us out of our prophane state to sanctify us, and make us fit to honour God, worthy to enter as his adopted Children, into the communion of good Things with the Father and the Son in the Unity of the Holy Spirit to all eternity.

CHAP. III. Of the Duties we owe to the Wisdom of God. It is that alone which enlightens the Mind in consequence of certain natural Laws, whose efficacy is determin'd by our Desires as occasional Causes. The Judgments and Duties of the Mind in relation to the universal Rea­son.

I. HAving discover'd the principal Duties which we owe to the Power of God; we must next examine those which we owe to his Wisdom, which, tho' less known, are no less due. Every Creature depends essen­tially on the Creator: Every spiritual Being is also essentially united to Reason. No Creature can act by its own Strength: And no spiritual Being can be illumi­nated by its own Light. For all our clear Ideas come from the universal Reason in which they are contain'd; as all our Strength proceeds wholly from the efficacy of the general cause, which alone hath Power. He that fancies himself to be his own Light and his own Rea­son, is no less deceiv'd, than he that thinks he really possesses Power: And he that gives thanks to his Bene­factor for the Fruits of the Earth, which serve only to Feed the Body, is very ungrateful, very proud, or at least very stupid, if he refuse to acknowledge him­self indebted to God for the true and solid Goods, the knowledge of Truth, which is the Food of the Soul.

II. The Soul of Man hath two essential Relations. It is united to the universal Reason, and by that it hath, or may have a correspondence with all intelligent Be­ings, even with God himself. It is united to a Body, and by that it hath, or may have a communication with all sensible Objects. The Power of God is the sole efficacious Principle, or the bond of these two [Page 15]Unions: But impotent and stupid Man imagines that it is by the efficacy of his own Will, that he is Wise and Powerful, that he unites himself to the intellectual World, whose Relations he contemplates, and to the vi­sible World, whose Beauties he admires.

III. It is God alone, who in consequence of the Laws of the union of the Soul and Body, causes in Man all those bodily Motions which carry him to, or remove him from sensible Objects. But the occasional cause of these Motions being only the different desires of his Will, he attributes to himself the Power of doing that which God alone operates in him; nay, the very endeavour which accompanies his Desires, that painful endeavour, which is a certain mark of impotence and dependance, an endeavour often fruitless and ineffectu­al, an endeavour which God puts into him to beat down his Pride, and make him deserve his Gifts; this sensi­ble and confus'd endeavour, I say, persuades him, that he hath Strength and Efficacy. He feels within himself a Will to move his Arm, but doth not see, nor feel the divine Operation in him; and therefore the more ex­act and punctual God is in answering his Desires, the more disingenuous Man is in not acknowledging the favour and goodness of God.

IV. In like manner, it is God alone, who, in conse­quence of the natural Laws of the union of the Soul with Reason, discovers to Man all the Ideas which enlighten him, and leads him, as I may say, into the Country of Truth, the Habitation of the Soul, to shew him the Beauties and Wonders of it. But the occasional cause of the presence or absence of Ideas being only the different desires of our Will; we incon­siderately attribute to our selves the Power of doing that which proceeds from the sole operation of God in us. And even the endeavour which accompanies our Attention, that painful endeavour, the certain Mark of impotence and dependance, an endeavour often fruit­less, an endeavour which God excites in us to punish our Pride, and make us deserve his Gifts; this sensible and confus'd endeavour, I say, persuades us, like that which we make to move the parts of our Bodies, that we our selves are the Authors of that Knowledge which accompanies our Desires. For having no perception [Page 16]at all of the operation of God, and having an inward Sense of our own Attention; we look upon this Attention to be the true cause of those effects which constantly and faithfully attend or follow it; for the same reason as we attribute to our own Wills the power of moving Bodies, and the sensible Qualities wherewith we are affected to the Objects which occasion them.

V. He that by the motion of his Body approaches toward sensible Objects, or withdraws himself from them, feeling the Bodies which he meets with in that Motion strike upon him, easily believes that he him­self is the cause of the removal of his own Body; but certainly he never thinks that he gives Being to those Bodies that surround him. But he that by the appli­cation of his Mind, leaves the Body as it were, and unites himself, wholly to Reason, imagines that the Truths he contemplates are of his own production: He fancies that he gives a Being to the Ideas he discovers, and that he forms, as I may say, out of his own Sub­stance that intellectual World, in which he loses him­self. Because the things which he then beholds do not affect his Senses, he imagines they have no real Existence but in himself. For People judge of the reality of Be­ings, as they do of the solidity of Bodies, by the im­pression they make on their Senses.

VI. It is certain that Man is not his own Wisdom, and his own Light. There is an universal Reason which enlightens all spiritual Beings, an intellectual Substance common to all intelligent Natures, an im­mutable, necessary and eternal Substance. All spiritual Beings contemplate it, without disturbing one another: They all possess it, without prejudicing one another: They all feed of it, without diminishing any thing of its abundance. It communicates it self whole and en­tire to them all, and entire to every one of them. For all of them may as it were grasp the same Idea at the same time in different places, they may all possess it equally, they may all penetrate or be penetrated by it.

VII. But two. Men cannot eat the same Fruit, nor embrace the same Body, they cannot, at a distance from one another, hear the same Voice, nor many times see the same Objects. The Creatures are all particular [Page 17]Beings, and therefore cannot be one general and com­mon Good. He that possesses these particular Goods, deprives others of them; and thereby provokes their hatred or envy against him. But Reason is a common Good, which unites those that possess it in a perfect and durable Friendship. It is a Good that is not divi­ded by possession, it is not confin'd to space, nor be­comes the worse for using. Truth is indivisible, wisd. 6.12.7.10. infi­nite, eternal, immutable and incorruptible. ‘Wisdom never fadeth away: The Light that cometh from her never goeth out.’

VIII. Now this general and immutable Wisdom, Prov. 8. this universal Reason, is the Wisdom of God himself, by which and for which we are made. For God created us by his Power that he might unite us to his Wisdom, and thereby give us the Honour of entring into an eternal Society with him, of conforming our Thoughts and desires to his, and by that means of becoming like him, as far as a created Being is capable of it. Wisd. 7.27, 28. ‘Wisdom remaining in her self, maketh all things new, saith the wise Man, and in all Ages entring into holy Souls she maketh them Friends of God and Pro­phets. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wisdom.’ We have no way of access to God, no Society with him, but by his Son, his Word, the universal and intellectual Reason, which was incarnate in the fulness of time, and made visible to enlighten gross and carnal Minds, and to lead them by the Senses, by Faith and by a sensible Authority to Knowledge and Understanding: But still it is Reason, still Wisdom, Light and Truth. For he that rejects the universal Reason, rejects the Author of Faith, who is that very Reason made sensible and proportion'd to the weakness of Men, who now hear only by their Senses. With­out doubt nothing is more agreeable to Reason, than that which Faith teaches us: The more we think on it, the more we are convinc'd, provided that Faith con­duct all the steps of the Mind, and the Imagination do not cross it in its way, and by vain Chimeras or humane Thoughts dispel the Light which Faith diffuses in us.

IX. Now to find out our Duties toward God, as he is Wisdom or the universal Reason of intelligent Beings, it is not sufficient to be throughly convinc'd of the union of the Soul with God, but we must also care­fully examine the Laws of the union of the Soul and Body: For we are so situated between God and Bodies, that as the union between the Soul and Body is aug­mented and strengthned, so the union of the Soul with God is weakened and diminish'd; and on the contrary, the less the Body acts on the Soul, the more the Soul is at liberty to consult the inward Truth. I shall not here set down the particular Laws of the union of the Soul and Body; they may be learnt elsewhere. But we must remember in general, that our Senses cause our Soul to extend it self to our own Body, and make it attentive to the necessities thereof; and that our Ima­gination and Passions stretch to all those that are about us: That the Body never speaks to the Soul but for the Body, and that it insolently draws us away from the Presence of our inward Master, who never speaks to us but for the good or perfection of our Being: In a Word, that our union with Reason is now so weak and tender, that the least Sensation which strikes us, breaks it intirely, tho' we endeavour never so much to retire into our selves, and to retain our Ideas which scatter and disappear.

X. The Judgments which we ought to form in honour of the universal Reason are these.

1. There are not more Wisdoms or more Reasons than one.

2. No Man is Wisdom and Light to himself or any other, nor one intelligent Being to another.

3. God by his Power is the cause of our clear Per­ceptions or Cognitions, in consequence of our own De­sires or Attention: But the intellectual and common Substance of Truth alone is the Form, the Idea, and the immediate Object of them. The Soul separated from Reason cannot attain to the knowledge of any Truth. It may by the action of God upon it, be sen­sible of its own Pain, Pleasure, Perception, and all the other particular Modifications of which its substance is capable; but it cannot engross to it self the knowledge of Truths which are common to all spiritual Beings. [Page 19]For Man who depends on the Power of God to be hap­py and powerful, must also be united to the Wisdom of God to become Rational, Wise, Just and compleatly Perfect.

4. We do not derive from the Objects the Ideas which we have of them.

5. Men whom we call our Masters are only Moni­tors.

6. When we retire into our selves, it is not we that answer our selves, but the inward Master which dwells in us, which presides immediately over all spiritual Be­ings, and gives them all the same answers.

XI. Mat. 23.8. See S Augu­stincts Trea­the De M [...]gistro. All those may be reduc'd to that general propo­sition of our Saviours, that we have but one Master, even Christ himself, who illuminates us by the evi­dence of his Light, when we retire into our selves; and solidly instructs us by Faith, when we consult the visible and infallible authority of the Church, in whose custody the sacred Treasure of his written and unwritten Word is deposited.

XII. From this great Principle the following Duties are deriv'd.

1. Not to value our selves on our Knowledge, but to return our humble Thanks for it to him who is the Fountain and Author of it.

2. To retire into our Selves as much as we can, and to hearken more readily to Reason than to Men.

3. To yield only to the Evidence of Reason, and the infallible Authority of the Church.

4. Whenever Men speak, to be sure to compare that which they say to our Ears, with that which Reason answers to our Mind; never to believe them but in what concerns Matters of Fact, and that too with a kind of saving and reservation.

5. Never to speak to them, at least not with an air of Confidence, before Reason hath spoke to us by its Evidence.

6. To speak to them always as Monitors, not as Ma­sters; to question them often, and in different manners; and to lead them insensibly to our common Master, the universal Reason, by obliging them to retire into them­selves. There is no way to instruct them but this.

7. Never to dispute for disputing's sake, nor even to propose Truth to others, when the Company they are in, Passion, or any other Reason give us sufficiently to understand, that they will not retire into themselves, to hear the decision of the impartial Judge.

8. Never to consult Reason but about such Matters as are suitable to the dignity of it, and useful to our selves, either to conduct us to Good, or unite us to Truth to regulate our Heart, or procure us Strength or liberty of Mind.

9. To lay up carefully in our Memory, as far as it is possible to be done, none but certain Principles and such as abound in Consequences; none but necessary Truths, or the precious answer of the inward Truth.

10. For the most part to neglect Matters of Fact, especially those that have no certain Rules to be judg'd by, such as are the Actions of Men. They give no light to the Mind, and often corrupt the Heart.

11. Our inviolable Law is Order, not Custom, which is many times opposite to Order and Reason. To follow Example without confronting it with Order, is to act like Brutes, and by Mechanism only. Nay it is better, tho' that be bad enough, to make our own Pleasure our Law, than foolishly to obey pernicious and wicked Customs. Our Life and Actions should do honour to our Reason, and be answerable to the illustrious Chara­cters we bear.

12. We should set no value on Subtilty, Beauty, or even Strength of Imagination, nor esteem any of those Studies which cultivate that part of us, which makes us so valuable and acceptable in the Eye of the World. An over-nice or over-stock'd Imagination doth not wil­lingly submit to Reason. It is always the Body which speaks by the Imagination; and whenever the Body speaks, it is an unhappy necessity that Reason must be silent or not regarded.

13. To confirm us in this dis-esteem, we should fre­quently and with a particular Application examine by the inward. Light that which appears bright and spark­ling to the Imagination, that so we may dissipate that false and bewitching Lustre with which it hides its Fol­lies. We should very seldom regard Mens outward Behaviour which passes for current Payment in the World.

14. We should carefully stop up the Passages by which the Soul gets away from the presence of God, and wan­ders among the Creatures. A Mind continually distra­cted by the action of sensible Objects, cannot pay that respect and attendance which it owes to Reason. It is a Contempt to Reason to give our Senses their full liberty.

15. We should ardently love Truth, Wisdom, or the universal Reason: We should esteem all the Gold of Peru but as a Grain of Sand in comparison of it: Wis. 7.9. ‘All Gold in respect of Wisdom is as a little Sand,’ saith the wise Man We should continually pray to it by our Attention: My delights were with th [...] Sons of Men, Prov. 8.31. We should place our whole Delight in con­sulting it, in hearing its Answers, and obeying its Com­mands; as that delights to converse with us, and to be always among us.

CHAP. IV. Of the Duties which we owe to the divine Love. Our Will is nothing but a continual impression of the Love which God bears to himself, the only true Good. We cannot love Evil: But we may take that to be Evil, which is neither Good nor Evil. So we cannot hate Good: But the true Good is really the Evil of wicked Men, or the true cause of their Miseries. That God may be Good in respect of us, our Love must be like his, or always subject to the divine Law, Motions or Duties.

I. WE depend on the power of God, and do no­thing but by his Efficacy: We are united to his Wisdom, and know nothing but by his Light: But this is not all; we are also animated and inspir'd by his Love in such a manner, that we are not capable of loving any Good, but by the continual impression of the Love which he bears to himself. This is what I must now explain, in order to give a general view of our Duties toward God.

II. It is certain that God cannot act but for himself: He hath no other Motive but his Love of himself. He [Page 22]cannot Will but by his own Will; and his Will is not like ours, an impression proceeding from, and tending toward something else. As he is his own Good, his Love can be no other but Love of himself: His end is himself, and can be nothing but himself. Therefore he doth not produce in spiritual Beings a Love which hath a different tendency from his own, for the love of Good in spiritual Beings proceeds only from the Will of God, which is nothing else but the Love he bears to himself. But further, there are not Two or more true Goods; there is but one alone; for there is but one true Cause. Therefore there is nothing amiable, I mean with a love of Union, but God. So then, since God cannot will that we should Love that which is not amiable, or not Love that which is amiable, supposing that we are capable of Loving, our Love proceeding from God, must necessarily according to the primitive institution of its Nature, tend toward him, and be refer'd to him alone.

III. God having created our Souls with a design to make them happy, continually imprints on them a Love for Good; and as he acts only for himself, and Good neither is nor can be in any but in him, this natural Love of Good, doth of it self carry them toward God alone. For this Love is like that which God bears to himself. It is also invincible and irresistible; because it is a powerful and continual Impression of the divine Love; and it is the same thing with our Will; for it is only by the particular determinations of this Love, that we are capable of loving all Objects that have the appearance of Good.

IV. From hence it is plain, that we cannot love Evil, and that we have no Motion ordain'd for that end. Notwithstanding we may mistake Evil for Good; and so we may love Evil by loving Good; we may love Evil out of choice, by loving Good naturally; we may love Evil, or rather that which is neither Good nor Evil, by a horrid abuse of that love for Good, which God continually imprints on us, to make us Love him, as being our only Good, or alone capable of making us happy. For we must take particular notice, that the Creatures, tho' they are all Perfect or Good in themselves, are neither Good nor Evil in respect of us, because they have not really the power to do us [Page 23]either Good or Harm. As they are occasional causes of Good or Evil, of Pleasure or Pain, we may unite our selves to them, or separate our selves from them by the motion of our Body: But we cannot reasonably Love or Fear them; because every Motion which doth not tend toward God, the beginning and end of it, is irregular, and if it be free and voluntary, deserves to be Punish'd.

V. It is also evident that we cannot hate Good; for since we invincibly desire to be happy, we cannot se­parate our selves from that which makes us so; but we may mistake Good for Evil, and so hate Good from the hatred we have for Evil. And even this hatred is at the bottom a motion of Love. We fly from Evil only by the motion of the Love we have for Good. For God having created us to be happy by loving him, hath given us no motion to separate us from him, but only to unite us to him. The wicked or the damn'd hate God with an invincible and irreconcilable Hatred; but this proceeds from the very Love which God hath given them for himself. For since God is not their Good, but their Evil, or the cause of their Punishment, according to the Psalmist, Psal. 18.26. ‘With the Pure thou wilt shew thy self Pure, and with the Froward thou wilt shew thy self Froward;’ they hate him by that irre­sistible Motion, which God, who is immutable in his proceeding, gives then for their Happiness.

VI. For the right understanding of this, it is sufficient to observe that actual Pleasure is the formal cause of actual Happiness, as Pain is of Misery. Now the Damn'd feel Pain; the harden'd Sinner fears it. The Damn'd know that God alone is the cause of Pain, the Sinner believes he is. Therefore both of them, from the very desire they have to be Happy, must of necessity make a wrong use of that Motion which God gives them to unite them to himself, and must separate themselves from him; for the more they are united to God, the more God acts on them, the more sensible they are of their Misery. The Blessed on the contrary, for a like rea­son, cannot cease to love God. And those that have access to God, those that expect to find their Happiness in him, Sinners who by Faith in Christ have hope of returning and finding favour with God, may by the in­vincible [Page 24]desire of Happiness, love and fear God. This is our condition in this Life.

VII. Now that the natural Love which God continu­ally imprints on us, may still continue Love, and not be turn'd into Hatred; that the love of Happiness may make us Happy, that it may carry us toward God and unite us to him, instead of separating us from him: In a word, that God may be or continue Good in respect of us, and not become Evil, our Love must always be conformable to or resembling the divine Love; we must love Perfection as well as Happiness; we must remain united to the wisdom of God, as well as to his Power. For God when he created Man, gave him in the love of Good, and by the impression of the Love which he bears to himself, as it were two sorts of Love, one of Happiness, and the other of Perfection. By the love of Happiness he united him to his Power, which alone can make him Happy; and by the love of Perfection he united him to his Wisdom, by which alone as his in­violable Law he ought to be govern'd. God, if I may so say, is divinely inspir'd with both these Loves: They are inseparable in him; and they cannot be separated in us, without destroying us utterly. For the power of God is Wise and Just: His Wisdom is all Powerful; and he that thinks to retain the love of his Happiness, without the love of his Perfection, without the love of Wisdom, Justice, and the immutable Order; that love of Happiness will only serve to make him eternally Mi­serable. God by his Power will not be the Good of Men, but their Evil, if by his Wisdom he is not their Law, or the principle of their inward Reformation. For Happiness is a Reward. It is not enough to desire the enjoyment of it, but we must also deserve it: And we cannot deserve it, if we do not govern the motions of our Heart by the inviolable Law of all intelligent Beings, and regulate them according to the Model by which Man was first form'd, and by which he must be form'd anew. In a word, the love of Conformity, which relates to the immutable Order, or the Wisdom of God, must always be joyn'd with the love of Union, which relates to his Power, that so our Love being like the divine Love, may carry us to all the Happiness and all the Perfection that we are capable of.

VIII. For we must observe, that in the condition we are now in, our Happiness and our Perfection often clash; and we cannot avoid engaging on one side or the other; either we must Sacrifice our Perfection to our Happiness, or our Happiness to our Perfection; the Love of Order to our Pleasure, or our Pleasure to the Love of Order. Now when we Sacrifice our Happiness to our Perfection, or our Pleasure to the Love of Order, we Merit; for then we obey the Divine Law, though we suffer by it, and thereby we give Honour to the Wisdom of God, or the universal Reason; we leave that to God, which depends wholly on him, our Happiness; and by that Sub­mission, we give Honour to his Power. For Obedience to the Divine Law is partly in our own Power, but the enjoyment of Happiness no way depends on us. Therefore we should give up our Happiness to the disposal of God, and to apply our selves wholly to our Perfection, giving this honour also to God to believe him on his Word, to rely on his Justice and Goodness, and to live contented by Faith in the Strength of our Hope, according to those words of the Scripture, Heb. 10.38. Justus [...] Virg Lat. ‘The just shall live by Faith.’ God is certainly just and faith­full; he will give us all the Happiness we deserve; our Patience shall not be Fruitless. But how great so­ever our Desire be, and our Application in the Search of our Happiness, yet this will not move God to give us the Enjoyment of it, without we deserve it. This excessive Desire will perhaps one day render us un­worthy of it, according to those admirable Words of our Saviour himself: Mat. 16 24. ‘If any Man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his Cross, and follow me. For whoever will save his Soul. [...]. life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life, for my sake shall find it. For what is a Man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul? Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the Glo­ry of his Father, with his Angels; and then shall he reward every Man according to his Works.’

IX. Now this contrariety which we find at present between our Happiness and our Perfection, proceeds from the Union of the Soul and Body, which is chang'd into a Dependance, as a Punishment of Sin. For the involuntary Motions of the Fibres of the principal [Page 26]part of the Brain, are the occasional Causes of our plea­sant or painful Sensations, and consequently of our Hap­piness or Misery. The Body to which we are join'd, hath not the same Interests with Reason: It hath its particular Wants to be supplied; it makes its Demands with boldness and insolence, and treats the Soul rough­ly if it refuses to grant them. Whereas Reason uses only Threatnings and Reproaches, which are not so live­ly and pressing as actual Pleasure and Pain: We must therefore bravely resolve to be miserable in this Life, that we may retain our Perfection and Integrity; we must Sacrifice our Body, or rather our actual Happi­ness, that we may remain inseparably united to Rea­son, and obedient to the Divine Law; being content­ed with a foretaste of the true Enjoyments, and having a firm hope, that that Divine Law, that Reason which was made Flesh, sacrificed and glorified in our Nature, or our Nature in that, will certainly restore to us all that we have lost for our Obedience to it.

X. This clear perception, that our Will, or the na­tural and necessary Motion of our Love, is only a con­tinual Impression of the Love of God, who unites us to his Power, to make us conformable to his Wisdom, or obedient to his Law, obliges us to form these Judg­ments.

1. That every Motion of Love which doth not tend toward God, is prejudicial, and leads to Evil, or makes the Cause of our Good to be the Cause of our Evil.

2. That every Motion of Love, not conformable to the immutable Order, which is the inviolable Law both of the Creatures and of the Creatour himself, is irregu­lar; and since God is Just, that Motion obliges him to become our Evil, or the Cause of our Misery.

3. That we cannot unite our selves to God, as our Good, if we do not conform our selves to him as our Law. The Converse of this is also true; we cannot conform our selves to the Law of God, and by that conformity become Perfect; but we must also unite our selves to his Power, and by that Union be made Happy.

XI. This Truth may be also express'd thus, accord­ing to the Analogy of Faith: We have no way of ac­cess to God, no society with him, no share in his Hap­piness, [Page 27]but by the universal Reason, the eternal Wis­dom, the divine Word, who was made Flesh, because Man was become Carnal; by his Flesh was made a Sa­crifice, because Man was become a Sinner; and by the offering up of his Sacrifice was made a Mediatour, be­cause Man being corrupted, and no longer able to con­sult or obey Reason purely intellectual, it could not be the Bond of the Society between God and Him. But yet we must take particular notice, That Reason by be­coming incarnate, did not at all change its Nature, nor lose any thing of its Power: It is immutable, and ne­cessarily exists; it is the only inviolable Law of spiri­tual Beings, and hath the sole Right to command them. Faith is not contrary to Truth; it leads us to Truth, and by it establishes ur Society with God for ever. We must conform our selves to the Word made Flesh, be­cause the intellectual Word, the Word without Flesh, is a Form too abstracted, too sublime and too pure to fashion or new-mould gross Spirits and corrupt Hearts; Spirits, that can take hold of nothing but what hath a Body, and are disgusted at every thing that doth not touch and sensibly affect them. Every High Priest is or­dain'd to of­fer Gifts and Sacrifi­ces; where­fore it is of necessity that the Man have somewhat also to offer, Heb. 8.3. The Word was made a Sacrifice, because without a Sacrifice, he had nothing to offer; he could not be a Priest, nor give Sinners any Communion with God, without an Atone­ment and an Oblation. We must be conformable to him in this Circumstance also; for besides, that it is we who are the Criminals, we are also a part of the Sa­crifice, which must be purified, consecrated and offer'd up, before it can be glorified, and consummated in God to all Eternity. But the life of Christ is our Pattern, only because it was conformable to Order, our indis­pensable Pattern, and our inviolable Law. We must follow Christ, even to the Cross, because Order re­quires that this Body of Sin should be destroy'd for the Honour of Reason, and the Glory of him from whom it separates us. Order requires, that by voluntary Pain, of which the Body is the occasion, we should deserve the Happiness of which God alone is the Cause, and which we have justly been depriv'd of, for those un­just and unreasonable Pleasures which we have unwor­thily and disingenuously requir'd of a just God. These [Page 28]are very trite and very common, but very necessary Truths.

XII. Motions or Duties.

1. We should love nothing but God, with a love of Union; and whenever we find any love for the Crea­tures, any joy in the Creatures arising in us, we should stifle those Sensations, and consider that Power belongs to God alone, and that he inspires us with his Love, to unite us only to himself.

2. We should be afraid of Pleasures, for they seduce and corrupt us. Pleasure is the distinguishing Mark of Good; God alone can give us the enjoyment of it: But because his Operation is not visible, we look upon the Objects, which are only the occasions of our Sen­sations, as if they were the Causes of them; and when we enjoy those Objects, we love them as our Good, or at least we love nothing but our selves, and our own Hap­ness. Now every Pleasure which inclines us to the love of Bodies, Substances inferiour to our own Being, perverts and disorders us; and since the Soul is not the Cause of its own Happiness, it is blind, ingrateful, and unjust, if it loves its Pleasure without rendring to the true Cause of it, the Love and Respect which are due to him: But besides, how is it possible to love God in the midst of Pleasure? How can we actually encrease our Charity, when we so many ways provoke and for­tify our Concupiscence?

3. The love of Grandeur, Elevation and Indepen­dance is abominable: He that desires to be esteem'd and lov'd, ought to be detested and abhor'd. What I shall those Minds which were made to contemplate the universal Reason, and to love the Power of the true Good; shall they, I say, employ their Thoughts and their Love on us? Weak and Impotent as we are, shall we suffer our selves to be ador'd? Corrupt and Ignorant as we are, shall we seek Admirers, Imitators and Followers? Certainly, he that doth not see the In­justice of Pride, hath no Communication with Reason; and he that knows it, and yet is not afraid of commit­ting it, renounces Reason entirely.

4. We should love Order; it is the Law of God, he inviolably observes it, he invincibly loves it. And can we think that we may safely dispense with our Obe­dience [Page 29]to it? If we deviate from it, the inexorable Ju­stice of the living God will follow us: But if our Love be conformable to that Law, we shall be happy and perfect both, we shall have fellowship with God, and a share in his Happiness and Glory.

5. We cannot be Rational but by the universal Rea­son; we cannot be Wise but by the eternal Wisdom; we cannot be Just and Holy but by a conformity to the immutable Order: Let us therefore incessantly contem­plate Reason, let us ardently love Wisdom, let us in­violably obey the Divine Law: Let us fashion our selves anew after our Model; he hath made himself like us, that he might make us like him: He is now le­vel'd to our Capacity, he is proportion'd to our Weak­ness: He is before us; let us open our Eyes to see him: He is within us; let us retire into our selves and consult him: He sollicites us continually; let us hear his Voice, and not hearden our Hearts. Heb. 5. But he is also in the Holy of Holies, ordain'd a High Priest after the Order of Melchisedech, always living to make interces­sion for us, and to give us those Succours which we extremely need. Let us therefore approach the true Mercy-Seat of Jesus Christ the Saviour of Sinners, the Head of the Church, the Builder of the eternal Tem­ple; in a word, the occasional Cause of Grace, with­out which such is our deprav'd and miserable Condition, that we cannot endeavour our Amendment, we cannot esteem and relish the true Goods, nor so much as desire to be deliver'd from our Miseries.

CHAP. V. The three Divine Persons imprint each their proper Cha­racter on our Souls; and our Duties give equal Honour to them all three. Tho' our Duties consist only in in­ward Judgments and Motions, yet we must shew them by outward Signs, in regard of our Society with other Men.

I. THe three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity im­print each their proper Character on the Spirits which they created after their own Image. The Fa­ther, whose peculiar Attribute is Power, imparts his Power to them, by making them occasional Causes of all the Effects which are produc'd by them. The Son communicates his Wisdom, and discovers to them all Truth by closely uniting them to that intellectual Sub­stance which he hath, as he is the universal Reason. The Holy Ghost inspires and sanctifies them, by the invincible Impression which they have for Good, and by Charity or the love of Order, which he sheds abroad in their Hearts. As the Father begets his Word, so the Mind of Man, by his desires, is the occasional Cause of his Knowledge. And as the Father with the Son is the Fountain and Original of the Substantial and Di­vine Law; so our Knowledge occasion'd by our desires, which are the only Things that are truly in our Power, is with us the Principal and Original of all the Re­gular Motions of our Love.

II. It is true, the Father begets his Word of his own Substance; because God alone is essentially and sub­stantially his own Wisdom and his own Light. The mutual Love of the Father and the Son, proceeds from themselvees; because God alone is his own Good, and his own Law. But we are not our own Reason, and therefore Light and Understanding cannot be a natural Emanation of our own Substance, We are not our own Good, nor our own Law; and therefore all the Motion we have must proceed from, and carry us to something [Page 31]without us, it must unite us to our Good, and make us conformable to our Pattern.

III. God made all Things by his Wisdom, and in the Motion of his Spirit or his Love: So also we never act but with Knowledge, and by the Motion of Love. The three Divine Persons have an equal share in the Production of all Things: So also that which we do without Knowledge, and without a full and entire Will, is not properly our own Work. The Father hath, as I may say, a Right of Mission over the Son: So it is in our power to think on what we will. The Son sends the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, in the unity of the same Nature; so also our Love is grounded on Light, it proceeds from, and is produc'd by it. Lastly, The Love which proceeds from a clear Perception or Knowledge, loves it self, the Ob­ject of that Knowledge, and the Knowledge it self; as the substantial Love infinitely loves the Divine Sub­stance in the Father begetting, in the Son begotten, and in the Holy Ghost himself, proceeding from the Father and the Son.

IV. All these Relations of the Mind of Man to the holy Trinity, are but shadows and imperfect Draughts, which can never come up to the Original of all Beings, who by an incomprehensible property of Infinity, com­municates himself without Division, and forms a Socie­ty of three different Persons in the unity of the same Substance. But tho' the Image of God which we bear, be very imperfect in respect of our Original; yet there is nothing more great and noble for a mere created Being, than this faint resemblance. We labour for our Perfection, only as we maintain and keep it up; we secure our Happiness no further, than we fashion our selves according to our Model. All our true Judgments and regular Motions, all the Duties which we pay to the Wisdom, Power and Love of God, are so as many Steps by which we advance toward the Fountain of all Good; and an habitual Disposition to frame these Judg­ments and excite these Motions, is the real Perfection of Man, who essentially depends on the supreme Good, and was made for no other End, but to find his Perfe­ction and Happiness in doing his Duty.

V. Now as the three Persons in the Trinity are but one God, one and the same Substance; so all those Du­ties which seem to relate particularly to any one of the Persons, give equal Honour to the other two. Every Regular Motion honours the Power of the Father, as its Good; the Wisdom of the Son, as its Law; and the mutual Love of the Father and the Son, as its Prin­cipal and Original. On the contrary, every Sin, or every Love of the Creatures dishonours the true Power, opposes the universal Reason, and resists the holy Spi­rit: So that we cannot absolutely separate the Duties which we owe to the Power of God, from those which we owe to his Wisdom and to the Substantial and Di­vine Love; and therefore I have been forc'd, in the three foregoing Chapters, to repeat the same things after different manners.

VI. Tho' all the Duties which Spiritual Beings owe to God, who is a pure Spirit, and will be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth, consist only in true Judgments, and Motions of Love conformable to those Judgments; yet Men being compos'd of a Soul and a Body, living in Societies with one another, educated in the same outward Religious Worship, and thereby tied to cer­tain Ceremonies; they are oblig'd to an infinite num­ber of particular Duties, which have all of them a ne­cessary Relation to those which I have already set down in general. All these external Duties are arbitra­ry and indifferent, at least in their first Foundation and Original; but the spiritual Duties are in themselves ab­solutely necessary. We may dispense with outward Duties, but we can never dispense with the others; they depend on an inviolable Law, the immutable and necessary Order. Outward Duties of themselves do not sanctify those that render them to God; they re­ceive their Worth and Value only from the spiritual Duties which accompany them; but all the Motions of the Soul which are govern'd by true Judgments, do immediately and of themselves, honour the Divine Per­fections.

VII. Thus, for instance, it is a Duty indifferent in it self, for a Man to pull off his Hat when he comes into a Church. But to enter into the presence of God with respect, and with some inward Motion of Reli­gion, [Page 33]is not an arbitrary, but an essential Duty. He that for some particular Reason cannot be uncover'd at Mass, may be cover'd at the Celebration of it; Wo­men are excus'd from this Duty; and provided it be known that it is not done out of contempt, but upon necessity, commonly their needs no dispensation for it. None but those that have wrong Notions of things, cen­forious and weak People will find fault with it; but no one that is present at that Sacrifice can be excus'd from offering up to God the Sacrifice of his Mind and Heart, Praises and Motions which honour God. He that prostrates himself before the Altar, is so far from meriting, and honouring God by that outward Duty, that he commits a heinous Crime, if he designs by that Action only to gain the Esteem of the World. But he, who tho' he be unmov'd outwardly, is nevertheless inwardly agitated with Motions agreeable to the Know­ledge which Faith and Reason give him of the Divine Attributes, honours God, draws near and unites him­self to him. He conforms himself to the immutable Law by Regular Motions, which leave behind them a Habit or Disposition of Charity, and thereby truly pu­rifies and sanctifies himself. But there are many People whose Religion is not spiritual; they go no farther than the outside which makes an Impression on them, and often determines them to do that by imitation, which they had no design to do of themselves.

VIII. Certainly it is a disrespect to the univer­sal Reason, to separate our selves from it by the use of Wine; or to run away from our selves, where Rea­son inhabits, and where it gives its Oracles, and suffer our selves to be carried by our Passions into a World where the Imagination reigns. In a word, to depart voluntarily, and without any necessity, from the pre­sence of our Good and of our Reason, is a Motion which dishonours the Divine Majesty, it is Irreligious and Impious. But the generality of People do not judge of things after this manner; they judge of a Man's inward Sentiments by his outward Actions and Behaviour; they imagine it a great Crime to do some Actions in a holy Place, tho' perhaps they are not in­decent in themselves; and yet never consider, that no­thing is more indecent than to neglect the essential Du­ties [Page 34]of a rational Creature in any place whatsoever. A Man that is Religious even to Superstition passes for a Saint with them, but the Christian Philosopher is counted no better than a Heathen, if he will not aban­don Reason to agree with their Notions, and religi­ously observe their Customs.

IX. Indeed the Philosopher doth ill, if he neglects the external Duties, Mat. 18.6. and thereby offends the Weak and Simple. ‘It were better for him that a Mill-stone were hang'd about his Neck, and that he were Drown'd in the depth of the Sea.’ Every Man ought to testify his Faith by visible Actions, and thereby incline other Men, who are always affected with the outward Beha­haviour, to such Motions as give honour to God. In every thing that relates to God, we should with all Humility assume the air and posture of Adoration. Any other is at least Foolish and Ridiculous. But it is Impi­ous, to use such outward Actions as are superstitious and lead Men's Minds to Judgments and Motions which disho­nour the divine Attributes. They are excusable perhaps in such as have but a confus'd Idea of God: But he that is better instructed in Religion, and hath a more particular knowledge of the divine Perfections, ought not to do any thing out of any humane Consideration, that contra­dicts his own Light.

X. The greatest part of Christians have a Jewish Spirit; Joh. 17.3. their Religion is not Spiritual, and consequently not Rational. ‘This is Life eternal, to know the true God, and Jesus Christ his only Son:’ To have Senti­ments worthy of the divine Attributes, and Motions agreable to those Sentiments: To know Jesus Christ, who alone gives us access to the Father, and diffuses Charity in our Hearts: To be fully convinc'd, that he alone is the High-Priest of the true Goods, or the oc­casional cause of Grace, that so we may draw near to him with Confidence, and by his assistance excite in our selves such Motions as are suitable to the knowledge he hath given us of the true Worship, which honours the divine Majesty. But instead of this, every one frames to himself a Theology, a Religion, or at least a Devotion apart, of which Self-love is the Motive, Pre­judice and Possession the Foundation and Beginning, and sensual Goods the End. The Worship of God con­sists many times only in outward Sacrifices, in verbal [Page 35]Prayers, in Ceremonies which were at first ordain'd to raise the Mind to God, but now serve only by their splendor and magnificence to refresh the Imagination in most People, when they are tir'd and out of relish with the performance of their Duties to God. Custom, hu­man Considerations, or Hypocrisy carry their Bodies into the Church: But their Minds and Hearts never come there. And while the Priest offers up Jesus Christ to God in their Presence, or rather while Christ offers up himself to his Father for their Sins on our Altars, they on their part Sacrifice to Ambition, Avarice or Pleasure, spiritual Sacrifices in all the places whither their Imagination carries them.

CHAP. VI. Of the Duties of Society in general. Two sorts of Socie­ty. Every thing should be refer'd to the eternal So­ciety. Different kinds of Love and Honour. The ge­neral heads of our Duties toward Men. They must be External and Relative. The danger of paying inward Duties to Men. The Conversation of the World ve­ry dangerous.

I. HAVING explain'd in general the Duties which we owe to God, we must now examine those which we owe to other Men, as God hath made us to live in Society with them under the same Law, the universal Reason, and in a dependance on the same Pow­er, that of the King of Kings, and supreme Lord of all things.

II. We are capable of forming Two sorts of Society with other Men: A Society for some Years, and an eternal Society: A Society of Commerce, and a So­ciety of Religion: A Society maintain'd by the Passions, and subsisting in a communion of particular and perish­ing Goods, whose end is the preservation and welfare of the Body; and a Society govern'd by Reason, sup­ported by Faith, and subsisting in the communion of the true Goods, whose end is a happy Life to all eter­nity.

III. The great, or indeed the only design of God, is the holy City, the heavenly Jerusalem, where Truth and Justice inhabit. All other Societies shall Perish, tho' God be immutable in his Designs: But this spiri­tual Society shall continue for ever. The Kingdom of Christ shall have no end: His Temple shall be eternal: His Priest-hood shall never the chang'd: Psal. 110.3. ‘The Lord hath Sworn, and will not Repent, Thou art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedeck.’ The House of God is built on an unshaken Foundation, on that belov'd Son in whom God is well-pleas'd, and by whom all things shall subsist to the Glory of him who gives them their Being.

IV. When we procure any settlement here below for our selves or our Friends, we build on the Sand, we place our Friends in a tottering House, it will sink under us, at the Hour of Death to be sure. But when we enter our selves as Workmen in the building of the Temple of the true Solomon, and cause others to come in, we then labour for Eternity. This Work shall last to all Ages. This then is the good which we ought to procure for our selves, and other Men: This is the chief end of all our Duties toward them: This is that holy Society which we must begin here below, by the love which we owe to one another. For since the design of God in these temporary and perishing So­cieties, is only to furnish Christ, the Architect of the eternal Temple, with fit Materials for the building of his Church; we cannot fail of performing essential Duties, when we engage in the designs of him who would have all Men to be sav'd, and employ all our Faculties in hastning his great Work, and in procuring to Men those good things for which they were created.

V. So when our Saviour bids us Love one another, we must not imagine that he absolutely commands us any other thing, than to procure one another the true and spiritual Goods. What kind of Blessings were those which he showr'd on his Apostles and Disciples? Did he give them the fading and perishing Goods, such as the pretended Friends of this World give to those that gratify their Passions? Did he constantly deliver them out of the Hands of their Persecutors? No certainly-Therefore the principal Duties of our Charity do not [Page 37]consist in such things as these. We must assist our Neighbour, and preserve his Life, as we are oblig'd to preserve our own, but we must prefer the Salvation of our Neighbour before his and our own Life.

VI. To Love therefore is an equivocal Term. It sig­nifies Three very different things, which we must care­fully distinguish: To unite our selves by our Will to an Object, as our Good, or the cause of our Happi­ness: To conform our selves to any thing as our pat­tern, or the rule of our Perfection: And to wish well to any Person, or to desire that he may be happy and perfect. The love of Union is due only to the power of God: The love of Conformity is due only to the law of God, the immutable Order. No Creature is capable of acting on us: No Person can be our living Law, or our perfect Model. Christ himself, tho' he was without Sin, tho' he was Reason incarnate, did some things which we must not do, because the cir­cumstances not being the same, the intellectual Reason, the inviolable Law, the indispensable Model of all in­telligent Beings forbids us to do them.

VII. So then we must not love our Neighbour with a love of Union, nor with a love of Conformity. But we may and ought to Love him with a love of Benevo­lence. We must Love him in that sense of the Word which signifies to desire his Happiness and Perfection; and as our practical desires are the occasional causes of certain effects which conduce to that end, we must use all our endeavours to procure him solid Vertue, that he may merit the true Goods which are the reward of it. This is the obligation that truly and absolutely lies upon us from that Commandment which our Sa­viour hath given us in the Gospel, to Love one another as ourselves, and as he hath loved us.

VIII. To Honour is also an equivocal Word: It de­notes a submission of the Mind to the true Power, a respect or outward submission to an occasional Cause, and a simple esteem of any thing in respect of the ex­cellency of its Nature, or the perfection which it doth or may possess.

IX. That kind of Honour which consists in a sub­mission of the Mi [...] to the true Power, is due to God alone. [...] none but God directly and [Page 38]absolutely in the Powers which he hath ordain'd: And tho' we are oblig'd exactly to pay to our lawful Supe­riors, those outward honours and submissions, which humane Laws and Customs have establish'd, yet all the submission of the Soul must be refer'd to God alone. It is mean and abject to fear the most excellent of created Beings: It is God alone whom we must fear in it. Nevertheless, we should esteem every thing proportic­nably to the excellence of its Nature, or the perfection which it possesses or is capable of possessing. So that the love of Benevolence, respect or relative and out­ward Submission, and simple Esteem, are as I take it, the Three general Heads to which all the Duties that we owe to Men may be reduc'd.

X. There is this difference between the Duties which Religion obliges us to pay to God, and those which So­ciety requires us to pay to Men; that the principal Duties of Religion are inward and spiritual, because God searches the Hearts, and absolutely speaking, hath no need of his Creatures; whereas the Duties of Society are almost all external. For besides that Men have no other way to know our inward Sentiments of them, but by outward and sensible marks, they all stand in need of one another, either for the preservation, of their Life, or their particular instruction, or innumerable other things which absolutely require a mutual assistance.

XI. Therefore to expect from other Men, inward and spiritual Duties which are due to God alone, a pure and uncompounded Spirit, the searcher of Hearts, the only independent and self-sufficient Being, is a diabo­lical Pride; this is to affect Dominion over spiritual Sub­stances, to attribute to our selves the quality of searcher of Hearts, and in a Word, to exact that which is no way our due, and which is wholly useless to us. For what signifies our inward adoration to other Men, or what good can theirs do us? If they faithfully perform what we desire of them, what can we complain of? If they respect God himself, if they love and fear him in our Person, certainly we attribute to our selves power and independence, if we are not satisfied with this. ‘Servants, Col. 3.22. saith S. Paul, obey in all things your Ma­sters according to the Flesh; not with Eye-service, as Men-pleasers, but in singleness of Heart, fearing [Page 39]God.’ It is God that they must fear. v. 23. ‘And what­soever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto Men:’ to God who hath the power of re­warding, and not unto Men, whose Wills are of them­selves altegether ineffectual. v. 24. ‘Knowing, as the Apo­stle goes on, that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the Inheritance: For ye serve the Lord Christ. Ye are bought with a Price, [...] 7.23. be not ye the Servants of Men.’

XII. There is so strict an union between the Soul and the Body, and such a mutual relation betwixt the Motions of these two Substances, that it is very diffi­cult to draw near by the motion of our Body, to any Object which is the occasional cause of Pleasure, with­out uniting our selves to it by the motion of our Love, as if it were the true cause of that Pleasure. So like­wise when the Imagination being dazled with the splen­dour which envirous the Great, falls down and pro­strates it self before them, it is difficult for the Soul not to follow that Motion, or at least not to bow and lower it self. It should indeed prostrate it self, but then it must be before the power of the invisible God, which it must honour in the Person of the Prince, where that Power visibly resides.

XIII. When the Body feeds on a delicious Fruit, the Soul which finds it self in some measure happy by the Pleasure it enjoys, should then be affected with Love, but that Love should be address'd only to God, who alone doth and can act on it. But our Senses being grown rebellious by Sin, dislurb our Mind, they insolently withdraw us from the presence of God, and fix all our Thoughts on that impotent matter, which we hold in our Hands, and crush between our Teeth. They make us believe, that the Fruit it self contains and communicates that grateful Tast which delights us; and because the power of God doth not appear visible to our Eyes, we see nothing but the Fruit to which we can attribute the cause of our present Happi­ness. Our Senses were given us only for the preser­vation of our sensible Being: What matter is it then to them from whence the Fruit comes, so they have [Page 40]it, or from whence the Pleasure proceeds so they en­joy it?

XIV. So likewise when we are in the presence of our Sovereign, our Imagination soon dissipates all those abstract Ideas of an invisible Power. The divine Law, the immutable Order, Reason is a Fantom which vanishes and disappears when the Prince Commands, or when he speaks with Authority. The Majesty of the Prince, the sensible splendor of Greatness, that Air of respect and awe, which every one doth and ought to put on, so shake the Brain of an ambitious Man, and indeed of most Men, whose Passions are then ex­cited, that there are but few People who have so much constancy and resolution as to consult the divine Law, to think on the power of the invisible God, to retire into themselves, and to hearken to the Judgments pro­nounc'd within them by him who presides immediately over all spiritual Beings.

XV. This strict union of the Soul and Body, which Sin hath chang'd into a dependnece, is the cause that there is nothing more dangerous than the Conversati­on and Business of Courts, and that a Man ought to have a particular call, and strong and extraordinary reasons to make him engage in it. The Societies which are generally form'd there, are such whose beginning and end is Ambition and Pleasure, and being govern'd not by Reason or Faith, but by inconsistent and irregu­lar Passions, they break every Day, and plunge Men in the greatest Miseries. Therefore such as have not Courage and Constancy enough to perform their Duties to God, in the presence of their Prince, in the hurry and perplexity of Business, or when they have too many People looking on them; in a Word, such as suffer themselves to be dazled, stunn'd and born down by the Conversation of the World, whatever it may be, ought to avoid it, and to place themselves in a Sta­tion, where they may without constraint honour and love the true Power, conform themselves to the divine Law, and render to God the inward and spiritual Duties. These are indispensable Duties; and certain­ly we owe nothing to our Neighbour which may hin­der us from paying to God that which we indispensably owe him.

XVI. But besides there is scarce any thing to be got by Men: Their Language is as corrupt as their Heart: It raises only false Ideas in the Mind, and excites only a love of sensible Objects. But their example is yet more dangerous. For besides that it is not so confor­mable to Reason as their Discourse, it is a living and a moving Language, which irresistibly persuades those that do not stand upon their Guard, We often hear a thing said, whithout any Thoughts of doing it: But we are so prone to Imitation, that we do mechanically what we see others do. There is no obligation on a Man to do what he only hears talk'd of, and doth not see pra­ctis'd; but it is a violation of Society, 'tis the way to become Odious or Ridiculous, to be counted Whim­sical and Capricious; in short, 'tis look'd upon as a kind of Schism, to condemn the general practice of the World by a singular Conduct.

XVII. Nevertheless Charity and our natural Consti­tution oblige us many times to live in Society. Every Man cannot bear a retir'd and solitary Life, and those least of all to whom the Conversation of the World is most dangerous. They must See and be Seen, they must Talk and hear others Talk. Conversation without Passions refreshes and strengthens the Mind. Therefore there is a necessity of living amongst Men. But then we should choose such as are Reasonable, or at least such as are capable of hearing Reason, and submitting to Faith, that so we may labour together for our mu­tual Sanctification. For we must build in this Life for Eternity, we must begin the eternal Society here be­low, we must make hast while it is call'd to Day, to enter into the rest of the Lord, and cause others to en­ter too; that our Society may be with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in the unity of the Holy Ghost by an immortal Love, proceeding continually in relation to us, from the power and wisdom of God, the per­petual influence of which will be the efficacious cause of our Perfection and eternal Happiness.

CHAP. VII. The Duties of Esteem are due to all Mankind, to the lowest of Men, to the greatest Sinners, to our Enemies and Persecutors: To Merits, as well as to Natures. It is difficult to regulate exactly these Duties and those of Benevolence, by reason of the difference of personal and relative Merits, and their various Combinations. A general rule, and the most certain one that can be given in this matter.

I. THE Three general Heads to which all the par­ticular Duties that we owe to other Men may be reduc'd, are, as I said in the foregoing Chapter, simple Esteem, which ought to be proportion'd to the excel­lence or persection of every Being; Respect or a re­lative submission of the Mind, proportionable to the subordinate Power of intelligent occasional Causes; and the love of Benevolence, which is due to all that are capable of enjoying those Goods which we may possess in common with them.

II. Simple Esteem is a Duty which we owe to all Mankind. Contempt is an Injury, and the greatest of Injuries. There is nothing contemptible but nothing; for every real Being deserves esteem. And as Man is the noblest of the Creatures, it is a false Judgment, and an irregular Motion, to despise any Man, let him be what he will. The lowest of Men may be exalted to the sovereign Power; and the two first Kings which God gave to the Israelites, were taken as I may say, from the Dregs of the People. Saul of the lowest Fa­mily of the least of the twelve Tribes, found the King­dom in seeking his Father's Asses. 1 Sam. 9.21. ‘Am not I a Benjamite, saith he to Samuel, who promis'd him the Kingdom, of the smallest of the Tribes of Israel? And my Family the least of all the Families of the Tribe of Benjamin?’ And David, the youngest of the Sons of Jesse; was taken, as he saith himself from the Flocks, to be put at the head of God's chosen Peo­ple. Psal 78.71. ‘From following the Ews great with Young, [Page 43]he brought him to Feed Jacob his People, and Israel his Inheritance.’

III. But the Gospel gives us yet another prospect of Things. It teaches us that the Poor are the Mem­bers and the Brethren of Christ: Mat. 25.40. Luk. 6 20. Luk. 16.9. That the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them: And that they have pow­er to receive their Friends into everlasting Habitations. For tho' the Rich as well as the Poor are wash'd by Baptism in the Blood of the Lamb, yet they defile themselves so many ways with Pleasure which inebriates them, and with Ambition which makes them forget their Title of Children of God, that Christ is always angry with them, and continually denounces woes against them in the Gospel. Luk. 6.24. ‘Wo unto you that are Rich: For you have receiv'd your Consolation. Let the Brother of low Degree, saith S. James, Jam. 1.9, 1 [...]. rejoyce in that he is exalted: But the Rich in that he is made low; because as the Flower of the Grass he shall pass away. Go to now ye rich Men, c. 5.1, 2, 3. Weep and Howl for your Miseries that shall come upon you. Your Riches are corrupted, and your Gar­ments are Moth-eaten. Your Gold and Silver is canker'd, and the rust of them shall be a Witness against you, and shall Eat your Flesh as it were Fire: Ye have heaped Treasure together for the last Days.’

IV. Nor must we Esteem, and give outward marks of our Esteem to the Poor only and to the lowest of Men, but also to Sinners, and to those who commit the great­est Crimes. Their Life is abominable, their practice is odious and contemptible, we must never approve it, tho' it be set off with all the splendor of Greatness. But still their Person merits our Esteem. For nothing deserves contempt but nothing, and Sin which is truly nothing, which corrupts Man's Nature, annihilates his Merit, but doth not destroy the excellence of his Per­son. The greatest of Sinners may, by the assistance of Heaven, become pure and holy as the Angels: He may enjoy eternal Happiness with us, and take place of us in the Kingdom of God. We should have com­passion of his Misery, not that which afflicts and makes him uneasy, but that which corrupts him; not of his pains, but of his disorders, which put him out of a ca­pacity [Page 44]of actually possessing with us those good Things which he may enjoy, without depriving us of them.

V. But besides, what right have we to judge of Mens secret Intentions? It is God alone who searches the Hearts. He that commits a Crime, doth it perhaps against his Will; his Mind is weak and disturb'd, his flaming and outragious Passions have, it may be, de­priv'd him in a moment of the use of his Liberty: But supposing him to have acted freely; his contrite and penitent Heart hath perhaps obtain'd pardon of his Sin, or will obtain it to morrow; a day happy for him, and it may be fatal to you, by your irrecoverable fall, for a punishment of your Pride.

VI. Lastly, the contempt of Mens Persons is not only injurious and wrongful, but it also puts him who is so unwise as to shew it by outward signs, out of a con­dition of having a charitable correspondence with the Person despis'd, or of ever being serviceable to him. For Men will have no communication with those that despise them; they do not naturally enter into Society with others, nor do them any good, but with hope of a return; they will not follow a Trade, when they expect always to lose, and never to get any thing by it; and they never expect any good from those that are so unjust as to despise them: For contempt is a certain sign, not only that they actually want Charity and Benevolence, but also that they are very far from ever having any.

VII. As to our Enemies and Persecutors, it is cer­tain that Esteem is a Duty more general than Benevo­lence. There are some Goods which we are not bound to wish our Enemies, for the Love which we owe to our selves, obliges, or permits us at least not to de­sire that they may have the Power to hurt us: So that we may in some measure want Benevolence for our Persecutors, without failing of our Duties toward them. But the Persecution of our Enemies ought not of it self to diminish the Esteem that is due to them, but rather encrease it in this respect, that we should give them more sensible and more frequent Testimonies of it: A Man may pass by his Friend, or even his Father with­out saluting him; this is no affront to them: But it is an injury to his Enemy, not to pay him this Duty, be­cause [Page 45]his Enemy hath not the same Thoughts of him that other Men have. He hath reason to believe it done out of contempt, whereas a Friend will look upon it as meer Inadvertency.

VIII. But besides, there is nothing that disunites Men so much as Contempt; for no Man would be counted a Cypher in the Society of which he is a Member; no Man would be the lowest part of that Body which he composes with others. So that when Mens Minds are already irritated, when they are once separated by any Enmity, they can never be join'd again, if the con­tempt be open and visible. Whereas on the contrary, deadly Enmities may be reconcil'd, where Men reci­procally pay the Duties of Esteem to one another, and thereby shew that they are so far from pretending to a higher Rank in the Society which they would form, that they willingly give it to others, and do Justice both to them and themselves, according to the Judg­ment which they make of their own, and others Merit. Self love and a secret Pride, do not suffer us long to consider him as our Enemy, who willingly gives us Proofs that he is persuaded of our Worth and Excel­lence.

IX. But if we come short in the Duties of Esteem in respect of our Enemies, or those that make no Figure in the World, we exceed in them as to our Friends, or such as are conspicuous for their Birth, Riches, or any other extraordinary Qualification. The Brain is so fram'd for the good of each particular Person, and for that of Society in general, as it relates to this Life, that the Body mechanically puts on an Air of Esteem and Respect for every thing that comes from our Friends, and from those who are in a condition to do us any Kindness. The esteem which we have for Persons, ex­tends it self to every thing that belongs to them. Eccles. 13.23. ‘When a rich Man speaketh, saith the Son of Sirach, every Man holdeth his Tongue, and look what he saith; they extol it to the Clouds: But if the poor Man speak, they say, What fellow is this?’ Our Machine is set to this pitch. Two Lutes tun'd together, give the same sound; and when they are near one another, if one be touch'd, the other will move of it self: So our Friends are tun'd to us; he that touches one, shakes [Page 46]the other. Those whose favour we have an interest to maintain, are always in the right: They mutually im­pel, and are impell'd by us: They deceive us, and we again deceive them by a rebound, which neither they nor we are sensible of. The Wheels of the Machine will go on in their Motion: Now the Body speaks only for the Body; this is a thing we cannot too care­fully observe, For Opinion, or the contagion of the Imagination is the most prolifick Root of those Errors and Disorders, which lay wast the Christian World. We should therefore retire into our selves every mo­ment, and compare that which Men say, with the an­swers of the inward Truth. We should consult Rea­son, which puts every thing in its proper place, and doth not confound the Esteem which we owe to Mens Persons, with the Contempt which is due to their Fol­lies. The approbation we give to the impertinences of our Friends, confirms them in their Errors; and the Respect that is shewn to every thing which comes from Persons of Quality, swells them so with Pride, that they attribute to themselves a kind of Infallibili­ty, and think they have a right to say and do what­ever comes in their Head; not that we should repre­hend them openly neither: They are extremely ten­der; and we can scarce touch them, without hurting and offending them. Our Duties in relation to them, must be guided by the Rules of Prudence and Cha­rity; but we must not abuse them by sordid Flattery, after we have been deceiv'd our selves by that admi­rable Relation which God hath put between our own Bodies, and those that are about us, for the good of Society: Which Relation on the Soul's part is indeed chang'd into a dependence by Sin, but ought still to be govern'd by Reason; and when there is occasion, check'd and reprimanded by it.

X. That all the Judgments and Motions of our E­steem, as well as those outward Actions which are the Marks and Effects of it, may be conformable to the divine Law, the immutable Order; we must observe that not only Mens Persons, but also their Merits, require our Esteem. As to Persons, nothing is more easie than to acquit our selves of this Duty; for equality of Esteem is due to equality of Natures. But [Page 47]it is very difficult to proportion our Esteem according to the Merits of Men. For besides, that their true and real Worth is known only to God, their natural Me­rits have so many different Relations, which should en­crease or diminish our Esteem, as well as our Respect and Benevolence toward them, that it is impossible for finite Minds, as ours are, to know exactly the Duties we owe them; so that we are many times at a loss which way to determine our selves in this Matter.

XI. Merits in general, may be divided into free and natural, civil and religious Merits. Free Merits are those which proceed from a good use of the Liberty of the Mind. Natural Merits consist in eminent Quali­ties of Mind and Body. Civil and Religious Merits arise from the Offices Men bear either in Church or State, and from such Qualifications as are proper for the discharge of those Offices. All Perfection is valuable in it self; but many times it is much more comparatively or relatively. A Diamond is not so perfect as a Fly; but it is a great deal more valuable, because of the Use Men make of it. Also those Beings which have no other Perfection but that of their own Nature, are preferable to those which have acquir'd Perfections. A rough Diamond hath not so much Beauty as Glass well cut and polish'd; but it hath much more Value, as Things go. So that a Man might justly be counted a Fool, who would play the Philosopher so much, as to prefer a Fly before an Emerald; and to look upon a rough Diamond, of very great Value, as no better than a Pebble.

XII. For to judge rightly of the Esteem we ought to make of Things and Persons, it is not sufficient to con­sider them in themselves, but we must also examine the several Relations which they may have to others of far greater Value. The favour of the Prince gives a lustre to the vilest Persons; and the Esteem Men have for Things, should regulate their Price, and consequently our outward and relative Esteem, unless we resolve to despise Men too, and make our selves ridiculous and contemptible. Only we must take care not to let our Mind to be corrupted by the Judgments that are com­monly made of Things. Our Esteem must be only re­lative, if the worth of the Thing be but relative; for [Page 48]tho' Men esteem Gold and Silver more than Copper and Iron, or the organis'd Bodies of Flies; yet we must not pay the Duty of Esteem to Gold and Silver, but to Men who make a wrong Judgment of them. We must not judge of Persons or Things as Men do, who attri­bute to the Objects of their Passions imaginary Perfe­ctions: But whether they are deceiv'd in their Judg­ments or not, we should have a relative Esteem for that which they esteem perhaps without Reason; because in human Society, the Worth of Things is generally measur'd by the Esteem Men have of them.

XIII. The relative Merit of Men is many times much greater than their personal Merit, and since our Duties are to be govern'd as well by the former as the latter; I say again, That nothing is more difficult than to judge rightly of what we ought to do in the infinite combinations of these different Merits. Things may fall out so sometimes, that we must unavoidably come short in the Payment of what we owe, either to a Re­lation in such a degree, or to a Man that hath done us such a Service, or who bears such an Office in the So­ciety, and is serviceable to the State in such a capa­city. What must we do in this Case? What is the common Measure whereby we may precisely discover the Proportion of our Duties? For tho' it be certainly contain'd in the immutable Order, yet it is not exact­ly known to us; and if it were, yet many times there are so many Relations to compare, that we should never know what to resolve on, if we staid till Evidence pre­cisely noted to us every thing that we ought to do.

XIV. We know well enough, that all other things being equal, we should prefer some Relations before others; our Relations before our Friends, and our Prince before them both. But must we prefer one Re­lation before six or eight Friends? A Relation who is our Enemy, before a particular Friend? Herein lies the difficulty: For we must at the same time have re­gard to the Rights of Kindred, of Friendship and of Society. So that it often happens, that we are oblig'd to prefer an Enemy before a Friend; an Enemy who is a Friend of our Relations, esteem'd by the Prince, and serviceable to the State, before a Friend, who is a Person useless to the Publick, or hath little or no affe­ction [Page 49]for those who ought to be most dear to us. Therefore there is no general Rule for the Government of our selves in the Duties of Esteem, Respect and Benevolence, which we owe to other Men, but what is liable to a great many exceptions. And that which extremely perplexes all that can be said in this Mat­ter, is; That the Duties of Esteem, Respect and Be­nevolence, are of different kinds; and many times in the same kind, we ought to prefer one Man as to the Duties of Benevolence, before another, to whom we absolutely owe the Duties of Esteem and Respect.

XV. Seeing then the Order of our Duties is chang'd and govern'd by the different Circumstances of Things, which it is not possible to foresee; every Man should carefully examine them, and retire into himself, to con­sult the immutable Law, without regarding those false Interests which the Passions continually represent; and when he finds himself at a loss, he should have recourse to such as are better skill'd than I in these matters; he should consult Persons of the greatest Charity, Pru­dence and Capacity, rather than those who have their Memory only fill'd with general Rules, which are in­sufficient to give a decision in particular circumstances, and many times have neither Sense nor Charity. The only general Rule that I shall venture to give at present, a Rule which is not much follow'd, but which seems to me to be the most certain one that can be given, is this; That we should prefer the Laws of Friendship in Jesus Christ, and of the eternal Society, before the com­mon Rights of a Friendship and a Society which must end with our Life. I shall explain my self more par­ticularly.

XVI. That which is finite, how great soever it be, hath of it self no proportion to infinity. Ten thou­sand Ages, in respect of eternity, is nothing. The proportion of the Universe, to immense and boundless Spaces, can be express'd only by a Cypher. An Unite divided by a thousand Millions of Cyphers, by a pro­gression from one to a thousand Millions, instead of from One to Ten, would be a Fraction infinitely too great to express this proportion, for indeed there is none; this is my Position. Now we shall enjoy God in the other life, and enjoy him for ever. Therefore [Page 50]the possession of the Empire of the Universe, in re­spect of the possession of the true Good; and the time of the enjoyment of this Empire, compar'd with the eternity of the life to come, are Cyphers; there is no proportion between them: They are totally eclips'd and annihilated by the presence of Eternity. Human Greatness, and Pleasures which pass away with our life; nay, let us join whatever we can think of for our Satisfaction; all this disappears when we reflect a lit­tle, and consider that we are immortal: It is nothing, and ought to be counted for nothing. This, I think, every one will allow.

XVII. Now let us observe this Principle, and we shall see, that he who is an occasion of falling to one single Person, is more cruel than the inhuman Pha­laris; that it is just that he should suffer, like that wretched Prince, the same Fire into which he hath made others fall; and that it were better for him, as our Saviour speaks, That he were thrown into the Sea with a Milstone about his Neck.

XVIII. On the contrary, we shall see that he who labours under Jesus Christ, in the building of the eternal Temple, is incomparably more valuable than the greatest Architect that ever was. There is nothing now to be seen of the Temple of the great Solomon, the Habita­tion of the living God, and the Glory of a whole Peo­ple; but this Man's Work shall remain for ever.

XIX. We shall see clearly, that a deform'd Body, a rude and unpolish'd Mind, a lively and irregular Ima­gination, a Man of no reputation or fortune in the World, without Friends, and without any Qualifications to recommend him; that such a Man, I say, if he be truly pious, if he fears and loves his God, is infinitely more worthy of our Esteem, than the most beautiful Man in the World, the most caress'd and honour'd for his admirable Qualities, but with something less Re­ligion. Certainly no one will dare to say, That God the righteous Judge, prefers this Man before the other. Therefore we also are bound to prefer the other if we are sufficiently convinc'd of the Difference of their Piety.

XX. A Man may esteem the quality of a Physician more than that of a Lawyer; this is indifferent, and depends on Customs, which vary according to times and places. But to esteem the quality of a Prince more than that of a Christian, to value the Title of a Gentleman more than that of a Priest, after the Order of the Son of God; this is not indifferent: Not but that a Man owes to his Prince other kind of Duties, than he doth to the Minister of his Parish; the Prince hath the sovereign Power, and therefore he must pay him the highest Respect, and an exact Obedience in all things.

XXI. I have two Relations, or two Friends; one of them is an honest Missionary, who labours, with suc­cess, in the building of the Church; the other an ac­complish'd Person in all human Sciences, a great Mathe­matician, an excellent Philosopher, one that knows the Histories of all Nations, and speaks their Lan­guages: But I do not find that his Learning is ser­viceable to the eternal Society; nay, I think I disco­ver the contrary. Now which of these two Persons is the most valuable? both of them stand in need of my Assistance; Which shall I prefer? Certainly the good Priest, the honest Preacher whom the World despises, and not the learned Gentleman whom the World adores. I may perhaps give him greater marks of esteem in many Cases, for fear of disgusting his nice and sque­mish Constitution. For those that have great Talents in appearance, or according to the judgment of Men, think every thing their due; and that we may not of­fend them, we may sometimes give them those honours which they do not deserve; for our outward Actions should be govern'd by the Rules of Charity, and some­times with respect to the false Judgments of Men. But for my inward Esteem and Benevolence, I owe them to those who have the greatest Relation to the eternal So­ciety before all others, tho' they were my profess'd Ene­mies, and the lowest of Men in the Eyes of the corrupt World.

XXII. Sometimes Circumstances may fall out so, that a Man must either give scandal to his Neighbour, or lose his honour and his life. He cannot well defend Truth, without ridiculing him that attacks it, and ex­posing his Party. He cannot serve his Friend, or it may [Page 52]be his Prince without violating the Christian Charity which he owes to a stranger, and being the cause of his Damnation. What must a Man resolve in these, and innumerable other the like Cases? Nothing is more clear, according to the Principle which I have laid down. For since every thing that relates to infinity, becomes infinite it self by that Relation; no regard ought to be had to the Rights of a temporary Friendship or Society, when the eternal Society is concern'd.

XXIII. But yet we must take care, that in prefer­ring the spiritual Advantage before all other Things; we do not offend our Friends without cause: For we should always do justice, before we exercise Charity. A Man must not steal to marry a Daughter, who he fears will otherwise be ruin'd. The Grace of Christ may re­medy those disorders. He must not give his Friend oc­casion to break with him, by neglecting those Duties which he hath a Right to expect from him, nor wound one Man's Conscience to cure anothers. We should govern the Duties of Charity by Prudence, and endea­vour to foresee the Consequences of our Actions. But I think, I may say in general, That there is not a more certain and comprehensive Rule than this, to have always a regard to the Rights of the eternal Society, when they are mingled with other Interests, as it most commonly happens.

CHAP. VIII. Of the Duties of Benevolence and Respect. We should procure all Men the true Goods, and not relative Goods. Who it is that fulfills the Duties of Benevo­lence. The unreasonable Complaints of worldly Men. The Duties of Respect should be proportion'd to the greatness of participated Power.

I. THe greatest part of what hath been said touching the Duties of Esteem, may be also applied to the Duties of Benevolence and Respect. However, I think it necessary to say something farther of them here, that the Nature and Obligations of them may be more distin­ctly understood.

II. As to the Duties of Benevolence or Charity, we owe them to all Men in general; and tho' there be some particular Goods, which we ought not to wish nor procure to some Persons, nor in some Circumstances, yet the true Goods which we may give without de­priving our selves or others of them, ought never to be refus'd to any one whatsoever. We should never conceal Truth, the nourishment of the Soul, from those that are capable of receiving it. We should give good example to all the World. No one should ever be excepted in the publick Prayers and Offices of the Church. The Sacraments should never be refus'd to such as are rightly dispos'd to receive them. These are the true Goods, which relate to the eternal Society. And since God would have all Men to be sav'd, and to come to the knowledge of the Truth; he that refuses to any one the Duties of Christian Charity, opposes the de­signs of God, and undermines the Foundation of that Society which we have with him by Jesus Christ.

III. But for the good Things of this World, as they are not properly Goods, as their real worth depends on the relation they may have to the true Goods, in short as they are such things as cannot be communicated without dividing; it very often happens that we are oblig'd not to impart them to some Persons. For in­stance, if a Father out of too much Indulgence to his Children who are debauch'd, or prone to debauchery, furnishes them with Mony; he is the cause of their disorders, and wrongs the Poor who stand in need of his assistance: As he that gives a Sword to a mad Man, or a Man transported with Passion, is really the cause of the Murder that ensues. The Prodigal robs the Poor, and by his indiscreet Liberalities kills the Souls of his riotous Companions: And he that gives a drunken Servant the liberty to drink as much as he pleases, doth him a kindness which is forbidden by the Laws of Cha­rity and Benevolence. In a Word, he that gives any power to impotent Minds, which can neither consult, nor follow Reason, is the cause of their destruction, and of all the Mischiefs which spring from the abuse of Power.

IV. These are undeniable Truths, and the reason of them is plain. Mony, for instance, is not properly a Good, because we cannot truly possess or enjoy it, for spiritual Subitances cannot possess Bodies: It is such a Good as cannot be communicated without division, and therefore the love of Benevolence should distri­bute it in such a manner, that it may be useful, and become a Good, or rather a proper means of acquiring Good, to those who receive it. For otherwise, there is a double breach of our Duty toward our Neigh­bour: We hurt those to whom we give it, and we injure all those who by the Laws of Charity have a just title to it, to whom we do not give it.

V. But Pain and Disgrace, which in themselves are real Evils, become good in many cases; and the love of Benevolence which we owe to all Men, obliges us to inflict them on those that deserve it, over whom we have authority, to reclaim them from their disorders by the fear of Punishment. She is a cruel Mother that will not suffer a gangren'd Arm of her Child to be cut off: But she is much more cruel, that suffers his Mind and Heart to be corrupted by Ease and Pleasure. He that sees his Friend ruin'd by underhand Intrigues, and takes no notice of it, or for his own advantage enters into a correspondence in prejudice of the Friendship he hath vow'd, is a perfidious Friend, and not fit for hu­mane Society. But he is much more perfidious, who for fear of grieving and displeasing us, suffers us to fall into Hell, or by gratifying our Passions, joyns with the only Enemies we have to blind and destroy us.

VI. Who then is he that can render to his Neighbour the Duties of Charity or Benevolence? Certainly he that knows the vanity of transitory Enjoyments, and the solidity of the future Goods, the stability of the heavenly Jerusalem, built on that immoveable Rock, the well beloved Son of the Almighty: He that com­pares Time with Eternity, and following the great principle of Christian Morality, measures the Duties of Civil Friendship and Society by the Rules of that Society which is joyn'd here upon Earth by Grace, and cemented for ever in Heaven by the perpetual com­munion of a Good which shall be given whole and en­tire [Page 55]to all, and entire to every one of us: He in fine, that continually meditates on that divine Society which we ought to have with the Father by the Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, the mutual love of the Fa­ther and the Son, and the Fountain of that happy Love which shall for ever unite us to God. He and he alone is capable of paying to his Neighbour the Duties of Benevolence. All other Men are destitute of Charity, and are so far from loving us with the love which is due to us, and is contain'd in the Second great Commandment of the Christian Law, that they do not so much as know their essential Obligations toward us. The Corespondence they have with us, their Friend­ship, their Society will rather be the fatal cause of our Misery, than the happy foundation of our Joy and Tranquility.

VII. Let People say what they will, that we ought to separate the Laws of civil Society from those of Christian Charity, to me they seem inseparable in the practical part. The Citizen of my earthly City is already by Grace a Citizen of the holy City; the Sub­ject of my Prince is a Domestick of the House of God. ‘Now ye are no more Strangers and Foreigners, Eph. 2.19. saith S. Paul, but Fellow-citizens with the Saints, and of the Houshold of God; and are built upon the Foun­darion of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone; in whom all the Building fitly fram'd together, groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord.’ Shall I then engage in the designs of a Friend who seeks to advance his For­tunes here upon Earth, and hazards the possession which he hath in Heaven? Shall I by my Counsels and Friends favour his Ambition, and advance one who wants that constancy and resolution that are necessary for subordinate Governments, to a station which all wise and understanding Men are afraid of? A Friend trembles for his Friend, when he beholds him in the midst of dangers. A Mother is frighted, when she sees her Child clambring up a steep Place. And shall not I be in fear for a Relation, for a dear Friend in Christ, whom I see environ'd on all sides with dreadful preci­pices, and yet still climbing higher to a place that makes the strongest Heads giddy?

VIII. The present Life should be consider'd with relation to that which is to follow, and shall be fol­low'd by no other. The Society which we now form, is no otherwise durable, than as it is the beginning of that which shall never have an end. It is for this se­cond Society, that the First is ordain'd: It is to merit Heaven that we live upon Earth. I repeat this Truth often, because it is necessary that we should be through­ly convinc'd of it. We should engrave it deeply on our Memory. We should incessantly revolve it in our Mind, for fear lest the continual action of sensible Objects should blot out the remembrance of it. If we are fully convinc'd of this Truth, if we make it the Rule of our Judgments and desires, we shall not be concern'd at the want of those things which we shall not much esteem: We shall not then take such measures as tend only to make us happy upon Earth, and be­fore the time of recompence; but such as lead us whi­ther we ought to direct our aim, to that perfection which makes us acceptable in the sight of God, and worthy to enter into an eternal Society with him through Christ our Lord.

IX. But because Men have but a weak and ab­stracted Idea, of the greatness of future Goods, they seldom think on them, and when they do they are not affected with them; for only sensible Ideas, shake the Soul, only the presence of Good and Evil touches, and puts it in Motion. On the contrary, the Imagi­nation and Senses being continually and forcibly struck by the Objects which are round about us, we are con­stantly thinking on them, and always with some mo­tion of Passion; and as we naturally judge of the soli­dity of any good by the impression it makes on our Mind, we look upon them with Esteem, we desire them with Impatience, and embrace them with Pleasure. And therefore we think that those Persons have no Kind­ness nor Friendship for us, who stop us in our career, in­stead of joyning with us to catch the Prey which escapes out of our Hands.

X. Observe but a pack of Dogs, when they are going out a Hunting how they rejoyce, and as it were caress and congratulate one another. Eager for the sport, they mechanically excite each other, and many times [Page 57]the Huntsman himself, by leaping and jumping, mo­tions which reciprocally require the like, for all Ma­chines, at least those of the same Species, are narnrally made to imitate one another. If there be any one hotter than the rest, that ranges too wide, and starts the Game too far off, him they shut up and leave him behind. But what a howling and crying there is! What sensible expressions of an extreme Grief! All this is but Mechanism and Clock-work. Just so it is with those that know not the true Good, when any Passion possesses them. If you do not assist and further their designs, if you thwart and oppose them, they will always be reproaching and exclaiming against you, that you neglect the Duties of Society, of Friendsh [...]p and Affinity, that you make them miserable, and pro­fess your self their Enemy. If you endeavour to con­vince them by Reason, presently you are a Stoick, a Cato. If you go about to restrain them by considera­tions of Religion, then you are precise and bigotted. The Wheels of the Machine are set a going, and will go on a long time. Devout and pious Men will still be Whimsical and Capricious, without Breeding, Friend­ship or Civility. They will always be shun'd, as not fit for humane Society: For indeed there can be no Society but between such as hope for the same kind of advantages. But pious Men seek after the true Goods, for which those others have no inclination, who have no tast, no sense of any thing but the objects of their Passions.

XI. Good Men being truly animated by Charity, never break Friendship with those that live disorderly out of anger or resentment. They still hope to reclaim them by their Example, their Patience, and their Counsels favour'd and assisted by Grace. As they are convinc'd of the Truth of their own Sentiments, and throughly affected with the sweetness of the true Goods, of which they have already a kind of foretast; they think of nothing but to make others see what they see themselves. They would fain make them relish the inexhaustible Fountain of all Pleasures. The abhor­rence which they have for Vice inspires and animates them, and makes them speak in such a Dialect as s [...]rikes a damp on those that really find themselves happy, [Page 58]when they follow the agreeable motion of their Passions. This is the cause that a vitious and debauch'd Man, and by debauch'd I mean all those that do not look up­on the immutable Order as their Law, or the inviolable Rule of their Actions, those that think Reason an in­supportable Yoke: This, I say, is the cause that a debauch'd Man considers those of a regular Life as his Enemies, that he avoids their Conversation with a kind of aversion and abhorrence, and will have no Cor­respondence with them, being inwardly persuaded that they will not quit the solid and substantial Goods to engage in his designs, and joyn with him in the pur­suit of Fantoms, which vanish and disappear at the Mo­ment that they are embrac'd.

XII. These sort of People are always complaining that the Laws of Religion are confounded with those of Nature, that devout and godly Men are good for nothing in the World, and that they are obstinate and ill-bred People. They would have Folks converse with them like kind Relations, faithful Friends, or true-hearted Country-men, and not like Men pre­possess'd with Notions which they do not relish nor approve. But this is not possible to be done. A Man cannot act but according to his own Light. Shall he that sees clearly, suffer a blind Man to fall into a Pre­cipice, and not call out to him and stop him? And would the blind Man think you have reason to com­plain of the kindness that is done him, and say to his Friend, let me alone: Do you think you see better than I? We are all blind: Believe me, you are prejudic'd. Am not I more concern'd in my own preservation than you? You had better go blindly along with me, for I am sure I am in the finest way in the World.

XIII. If I serve my Friend according to his desires, I ruin him and my self too. This is the prejudice that blinds me. Perhaps he hath some reason to complain of me; but he is unreasonable, if he imagines that I renounce his Friendship, or if he renounces mine. If my Friend were not a Christian, or not capable of being one; if our whole Being were to be annihilated by Death, then I could converse with him in such a manner as he desires, and have the same Friendship for him that he hath for me; I could then be a good [Page 59]Relation, a good Friend, or a good Country-man ac­cording to the Idea he hath of those Qualities. But Eternity changes the Face of things, and it is the great­est madness in the World not to have a regard to it.

XIV. A Christian, a Priest, a Gentleman and a Friend are not four different Persons. When the Gentleman is in Hell, what will become of the Priest and the Friend? If these Qualities are inseparable in the same Person, it is evident that the Priest is deceiv'd, if he thinks he hath a right to act the part of the Gentle­man: And if I give him different Advice according to his different Qualities, certainly I mislead and abuse him. When Qualities are inseparable, the most ex­cellent of them should govern all the rest; and tho' we may abstract and distinguish them when we only reason in the air, yet when we come to act, we must joyn them all together.

XV. Whether therefore we give Alms to the Poor, visit the Sick or those that are in Prison, instruct the Ignorant, assist our Friends with our Counsels, or do any other action of Charity or Duty; we should re­fer all to the Salvation of our Neighbour, we should always consider that we live among Christians, and therefore that we ought to do such Actions as are re­quir'd of us by the eternal Society which we all have in Christ Jesus. We should give our assistance to Sin­ners, Hereticks, and even Heathens themselves, because they are capable of entring into this blessed Society: And we should be more concern'd for those that are excluded out of it, than for those that are in slavery in a strange Country. We should be more sollicitous to make them come into it, than to preserve to them this miserable Life: a Life which we ought not much to value, but only as it is a Time which relates to Eternity, and may deserve it by the Grace which Christ, the High-Priest of the true Goods, distributes to Men, and there­by sollicits them to enter into a communion of the same happiness with him.

XVI. As to the Duties of Respect or external and relative Submission, they are due to Power, and there­fore we cannot proportion them according to the merits of Persons, nor regulate them by our own Light, with [Page 60]respect to the interests of our eternal Society in Christ. We must follow the Customs and Laws of the State in which God hath plac'd us. It is a Duty of Justice to pay Respect and Tribute to those to whom God hath given Authority over us. It is all one whether they be good or bad, nay whether they be Christians or not: Whether they make a good or a bad use of our Con­tributions. And the reason of this is, because it is God whom we Honour in their Persons; for all Honour is relative, and must be ultimately refer'd to him alone who really possesses Power. So that it is an injury and a wrong to our Prince, to deny him the Respects which are due to him; and it is a formal disobedience against the King of Kings, to refuse to submit our selves, and give sensible marks of our Submission to those whom he hath appointed his Lieutenants and Vice­gerents upon Earth. The primitive Christians paid to the Roman Emperors, even those who cruelly per­secuted Christ himself in his Members, all the Respect, Submission and relative Honor that was due to their participated Power: Well knowing that Honour is properly due to God alone, and must be refer'd solely to him, 1 Tim. 1.17. according to S. Paul's Words, ‘Unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be Honour and Glory.’ They knew that the Duties of Respect ought not to be proportion'd to the interest of the Church, or rather that they ought to be refer'd thither, because that is the great, or indeed the only design of God; but that this is never better done, than when Christians pay those Duties with all possible exactness: For indeed this is the right way to oblige sovereign Princes, who are always jealous of their Glory and Authority, to favour Christian Socie­ties more than any other in their Dominions. But I must discourse more at large of our Duties as they re­late to the different kinds of Society which we form with other Men.

CHAP. IX. Of the Duties due to Sovereigns. Two Sovereign Pow­ers. The difference between them. Their natural Rights. Rights of Concession. Of the Obedience of Subjects.

I. ALL the Duties which we owe to participated Powers, may be reduc'd to Two general Heads; Duties of Respect, and Duties of Odedience. The Duties of Respect depend on the Laws and Customs observ'd in every State, and consist in certain out­ward and sensible marks of the Submission which the Mind pays to God in the Person of it's Superiors. Those Duties vary according to the different Circum­stances of Times and Places. Sometimes Subjects pro­strate themselves before their Prince; sometimes they put one Knee to the Ground, or both: At other times they only make a profound reverence and stand un­cover'd; and sometimes also they remain cover'd in his Presence, without losing the Respect which is due to him. These are arbitrary Ceremonies, and are govern'd by Use and Custom.

II. But that which is essential to Morality, is that the Soul it self should be touch'd with Respect in the Presence of the Prince, who is the Image of the true Power: and that in such a proportion as the Prince actually exercises the Authority he hath receiv'd, or cloaths himself, as I may say, with the Power and Majesty of God. For we owe more respect to the King, when he is in the Seat of Justice, than in a Thou­sand other Circumstances; and to the Bishop in the actual administration of his Episcopal Functions, than at any other time. And indeed we are naturally en­clin'd to measure the respect due to Grandeur and Pow­er by the sensible operation they have on us. Certain­ly when we are in the Presence of the Almighty, our Mind ought to prostrate it self. Now tho' we are always in the sight of God, yet we come into his Pre­sence in a more particular manner, when we approach [Page 62]Superiour, who is his Image. Therefore it is not sufficient to put on an outward air of Respect and Ve­neration, but the Mind must also humble it self, and respect the Greatness and Power of God in the Majesty of the Prince.

III. There is no great difficulty in paying the Duties of Respect to the higher Powers; nay the Brain is fram'd in such a manner, that the Imagination willing­ly bows before the splendour that environs them; wherefore I think it needless to say any more of these Duties. But an exact Obedience to the commands of our Superiors is a continual Sacrifice, much more difficult and burdensome than the Slaughter of Beasts; and therefore Self-love is an irreconcileable Enemy to it. There are few People that discharge this Duty like Christians, or in expectation that he whom they Honour in the Person of the Prince, should be their only Re­ward. Every one in a manner dispenses with himself, as much as he can, from paying an Obedience that doth not suit with his own conveniences; and some preposterously obey unjust Commands, because they do not know the exact order and measure of their Du­ties. For opposite Powers having each their separate Rights, their different interests are many times so in­termingled, that it is very difficult to know which of them ought to be obey'd; and in these cases every Man follows his own particular humour or advantage, for want of certain Rules to govern his Actions by. I shall therefore here lay down one or two Principles, which may give us some Light toward the clearer discovery of these Duties.

IV. There are but two sovereign Powers in the World, the Civil and the Ecclesiastical: The Prince in monarchical States, and the Bishop: The Prince, who is the Image of God Almighty, and his Minister upon Earth; and the Bishop, who is the Image of Christ, and his Vicar in the Church. The Prince derives his Authority over other Men from God alone; so doth the Bishop; and neither of them ought to use it any otherwise than God doth himself, with respect to the immutable Order, the universal Reason, the inviola­ble Law of all intelligent Beings, even of God him­self. The Prince notwithstanding hath a more abso­lute [Page 63]Power than the Bishop. He hath Authority to make Laws, and is not subject to them himself; he may act without controul, and is not oblig'd to give an account of his Conduct to any Man; for he seems to have more Relation to God as Power, than as Rea­son; to God cloth'd with Majesty and Glory, than to God made Man, and like us; to Christ glorified than to Christ upon Earth, and cloth'd with our Vileness and Infirmities. But the Bishop hath more relation to God as Wisdom and Reason incarnate and compass'd about with our Infirmities, than as absolute and inde­pendent Power; to Jesus Christ upon Earth, conversing familiarly with Men, than to Jesus Christ glorified and made supreme Lord of all the Nations of the World. ‘Ye know, saith our Saviour to his Apostles, Mat. 20.25. that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them, and they that are great, exercise Authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: The Son of Man came not to be ministred unto, but to minister, and to give his life a Ransom for many.’ Not that Princes have a Right to use their Authority without Reason. God himself hath not this miserable Right; he is essentially Just, and the universal Reason is his inviolable Law. But the abuse of the Ecclesiastical Authority is more criminal in the sight of God, than the abuse of Royal Authority; not only because there is an infinite difference between spiritual and temporal Goods, but also because the Ecclesiastical Power that acts imperiously and arbitrarily, acts directly contrary to the Character which it bears of Jesus Christ, who is always Reason, and Reason humbled, and proportion'd to the capacity of Men for their Instruction and Sal­vation.

V. The end of the institution of these two Powers is very different. The Civil Power is ordain'd for the maintenance of Civil Societies. The Ecclesia­stical Power for the establishment and preservation of the heavenly Society, which is begun upon Earth, and shall never end. The Duty of the Prince regards only the peace of the State, the Duty of the Bishop the peace of Christ's Church. The Prince should preserve and augment those Conveniences that are necessary for the temporal Life: The Bishop by his Preaching and Ex­ample, [Page 64]should instruct and enlighten the People; and as the Minister of Christ, diffuse inward Grace by the Sa­craments in the Members of the Church, and thereby communicate the life of the Spirit to those that are com­mitted to his charge. In a word, the Power of the Prince is ordain'd for the temporal Good of his Sub­jects; that of the Bishop for the spiritual Good of his Children.

VI. This being laid down as the first Principle, the second which follows from it is. That since God is the absolute Lord of all Things, his Orders give a Right to all necessary and reasonable means for the execution of them. A Servant who receives Orders from his Master to carry a message of importance with all speed to his Friend, hath no right to take his Neighbour's Horse, for the execution of his Master's commands, because his Ma­ster himself hath not that right. But God being the ab­solute Lord of all Things, when he saith to St. Peter, Feed my Sheep; or when he commands the King to preserve his Subjects in Peace, he gives to these two sovereign Powers, as far as Order permits, an absolute right to all Things necessary for the execution of his Will. So that the natural, essential and primitive Rights of the temporal Sovereignty, are, as far as Order permits, all necessary means for the preservation of the State; and the natural rights of the Ecclesiastical Power, are all lawful means necessary for the edification of the Church of Christ.

VII. But the Church and the State being compos'd of the same Persons, who, at the same time, are both Christians and Members of a Body Politick, Chil­dren of the Church, and Subjects of the Prince; it is impossible for these two Powers, which ought to have a mutual regard to each other, and should be absolute and independent in the Administration of their several Functions, to exercise their Jurisdiction, and execute the Orders of their common Master, if they do not perfectly agree together, and even in some Cases, de­part with something of their Rights to one another. For this Reason it is, that the Prince, by the concession of the Church, hath now a right of Presentation to many Benefices; and the Church, by the concession of the Prince, enjoys temporal Possessions. These are not [Page 65] natural rights, because they are not necessary or natu­ral consequences of the Commission which these dif­ferent Powers have receiv'd from God: They are on­ly rights of concession depending on a mutual Agreement, whose end ought to be no other than that which God propos'd to himself in the institution of these two Pow­ers.

VIII. The building of the Church of Christ, the eternal Temple, being the great, or indeed the only design of God, (for all the Societies and Kingdoms of this World shall be dissolv'd, when the Work of him who alone is immutable in his designs, shall be com­pleated); it is evident that the State hath a reference, and should be subservient to the good of the Church, rather than the Church to the glory, or even the pre­servation of the State; and that one of the principal Duties of a Christian Prince, is to furnish Christ with Materials fit to be sanctified by his Grace under the care of the Bishop, and to build up the spiritual Ede­fice of the Church. For this end chiefly it is that the Prince should prefer the State in Peace, give Orders that his Subjects be instructed in solid Learning, such as gives perfection to the Mind, and regulates the Heart, and take care that the Laws ordain'd for the punishment of Vice and Injustice be strictly observ'd. For a People well instructed, and obedient to reasona­ble Laws, is better fitted to receive effectually the in­fluence of Grace, than a rude, vicious and ignorant People. For this Reason, the Prince ought to employ his Authority in causing the Decrees of Councils to be observ'd, and keeping the People in the Obedience which they owe to their Mother, the Church of Christ. For in fine, there is so close an Union between the Church and the State, that he who troubles the State, troubles the Church which consists of the same Mem­bers; and he that makes a Schism in the Church, is really a disturber of the publick Peace and Tranqui­lity.

IX. But whether a Prince doth or doth not propose to himself this great design of gaining immortal Glory by labouring for Eternity, and carrying on a Work which alone shall last for ever; it is not for private Men to censure his Conduct. And provided that he [Page 66]requires nothing but what flows from the natural Rights given him by the Commission which he hath re­ceiv'd from God, he ought to be obey'd in all things, even by those that hold the greatest Dignities in the Church.

X. It doth not belong to me to deduce from the certain Principles which I have here laid down, such consequences as contain the particular Duties of those that have a right to command; and besides, there is more difficulty in it than may be imagin'd. There are a great many circumstances to be consider'd, which vary or determine these Duties. Princes should examine their own Obligations in the sight of God, by the light of the immutable Order and the divine Law, rather than refer themselves to the Counsels of Men, who most commonly flatter them. They should also consult the fundamental Laws of the State, and consider them as the ordinary Rules of their Conduct. So likewise the Bishops, if they would not abuse their Authority, are bound to observe the Laws of the Church, which they have promis'd to keep at their Consecration.

XI. But for Subjects, I think it certain that they ought to obey blindly and without reserve, when only their own interest is concern'd: For provided their Obedience to one of the two Powers, do not make them omit the payment of that which they owe to God, or to the opposite Power; without doubt, they are bound to obey. To censure the Actions of their Sove­reign, is to make themselves his Judges. It is attribut­ing to themselves a kind of independence, to yield on­ly to their own light. It is a Contempt and a Rebel­lion against the higher Power, to expect that he should give an account of his Actions to any one but God who hath ordain'd him. But still, this is when he com­mands nothing against God himself, or against the Power which represents him. For since the Obedience which we pay to our Prince is due to God alone, and refer'd wholly to him, it is clear that we may and ought to disobey him when he commands us that which God forbids, either immediately by the divine and immutable Law, or by the other Power which he hath ordain'd.

XII. But when the eternal Law doth not answer our attention by its Evidence, or when the written Laws are obscure, and the two sovereign Powers give us contrary Commands, there is a necessity that we should inform our selves of their natural Rights, and draw from them such consequences as should govern our Actions. We should have recourse to Persons of understanding; and above all, we should carefully examine the Cir­cumstances and Consequences of the Command that is impos'd on us. And when at length we find our selves bound by the Obedience which we owe to God, to disobey either of the Powers which are his Repre­sentatives, we should do it bravely and undauauntedly, but yet with all the respect which is due to those that are in Authority. For tho' we are not always bound to obey the Powers ordain'd by God, which are no way Infallible; yet we are scarce ever allow'd to cast of the Respect that belongs to them, how much soever they abuse their Authority. They do not lose their Dignity, nor their Character by unjust Commands, and therefore we must still honour God in their Person: And they on their part should remember, that they have a Master who will deal with them as they have treated their Subjects, and that they, as well as other Men, ought to submit to the divine Law, to which God himself, if I may so say, is subject. And tho' they may be satisfied perhaps that they have a Right to force Obedience from their Subjects, yet they should not be angry, if in some difficult and intricate Cases, they make a scruple of obeying them, or do not readily perform their Commands: For Men ought not to be forc'd to act against their Conscience. They cannot all have the same sense of things, when there are great difficulties to overcome, before they can under­stand the Order of their Duties. They should be go­vern'd by Reason; and when they have not Light and Understanding enough to know it, and do not other­wise neglect the Duties which they do know, certainly they deserve compassion and indulgence.

XIII. What I have said of the sovereign Powers, be­longs also to subordinate Powers. We owe Obedience to a Magistrate, a Governour, or any one that executes the Orders of the Prince, as well as to the Prince him­self; even as we owe to the Prince the Obedience [Page 68]which is due to God, the Fountain of all Power. We ought not indeed to pay them so profound a Respect, nor so general and blind an Obedience as we do to the Sovereign; even as we ought to obey the Sovereign in so universal a manner as we do the Law and the Power of God; because they are not invested with the whole power of the Prince, no more than the Prince is with the whole power and the Infallibility of God. But we owe them an Obedience proportionable to their power, and to the knowledge we have that they exe­cute the Orders of their Master and ours. If we are persuaded that they encroach upon us, or require of us such Duties as the Prince doth not expect or approve of; we may free our selves from their exactions by a dextrous management, or by such ways as do not vio­late the Respect that is due to them, in regard of the Person whom they represent. We should inform our selves of the Prince's pleasure, from the Prince him­felf; and if we can have no access to him, we should presume that he refers himself to his Ministers. And then we should humbly, and without murmuring, sacri­fice to God the Goods which belong to him, and which he hath given us that we should offer them to him again, and thereby merit the enjoyment of more solid posses­sions, which no power shall be able to take away from us. We should with a truly Christian bravery, shew by a ready Obedience our Contempt of transitory En­joyments, and look upon the Cross of Christ, not as the Instrument of our Punishment, but as our triumphal Chariot, which shall certainly carry us, as it did our Forerunner and our Pattern, to eternal Thrones, where we shall Judge with him the great Ones of the Earth, in the day when the Fire shall devour their Riches, and make all their Grandeur to disappear.

CHAP. X. Of the Domestick Duties of Husband and Wife. The Ground of these Duties. Of the Duties of Parents toward their Children, with relation to the Eternal and Civil Societies. Of their instruction in the Sciencies and Morality. Parents should give their Children a good example. They should govern them by Reason. They have no right to use them ill. Children owe Obe­diene to their Parents in all Things.

I. THose that govern the State have not a continual relation to all the particular Members of which it is compos'd, and there are a great many People who never in their life receive any Command from their So­vereign or his Ministers: Therefore that which I have said in the last Chapter, is not of so great and general use, as the Explication of the mutual Duties of Husband and Wife, Parents and Children, Masters and Servants, a Lord and his Tenants, or those that are under his Ju­risdiction, and such Persons as daily converse together, and have many different relations to one another. We should inform our selves more particularly of these pri­vate and domestick Duties. I shall therefore endea­vour to fix the Grounds and Principles of them, from which every one may easily deduce Consequences.

II. The nearest Union that can be betwixt any Per­sons, is that of the Man and the Woman; for it ex­presly figures the Union of Chirst with his Church. It is an indissoluble Union; for God being immutable in his Designs, the Marriage of Christ and his Church shall continue for ever; it is a natural Union, and the two Sexes, by their particular constitution, in conse­quences of the admirable Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body, have the most violent of all the Pas­sions for each other; because the love of Christ to his Church, and that of the Church to her Lord, her Sa­viour and her Husband, is the greatest love that can be imagin'd, as appears from the Canticles. For in short, the Man and the Woman are made for one another. [Page 70]And if we can conceive that God in creating them, had not a design to join them together, then we may al­so conceive that the Incarnation of the Word was not necessary; and that the principal, or the only design of God, which is figur'd by the marriage of the Man and the Woman, more particularly than by any other thing, is not the establishment of his Church in Jesus Christ, who is the Basis and Foundation of it, in whom also the whole Universe subsists, who brings the whole Work of God out of its prophane State, and by his quality of Son, renders it worthy of the Majesty of the Fa­ther.

III. This Principle sufficiently shews, that the mutual Duties of Christ and his Church, are the Model of those of Husbands and Wives; and that the Marriage of Christians, like that of the first Man and Woman, being the figure of the marriage of Christ and the Church, ought not to differ in any of its consequences or circumstances from the reality which it represents. And therefore St. Paul derives from this very Principle, the mutual Duties of the Husband and Wife. His Words are these:

IV. Eph. 5.22 ‘Wives, submit your selves unto your own Husbands, as unto the Lord. For the Husband is the Head of the Wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church; and he is the Saviour of the Body. Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your Wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water, by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish. So ought Men to love their Wives as their own Bodies; he that loveth his Wife, loveth himself: For no Man ever yet hated his own Flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church; for we are Members of his Body, of his Flesh, and of his Bones. For this cause shall a Man leave his Father and his Mother, and shall be join'd unto his Wife, and they two shall be one Flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concern­ing [Page 71]Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular, so love his Wife even as himself; and the Wife see that she reverence her Husband.’

V. From these admirable Words of St. Paul, we see that the Duty of a Husband is to maintain his Wife, and to supply her abundantly with all things necessary for her subsistence; to assist and guide her by his Wis­dom and Counsels, and to comfort her in her Afflictions and Infirmities; in a word, to love her as himself, and after the example of Christ, to expose his life for her defense. And that the Wife on her part ought to obey her Husband as her Lord, to fear and respect him, to seek to please none but him, and to govern the Family in subordination to his Authority, and with a depen­dence on his Designs, provided they are agreeable, or at least not contrary to the designs of God.

VI. Now the design of God in the institution of Marriage, is not only to supply the State with Mem­bers to compose the Body of it, and to defend and main­tain its Honour and Reputation; but more especially to furnish Christ with Materials for the external Temple, with Members of the Church, and perpetual Worship­pers of the divine Majesty. For married Persons are not only the Figures, but also the natural Ministers of Christ and the Church. God hath join'd them together not only to express his great design, but also to act in it. It is true, since Sin came into the World, they be­get Children only for the Devil, and by an action al­together brutish; and if it were not for Christ our Me­diatour, it would be a hainous Crime to communicate to a Woman that miserable fertility of bringing forth an Enemy of God, to damn a Soul for ever, to labour for the Glory of Satan, and the establishment of the in­fernal Babylon. But Christ came to remedy the disor­ders of Sin; and it is permitted by the Sacrament of Marriage, the Figure of his eternal Alliance, to give our Children, as I may say, to the Devil, that Christ may have the glory to snatch them out of his Hands, and having wash'd them in his own Blood, to make them enter into his Building.

VII. Now the principal Duty of Parents is to edu­cate their Children in such a manner, that they may not lose their Baptismal Innocence and Purity. Mar­ried Persons may live in continence, as Adam and Eve did before their Sin. Christ doth not want Materials for the building of his Temple. How many Nations are there still that are ignorant of the Mystery of our Reconciliation? But that Parents by their Ambition, their Avarice, their disorderly course of Life, their ill Example, nay by barely neglecting to instruct their Children, should deprive them of the possession of the true Goods, and make them fall again into the slavery of the Devil, in which they were Born, and from which they had been once deliver'd; this is the greatest Crime that Men are capable of committing.

VIII. A Father may educate his Children so as to be the Honour of his Family, the delight of their Country, and the support of the State; he may leave them the peaceable enjoyment of large Possessions, and all possi­ble Splendour: Yet still he is a cruel and unnatural Father, and the more cruel, because he charms their Maladies in such a manner, that they will not be sen­sible of them, till they are past remedy: He is Impious and Wicked, and so much the more, because with that which he pulls down from the sacred Temple of the living God, he builds up the prophane Babylon: He is Senseless and stupid, and the more because there cannot be a greater degreee of Folly, a more gross Stupidity, a more brutish and surious Despair, than that of a Father who is regardless of the inevitable al­ternative of Two very different Eternities, which shall succeed our latest Moments; who builds for himself and his Family on the Brow of a Precipice expos'd to Storms and Tempests, and just ready to bury for ever the miserable Object of his Glory and Plea­sures.

IX. A Parent therefore that would preserve to his Children the inestimable right which they have ac­quir'd by Baptism, to the inheritance of Christ, must be always watchful in removing out of their sight all Objects that may tempt them. He is their guardian Angel, and should take up out of their way every Stone that may make them fall. It is his Duty to instruct [Page 73]them in the Mysteries of Faith, and by Faith to lead them by degrees to the understanding of the funda­mental Truths of Religion, to fix in them a firm hope of the true Goods and a generous contempt of humane Greatness. He should shape their Mind to Perfection, and teach them to exercise the faculties of it. He should govern them by Reason; for there cannot be a more perfect Law, than that which God himself inviolably follows. But he must begin with Faith: For Men, especially the younger sort, are too sensual, too carnal, too much abroad to consult the Reason which dwels within them. It must shew it self without, cloth'd with a Body to strike their Senses. They must sub­mit to a visible Authority, before they can contemplate the evidence of intellectual Truths. Again, a Father should never grant his Children any thing that they ask themselves, and never deny them any thing that Reason asks for them: for Reason should be the com­mon Law, the general Rule of all our Wills. He should accustom them to obey, as well as consult it. He should make them give a reason either a good or a plausible one, for every thing that they ask; and then he may gratify their desires, tho' they are not so agreable to Reason, if he is satisfied that their intent was to obey Reason. He should not chide them too much, for fear of discouraging them. But this is an indispensa­ble Precept never to act but according to Reason. The Soul should will nothing of it self: For it is not its own Rule, or its own Law. It doth not possess Power; it is not Independent. It ought not to will but with a dependence on the immutable Law, because it cannot think, act, nor enjoy Good, but by a dependence on the divine Power. This is what young People ought to know: But it is perhaps what the old ones do not know: It is certainly what all Men do not practise.

X. We should take care not to burden the Memory of Children with a great number of Actions, which are of little use, and serve only to confound and agitate a Mind which hath as yet but very little Strength and Capacity, and is but too much disturb'd and shaken al­ready by the action of sensible Objects. But we should endeavour to make them clearly comprehend the cer­tain Principles of solid Sciences. We should use them [Page 74]to contemplate clear Ideas, and above all we should teach them to distinguish the Soul from the Body, and to know the different properties and modifications of these two Substances of which they are compos'd. We should be so far from confirming them in their Error of taking their Senses for Judges of Truth, by talking to them of sensible Objects as of the true causes of their Pleasure and Pain, that we should be always telling them that their Senses deceive them; and should use them in their Presence like false Witnesses, that clash with one another to discover their Cheats and Illu­sions.

XI. Children dye at ten Years old, as well as Men at Fifty or Threescore. What then will become of a Child at his Death, whose Heart is already corrupted, who is swell'd with esteem of his Quality, and full of the love of sensual Enjoyments? What Good will it do him in the other World, to understand perfectly the the Geography of this; and in Eternity, to know the Epochas of Times? All our knowledge perishes in Death, and the knowledge of these things leads to no­thing beyond. A Lad knows how to Decline and Conjugate, he understands Greek and Latin it may be perfectly well; nay perhaps he is already well vers'd in History, and acquainted with the Interests of Princes; he promises much for this World, for which he is not made; but what signify all these Vanities, with which his Mind and Heart is sill'd? Are there solid rewards in Heaven for empty Studies? Are there places of Honour destin'd for those that make a correct Theme? Will God judge Children by any other Law than the immutable Order, than the Precepts of the Gospel, which they have neither observ'd nor known. Is it the Duty of Fathers to breed up their Children for the State, and not for Heaven; for their Prince, and not for Jesus Christ; for a Society of a few Days, and not for an eternal Society? But let them take notice, that those that are best skill'd in these vain Sciences, are they that do most mischief to the State, and raise the greatest Tempests in it. I do not say but they may learn those Sciences: But it should be then when their Mind is form'd, and when they are capable of making a good use of it; and the instructing of them [Page 75]in essential Truths, should not be put off to a time when they shall be no more, or at least not in a condition to Tast, Meditate and Feed upon them.

XII. The labour of Attention being the only way that leads to the understanding of Truth, a Father should use all means of accustoming his Children to be Attentive. Therefore I think it proper to teach them the most sensible part of the Mathematicks: Not that these Sciences, tho' preferable to many others, are in themselves of any great value, but because the Study of them is of such a Nature, that a Man makes no progress in them any farther than he is Attentive. For in reading a Book of Geometry, if the Mind doth not labour by its Attention, it gets nothing. Now People should be us'd to the labour of the Mind when they are young: For then the parts of the Brain are flexible, and may be bent any way. It is easy then to acquire a habit of being Attentive, in which, Part I. Chap. V. as I have shewn, the whole strength of the Mind consists. And therefore those that have accustom'd themselves from their youth to meditate on clear Principles, are not only capable of learning all the Sciences, but are also able to judge solidly of every thing, to govern them­selves by abstracted Principles, to make ingenious dis­coveries, and to foresee the consequences and events of Enterprises.

XIII. But the So [...]nces of Memory confound the Mind, they disturb its clear Ideas, and furnish it with a Thousand probabilities on all sorts of Subjects, which Men take up with, because they know not how to di­stinguish between seeing in part, and obscurely, and seeing fully and clearly. This resting on probabilities makes them wrangle and dispute endlesly. For as Truth alone is one, indivisible and immutable, so that alone can closely and for ever unite Men's Minds. Be­sides the Sciences of Memory do naturally beget Pride. For the Soul doth as it were enlarge and extend it self through the multitude of things with which the Head is fill'd. And tho' the content of the Mind be then taken up, as I may say, with nothing but Emptiness, or with things of little or no use, as the position of Bodies, the the series of Times, the actions and opinions of Men; yet it imagines it self to have as great an extent, du­ration [Page 76]and reality, as the objects of its Knowledge. It stretches it self to all the parts of the World. It goes back to past Ages; and instead of considering the nature of its own Being, what it is at present, and what it shall be in eternity, it forgets its self and its own Country, and wanders in an imaginary World, in Histories made up of Realities which are now no more, and Chimera's which never were.

XIV. Not that we should slight History, for ex­ample, and never study any but the solid Sciences, such as of themselves make the Mind perfect, and re­gulate the Heart. But we should study them all in their proper order. A Man may apply himself to History, when he knows himself, his Religion, and his Duties; when his Mind is form'd, and he is thereby capable of distinguishing, at least in some measure, between the Truth of the History, and the Imaginations of the Historian. He may study Languages: But it should be when he is Philosopher enough to know what a Language is: When he throughly understands that of his own Country: And when the desire of knowing the Thoughts of the Ancients, begets in him a desire of knowing the Language: For then he will learn more in one Year, than he can in Ten, without this desire. He must be a Man, a Christian, an Englishman, be­fore he is a Grammarian, a Poet, an Historian, or a Foreigner. He should not study even the Mathematicks, only to fill his Head with the properties of Lines, but in order to procure to his Mind, that strength, extent and perfection of which it is capable. In a word, he should begin his studies with those Sciences that are most necessary, or such as may most contribute to the perfection of his Mind and Heart. He that only knows how to distinguish the Soul from the Body, and doth not confound his Thoughts and Desires with the dif­ferent motions of his Machine, is more solidly learned, and more capable of being so, by the knowledge of this one real Science, than he that understands the Histories, Laws and Languages of all Nations, but withal is so deeply Buried, as I may say, in the Ig­norance of his own Being, that he takes himself for the more subtil part of his Body, and imagines that [Page 77]the immortality of the Soul is a Question not to be re­solv'd.

XV. I am satisfied that I speak nothing but Para­doxes, and that it would need a great many Words to persuade others to be of my Opinion. But I would have them only open their Eyes. Do we find that those who understand Virgil and Horace very well are wiser Men than those that understand S. Paul but in­differently? It is experience that must convince such as will not consult Reason. Now where is the expe­rience which proves that the reading of Tully is more useful than that of the all-divine Words of the eternal Wisdom? O, say they, we make Boys read Tully for the Latin. But why do not they make them read the Gospel for Religion and Morality? Poor Children! they breed you up like Citizens of old Rome, and you will get its Language and its Morals. They ne­never think to make you reasonable Men, true Chri­stians, and Inhabitants of the holy City. You are mi­staken, say they, we do think of it, we do make it our business: But I am sure it's not the fashion to mind it throughly. St. Augustin lamented this in vain, Confess. l. 1. and it is to no purpose that I trouble my self about it. We shall still see young Lads when they come from School, and ought to know something, for none of them scarce mind any thing afterwards; we shall still see them, I say, ignorant in the knowledge of Man, of Religion and Morality. For can they be said to know Man, who cannot so much as distinguish the Soul from the Body? Have they learnt the first elements of Religion and Morality, who are not fully convinc'd of original Sin, and the necessity of a Mediator? They are well stockt with the precepts of Grammar. They can say Lilly by Heart, and repeat all the cramp Words in Faruaby and Butler. This is sufficient. They can declaim pro and con on any Subject. A rare Qua­lification indeed, to be able equally to maintain Truth and Falshood, without knowing how to distinguish one from the other! But what! It is not reasonable that Boys should know more than their Fathers: Nor is it fit that they should have more Learning than some of their Masters.

XVI. But I leave it to Tutors and School-masters to examine the order of their Duties, and to take care of the performance of them. For I would not have Pa­rents oblig'd to instruct their Children themselves, be­cause a great many are not capable of doing it, or have other business, which you shall never persuade them to be of less Importance than the education of their Chil­dren: But then they should endeavour at least to choose a good Master. Let them not imagine that a Young Man who only understands Greek and Latin, and doth not know, much less can govern himself, is a fit Person to in­form the Mind and regulate the Heart of a Child. But when they have happily met with one that is, let them not by their Example and Behaviour pull down that which a Tutor by his Pains and Diligence hath been build­ing up. Children, by reason of their weakness and de­pendence, are extremely affected with the Language of the Imagination and Senses, with the outward Air and Behaviour, especially of their Parents. This is a natural Language which persuades insensibly, it penetrates the Soul, and in a delightful manner begets conviction and assurance in the Mind.

XVII. If a Master teaches his Scholars to judge of things by Principles of Religion and Reason, to silence their Senses, Imagination and Passions, to despise sensi­ble Objects, humane Greatness, and transitory Plea­sures; an indiscreet Father shall talk of these false Goods before his Children, with such an Air, Voice and Gestures, as are able to shake a setled Mind, and move even those that are least prone to Imitation. Perhaps he may speak to them of the true Goods: But then his Discourse shall be so Cold and Faint, that it shall only beget in them contempt and aversion. But you shall hear him Twenty times a Day, and that with concern, bid them hold up their Head, keep their Body steady, and carry themselves handsomly. He shall applaud and commend them for repeating a few passionate Lines with a Grace. He shall sensibly dis­cover his Joy by the Air of his Face, if he finds in them any qualification which the World esteems, and only make a Jest and a Diversion of their greatest and most material Imperfections, such as discover to those that are skill'd in the knowledge of Man, an abominable [Page 79]pravity and corruption. And if a Tutor tho' never so good a Christian and a sensible Man should go about to extinguish their Pride and Self-love; the Approba­tion of a peremptory Father, or a fond Mother shall beget in them such a hatred and contempt of him, as shall make him incapable of ever doing them any good. The great­est Reve­rence and Respect should be shew'd to Children. Maxima debetur puero re [...]erentia, saith a judicious Author. Example and outward Behaviour irresistibly persuade young People, when they suit with the corrup­tion of their Nature: And he that without saying a Word, doth Evil in their Sight, with an Air of Plea­sure and Satisfaction, speaks to them more strongly and forceably, than he that discourses to them coldly of Vertue, and exhorts them to follow it. This is a matter that deserves the greatest consideration, with respect to the instruction and education of Youth.

XVIII. There are some Fathers who always use their Children Arbitrarily and Tyrannically: They never do them Justice: They are severe to them with­out cause; and instead of enlightning them by Rea­son, and making them submit to it, they fancy that the Will of a Father is the inviolable Law of a Child. But when the Father is Dead, what then will be the Law of the Son? Without doubt his own Will: For he hath never been told that there is an eternal Law, the immutable Order: He hath not been accustom'd to obey it. Nay he will not stay till his Father be Dead, or grown Old and unable to keep him in Sla­very any longer, before he prescribes a Law to him­self. He will naturally find it in his Pleasures. For this unjust and brutish Law is better perhaps than the will of an unreasonable Father; I am sure it is more agreable and easy. A young Man will quickly be satisfied of this, when once he hath tasted the sweet­ness of it. And then whether the Father be dead or alive, the Son will easily find means to obey this Law, and yield to its Enchantments. He will look upon his Father as an Enemy and a Tyrant, if he hath yet Strength and Vigour enough left to interrupt him in his Pleasures, and disturb him in his Debauches: and Being persuaded by the example and conduct of his Father, that every thing ought to obey his own Will and Pleasure, he will employ all his Power, and all [Page 80]those Persons over whom he hath any Authority, in gra­tifying his desires. For he will find himself actually happy, in giving himself up to his Pleasures; and will not have Education and Experience enough to appre­hend the fatal Consequences of them. Children there­fore should be govern'd by Reason, as far as they are capable of it. They have [...]ll the same Inclinations with grown Men, tho' the Objects of their desires are dif­ferent; and they will never be solidly Vertuous, if they are not accustom'd to obey a Law which shall never perish, if their Mind which was form'd after the universal Reason, be not form'd anew after the same Reason made sensible by Faith.

XIX. A Father must not imagine that his quality of Father gives him an absolute and independent Sove­reignty over his Son. He is a Father only by the Ef­ficacy of the Power of God; and therefore he ought not to command his Son but according to the Law of God. He is a Father in consequence of a bru [...]ish A­ction, in which he knows not what he doth; for it is only Experience which teaches him, that in gratifying his Passion, he also preserves his Species. What Right can he have over the Mind and Heart of another Man, from an Action like that of Brutes, an Action which he ought to blush at, and which I am asham'd to men­tion? A Mother carries her Burden with a great deal of Trouble and Hardship, and brings it into the World with extreme Pains. But she doth not give it Shape and Growth, much less doth she give a Being to the Soul which animates her Child: Therefore she hath no Right to command him but in Subordination to the universal Reason, because she had no power to conceive him, but by the Efficacy of the divine Power.

XX. Nevertheless, a Son should stand in fear of his Parents when they are angry with him; for God who gives and preserves his Being, God who can throw him headlong into Hell, God who hath all manner of Au­thority over him, commands him by his Law to obey them; and by that command gives them a Right to command him. But Parents should not make use of this Right against the Will of him from whom they receive it; They should not assume it to themselves as a Reward of a sinful, or at least an indecent and [Page 81]beastly Action; They should employ it in promoting the great Design of God, the eternal Temple, the end and ma­ster-piece of all his Works; in labouring not for Time but for Eternity, and preserving in the Members of Christ the Spirit of Holiness which they receiv'd at their Baptism. And Children on their part should pay Obedience to their Parents, as to God himself whose Person they represent; They should shew a Respect in their presence as in the presence of the Almighty; They should endeavour all they can to please them, and fur­ther their designs, as far as Order permits. Perhaps they shall not live ever the longer upon Earth; for this was the Reward of the Jews, but they shall live eternally happy in Heaven with the well-beloved Son of God, who was obedient to his Father unto death, even the shameful and cruel death of the Cross.

CHAP. XI. The original of the difference of Conditions. Reason alone ought to govern, but Force is now necessary. The law­ful use of Force is to make Men submit to Reason, ac­cording to the Primitive Law. The Rights of Superi­ours. The Duties of Superiours and Inferiours.

I. IT is certain that the difference of Conditions a­mongst Men is a necessary consequence of original Sin, and that many times their Nobility, Riches and Grandeur are deriv'd from the Injustice and Ambition of their Ancestors. But the iniquity of their Forefathers being buried in Oblivion, and the lustre which their Riches and Honours have left in their Families, still re­maining, we are dazled with the splendour of their Quality, which appears bright and shining to our Sen­ses, and strikes our Imagination; but we never think of the Injustice, which perhaps is the original of that splendour, because it is not visible and apparent.

II. The generality of Men who judge of things by the impression which they make on their Senses, look upon those that go attended with a magnificent Train, as something more than Men; and instead of shutting [Page 82]their Eyes in sight of a stately Palace, that they may make a sound judgment of the personal Merit of him that dwells in it, they open them insensibly, to be­hold the beauty that courts and enchants them, and join to the Person of the owner, all the Gold and Marble with which the House is adorn'd. But a Chri­stian Philosopher beholds without being mov'd, the Magnificence which astonishes and prostrates weak Ima­ginations; and being persuaded that that which belongs to Man is not the Man himself, and that greatness of Mind is not consistent with Injustice and abuse of Power, he sees nothing more monstrous and deform'd, than a low and despicable Soul dwelling in a proud and lofty Building, and admir'd by all the World. And whether he thinks himself oblig'd by his quality and the custom of the World to appear splendid and mag­nificent in the Eyes of other Men, or looks upon those vain Ornaments wherewith the rich endeavour to hide their wretched Mortality, he is still sensible of his own and others weakness, he contracts and as it were anni­hilates himself within himself, and measures great Men only by the merit which he finds in them.

III. But besides, that there are very few of these Phi­losophers, how much a Philosopher soever any Man is, he is often surpriz'd unawares by the sensible impression and unexpected Motions of a rebellious Imagination; and the vanity which fills Mankind, doth so much fa­vour the natural Judgments which are form'd in us without our consent, touching human greatness, that Men always have and ever will judge of the Esteem which they owe to other Men, by the Train, the Magnificence and the Splendour that environs them. Now these Judgments which every one pronounces within himself in favour of Persons of Quality, or such as have the appearance of Persons of Quality; these Judgments, I say, which are pronounc'd more strongly and definitively by a submissive Air and a re­spectful Behaviour, than by Words, swell Men with Pride, and beget in them an Opinion of their own greatness. This is it which makes them despise Vertue and Reason in those that are below them, and esteem, without distinction, every thing that is heightned and set off to ad­vantage by the Quality of the Persons. This is the [Page 83]Reason that a haughty Lord looks upon his Vassals as Creatures of a despicable Species; and that Servants hearken to their Masters as to Vertue it self, and Rea­son incarnate. In short, this is the Cause that Superi­ours do not pay to those that are under them, the Du­ties which are owing to their Nature; and Inferiours think it meritorious to act contrary to the divine Law, in obedience to the Commands that are impos'd on them.

IV. Human Nature being alike in all Men, and cre­ated for Reason, it is Merit alone that should distin­guish, and Reason that should govern them. But Sin having left Concupiscence in those that first committed it, and in all their Posterity, Men, tho' all equal by nature, do not now join in a Society of equality un­der one common Law, to wit, Reason. Force, the Law of Brutes, that which gives the Lion the com­mand over the Beasts, hath gotten the sovereign sway among Men; and the Ambition of some and the Necessity of others, hath oblig'd all Nations, as I may say, to cast off God, their natural and lawful King, and the universal Reason, their inviolable Law, and to choose them visible Protectors, who by Force may de­fend them against Force. It is Sin then which hath in­troduc'd into the World the difference of Qualities or Conditions; for Sin, or Concupiscence being suppos'd, these differences must necessarily follow: Reason it self requires that it should be so; because Force is the Law that must keep those in their Duty who have cast off their Obedience to Reason. In fine, God himself approves this difference of Conditions, as is plain from the Scriptures.

V. But the necssity of the Remedies shews the great­ness of the Distempers. We need not seek after them, when we have no occasion for them; and the esteem and use that ought to be made of Force, is grounded only on the miserable necessity to which we are re­duc'd by our universal Contempt of Reason. There­fore those that have Authority to command other Men, and to decide their Differences, ought not to value themselves, and to be proud of this Right; They should rather be afraid of profaning their Power, by making it subservient to their Pleasures; for nothing is more [Page 84]Sacred, nothing more Divine. The Almighty, their na­tural and lawful Sovereign, will deal with them, as they, who are but subordinate Powers, have dealt with their Subjects. They hold their places but during his Pleasure; They should continually reflect on this. God can pull them down, if they do not endeavour to set up Reason; and sooner or later, Death, that cruel Ene­my of their Power, Riches and Pleasures, will make them like other Men. It will present them before the living Law, which penetrates the Heart, and lays open all the folds and recesses of it; and they will find the Reward or Punishment of their good or bad Actions, written in eternal and indelible Characters, in the im­mutable and necessary Order. Wisd. 6.5, 6, 8. ‘Horribly and Speedi­ly, saith the wise Man, shall he come upon you; for a sharp Judgment shall be to them that are in high places. For Mercy will soon pardon the mean­est; but mighty Men shall be mightily tormented; a sore trial shall come upon the mighty.’ Superiours therefore should look upon themselves as Lieutenants, as I may say, and Vicegerents of Reason, the primitive and indispensable Law; and should employ their Authority only against such as refuse to obey that Law. They should never make use of Force, the Law of Brutes, but against Brutes, against those that know not Rea­son, and these that will not submit to it; and should hearken to their Inferiours favourable, calmly and cha­ritably. For if they confound their own desires with the immutable Order, and the secret inspirations of their Passions with the dictates of the inward Truth; that Truth which they slight and disregard, shall be the Law by which they shall be judg'd, by which they shall cer­tainly be condemn'd, and by the Efficacy of which they shall be eternally tormented.

VI. Eccles. 32.1, 2. ‘If thou be made the Master of a Feast, says the Son of Sirach, lift not thy self up, but be among them as one of the rest, take diligent care for them, and so sit down. And when thou hast done all thy of­fice, take thy place that thou mayst be merry with them.’ A Family, a Community, a Society, whose Head applies himself wholly to maintain the Peace and supply the Necessities of it, is in a continual Feast. The Superiour ought not to take his place of Honour, [Page 85]till he hath perform'd his devoirs, nor put himself at the head of others, but only to protect and defend them, to reconcile their differences, and to rejoice them with his presence. Superiours, and especially Princes, are call'd in Scripture and in ancient Authors, Shepherds of the People; and the Governour of a Feast, who di­sturbs the Table, and interrupts the Musick, Hinder not Musick, verse 3. represents a Head, who breaks the agreeable Harmony and Con­cert of all the Members of the Body which he ought to govern and maintain in a perfect Union and a mutu­al Correspondence. The end of all Government, is Peace and Charity, and the means of attaining this end, is to advance Reason to the sovereign sway; for there is nothing but Reason that can unite Mens Minds, put them in tune to one another, and make them act in concert. Reason is a natural and universal Law, which few People observe in all Points, but no one dares open­ly reject, and which all Men pretend to follow, even at the same time that they depart from it.

VII. Wherefore a Magistrate, a Father, who is the natural Head of his Family, a Master who hath Scho­lars or Servants under him; in a word, every Supe­riour ought to breath into his Inferiours a Spirit of Reason, Justice and Charity, as his and their inviola­ble Law. He should assume to himself no other Right but the use of proper means to make them respect and submit to it. But let him not doubt, but that all those means are his true and natural Rights, in propor­tion nevertheless to the Authority which he hath re­ceiv'd from the Superiour Power. For the Power which gives any Commission, doth also give the same Right to the use of all lawful means for the execution of it, which that Power it self hath; if it self, or Cu­stom, and especially Reason, directs nothing in parti­cular touching these Means. Thus a Magistrate hath no power to punish Criminals but according to the Laws, tho' he may by his own Authority make use of a thousand ways to prevent their Villanies where the Laws give no particular directions. A Father may correct his Children with a Rod or a Cudgel, and that severely, but he must not kill or maim them, and there­by render them unserviceable to the State, on which he himself depends, and to which they belong. A Ma­ster [Page 86]may whip his Scholar, but he can not use him cruelly and injuriously without injuring the Father, who hath not given him this Authority, any more than Cu­stom or the Laws of the Community. But, excepting that which Custom, Reason, or a Superiour power pre­scribes, those that are in Authority may challenge to themselves as their natural Right, the use of all other fit means to reduce such as are under their command to the Obedience, not of their own Will, but of Reason; of Reason, I say, not their own Will; for neither a Father, nor a Magistrate, nor a Prince, no nor God himself, if this could be, if the Word were not Con­substantial with him, if it were possible for him not to beget and love it; not God himself, I say, hath any Right to make use of his Power, in obliging Men, who were created for Reason, to submit to a Will not con­formable to Reason.

VIII. Notwithstanding, a Servant, a Scholar or a Subject, ought not to dispute the Will of his Superi­ours; he should have so much Deference for them as to believe that they are rational Men as well as he, and much more than he; and when Evidence or the express Commandment of the Law of God prescribes nothing to the Contrary, he is bound to obey instantly and with­out murmuring. Nay, he is not allow'd so much as to offer any Objections, in order to be satisfied of his doubts, but only when this kind of Liberty carries with it no signs of Contempt, and cannot offend the Person in whom he ought to fear and respect the Power of God himself. But Superiours, on their part, should have a great regard to the nicety and scrupulousness of other Men; they must not imagine themselves to be infallible, nor by their haughty and insolent manner of proceed­ing, oblige those that are under them to fear them, in­stead of fearing God in their Person. The invisible God is not so terrible to weak Imaginations, as the sensible and threatning Air of a cholerick Father or Master; and many times, a Superiour heated and di­sturb'd by Passion, makes his Inferiours commit greater Crimes than he doth himself; for the suddenness of his Passion having blinded him, his Fault is less voluntary; but the Offence of those that obey him contrary to Reason, is the more hainous, because for fear of dis­pleasing [Page 87]and provoking him, they deliberately offend against God.

IX. Not that a Superior must never shew his Autho­rity, and make himself fear'd by those that are under his Command. Reason requires that he should sometimes be angry, that as this Passion mechanically produces something terrible in the Face, his outward Air may strike a terrour into the Wicked, and dispose them to Obedience: If this will not do, he must also add Threat­nings, and in the end proceed to Punishment, and to a kind of Injury and Violence. It is absolutely ne­cessary that Power should make Men submit to Rea­son, and force them to follow it, when Reason it self, tho' well enough known, hath not Charms enough to attract them, Men look upon Reason as impotent and unactive, as unable to reward its followers, and to punish those that side with its Adversaries. But they must be deliver'd from this Error, in which they are confirm'd by all the prejudices of their Senses, and be convinc'd by their Senses and by a visible manner of proceeding, that Reason and Power are not two dif­ferent Deities; that the Almighty is essentially Reason, and the universal Reason Almighty. Those that are powerful and reasonable amongst Men, by the parti­cular relation which they have to the divine Power and Reason, should by force constrain unreasonable Minds to fear that Reason which they do not love; as they should by Reason, dispose such as love it, to unite themselves to Power, and to rejoyce in it, in ex­pectation of their Happiness, which shall be given to them according to the ruses which the same Reason pre­scribes. Wherefore those that despise Reason must be threatned, punish'd, and made miserable. For since it is easier to obey Reason without Pleasure, than to dis­obey it with Pain, perhaps wicked Men being made sen­sible by the fear of Punishment of the greatness of those Miseries which they may avoid, if they will conform themselves to Reason, will be more easily dispos'd to follow the Motions of Grace, without which no Man can pay to the eternal Law, all the Obedience which is due to it.

X. The Passions are not evil in themselves: No­thing is more wisely design'd, nor more useful for the [Page 88]maintenance of Society than they, provided they are rais'd and govern'd by Reason. For sensual Men must be taught by their Senses, and carried whether they ought to go, by something which may impel and put them in motion. A Scholar will not gain much ground under the conduct of a sober, phlegmatick, slow-pac'd Master, without Spirit and without Passion. Children and Servants, whose Minds are not fashion'd according to Reason, advance slowly toward Vertue, if they be not continually quicken'd, and spur'd on. But we should never correct them, without enlightning them, and letting them know what it is that is requir'd of them, and not then neither, except they can perform their Duty with more ease than bear the Punishment which is inflicted on them. And as no one can deter­mine his choice without some Motive, we should put them in a condition to be able to choose with Pleasure, and to do that willingly which is worth nothing if it be not voluntary. The Springs of their Mind should be set in order as well as those of their Machine; and the fear of Evil should only serve to carry them toward Good, to bring them near to the Light, and make them behold and love the beauty of Order. It is this kind of correction which Men are made to suffer, in the pre­sence and for the honour of that Reason which they have cast off, that enlightens the Mind, and gives un­derstanding; and not inhumane and brutish Punish­ments, which are sit only to manage Brutes, to train up Horses and Dogs, and to teach Men to make their own Will the inviolable rule of their Actions.

XI. Inferiors are oblig'd to pay a ready and exact Obedience not only to the Commands of their Supe­riors which are express'd and signified to them, but also to their Will, when it is clearly known, tho' it be not signified. And tho' he that stays for an express Order from his Superior, before he obeys him and performs his Will, doth not hereby shew any disrespect to his Person, or any opposition to his Authority; yet he doth not sufficiently respect in him the divine Power and Majesty. But a Minister who by the asendent he hath over his Prince, by his alliances and creatures draws all the Authority to himself, and reduces his Master to such a condition that he is afraid to command him, deserves [Page 89]to be treated like a Rebel. An insolent Servant, who by the knowledge he hath of his Master's concerns, or of the weakness of his Mind, deprives him of the liberty of signifying his Pleasure to him, is many times more guilty of Disobedience than a lazy and negli­gent Servant, who doth not perform the Orders that are given him. A Son who by the rigorous constitu­tion of his Mind and Body, or by the Reputation and Fortune he hath gain'd in the World, is got into such a Post, that his Father who is in a low Condition, weak and impotent dares not impose any Command on him, violates the Duties of filial Obedience, if he knows, his Father's Will, and doth not perform it. A Wife who by her untoward and ungovernable Temper is grown so formidable to an easy good-natur'd Husband, that he dares not discover his Mind to her, is more Disobedient, tho' she exactly performs every thing that he bids her, Eph. 5.33. than one that fears and reverences her Husband, according to the Apostles Precept, tho' she do not always obey his Commands. An inferior Clergy­man, who by the Credit he hath gotten in the World, or by his Personal Qualifications, stops the Mouth of his Superiors, and doth not do that which he certainly knows they require of him, is guilty of Disobedience. In a word, he that withdraws himself in any manner whatsoever, from the Obedience which he ows to others, leaves his Post, and rebels against Authority: And tho' he may secure himself from the Censures of Men, and the Laws of those that do not penetrate and search the Hearts, yet he shall not escape the Judgment of the righteous Judge, who unfolds all the turnings and windings of Self-love. He that obeys Men as Men, and not as God himself, according to the Precepts of Religion, and Reason, cannot possibly fulfil all the Duties of Obedience; as on the contrary he that de­sires to please God, in obeying the Commands of Men, is so happily guided and influenc'd by that desire, that he performs easily and naturally every thing that the most enlightned Mind can impose on him.

CHAP. XII. Of our Duties toward our Equals. We should give them the place they desire in our Mind and Heart. We should express our inward Dispositions in favour of them by our outward Air and Behaviour, and by real Services. We should yield them the Superiority and Pre-eminence. The hottest and most passionate Friend­ships are not the most solid and durable. We should not make more intimate Friends than we can keep.

I. THE greatest part of the Duties which we pay to other Men, consist only in certain sensible Marks, whereby we give them to understand, that they hold an honourable place in our Mind and Heart. Those who are satisfied that we have a particular esteem for their Worth and Qualifications, cannot but feel some Emotion and Pleasure which must unite them to us: And there is no Man but must be touch'd with a sen­sible Displeasure which will separate himself from us, if he finds that we do not give him that place in our Mind which he desires, how great respect soever we outward­ly shew him. For the place of spiritual Beings doth not lye among Bodies; their Habitation, their Seat, their place of Rest hath no relation to that magnificence which strikes the Senses, and is only the work of Men's Hands. The Soul dwels with Honour in the very Souls of those that Honour it, and rests with Pleasure in the Heart of an affectionate Friend. What Glory, what Honour is it then to possess the esteem of the universal Reason? What rest and satisfaction will theirs be whom God shall take into his Heart, and treat them as his Friends? The vaniry of Men should raise in us these Thoughts, and the Seeds of Pride which we all have in us, should make us aspire to the Happiness of getting an honora­ble Place, a fix'd and immoveable Seat in all intelligent Beings united to Reason, and in Reason it self, and of being our selves a sacred Temple, where God himself may reside for ever: For God, who is a pure Spirit [Page 91]deth not dwell with Pleasure in material Temples, tho' never so Costly and Magnificent.

II. It is the eternal Wisdom, the immutable Order of Justice, that should regulate these spiritual Places, which are to be fill'd by substances of the same kind. But as long as we are upon Earth, subject to Error and Sin, we deserve none of them, at least we do not know which of them we deserve. Therefore we ought al­ways to take the lowest, and expect to be remov'd high­er according to the degree of our Vertue and Merit. But Men never trouble themselves about the place which they hold in the divine Reason, the indispensa­ble Rule of that which they ought to possess in created Minds, and labour only to advance themselves to a place which they do not deserve. They hide their Imper­fections; they shew only their best side; they endea­vour by seducing others, to get an empty Name to themselves; and when they have, or fancy they have deceiv'd them, they entertain with extreme delight the doubtful and equivocal marks of an Esteem, which cannot make a Man truly and substantially happy or contented, but only when it is govern'd and supported by Reason, which alone is the supreme Judge of Merit, and alone able to give it an eternal reward.

III. Tho' Honour and Glory, absolutely speaking, be due only to God, yet created Spirits may also challenge it in regard of the relation they bear to the divine Perfections, and the resemblance they have of the Model by which they were form'd. We have reason to believe that they do, in some measure at least, cor­respond with their original. We are certain that the Image of the invisible God, stamp'd on the very Foun­dation of their Being, is indelible. Therefore we may, nay and ought, as long as we live with them, to give them marks of Esteem and respect; and so much the more, because we cannot acquit our selves of the obli­gation we are under to preserve Charity for them, with­out the performance of these Duties.

IV. For, since Men invincibly desire to be happy, they cannot, without an extraordinary degree of Vertue, unite themselves with those that despise them; because in consequence of the Laws ordain'd for the good of Society, they feel an extreme Pain, when they find [Page 92]themselves not well entertain'd in the Minds of others. In Winter we get away from such places as are expos'd to Winds and Frost; because in consequence of the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body, the Soul is unhappy in those places. How is it possible, when we are govern'd by our Passions and Pleasures, to unite our selves to those, whose Coldness chils and freezes us, to those who sensibly afflict us by the incommodi­ous and disagreeable place they give us in their Mind and Heart? Therefore we must not think to maintain Charity amongst Men, to bring them near and unite them to us, and to be serviceable to them, if we do not pay them such Duties as may persuade them that they shall live easily and contentedly with us.

V. Since it is not in our Power to infuse inward Grace into the Hearts of Men, which alone can dis­pose them to sacrifice their present Happiness to the Love of Order; we are many times oblig'd to make use of their Concupiscence or Self-love, to moderate their Passions, and favour the efficacy of the Grace of Christ. For if in the Old Testament, the Angels, to preserve the Worship of the true God among the Jews, govern'd them only by Motives of Self-love, as not being themselves the dispensers of the true Goods, nor of the Grace necessary to deserve them, certainly we ought also to labour for the Conversion of Men by those natural means which the general Laws supply us with. We must Plant and Water, and expect from Heaven the increase and maturity. We must endeavour to employ to a good purpose, the universal Instrument of Iniquity, the Concupiscence of Pride and Pleasure, or rather Self-love, the abundant source of all our Miseries. The Grace of Christ coming to our assistance, will change Men's Hearts, and enable the Weak to go on in the ways of Righteousness, which we shall have taught them, by a prudent and charitable management of those things that are in our Power.

VI. It is certain then, that tho' our Duties for the most part consist only in certain outward and sensible Marks, by which we signify to other Men, that they have such a place in our Mind and Heart, as may con­tent their Self-love; yet we are oblig'd to perform them exactly, not with a design to advance our own private [Page 93]Interest, nor to fortify and keep up Concupiscence in others, which we do in some measure please and gra­tify by these Duties, but to destroy and sacrifice it by the assistance of the Grace of Christ.

VII. Now tho' our equals do not sensibly represent the Power and Majesty of God, to which the submissi­on of the Mind is due; yet we ought to treat them as our Superiors, and to give them sensible Marks of our inward Respect, upon this consideration, that their Merit, their Vertue, and the invisible Relation which they have to God, renders them worthy of these Duties; or if they are not worthy of them, that we cannot con­tribute to make them so, if we do not first gain their Friendship and Affection.

VIII. As for those that are below us, we should not treat them as our Superiors, tho' we may look upon them as such, according to those general Words of S. Paul, "Let each esteem other better than themselves; Phil. 2.3. But we should in many cases treat them as our Equals and Friends. For the main end of our Duties is to pre­serve Charity among Men, and to joyn our selves with them in an affectionate and durable Friendship, that we may be useful to them, and they to us. For this end it is necessary that our Duties should be sincere, or at least it should be probable, that we give other Men the same place within us, which we express by our out­ward Signs. Thus a Superior may descend so far as to treat his Inferiors like equals, and they will be pleas'd and satisfied with it; for there is some likelyhood of Sincerity in this. But if he stoops below them, they will have reason to believe, if they look upon him as a Man of Wit, but not much Vertue, that he mocks and abuses them. They will be apt to imagine that this excessive Humility is only a Blind to cover some extraordinary design. Or else they will despise him, as a Man of a low and mean Soul, in which it is no advancement to possess the highest Place. They will look upon themselves to be without a Head, and will live every one according to his own Fancy, when he that should guide and govern them so imprudently debases himself. For when the Head stoops too low, the Members despise him, and he cannot raise himself up again, without angring and discontenting [Page 94]them. But when he treats them only as his Equals, they are sensible that they still have a Master, and are not surpriz'd to see him resume the Command and Autho­rity.

IX. When our Equals out of a Principle of Vertue humble themselves below us, and give us the prece­dence, yet they do not fully acquit themselves of their Duties toward us, unless they yield us the pre-eminence too, and give us real or at least probable Testimonies of a particular Esteem and Affection. For if we do not believe that their Humiliation is a mark of the esteem they have for us, our Self-love cannot be sa­tisfied with it. Vertue may make a Man lower himself to one whom he despises. Now it is more disagreable and displeasing to be obey'd by one that despises us, than to be commanded by one that gives us real marks of his Esteem and Friendship. It is Nature many times that gives us Masters: We may obey without debasing, without sacrificing and destroying our selves: But we cannot naturally and without Vertue love Contempt. This is a thing that can never agree with Self-love; how dextrous soever it be in accommodating every thing to its own ends. For we cannot, without the greatest re­gret, see our selves strip'd of our Excellence and Gran­deur, in the very Seat of our Pride and Vanity. Per­haps our Equal may give us a great example of Vertue, in putting himself below us. We may admire his Hu­mility, and perhaps imitate it naturally and out of Pride; for many times the proudest Men are the most Civil and Obliging. But if he would have us Love him, he must give us an honourable and delightful place in his Mind and Heart: He must flatter our unjust and proud Con­cupiscence. Then, tho' in appearance he be not so. obsequious and obedient to our Will, he will be bet­ter qualified for a Friend; and will perfectly fulfil the Duties he ows us, if he makes use of the entrance which we give him into our Heart, by the place which he gives us in his, to mortify our Concupiscence in us, and set up in its place the immutable Order of Ju­stice.

X. It is not so easy a thing as may be imagin'd, to persuade others, that they are plac'd in our Mind and Heart as they desire to be, and to discover the true [Page 95]Sentiments they have of us. We must therefore exa­mine what are the least equivocal and most sensible marks of the inward Dispositions of Men's Minds, that so we may discover the bottom of their Hearts, and satisfy them of the Respect and Friendship we have for them. It is certain that bare Words are equivocal and deceitful Signs in the Mouths of most Men. Be­sides, the institution of them being arbitrary, and de­pending on the Will of Men, they do not strongly and forcibly persuade these Truths which they express. None but weak People, or such as have a great Opinion of themselves, will be deceiv'd by them; or it may be such as have no experience of the World. But the Air and Behaviour is a natural Language, which is un­derstood without Studying; it persuades by a lively Im­pression, and as I may say, diffuses conviction in the Mind. Besides, this Language is not deceitful, or if it be, it is very rarely, because it is a natural and in a manner necessary effect of the actual disposition of the Soul. For the Soul discovers its greatest Secrets by the Air which it mechanically puts into the Face; and when we are once acquainted with the different Airs, we may discover in the Heart of him that speaks, the Sentiments and Motions with which he is agitated in relation to us.

XI. Therefore if we would persuade Men that they hold the place which they desire in our Esteem and Friendship, we should really Esteem and Love them; and indeed it is our Duty so to do. We should in their presence excite within our selves such Motions as they may naturally and sensibly understand by the Air which these Motions give to our Face: And when our Ima­gination is cold in relation to them, because their Merit doth indeed appear very mean and indifferent, we should represent to our selves some Motives that may warm and agitate us: Or at least we should endeavour to manage things so, that Men may attribute to the cold­ness of our Constitution, that indifference which is so grating and disagreable, and the want of a winning and obliging complaisance in our Behaviour toward them. But above all things, we must take care not to put on a forc'd and affected Air, which betrays it self and cannot hold long, because it doth not agree with the [Page 96]actual dispositions of our Mind. Nothing is more gross and offensive; we had better hold our Tongue, than praise any Man with such a fawning and perfidious Air, as tickles and betrays none but stupid and sense­less People. Charity and Religion are sufficient to stop the natural Motions of our Machine; for they furnish us with reasonable Motives enough to honour and love other Men sincerely, and to despise our selves.

XII. But beside Words and the outward Air and Be­haviour, there are also real Services which are the surest and most convincing marks of Esteem and Affection. By these it is, that we should make new Friends, and try those that we have already. But as these Duties are the most difficult and painful of all, so we must not presently imagine that he who fails in the performance of them, hath no Affection or Friendship for us. For we should consider, that there are some People who by their natural Constitution are so cold, so heavy, so re­serv'd, in short, so difficult to be stir'd, that they do lit­tle or nothing for their Friends. But then they do no­thing for themselves neither. This is a thing that ought to be taken notice of; for he that thinks that these kind of Men have no Friendship for any Body, must also believe that they do not love themselves. But I think I may say, That generally speaking, there is no Friendship more solid and durable, than that of those Persons who seem to want Friendship, because they have not that spriteliness of Imagination which some have; and that short-liv'd Fire, which kindles and blazes out, as soon as a Man opens his Heart to them, and doth them the honour to lay before them the need he hath of their Assistance. The Reason of which is this:

XIII. It is the Fermentation of the Blood, and the abundance of Spirits which heat Mens Imagination, and give them a Motion which animates and impells them. Now those who have strong and lively Passions, and a warm Imagination, are inconstant beyond expression; for it is not Reason that governs them, Reason which is always the same, but Humours, which are soon kind­led and as soon go out again; Humours, whose Fer­mentation excites contrary Motions every hour. Be­sides, 'tis most commonly the Body which speaks in [Page 97]them; and as the Body speaks only for the Body, or for those Things which have a Relation to the Body, the least interest determines toward their own particular Profit, the Motion which at first was produc'd in them for the Profit of a Friend, only because they found some Advantage in it themselves; for it is always pleasant and agreable to get new Friends and keep the old ones. In short, there is no solid and durable Friendship, but that which is founded upon Religion, fortifyed by Rea­son, animated and supported by the charming Pleasure that proceeds from a mutual Possession of Truth. But Religion, Reason and Truth, are meer Fantoms to an Imagination that is struck and wrought upon by other Objects. They have nothing in them that affects the Senses, therefore they have nothing solid in them. They have no Relation to the Body, nor to the Society which is form'd by the Body, and for the good of the Body; they have nothing therefore that pleases the Imagination, which speaks only for the good of the Body, for that which animates and rejoyces it, which gives and pre­serves its Being.

XIV. When a Man hath entertain'd the unhappy de­sign of making his Fortune in this World, of pushing forward and advancing himself; let him endeavour to make those his Friends, who have a strong and lively Imagination, and let him excite and put them in mo­tion. Their motion will perhaps carry him to the greatest Dignities. It is the Imagination that reigns here below, and distributes Riches and Honours. There needs only a strong and prevalent Imagination, to give an honourable Place in Mens Minds to a worthless Person, and to discountenance and disgrace a Man of the greatest Wisdom, Learning and Vertue. He then that would advance his Fortunes, must settle himself well in the Opinion of such as are active and stirring, he must gain their Favour and Affection, and he must quicken and spur them on; they will carry him a great way; they will lift him to a great height. But let him look to himself; nothing is more incomprehensible, nor more ungovernable than the Imagination; it goes upon very ticklish Wheels, and very difficult to be kept in order: He must be well acquainted with all its fantastical and variable Springs, and must know how [Page 98]to try and manage them with Art and Dexterity. For otherwise, those Friends that have rais'd him up, will throw him down again, and trample him under their Feet with as many expressions of Rage and Indignation, as they have before given him of Favour and Friend­ship.

XV. But for those that are contented with their Fortune, and would have good and real Friends, let them seek them among such as are lovers of Truth and Justice; let them ground their Friendships on a mu­tual Communication of the true Goods, the immutable Goods which make Friendships firm and constant, the inexhaustible Goods, which exclude Envy and Jealousie; and let them assure themselves, that those Persons who seem to be least exact in performing the Duties of Friendship, if this proceeds from the natural Coldness of their Constitution, are the most sincere and faithful Friends. Their Imagination is not slippery and incon­stant; but let it be what it will, they can restrain and govern it. Their Passions are not sprightly nor vio­lent; but they know how to esteem and love according to Reason. Their Friendship is not an inconstant Pas­sion, but a solid Vertue; and tho' it may be for want of Spirits and Flame, they appear cold and unmoveable outwardly, yet they have all the inward Sentiments and Motions for their Friends which they ought to have.

XVI. But tho' we ought many times to be satisfied with those that do not give us sensible Marks of their Friendship, yet we ought not to be satisfied with our selves, if we do not give them lively and sensible Ex­pressions of ours. For the greatest part of Mankind being govern'd more by Sense than Reason, they will never be satisfied, except they read in our Face, and are convinc'd by our Services, that we are concern'd for their Interests. We are bound in duty to make some steps for them, which we would not make for our selves. Perhaps they do not feel the pain that we do in motion; for it may be they love to be in Agitation. They have not the same Opinion that we have of the good Things of this Life; for they are blinded by their Pas­sions. And therefore judging of others by themselves, they will be apt to believe that we have no Esteem or [Page 99]Friendship for them, if we do not leave the most sa­cred and the most important Business, to serve them, if we do not do for them, what we would not do for our selves; and this belief will infallibly excite in them some unjust, and it may be sinful Passions.

XVII. For this Reason it is, that Society is a grie­vous and painful slavery to those that are not made for it, and can live without it; it is perhaps the sharpest and severest Penance. It is a Trade, in which many times the honestest and fairest Dealers lose much more than they get; they venture a great deal, and make but small Returns. We should therefore enter into no particular Alliances, which oblige us to such Duties, as either the natural Constitution of our Ma­chine, or any other Reasons will not suffer us to per­form; for we should not get Freinds to make Ene­mies of them. Nothing is more grievous and irksome than an Enemy who was once a Friend, and who abuses the Favours that are bestow'd on him. Let every one therefore examine his own Strength, and not suffer him­self to be overcome by the dangerous pleasure of know­ing and being known; and let him engage himself no farther in any Society, than he is able and willing to perform the Duties of it, no farther than that he may be serviceable to others without injuring himself, or at least that the Injury he doth to himself may be less than the Service he doth to others.

CHAP. XIII. A Continuation of the same Subject. If we would be be­lov'd, we must make our selves amiable. The Qualities which make a Man amiable. Rules for Conversation. Of different Airs. Of Christian Friendship.

I. THough we should not enter into any particular Alliance with all the sorts of People, especially when we do not find in our selves Strength and Art enough to maintain it; yet we should study to gain the love of all Mankind, to the end there may be no one whom we may not be capable of serving. Now the way to be belov'd, is to make our selves amiable. It is an unreasonable and ridiculous pretention to challenge Love and Friendship; and those that are not belov'd, ought to blame none but themselves. If Men do not always do Justice to Merit, because they do not know it, and most commonly judge amiss of it, yet every one is a competent Judge of amiable Qualities, and those that possess them never want Friends. The Me­rit of other Men obscures and puts out ours; and when we do them Justice, we seem to wrong our selves. We cannot exalt them, without depressing our selves, and when we get them below us, we think our selves the greater. But we may love other Men, without any injury to our selves. Nay, on the contrary, the Soul grows greater as it were by diffusing it self in the Hearts of others, and seems to cloth and adorn it self with the Glory which environs our Friends. So that a Man never fails of being belov'd, if he makes him­self amiable, but he is not always esteem'd, tho' his Me­rit be never so great.

II. What then are the Qualifications that make us amiable? They are very easie to be discover'd. It is not Wit, nor Learning, a handsome Face, or a fine [Page 101]Shape, 'tis not Quality, Riches, no nor Vertue it self; all this will not do the business. For a Man may have an Aversion for one that possesses all these valuable Endow­ments. What is it then? 'Tis to appear such to others, that they may be persuaded they shall be easie and con­tented in our Company. If great Riches make a Man covetous; if Wit makes him proud; if Nobility makes him haughty and insolent; if Vertue and Merit it self makes him think every thing his due; all these Quali­fications, how valuable soever they be, will never make the possessors of them amiable. Men would invincibly be happy; therefore he alone can gain the Love, I do not say the Esteem of Men, who is good either in reality or in appearance. Now no Man, how perfect soever he may be in himself, is good with relation to others, if he doth not impart to them the Favours which God hath bestow'd on him.

III. Thus the Man of Wit who ridicules and plays upon every Body he comes near, makes himself odious to all the World; and the Scholar, that is always shewing his Learning, puts himself in the Habit of a Pedant, and appears in a ridiculous Dress. Those that have a great deal of Wit, if they would be belov'd, must impart it to others. They must put such a stamp on the fine Things they speak, and make them pass so well, that every one may be satisfied with himself in their Com­pany. He that hath Learning and Knowledge, must not magisterially dictate to others those Truths of which he is convinc'd himself; he must have the Art to diffuse Light insensibly in the Minds of his Auditors, so that every one may find himself enlightned, with­out the shame of having been his Scholar. A liberal Man will never be belov'd, if he takes a pride in shew­ing his Liberality, or brags of it. This is in effect to upbraid those on whom he bestows his Favours, and makes them as much asham'd. But he who imparts his Wit and Learning, as well as his Mony and Gran­deur to others, without letting it be known, or with­out drawing any Advantage from it, must necessarily win their Hearts by this vertuous Liberality; the only vertuous, I say, and charitable, the only generous and [Page 102]sincere Liberality; for all other kind of Liberality is nothing but a mere effect of Self-love; it is all in­terested, or at least very ill manag'd.

IV. But he that is continually exposing our Naked­ness, to advance or divert himself to our prejudice; nay, he that for want of due respect toward us, takes too much liberty, and uses too much familiarity with us; in a word, all rude and ill-bred People, beget in us an irreconcilable hatred and aversion. There is no Man perhaps equally strong and hardy in all parts of him; and when we know a Man to be weak in any place, we should not fall upon him there; we can hardly touch him without hurting him. We should use all Men with Respect and Charity, and be extremely tender of striking them in a sensible part. But on the other side, we should have a care of reproaching them with their extreme nicety and tenderness by an over­cautious and affected Behaviour: We should converse with them according to Nature, as far as their Quali­ty, Humour, and actual Dispositions permit us so to do; and not be too fearful of setting upon them on that side where they fear nothing. They lov'd to be attack'd where they are strong and well fortify'd; and are pleas'd with Raillery and Satyr, when they are sure it cannot hurt them. A Man that hath Wit naturally, loves the exercise of the Wit, as well as that of the Body, when he hath a strong and vigorous one. The Resistance he makes, the Victories he obtains, give him Testimonies of his Strength and Excellence, and disco­ver them to others, which begets in him a secret Plea­sure and Satisfaction. For Motion delights and en­livens us; and he that contradicts us impertinently doth not so much offend us, as he that gives us no occa­sion of shewing those Qualities which we foolishly admire in our selves, and would have others admire too.

V. Men are much more sensible and tender, in rela­tion to those Qualities which are esteem'd in the World, than to those which are really valuable in themselves; to those Qualities which concern their Profession or [Page 103]Employment, than to those Perfections which are essential to their being; to those, in fine, which they have not, or rather those which the World doth not much believe they have, whether they have them or not, than to any others. Thus there cannot be a greater Affront put up­on a Souldier who hath not yet given much proof of his Valour, than to call him Coward. For Courage is a thing esteem'd in the World; besides, it is thought absolutely necessary for a Souldier; in fine, one that wants it, or fears the World should think he wants it, doth all he can to conceal that kind of Infirmity; for we are very careful to cover every thing that being discover'd brings us Shame and Disgrace. It is the same thing with all other Conditions. If an ignorant Lawyer or Physician knows that you think him so, you shall never be his Frirnd, especially if you are so in­discreet as to speak your Thoughts freely of him, and this comes to his Ears. If you give a Woman cause to believe that you think her ugly, you certainly make her angry. For Women value themselves upon Beauty; as Men do upon Wit; not that they do not pretend to Wit, nay and Learning too; for some of them set up for Wits and Scholars at a strange rate, and are so more than many grave Doctors. We should know the World, if we would please it; at least we should con­verse with People with so much Modesty, Civility and Respect, that they may attribute the Injuries we do them to simplicity or inadvertency: There is no other way to make our selves belov'd: for it is impossible to gain the love of others, when we offend and make them uneasie.

VI. The Air and Behoviour is, as I said before, a Language much more expressive and intelligible than Words, and represents to the life our inward Dispositions in relation to others. We should therefore take a parti­cular care to carry our selves with an Air of Modesty and Respect, and that in proportion to the Quality and known Merit of the Persons with whom we converse: I mean such an Air as sensibly shews that we do them Right within our selves, and willingly give them that place in our Mind and Heart which they desire, and [Page 104]think they deserve. A careless and negligent Air is ac­ceptable only to Inferiours, and is no where tolerable but amongst Equals. For tho' it be pleasing in regard it shews that we are not much taken up with our selves, yet on the other side it is disagreeable, because it is a sign that we do not much trouble our selves about other People. The grave and stately Air is very of­fensive and uncasie. For besides, that it denotes a great Opinion of our selves, it makes others think that we have but little esteem for them. This Air is allowable only in Superiours; and is never becoming in them neither, but when it actually represents the Power with which they are invested. It becomes a Prince, a Judge on the Bench, a Priest at the Altar, or any one who by his Character, or otherwise, introduces others into the presence of God. But it makes a Man ridicu­lous and contemptible who puts it on unseasonably and preposterously, and begets in us a secret Indigna­tion and Aversion for the Vain-glorious Fop that as­sumes it. But for the haughty and disdainful Air, it is provoking beyond all expression; for it shews in a very significant and sensible manner, that a Man hath no esteem nor kindness for others. This Air in a Prince makes him look terrible and dreadful; but in a private Man it makes him appear a frightful and ri­diculous Monster, and must naturally beget in others an extreme contempt, and an irreconcilable hatred.

VII. All other different Airs are compos'd of these four: They are all natural and involuntary Effects of the esteem we have of our selves with relation to others; and according as our Imagination is struck, with the appearance of the Quality and Merit of those that are about us, so we do insensibly and in consequence of the Laws ordain'd for the good of Society, put on such an Air as is most proper to preserve the place which we think we deserve in the Mind of others, that place I mean which we actually and at that instant imagine we deserve; for it is not Reason, but Imagination which acts in these Encounters. It is not an abstract­ed Knowledge of our own Qualifications with relation to those of others, but a sensible View of their Gran­deur [Page 105]or Meanness, and the inward Sense we have of our selves, which sets the Wheels of the Machine a going, in order to put the Body in such a posture, and give such an Air to the Face, as discovers to Men the actual dispositions of our Mind toward them. It is evident therefore, that to put on that natural and unaffected Air of Modesty and Respect which makes us amiable, to those especially who have a great deal of Pride, it is not sufficient to believe that other Men are of greater Quality and Worth than our selves, but our Imagination must be actually mov'd by that belief, and must put the animal Spirits in motion, which are the immediate Cause of all the alterations which happen in and upon the Body.

VIII. But the Imagination is so unaccountable a thing, and consequently the Mind of those that suffer themselves to be govern'd by the actual Disposition and Motion of their Machine, that many times the same Air causes quite contrary effects in two different Persons, or in the same Person at different times. This depends on the Fabrick and Position of the Imagination, and the quality of the animal Spirits. A pitiful and dejected Air moves Compassion in some, and Hatred in others, or it may be Contempt or Laughter. Therefore we should open our Eyes, and read in Peoples Faces the effect which our Behaviour causes in them, and shape or correct our Air by theirs; this is the surest way. And indeed it is what every one doth naturally and without thinking, espe­cially when he stands in need of the Assistance of others, and passionately desires to gain their Favour and Affection. I shall say no more of the means where­by we may accustom our selves to such an Air and Behaviour as will make us amiable. The World is so corrupted and so much given to flattery, that I much fear People would make an ill use of it. They are already but too knowing in this matter, and the World is never the better for it, For till Men learn to con­sult Reason, and to make no account of the outward Behaviour, they will still be govern'd and misled by the Imagination of such as have a sprightly Temper [Page 106]and a dextrous Wit; for it is the Imagination which gives the Face and the rest of the Body these different Airs, which please and tickle the wisest Men, and ne­ver fail to deceive the simple.

IX. When a Man grows rich and powerful, he is never the more belov'd, if he doth not grow better too in respect of others, by his Liberality, and the Protection he affords them; for nothing is good, nor belov'd as such, but that which doth good, that which makes Men happy. Nay, I know not whether they really love rich Men tho' they be Liberal, or powerful Men tho' they protect them. For generally speaking, they do not make their court to rich Men, but to their Riches; they do not esteem great Men, but their Greatness; or rather every Man seeks his own Glory, his own Support, his own Ease and Pleasure. Drunkards do not love Wine, but the pleasure of drinking; for if the Wine be naught, or do not please their Palat, they will not drink it. A lewd Man, as soon as his Passion is satisfied, abhors the Ob­ject that excited it; and if he still loves it; 'tis be­cause his Passion is still alive. Now all this is because sading and perishing Enjoyments can never be a Bond strong enough to join Mens Hearts in a strict Union. A durable Friendship can never be built on transitory Goods, nor form'd by Passions which depend on a thing so inconstant as the circulation of the Blood and Humours: This can only be done by a mutual Pos­session of Reason, the common Good. The Enjoy­ment of this universal and inexhaustible Good, is the only thing that can make constant, secure and easie Friendships. This is the only Good that we can possess without Envy, and communicate without injur­ing our selves. We should therefore excite one another to labour for the acquisition of this Good, and join all together for the mutual procurement of it. We should liberally impart to others that which we have already gotten, and not scruple to demand of them that which they have conquer'd by their Pains and Application, in the Country of Truth. Thus we should enrich our selves with the Treasures of Wisdom and Reason; for we gain a better Possession of Truth, the more we [Page 107]communicate it. The Friends we get this way will be true, constant, generous, sincere and immortal Friends; for Reason never dies, Reason never changes; it gives to all those who possess it, immortality in their Life, and immutability in their Conduct.

X. But who is it that shall lead us to Reason, who shall subject us to its Laws, and make us its true Disciples? It is Reason it self; but Reason incarnate, humbled, made visible and sensible, and proportion'd to our Weakness. It is Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, the natural and universal Light of intelli­gent Beings, who because he could be no longer the Light of our Minds, immers'd in Flesh and Blood by Sin, was made Sin himself, and by the foolishness of the Cross, makes a lively impression on our Senses, and fixes our Eyes and Thoughts on him. It is Christ, and Christ alone that can lead us to Reason, and reunite us in his Divine Person by the mediation of his glorified Humanity. Our Nature subsists in Rea­son thro' him, and by him Reason will reign in our Minds and Hearts. For in fine, we are created for Reason, by that we are intelligent Beings; we were first form'd by it, and by it we must be form'd anew. Christ crucified is our holy Sacrifice, and the perfect Model of the Sacrifice which we must offer up of our Self-love to the Love of Order; but be­ing rais'd from the dead, consummated in God, and made an High-Priest after the eternal Order of which Melchisedech was the Figure he is the inexhaustible source of those Celestial influences, which alone can teach us how to Sacrifice, as he did, our corrupt Na­ture, and thereby to merit a divine Being, a glori­ous and incorruptible Transformation; to be perfectly reunited to our Original, and to live wholly on the intellectual Substance of Reason, by divine Chatity, in perpetual Peace, and in an everlasting Society.

XI. If we are true Christians here on Earth, we shall be faithful Friends; and we shall find faithful Friends no where but amongst those that have solid Piety. For there can be no true and constant Friend­ship [Page 108]but in the immutability of Reason; and we cannot in our present condition constantly follow Reason, but by the strength which Reason incarnate gives us. We cannot sacrifice our own interests to the Laws of Friend­ship but by a Charity unknown to Nature, and which derives its original and efficacy from the true Taber­nacle, where Christ exercises the Office of High-Priest. Your worldly and licentious Friend hath been always faithful to you. It may be so. For he always found his advantage in it, or hopes one time or other to re­pay his Self-love. But would he serve you do you think to his own prejudice, or without the hope of a return, when even the Righteous themselves are most commonly excited to serve God, or other Men, only by the hope of a reward, which is so much the more grateful to their enlightned Self-love, as it infinitely exceeds the greatness of their Services?

XII. There are really no such things as disinterested Friends. They alone may be reckon'd as such, who do not expect their reward from us. They alone can truly be our Friends, who desire nothing in this tot­tering and unstable World. They alone are our good Friends, our sincere, faithful and serviceable Friends, who do us Service, because Reason and Charity com­mand them to do it; and expect from God alone those good Things which are capable of contenting their Self-love, the only enlightned, generous and law­ful Self-love. Let us therefore make choice of such Friends; and for those Friendships which we have al­ready contracted, let us endeavour to fix and settle them on the immutability of Reason, and to purify them by the Sanctity of Religion. Let us make our selves amiable, only to make the Law of God belov'd; and let us look upon the Salvation of our Brethren, as the reward of the Services we do them. This reward will soon be follow'd by another: And the Glory which we shall receive, for having wrought under Christ in the finishing of his Building, shall endure for ever. The Society of the World should tend only to establish an eternal Society in Christ. We should converse with Men only that we may labour for their Sanctification, [Page 109]and they for ours. Certainly God hath sent us into the World with no other design. Happy, then infinite­ly more happy than we can imagine shall we be, if by engaging in this just Design of our common Master, we make our selves worthy through Christ our forerunner, to enter into his rest, and to enjoy his Glory and Plea­sure to all Eternity!

CHAP. XIV. Of the Duties which every Man owes to himself; which consist in general in labouring for his own Perfection and Happiness.

I. THE Duties which we owe to our selves, as well as those which we owe to our Neighbour, may be reduc'd to this general Head, of labouring for our Happiness and Perfection: Our Perfection which con­sists chiefly in a perfect conformity of our Will with the immutable Order: And our Happiness, which consists wholly in the enjoyment of Pleasure, I mean solid and substantial Pleasure, capable of contenting a spiritual Substance made for the possession of the su­preme Good.

II. The perfection of the Mind consists chiefly in the conformity of the Will to Order. For he that loves Order above all things, hath Vertue: He that obeys Order in all things, fulfils his Duty. And he that sacrifices his present Pleasure to Order, that suffers Pain, and despises himself out of respect to the divine Law, merits a solid Happiness, the genuine and suita­ble Reward of a tried and approv'd Vertue. That almighty and all righteous Law shall judge his Cause, and shall reward him to all Eternity.

III. To seek after Happiness is not Vertue, but Ne­cessity: For Vertue is free and voluntary, but the desire of Happiness is not in our own Choice. Self-love, properly speaking, is not a quality which may be en­creas'd or diminish'd. We cannot cease to Love our selves; tho' we may cease to Love ourselves amiss. We cannot stop the motion of Self-love; but we may re­gulate it according to the divine Law. We may by the motion of Self-love enlightned, supported by Faith and Hope, and govern'd by Charity, we may, I say, sacrifice present to future Pleasure, and make our selves Miserable for a time, to escape the eternal Vengeance [Page 111]of the righteous Judge. For Grace doth not destroy Nature. The motion which God continually im­prints on us toward Good in general never stops. The Wicked and the Righteous equally desire to be happy: They equally tend toward the source of their Felicity. Only the Righteous doth not suffer himself to be de­ceiv'd and corrupted by pleasing appearances: The foretast of the true Goods supports him in his course. But the Sinner, being blinded by his Passions, for­gets God, his Rewards and Punishments, and employs all the motion which God gives him for the true Good, in the pursuit of Fantoms and Il­lusions.

IV. Self-love therefore, or the desire of being hap­py is neither Vertue nor Vice: But it is the natural motive to Vertue, and in wicked Men becomes the motive to Vice. God alone is our end: He alone is our Good: Reason alone is our Law: And Self-love, or the invincible desire of being happy, is the motive which should make us love God, unite our selves to him, and submit to his Law. For we are not our own Good, nor our own Law. God alone possesses Power; therefore he alone is to be lov'd and fear'd. We invincibly desire to be happy: Therefore we should inviolably obey his Law. For we cannot imprint this too deeply on our Minds, that the Almighty is also Just; that every Disobedience shall be punish'd, and every act of Obedience rewarded. In the present state of things, wickedness and disorder is attended with Hap­piness: The exercise of Vertue is hard and painful. And it is necessary it should be so, to try our Faith, and to give us means of acquiring true and genuine Merit. But it must not nor cannot continue so always. If the Soul be not immortal, if the Face of things shall not one Day be chang'd, then there is no God: For an unjust God is a mere Chimera. The Mind clearly sees all this. And what then must our Self-love en­lightned, our invincible and insatiable desire of Hap­piness conclude from hence, but that if we would be solidly happy, we must submit our selves entirely to the divine Law? This is evident in the highest de­gree.

V. Our Self-love then is the motive which being assisted by Grace, unites us to God, as our Good, or the cause of our Happiness; and subjects us to Rea­son, as our Law, or the model of our Perfection. But we must not make the motive our End, or our Law. We must truly and sincerely love Order, and unite our selves to God by Reason. We must prefer the divine Law before all things: Because we cannot slight it, and cease to conform our selves to it, with­out losing the liberty of access to God which we en­joy by it. We must not desire that Order should accommodate it self to our Will: It is impossible to be done; for Order is immutable and necessary. We must not wish that God would not punish our Ini­quities; God is a Judge that cannot be corrupted. These desires corrupt us: These foolish and insignificant Wishes are injurious to the Purity, the Justice and Im­mutability of God; they strike at the essential At­tributes of the divine Nature. We should abhor our own Corruptions, and fashion all the motions of our Heart by Order: We should revenge on our selves the injuries done to the honour of Order; or at least we should humbly submit to the divine Vengeance. For he who wishes that God would not punish Theft or Drunkenness, doth not love God; and tho' the strength of his Self-love enlightned may keep him from Stealing or Drinking, yet he is not Righteous. He makes that the end, which should be only the motive of his desires. He must call upon the Saviour of Sinners, who alone can change his Heart. But he that had rather there should be no God, than such an one as delights to make eternally miserable even those that truly love Order and Reason, is a just Man: For that chimerical Deity, that unjust and cruel God is not ami­able. Grace it self doth not destroy Self-love, but only regulates it, and makes it subject to the divine Law. It makes us love the true God, and despise that Irregularity and Injustice which a disturb'd Ima­gination may attribute to the divine Nature.

VI. From what hath been said it is evident, First, that we must enlighten our Self-love, to the end it may excite us to Vertue. Secondly, that we must [Page 113]never follow the motion of Self-love only. Thirdly, that in obeying Order inviolably, we labour effectu­ally for the contentment of our Self-love. In a word, since God alone is the cause of our Pleasure, we ought to submit our selves to his Law, and labour for our Perfection; leaving it to his Justice and Good­ness, to proportion our Happiness to our Merits, and to those of Christ, in whom ours deserve an infinite Re­ward.

VII. I have explain'd in the first Part of this Trea­tise the most material things that are necessary to make us labour for our Perfection, or to acquire and pre­serve an habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order; in which our Duties toward our selves consist. They are these in general.

VIII. We should accustom our selves to the labour of Attention, and thereby procure some strength of Mind. We should never assent but to evidence, and so preserve the liberty of our Mind. We should continually study Mankind in general, and our selves in particular, that we may gain a perfect know­ledge of our selves. We should meditate Night and Day on the divine Law, that we may obey it exactly. We should compare our selves with Order, to humble and despise our selves. We should reflect on the divine Justice, to fear it, and awaken our selves. We should think upon our Mediator, to call upon him, and comfort our selves. We should look upon Christ as our Model, love him as our Saviour, and follow him as our Strength, our Wisdom, and the Fountain of our eternal Happiness. The World seduces us by our Senses: It troubles our Mind by our Imagination; it carries us away and plunges us in the depth of Mi­sery by our Passions. We should break off the dan­gerous correspondence which we hold with it by our Body, if we would strengthen the union which we have with God by Reason. For these two unions of the Soul, with God, and with the Body, are incom­patible. We cannot unite our selves perfectly to God, without abandoning the interests of the Bo­dy, without despising, sacrificing and destroying it.

IX. Notwithstanding we are not allow'd to pro­cure our own Death, nor to ruin our Health. For our Body is not our own: It belongs to God, to our Country, our Family, and our Friends. We must keep up its strength and vigour, according to the use we are oblig'd to make of it. But we must not pre­serve it contrary to the command of God, and to the prejudice of other Men. We must expose it for the publick good, and not fear to weaken, ruin and de­stroy it in executing the commands of God. And so likewise for our Honour and our Fortunes. Every thing we have belongs to God and our Neighbour, and must be preserv'd, employ'd and sacrific'd to the honour of the divine Law, the immutable and necessa­ry Order, and with a dependence on it. I shall not enter into the particulars of this matter; for my design was only to lay down those general Principles by which every Man is oblig'd to govern his Life and Actions, if he would arive happily at the true and certain place of Rest and Pleasure.