A moral paradox maintaining, that it is much easier to be vertuous then vitious / by Sir George Mackeinzie. Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. 1667 Approx. 76 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 43 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-08 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A50672 Wing M181 ESTC R19878 12743318 ocm 12743318 93165 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A50672) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 93165) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 696:29) A moral paradox maintaining, that it is much easier to be vertuous then vitious / by Sir George Mackeinzie. Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. 87, 30 p. Printed for Robert Broun ..., Edinburgh : 1667. Imperfect: 30 p. at end lacking in filmed copy. Reproduction of original in Union Theological Seminary Library, New York. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Virtue. 2004-03 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-03 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-04 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2004-04 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A MORAL PARADOX : Maintaining , That it is much easier to be VERTUOUS then VITIOUS . By Sir George Mackeinzie . JER . 9. 5. — They weary themselves to commit iniquity . EDINBURGH , Printed for Robert Broun , and are to be sold at his Shop , at the Sign of the Sun , on the North side of the Street , a little above the Cross , Anno Dom. 1667. TO Sir ROBERT MURRAY , One of the Honourable Members of the Royal SOCIETY . Sir , THough I cannot but with much thankfulness resent your favours ( wherein ye did both prevent , and out-do my wishes ) yet it were a disparagement to them , that I should look upon my self as your debtor for them , seing ye bestowed them so freely , that they appeared gifts , not obligations . And so in this Dedication , I design to pay , not them , but my respects . Neither intend I by it , to recommend you to Posterity , for in that I would disoblige Fame , which hath resolved , by speaking truth of you , to repair and atton its former guilt , in having so oft ly'd of others . But , Sir , I have chose you to be the Patron of this Book , because your practice is the strongest Argument , whereby I can evince what is undertaken in it , which is to prove , That there is more ease in Vertue then in Vice. And seing to undertake the proof of this , were the next crime to the doubting of it : And since your Worthiness , and my esteem of it , are much rais'd above the frail helps of Complement , or a wearying Dedication , let me assure you , and the World of both , by the innocent vanity I take in the title of Your sincere friend , and humble Servant , Geo. Mackenzie . It is easier to be Vertuous then Vitious . AS these Spyes deserved ill of the Israelitish Camp , who having inflamed their breasts with desires of conquering Canaan , by presenting them of it's Vines , whose each Cluster was a Vintage , and each Grape a Bottle ; did thereafter , by a cruel paricide , destroy these same inclinations which they had begot , by telling those their hopeful Brethren , that the Countrey was as unconquerable , as pleasant ; And that it's men were Giants , as well as it's fruits . So by the same measures we have reason to fear , that these Divines & Moralists , are unhappy guides to us poor Mortals , who after they have edged our inclinations for Vertue , as the most satisfying of all objects , do thereafter assure us , that it is attended with as much difficulty , as it is furnisht with pleasure : And that like some coy Lady , it possesses charms , not to satisfie , but to exact our longings . This infortunat error hath in all probability , sprung either from the vanity of these Bastard Philosophers , who having cheated the people into an esteem for themselves , as Vertuous , resolved by a second Artifice , to highten that esteem , by perswading these their admirers , that Vertue was a work of as much difficulty , as it met with praise . Or else from the zeal of some Preachers , who , to make us antedate our Repentance , resolved to perswade us , that Faith and these other Spiritual Vertues , could not but be hardly attainable ( as certainly they are ) when Moral Vertue , which is a lower Story of perfection , was of so difficult an ascent . Or ( which is yet most probable ) our laziness , and Vitious habits being called to an account for these misfortunes , which they occasion , have run themselves under the protection of this defence , that Vertue is most difficult and uneasie , and is destitute of both pleasure and advantage : By which conceit , many are diswaded in this age , from undertaking a resolution of being Vertuous , though otherwise they much honour it ; and wickedness is not only furnish'd by this , with an excuse to detain such as it hath already overtaken , but with charmes to intangle these who are yet stated in an indifferency for either . And though the heat of zeal in Preachers , should not be too much disproved in this age , where in the coldnesse of their hearers charity , needs those warmer influences , and though they may be allow'd to bend our crooked humours to the contrary side of what they incline to , of design to bring them to a desired straightness . Yet if we consider that infallible Theology delivered by our Saviour , we may find , that he invited his Disciples , by assuring them , that his yoke was easie , and his burden very light , and by upbraiding them , for wearying themselves with their sins , and for troubling themselves about many things . And since the former Artifice , hath either by being too familiarly preached , lost its operation , with such as love curiosity , or by being too severely prest , discouraged too much these who love too well their own flesh and blood , to welcome any Doctrine that stands so opposite to it : I wish these same Preachers would now endeavour to reclaim mankind , by assuring them , that Vertue is much easier , and much more advantagious then Vice. Imitating in this their great Master , who , after his Disciples had wearied themselves with catching no Fish all the night over , did , by perswading them to throw out their Nets upon the other side of their Boat , put them upon the way of catching more at one draught , then they had catcht in their former whole nights fishing . But leaving ( with much resignation ) my Ghostly Fathers to manage the course of our Devotion , as their knowledge and piety shall judge most fit ; I shall endeavour to clear from reason and experience , that Moral Vertue is of lesse fatigue , and suits better with our natural inclinations , then Vice , or Passion doth . And although I fail in an undertaking which is too noble an enterprize , to receive its accomplishments from so weak a hand , yet if I shall excite others , out of pity to me , or glory because of the subject , to defend what I could not , or to love that Vertue which I recommend , I shall rest satisfied with a return , which because it will be above my merit , I have already placed above my expectation ; and so I may meet with a foil , but cannot with a disappointment . All creaturs design ease , and for this , not only Bruits do toil , but inanimat things likewise show ; for it so much of inclination , that they will destroy all intermediat objects , that hinders them from joyning to their center , to which they have no other tendency , but because there they find that ease , which is desired by their nature : and because all things find ease in it , therefore all things flee thither , as to the loveliest of all stations . And that happiness consists in ease , is clear from this , that either we want that we need as the accomplishment of our nature , and then nature most move towards the acquisition of what it wants ; or else we want nothing , and then nature will enjoy it self without any further motion , nam natura nihil agit frustra ; and it were most frustraneous for nature , to seek what it wants not : From which we may conclude , when we see any creature restlesse , and in motion , that certainly it either wants something to which it moves , or is opprest by a surcharge of somewhat , from which it flies . This hath made Philososophers conclude , that all motion tends to some rest ; Lawiers , that all debates respect some decision ; Statesmen , that all War is made in order to Peace ; Physitians , that all fermentation and boiling of the blood or humours , betokens some dissatisfaction in the part affected ; ( And to show how much happinesse they place in ease , they term all sickness diseases ) which imports nothing more , then the absence of ease , that happiest of States , and root of all Perfections ; and that Divinity may sing a part in this requiem , Scripture tells us , that GOD hallowed the seventh day , because upon it he rested from his creation , and that Heaven is called an eternal Sabbath , because there we shall find ease from all our labours , there GOD is said , when well pleas'd , to have savour'd a sweet savour of rest , and he recommends his own Gospel as a burthen that is easie . That then wherewith I shall task my self in this discourse , shall be to prove , that Vertue is more easie then Vice. For clearing whereof , consider , that all men who design either honour , riches , or to live happily in the World , do either intend to be vertuous or at least pretend it ; these who resolve to destroy the liberties of the people , will stile themselves keepers of their liberties ; and such as laugh at all Religion , will have themselves beleeved to be reformers ; and of these two , the pretenders have the difficultest part , for they must not only be at all that pains , which is requisit in being vertuous , but they must superadde to these , all the troubles that dissimulation requires , which certainly is a new and greater task then the other ; and not only so , but these most over act Vertue , upon design to take off that jealousie , which because they are conscious to themselves to deserve , they therefore vex themselves to remove : Moses the first , and amongst the best of the reformers , was the meikest man upon the face of the earth ; But Iehu who was but a counterfit Zelot , drove furiously , and called up the By-standers to see , what else he knew they had reason not to beleeve ; and the justest of all Israels Chair-men , took not so much pains to execut justice , as Absolon , who is said to have staid as long in the gates of Ierusalem , as the Sun stay'd above them , informing himself of all persons and affairs , though with as little design to redresse their wrongs , as he shewd much inclination to know them ; and all this , that the people might be gained to be the instruments of his unnatural Rebellion ; and such is the laboriousnesse of these seeming coppiers of Vertue , that in our ordinar conversation , we are still jealous of such as are too studious to appear vertuous , though we have no other reason to doubt their sincerity , but what arrises from their too great pains , from which we may conclude , that these who intend to be vertuous , have a much easier task then these pretenders have , because they have not their own conscience , nor the jealousness of others to wrestle against ; and which is yet worse , these want that habit of Vertue , which renders all the pains of such as are really vertuous easie to them , and what is more difficult , then for these to act against customs , which time renders a second nature ; and which , as shall be said hereafter , is so prevalent , as to facilitat to vertuous persons the hardest part of what Vertue commands : Besides this , these dissemblers have a difficult part to act , seing they act against their own inclinations , which is to offer violence to nature , and the working not only without the help of that strongest of all seconds , but the toiling against it , and all the assistance it can give : which how great a torment it proves , appears from this , that such as have as much generosity , as may intitle them to the name of Man , will rather wearie out the rage of torture , then injure their own inclinations . I imagine that Haman was much distrest , by being put to lead Mordecai's horse in complyance with his Masters commands ; and one who is obliged by that interest , which makes him dissemble to counterfit a kindness for one whom he hates , or emit an applause of what he undervalues , is certainly by that necessity more cruciat by a thousand stages , then such as intend upon a vertuous account to love the person , and really to praise that in him , which they are forc'd to commend ; which is so far from being a torment , when it is truly vertuous , that that real love makes him who has it , hungry of an occasion to shew it , and to pursue all means for hightning that applause , which torments the other consider what difficulty we find in going one way , whil'st we look another , and with what hazard of stumbling that attempt is attended , and ye will find both much difficulty and hazard to wait on dissimulation , wherein we are tyed to a double task , for we must do what we intend , because of our inclinations , and what we pretend , because of our professions ; and if we fail in either , which is more probable , then where simplicity only is profest , ( two tasks being difficulter then one , ) then the world laughs at us , for failing in what we propos'd : And we fret at our selves , for failing in what was privatly design'd ; and not only does dissimulation tye us to a double , but it obliges us to two contrary tasks , for we needed not dissemble , if what we intend , be not contrary to what we pretend ; and thus men in dissimulation do but ( like Penelope , ) undoe in the night , what they were forc'd to do in the day time . Dissimulation makes Vice likewise the more difficult , in that dissemblers are never able to recover the losse they sustain by one escape , for if they be catcht in their dissimulation , or dogg'd out to be impostors ( which they cannot misse , but by a more watchful attendance , then any that Vertue requires ) then they of all persons are most hated , not only by these whom they intended to cheat , but by all others , though inconcerned in the crime , and both the one and the other do yet hate it , as what striks at the root of all humane society : and for this cause , murther under trust , is accounted so impious and sacrilegious a breach of friendship , that Lawiers have hightned its punishment , from that of ordinar murther , to that of treason ; and the grossest of Politicians have confest this dissimulation to be so horrid a crime , that it was not to be committed for a lesse hire then that of a Kingdom : Whereas vertuous persons have their escapes , oftner pitied then punished , both because these escapes are imputed to no abiding habit , and because it is not to be feared that they will offend for the future , seing what they last failed in , was not the effect of any innate and permanent quality , but was a transient and designless frailty . Dissimulation is from this likewise more painful then the Vertue which it emulats , that the Dissembler is oblidged not only so to dissemble , as that these whom he intends to cheat , may believe him serious ; but so likewise , as that others may understand that he is not serious : Thus I have my self seen a Gentleman , who dissembled a love and fondness for one whom he was oblidged to perswade that she was his Mistriss , act so ccovertly that perfidious part , that his real Mistriss , was really jealous that he dissembled with her , and not with the other : And to remove this , put the Gallant to as much new pains as his former cheat had cost him . And I have heard of the like accidents , though in different actions ; As of a Rebel , who counterfeited Loyalty so , that his Complices did really distrust his fixedness to these damn'd Principles which he still retained . And in ordinary conversation ye will often find , that in dissembling with the one party , ye lose still the other ; and it is impossible to regain them who are so lost , but by a shamefull discovery of the former cheat : and after all that losse , this doubt is still left , How can I know but this man dissembles with me , who is so exquisite in that Art , as even to have made me jealous , that his dissimulation was not counterfeit ? Let us a little consider how few instruments Vertue requires , and we will find it easie to be Vertuous : It requires no Arms , Exchequer , Guards , nor Garrison ; It is all these to it self , in every sense wherein it needs them : whereas Vice is a burden to its votaries , as well in the abundance of those attendants which it requires , as in the difficulty of those attainments which it proposes . And this is that happy Topick , from which our wise Saviour reproved Martha , when he told her , that she wearied her self about many things , whereas there was one thing necessary . By which , seing he commended Devotion , I may well press from it the excellency of Moral Vertue . The ambitious man is obliged to have his House planted with a Wood of Partizans , as well to secure that condition which so many envy and rival , as to magnifie himself by so unequall'd attendance . This desire to command , made Hannibal force a passage through the Rocky Alps ; Cesar to commit himself to the mercy of a stormy Sea , and so many weary Journeys . This obliged Xerxes to entertain vast Navies . And Darius such Armies , as reduced all mankind into one Incorporation . And so much doth Ambition tie its dependers , to depend upon such numbers , that though that Armies of Laquays which attend them , signifies no more then so many following Ciphers ; yet the substracting of any one of these , doth by so much lessen the value of what they follow . Doth not Pride require Flatterers ? and these Flatterers Salaries , and the provision of these Salaries , much pains and anxietie ? Doth it not require precedency , a suitable estate and applause ? And are not these inattainable , without more toil and fatigue , then any thing that Vertue enjoynes ? Covetousness requires Assiduous Drudgery , and Mines as bottomless as the desires which craves them : It craves every thing which others have , and every thing which it self can imagine . Luxury seeks only after what is unusual , and what is rare . It must in Apicius , crave food from the Indies , fetcht to Rome , in Heliogablus Fishes when far from the Sea , and more for one belly , then might enrich thousands of Nobler Creatures . Lust requires plurality of Women , abundance of strength , numbers of Pimps , and much Money . Whereas Vertue craves only what is fit , and perswades us to believe that only to be fit , which is absolutely necessary ▪ Cato's Table is compleatly furnished with one Dish , and his Body with one Vesture . Huic aepulae vicisse famem . And the Philosopher going by well and rich furnish'd Shops , could cry out with pleasure , Oh! How many things are there , of which I stand not in need ? Not only are these many Instruments troublesome , because they are superfluous , but likewise , because by their number they add to these natural necessities , under which even Vertuous men are weighted , as long as they are men . These who have so numerous Families , cannot remove when their necessity calls them , but they must expect till their retinue be ready , and when these are prepared , it is no easie clogg to draw so many after them ; or when any misfortune overtakes any of these many , they must suffer in these , as oft as each of these suffers in themselves ; and their miseries are augmented by every new Increment that is added to their fortunes . A great Treasure is not only an incitement to make its Master be assaulted , or betrayed , but is likewise uneasie to be transported : And Cresus many Baggs are overtaken , when Moneyless Solon escapes with safety . I shall then conclude , that Vertue is easier then Vice , because it requires fewer Instruments . cause it cannot find them at home . Covetousnesse must scorch in the Indies its suiters ; it must freez them in Nova Zembla ; it terrifies them at Sea , and Shipwracks them upon the Shore . Whilst Vertue recommends to us , to seek our happiness in no forraign pleasures : And Diogenes finds without danger in his Tubb , what these Sailers pursue in their dangerous Bottoms . But Vice might plead it self less guilty , if its designs were only difficult , but difficulty is not all , for Vice either requires what is impossible , or what by not being bounded , may very easily become so . Covetousness makes nothing enough , and proposes not only what may satisfie , but what may be acquired . Ambition likewise will have every man to be highest , which is impossible , because there cannot be many highests ; and the first attainer leaves nothing to his implacable rivals , but the impatience of being disappointed , which not only disquiets their present ease , but begets in them projects of attaquing him by whom they conceive themselves vanquisht . And these designs being formed , by persons whose judgements is much disordered by interest ( which like fir'd Powder , flees out , not alwayes where it should , but where it may ) and against persons already secured , by Power , Fame , Law , and other advantages , they ripen into no other issue , then a last ruine to these , who were so foolish , as not to satisfie their present humour with their present fortune . Philosophers have divided all Vices into these , which consist in excess , and these which imply a defect , the one shooting as far over the mark as the other comes short of it ; and if we compare Vertue with either of these , we will find it more easie then either , for as to these which over-reach Vertue , they must be as much more uneasie then it , as they exceed it ; for having all in them which that Vertue possesses which they exceed , they must require either in acquisition or maintenance , all the pains that the exceeded Vertue exacts . Thus prodigality requires all the spending , and pains that liberality needs , and running equally with it all it's length ; it begins to require more pains and travel where it out-shoots the other , and thus prodigality bestowes not only enough as liberality does , but it lavishes out more then is fit , taking for the standard of it's bounty , all that it hath to bestow , and not either what it self can spare , or what it's object needs : Jealousie pains it self more , then true love , with all those extravagancies , which are so unsufferable to the party loved , and so disquieting to the lover himself , that Physitians have accounted this a disease , and the Law hath made it a crime . As to these Vices , which by being placed in defect , seem to require as much lesse trouble then the Vice they fall short of , as the others require more , because of their excess ; yet so uneasie is Vice , that even these though they exceed not vertue in their measures , do yet exceed it in their toil : For nature designs accomplishment in all it's productions , and therefore frets , and is disquieted at these immature effects ; and is as much more wounded by these , then by vertuous productions , as the grafts are by being spoiled of their greener fruits , or as a women is by her too early birth . We see a miser more cruciat by his scanting penuriousnesse , then a noble person by his generous liberality , for these are oblieged to keep themselves out of these occasions of spending ( a task great enough ▪ because all men endeavour , both out of envy , and out of humour and sport , to draw them unto these snares ) and when they are within their own circle , they are forced by that restlesse Vice , to descend to thousand of tricks , which are as wearieing , as unhandsome . I have seen some so careful of their estates , that they brook'd better to have their names and souls burden'd then these , and to preserve which they were at more trouble then any can have the faith to beleeve , besides these who had the humour to do so : If to hold or draw with our full force be a trouble , both these are the posturs of covetousnesse , where-with it is kept upon constant guard , and in continual employment ; and if at any time they remit any thing of that anxiety , they repine at their own negligence , and imagine that they lost as much as they hoped once to have gain'd . Fear is the defect of courage , but yet it is more uneasie then courage , and really this alone has more uneasienesse , then all the fraterny of Vertues , for Vertue is at worst bussied about , what is ; but fear bogls at what is not , equally with what is . Vice likewise is therefore lesse easie then Vertue , because it proposes only an aime , which is fixt and stable , whil'st vice and fancy leavs us to an indetermination , that is uneasie as well as dangerous , when it hath prest us , to make Armies fall as sacrificed to the idol of our Ambition , and for humouring of that passion , to bring Cities as well as Men level with the ground : Then it will in the next thought perswade us , even to laugh at our Ambition , and to exchange it for love to a Mistriss or Companionrie as it once serv'd the otherwise Great Alexander . As Vertue makes good neighbours , so all the Vertues are ●o far such amongst themselves , that not only they interfeer not with one another , but the exercise likewise of the one , facilitats the practice of the others ; thus whilst we practice temperance , we learn to be just , because temperance is the just measure of enjoying , and using all contingents ; and we learn by it to be patient , patience being a temperance in grief , sorrow or affliction : Patience is likewise the exercise of fortitude , and fortitude is a just proportion of courage , and a temperat exercise of boldnesse . And this occasion'd the Philosophers to terme this noble alliance , the golden chain of Vertue , each being linkt with , and depending upon it's fellow . But if we turn the prospect , we will find that though dissention be a special Vice so character'd , yet all Vices , have somewhat of that ill natur'd humour in them ; and agree in nothing , besides that each of them disagree with each other , which makes the practice of them both tedious and disagreeable , for all of them consisting , the one in excess , the other in defect ; they cannot but disagree , excess and defect being in themselves most contrary : thus prodigality opposes avarice , cowardlieness courage , and fondnesse hatred ; and as vertuous persons have a kindness for one another , because the object of their love requires , as well as admitts rivals , so Vice endeavouring to engrosse what it pursues , makes rivals altogether unsupportable . Ambition pouses on each of it's dependers to be chiefe , and yet allows only one of these many to enjoy , what it makes all of them desire . Thus avaric's task is to impropriat the possession of what was created , and is necessary to be distribute amongst many thousands : And envy will not only have its Master to be full of applause , but will likewise starve the desires , and merits of others , judging that it self cannot be happy if others be . Vice then must be less easie then Vertue , because it hath moe enemies then Vertue ; and because the Vertues are more harmonious amongst themselves , then Vices are . Vices not only make enemies to themselves , but by a Civil War ( as a just judgement upon them ) they destroy one another , providence intending thereby , to hinder the growth of what , though it prosper not well , yet is already too noxious to mankind ; and upon the same principle of kindness to what bears his image , GOD Almighty , and His Providence , do design the unsuccesfulness of Vice , as being obstructive of his glory , as well as destructive to his creatures , being equally thereto engaged , by a love to his own honour and service , and by a hatred as well to these who commit Vice , as to the Vice which is committed . Thus GOD confounded those Tongues who had spoke so much blasphemy against him , whilst they were endeavouring to raise a Tower as high as their sins . And when David intended to spill Nabals blood , GOD is said to have stopt him from being an unjust Executioner , whom he intended to make a most just Judge . And since Balaams Asse opened its mouth to speak this truth , they must be more stupid then Asses , who will not believe it . The Law likewise by its punishments , contributes all its endeavours to crush Vice , and to arrest its success , forbidding by its Edicts , any person to assist it , and making not only assistance , but counsel ; not only counsel , but connivance ; not only connivance , but concealment of it , to be in most cases so criminal , that all the honours which Vice promiseth , or the treasures it gives , cannot be able to redeem those who are found to have slighted this prohibition . Must it not then be difficult to be vitious ? where Assistants and Counsellours are so over-aw'd , and the intenders so terrified , that few will ingage as instruments ? and these who do , are so disordered by fear , that vitious projecctors are as little to expect success , as vertuous persons are to wish it for them . And to evidence how much opposition the Law intends for Vice , it not only punishes Vice with what it presently inflicts , but it presumes it still guilty for the future , semel malus , semper praesumitur malus ; and upon that prsumption many vitious persons have suffered for that whereof they were otherwayes innocent . Though Rebellion hath promising charms , to allure the Idolaters of Ambition and Fame , yet the Law doth so far stand against it , that few will concur with the contrivers , except such fools as have not the wit to promote it , or some desperat persons , with whom few will joyn , because they are known to be discontent , & though revenge relishes blood with a pleasing smack ; yet the severity of excellent Laws cools much of that inhumane heat , and lessens the pleasure , by sharpening the punishment . Vice then must be uneasie , seing the Law opposes it , and renders its Commission dangerous , as well as odious . Men likewise joyn with GOD and the Law in a Confederacy against Vice , and though they too oft approve it in the warmnesse and disorder of their passions ; yet in their professions and conventions they laugh at it , and inveigh against it ; and though the pressure of a present temptation , overcomes them so far as to commit what they dissallow , yet they do it but infrequently and with so many cheks from within , as that it's commission cannot be thought easie : Consider , how amongst men , we hate even these Vices in others , which we are guilty of our selves , and how we even hate these Vices in others , by which we our selves reap no small advantage . Alexander gloried to destroy that base person , who had murthered his greatest enemy Darius ; and David is commended , for having caused kill him , who but said , that he had killed Saul ; who will employ one who is perfidious ? and so uneasie is Vice , that much pains and discourse will not perswade us to beleeve one who uses to lye , whil'st we will soon beleeve what is really a lye from one who uses not to abuse our trust ; few Judges are so pointedly just , as not to think that they may favour a Vertuous person ; good men do likewise reward such as own an interest so allowable , and wicked men own such as are vertuous out of design , thereby to expiat their former Vice , and to perswade the world , that they are not really vitious , though they be esteemed so : so that seing reward as well as inclination , and just men as well as injust advance Vertue , and oppose Vice , Vice cannot be but be more uneasie then Vertue , which is all is to be proven . I am from reflecting upon the progress and growth of Vice , convinc'd very much of it's uneasieness ; If we look upon Rebellion , Revenge or Adulteries , we will find them hatcht in Corners as remot from commerce as those Vices are themselves from Vertue , and as black as the guilt of their contrivers , and almost as terrifying as the worst of prisons are to such who are but in any measure vertuous ; none of the contrivers dares trust his Colleague , and which is yet worse , none of them hath courage enough to reflect upon what he is to do ; he most be too ill to be successfull who is so desperatly wicked , as not to tremble at the wickednesse he projects , and these blushings which adorn the face , when they are the motions of modesty , become stains and blemishes , when they are sent there by fear , or a troubl'd conscience ; and it is very pretty to observe with how much art and pains , such as are guilty of Vice , endeavour to shun all discourses , that can renew to them the least reflection upon their former failings , and how they most often times disobliege their own envy and malice , in not daring to vent or reproach others with that guilt , which might be easily retorted ; and thus vitious men have as many masters , as their vices have witnesses : and though they are bold enough to commit vice , yet they often times want the courage to own it ; and servants , if conscious to these crimes , become thereby necessar to their masters , nor do wicked and vitious persons fear only such as do , but ( which is more extensive ) such as may know their Vices , and tremble at 't is memory , as if the Sun or Moon would divulge their secrets , and by accident they have oft confest crimes upon mistakes , and have made apologies for that whereof they were not accus'd , which hath made the Confessors to be laught at for their error , as well as hated for their crimes . Another Argument to inforce that Vertue is more easie then Vice , is , that seing nature is the spring of all operations , certainly that must be most easie , which is most natural ; and when we would expresse any thing to be easie to a person or nation , we say , it is natural to them , and miracles are uneasie and difficult , because they run the counter-tract of nature , being either above , against or beside it's assistance : But so it is that Vertue is a more natural operation then Vice , both because it lesse infests nature then Vice does , and because nature discovers more of a bent to act vertuously then vitiously , which are the only two senses in which any thing is said to be natural . That vertue of these two prejudges nature least , is clear from this , that sobriety cherisheth it , when it is run down by intemperance , murder kills it , gluttony choaks it , and jealousie keeps it not alive but to torment it ; and generally when ever Nature is distrest , it flyes to Vertue , either for Protection , as to Courage , Justice and Clemency , or for recovery , as to Temperance , Industry and Chastity : Few gray hairs owe their whitenesse , except to that innocence whose Livery it is , Rapine , oppression , and these other Vices , hightening their insolence against man , to that point , that he must serve them in being his own Burrior , to be commended for nothing else , save that they rid the World of such who came only to it , to deface that glorious Fabrick , whereof the Almighty resented so the pleasure of having created it , that he appointed a day of each seven to celebrat its Festivals . Are not some sins said to be sins against our own bodies ? Not because all are not so in some measure , but because some are so in so eminent a measure , that the Apostle , who knew much of all mens inclinations , thought that there being so much such , was enough to restrain such persons from committing them , as were yet so wicked , as not to obey a Saviour who died for them . And why is it that Laws are so severe against Vice ? but because it destroys and corrupts the Members of the Common-wealth ? I have oft , notwithstanding of the Precepts of Stoicisme , which forbids me to be so effeminat , as to pity any thing , and notwithstanding of the principles of Justice , which forbids me to pity persons who are flagitious , yet been driven to that excess of compassion for the state of vitious persons , that I have no more remembred even the wrongs that they have done me , to see the Pox wear out a face which had been so oft Fairded , and the Gout felter feet , that as the Psalmist says , were swift to do ill , are but too ordinary encounters to excite compassion : But to see the Wheel fatned with the marrow of tortured miscreants , and the Rack pull to pieces these Receptacles of Vice , are great instances how great an enemy Vice is to Nature ; under whose ill conduct , and for whose errors it suffers torments , which are much sooner felt then exprest . Since then Nature is so oppos'd by Vice , it cannot be it self so unwise in the meanest of these many degrees which we ascribe to many creatures whom it makes wise , if it disposed not mankind to entertain an aversion for Vice , which is so much its enemy . Shall the Sheep , the silliest of all Animals , or the earth , the dullest of all the elements , flee from its oppressors ? And shall Nature , which should be wiser then these , because it bestowes these inclinations upon them , which makes them pass for wise , be so imprudent , as not to mould men so , as to incline them to hate Vice , which so much hurts it ? Is there any Vice committed , to which we may not find another impulsive cause then Nature ? And are not most Vices either committed by custome , by being mistaken for good , by interest , or inadvertence , as shall be shewed in the close of this Discourse ? And seing Nature designs to do nothing in vain , it is not imaginable that it should prompt us to Vice , wherein nothing but vanity can be expected , or from which nothing else can be reapt . These who are so injurious to Nature ( because it appears Nature hath been less liberal to them , of understanding , then to others ) as to fasten this reproach upon it , of inclining men to Vice , do contradict themselves , when they say that Nature is satisfied with little , and desires nothing that is superfluous ; whereas all these Vices which consist in excess , do stretch themselves to superfluity ; whilst upon the other side , these Vices which consist in defect , are yet as unnatural , because in these the committers deny themselves what is necessary for them , and so are most unnatural : Nature desiring to see every thing accomplish'd in its just proportions , and satisfied in its just desires . All Vices have their own peculiar diseases , to which they inevitably lead ; Envy brings men to a leanness , as if it were fed with its Masters flesh , as well as with its enemies failings ; Lust the Pox and Consumptions ; Drunkenness Catarhes and Gouts , and Rage , Feavers and Phrensies ; which is a demonstration of their uneasiness , and incommodiousness : And I might almost say , that those Vices are like Frogs , Lice , and other despicable and terrible insects , generated and kneaded out of excrementious humors ; Lust is occasioned by the superfluity and heat of the Blood ; Drunkenness by a dryness of the Vessels ; and Rage by the corruption and exuberancy of Choler . Consider how much the grimaces of anger disfigures the sweetest face , how much rage discomposes our discourse , and by these and its other postures , ye will find Vice an enemy to Nature : So that in all these , Nature labours under some distemper , and is distrest in its operations , and acts them not out of choice , but as sick men rise to hunt for what their Physitians deny them . And from all this it follows , that vice is neither natural in its productions , nor in its tendencies , not being designed by Nature in the one , nor designing to preserve Nature in the other . I confesse there is a rank of Vertues , which are supernatural , such as Faith , Hope and Repentance , but either there could be no contradistinction of these from such as I treat of , else these of which I hear speak , must be natural ; To deny our selves , if we will follow Christ ; and that flesh and blood did not teach Peter , to emit that noble confession of Christs being the Son of the Eternal GOD , proves that some spiritual truths , are above the reach of reason , yet with relation to those other moral Vertues , that same inspired Volumne assures us , that the Gentiles , who have no Law , do by nature the things contained in the Law , these not having the Law , are a Law unto themselves , which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts , the Conscience also bearing witnesse , and their Thoughts in the mean time accusing , or else excusing one another ; and elsewhere the wicked are said to be without natural affection , are not all sins even in the dialect of Philosophers and Law-givers , as well as in the Language of Canaan termed unnatural ? What is Paricide , Ingratitude , Oppression , Lying &c. but the subversion of these Lawes , whereof our own hearts are the Tables ? Doth not Nature , by giving us Tongues to express our thoughts , teach us , that to disguise our thoughts , or to contradict them , is to be unnatural : And seing the not acknowledgement of favours , obstructs the future relief of our necessities , it must be as unnatural to be ungrate , as it is natural to provide supplies for our craving wants . I will not fully exhaust the miseries that wait upon Vice , by telling you , that no man who is really vitious , sinneth without reluctancy in the commission ; But I must likewise tell you , that though all the preceeding disadvantages were salv'd , yet the natural horrour which results from the commission of Vice , is great enough to render it a miracle , that any man should be vitious , our Conscience can condemn us without Witnesses , though we bribe off all Witnesses from without , or though by Sophistry and Art , we render their Depositions insuccessful : And though Remissions can secure us against all external punishments , yet the Arm of that Executioner cannot be stopt ; and if ye consider how men become thereby inconsolable , by the attendance of friends , and the advantage of all exterior pleasures , ye cannot but conclude that Vice is to be pitied , as well as shun'd , and that this alone makes it more uneasie then Vertue , whereby the greatest of misfortunes are sweetned , and outward torments , by having their Prospect turned upon future praise and rewards , rendered pleasures to such as suffer them ; and are lookt upon as ornaments , by such as see them inflicted , and draw praises from succeeding ages . — Hic murus ahaeneus esto . Nil conscire sibi , nulla palesscere culpa . was the determination of a Pagan , who could derive no happinesse from these Divine Promises upon which we are obliged to rely for rewards ; which though they be too great to be understood by the Sons of Men , yet are not so great , but that they may be expected by us , when we shall be adopted to be the Sons of that GOD , whose power to bestow , can be equal'd by nothing , but by his desire to gratifie . After successe hath crown'd vitious designs , yet Vice meets with this uneasinesse of remorse , wherein the souls of men are made to forget the pleasure of successe , and are punished for having been successful : And these will either not remember their successe , in which case they want all pleasure , or if they think upon them , that thought will lead them back to consider the guilt and basenesse to which they owe it , which will vex and fret them . Vertue afflicts at most but the body , and in these pains , Philosophie consols us , but Vice afflicts our Souls ; and the Soul being more sensible then the body ( seing the body owes its sensiblenesse to it . ) Certainly the torments of Vice must be greatest , and this seems the reason why our Saviour , in describing the torments of Hell , placeth the worm which never dies , before the fire that never goeth out ; And that the rebukes of a natural Conscience , are of all torments the most insupportable , appears from this , that albeit death be the most formidable of all torments ( men suffering Tortures , Physick , Contumelies , Poverty , and the sharpest of afflictions , to shun its encounter ) yet men in exchange of these , will not only welcome Death , but will assume it to themselves , adding the guilt and infamy of self-murder , the confiscation of an Estate , and the infamous want of Burial , to the horrours of an ordinary death ; and al this to shift the present gnawings of a Conscience . The horrours likewise of a guilty Conscience doth in this appear most disquieting , that those who have their Conscience so burden'd , do acknowledge , that after confession , they find themselves as much eased , as a sick Stomack is relieved by vomiting up these humours , whose disquietnesse maks such as suffered them , rather sick persons , then Patients : Whereas what ever be the present troubles which ariseth from vertue , yet if they continue not , they are tolerable ; and if they continue , custome , and the assistance of Philosophy will lessen their weight , and at best , the pain is to be but temporary , because the cause from which they descend is but momentany : If they be not sharp and violent , they are sufferable ; and if they be violent , they cannot last , or at least the Patient cannot last long to endure them . Whereas these reflections that disquiet us in Vice , arising from the soul it self , cannot perish whilst that hath any being . And so the vitious soul must measure its grief by the length of Eternity , though Vice did let out its joys but by the length of a moment , and did not fill even the narrow dimensions of that moment , with sincere joy ; the knowledge that these were to be short lyv'd , and the fear of succeeding torment , possessing much of that little room . The first objection whose difficulty deserves an answer , is that Vertue obliges us to oppose pleasurs , and to accustome our selves with such rigors , seriousnesse and patience , as cannot but render it's practice uneasie ; and if the Readers own ingenuity supply not what may be rejoyn'd to this , it will require a discourse , that shall have no other design besides its satisfaction , and really to shew by what means every man may make himself easily happy , and how to soften the appearing rigours of Philosophy , is a design which if I thought it not worthy of a sweeter pen , should be assisted by mine , and for which I have in my current experience gather'd together some loose reflections and observations , of whose cogency I have this assurance ; that they have often moderated the weildest of my own straying inclinations , and so might pretend to a more prevailing ascendent over such ▪ whose reason and temperament makes them much more reclaimable : But at present my answer is , that Philosophy enjoyns not the crossing of our own inclinations , but in order to their accomplishment ; and it proposes pleasure as it's end , as well as Vice , though for it's more fixt establishment , it sometimes commands what seems rude to such as are strangers to it's intentions in them . Thus temperance resolvs to highten the pleasurs of enjoyment , by defending us against all the insults of excesse and oppressive loathing ; and when it lessens our pleasurs , it intends not to abridge them , but to make them fit and convenient for us , even as Souldiers , who though they propose not wounds and starvings , yet if without these they cannot reach those Lawrels , to which they climb , they will not so far disparage their own hopes , as to think they should fix them upon any thing whose acquist deserve not the suffering of these . Physick cannot be called a cruel employment , because to preserve what is sound , it will cut off what is tainted ; and these vitious persons , whose laziness forms this doubt , do answer it when they endure the sicknesse of Drunkennesse , the toiling of Avarice , the attendance of rising Vanity , and the watchings of Anxiety ; and all this to satisfie inclinations , whose shortness allowes little pleasure , and whose prospect excluds all future hopes . Such as disquiet themselves by Anxiety ( which is a frequently repeated self murther ) are more tortour'd , then they could be by the want of what they pant after ; that long'd for possession of a Neighbours estate , or of a publick employment , maks deeper impressions of grief by their absence , then their enjoyment can repair ; and a Philosopher will sooner convince himself of their not being the necessar integrants of our happinesse , then the miser will by all his assiduousnesse gain them . There are but three instances of time , and in each of these , vitious persons are much troubled ; the prospect of usual insuccessefulness , difficulties or inconveniences do torment before the commission ; horrour , trembling and reluctancy do terrifie in the act , and conscience succeeds to these after commission , as the last , but not the least of these unruly torments . And as to the pleasurs of Vice , it can have none in any of these parcels of time , beside the present , which present , is by many Philosophers scarce allowed the name of time ; and is at best so swift , that it's pleasurs most be too transient to be possest . I confess that revenge is the most inticeing of all Vices , and so much so , that a wicked Italian said , that GOD Almighty had reserv'd it to himself , because it was too noble and satisfying a Prerogative to be bestowed upon mortals ; yet it discharges at once it's pleasure with it's fury , and like a bee languishes after it hath spent it's sting , and when it is once acted , which is oft in one moment , it ceaseth from that moment to be a pleasure and such as were tickled once with it , are afraid of it's remembrance , and think worse of it , then they did formerly of the affront , to expiat which , it was undertaken ; Thirty Pieces of Silver might have had some letchery in them at Iudas first touch , but they behooved to have a very unresembling effect , when he took no longer pleasure in them , then to have come the next week to offer them back : and because they were refused , to rid himself of his life and them together . The pains of Vice may be conluded greater then these of Vertue , from this , that vertuous persons are in their sufferings assisted by all the world , vitious persons doing so to expiat their own crimes , and vertuous persons doing the same , to reward the Vertue they adore : and if these endeavours prove insuccessful , every man by bearing a share in their grief , do all they can to lessen it ; but vitious persons have their sufferings augmented by the disdain , and just opprobries thrown upon them by such as were witnesses to their Vices ; and such as had any inclination for them , dare not appear to be their well-wishers , least they be repute Complices of their crimes . I need not fear so much weaknesse in this my Theam , as to bring up a thousand of these instances to its aid , that ly every where obvious to the least curious observation . What is more laborious then Pride ? wherein by robbing from others what is due to them , the acquirers are still obliged to defend their new Conquests with more vigilance , then Vertue needs ? The proud man must be greater then all others , and so must toil more then they all , his task being greater then all theirs joyntly . And the jealous man must never be satisfied , till he know not only what is truth , but what he fears to be so , being most unhappy in this , that if he get assurance of what he suspects , then he is made really miserable ; or if he attain not to that assurance , he must still toil for it , and must make himself miserable by his pains , till he become really so , by being inform'd of what at one instant he wishes to be false , and endeavours to make true . Revenge is most painful , both in perswading us that these are affronts , which of their own nature are no affronts , and then in bringing on us much more hazard then their satisfaction can repay : For one word spoke to us , which ( it may be ) the speaker intended as no injury , how many have by murdering the speaker , or some such rash attempt , deprived themselves of the priviledge of seeing their friends without horrour , or of coming abroad without imminent danger , skulking in dens like theeves , imprisoned for fear of prison , and dying daily to shun the death they fear . Whereas Socrates , by laughing at him who spat in his face , had then the pleasure to see himself at present satisfied , and did foresee the hopes of future praises . Guiltinesse must search out corners , it must at all rates secure favorits , it must shun to meet with such as are conscious to its guilt , and when ever two men speak privatly in presence of such as are vitious , they perswade themselves that somewhat is there spoke to their disadvantage ; and like one who labours of a sore , they must still be carefull that their wound be not toucht . To conclude then this Period , consider , that every thing that is uneasie must be unpleasant , and that Vice is more uneasie then Vertue , appears from the whole foregoing Discourse . I hope the preceeding Discourse hath cleared off all these doubts that can oppose this ( though new ) yet well founded truth , leaving only this objection here to be answered . If Vice be lesse easie , and lesse natural then Vertue ; why do the greater part of mankind range themselves to its side ? leaving Vertue as few followers , as it professes to desire admirers ? In answer whereto , I confesse that this objection proves men to be mad , but not Vice to be easie ; even as when we see men throw away their cloaths , run the fields over , and expose themselves to storms , leaving their convenient homes , and kind family : we conclude such as do so to be mad , but are not induced to believe that what they do is easie . And certainly Vice is a madness , as may appear convincingly from this , that when we see others run to these excesses ( which we thought Gallantry in our selves , when we were acting the like ) we ask them seriously , What , are ye mad ? And Hazael , when the cruelty he was to ( and did ) commit , was foretold him by the Prophet , did with admiration ask , What ? am I a Dog , that I should do these things ! And the Prodigal , when he freed himself from these vitious roavings , is said to have come to himself ; by which word Madnesse is usually exprest : Men are said to be mad , when they offer violence to their Body ; and it is a more advanc'd degree of madnesse , to offer violence to our Souls , which we then do ( besides the ruining of our Bodies ) when we are Vitious . And to such as prefer their Bodies to their Souls , I recommend the Survey of such Bodies , as have wasted themselves in Stews and Taverns , or have left Limbs upon the Field where they last quarrelled after Cups , for Vanity , or Mistrisses . The second answer is , that men mistake ofttimes Vice for Vertue , and are inticed to it by an error in their Judgements , rather then any depravedness in their Affections . Thus Drunkenness recommends it self to us , under the notion of kindness ; and Prodigality , under that of Liberality : Complacency likewise is the great Pimp of much Vitiousness to well disposed persons , and many are by it inticed to erre , to gratifie a mistake in their friendship , for they are perswaded that friendship and kindness are so innocent and sweet qualities , that it cannot command what is not as just as it self . Custome also , as it is a second nature , so it is a Step-mother to Vertue , and whil'st we endeavour to shune the Vice of being vain , and singular , we slip into these Vices which are too familiar to be formidable , and which we would not have committed if the mode and fashion had not determin'd us thereto against our first and pure inclinations ; thus the Germans beleeve Drinking to be kindnesse , and the Italian is by the custome of his Countrey induc'd not to tremble at , but to love Sodomie . We have interest likewise to blame , for much of that wickednesse , which we falsly charge upon nature : For this brib's us to oppose what naturally we would follow , but above all want of consideration , is the frequent occasion of many of these disorders , so that Vertue is not postpon'd by choice , but by negligence ; neither would it be more difficult for us to be vertuous in many of our actions , then it would be for us to consider what we are about to do . And I may seal up this Period with the blunt complaint made by a poor woman , who after her affection and interest had forced from her many passionat regrates against her sons debordings , concluded thus , alace ! my son will never recover , for he cannot think : therefore I must conclude , that seing it is easie to think , it must be likewise easie to be vertuous . It is indeed hard for one who is drunk to stand upright , or for one who hath his eyes cover'd with mire to see clearly ; and yet , standing upright , or seeing clearly , are not in themselves difficult tasks : Just so Vertue is easie in it self , though our pre-ingagement to the contrary habit , rather then to the Vice it self , renders it's operations somewhat uneasie ; whereas , if we had once imbued our Souls with a habit of Vertue , it 's exercise would be far easier to us , then that of it 's contrary ; for it would be assisted by reason , nature , reward and applause , all which oppose the other . He who becomes temperate , finds his temperance much lesse troublesome , then the most habitual drunkard can his excess ; who can never render it so familiar , but that he will be constrain'd to make faces when he quaffs off a tedious health , and will at some times find either his quarrels , the betraying his friends secret , or his crudities to importune him . No lyar hath so much accustomed himself to that trade , but he will discover himself sometimes in his blushes , and will be oft distress'd , to shape out covers for his falseness ; whereas he who is free from the bondage of that habit , will alwayes find it so easie , that he will never hear a lie , without admiring with what confidence it could have been forg'd . Whereas to know the easinesse of Vertue , we need only this reflection , that every vitious person thinks it easie to conquer the Vice he sees in another : He who whoors admires the uneasiness and unpleasantness of drinking ; and the Drunkard laughs at the fruitless toil of ambition , which shews that Vice is an easie conquest , seing the meanest persons can subdue it . Though truth and newness do of all other motivs court us soonest to complacency , and that my present Theme can without vanity pretend to both ; yet so studious am I of success , where I have a tenderness for the Subject for which I contend , that for further conviction of it's enemies , I must recommend to them to go to the Courts of Monarchs , and there learn the uneasiness and unpleasantness of Vice , from it's splitting those in Oppositions and Factions , which affoord the reasonable on-lookers as disagreeable a prospect , as that of a ship-wrackt Vessel . And when Faction has once dismembred a Society , is it not strange to see what pains and anxiety must be shewed by both opposites , to discover and ruine each others projects ? Other men toil only to make themselves happy , but those must labour likewise to keep their opposites from being so ; they must seek applause for themselves , and must stop it from their enemies ; they must shun all places where these are entertained , and all occasions which may bring them to meet though inclination or curiosity do extreamly bend them to go thither : they must oppose the friends of their enemies , though they be desirous and oblieg'd upon many other scores to do them good Offices : they grow pale at their appearances , and are disordered at what praise is given those , though bestowed upon them for promoving that publick good wherein the contemners share for much of their own safety : and it is most ordinar to hear such factious Zealots swear , that they would choise rather to be destroyed by a publick Enemy , then preserv'd by a Rival . From all which it is but too clear , that all vitious persons are slaves ; which as it is the uneasiest of states , so to shun a loss of liberty , most men refuse to be vertuous . If we go to Physitians we will find their shambles hung round with the Trophies of Vice : For Temperance , Chastity or the other Vertues send few thither , but wantonness repayes there it's one moments pleasure with a years cure , and makes them afraid to see that disfigured face , for whose representation they once doted upon their flattering mirrours . There lye such prisoners as the drunken Gout hath fetter'd , and there lye louring such as Gluttony hath opprest . Let us go to Prisons and Scaffolds , and there we will see such furnisht out with the envoyes of injustice , malice , revenge and murders . Let us go to Divines , and they will tell us of the horrid exclamations of such , as have upon death-bed seen mustered before them , those sins , which how soon they had their vizards of sensuality and lust pulled off , did appear in figures monstruous enough to terrifie a Soul which took leisure to consider them . Juvenal Hi sunt qui trepidant , & ad omnia fulgura pallent . And though the consciences of Souldiers have oft-times their ears so deafned with warlike sounds or welcome applauses , that they cannot hear ; and their eyes so cover'd with their enemies gore , that they cannot see these terrifying shapes of inward revenge : yet , if we believe Lucan , neither could the wrongs done to Caesar so far legimate his fury , nor the present joy or future danger so far divert him from reflecting upon his by-past actions : Nor could the want of Christianity ( which enlivens extreamly these terrors beyond the Creed of a Roman , who believ'd , that gallantry was devotion ) so far favour his cruelty , but that he and his soldiers were the night of Pharsalia's battle thus disturb'd ; Lucan , Book 7. But furious dreams disturb their restless rest ; Pharsalia's fight remains in every brest ; Their horrid guilt still wakes : the battel stands In all their thoughts ; they brandish empty hands , Without their swords : you would have thought the field Had groan'd , and that the guilty earth did yield Exhaled spirits , that in the air did move , And Stygian fears possest the night above . A sad revenge on them their conquest takes , Their sleeps present the furies hissing snakes , And brands ; their country-mens sad ghosts appear : To each the image of his proper fear ▪ One sees an old mans visage , one a young , Anothers t●rtur'd all the evening long . With his slain brothers spirit ; their fathers sight Daunts some : but Caesar's soul all ghosts affright . But that I may rest your thoughts from the noise and horrour of these objects , let me lead them into a Philosophers Cell or House ( for Vertue is not like Vice , confin'd to places ) and there ye will see measurs taken by no lesse noble or lesse erring Pattern , then Nature . His Furniture is not the off-spring of the last fashion , and so he must not be at the toil , to keep Spies for informing him , when the succeeding mode must cause these be pull'd down , and needs not be troubled , to fill the room yearly of that contemn'd stuffe he but lately admir'd . He is not troubl'd that anothers Candlesticks are of a later mould , nor vext , that he cannot muster so many Cabinets or Knacks as he does . He spends no such idle time as is requisite for making great entertainments , wherein Nature is opprest to please fancy , and must be by the next days Physick tortur'd to cure its errors : His Soul lodges cleanly , neither clouded with the vapours , nor cloy'd with the crudities of his Table ; he applyes every thing to it's natural use , and so uses meat and drink not to expresse kindnesse ( friendship doing that office much better ) but to refresh , and not to occasion his weaknesse . His dreams are neither disturb'd by the horrid representation of his last days crims , nor by the too deep impressions of the next days designs , but is calm as the Breast it refreshes , and pleasant as the rest it brings ; his eyes suffer no such eclipse in these , as the eyes of vitious men do , when they are darkened with Drunkennesse or excessive sorrow , for all his darknesses succeed as seasonably to his recreations , as the day is followed in by the night In his Cloaths , he uses not such as requires two or three hours to their laborious dressing ▪ or which over-awe the wearer so , that he must shun to go abroad to all places , or at all occasions , least he offend their lustre ; but he provides himself with such as are most easie for use , and fears not to stain these , if he keep his Soul unspotted : He considers his Body and Organs , as the casement and servants of that reasonable Soul he so much loves ; and therefore he eases them , not upon design to please them , but to refresh them , that the soul may be thereby better serv'd ; and if at any time , he deny these their satisfaction , he designs not thereby to tortoure them , for Gratitude obliges him to repay better their services ( and a man should not be cruel even to his beast ) but he does so , lest they exceed these measours , whose extent Vertue knowes better to mark out then they ; or else he finds that during the time he ministers to these appetites , he may be more advantagiously employ'd , in enjoying the pure and spiritual pleasurs of Philosophy . But leaving this utter Court , let us step into a Philosophers breast ( a Region as serene as the Heaven whence it came ) and there view , how sweet Vertue inspires gentle thoughts , whose storms raise not wrinckles like billowes in our face , and blow not away our disobliged friends . Here no mutinous passion rebells with successe , and these petty insurrections of flesh and blood , serve only to magnifie the strength of reason in their defeat . Here , all his desires are so satisfied with Vertue as their reward , that they need , nor do not run abroad , begging pleasurs from every unkown object : And therefore it is that not placing his happinesse upon what is subject to the Empire of fate , capricious Fortune cannot make him miserable , for it can resume nothing ▪ but what it hath given , and therefore , seing it hath not bestowed Vertue and Tranquillity , it cannot call it away ; and whilst that remains all other losses are inconsiderable , and as no man is griev'd to see what is not his own destroy'd , so the Vertuous Philosopher , having alwayes considered , what is without him as belonging to Fortune , and not to him , he sees those burnt or robb'd with a dis-interested indifference : and when all others are allarum'd with the fears of ensuing Wars and Invasions , he stands as fixt ( though not as hard ) as a Rock , and suffers all the foaming waves of fate and malice to spend their spit and froth at his feet : Vertue and the Remembrance of what he hath done , and the hopes that he will still act vertuously , are all his treasures , and these are not capable of being pillag'd ; these are his inseparable companions , and therefore he can never want a divertising conversation : And seing he is a Citizen of the world , all places are his Country , and he is alwayes at home , and so can never be banished ; and seing he can still exercise his reason equally in all places , he is never ( like vitious persons ) vext that he must stay in one place , and cannot reach another ; like a sick man , whose disease makes him alwayes tumble through all the corners of his bed . He is never surprized , because he forecasts alwayes the worst ; and as this armes him against discontents , So if a milder event disappoint his apprehensions , this heightens his pleasure . He lives without all design , except that one of obeying his reason ; and therefore it is that he can never be miserable , seing such are only so , who are cross'd in their designs ; and thence it is , that when he hears that his actions displease the world , he is not troubled , seing he design'd not to please them and if he see others carry wealthy pretences to which he had a title , he is little troubled , seing he design'd not to be rich . The frowns or favours of C●andees alter him not , seing he neither fears the one , nor expects promotion from the other . He desires little , and so is easily happy , seing these are without contraversie happy who enjoy all they desire ; and that man puts himself in great debt , who widens his expectations by his desires : Thus , he who designes to buy a neighbouring Field , must straiten himself to lay up what will reach it's price , as much as if he were debtor in the like sum ; and desire leaves still an emptiness which must be filled . He finds not his breast invaded ( like such as are vitious ) by contrary passions , envy sometimes perswading , that others are more deserving , and vanity assuring that none deserves so much . His passions do not interesse him with extream concern in any thing ; and seing he loves nothing too well , he grieves at the loss of nothing too much ; joy and grief being like the contrary motions of a swing , or pendula , which must move as far ( exactly ) to the one side , as it run formerly to the other . He looks upon all mankind as sprung from one common stock with himself , and therefore is as glad to hear of other mens happiness , as others are to hear of their kindred and relations promotion . If he be advanced to be a States-man , whilst he continues so , he designes more to discharge well his present trust , then to court a higher , which double task burdens such as are vitious ; and having no private design , if the publick which he serves find out one fitter for the employment , he is well satisfied , for his design of serving the publick is thereby more promoved . And if he be preferr'd to be a Judge , he looks only to the Law as his Square , and is not distracted betwixt the desires to be just , to please his friends , to gratifie his dependers , and to advance his private gain . The Philosopher is not rais'd by his greatness above , nor deprest by his misfortunes below his natural level : For , when he is in his grandure , he considers that men come to him but as they go to fountains , not to admire it's streams ( though clear as crystal ) but to fill their own pitchers ; and therefore , he is neither at much pains to preserve that state , nor to highten mens esteem of it ; but considers his own power as he does a River , whose streams are always passing , and are then only pleasant when they glide calmly within their Banks . Injuries do not reach him , for his Vertue places him upon a hight above their shot , and what calumnies or offences are intended for him , do but like the vapo●rs and fogs , that rise from the earth , not reach the Heaven ; but fall back in Storms and Thunder upon the place , from which they were sent : Injuries may strick his buckler , but cannot wound himself , who is sensible of no wounds , but of those his Vices gives him : And if a Tyrant kill his body , he knows his immaterial Soul cannot be stabb'd , but is sure it will flee as high as the Sphears ( nothing but that clog of Earth hindring it to move upward to that it's Centre ) and that from thence , he will great Pompey ( in Lucan ) smile down when he shall see with illuminat eyes his own Trunck to be so inconsiderable a peece of neglected Earth . And to conclude , the Philosopher does in all his actions go the straightest way , which is because of that the shortest , and therefore the easiest . When I have constellat all these touring Elogies , which Gratitude heaps upon it's benifactors , which foolish Youths throw away upon their Mistresses , and which Flatterers buzze into the deprav'd ears of their Patrons , when I have impoverisht invention and empty'd eloquence of their most floury ornaments . When I shall have decocted the pains of a whole writing age , into one Panegirick , to bestow a Complement upon Vertue , for the ease it gives us , and the sweets of it's Tranquillity ; I shall have spent my time better , then in serving the most wealthy or recreating Vice ; and yet I shall obliege Vertue by it lesse , then by acting the least part of what is reasonable , or gaining the soonest reclaimable of such as are vitious . And therefore I shall leave off to write , that I may begin to act vetuously ; though one of my Employment may find a defence for writing moral Philosophy , in the examples of Cicero , Du Vair that famous French President , the Lord Verulam , and thousands of others . I have ( to deal ingenuously ) writ these two Essayes , to serve my Country , rather then my Fame or Humour , and if they prove successful , Heaven has nothing below it self , wherewith it can more bless my wishes : but if these succeed not , I know nothing else wherewith I would flatter my hopes ; and so whatever be the event of this undertaking , ( as my resolutions stand now form'd ) Adieu for ever to writing . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A50672-e210 Numb . 13 Ease commended . Vitious persons most dissemble Vertue , which is difficulter then to be vertuous . Vertue requires fewer instruments then vice Vice in defect and in excesse are equally uneasie . Vices oppose one another , whereas each Vertue assists its fellow . The practice of one Vertue facilitats other Vertues Providence resists vice The Law makes Vice uneasie . Men are in interest oblig'd to oppose Vice and so it is uneasie Vice mak● us fear all men . It is more natural to be vertuous then vitious Each Vice brings a special disease . Rom. 2. 14. Rom. 1. 31. The horrour of Conscience makes Vice uneasie . Vertue si more pleasant then Vice. Why most men are vitious . 2 Kings 8. 13 Luke 15 17 These proves the uneasiness also of private quarrels and ill humors , The Character of a Philosopher and his ease .