一个医生的信仰

文

/

張文亮

最厲害的是筆、不是手術刀

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布朗（

Thomas Browne

） 是在英國東北部臨海的挪威克（

Norwich

）郡執業四十五 年之久的醫生，但是他寫的「給朋友的一

封信」與「一個醫生的信仰」（

Religio Medici

），被後人視為「散文」文體（

prose st yles

）的經典之作。他的文筆並不華

麗，卻能直抒心中所感 。他不考究押韻對句，卻是簡潔有力的直剖問題，連凡夫走卒也能捧讀。一個醫生的作品，竟然被珍

藏在世界上許多一流大學圖書館的文學欄架上，不是一件很特別的事情嗎？

一六五 五年有一個憤世嫉俗的青年，他終日把自己關在一個巨大的城堡裏，直到有一天讀了這本「一個醫生的信仰」才由 苦

境轉回，成為一個在科學領域裏高舉真理之光的基督徒，這人就是「化學之父」波義耳 （

Robert

Boyle

）。除了 波義耳以外，

「物理之父」牛頓也深受這本書的影響，後來波義耳與牛頓要求科學家發表 論文，不要咬文嚼字，講究押韻，而要用布朗的

寫作體裁。

上帝的 作為，有時像一條隱藏的線，人永遠不知道這一條線是怎麼連來連去的，卻不斷的有人在看似不相干的一端蒙恩。 更

有趣的是，這一位對後世具有深遠影響的布朗，在出生時，曾被認為是「不吉利的人」 。因為他出生於一六

○

五年十月十九

日 。算命的對布朗的父母親說這天正逢「天蠍座」的長柄大鐮刀掃到東方地平線，是大凶之日。一六一三年，布朗的 父親病

逝，算命者的話使布朗從小就遭受許多的責難。二年後，母親改嫁，繼父收養布朗 的四個妹妹，但是把布朗送得遠遠的。

布朗才十歲，就遠離家園，靠著父 親留給他的一點遺產，寄讀在文確斯特（

Winchester

）的一所學校裏。每當週末或寒暑假

時，同學都快樂的回家，布朗卻有家歸不得。他在十 四歲就寫道：「天上的星星，校園裏的每棵樹都是我的朋友。」八年後，

布朗以優異的成 績進入牛津大學。牛津的學生活動並沒有使他忘記幼年時的陰影，他將自己泡在圖書館裏，大量閱讀，但仍

寫下：「憂鬱是我的第二個名字」。

上帝的職業

在大學的最後一年，他遇到克萊登博士（

Dr. Clayto n

）。克萊登教的是「解剖學」，但是他在第一堂上課時發給學生的講義

上就宣稱自己是學生「值得交的朋友」，接著他寫道：「成為一個好醫生是活出聖潔的榜樣，當救主耶穌 出來佈道時，祂也

說自己是醫生，祂不僅醫治人的身體，也醫治人的心靈。」從此，布朗 決定要成為一個醫生，並且閱讀基督徒的作品。

「國際法之父」法學大師葛羅休斯（

Hugo Grotius, 1583-1645

）所著的「真實的基督教信仰」（

De Veritate Religionis

Christianae

< br>）一書，也深深的影響布朗。葛羅休斯寫道：「人體的結構是最美的視覺藝術，看人的手，看人的眼睛，看 每個

器官，那是上帝智慧創造的藝術精品，可以讓我們帶著信心用理性思考，也可以帶著 理性去思考信心。」

不若馬車夫神聖

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牛津大學畢業後，他一面繼續學醫 ，一面參觀各地。一六二七年布朗到愛爾蘭，他看到愛爾蘭不同宗教的敵對，布朗寫道：

「真正的神學不是在定罪異教徒，而在走入他們家，看看他們桌上的麵包夠不夠；福音不在反對什麼，而是進到別 人所瞭解

的領域裏去更新。」布朗記得他小時候被算命的咒詛，他寫道：「我立志不被迷 信的謊言所吞噬。」一六三三年，布朗在法

國的萊登大學（

Le iden University

）取得醫學學位，這時他寫道：

「我將 那算命不吉利的謊言，放在上帝的手中，使我成為不幸者的祝福。」他又寫道：「真理的愚拙，卻能拯救人的靈魂 ，

那感動我的聖靈，使我一生不在平民之間扮演博士，不在士兵當中講解亞里斯多德。在 聖父、聖子、聖靈的名下，我並不比

一個馬車夫神聖。」

布朗對 當時歐洲三十年宗教戰爭，西班牙的宗教裁判所，東歐的回教之爭等，有一種深度的認識：「不同宗教的對抗是情 緒

多於真理：我看到自稱平靜的人，因著宗教而狂怒；我看到自稱有理智的人，在自虐式 的敬虔中迷失；我看到為信仰發熱心

的人，卻在掩飾自以為義的驕傲。我慢慢看清不管是 任何宗教，人所擁有的只是一本銀行存摺，存進去的是自己，所支出的

也是自己。」

理性與信仰

一六三三年，布朗回到英國，四年 後他取得牛津大學醫學學位，他到挪威克行醫，因為他聽說那個城市是英國宗教之爭最多

的地方。這時，他開始撰寫「一個醫生的信仰」，這本書的寫法採用對話方式，好像作者與深處自我的對白，又像 是一個人

在上帝面前的深思。

「一個要愛人如己的人，必須常被 上帝的愛所澆灌，才能成為別人的好鄰舍。」「只有耶穌的救贖，才能使人獲得身心靈的

康健。」

「辯論古代的人能不能獲得上帝的救恩是沒有意義的，因為沒 有人能看清人的心，與人的思想動機，何況是古人。」

「為發現一個真理而堅持，為避免 由一個真理去看全貌而謙卑。」

「從歷史上來看，沒有一個人是真正的沒有信仰的人，人的抉 擇總是基於他所相信的。」

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「上帝的永恆在自然科學裏，上帝的神性在聖經裏。」

一六四一年，布朗與多羅西小姐（

Mis. Derothy< /p>

）結婚，後來他們有十一個孩子。除了執業、寫作之外，布朗也從事科學研

究，例如他以酸溶解雞蛋蛋殼，研究不同時期胚胎的發育，為此布朗被稱為「第一個胚胎生物學家」，他 又分析蛋在不同儲

放時間所釋放出來的氣體，獲得「最早分析化學家」的美譽。他為死去 的病人化妝，並且研究減緩死屍腐爛的方法，又被稱

為「殯儀館學之父」，為了醫學教育 的模型，他也研究蠟像的製造法，而蠟像製造後來也成為一種藝術。

教授的定義

不過布朗最重要的科學貢獻是大力 支持哥白尼的發現，排除了當時歐洲許多科學家對於哥白尼學說的誤解。布朗支持哥白尼

的「天文學」卻不支持「星座學」。天文學是研究星球運轉的科學，星座學卻是以幾顆星球的位置來判斷人的命運 。天文學

需要觀測星球，星座學的人卻不看真正的星球。

一六六 四年，二個巫婆被捕，當時法官請布朗出庭說明，布朗認為以星座算命與哥白尼的天文物理作為是兩回事，不可混 為

一談。後來這二個巫婆被法官判死刑。這一件事情，使得布朗至今仍遭受許多人士的攻 擊，認為他心胸狹窄。布朗卻說：

「什麼是教授（

profes sor

）？教授是一生為所發現的真理去宣告（

profess

），即使付上生命的代價也在所不惜。」的確，

如果真理的堅持 者是心胸狹窄的人，那麼誇口自己心胸寬大的人，就是沒有原則的人。

布朗真 的付出了生命的代價。一六八二年十月十九日，布朗七十七歲生日的那一天，被謀殺身亡，而且一直沒有查出兇手 到

底是誰。如此的死法是一種悲劇嗎？布朗生前在所著的書中寫道：「樂觀的人相信以後 會愈來愈好，悲觀的人相信以後會愈

來愈差，不是樂觀或是悲觀的人，相信以後不是好就 是壞。但是基督徒的看法與這三種人的看法都不同。基督徒相信自己的

一生是在上帝的掌 握中，基督徒相信人類的歷史是在上帝的安排中。依我看，上帝在創世記伊甸園裏給的祝福與在啟示錄中

給的災禍，上帝的法則是始終如一的

??

我曾為 此思量長久，我曾經以為我的理性銳利如刀，在空中揮灑得嘶嘶有聲，後來

我才知道：那 是上帝的恩典，彷如微風的雙翼，護衛我的理性之刃。

??

當我 用理性規範上帝的作為，我就看不到神蹟。但

是當我承認理性之上，仍有更高的上帝，上 帝的同在，就源源不斷的讓我得以體會。」

THE PREFACE.

IF any One, after he has read Religio Medici & the ensuing Discourse, can make Doubt, whether the same Person was the Author of

them both, he may be Assured by the Testimony of Mrs LITTLETON, Sr. THOMAS BROWN's Daughter, who Lived with her Father,

when it was composed by Him; & who, at the time, read it written by his own Hand: & also by the Testimony of Others, (of whom I

am One) who read the MS. of the Author, immediately after his Death, and who have since Read the Same; from which it hath been

faithfully & exactly Transcribed for the Press. The Reason why it was not Printed sooner is, because it was unhappily Lost, by being

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Mislay'd among Other MSS for which Search was lately made in the Presence of the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, of which his

Grace, by Letter, Informed Mrs LITTLETON, when he sent the MS to Her. There is nothing printed in the Discourse, or in the short

notes, but what is found in the Original MS of the Author, except only where an Oversight had made the Addition or Transposition of

some words necessary.

CHRISTIAN MORALS

PART I.

-------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ----------

Sect. I.

TREAD softly and cirumspectly in this funambulatory Track and narrow Path of Goodness: Pursue Virtue virtuously: Leven not good

Actions nor render Virtues disputable. Stain not fair Acts with foul Intentions: Maim not Uprightness by halting Concomitances, nor

circumstantially deprave substantial Goodness. [Funambulatory, from L. fun-is, a rope, + ambulare: rope- walking]

Consider where about thou art in Cebes's Table, or that old Philosophical Pinax* of the Life of Man: whether thou art yet in the Road

of uncertainties; whether thou hast yet entred the narrow Gate, got up the Hill and asperous way, which leadeth unto the House of

Sanity, or taken that purifying Potion from the hand of sincere Erudition, which may send Thee clear and pure away unto a virtuous

and happy Life. *[The Tabulaor Pinax of

In this virtuous Voyage of thy Life hull not about like the Ark without the use of Rudder, Mast, or Sail, and bound for no Port. Let not

Disappointment cause Despondency, nor difficulty despair. Think not that you are Sailing from Lima to Manillia, when you may

fasten up the Rudder, and sleep before the Wind; but expect rougher Seas, Flaws, and contrary Blasts, & 'tis well if by many cross

Tacks and Veerings you arrive at the Port; for we sleep in Lyons Skins in our Progress unto Virtue, and we slide not, but climb unto it.

Sit not down in the Popular Forms and common Level of Virtues. Offer not only Peace Offerings but Holocausts unto God: where all

is due make no reserve, and cut not a Cummin Seed with the Almighty: To serve Him singly to serve our selves were too partial a

piece of Piety, not like to place us in the illustrious Mansions of Glory.

Sect. II.

REST not in an Ovation* but a Triumph over thy Passions. Let Anger walk hanging down the head: Let Malice go Manicled, & Envy

fetter'd after thee. Behold within thee the long train of thy Trophies not without thee. Make the quarrelling Lapithytes sleep, and

Centaures within lye quiet. Chain up the unruly Legion of thy breast. Lead thine own captivity captive, and be C?

sar within thy self.

*Ovation a petty and minor Kind of Triumph.

Sect. III.

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HE that is Chast and Continent not to impair his strength, or honest for fear of Contagion, will hardly be Heroically virtuous. Adjourn

not this virtue untill that temper, when Cato could lend out his Wife, & impotent Satyrs write Satyrs upon Lust: But be chast in thy

flaming Days, when Alexander dar'd not trust his eyes upon the fair Sisters of Darius, and when so many think there is no other way

but Origen's*. *Who is said to have Castrated himself.

CHRISTIAN MORALS

PART II.

--------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ---

Sect. I.

PUNISH not thy self with Pleasure; Glut not thy sense with palative Delights; nor revenge the contempt of Temperance by the

penalty of Satiety. Were there an Age of delight or any pleasure durable, who would not honour Volupia? but the Race of Delight is

short, and Pleasures have mutable faces. The pleasures of one age are not pleasures in another, and their Lives fall short of our own.

Even in our sensual days the strength of delight is in its seldomness or rarity, & sting in its satiety: Mediocrity is its Life, and

immoderacy its Confusion. The Luxurious Emperors of old inconsiderately satiated themselves with the Dainties of Sea and Land, till,

wearied through all varieties, their refections became a study unto them, & they were fain to feed by Invention. Novices in true

Epicurism ! which by mediocrity, paucity, quick and healthful Appetite, makes delights smartly acceptable; whereby Epicurus himself

found Jupiter's brain* in a piece of Cytheridian Cheese, and the Tongues of Nightingals in a dish of Onyons. Hereby healthful and

temperate poverty hath the start of nauseating Luxury; unto whose clear and naked appetite every meal is a feast, and in one single

dish the first course of Metellus**; who are cheaply hungry, and never loose their hunger, or advantage of a craving appetite,

because obvious food contents it; while Nero§ half famish'd could not feed upon a piece of Bread, & lingring after his snowed water,

hardly got down an ordinary cup of Calda§§. By such circumscriptions of pleasure the contemned Philosophers reserved unto

themselves the secret of Delight, which the Helluo's of those days lost in their exorbitances. In vain we study Delight: It is at the

command of every sober Mind, and in every sense born with us: but Nature, who teacheth us the rule of pleasure, instructeth also in

the bounds thereof, and where its line expireth. And therefore Temperate Minds, not pressing their pleasures until the sting

appeareth, enjoy their contentations contentedly, and without regret, and so escape the folly of excess, to be pleased unto

displacency. *Cerebrum Jovis, for a Delicious bit.

**Metellus his riotous Pontificial Supper, the great variety whereat is to be seen in Macrobius.

§ Nero in his flight, Sueton.

§§ Caldae gelid?

que Minister.

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Sect. II.

BRING candid Eyes unto the perusal of mens works, and let not Zoilism* or Detraction blast well intended labours. He that endureth

no faults in mens writings must only read his own, wherein for the most part all appeareth White. Quotation mistakes, inadvertency,

expedition & human Lapses may make not only Moles but Warts in Learned Authors, who notwithstanding being Judged by the

capital matter admit not of disparagement. I should unwillingly affirm that Cicero was but slightly versed in Homer, because in his

Work de Gloria he ascribed those verses unto Ajax, which were delivered by Hector. What if Plautus in the account of Hercules

mistaketh nativity for conception? Who would have mean thoughts of Apollinaris Sidonius, who seems to mistake the River Tigris for

Euphrates; and though a good Historian and learned Bishop of Auvergne had the misfortune to be out in the Story of David, making

mention of him when the Ark was sent back by the Philistins upon a Cart; which was before his time. Though I have no great opinion

of Machiavel's Learning, yet I shall not presently say, that he was but a Novice in Roman History, because he was mistaken in placing

Commodus after the Emperour Severus. Capital Truths are to be narrowly eyed, collateral Lapses and circumstantial deliveries not to

be too strictly sifted. And if the substantial subject be well forged out, we need not examine the sparks, which irregularly fly from it.

*[Malignantly or enviously censorious; after Zoilus, carping critic of Homer, 4th century B.C.]

Sect. III.

LET well weighed Considerations, not stiff and peremptory Assumptions, guide thy discourses, Pen, & Actions. To begin or continue

our works like Trismegistus of old, verum certe verum atque verissimum est*, would sound arrogantly unto present Ears in this strict

enquiring Age, wherein, for the most part, Probably, and Perhaps, will hardly serve to mollify the Spirit of captious Contradictors. If

Cardan saith that a Parrot is a beautiful Bird, Scaliger will set his Wits o' work to prove it a deformed Animal. The Compage of all

Physical Truths is not so closely Jointed, but opposition may find intrusion, nor always so closely maintained, as not to suffer attrition.

Many Positions seem quod libetically constituted, and like a Delphian Blade will cut on both sides. Some Truths seem almost

Falshoods, & some Falshoods almost Truths; wherein Falshood & Truth seem almost ?

quilibriously stated, and but a few grains of

distinction to bear down the ballance. Some have digged deep, yet glanced by the Royal Vein; and a Man may come unto the

Pericardium, but not the Heart of Truth. Besides, many things are known, as some are seen, that is by Parallaxis, or at some distance

from their true and proper beings, the superficial regard of things having a different aspect from their true and central Natures. And

this moves sober Pens unto suspensory and timorous assertions, nor presently to obtrude them as Sibyls leaves, which after

considerations may find to be but folious apparences, and not the central and vital interiours of Truth.

*In Tabula Smaragdina. [see Tabula Smaragdina]

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Sect. IV.

VALUE the Judicious, and let not mere acquests in minor parts of Learning gain thy preexistimation. 'Tis an unjust way of compute to

magnify a weak Head for some Latin abilities, and to undervalue a solid Judgment, because he knows not the genealogy of Hector.

When that notable King of France* would have his Son to know but one sentence in Latin, had it been a good one, perhaps it had

been enough. Natural parts and good Judgments rule the World. States are not governed by Ergotisms. Many have Ruled well who

could not perhaps define a Commonwealth, and they who understand not the Globe of the Earth command a great part of it. Where

natural Logick prevails not, Artificial too often faileth. Where Nature fills the Sails, the Vessel goes smoothly on, & when Judgment is

the Pilot, the Ensurance need not be high. When Industry builds upon Nature, we may exspect Pyramids: where that foundation is

wanting, the structure must be low. They do most by Books, who could do much without them, and he that chiefly ows himself unto

himself is the substantial Man.

*Lewis the Eleventh. Qui nescit dis simulare nescit Regnare.

Sect. V.

LET thy Studies be free as thy Thoughts and Contempla- tions: but fly not only upon the wings of Imagination; Joyn Sense unto

Reason, and Experiment unto Speculation, and so give life unto Embryon Truths, and Verities yet in their Chaos. There is nothing

more acceptable unto the Ingenious World, than this noble Eluctation of Truth; wherein, against the tenacity of Prejudice and

Prescription, this Century now prevaileth. What Libraries of new Volumes aftertimes will behold, and in what a new World of

Knowledge the eyes of our Posterity may be happy, a few Ages may Joyfully declare; and is but a cold thought unto those, who

cannot hope to behold this Exantlation of Truth, or that obscured Virgin half out of the Pit. Which might make some content with a

commutation of the time of their lives, and to commend the Fancy of the Pythagorean metempsychosis; whereby they might hope

to enjoy this happiness in their third or fourth selves, and behold that in Pythagoras, which they now but foresee in Euphorbus * .

The World, which took but six days to make, is like to take six thousand to make out: mean while old Truths voted down begin to

resume their places, and new ones arise upon us; wherein there is no comfort in the happiness of Tully's Elizium**, or any

satisfaction from the Ghosts of the Ancients, who knew so little of what is now well known. Men disparage not Antiquity, who

prudently exalt new Enquiries, and make not them the Judges of Truth, who were but fellow Enquirers of it. Who can but magnify

the Endeavors of Aristotle, and the noble start which Learning had under him; or less than pitty the slender progression made upon

such advantages? While many Centuries were lost in repetitions and transcriptions sealing up the Book of Knowledge. And therefore

rather than to swell the leaves of Learning by fruitless Repetitions, to sing the same Song in all Ages, nor adventure at Essays beyond

the attempt of others, many would be content that some would write like Helmont or Paracelsus; and be willing to endure the

monstrosity of some opinions, for divers singular notions requiting such aberrations. *Ipse ego, nam memini, Troiani in tempore

belli Panthoides Euphorbus eram.

** Who comforted himself that he should there converse with the old Philosophers.

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Sect. VI.

DESPISE not the obliquities of younger ways, nor despair of better things whereof there is yet no prospect. Who would imagine that

Diogenes, who in his younger days was a falsifier of Money, should in the after course of his Life be so great a contemner of Metal?

Some Negros, who believe the Resurrection, think that they shall Rise white*. Even in this life Regeneration may imitate

Resurrection, our black & vitious tinctures may wear off, and goodness cloath us with candour. Good Admonitions Knock not always

in vain. There will be signal Examples of God's mercy, and the Angels must not want their charitable Rejoyces for the conversion of

lost Sinners. Figures of most Angles do nearest approach unto Circles, which have no Angles at All. Some may be near unto goodness,

who are conceived far from it, and many things happen, not likely to ensue from any promises of Antecedencies. Culpable

beginnings have found commendable conclusions, and infamous courses pious retractations. Detestable Sinners have proved

exemplary Converts on Earth, and may be Glorious in the Apartment of Mary Magdalen in Heaven. Men are not the same through all

divisions of their Ages. Time, Experience, self Reflexions, and God's mercies make in some well-temper'd minds a kind of translation

before Death, and Men to differ from themselves as well as from other Persons. Hereof the old World afforded many Examples to

the infamy of latter Ages, wherein Men too often live by the rule of their inclinations; so that, without any Astral prediction, the first

day gives the last**, Men are commonly as they were, or rather, as bad dispositions run into worser habits, the Evening doth not

crown, but sowerly conclude the Day.

* Mandelslo.

** Primusque dies dedit extremum.

Sect. VII.

IF the Almighty will not spare us according to his merciful capitulation at Sodom, if his Goodness please not to pass over a great deal

of Bad for a small pittance of Good, or to look upon us in the Lump; there is slender hope for Mercy, or sound presumption of

fulfilling half his Will, either in Persons or Nations: they who excel in some Virtues being so often defective in others; few Men

driving at the extent and amplitude of Goodness, but computing themselves by their best parts, and others by their worst, are

content to rest in those Virtues, which others commonly want. Which makes this speckled Face of Honesty in the World; and which

was the imperfection of the old Philosophers and great pretenders unto Virtue, who well declining the gaping Vices of Intemperance,

Incontinency, Violence & Oppression, were yet blindly peccant in iniquities of closer faces, were envious, malicious, contemners,

scoffers, censurers, and stufft with Vizard Vices, no less depraving the Ethereal particle and diviner portion of Man. For Envy, Malice,

Hatred are the qualities of Satan, close and dark like himself; & where such brands smoak the Soul cannot be White. Vice may be

had at all prices; expensive and costly iniquities, which make the noise, cannot be every Man's sins: but the soul may be foulIy

inquinated at a very low rate, and a Man may be cheaply vitious, to the perdition of himself.

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Sect. VIII.

OPINION rides upon the neck of Reason, and Men are Happy, Wise, or Learned, according as that Empress shall set them down in

the Register of Reputation. How ever weigh not thy self in the scales of thy own opinion, but Let the Judgment of the Judicious be

the Standard of thy Merit. Self-estimation is a flatterer too readily intitling us unto Knowledge and Abilities, which others

sollicitously labour after, & doubtfully think they attain. Surely such confident tempers do pass their days in best tranquility, who,

resting in the opinion of their own abilities, are happily gull'd by such contentation; wherein Pride, Self-conceit, Confidence, &

Opiniatrity will hardly suffer any to complain of imperfection. To think themselves in the right, or all that right, or only that, which

they do or think, is a fallacy of high content; though others laugh in their sleeves, and look upon them as in a deluded state of

Judgment. Wherein not withstanding 'twere but a civil piece of complacency to suffer them to sleep who would not wake, to Let

them rest in their securities, nor by dissent or opposition to stagger their contentments.

Sect. IX.

SINCE the Brow speaks often true, since Eyes and Noses have Tongues, and the countenance proclaims the Heart and inclinations;

Let observation so far instruct thee in Physiognomical lines, as to be some Rule for thy distinction, and Guide for thy affection unto

such as look most like Men. Mankind, methinks, is comprehended in a few Faces, if we exclude all Visages, which any way

participate of Symmetries and Schemes of Look common unto other Animals. For as though Man were the extract of the World, in

whom all were in coagulato, which in their forms were in soluto and at Extension; we often observe that Men do most act those

Creatures, whose constitution, parts, & complexion do most predominate in their mixtures. This is a corner-stone in Physiognomy, &

holds some Truth not only in particular Persons but also in whole Nations. There are therefore Provincial Faces, National Lips and

Noses, which testify not only the Natures of those Countries, but of those which have them elsewhere. Thus we may make England

the whole Earth, dividing it not only into Europe, Asia, Africa, but the particular Regions thereof, and may in some latitude affirm,

that there are ?

gyptians, Scythians, Indians among us; who though born in England, yet carry the Faces and Air of those Countries,

and are also agreeable and correspondent unto their Natures. Faces look uniformly unto our Eyes: How they appear unto some

Animals of a more piercing or differing sight, who are able to discover the inequalities, rubbs, and hairiness of the Skin, is not

without good doubt. And therefore in reference unto Man, Cupid is said to be blind. Affection should not be too sharp-Eyed, and

Love is not to be made by magnifying Glasses. If things were seen as they truly are, the beauty of bodies would be much abridged.

And therefore the wise Contriver hath drawn the pictures and outsides of things softly and amiably unto the natural Edge of our

Eyes, not leaving them able to discover those uncomely asperities, which make Oyster shells in good Faces, and Hedghoggs even in

Venus's moles.

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Sect. X.

COURT not Felicity too far, & weary not the favorable hand of Fortune. Glorious actions have their times, extent and non ultra's. To

put no end unto Attempts were to make prescription of Successes, and to bespeak unhappiness at the last. For the Line of our Lives

is drawn with white and black vicissitudes, wherein the extremes hold seldom one complexion. That Pompey should obtain the

sirname of Great at twenty five years, that Men in their young & active days should be fortunate & perform notable things, is no

observation of deep wonder, they having the strength of their fates before them, nor yet acted their parts in the World, for which

they were brought into it: whereas Men of years, matured for counsels and designs, seem to be beyond the vigour of their active

fortunes, and high exploits of life, providentially ordained unto Ages best agreeable unto them. And therefore many brave men

finding their fortune grow faint, and feeling its declination, have timely withdrawn themselves from great attempts, and so escaped

the ends of mighty Men, disproportionable to their beginnings. But magnanimous thoughts have so dimmed the Eyes of many, that

forgetting the very essence of Fortune, and the vicissitude of good and evil, they apprehend no bottom in felicity; and so have been

still tempted on unto mighty Actions, reserved for their destructions. For Fortune lays the Plot of our Adversities in the foundation of

our Felicities, blessing us in the first quadrate, to blast us more sharply in the last. And since in the highest felicities there lieth a

capacity of the lowest miseries, she hath this advantage from our happiness to make us truly miserable. For to become acutely

miserable we are to be first happy. Affliction smarts most in the most happy state, as having somewhat in it of Bellisarius at Beggers

bush,* or Bajazet in the grate. And this the fallen Angels severely understand, who having acted their first part in Heaven, are made

sharply miserable by transition, and more afflictively feel the contrary state of Hell.

*[On Belisarius, see Pseudodoxia Epidemica VII.7; on Bajazet, see Gibbon, Decline and Fall Chapter 65.]

Sect. XI.

CARRY no careless Eye upon the unexpected scenes of things; but ponder the acts of Providence in the publick ends of great and

notable Men, set out unto the view of all for no common memorandums. The Tragical Exits and unexpected periods of some

eminent Persons cannot but amuse considerate Observators; wherein notwithstanding most Men seem to see by extramission,

without reception or Self-reflexion, & conceive themselves unconcerned by the fallacy of their own Exemption: Whereas the Mercy

of God hath singled out but few to be the signals of his Justice, leaving the generality of Mankind to the pedagogy of Example. But

the inadvertency of our Natures not well apprehending this favorable method and merciful decimation, and that he sheweth in

some what others also deserve; they entertain no sense of his Hand beyond the stroak of themselves. Whereupon the whole

becomes necessarily punished, and the contracted Hand of God extended unto universal Judgments: from whence nevertheless the

stupidity of our tempers receives but faint impressions, & in the most Tragical state of times holds but starts of good motions. So

that to continue us in goodness there must be iterated returns of misery, & a circulation in afflictions is necessary. And since we

cannot be wise by warnings, since Plagues are insignificant, except we be personally plagued, since also we cannot be punish'd unto

Amendment by proxy or commutation, nor by vicinity, but contaction; there is an unhappy necessity that we must smart in our own

Skins, and the provoked arm of the Almighty must fall upon our selves. The capital sufferings of others are rather our monitions than

acquitments. There is but one who dyed salvifically for us, and able to say unto Death, hitherto shalt thou go and no farther; only

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one enlivening Death, which makes Gardens of Graves, & that which was sowed in Corruption to arise and flourish in Glory: when

Death it self shall dye, and living shall have no Period, when the damned shall mourn at the funeral of Death, when Life not Death

shall be the wages of sin, when the second Death shall prove a miserable Life, and destruction shall be courted.

Sect. XII.

ALTHOUGH their Thoughts may seem too severe, who think that few ill natur'd Men go to Heaven; yet it may be acknowledged that

good natur'd Persons are best founded for that place; who enter the World with good Dispositions, & natural Graces, more ready to

be advanced by impressions from above, and christianized unto pieties; who carry about them plain & down right dealing Minds,

Humility, Mercy, Charity, & Virtues acceptable unto God & Man. But whatever success they may have as to Heaven, they are the

acceptable Men on Earth, and happy is he who hath his quiver full of them for his Friends. These are not the Dens wherein Falshood

lurks, & Hypocrisy hides its Head, wherein Frowardness makes its Nest, or where Malice, Hardheartedness, and Oppression love to

dwell; not those by whom the Poor get little, & the Rich some times loose all; Men not of retracted Looks, but who carry their Hearts

in their Faces, and need not to be look'd upon with perspectives; not sordidly or mischievously ingrateful; who cannot learn to ride

upon the neck of the afflicted, nor load the heavy laden, but who keep the Temple of Janus shut by peaceable and quiet tempers;

who make not only the best Friends, but the best Enemies, as easier to forgive than offend, & ready to pass by the second offence,

before they avenge the first; who make natural Royalists, obedient Subjects, kind and merciful Princes, verified in our own, one of

the best natur'd Kings of this Throne. Of the old Roman Emperours the best were the best natur'd; though they made but a small

number, and might be writ in a Ring. Many of the rest were as bad Men as Princes; Humorists rather than of good humors, and of

good natural parts, rather than of good natures: which did but arm their bad inclinations, & make them wittily wicked.

Sect. XIII.

WITH what shift and pains we come into the World we remember not; but 'tis commonly found no easy matter to get out of it. Many

have studied to exasperate the ways of Death, but fewer hours have been spent to soften that necessity. That the smoothest way

unto the grave is made by bleeding, as common opinion presumeth, beside the sick & fainting Languors which accompany that

effusion, the experiment in Lucan & Seneca will make us doubt; under which the noble Stoick so deeply laboured, that, to conceal

his affliction, he was fain to retire from the sight of his Wife, and not ashamed to implore the merciful hand of his Physician to

shorten his misery therein. Ovid*, the old Heroes, and the Stoicks, who were so afraid of drowning, as dreading thereby the

extinction of their Soul, which they conceived to be a Fire, stood probably in fear of an easier way of Death; wherein the Water,

entring the possessions of Air, makes a temperate suffocation, and kills as it were without a Fever. Surely many, who have had the

Spirit to destroy themselves, have not been ingenious in the contrivance thereof. 'Twas a dull way practised by Themistocles** to

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overwhelm himself with Bulls-blood, who, being an Athenian, might have held an easier Theory of Death from the state potion of his

Country; from which Socrates in Plato seemed not to suffer much more than from the fit of an Ague. Cato is much to be pitied, who

mangled himself with poyniards; And Hannibal seems more subtle, who carried his delivery not in the point, but the pummel§ of his

Sword.

*Demito naufragium, mors mihi munus erit.

**Plutarch.

§ Pummel, wherein he is said to have carried something, whereby upon a struggle or despair he might deliver himself from all

misfortunes.

The Egyptians were merciful contrivers, who destroyed their malefactors by Asps. charming their senses into an invincible sleep, and

killing as it were with Hermes his Rod. The Turkish Emperour*, odious for other Cruelty, was herein a remarkable Master of Mercy,

killing his Favorite in his sleep, and sending him from the shade into the house of darkness. He who had been thus destroyed would

hardly have bled at the presence of his destroyer; when Men are already dead by metaphor, and pass but from one sleep unto

another, wanting herein the eminent part of severity, to feel themselves to dye, & escaping the sharpest attendant of Death, the

lively apprehension thereof. But to learn to dye is better than to study the ways of dying. Death will find some ways to unty or cut

the most Gordian Knots of Life, and make men's miseries as mortal as themselves: whereas evil Spirits, as undying Substances, are

unseparable from their calamities; & therefore they ever lastingly struggle under their Angustia's, and bound up with immortality

can never get out of themselves.

*Solyman Turkish History. [of Knolles; of the death of Ibrahim Pasha]

Sect. IV.

SHOW thy Art in Honesty, and loose not thy Virtue by the bad Managery of it. Be Temperate & Sober, not to preserve your body in

an ability for wanton ends, not to avoid the infamy of common transgressors that way, and thereby to hope to expiate or palliate

obscure and closer vices, not to spare your purse, nor simply to enjoy health; but in one word that thereby you may truly serve God,

which every sickness will tell you you cannot well do without health. The sick Man's Sacrifice is but a lame Oblation. Pious Treasures

lay'd up in healthful days plead for sick nonperformances: without which we must needs look back with anxiety upon the lost

opportunities of health, and may have cause rather to envy than pity the ends of penitent publick Sufferers, who go with healthfull

prayers unto the last Scene of their lives, and in the Integrity of their faculties return their Spirit unto God that gave it.

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Sect. V.

BE Charitable before wealth make thee covetous, and loose not the glory of the Mite.* If Riches encrease, let thy mind hold pace

with them, and think it not enough to be Liberal, but Munificent. Though a Cup of cold water from some hand may not be without

its reward, yet stick not thou for Wine and Oyl for the Wounds of the Distressed, & treat the poor, as our Saviour did the Multitude,

to the reliques of some baskets. Diffuse thy beneficence early, and while thy Treasures call thee Master: There may be an Atropos of

thy Fortunes before that of thy Life, and thy wealth cut off before that hour, when all Men shall be poor; for the Justice of Death

looks equally upon the dead, & Charon expects no more from Alexander than from Irus.

*Mark 12:42 ff.

Sect. VI.

GIVE not only unto seven, but also unto eight*, that is unto more than many. Though to give unto every one that asketh** may

seem severe advice, yet give thou also before asking, that is, where want is silently clamorous, and mens Necessities not their

Tongues do loudly call for thy Mercies. For though sometimes necessitousness be dumb, or misery speak not out, yet true Charity is

sagacious, & will find out hints for beneficence. Acquaint thy self with the Physiognomy of Want, and let the Dead colours and first

lines of necessity suffise to tell thee there is an object for thy bounty. Spare not where thou canst not easily be prodigal, and fear not

to be undone by mercy. For since he who hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Almighty Rewarder, who observes no Ides*** but

every day for his payments; Charity becomes pious Usury, Christian Liberality the most thriving industry, and what we adventure in a

Cockboat may return in a Carrack unto us.§ He who thus casts his bread upon the Water shall surely find it again; for though it

falleth to the bottom, it sinks but like the Ax of the Prophet, to arise again unto him.§ § *Ecclesiastes.

**Luke.

***[The ides of the month, according to Dr. Johnson (1756 ed.), was the date on which

repaid

independencies how they will compound, and in what Calends.

§ [Cockboat, a ship's boat, hence a type of the smallest vessel; carrack, a galleon.]

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§ § [2 Kings 6:5-7.]

Sect. VII.

IF Avarice be thy Vice, yet make it not thy Punishment. Miserable men commiserate not themselves, bowelless unto others, and

merciless unto their own bowels. Let the fruition of things bless the possession of them, and think it more satisfaction to live richly

than dye rich. For since thy good works, not thy goods, will follow thee; since wealth is an appertinance of life, and no dead Man is

Rich; to famish in Plenty, & live poorly to dye Rich, were a multiplying improvement in Madness, & use upon use in Folly.

Sect. VIII.

TRUST not to the Omnipotency of gold, & say not unto it Thou art my Confidence. Kiss not thy hand to that Terrestrial Sun, nor bore

thy ear unto its servitude. A Slave unto Mammon makes no servant unto God. Covetousness cracks the sinews of Faith; nummes the

apprehension of any thing above sense, and only affected with the certainty of things present makes a peradventure of things to

come; lives but unto one World, nor hopes but fears another; makes their own death sweet unto others, bitter unto themselves;

brings formal sadness, scenical mourning, and no wet eyes to the grave.

Sect. IX.

PERSONS lightly dipt, not grain'd in generous Honesty, are but pale in Goodness, and faint hued in Integrity. But be thou what thou

vertuously art, and let not the Ocean wash away thy Tincture. Stand magnetically upon that Axis, when prudent simplicity hath fixt

there; * and let no attraction invert the Poles of thy Honesty. That Vice may be uneasy & even monstrous unto thee, let iterated

good Acts & long confirmed habits make Virtue almost natural, or a second nature in thee. Since virtuous superstructions have

commonly generous foundations, dive into thy inclinations, & early discover what nature bids thee to be, or tells thee thou may'st

be. They who thus timely descend into themselves, and cultivate the good seeds which nature hath set in them, prove not shrubs

but Cedars in their generation. And to be in the form of the best of the Bad, or the worst of the Good**, will be no satisfaction unto

them.

*[

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**Optimi malorum pessimi bonorum.

Sect. X.

MAKE not the consequence of Virtue the ends thereof. Be not beneficent for a name or Cymbal of applause, nor exact and just in

Commerce for the advantages of Trust and Credit, which attend the reputation of true and punctual dealing. For these Rewards,

though unsought for, plain Virtue will bring with her. To have other by-ends in good actions sowers Laudable performances, which

must have deeper roots, motives, and instigations, to give them the stamp of Virtues.

Sect. XI.

LET not the Law of thy Country be the non ultra of thy Honesty; nor think that always good enough which the Law will make good.

Narrow not the Law of Charity, Equity, Mercy. Joyn Gospel Righteousness with Legal Right. Be not a mere Gamaliel in the Faith, but

let the Sermon in the Mount be thy Targum unto the Law of Sinai.

Sect. XII.

LIVE by old Ethicks and the classical Rules of Honesty. Put no new names or notions upon Authentick Virtues & Vices. Think not that

Morality is Ambulatory; that Vices in one age are not Vices in another; or that Virtues, which are under the everlasting Seal of right

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Reason, may be Stamped by Opinion. And therefore though vicious times invert the opinions of things, and set up a new Ethicks

against Virtue, yet hold thou unto old Morality; & rather than follow a multitude to do evil, stand like Pompey's Pillar conspicuous by

thy self, and single in Integrity. And since the worst of times afford imitable Examples of Virtue; since no Deluge of Vice is like to be

so general, but more than eight will escape; Eye well those Heroes who have held their Heads above Water, who have touched Pitch,

and not been defiled, and in the common Contagion have remained uncorrupted.

Sect. XIII.

LET Age not Envy draw wrinkles on thy cheeks, be content to be envy'd, but envy not. Emulation may be plausible and Indignation

allowable, but admit no treaty with that passion which no circumstance can make good. A displacency at the good of others because

they enioy it, though not unworthy of it, is an absurd depravity, sticking fast tmto corrupted nature, and often too hard for Humility

and Charity, the great Suppressors of Envy. This surely is a Lyon not to be strangled but by Hercules himself, or the highest stress of

our minds, and an Atom of that power which subdueth all things unto it self.

Sect. XIV.

OWE not thy Humility unto humiliation from adversity, but look humbly down in that State when others look upwards upon thee.

Think not thy own shadow longer than that of others, nor delight to take the Altitude of thy self. Be patient in the age of Pride, when

Men live by short intervals of Reason under the dominion of Humor & Passion, when it's in the Power of every one to transform thee

out of thy self, and run thee into the short madness. If you cannot imitate Job, yet come not short of Socrates, & those patient

Pagans who tired the tongues of their Enemies, while they perceived they spit their malice at brazen Walls and Statues.

Sect. XV.

LET not the Sun in Capricorn* go down upon thy wrath, but write thy wrongs in Ashes. Draw the Curtain of night upon inJuries, shut

them up in the Tower of Oblivion** and let them be as though they had not been. To forgive our Enemies, yet hope that God will

punish them, is not to forgive enough. To forgive them our selves, & not to pray God to forgive them, is a partial piece of Charity.

Forgive thine enemies totally, and without any reserve, that however God will revenge thee. *Even when the Days are shortest.

**Alluding unto the Tower of Oblivion mentioned by Procopius, which was the name of a Tower of Imprisonment among the

Persians; whoever was put therein was as it were buried alive, and it was death for any but to name him.

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Sect. XVI.

WHILE thou so hotly disclaimest the Devil, be not guilty of Diabolism. Fall not into one name with that unclean Spirit, nor act his

nature whom thou so much abhorrest; that is to Accuse, Calumniate, Backbite, Whisper, Detract, or sinistrously interpret others.

Degenerous depravities, and narrow minded vices ! not only below St. Paul's noble Christian but Aristotle's true Gentleman*. Trust

not with some that the Epistle of St. James is Apocryphal, and so read with less fear that Stabbing Truth, that in company with this

vice thy Religion is in vain. Moses broke the Tables without breaking of the Law; but where Charity is broke, the Law it self is

shattered, which cannot be whole without Love, which is the fulfilling of it. Look humbly upon thy Virtues, & though thou art Rich in

some, yet think thy self Poor and Naked without that Crowning Grace, which thinketh no evil, which envieth not, which beareth,

hopeth, believeth, endureth all things. With these sure Graces, while busy Tongues are crying out for a drop of cold Water, mutes

may be in happiness, & sing the Trisagion** in Heaven. *See Aristotie's Ethicks, chapter of Magnanimity.

**Holy, Holy, Holy.

Sect. XVII.

HOWEVER thy understanding may waver in the theories of True and False, yet fasten the Rudder of thy Will, steer strait unto good

and fall not foul on evil. Imagination is apt to rove and conjecture to keep no bounds. Some have run out so far, as to fancy the Stars

might be but the light of the Crystalline Heaven shot through perforations on the bodies of the Orbs. Others more Ingeniously doubt

whether there hath not been a vast tract of Land in the Atlantick Ocean, which Earthquakes & violent causes have long ago

devoured. Speculative Misapprehensions may be innocuous, but immorality pernicious; Theorical mistakes and Physical Deviations

may condemn our Judgments, not lead us into Judgment. But perversity of Will, immoral and sinfull enormities walk with Adraste

and Nemesis at their Backs, pursue us unto judgment, and leave us viciously miserable.

Sect. XVIII.

BID early defiance unto those Vices which are of thine inward Family, & having a root in thy Temper plead a right and propriety in

thee. Raise timely batteries against those strong holds built upon the Rock of Nature, and make this a great part of the Militia of thy

life. Delude not thy self into iniquities from participation or community, which abate the sense but not the obliquity of them. To

conceive sins less, or less of sins, because others also Transgress, were MoralIy to commit that natural fallacy of Man, to take

comfort from Society, & think adversities less, because others also suffer them. The politick nature of Vice must be opposed by

Policy. And therefore wiser Honesties project and plot against it. Wherein notwithstanding we are not to rest in generals, or the trite

Stratagems of Art. That may succeed with one which may prove succesless with another: There is no community or commonweal of

Virtue: Every man must study his own oeconomy, and adapt such rules unto the figure of himself

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