Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soul, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. Of the effects of Passions, how they sharpen Vertue: Of vitious Concupiscence; of their blinding, diverting, distracting, and precipitating of Reason, and of their distempering the Body.
THe last consideration of Passions, was according to the Consequents of their Act, which are the ends and effects thereof, both which I include in one; because the naturall end of all operative qualities, is the effects which they are appointed by their owne, or a superiour Vertue to produce. Now, though in the particulars there be severall perfections confer'd both on the operations o… the Will, and of the Vnderstanding, from Passions; yet I cannot thinke on any other generall effect which belongeth equally unto them all, but that onelyonly which Tully hath observed out ofAcad. quest. lib. …. …. q…. li. 4. the Peripateticks of Anger, that they are the sharpners (and to keepe his phrase) the Whetstone… of Vertue, which make it more operative and fruitfull: for Passion stirring up the Spirits, and quickening the Fancie, hath thereby a direct influencePlutarch. lib. de vir. mo…. upon the Habits and Manners of the Mind; which being in this estate constrained to fetch all her Motions from Imagination, produceth them with the same clearenesse and vigour as they are there represented. And therefore Aristotle speaking of these two Elements andEthic: lib. 2. cap. 3. Principles of all Passion, Pleasure and Griese, (one of which, all others whatsoever partake of) makes them the Rules of all our Actions, by which they are all governed, and according to the measure whereof, they retaine their severall portions of Goodnesse. Thus Anger, Zeale Shame, Griese, Love, are in their severall order… the Whetstones, whereon true Fortitude sharpneth its Sword: for men are never more neglect▪ full and prodigall of their bloud, than when they are throughly pierced with a sense of injuries, or grieved with a losse of their owne, or their Countreyes honour: So the Poet sayth of Mezentius, when Aenea… had slaine Lausus his sonne;
—Aestuat ingensAeneid. l…b. 10.
Imo in corde pudor mix…oque insania luctu,
Et furiis agitatus Amor, & conscia virtus.
A noble shame boyl'd in his lowest brest,
Rage mixt with griefe suffer'd him not to rest;
Love and a conscious Valour s…t him on,
And kindled furious Resolution.
So, Love and Compassion are the inciters of Bountie; Hope, the stay and anchor of Patience; keeping the Mind, amidst perils and casualties, from floating and sinking; Feare, the sharpener of Industrie; and Caution an antidote in all our actions, against Violence, Rashnesse, and Indiscretion: as Latinus said unto Turnus, when in rage he hastned to a combat with Aeneas;
—quantum ipse feroc…Aeneid. lib. 12.
Virtute exuper as, tanto me impensius …quum est
Consulere, atque omnes me…uentem expendere casus.
The more undaunted Courage doth you move,
'Tis fit my serious Feares shew the more Love;
In mature counsels, and in weighing all
The various dangers and events may fall.
Those imputations therefore which Tully and Seneca, and other Stoicall Philosophers make against Passions, are but light and emptie, when they call them diseases and perturbations of the Mind; which requireth in all its actions both health and serenitie, a strong and a cleare judgement; both which properties, they say, are impaired by the distempers of Passion: For it is absurd to thinke, that all manner of rest is either healthfull or cleare; or on the other side, all motion diseased and troublesome: for what water more sweet than that of a Spring, or what more thick or lothsome, than that which standeth in a puddle, corrupting it selfe. As in the Wind o… Seas, (to which two, Passions are commonly compar'd) a middle temper betweene a quiet Calme and a violent Tempest, is most serviceable for the passage betweene Countreyes; so the agitations of Passion, as long as they serve onelyonly to drive forward, but not to drowne Vertue; as long as they keepe their dependance on Reason, and run onelyonly in that Channell wherewith they are thereby bounded, are of excellent service, in all the travaile of mans life, and such as without which, the growth, successe, and dispatch of Vertue would be much impaired.
For the corrupt effects of Passion in generall, they are many more, because there may be a multiplicitie as well of Evill as of Error, when there is but a unitie of Goodnesse or of Truth. And those effects may be either in respect to themselves, one amongst another, or in reference to the Vnderstanding, Will, or Body. The effects of them amongst themselves, is in their mutuall generating and nourishing of each other; as Feare is wrought by Love, and Anger by Griefe, Dol… excitat iras; as a Lyon when wounded, is most raging.
—fixumque latronisAeneid. lib. 12. Impavidus frangit telum, & fremit ore cruento.
With bloudie mouth, and an undaunted heart,
Breaks & teares from his wound the fastned dart.
Which effect of Passions, I have before toucht upon; neither is it alwayes a corrupt effect, but onelyonly then, when there is in the Passion generative some distemper. In which respect of the Vnderstanding and Will, (both which I comprise under one Name of Reason) I conceive the corruption to be principally these foure; Imposture, or seduction; Alienation, or withdrawing; Distraction, or consounding; and Precipitancie, or a headlong transporting of Reason.
Now concerning these, we are first to remember, that there is in every man a native and originall strugling betweene Apperite and Reason; which yet proceedeth from Corruption, and the Fall of Man, not from Nature entire, as the Papists contend; who affirme, That the strife and reluctancie betweene Sense and Vnderstanding, ariseth from Physicall and created constitution; and that therefore, that sweet harmonie which was betweene all the Faculties of Man, Animall and Rationall, in his Creation, proceeded from the government of a super-naturall Grace added thereunto: because it being naturall for Sense to desire sensible, and Spirit spirituall good things, and things sensitive and spirituall being amongst themselves opposite; those desites which are carryed unto them, must needs be opposite likewise.
An Argument as weake, as the Opinion which it defends, is dangerous and prejudiciall to the honour of Mans Creation; as tending to prove, that the first risings and rebellions of Appetite against Reason, and all inordinate desires of inferior Faculties, till they taint the Will, are not formally sinnes, as having been naturall to Adam himselfe in Innocencie, though by infused and supernaturall Grace bridled and suspended. An Opinion, which retaineth that odious scandall which they fasten upon us, more justly and truly on their owne heads, touching making God the Author of Sinne; in that they affirme, that Concupiscence, whereby Sense is carried to its object inordinately, that is, without the government and assent of Reason, to have been naturall to Adam; which yet Saint Paul hath so manyRom. 7. times called by the expresse name of Sinne, in one Chapter.
And for the Argument which they bring, we answer, That naturally, and from the Law of Creation, there was no formall opposition, but a subordination betweene Spirit and Sense. And therefore, notwithstanding the operations of Appetite are common unto Men and Beasts; yet we may not grant, that they have the same manner of being educed and governed in both these. For, as the operations of the vegetative Soule, though common to Beasts, Men, and Plants, are yet in either of these severally so restrained, as that they are truly sayd to be the proper and peculiar workes of that specificall forme, unto which they are annexed: So likewise, the sensitive Appetite, though generally it be common to Men and Beasts; yet in Men, it was ordained to proceed naturally from the government of Reason, and therefore may properly be called a humane Appetite, as being determined, restrained, and made conformable unto Mans Nature: so that as long as Man continued entire and incorrupt, there was a sweet harmonie betweene all his Faculties, and such an happie subordination of them each to other, as that every motion of the inferior powers was directed and governed, and therefore might truly and properly be attributed to the superior; but when once Man had tasted of that murthering Fruit, which poysoned him and all his posteritie, then began those swellings, rebellions, and unjoynting of Faculties, which made him as lame in his Nature, as it did dead in Grace; whence Passions are become now, in the state of corruption, beastly and sensuall, which were before, by Creation, reasonable and humane: For man being in honour was without understanding, and is become as the beasts that perish.
But to returne, we are, as I said, to remember, that there is in Man, by reason of his generall corruption, such a distemper wrought, as that there is not onelyonly crookednesse in, but dissention also, and fighting between his parts. And though the Light of our Reason be by Mans Fall much dimmed and decayed, yet the remainders thereof are so adverse to our unruly Appetite, as that it laboureth against us, as the Philistims against Samson, (or rather indeed as Dalilah, for Samsons eyes were truly put out, before ever the Philistims were upon him) it laboureth, I say, to deprive us of those Reliques of Sight, which we yet retaine.
And this is that first corrupt effect, which IAris…. Rbe…. l. 1 c. 3. call Imposture, or occaecation, whereby PassionQuin…l. lib. 6. cap. 2. reigning in the lower parts, and being impatient altogether of resistance or controule, laboureth to maske Reason, and to obliterate those Principles and originall Truths, whereby their unrulinesse might be restrained, or at least convinced. And hence it is, that every man, when he hath given place to the violence of Appetite, laboureth next to incline and prepare his Mind for assent, and to get Reason on the same side with Passion. Disobedience is ever cavilling, and contentious; and he who will not worke the righteousnesse of God, will be sure to dispute against it, and to stumble at it. And therefore the Apostles tell us, that Repentance, and putting away of Rom. 2. …. Prov. 10. 8. …ccles. 5. 2. … Tim. 2. 25. I…m. 1. 19, 20, 21. 1 Pet. 2. 8. Io…n 3. 20Lusts, is the onelyonly preparation to acknowledge the Truth: for so long as any man resolves to hold fast his sinne, he will ever re…ct the Truth that opposeth it, and bribe Reason to say something for it.
He made himselfe a Lyon, and anon
Became a Boare, a Panther, a Dragon.
So likewise, the Vnderstanding being onceAegrotantes Medici al…s Medicos ad se …, & Mag… p… … … …, foreign. Ar…. …. lib. 3. cap. 16. invaded by Passion, is brought to change into diverse shapes, and to judge of things, not according to their naked and naturall truth, but according as it finds them beare in the Fancie those impressions of Pleasure, which are most agreeable to corrupted Nature.
And another Reason, why we seeke to warrant and to maintaine a Passion, when we have given way unto it, is the love of our Ease: For every man, though he can be content to delight in the pleasure of a Corrupt Passion; yet that part of it, which hath the sting in it, is unpleasant: and therefore there is required the hand of Reason, by Apologies, Pleadings, and Blandishments, either to mollifie the Passion, that it shall not then pierce, or to harden and arme the subject, that it may not be sensible of it.
And, that this Deceit and Ex…ation is a proper worke of Passion, (besides our owne dayly experience) this one Argument might sufficiently proove; namely, the Practice ofTertull. contr. Valen…. cap. 4. Heretiques: who proposing to themselves eyther Gaine, or any other Carnall and corrupt End; did thereupon presently (as the Apostle notes) vent the perverse Disputes of their owne corrupt Minds, and make all Truth an Hand-maid and Lacquey to their owne Lusts▪ … Tim. 6. 5.And proportionably thereunto, their custome hath beene, Priùs persuadere quàm docere, toTertu…. de …. Isid. Pelut. l. 1. cp. 102. creepe upon the Affections of Men, and get footing there, before ever they would adventure the entertainment of their false Doctrines▪ And as it is sayd of God, that hee first accepted Abel, and then his Sacrifice; so doe they labour first, to worke an approbation of their Persons in the hearts of Men; whence in the second place, their perverse Conceits doe finde the easier accesse to their Vnderstandings.
For, when silly and unstable Mindes shall once be brought to such a Prejudice, as to have the Persons of Men in Admiration; when they shall see an Impostor come unto them, as a man that had wholly renounced the World; like Zopyrus or Synon, clothedH…rod▪ Th…lia. Ae…cid. lib. 2. and deformed with seeming Povertie and Repentance; drawing in and out his breath with no other motions, than sighes; pretending to bring nothing but the plentifull Promises of Salvation, Teares in his Eyes, Oyle and Honey in his Mouth, and the most exquisite Picture of true Holynesse, which it is possible for the Art or Hypocrisie of Mans Invention to dr…w out: How can the Vnderstanding of weake and simple people choose (especially being before framed unto beleefe, by those two Credulous Qualities, of Ignorance and Feare) but be made inclinable to receive, not onelyonly willingly, but with greedinesse also, whatsoever poysonous Doctrine, under pretence of wholesome and saving Physique, such a subtill Impostor shall administer unto them? Such a great force there is in Voluntarie Humilitie, neglecting of the Body, and other the like pretended pious Frauds, to insinuate and take possession of weake and credulous Natures; with whom haply, more Reall, Serious, and Spirituall Arguments, comming with lesse pompe and ostentation, would not prevaile.
—Captique dolis, lacrymisque coactis
Quos neque Tydides nec Larissaeus Achilles
Non anni domuere decem, non mille carinae.
They are surpriz'd by frauds and forced teares,
In whom their greatest foes could work no feares;
Whom ten yeres war not won, nor thousand ships,
Are snar'd and conquer'd by perjurious lips.
The second manner of Corruption, which2. Passion useth on the Vnderstanding and Will, was Alienating or withdrawing of Reason from the serious examination of those Pleasures, wherewith it desireth to possesse the Mind, without controule; that when it cannot so farre prevaile, as to blind and seduce Reason, getting the allowance and Affirmative Consent thereof, it may yet at least so farre inveagle it, as to with-hold it from any Negative Determination, and to keepe off the Mind from a serious and impartiall consideration of what Appetite desireth; for feare lest it should be convinced of sinne, and so finde the lesse sweetnesse in it.
And this is the Reason of that affected and Voluntarie Ignorance, which Saint Pet… 2 Pet. 3. 5.speakes of; whereby Minds prepossessed with a love of inordinate courses, doe with-hold and divert Reason, and forbeare to examine that Truth, which indeed they know; as fearing, lest thereby they should be deterred from those Vices, which they resolve to follow. Which is the same, with that excellent Metaphore in Saint Paul; who sayth▪ That the wrath of God was revealed from Heaven, on all Vngodlinesse and Vnrighteousnesse of Men, foreign, whic… Rom. 1. 18.hold or detaine the Truth in Vnrighteousnesse: that is, which imprison and keepe in that foreign, as the Apostle interpreteth himselfe, in the next Verse; all those Notions of Divine Truth, touching the Omnipotencie and Iustice of God, which were by the singer of Nature written within them, to deterre them from, or (if not) to make them inexcusable, in those unnaturall pollutions wherein they wallowed. Thus Medea in the Poet:
foreign.Eurip. Medea. Vid. Clem. Alex. St…m. l. 2. p. 284. Edi…. He…. foreign.
I know 'tis wicked that I goe about,
But Passion hath put all my Reason out.
And therefore, that Maxime of the StoicallA…ria. …. lib. 1. cap. 28. Aristot. E…hic. l. l. 3. …1▪ Philosopher, out of Plato, is false; foreign, That all men are unwillinglyMalunt nescire quta …am oderunt. Tertull. Ap…l. c. 1. deprived of Truth; since, as Aristotle hath observed, directly agreeable to the phrase of Saint Peter, there is foreign,foreign. Iusti…. …ib. qu. & …sp. q. 140. foreign. Clem. Alex. an elected or Voluntarie Ignorance, which for their Securities sake, men nourish themselves in.
And that there should be such an Alienation of the Mind from Truth, when the Fancie and Heart are hot with Passion, cannot be any great wonder: For, the Soule is of a limited and determined Activitie in the Body; insomuch, that it cannot with perspi…uitie and diligence give attendance unto diverse Objects. And therefore, when a Passion in its fulnesse, both of a violence and delight, doth take it up, the more cleare and naked brightnesse of Truth is suspended and changed: So that, as the Sunne and Moone, at their rising and setting, seeme farre greater than at other times, by reason of thick Vapours, which are then interposed; so, the Mind looking upon things through the Mists and Troubles of Passion, cannot possibly judge of them, in their owne proper and immediate Truth, but according to that magnitude or colour, which they are framed into, by prejudice and distemper.
But then, thirdly, if Reason will neither be3. deluded nor won over to the patronage of Evill, nor diverted from the knowledge and notice of Good; then doth Passion strive to confound and distract the Apprehensions thereof, that they may not with any firmenesse or efficacie of Discourse, interrupt the Current of such irregular and head-strong Motions. And this is a most inward and proper Effect of Passion: For, as things presented to the Mind, in the nakednesse and simplicitie of their owne Truth, doe gaine a more firme Assent unto them, and a more fixed intuition on them; so, on the contrarie side, those things which come mixt and troubled, dividing the intention of the Mind between Truth and Passion, cannot obtaine any setled or satisfactorie Resolution from the Discourses of Reason.
And this is the Cause of that Reluctancie betweene the Knowledge and Desires of Incontinent Men, and others of the like Nature: For, as Aristotle observes of them, they areEthic. l. 7. c. 10. In consinio concupiscenti… & poenitentia as…ra & … gand…. P…tarch. lib. Philosophand. cum princip. but foreign, Halfe-Evill, as not sinning with that full and plenarie Consent of Will, but Prat…r Electionem, as he speakes; so I may more truly say of them, that they have but an Halfe-Knowledge, not any distinct and applicative Apprehension of Truth, but a confused and broken Conceit of things in their Generalitie: Not much unlike unto Nighttalkers, who cannot be sayd to be throughly asleepe, nor perfectly awaked, but to be in a middle kind of inordinate temper betweene both; or (as Aristotle himselfe gives the similitude)Ethic. lib. 7. cap. 3. it is like a Stage-Player, whose Knowledge is expresse and cleare enough, but the things which it is conversant about, are not personall and particular to those men, but belonging unto others, whom they personate: So, the Principles of such men are in the generall, Good and True; but they are never brought downe so low, as if they did concerne a mans owne particular Weale or Woe, nor thorowly weighed, with an assuming, applying, concluding Conscience; but, like the notion of a Drunken or sleeping man, are choaked and smothered with the Mists of Passion.
And this third Corruption is that, which Aristotle, in the particular of Incontinencie,Ethic. lib. 7. cap. 7. calleth foreign, the weakenesse and disabilitie of Reason, to keepe close to her owne Principles and Resolutions: Whereunto exactly agreeth that of the Prophet; How weake is Ezech. 16. 30.thy heart, seeing thou doest all things, the workes of an imperious Whorish Woman? And elsewhere, Whoredome and Wine are sayd to take Hos. 4. 11.away the Heart. So Hector describes lascivious Paris:
——foreign,Iliad. …. 45. foreign.
Thy face hath beautie in't, but in thy brest
There doth no strength nor resolution rest.
The last Effect (which I shall but name) is4. that which Aristotle calleth foreign, Rashnesse or Precipitancie; which is the most Tyrannicall Violence which Passion useth; when, in spight of all the Dictates of Reason, it furiously over-ruleth the Will, to determine and allow of any thing, which it pleaseth to put in practise; and like a Torrent, carryeth all before it; or, as the Prophet speakes, rusheth Ier. 50. 38. Psal. 102. 8. Eccles. 9. 3. Luk. 6. 11.like an Horse into the Battell: So Lust and Anger are sometimes, in the Scripture, called Madnesse; because it transporteth the Soule beyond all bounds of Wisdome or Counsell, and by the Dictates of Reason takes occasion to become more outragious, Ipsaque praesidia occupat, feedes like Wild-fire upon those Remedies, which should remove it: As she sayd in the Poet;
Levis est dolor, qui capere consilium potest,Senec. Medaea. Lib… ire contra.
That's but light griefe, which counsell can abate; Mine swells, and all advice resolves to hate.
The corrupt effects which Passion worketh in the last place on the Body, are divers, according to the particular nature of the Passions; sometimes too sudden and violent, sometimes too heavie oppression of the heart; the other, sudden perturbation of the spirits. Thus old Ely dyed, with sudden griefe; Diodorsu, with shame; Sophocles, Chilo the Lacedemonian, and others, with joy; Nature being not able to beare that great and sudden immutation, which these Passions made in the Body. The causes and manner of which cogitation, I reserre (as being inquiries not so directly pertinent to the present purpose) unto Naturall Philosophers and Physicians. And from the generalitie of Passions, I proceed unto the consideration of some particulars, according to the order of their former division: In all which, I shall forbeare this long Method of the Antecedents, Concomitants, and Consequents of their Acts, (many particulars whereof, being of the same nature in all Passions, will require to be observed onelyonly in one or two, and so proportionally conceived in the rest) and shall insist principally in those particulars which I handle on the causes and effects of them; as being Considerations, wherein commonly they are most serviceable or prejudiciall to our Nature.