A Persuasive to a Holy Life, Tract · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Of Honour and Reputation.
Fifthly, A Fifth thing conducive to the happineſs of the outward Man is Honour and Reputation, a Bleſſing highly to be valued, and much to be preferred before Riches or Pleaſures, or even Life it ſelf. Prov. 22.1. A good name is rather to be choſen than great riches, and loving favour rather than Silver and Gold. Eccleſ. 7.1. A good name is better than precious ointment. It is a Proverb among the Vulgar, Take away my good name, and take away my life: Intimating, that it is as dear to them as their Lives. Much more then will a generous perſon chuſe rather to die, than to do any unworthy thing, that may expoſe him to infamy, or blaſt his Reputation. And becauſe it is a thing of ſo great excellency, therefore we do pay it as the beſt ſervice we can do, and return we can make to God and his Deputies, Magiſtrates and Parents. Honour is a good thing, whereby we not only reap many advantages while we live, but that doth alſo ſurvive us, and abide after us when we are gone out of the World, Pſal. 112 6. The Righteous ſhall be in everlaſting remembrance. There is in man a natural deſire to have a good Name perpetuated, and mentioned with honour when he is dead and gone; which (as a learned *A B…. Tillotſon.Prelate ſaith) is a ſign that there is in Human Nature ſome preſage of a Life after Death, in which they hope, among other Rewards of well doing, to meet with this alſo, to be well ſpoken of to Poſterity.Biſhop Lo…d. And another: Man among many tokens of immortality, hath by ſecret inſtinct a natural deſire to be thought of and ſpoken of in aftertimes. Honour is a great ſpur and encouragement to Vertuous Actions: Every man (ſaith the forementioned Author) that hath any ſpark of generoſity in him, is deſirous of fame; and though men care not how ſoon it comes, yet they will be glad to have it after Death, rather than not at all. And (Biſhop Wilkins ſaith) The more wiſe and vertuous any man is, the more care will he take to tranſmit a grateful Memory of himſelf to future times, that he be well ſpoken of, that his Name may be as a precious Ointment, leaving a Perfume behind it; that men may riſe up at the mention of it, and call him bleſſed. Nor (ſaith he) can any man deſpiſe Honour; but he that doth either deſpair of it, or reſolve againſt doing any thing that may deſerve it. And certainly (ſaith the Arch-Biſhop) he that hath no regard to his Fame, is loſt to all purpoſes of vertue and goodneſs. When a man is once come to this, not to care what others ſay of him; the next ſtep is to have no care what he himſelf does. Quod Conſcientia eſt apud Deum, id fama eſt apud homine…: What conſcience is in reſpect of God, that fame is in reſpect of men. Next to a good Conſcience, a clear Reputation ought to be to every man the deareſt thing in the world.
You'll ſay, What is Honour?
It is very well defined by the *D…. Wilkins.Biſhop of Cheſter, often mentioned, to be, The eſteem and good opinion men have concerning the perſon or actions of another, together with ſuch external Expreſſions of reſpect as are ſuitable thereunto.
Now this ſo valuable a good is the peculiar reward of vertue and piety, 1 Sam. 2.30. Them that honour me, I will honour, and them that deſpiſe me, ſhall be lightly eſteemed, Prov. 4.8, 9. Solomon ſaith of Wiſdom, that is▪ the fear of God, Exalt her, and ſhe ſhall promote thee, and bring thee to honour. She ſhall give to thy head an ornament of grace, and a crown of glory, Prov. 10.7. The memory of the juſt is bleſſed, but the name of the wicked ſhall rot, Prov. 3.35. The wiſe ſhall inherit glory. But ſhame ſhall be the promotion of f…ols. Piety and Vertue command a reſpect from all ſorts of men. Good men hold themſelves obliged to give it, by the Command of God, and the excellency of the thing, it being a gift of God; and wicked men though they may deny that outward reſpect that is due to good and righteous perſons; yet even theſe cannot but have an inward veneration for Goodneſs and Religion. It is very remarkable, that even the rude and licentious Vulgar at Rome had ſuch a reverence of the Perſon of Cato, that though ſuch lewdneſs was permitted by the Law in the Feſtival of Flora, yet ſo long as he was preſent in the Theatre, they could not go on with their obſcene ſports, nor have the confidence to demand thoſe: Florales joci nudandarum meretricum, as Seneca calls them. The wicked indeed hate the righteous, becauſe his life is a reproof to them, and gives them ſome check in their vicious courſes, taking from them their great excuſe of the impoſſibility of God's Commandments; and demonſtrating, that through the aſſiſtance of Divine Grace, which is always granted to them who do what in them lies, and pray for it; it is poſſible to obey them to ſuch a degree as will be accepted by God: Wicked men though they hate vertue in the Subject, yet ſimply and abſtractly they acknowledge it to be good; though in their practice they prefer Vice before Vertue; yet never any arrived to that degree of ſottiſhneſs, as to ſay, it was better than Vertue: For example; better to be a glutton, and a drunkard than a temperate perſon: to cheat and defraud, than to be juſt and righteous in our dealings: And therefore, though they hate and perſecute men for being religious, yet they diſguiſe the Subject of their hatred, pretending it to be Hypocriſie, Hereſie, Superſtition, or the like, that they hate them for. Whence it appears, that they are ſelf-condemned perſons. Seneca in his Fourth Book, De Beneficiis, cap. 17. hath much to this purpoſe, Adeò gratioſa eſt virtus (ſaith he) ut inſitum etiam malis ſit probare meliora: Virtue is ſo gracious, that it is naturally ingrafted even in bad men to approve that which is good. And again, Nec quiſquam tantum à naturali lege deſcivit & hominem exuit, ut animi cauſâ malus ſit. Neither hath any man ſo far degenerated from the natural Law, and put off man, as to be wicked for his minds ſake, or only becauſe it is his pleaſure to be ſo. And again, Maximum hoc habemus à natura meritum, quod virtus in omnium animos lumen ſuum permittit, etiam qui non ſequuntur, illum vident: Nature hath herein deſerved exceeding well of us, That Vertue ſends its light into all mens minds, even they that do not follow it, yet ſee it.
Againſt what is generally ſaid, That there is nothing truly honourable but Vertue, it may be objected, that Learning and Knowledge is honourable, and yet it is not always accompanied with Vertue, there being ſome learned men vicious, as St. Auguſtin alſo ſuppoſes in that Saying, Quid prodeſt eſſe peritum & periturum? I anſwer, That the acquiſition of Learning and Knowledge is by ſomething vertuous and commendable, viz. Labour and Induſtry in a Calling; nay, Knowledge it ſelf being that which all men naturally deſire, and being ſome participation of a Divine Perfection, viz. Omniſcience; and being that which diſtinguiſhes us from, and advances us above brute Beaſts, and makes us capable of vertue and happineſs, a higher degree of it, exalting our Faculities, enabling us to act in a larger Sphere, and to do more good, muſt be acknowledged to be an excellent quality, and to merit ſome honour and reſpect; and all men generally think ſo, and give it accordingly.
That it doth ſo, appears further from the contrary, that is, Ignorance and Folly, which is among all men very diſhonourable, and reproachful; inſomuch, that men abhor nothing more than the imputation of Folly; eſteeming it a greater diſgrace to be accounted Fools, than to be accounted vicious; though indeed wicked men be the greateſt Fools and on the contrary, godly men the only wiſe men.
Here I cannot but wonder, that there ſhould be ſuch an unſatiable thirſt after Honour, implanted in the nature of man: Why men ſhould be ſo jealous of loſing the reputation of any new Invention; ſo troubled and diſturbed at having any of their Obſervations or Diſcoveries, though by themſelves communicated to others, publiſhed without an honourable mention of them; ſo netled at the diſcovery of any miſtake in their Writings, though but Gramatical; and being upbraided with it, why they ſhould be willing to accept of falſe honour and undue praiſes: Why they ſhould think it a great matter to be praiſed by ignorant perſons, and incompetent Judges for ſuch Abilities and Gifts, as they are not conſcious to themſelves of; Doth praiſe add any thing to them of real good beſides conceit?
I cannot conceive any other reaſon than what I intimated before, that it might be a powerful ſpur to incite them to the practice and exerciſe of religious and vertuous Actions; If it be objected that men are as jealous of their Reputation in point of Knowledge, as they are in point of Vertue; I anſwer, It is an error, and a fault, and they ought not to be ſo; though for the reaſons before alledged, I deny not Knowledge to be an excellent quality, which enlarges and advances the Underſtanding, and renders a man capable of greater Employments, and doing more good than others of inferior Abilities and improvements.
And further, that it is not Vertue alone to which Honour is due; as appears in that we are commanded to honour Parents, Magiſtrates, Miniſters in general, as ſuch, without any reſtriction or exception of thoſe that are vicious. It is enough that they have an Authority derived from God, and a kind of Divine Impreſs and Character upon them, to make them venerable.