Of Peace and Contentment of Mind, Book 2 · Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII. Of the Interiour of Man.
FRom that which is altogether without us and out of our power, and may be taken from us by others or by death; Let us turne our eyes within us, upon that which is more ours, our ſoule and her endowments, naturall and acquiſite, either by ſtudy or infuſion. Not to examine very exactly their nature, but enough to judge of their price, and what ſatisfaction may be expected of them.
Becauſe I have reſtrained ſolid content to thoſe things that are within us, and which cannot be taken from us, I acknowledge my ſelfe very much perplexed about ſome things within us, and doubtful whether they be ours or no? ſeeing that many things within us may be taken from us without our conſent, and therefore are not ours abſolutly. Is there any thing that ſeemes more ours then the illumination and dexterity of our wit, and our learning, and prudence got by ſtudy and experience? for thoſe were the goods which that Philoſopher owned with ſo much oftentation, who carrying nothing but himſelf out of a Town, taken by ſtorme and pillaged, anſwered the victor that gave him leave to carry our all his goods, I carry out all my goods along with mee. But how could he make good that poſſeſſion, there being no Wit ſo clear, no Philoſophy ſo ſublime, but a blow upon the head, or a hot feaver may overturne it? Epictetus accounteth nothing ours but our opinions, our deſires, and our actions, becauſe theſe alone are in our power. But in an underſtanding maimed by Phrenſy, that power is loſt. It is true, it is not the ſoule but the Organe that is vitiated: But howſoever you cannot diſpoſe of your ſoul when that organ is out of tune.
Here to ſay that death will ſet the ſoul at liberty and then the ſpirit ſhall enjoy himſelfe, and all his ornaments, is to bring a higher queſtion to reſolve a leſſer. For there is no doubt but that the ſpirit looſed from the matter will recover that liberty of his faculties which was obſtructed by materiall cauſes; but it is a point of ſingular difficulty to judge, whether he ſhall retaine all the skill hee had got in this life.
As for mechanicall Arts, altogether tyed to the matter, it is not likely that the ſpirit will retaine that low skill, when he liveth ſeparat from the matter. But as for higher intellectuall ſciences, it ſeemes very unreaſonable that a Spirit poliſht & ſublimated by long ſtudy, and ſtored with a great treaſure of knowledge, ſhould loſe all in an inſtant by the death of the body, and that the ſoul of a great Naturaliſt, as my Lord of St. Albans, be left as bare of learning and acquiſite capacity as the ſoul of a skavenger. And when the ſoul not only is made learned but good alſo by learning, were it not lamentable that death ſhould have the power to make it worſe? Neither would holy writ preſſe this command upon us with ſo much earneſtnes, Get wiſdome, get underſtanding, forget it not, if wiſedom were an acquiſition that the ſoul muſt loſe with the body.
The difficulty lyeth, in picking among the ſciences thoſe that will be ſure to ſtick unto the ſeparat ſoul; It is much to be feared that thoſe ſciences which coſt moſt labour will bee ſooner loſt, and will goe out together with the lampe of life. For ſince the dead have no ſhare in al that is done under the ſun, it is like that great ſtudents who have fraught their memory with hiſtories, both antient & moderne, ſhall loſe, when they dye, the remembrance of ſo many things that are done under the Sunne: By the ſame reaſon Lawyers Linguiſts & Profeſſors of Sciences and arts depending upon humane commerce, ſhould leave all that learning behind them. But I doubt whether the contemplators of Gods works, as the Naturaliſts, ſhall loſe their learning when they dye ſeeing that it is the duty, & the perfectioning of the rationall creature to know the wiſedome and the power of the Creator, in his wonderfull workes. And I am inclined to beleeve that thoſe things that are done under the Sunne in which the dead have no ſhare, are the actions & buſineſſes of men, not the workes of God; but that Naturaliſts ſhall learne the ſcience of Gods workes in a higher and tranſcendent way. Alſo that Aſtrologers ſhall need other principles to know heaven; to which their forbidden curioſity to foretell humane events out of the Starres, wil rather be a barre then a furtherance Nec quicquam tibi prodeſt aerias tentâſſe domos morituro.
Among all the ſpirituall ornaments there is one which we may be confident to keep for ever when we have it once really, & therefore it is properly our owne. That rich and permanent Ornament is heavenly wiſedome, of which Solomon ſaith Prov. 3.16. Length of dayes is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour: Her wayes are wayes of pleaſantneſſe, and all her pathes are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that retaines her. That wiſedome conſiſteth in knowing, loving, and obeying God and truſting upon him. It is good ſtudying that wiſedome, that giveth eternal felicity and glory.
We finde but two things in the interiour of man, which we may be ſure not to loſe by death: The one is the ſubſtance and intellectual faculties of our ſoul of immortal nature, which cannot be ſo offuſcated with the miſts of the fleſh but ſhe is cleared of them, when ſhe is freed of the body; The other is that ſupernatural wiſedome, when it pleaſeth God to endow our minde with it, even his knowledge, his love, conformity of our will unto his will, and faith in his promiſes. Of other ornaments of the ſoul we cannot certainly ſay, what we ſhall keep and what we ſhall loſe. It will be therefore wifely and thriftily done to labour for that which wee may be ſure to keep when we have got it; and of which, death, that takes away all other poſſeſſions, ſhall deliver us a full poſſeſſion. It is a great diſcouragment to them that ſtretch their braines upon Algebra and Logarithmes and arguments in Friſesmo, as it were upon tenterhookes, to think that all that learning ſo hard to get, will bee loſt in a moment. Who would take the paines to load himſelfe with it, ſeeing that it gives nothing but vexation in this life, and leaves in the ſoul neither benefit nor trace after death; unleſſe it be the guilt ſticking to the ſoul to have miſpent the ſtrength of wit upon negotious vanities, and neglected good ſtudies.
Yet am I not ſo auſtere and peremptory as to deſpiſe all the ſpiritual endowments which we are not ſure to keep after death. For many of them are ſuch, that as we are not certaine to keep them after death, ſo we are not certaine to loſe them by death. Many of thoſe periſhable ornaments are nevertheleſſe good gifts of God. But our minde muſt be ſo diſpoſed that in theſe ſeveral ornaments of the ſoul we ſeek a contentment proportionate to the aſſurance that we have of their abiding with us. We are moſt certaine that the knowledge and love of God are permanent poſſeſſions, and impart to their poſſeſſor their permanency; there then let us apply our ſtudy and place our permanent content. We are not certaine whether the other ſpiritual ornaments will continue with us after this life. Then let us not beſtow our principal ſtudy about thoſe things which we are not ſure to keepe; nor place our chiefe content in them. Let the Soul loſe none of her advantages, let her glory in her eternall goods and there fixe herſelfe: Let her rejoyce alſo in thoſe goods which ſhe hath for a time, according to their juſt value, which muſt be meaſured by their uſe.
Before we conſider the ſeveral ornaments of the ſoul more particularly, we muſt conſider her ſubſtance and faculties. The Soul is immateriall and Spirituall bearing in her ſubſtance the image of her creator, and more yet in her faculties, and naturall endowments, which before her fall were in an eminent degree of perfection: for to be made after the likeneſs of God includeth all perfection, in ſo much that this high expreſſion, to be adequate unto man, hath need to be contracted to the proportion of a created nature.
Of that primitive perfection the traces are evident ſtill, in that reaſoning quickneſſe, and univerſal capacity, that goeth through all things and compaſſeth all things, that remembreth things paſt, that provideth for things to come, that inventeth, judgeth, ordereth, and brings forth ingenious and admirable workes. The principal is that the ſoul is capable to know God, love him, & commune with him: A priviledge ſpecial to Angels & Souls of men above all creatures; as likewiſe they are the only creatures capable of permanency, which is a participation with Gods eternity, ſuch as finite natures may admit.
Humility would not give us leave to conceive high enough of the price of our ſoul, but that the onelyonly Sonne of God, God himſelfe bleſſed for evermore, hath ſhewed the high account that he made of her; So high that he thought it worth his taking the like nature in the forme of a ſervant, and ſuffering death with the extremity of paine and ignominy, that he might recover and ſave her when ſhe had loſt herſelfe.
The ſoul being of ſuch an excellent nature, and after her decayes by ſinne reſtored to her primitive excellency by grace, is a rich poſſeſſion to herſelfe, when God gives us the wiſedome to obey that evangelical and truly Philoſophical precept of Chriſt, Luk. 21.19. In your patience poſſeſſe your ſoules; not giving leave to the impatience of cupidity and feare to ſteal that poſſeſſion from us. But the ſoul never hath the right poſſeſſion of herſelfe, till ſhe have the poſſeſſion of God. To poſſeſſe God and to poſſeſſe our ſoul is all one, for the ſpirit cannot be free, nor happy, nor his owne, but by his union with his original Being, whereby God and the ſoul have a mutual poſſeſſion one of another; A bleſſed union begun in earth by grace, and perfected in heaven by glory. The contrary ſtate which is to be ſeparated from God is the perdition of a man, and the extremity of bondage, want, and miſery.
Here to undertake an exact anatomy of the ſoul would be beſides my theame, and more yet beyond the poſſibility of right performance. For as the eye cannot ſee it ſelfe, the ſpirit of man cannot looke into his owne compoſure; and in all the Philoſophical diſcourſes upon that ſubject, I finde nothing but conjectural. It is more profitable and eaſy to learne the right government then the natural ſtructure of the ſoul. It is part of the knowledge of the ſoul, to know that ſhe cannot be known; and that her incomprehenſibleneſſe is a lineament of her Creatours image.
The ſpirit of man is more quick and ſtirring then clearſighted, and many times is like a Faulcon that flyeth up with his hood on. He hath a good wing, but he is hood winkt. How many wits take a high flight and know not where they be? And where ſhall you finde one that underſtands thoroughly the matter that he ſpeakes of? The Authors that write of all animals and plants, underſtand not the nature of a caterpiller or a lettice, how then ſhall they underſtand the nature of intellectual ſubſtances? Certainly all our Philoſophy of the nature of things is but ſeeking and gueſſing. Job 8.9. We are but of yeſterday and know nothing, becauſe our dayes upon earth are as a ſhadow, ſaith Bildad. Our life is a ſhadow becauſe it is tranſitory, but more becauſe it is dark. The Earth where we live is inwrapt in clouds, and our ſoul in ignorance as long as we live upon earth; and yet we are as reſolute and affirmative in our Opinions as if we had pitcht our Tabernacle in the Sunne: We could not ſpeak with more authority if we were poſſeſt, as God is, with the original Idea's and the very being of things. A wiſe and moderate man will not be carryed away by that preſumption, neither of others nor his owne, but with humility will acknowledge the blind and raſh nature of the ſpirit of man, that knoweth nothing and determines of all things, that undertakes all and brings nothing to an end. Pure truth and full wiſedome lyeth in the boſome of the Father of lights: Our ſoules are little, unclean, narrowmouthed veſſels, uncapable to receive it but by ſmal drops, & that little we receive we taint by our uncleanneſs.
In our ſoul we conceive two intellectual faculties, the underſtanding and the will; In the underſtanding three, imagination, memory, and judgement. Imagination is that which makes all the noiſe, entreth every where, inventeth, reaſoneth, and is alwayes in action. To it we owe all the ingenious productions of eloquence and ſubtility. Its the inventor of arts and ſciences, the learner and poliſher of inventions. It is of great ſervice, and gives great content, being well managed, and employed in good things. The office of imagination being to transforme itſelfe into the things that it takes for objects: it is transformed into God when it applyes itſelfe unto God, and is transformed into the Father of all evil, when it applyeth itſelfe unto evill.
Memory is the Exchequer of the ſoul, keeping that which the imagination and judgement commit to her truſt. In the primitive ages when the world ſtood in need of inventions, a quick & fertile imagination made able men. But in theſe laſt ages, a well furniſht memory makes a rich and a full mind; ſo ſhe be not deſtitute of the two other faculties. In vaine doth the imagination invent and collect induſtriouſly, and the judgement prudently determine, if the memory be not a faithful keeper of the inventions of the one, and the determinations of the other, and together a ready prompter at need of that ſhe hath in keeping. It is memory that keepes this good treaſure of which the Lord Jeſus ſpeakes, Matth. 12.35. A good man out of the good treaſure of the heart bringeth forth good things. But ſhe keepes evill as well as good, and often more firmly then good. An evill man out of the evill treaſure, of his heart brings forth evill things. Of her nature ſhe is indifferent to good and evill, as a paper to write what one will upon and a cheſt that will keep, any thing. According to the things that are put into that cheſt, it is either a cabinet that keepes jewels, or a ſink that receives ordure. If we will have the right uſe & content of our memory, we muſt furniſh her with good and holy things, that ſhe may alwayes prompt matter to our minde, to commune with God, & to direct and comfort ourſelves. For when ſhe is fraught with evill and vaine matter, ſhe will thruſt evill and vaine things upon us, when the occaſion and our owne minde calls for things good and ſerious, as an idle ſervant that brings his Maſter a pare of cards when he calls for a Book of devotion. Many times we heartily deſire that we could forget certain things, which our memory importunately ſets before us on all occaſions.
Judgement is the nobleſt part of the ſoul, the Chiefe Juſtice determining what the imagination diſcuſſeth, and the memory regiſtreth. Imagination makes witty men, memory learned men, but the Judgement makes wiſe men. The wiſe man is he that judgeth aright, not he that diſcourſeth finely, nor he that learneth well by heart.
For the ſtrength of the ſeveral faculties the natural temper of the braines doth much, but ſtudy perfecteth them, the judgement eſpecially; for ſome have made themſelves a judgement by uſe and experience, who had none in a manner by nature.
Of theſe three faculties, the Imagination, which is the ſeat of wit and invention, hath a neerer kindred with judgement, then memory with either; for wit will ripen into judgement, & in diſtracted braines both are imbezelled together, while memory remaines entire. It is ordinary to ſee dull fooles have a great memory. And it is credible that the largeneſſe of the memory (eſpecially when it is ſtreacht with overmuch learning) leſſeneth the two other faculties; as in three roomes of a floore, if the one be made very wide the two others muſt of neceſſity be little.
The Judgement calls all things before his tribunal, and examines them upon two points, whether they be true or falſe, good or evill. There he ſtayes, when the ſubject requires contemplation onelyonly; but when it requires action, then the determination of the judgement makes the will to move towards that which the judgement hath pronounced to be true and good; for to move towards that which we judge to be falſe or evill, we cannot. For although our will follow many times falſe and evill objects, the judgment alwayes conſiders them to be true and good, in ſome reſpect; Neither would our will ſo much as bend towards any object, unleſſe our judgement did before warrant it to us, true and good. Truth and falſhood have their ſprings without us: But moral good and evill, as farre as they concerne our innocency and guiltineſſe, have their ſprings within us; and both ſpring from our judgment, to which we muſt atribute what is aſcribed to the heart by Solomon (in whoſe tongue one word ſignifies both.) Prov. 4.23. Keepe thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the iſſues of life.
Herein then lyeth wiſedome, the worker and keeper of contentment of mind, to give a ſound judgement of objects, and thereupon to give good counſell to the will for embracing that which is good, and reſiſting all oppoſitions to it by the armes of righteouſneſſe on the right hand and on the left, ſo that the ſoul, as a well balaſted and a well guided ſhip, cuts her way through the waves, and makes uſe of all winds to ſteere her courſe to the haven of ſalvation and Gods glory, poſſeſſing calme within, among the ſtormes abroad. But for that wiſe and bleſſed temper, there is need of a higher wiſedome then the ſtrength of Nature and the precepts of Philoſophy can afford to the judgement.
By the Judgement, men are wiſe; but by the Will, they are good. Wiſedome and goodneſſe alwayes go together; when they go aſunder, they are not worthy of their name. For that man is not wiſe that inſtructeth not himſelfe to be good; and that man is not good that doeth good actions, not out of wiſedome and knowledge, but out of ſuperſtition or cuſtome.
The chiefe vertue of the underſtanding is the knowledge of God, and the chiefe vertue of the Will is his Love. Theſe two vertues comprehend all others, and help one another. They joyntly give tranquillity and content to the ſoul, when we exerciſe our ſelves in the knowledge of God, becauſe we love him; and when we love and obey him, becauſe we know him to be moſt good, moſt wiſe, moſt perfect, and moſt worthy to be loved and obeyed.
The right bent and true perfection of the will man is an entire concurrence with the will of God in all things, both to execute the will of his command and undergo the will of his decree; in both walking ſo unanimouſly with God, that man have no other will but God's. He that hath thus transformed his will into Gods will, poſſeſſeth a quiet and contented mind. For when we will alwayes what God willes, our will is alwayes done.
The will is the reaſonable appetite of the ſoul; beſides which there is in the ſoul joyned with the body an appetite halfe reaſonable and halfe ſeuſitive which comprehends all the Paſſions, ſome of which have more of the reaſonable, ſome more of the ſenſitive part, according as they ſtick more or leſſe to the matter. They muſt be the ſubject of the next Book.