Of Peace and Contentment of Mind, Book 2 · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. Of the Evils oppoſite to the forenamed Goods.
IT is to make the title ſhort, that I call them evill, not to condemne without appeale & informatition all that is not in the liſt of the goods of fortune and goods of the Body. By looking upon theſe goods we may judge of their oppoſites: An eaſy worke, for having found nogreat excellency in theſe goods & no ſolid content in the poſſeſſion of them, it followes that to be without them is no great miſery.
They muſt be viewed impartially, for there is both good and evil every where, although to ſpeake Philoſophically and properly, the true evill and the true good lie within us. The ſilly vulgar cannot comprehend that a man can finde his happineſſe and unhappineſſe within himſelfe, and ſeeke their good abroad where it is not; toyling, ſweating, and wearing out their life with labour in that queſt and making themſelves miſetable out of feare of miſery. Whereas moſt accidents without are neither Good nor evill in themſelves, and become good or evill to us according to the diſpoſition of our minds. And of things within us, there are but two in themſelves evill, Sinne, and Paine.
Stoicians will not acknowledge paine to be evill, becauſe it ſticks to the body onelyonly, which, ſay they, is mans lodging not man himſelfe. But what-man feels all the incommodities of that lodging▪ The ſoul is tyed by perſonal Union with the ſenſes and really ſuffers what they ſuffer. So to maintaine, that paine is not evil when one feels it, commanding the outward countenance to unmoovedneſſe in the midſt of the ſharpe torments of the ſtone and the gout, laughing when one hath more minde to cry, is increaſing paine with the addition of conſtraint, and heaping folly upon miſery.
But paine becomes a bleſſing to the wiſe and godly, which learne by it to weane their hearts from the love of the world and themſelves, and to ſeeke in God that comfort which they finde not in this world and this life: for all things helpe together for good unto them that love God.
Herein the ſenſes may do good ſervice to reaſon & piety, to find content in many things where others find the contrary. Some will declame gainſt the ſenſes as ill Judges of the goodneſſe and badneſſe of things. To whom we muſt ſay that the ſenſes are never Judges but informers, and that the ill information that our underſtanding receiveth of the quality of the objects ought not to be imputed to the ſenſes, for they plainly report what they perceive, but to the prepoſſeſt Imagination, which upon their ſimple information frameth falſe Ideas, ſet off with colours of her owne, which ſhe preſents to the Judgement, and makes him Judge amiſſe through misinformation.
If we will then get good ſervice from the ſenſes for the right informing of our judgment, we muſt obtaine of ourſelves theſe two points. The one not to receive their teſtimony but about their proper objects, which are the outward qualities wherewith the ſenſes are affected. The other not to preoccupate them with Imagination, Opinion, and Paſſion. So when they are confined to their owne province and become impartial witneſſes, it will be eaſy to perſwade our reaſon rather to beleev our owne ſenſe, then the Opinion of another.
Thus, when we deſire to know whether we be unhappy becauſe we are deprived of riches, kept back from honours, without reputation, or ill reputed in the world, we muſt not referre ourſelves about that to the Opinion and talk of the world, but to our owne ſenſe. Let us ſincerely examine our ſenſes, what harme wee receive by it. Are we more hungry or cold by theſe miſfortunes? Doth the Sunne ſhine leſſe bright upon us? Is our bed harder? Is our meat leſſe feeding? If our ſenſes thus examined, have nothing to complaine of, and yet we complaine that wee are come ſhort of ſome hopes, that others ſtep before us, that the world regards us not, or ſpeakes ill of us; Let us ingenuouſly acknowledge, upon the teſtimony of our ſenſes, that we are well if we can beleeve it, and that it is not out of Senſe but Opinion that we are afflicted.
This is the difference betweene fooles and wiſe men, Fools conſult Opinion and Cuſtome: Wiſemen conſult reaſon, piety, and nature. Fooles regard what others think: Wiſemen conſider what themſelves finde and feele. Fooles gape after things abſent: Wiſemen poſſeſſe the preſent and themſelves. O how many men complaine that have no hurt, but in their imagination! which is indeed a great hurt, and incurable many times. When you ſee a man rich and healthful, tearing his heart for ſome inconſiderable loſſe, or for the raſh words of an ill tongue; deſire him to aske his ſenſes, where the paine is. And if he feele no paine by it, why doth he put himſelfe to paine? Why is he ill, when he may be well? He is well, if he can but heale his imagination. Is it not a diſgrace to a reaſonable creature, that whereas reaſon ought to rectify the ſences, the ſenſes ſhould need to rectify reaſon! and that men who love themſelves ſo much muſt be exhorted to do no harme to themſelves when they feele no harme? A rational godly man will examine what he feeles, and will do no harme to himſelfe when God doth him good. And when his ſenſes have reaſon to complaine, he will quietly hearken to them, and rather beleeve their report about the meaſure of the evill then the cryes of the by-ſtanders that commiſerate him. He will not be eaſily perſwaded that he is ſicker then he is indeed, and will not increaſe his paine with his imagination. And whereas others make themſelves ſick out of imagination when they are well; he will uſe his imagination, to make himſelfe well when he is ill.
Not that I would adviſe a man to blind himſelfe for feare of ſeeing, and dull his ſenſe for feare of feeling evills: For the better we know the nature of things, the better we know how to deale with them, that we may avoid or beare the evill that is in them. But becauſe imagination hath a real force to increaſe or diminiſh many evils, it is the part of a wiſeman alwayes to imploy the ſtrength of his imagination to his advantage, never to his hurt.
The evills where the indulgence of Opinion muſt be uſed to make them lighter are the evills of the body and fortune; But as for the evils of the mind which are the vices of the underſtanding and the will, there the flattery of Opinion is moſt dangerous; for the principal ſickneſſe of the mind is, that one thinkes not himſelfe to be ſick.
I have adviſed reaſon to take counſel of the ſenſes when the imagination aggravateth the evil, or makes it, and yet the ſenſes are free of paine: But when the ſenſes are offended in earneſt, then they muſt take counſel of reaſon, and more yet of piety, to finde ſome eaſe.
Let us meditate upon the nature of thoſe evils of fortune and body, ſo much feared in the world. He that gives a right Judgement of the evill, hath halfe found the remedy.