fay, Whether a wife Man can be a wife Man and a Fool at one Time? But perhaps the Querift's Sense was thus, Whether a Man may act prudently, if he has a Complacency in himself for making a fine Harangue? To which we aniwer, That all Things are good or bad; if his Harangue was good and moral, he had Reafon to rejoice at it, but he ought not to praise himfelf for it, but think of St. Paul's Question, What have we that we have not received? If the Harangue was wicked and immoral, (for Wit changes not its Nature, but rather makes it worfe) then the Cafe is quite alter'd, and there's Occafion enough for Self-regret and Difpleature. Q. Having heard that there is a Part of the Hebrew Jofephus fill extant in the Vatican at Rome, but the reverend Dr. Burnet doubting of it: I defire to know whether that is a real Part of it or not? A. That Ingenious Great Man having doubted of the Report, we fha'n't pretend to give our Opinion after him, unlefs in the fame Words; for every one knows the great Learning he has, the Inquifitiveness of his Nature, and the Opportu nities he had to be fatisfied of the Reasonableness or Unreafonableness of the Relation, render'd him as capable a Judge of it as any Perfon living. Q Since you have given me the Encouragement of a further Anwer, upon a particular Relation of the Nature and Occafins of my Despair, I shall here add, that 'tis the Unkindness of Parents, not allowing me Neceffaries: But chiefly my Difcontent arifes from the biding of God's Face from me, and being deftitute of all Senfe of his Mercy in my Applications to him? A. In further Answer to your Queftion, we add, That a Suppofition of Unkindness from Parents, in not allowing Neceffaries, may be as well an Error of your Judgment, as of theirs; and 'tis much the likelier of the Two; for nothing is abfolutely neceffary in this World, but a moderate Competency of Cloth and Bread; as for Expences, they are not very neceffary amongst virtuous Companions, who may either converfe privately, or (which most adds to the Hap pinefs of Converfe) walking together, if the Disposition of the Body will bear it; and if Nature would want Refreshment in those Intervals, it may be prevented before hand. Take this for an infallible Maxim, He that cannot be content in a mean Condition, cannot be fatisfied in a great one; for 'tis not the Condition which in its felf affords Satiffaction, but a quiet, peaceful, refigning Breaft; if that be dif ordered, all Enjoyments elfe are only nominal, and carry but bare Appearance of GoodBut fuppofe an Unreasonablenefs of the Parent in the above mentioned Cafe, you ought not to be disturbed, fince 'tis the Performance of your own Duty that is the Teft of your Happiness or Unhappiness. Epictetus (that great Man, I had like to have faid more) divides divides all things into two Refemblances of the great Original) if we mifs this, we mifs all, and all that. we do is in vain; nor is there any thing elfe that can make us happy, because there must be a Proportion betwixt every Power and its Object; we distinguish not Sounds by the Eyes, nor Smells by the Ear, but remit every thing to its Proper Senfe. Now the Mind of Man, strictly speaking, being the Man, (for the Body differs only in its Shape from Brutes, being Senfual, Weak, &c. it must have its adequate and proper Objec too, which is GOD; if we fhould lay the Scripture by, this may be proved by Reason; for the Diffatisfaction that all other Objects afford, fhews that there's not a due Proportion betwixt them and the Soul; for if fo, it would fix there, and feek no further; as the Needle touched with the Loadstone, is never at reft till it meets with the NorthernPole, but then it fixes from farther Rambling; now the Defpair of meeting this great and only adequate Object, as in the prefent Cafe, may well meet with the utmost Horror and Difcontent; but in Order to Regulation of the Querifts, and other Perfons Distractions, that may be under the fame Inquietude, we lay down the following Rules. First, That the Troubles for want of fuch a Happiness are the first Step to the Attainment of it. No Perfon will purfue any thing, if the Want, of it would not make him miferable. F Secondly, Secondly, The Senfe of this Unhappiness must either be from the Spirit of GOD, or the Suggestions of the Devil; if the first, 'tis an Argument of Sonship and Adoption, and ought to be fo received, with this Effect upon you, a greater Care and Encouragement in your Duty. If the laft, 'tis an Argument your Cafe is yet the better, for the Devil disturbs no Body that he is fecure of; but to thofe that he's afraid of lofing, he makes good his old Character, That he is a Lyar from the Beginning. Thirdly, That a Senfe of the Difpleafure of GOD, and the hiding of his Face, is the Cafe of many of his People; fee the Example of the whole Church in Solomon's Song, as alfo in the Lamentations; and for particular Perfons, fee Da vid, a Man after God's own Heart, and our Saviour himfelf upon the Cross. How comes a Fright to bring a drunken Man to bis Senfes again? A. We Question whether it will do fo, they having feldom Wit enough to be afraid : But if it does, this may be affign'd as a probable Reason thereof; The Vapours which fly to the Head from the Stomach, (as the Spirits in Bottled Ale) in a continued Stream, are by fuch a Fright checkt in their Motion, and return again together with the Spirits and Blood towards the Heart, which leaving the Head freer than before, may bring 'em a little to their Senfes. Q. Whence proceeds that glimmering Light which we fee in the Body of the Moon, when totally eclips'd? A. It proceeds from those refracted Rays which from the ambient Air ftrike upon the Body of the Moon, tho' the Sun fhines not immediately upon it as when we hold our Hand, or any other Object before a Candle, especially if at fome Distance from it, tho' it darkens the oppofite Wall com paratively to what it was before, yet 'tis ftill much lighter than if there were no Candle at all in the Rooni. Q. What causes the Union of Soul and Body of fuch diffe vent Natures, one an active im material Subftance, the other unactive lumpish Clay? A. Nothing but that Divine Power who made both; nor perhaps does any one else certainly know the Manner of this miraculous Union, he having left fome things in Nature beyond the Reach of human Curiofity, on Purpose to point out a fuperiour Agent and firft Being, as neceffary in Philofophy as in Divinity or Policy either. or not Q. If a Man has a Brother, by Nature or Affinity, that owes Two or Three Hundred Pound, and is not worth half fo much, but goes off with all, with an Intention to pay none, half he's ableHe depofites this with a Brother, confiding in bim, and won't be perfuaded to pay as far as it goes: Whether or no the Brother be oblig'd in Point of Honefly to do Fultice to the Creditors, in revealing this Money? A. The A. The very Question is its own Answer. Every one is obliged to do Justice, if even himself is concern'd, and no Brother can be nearer. He may as well be acceffary to a Robbery as a Cheat; for this is no better, and he is no other; nay, 'tis in fome fort worfe than a Robbery on the High Way that I may guard my felf from, but Breach of Faith. I cannot; and indeed it feems a Hardship in our Laws, that a poor Shop-lift fhou'd be hang'd for breaking in and pilfering a few Goods, not perhaps Five Pound; nay not perhaps Twenty Shillings Value; and yet one that takes One Hundred, Two Hundred, or a Thousand Pounds Worth, after having Rioted away one Part of it, fhou'd with Impunity carry off the other in the Mint or Fryars, and fend it going after the fame Rate, or elfe depofite it in a fecond or third Hand, who, if he keeps it from the Creditors, is just as honeft as the Pick-pockets Receiver, who hands away the Prey which his Brother Rogue has angled for. Q. What's the Reason of bating Cheese, and other Antipathies? A. Very often, we believe, nothing in the World but an inveterate Cuftom. Sometimes it has, we own, a deeper Root, and may probably fpring from fome Defire or Averfion in the pregnant Mother. Of others, tis an occult Quality, that is, in plain English, no Body knows what, but a Thing as purely unaccountable as the CompleVOL. III. xions, Features, or common Inclinations of different Men, one whereof loves one fort of Fruit or Meat better than another, tho' all the World can tell no Reason why. Q. Why Adam and Eve after the Fall few'd Fig-leaves together, and made themselves Aprons? A. Why do Men now fow Cloth together to make themfelves Breeches? Q. Is there any fuch thing as Natural Modefty (in the Cafe above-mentioned) and has not Bergerac Reafon for that con trary Cuftom which he introduces in his. World in the Sun? A. That Custom may do well enough in an imaginary World, but will hardly ever take in a World inhabited by any thing that's Human- and fhou'd that mad Author, who recommends it himself, have practifed it, he would have been chain'd for his Pains, and treated like a Mad-man as he was, almost in any Part of our World. But 'tis no Wonder to find one ridicule Modefty, who does as much by Piety it felf, any more than that our Atheistical Sparks fhou'd follow his Steps, and when they had firft parted with Religion, fend their fmall Humanity after it. But let 'em fay what they please, there is still fuch a Thing as Natural Modefty, if we can ever know what is Natural, and there certainly must be fo, which all Nations and all Men practise, and own to be fo. They can't have Modefty in Climates where there's no Neceffity, and if F 2 there there fhou'd be any found fo brutish as to be willing to neglect it; Nature her felf has done it for 'em in fuch a manner, as he has not to any of the rest of the World. Q. Whether it would not be bigbly beneficial. to Piety, if the London Divines wou'd meet, and take each of 'em a particular Vice, in the Jame manner as they agreed upon controverted Points in the Two laft Reigns, and each handle his Point with all the Charms of facred Eloquence and Holy Zeal imaginable, fince the Common, Life. lefs, and Infipid Difcourfes on thfe Subjects never make any deep er lafting Impreffions on the Minds of the Readers? A. They have already done what may be almoft equivalent to this Propofal, in Obedience to Authority, all their Pulpits having been employ'd as the Querift would have the Preffes; and if thofe Difcourfes which have been there made, were but that way render'd more Publick, they might go very far in helping forward that Great Reformation of Manners, which the State is fo earnest to accomplish, and all good Men fo much defire. / Q. How was't poffible that the Dew of Hermon fhou'd defcend upon the Mountains of Sion, when thofe Places are at least a Hundred Miles diftant from each other? A. This Queftion, among o thers, fo puzzled St. Auftin, that the good Father, as was ufual in thofe Cafes, allegorizes away all the Difficulty, and finds out a Mystical Mean Nor ing, when he knew not what though a little too effectually, Firft, The Impoffibility (as it appears to us) of giving any other tolerable Solution of the Place, all thofe already brought being fo unfatisfactory. Secondly, The Appofiteness of the Metaphor, and the Agreement it has with that juft before produc'd. The Pfalmist there compares Unity, first, to the Holy Ointment which from Aaron's Head ran down to his Beard, and thence to the Skirts of |
