then leave it to the Mercy of fome new Argument, and abandon it to the Perfuafion even of all the Rhetoric in the World: We should bear up against those Waves with a Refolution inflexible and immoveable. Illifos fluctus rupes ut vafta refundit, Et varias circum latrantes diffipat undas i. e. As a vaft Rock repels the rolling Tides A good Life the If this Ray of Divinity glanced upon any Part of us, it would illuminate the whole Man; not only our Words, but our Works alfo would fhine with its Brightness and Luftre; every Thing that proceeded from us, would be inlightened with this noble Splendor. We ought to be afhamed, that, in all the human Sects, there never was a Man, notwithstanding the Abfurdity and Novelty of the Doctrine which he maintained, but conformed his Manner of Life to Chriftianity in fome Measure; and that fo divine and heavenly an Inftitution should only diftinguish Chriftians by the Appellation. Would you fee a Proof of this? Compare our Manners to those of a Mahometan or Pagan: You will after all come fhort of them in that very Point where, in regard to the Advantage of our Religion, we ought to outfhine them beyond all Comparifon; and it must be faid, Are they fo Good, fo Juft, fo Charitable? They are therefore Chriftians. All other Appearances are common to all Religions: Hope, Truft, Events, Ceremonies, Penances, Martyrdoms, &c. The peculiar CharacteP Thefe Latin Verfes are by a modern Poet, who borrowed the Sentiment, and most of the Words, from those fine Lines of Virgil, Ille velut pelagi rupes immota refiftit: Ut pelagi rupes, magno veniente fragore, In fome of Montaigne's Editions we are referred to this Place in Virgil, as if Montaigne had really quoted him. a Æneid. 1. vii. v. 587–591, &c. - riftic riftic of our Truth ought to be our Virtue, as it is alfo the most celeftial and difficult Mark, and the moft worthy Product of Truth. However, when that King of the Tartars, on his embracing Christianity, defigned to repair to Lyons to kifs the Pope's Toe, and to be an Eyewitnefs of the Sanctity which he expected to find in our Manners, our good St. Lewis was in the Right to divert him from it inftantly, for fear, left on the contrary, our licentious Way of living fhould put him out of Conceit with fo holy a Belief: Yet the very Reverse of this hap pened afterwards to another, who, going to Rome for the very fame Purpofe, and obferving the diffolute Lives of the Prelates and the Laity of that Time, was the moré firmly established in our Religion, by confidering how great the Power and Divinity of it must be to maintain its Dignity and Splendor, in a Sink of fo much. Corruption, and in fuch vicious Hands. If we had but one Single Grain of Faith, we should be able to remove Mountains from their Places, fays Sacred Writ; our Actions which would then be directed and accompanied by the Divinity, would not be merely human, but would have. fomething in them of the Marvellous, as well as our Belief. Brevis eft inftitutio vita honefte, beatæque, fi credas. i. e. If thou believeft, thou wilt foon learn the Duties of an honeft and a happy Life. Some impofe upon the World that they believe what they do not believe; while others, more in Number, make themselves believe that they have Faith, not being able to penetrate what it is to Believe. 鹅 We think it strange, if in the Civil War which at this Time diftreffes our State, we fee Events float and vary, after the common and ordinary Way; and the Reafon is, because we bring nothing to it but our own. Juftice, which is in one of the Parties, is only there for Ornament and a Cloak: 'Tis indeed well urged, but is neither received, fettled, nor efpoufed by it. 'Tis the fame with that Party, as Words are in the Mouth of Jounville, c. 19. p. 88, 89 God gives his an Advocate, not as in the Heart and Affection. God owes his extraordinary Affiftance to Faith and Religion, not to our Paffions. Men make use of Religion to fatisfy their most unjust Paffions. In the latter, Men are the Guides, and therein they make ufe of Religion, though it ought to be quite the contrary. Observe if it be not by our own Hands that we train it, like foft Wax, to reprefent fo many contrary Figures from a Rule foftraight and firm. When was this more manifeft than now-a-days in France? The Heterodox, and the Orthodox, they who call White Black, and Black White, employ it fo much alike to ferve their violent and ambitious Undertakings, and proceed with fuch a Conformity of Riot and Injustice, that their pretended Difference in Opinions, in an Affair whereon depend the Conduct and Rule of our Life, is thereby rendered doubtful, and hard of Belief. Is it poffible to see a greater Uniformity and Sameness of Manners to proceed from one and the fame School and Discipline? Obferve with what horrid Impudence we pelt one another with Divine Arguments, and how irreligiously we have rejected and refumed them, juft as Fortune has shifted our Station in thefe public Storms. This fo folemn a Propofition, Whether 'tis lawful for a Subject to rebel, and take Arms against his Prince for the Defence of Religion; don't you remember in whofe Mouths laft Year the Affirmative of it was the Prop of one Party, and the Negative the Pillar of the other? And hearken now from ' what Quarter comes the Vote and Inftruction both of the one and the other, and whether the Guns roar less for this Caufe than for that. We condemn those to the Flames, who fay, that Truth must be made to bear the Yoke of our Neceffity; and yet does not France act worse than merely faying it? Let us confefs the real Truth; whoever should make a Draught from the Army, which is raised by lawful Authority, of those who serve in it out of a pure Zeal for Religion, and of thofe also who have only in View the Protection of the Laws of their Coun try, Here Montaigne (as Mr. Bayle fays, in his Dictionary, at the Article HOTMAN, Note I.) gently lathes the Catholics. try, or the Service of their Prince, he would not be able, from both muftered together, to form one compleat Company of Gendarmes. Whence now does this proceed, that there are fo few to be found who have maintained the fame Purpofe, and the fame Progrefs in our public Commotions, and that we fee them one while jogging but a Foot-pace, and another while riding full Speed and how comes it that we fee the fame Men fpoiling our Affairs at one Time by their Violence and Acrimony, at another Time by their Coldnefs, Indolence, and Dulnefs, but that they are fwayed by partial and cafual Confiderations, according to the Variation of which they move? The Zeal of the Chriftians full of Injustice and Fury. I fee plainly that we do not willingly afford Devotion any other Offices, but fuch as flatter our Paffions. There is no Warfare fo excellent as the Chriftian. Our Zeal performs Wonders, when it feconds our Inclination to Hatred, Cruelty, Ambition, Avarice, Detraction, Rebellion, &c. But if it be turned against the Grain, towards Good-nature, Benignity, Temperance &c. unless, by a Miracle, fome uncommon Difpofition prompts us to it, it ftirs neither Hand nor Foot. Our Religion, which is framed for the Extirpation of Vices, fcreens, nourishes, and incites them. We must not mock God. If we believed him, I do not fay by Faith, but with a fimple Belief, nay (to our great Shame I speak it) if we believed and acknowledged him as we do any other History, or as any of our Companions, we should love him above all other Things, for the infinite Goodnefs and Beauty that fhine in him; at least, he would have the fame Rank in our Affections, as Riches, Plea fures, Glory, and our Friends. The beft of us all is not fo much afraid of offending him, as offending a Neighbour, a Parent, or a Mafter. Is there a Man of fo weak Understanding, who, having any of our vicious Pleasures in view on one Side, and, on the other, as full a Knowledge and Perfuafion of a State of a glorious Immortality, would be willing to exchange the one for the other? And yet we often renounce the latter, out of mere VOL. II. L Con Book II. Contempt; for what Luft tempts us to blafpheme, if not, perhaps, even the Defire of offending? While the Prieft was initiating Antifthenes the Philosopher in the Myfteries of Orpheus, and telling him, that they who devoted themfelves to that Religion, were to receive eternal and perfect Happiness after their Death; the Philofopher faid to him, "If thou believeft it, Why doft not thou thyfelf die? Diogenes more bluntly, according to his Manner, though not fo much to our prefent Purpose, faid " to the Prieft, who made the like Preachment to him, that he fhould enter into his Order, if he would be happy in the other World? Wouldst thou make me believe, that two fuch great Men as Agefilaus ⚫ and Epaminondas will be miferable, and that thyself, who art but a Calf, and canft do no Good, fhalt be happy, • because thou art a Prieft? If we received thefe great Promises of everlasting Happiness, with the fame Deference as we do a Philofophical Lecture, we should not be fo horribly afraid of Death. Non jam fe moriens diffolvi conquereretur, Sed magis ire foras, veftemque relinquere ut anguis i. e. We should not on a Death-Bed grieve to be Diffolv'd, but rather launch out chearfully From our old Hut, and with the Snake be glad To caft off the corrupted Slough we had; Or with th' old Stag rejoice to be now clear From the large Horns too pond'rous grown to bear. I am willing to be diffolved, we fhould fay, and to be with Jefus Chrift. The Force of Plato's Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul actually made fome of his Dif ciples dispatch themselves, that they might the fooner enjoy the Hopes he gave them. Diog. Laert. in the Life of Antifthenes, lib. vi. fect. 4. * Idem, in the Life of Diogenes the Cynic, lib. vi. fect. 39. Lucret. lib. iii. v. 612, &c. *Sr. Paul's Ep. to the Philippians, c. i. v. 234 3 |