Book II. bumilibus autem dat gratiam, i. e. God refifteth the Proud, but giveth Grace to the Humble. Understanding is in all the Gods, fays Plato, but in Man there's little or none. However, 'tis very comforting to a Chriftian to see our mortal and frail Talents fo fitly fuited to our Holy and Divine Faith, that when they are employed on Subjects which are in their own Nature mortal and frail, they are not more equally, or more ftrongly appropriated to them. Let us fee then, if there are stronger Reasons than those of Sebonde in the Power of Man, nay, if it be possible for him to arrive at any Certainty, by Reafon and Argument. For St. Auguftine, pleading against thefe People, has good Caúfe to reproach their Injustice for maintaining thofe Parts of our Belief to be falfe, which our Reason cannot comprehend. And, to demonftrate that many Things may be, and may have been, of which our Reason cannot discover the Nature and Caufes, he fets before them certain known and undoubted Experiments, into which Man confeffes he has no Infight. And this he does, as all other Things, with a curious and ingenious Inquiry. We must do more than this, and make them know, that, to evince the Weakness of their Reason, there is no Neceffity of calling out rare Examples; and that it is fo lame and fo blind, that there is no Facility clear enough for it; that what is difficult and easy are one and the fame to it; that all Subjects equally, and Nature in general, disclaim its Jurifdiction and Interpofition. What does Truth mean, when she preaches to us to beware of worldly Philofophy; when it fo often inculcates to us, that the Wisdom of this World is Foolishness with God; that of all Vanities Man is the vaineft; that the Man who prefumes upon his Wif• dom, does not fo much as know what Wisdom is; and that Man who is a Nothing, if he thinks himself any Thing, feduces himself and is deceived?' Thefe Sentences of the Holy Spirit express in so clear and lively a Manner, what I am for maintaining, that I should need Pet, ch, v. ver. 4, * Cor, ch, iii, ver, 19. no other Proof to convince Men, who would with all Obedience submit to fuch Authority. The Advantage of Man above the other Creatures. But these are willing to be fcourged at their own Expence, and don't care that their Reafon fhould be opposed by any Thing but Reafon. Let us then, for once, confider a Man alone without Foreign Affiftance, armed only with his own Weapons, and deftitute of the Divine Grace and Wisdom, which is all his Honour, his Strength, and the Foundation of his Existence. Let us fee how he has behaved in this fine Equipage. Let him make me understand by the Force of his Reason, upon what Foundation he has built thofe great Advantages which he thinks he has above all other Creatures: Who has made him believe that this wonderful Motion of the Celestial Arch, the eternal Light of thofe Tapers that roll fo majestically over his Head, the surprising Motions of the boundless Ocean, fhould be established, and continue, for fo many Ages, purely for his Convenience and Service? Can any Thing be imagined fo ridiculous as that this miferable Caitiff, who is not fo much as Master of himself, and expofed to be injured by all Things, fhould ftile himself Mafter and Emperor of the World, of which it is not in his Power to know the leaft Part, much lefs to command the Whole? And this Privilege, which he arrogates to himfelf, of being the only Creature, in this vaft Fabric, that has the Capacity of distinguishing the Beauty and the Parts of it; the only one that can return his Thanks to its Architect, and keep an Account of the Revenues and Disbursements of the World; who I wonder fealed that Patent for him? Let him fhew us his Commiffion for this great and fplendid Employment. Was it granted in Favour of the Wife only? Few People are Sharers in it. Are Fools and Knaves worthy of fo extraordinary a Favour, and, being the worst Part of Mankind, to be preferred before all the reft? Shall we believe the Paffage which fays', Quorum igitur caufà quis dixerit effellum effe mundum? Eorum fci licet That is to fay, Balbus the Stoic, who speaks thus in Cicero de Natura Deorum, lib. ii, c. 53. Book II. licet animantium, quæ ratione utuntur. Hi funt Dii & bomines, quibus profectò nihil eft melius, i. e. For whofe Sake, therefore, fhall we conclude that this World was made? For theirs who have the Ufe of Reason. These are Gods and Men, than whom certainly Nothing is better. We can never fufficiently decry the Impudence of this Conjunction. But poor Creature, what has he in himfelf worthy of fuch an Advantage? To confider the incorruptible Life of the Celestial Bodies, their Beauty, Magnitude, and continual Motion, by fo juft a Rule, Cum fufpicimus magni cæleftia mundi Templa fuper, ftellifque micantibus æthera fixum, i. e. When we the Heavenly Arch above behold, To confider the Dominion and Influence which thofe Bodies have, not only over our Lives and Fortunes, Falta etenim et vitas hominum fufpendit ab aftris ". i. e. Men's Lives and Actions depend on the Course of the Stars, but over our very Inclinations, our Reafon, our Wills, which are governed, animated, and agitated at the Mercy of their Influences. Speculataque longè Deprendit tacitis dominantia legibus aftra, i. e. Contemplating the Stars he finds that they And Manil, lib, iii, v. 58, i Idem, lib. i. ver. 62, . Lucret. lib. v. 1203. And that the enamell'd Spheres which roll above, And, studying these, he also can foresee To obferve, that not a Man, no not a King, is exempt, but that Monarchies, Empires, and all this lower World are biafs'd by the Motions of the leaft of the Celestial Orbs, Quantáque quam parvi faciant discrimina motus, Tantum eft hoc regnum quod Regibus imperat ipfis *. i. e. How great a Change a little Motion brings, So great this Kingdom is that governs Kings! If our Virtues, our Vices, our Knowledge and Learning, and this fame Reafoning of ours upon the Power of the Stars, and this Comparison of them to us proceed, as our Reason judges, by their Means, and from their Fa your. furit alter amore, Et pontum tranare poteft et vertere Trojam: Hoc quoque fatale eft, fic ipfum expendere fatum'. This War's not their's, but Fate's that fpurs them on, That on this Theme I now expatiate. * Manil. lib. i. v. 57. et lib. iv. v. 93, 4 If Book II If we hold this Portion of Reafon which we have by the Bounty of Heaven, how is it poffible that it fhould make us equal to the Donor? How can it fubject his Effence and Qualities to our Knowledge? Whatever we see in thofe Bodies, aftonishes us: Que molitio, quæ ferramenta, qui veltes, quæ machinæ, qui miniftri tanti operis fueruntTM ? What Contrivance, what Inftruments, what Levers, what Machines, what Operators were employed in so vaft a Work? Why do we deprive them of Soul, of Life, and of Reafon? Have we, who have no Correfpondence with them, but in Obedience, discovered any immoveable and infenfible Stupidity in them? Shall we say, that we have difcovered the Ufe of a reasonable Soul in no other Creature but Man? And why? Have we feen any Thing like the Sun? Does it ceafe to be, because we have not feen any Thing like to it? And do its Motions ceafe, because there are no other like to them? If what we have not feen, is therefore not in Being, our Knowledge is wonderfully contracted: Quæ funt tantæ animi anguftiæ"! ́i. e. How narrow are our Understandings! Are they not Dreams of human Vanity to make the Moon a Celeftial World? To fancy as Anaxagoras did, that there are Mountains and Vallies in it? and there plant Habitations and human Dwellings, and to raise Colonies in it for our Convenience, as Plato and Plutarch have done? and of our Earth, to make a bright fhining Star? Inter cætera mortalitatis incommoda, et hoc eft, caligo mentium: Nec tantum neceffitas errandi, fed errorum amor. • Corruptibile corpus aggravat animam, et deprimit terrena inhabitatio fenfum multa cogitantem, i. e. Amongst other Inconveniences of Mortality, this is one, viz. the Darkness of the Understanding, which is not only under a Neceffity of Erring, but has a Delight in it. Senec. de Ira, lib. ii. c. 9. Pre Cic. de Nat. Deorum, lib. i. c. 8. n Cic. de Nat. lib. i. c. 31. • In fome Editions of Montaigne, the Paffage that follows is afcribed to Seneca, Ep. 65. but 'tis not in that Epiftle, and I fancy, by the Stile of it, 'tis not to be met with in any other of Seneca's Difcourfes. However this be, it may be thus rendered into English: The corruptible Body ftupifies the Soul of Man, and this earthly Habitation dulls the Imagination, which is employed on a Multitude of Objects. At length I met with this Pallage in St. Auguftine de Civitate Dei, lib. xii. c. 15. |