Book I. Smells to the Nofe, were to blame; for they will carry themselves; especially to me: My very Mustachios which are full grown perform that Office; for if I stroke them but with my Gloves, or Handkerchief, the Scent will remain in them a whole Day: They used to discover formerly where I had been; the clofe, lufcious, eager and melting Kiffes of Youth, then left a Sweetnefs upon my Lips, for feveral Hours after. And yet I have found myfelf very little fubject to Epidemick Difeafes, that are caught, either by converfing with the Difeafed, or bred by the Contagion of the Air; I have very well escaped from thofe of my Time, of which there have been feveral Sorts in our Cities and Armies. We read of Socrates, that though he never quitted Athens, during the frequent returns of the Plague to that City, he only was never infected.

es.

The Origin of Phyficians might (I believe,) extract greater the Ufe of In- Utility from Odours, than they do; for I cenfe in Church- have often obferved they caufe an Alteration in me, and work upon my Spirits according to their feveral Virtues; which makes me approve of what is faid, namely, that the Ufe of Incenfe and Perfumes in Churches, fo ancient, and fo univerfally received in all Nations, and Religions, was intended to chear us, and to roufe and purify the Senfes, the better to fit us for Contemplation.

Meat feafoned I could have been glad, the better to judge with odorife- of it, to have tafted the Culinary Compounds rous Drugs. of thofe Cooks who had the Knack of perfuming their Provifions, as was particularly obferved at the Table of the King of Tunis, who in our Days landed at Naples, to have an interview with Charles the Emperor. His Dishes were stuffed with odoriferous Drugs, to fuch an Expence, that the Cookery of one Peacock, and two Pheasants, amounted to a hundred Ducats, dreffed after their Fashion. And when they were carved, not only the Dining Room, but all the Apartments of his Palace, and the adjoining Streets were filled with an Aromatick Vapour, which did not prefently vanish. My chiefeft Care in chufing my Lodging, is always to avoid a thick

and ftinking Air; and thofe beautiful Cities of Venice and Paris, have very much leffened the Fondness I had for them, the one by the Stench of her Marthes, and the other of her Mud.

CHA P. LVI.

Of Prayers.

I Propofe form and Fancies, like those who publish fubtle Queftions, to be difputed upon in the Schools, not to establish Truth, but to feek it: And I fubmit them to the better Judgment of those, whofe Office it is to regulate, not my Writings and Actions only, but my Opinions. Let what I here fet down meet with Correction or Applaufe, it will be alike welcome and ufeful to me, who condemn it for abfurd and impious, if any Thing fhould be found, through Ignorance or Inadvertency, couched in this Rhapsody, contrary to the facred Refolutions and Prefcriptions of the Roman Catholick Church, in which I was born, and in which I will die. And yet, always fubmitting to the Authority of their Cenfure, who have an abfolute Power over me, I thus venture, at Random, to treat of every Thing, as I do the prefent Subject.

Pater-nofter, a Prayer which Chrifians aught constantly to ufe.

I know not if I am deceived; but fince, by a fpecial Favour of the Divine Goodness, a certain Form of Prayer has been prefcribed and dictated to us, Word by Word, from the Mouth of God himself, I have ever been of Opinion, that we ought to have it in more frequent Ufe than we yet have; and, if I were worthy to advise, at the fitting down to, and rising from our Tables, at our rifing from and going to Bed, and in every particular Action, wherein it is a Cuftom to pray, I would that Chriftians fhould make ufe of the Lord's Prayer, if not alone, yet at least always. The Church may lengthen and diverfify Prayers, according to the Neceffity of our Instruction, for I know very well, that it is always the fame

in

Book I. in Subftance, and the fame Thing: But yet fuch a Preference ought to be given to that Prayer, that the People fhould have it continually in their Mouths; for it is most certain, that all neceffary Petitions are comprehended in it, and that it is infinitely proper for all Occafions. It is the only Prayer I ufe in all Places, and what I repeat inftead of changing; whence it alfo happens, that I have no other by Heart fo much as that.

Men ought not to call upon God indifferently upon all Occafions.

It just now comes into my Mind, from whence we fhould derive that Error of having Recourfe to God in all our Defigns and Enterprizes, of applying to him in all our Wants, and in all Places where our Weakness ftands in Need of Support, without confidering whether the Occafion be juft or otherwise, and of invoking his Name and Power, in what Eftate foever we are, or what Action we are engaged in, how vicious foever: He is, indeed, our fole Protector, and can do all Things for us: But though he is pleased to honour us with his paternal Care, he is, notwithstanding, as Juft, as he is Good and Mighty; for he oftner exercises his Juftice than his Power, and favours us according to that, and not according to our Petitions.

Plato, in his Laws, makes three Credenda injurious to the Gods. 1. That there is none. 2. That they concern not themselves about our Affairs. And, 3. That they never deny any Thing to our Vows, Offerings, and Sacrifices*. The firft of these Errors (according to his Opinion) did never continue invincible in any Man, from his Infancy to his Old Age; the other two, he confeffes, Men might be obstinate in.

The Soul muft be quite pure

to God.

God's Juftice, and his Power, are infeparable; and therefore in vain we invoke his when it prays Power in an unjuft Caufe: We are to have our Souls pure, at that Moment at least, wherein we pray to him, and free from all vicious Paffions, otherwife we ourselves prefent him the Rods wherewith to chastise us. Inftead of repairing any Thing we have done amifs, we double the Wickedness and the Of

3

Plato, De Legibus, lib. x. p. 664.

fence,

fence, whilft we offer to him, to whom we are to fue for Pardon, an Affection full of Irreverence and Hatred. Which makes me not very apt to applaud those whom I obferve to be fo frequent on their Knees, if the Actions bordering upon the Prayer, do not give me fome Evidence of Reformation and Amendment.

Si Nocturnus adulter

Tempora Santtonico velas adoperta Cucullo*. i. e.

With Night Adulteries, if being foul,
Thou veil'ft thy guilty Forehead with a Cowl.

And the State of a Man, that mixes Devotion with an execrable Life, seems, in fome Sort, more to be condemned, than that of a Man who is all of a Piece, and diffolute throughout; yet our Church denies Admittance to, and Communion with Men obftinate and incorrigible in any notorious Impiety.

Praying to Gods only for Fashion fake, wherein blameable.

We pray by Cuftom, and for Fashion's Sake; or rather we read, or pronounce our Prayers aloud, which is no better than a Shew of Devotion: And I am fcandalized to fee a Man cross himself thrice at the Benedicite, and as often at faying Grace, (and the more, because it is a Sign which I have in great Vénération, and constant Ufe, even when I yawn and stretch) and yet to employ the reft of the Day in Malice, Avarice, and Injustice; devoting one Hour to God, the rest to the Devil, as if by Commutation and Compofition. It is a Wonder to fee Actions, fo various in themselves, linked in fuch a Chain as not to suffer any Alteration, even upon the very Confines and Paffes from the one to the other. What a prodigious Confcience muft that be, that can be at quiet within. itself, whilft it harbours in the fame Breast both the Crime and the Judge, without their jarring? A Man whose Brain is continually working upon Whoredom, which he knows to be odious in the Sight of God, what does he say when he addreffes him? He draws back, but suddenVOL. I.

Dd

Juven. fat. 8. ver. 144.

ly

ly relapfes. If the Awe of the divine Juftice, and the Prefence of his Maker, did, as he pretends, strike and chaftife his Soul, how fhort foever the Repentance might be, the very Fear of offending him, would so often prefent itself to his Imagination, that he would inftantly fubdue thofe Vices that are moit natural and habitual to him.

Habits.

But what fhall we fay of thofe, who fettle What we muft their whole Courfe of Life, upon the Profit think of the Prayers of thofe and Emolument of a Sin which they know acho obftinately to be mortal? How many Trades and Vocaperfift in vici as tions have we admitted and countenanced amongst us, whofe very Effence is vicious? And he that confeffed to me, That he had all his Lifetime profeffed and practifed a Religion, in his Opinion damnable, and contrary to his Confcience, only to preferve his Credit, and the Honour of his Employments, how could his Courage bear fuch a Conviction? What can Men fay of the divine Juftice upon this Subject? Their Repentance confifting in a vifible and fenfible Reparation, they have no Way to prove it both to God and Man. Are they fo impudent as to fue for Remiffion, without making Satisfaction, and without Repentance? I look upon thefe in the fame Condition with the first; but the Obftinacy is not here fo easy to be overcome. This Contrariety and Volubility of Opinion, fo fudden and violent as they feign it to be, is a Kind of Miracle to me. They reprefent to us the State of an intolerable Anxiety of Mind. It feemed to me a fantastick Imagi nation in those, who, fome Years past, were wont to reproach every Man of fhining Parts, who made Profef fion of the Roman Catholick Religion, that it was but feigned; maintaining, moreover, to do him Honour for footh, that whatever he might pretend to the contrary, he could not but, in his Heart, be of their reformed Opi nion. An untoward Disease, that a Man fhould be fo rivetted to his own Belief, as to fancy, that it is impossible to believe otherwife than he does; and yet worfe in this, that he should entertain an Opinion, that any Man fo qualified, fhould prefer any prefent Difparity of Fortune, be

fore