applied to the Principle of Honour, which we do understand; for
whatever it may be derived from, the Advantages the Civil Society
receives from it, both in Peace and War, are so many and so manifest,
that the Usefulness of it ought to exempt and preserve it from being
ridicul'd. I hate to hear a Man talk of its being more or less
portable, the melting of it over again, and reducing it to a new
Standard.
Cleo. I know, you dislike this in the Fable of the _Bees_; but if you'll
examine into what you have read there, you'll find, that my Friend has
ridicul'd Nothing but what deserves it. There is certainly a great
Difference between the Men of Honour in former Ages and many of those,
who now-a-days assume the Title. A Man in whom Justice, Integrity,
Temperance and Chastity are join'd with Fortitude, is worthy of the
highest Esteem; but that a debauch'd Fellow, who runs in every
Tradesman's Debt, and thinks himself not obliged to pay any Thing but
what is borrow'd or lost at Play, should claim the same Regard from
us, for no other Reason than because he dares to Fight, is very
unreasonable.
Hor. But is he serious, when he speaks of the Men of ancient Honour,
of whom he thinks _Don Quixot_ to have been the last?
Cleo. When the Romance-Writers had carried the Prowess and
Atchievements of their heroes to an incredible Pitch, was it not
ridiculous to see Men in their Senses, not only believe those
Extravagancies in good Earnest, but likewise endeavour to imitate
those fabulous Exploits, and set about copying after those imaginary
Patterns? For it was that which _Cervantes_ exposed in _Don Quixot_.
Hor. In the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century, the _Spaniards_ were the
best Soldiers in the World; they shew'd themselves on many Emergencies
to be a grave and wise Nation, and had many real Patterns of strict
Honour and great Virtue among them. Things are as often over-done in
Satyrs as they are in Panegyricks; and the Likeness of a _Caricatura_ is
no more to be trusted to than that of the most flattering Pencil.
Cleo. I shall always bear the highest Esteem for Men of strict Honour
and real Virtue, and will never ridicule what is approved of by
Custom, and the Consent of several Ages has render'd valuable; but no
Title or Dignity, no Name or Distinction can be so honourable, or so
eminent, that a serious Enquirer may not have Leave to trace it to the
Bottom. I have acknowledged, that the Word Honour, in its first and
genuine Sense, is as ancient as the oldest Language in the World. As
to my Conjecture concerning the same Word, as it signifies a Principle
which Men act from, I leave it entirely to your Judgment: But whatever
the Origin may be of either, it is certain, that whatever the Words
Honour and Honourable are join'd with, added or applied to, there is
plain Design in them of pleasing and gratifying those it concerns, on
Account of the Passion of Self-liking, and a palpable Tendency to
humour, approve of, or encrease the good Opinion Man has of himself:
As you'll find, on the Contrary, that in the Words Dishonour Shame,
Ignominy, and whatever is dishonourable, there is an Intention, or
Something imply'd, to displease and mortify those it concerns, on
Account of that same Passion of Self-liking, and an Endeavour to
lessen, contradict or destroy Self-Esteem, which is that good Opinion
which Man has of himself from Nature.
Hor. That the Words Honour and Shame are either literally made Use of,
as you say, or metaphorically applied to other Creatures or Things
inanimate, I believe: I allow likewise, that the Principle of Honour
is found in no Breast that is not possess'd of Self-liking to an
eminent Degree; but I don't think that a Fault.
Cleo. The only Fault I have found with the Principle of Honour, is,
it's clashing with the Christian Religion. I have told you the
Reasons, why the Church of _Rome_ thought it her Interest to reconcile
them, and make People believe, that they did not interfere with one
another. She has always consulted Human Nature, and ever join'd gay
Shew and Pomp, as I have hinted before, to Superstition; well knowing,
that, as to keep Man under and in Subjection, you must work upon his
Fear, so, to make him act with Alacrity, and obey with Pleasure, where
Lucre is out of Question, you must flatter his Pride. It is from this
Policy of hers, that all Names of Dignity and Distinction among
Christians, as Earl, Baron, Duke, Marquis, &c. had originally their
Rise as Hereditary Titles. To the same have been owing all the various
Ceremonies of Institutions and Instalments; and Coronations, as well
as Inthronizations. Of the Orders of Knighthood, and the vast
Multiplicity of them, I have spoke already.
Hor. You give more to the Church of _Rome_ than her Due: Most Countries
in _Christendom_ have Orders of Knighthood peculiar to themselves, and
of which it is evident, that they were instituted by their own
Sovereigns.
Cleo. But look into the Ceremonial of those Institutions, and the
great Share the Clergy has in most of them, and you'll easily see,
what Stock they sprung from. And tho' the Sovereign, in every Country,
is deem'd to be the Fountain of Honour, yet the Sovereigns themselves
had their Titles, as well as Coats of arms, from the Popes; nor had
they ever any Ensign of Honour, Power or Authority, which they could
depend upon, unless it had first been granted, or confirm'd and
ratify'd, by the See of _Rome_.
Hor. I take the _Insignia_, which the Proconsuls and Proprietors had in
the different Provinces of the _Roman_ Empire, and which _Pancirolus_ has
wrote of so amply, to have been much after the Nature of Coats of
Arms.
Cleo. Those _Insignia_ belong'd to the Office; and a Governour could
only make Use of them, whilst he was in it: But hereditary Coats of
arms, that were given to particular Men or Societies, by Way of Reward
for Services perform'd, were never known; and Heraldry it Self had no
Existence, before the Pope's Supremacy had been acknowledged by the
Christian World. And if we consider the fine Opportunities, which the
most idle and indolent, the most insignificant and unworthy of the
Society, often meet with from this Invention of valuing themselves
upon Actions that were perform'd several Ages before they were born,
and bespeak a Merit which they know in their Consciences that they are
destitute of; if, I say, we consider what I have now mention'd, we
shall be forc'd to confess, that, of all Arts and Sciences, Heraldry
has been the most effectual to stir up and excite in Men the Passion
of Self-liking, on the finallest Foundation; and daily Experience
teaches us, that Persons of Education and Politeness can taste no
Pleasure in any Thing at Home or Abroad, at Church or the Play-House,
where the Gratification of this Passion is entirely excluded. Of all
the Shews and Solemnities that are exhibited at _Rome_, the greatest and
most expensive, next to a Jubilee, is the Canonization of a Saint. For
one that has never seen it, the Pomp is incredible. The Stateliness of
the Processions, the Richness of Vestments and sacred Utensils that
are display'd, the fine Painting and Sculpture that are expos'd at
that Time, the Variety of good Voices and Musical Instruments that are
heard, the Profusion of Wax-Candles, the Magnificence which the Whole
is perform'd with, and the vast Concourse of People, that is
occasion'd by those Solemnities, are all such, that it is impossible
to describe them.
Hor. It is astonishing, I own; but what would you infer from them?
Cleo. I would desire you to observe, how vastly different some of the
Ends and Purposes are, that Canonizations may be made to serve at the
same Time. It is pretended, in the First Place, that they are
perform'd to do Justice and pay Veneration to the Memory of those Holy
Persons: Secondly, that by Men's worshiping them, they may be induced,
among the Rest of the Saints, to intercede with God for the the Sins
of their Votaries: And lastly, because it is to be hoped, that among
such Numbers as assist at those Solemnities, there are many who will
be affected by them, and endeavour to imitate, in their Lives, the
holy Examples that are set before them: For there is no Time more
seasonable to stir Men up to Devotion and Sentiments of Piety, than
when Rapture and high Admiration have been rais'd in them first.
Hor. Besides Canonizations keep up the Reputation of the _Roman_
Catholick Faith; for the new Saints, that are made from Time to Time,
are always fresh Witnesses, that Miracles are not ceas'd, and
consequently that the Church of _Rome_ continues to be the same Church
which Christ and his Apostles first establish'd.
Cleo. You are in the Right; and whilst we consider and give Credit to
those Pretences, the Design must seem to be religious; and every _Roman_
Catholick, who is firm in his Belief; is obliged to think, that
whatever Cost is bestow'd upon Canonizations, no Money could be laid
out better. But if we mind, on the other Side, the strong
Sollicitations of the great Men, that either are, or pretend to be the
Relations of the venerable Person, whose Holiness they vouch for; the
vast Pains that are taken, the Intrigues that are carried on for Years
together, to procure this high Favour of the Sacred College; and when
it is obtain'd, what an Honour it is to the whole Family; the Visits
that are paid from all Parts to every Rich Man that belongs to it, and
the Compliments that are made on Account of it; besides the Privileges
they receive from it ever after; If, I say, we mind these Things on
the other Side, we shall find, that in the Motives from which Men sue
for this Honour, there is not a Grain of Religion to an Ounce of
Pride, and that what seems to be a Solemnity to celebrate the Sanctity
of the Dead, is in Reality a Stratagem of the Church to gratify the
Ambition of the Living. The Church of _Rome_ has never made a Step
without Regard to her Temporal Interest, and an After-Thought on her
Successors, _Luther_ and _Calvin_, and some Others of the chief
Adversaries of _Rome_, were Men of great Parts, that have gain'd
themselves Immortal Names; but it must be confess'd, that they rais'd
themselves altogether at the Expence of their Brethren. They gave up
both the Patrimony and Dominion of the Church, and made Presents of
them to the Secular Powers, that would espouse their respective
Causes, and establish their Doctrines; by which, and the destroying of
Purgatory, they not only stript the Clergy of their Wealth and Power
for the present, but likewise took away the Means by which, one Day or
other, it might have been possible for their Successors to retrieve
them. It is well for the Protestant Cause, that the Multitude can't
hear or know the Wishes, that are made in Secret by many of the
Clergy, nor the hearty Ejaculations, which the Men of Spirit among
them are often sending after the Memory of the first Reformers, for
having left their Order in that Pickle, and almost at the Mercy of the
Laity, after they had been made dependent on the Clergy. If those
pious Leaders had understood, or at least consulted Human Nature, they
would have known, that strict Lives and Austerity of Manners don't go
by Inheritance, and must have foreseen, that as soon as the Zeal of
the Reformation should begin to cool both the Clergy and the Laity
would relax in their Morals; and consequently, that their Successors,
after Two or Three Generations, would make wretched Figures, if they
were still to continue to preach Christianity without Deceit or
Evasions, and pretend to live conformably to the Rules of it: If they
had but reflected on what had happen'd in the Infancy of their
Religion, they must have easily foreseen what I say.
Hor. What is it that happen'd then?
Cleo. That Christ and his Apostles taught by Example as well as
Precepts the Practice of Humility and the Contempt of Riches; to
renounce the Pomp and Vanity of the World, and mortify the Flesh, is
certain: And that this was striking at the very Fundamentals of Human
Nature, is as certain. This could only be perform'd by Men
preternaturally affected; and therefore the Founders of Christianity
being gone, it could not be expected, that the same Austerity of Life
and Self-denial should be continued among the Successors of them, as
soon as the Ministry of the Gospel became a Calling, that Men were
brought up to for a Livelihood; and considering how essential those
mortifying Principles are to Christianity, it is not easy to conceive,
how the one could be made still to subsist, when the other should
cease to be. But Nothing seems more impracticable than that the
Gospel, which those Principles are evidently taught, should ever be
turn'd into an inexhaustible Fund of Worldly Comforts, Gain, Honour,
and Authority; yet this has been perform'd by the Skill and Industry
of the Architects, who have built that Master-Piece of Human Policy,
the Church of _Rome_. They have treated Religion as if it was a
Manufacture, and the Church a Set of Workmen, Labourers and
Artificers, of different Employments, that all contribute and
cooperate to produce one entire Fabrick. In the great Variety of their
Religious Houses, you have all the Severity of Manners and Rigour of
Discipline, which the Gospel requires, improved upon. There you have
perpetual Chastity, and Virgins wedded to Christ: There is Abstinence,
and Fasting; there is Mortifying of the flesh, Watching, Praying, the
Contempt of Money and Worldly Honour; a literal Retirement from the
World, and every Thing you can ask for, relating to Self-denial, as to
Carnal Enjoyments and the renouncing of Pomp and Vanity, at least to
all outward Appearance. When Men see that Strictness of Morals, and
that Christian Self-denial, which are so manifestly taught in the
Gospel, own'd by the Clergy, and some where or other actually comply'd
with, they will easily give Ear to any Thing that is said to them
besides. This grand Point concerning the Austerity of Life, and
mortifying the Flesh, being literally understood, and acknowledged by
the Clergy to be such, as the Apostles have deliver'd them without
Prevarication, it will not be difficult to make the Laity believe, not
only mysterious Contradictions, but likewise the most palpable
Absurdities, such as Transubstantiation; that the Pope is infallible,
and has the Power of Thundering out _Anathema's_ and granting
Absolutions; and consequently of damning and saving whom he pleases;
that the Pomp and Magnificence of the Sacred College, and even the
Luxury of a Court, are laudable Means, and absolutely necessary to
keep up the Dignity and outward Luster of the visible Church; and that
the Spiritual Welfare of it depends upon Temporal Authority, and
cannot be duely taken Care of without large Revenues, Princely Power,
Politicks, and Military Force. No Set of Men have deserv'd better of
the Church of _Rome_, than the Writers of Legends and the Forgers of
Miracles. In the Lives of the Saints, there is a plausible
Representation of the Church Militant; and considering how naural it
is for Man to be superstitious, and to love the _Merveilleux_, Nothing
could be thought of more agreeable or edifying than to read of such
Numbers of Holy Men and Women, that did not flinch from Combating
themselves, and to see the noble Victories that have been obtain'd
over the World, the Flesh and the Devil, in a literal Sense, as are to
be met with in those judicious Relations.
Hor. But what Analogy is there between the _Roman Catholick_ Religion,
and a Manufacture, as you insinuated?
Cleo. The Division of the whole into so many different Branches. The
great Prelates, of whom not many have any Religion at all, are yet for
Worldly Ends continually watching over the Temporal Interest of it.
The little Bishops and ordinary Priests take Care of the Mystical Part
of it; whilst the Religious Orders contribute meritorious Works, and
seem actually to comply with the harshest Precepts of Christianity,
often in a more rigid Construction than the Words themselves will
bear.
Hor. Then have the Laity no Share in it?
Cleo. Yes; but their Task is the easiest, and what they club towards
Religion chiefly consists in Faith and Money. But when Men pretend to
be Christians, and Nothing is to be met with in any Part of their
Religion, but what is easy and pleasant, and Nothing is required
either of the Laity or the Clergy, that is difficult to perform, or
disagreeable to Human Nature, there is Room to suspect, that such a
Set of People lay claim to a Title, that does not belong to them. When
Ministers of the Gospel take Pains to undermine it themselves, and
flatly deny the Strictness of Behaviour, and Severity of Manners, that
are so manifestly inculcated in every Part of it, I don't wonder, that
Men of Sincerity, who can read, should refuse to give Credit to every
Thing that is said by such Ministers. It is easier to speak with
Contempt of the recluse Lives of the _Carthusians_, and to laugh at the
Austerities of _La Trappe_, than it is to refute what might be alledg'd
from the Gospel to prove the Necessity there is, that to be acceptable
to God, Men should fly from Lust, make War with themselves, and
mortify the Flesh. When Ministers of _Christ_ assure their Hearers, that
to indulge themselves in all earthly Pleasures and Sensualities, that
are not clashing with the Laws of the Country, or the Fashion of the
Age they live in, will be no Bar to their future Happiness, if they
enjoy them with Moderation; that Nothing ought to be deem'd Luxury,
that is suitable to a Person's Rank and Quality, and which he can
purchase without hurting his Estate, or injuring his Neighbour; that
no Buildings or Gardens can be so profusely sumptuous, no Furniture so
curious or magnificent, no Inventions for Ease so extravagant, no
Cookery so operose, no Diet so delicious, no Entertainments or Way of
Living so expensive as to be Sinful in the Sight of God, if a man can
afford them; and they are the same, as others of the same Birth or
Quality either do or would make Use of, if they could: That a Man may
study and be sollicitous about Modes and Fashions, assist at Courts,
hunt after Worldly Honour, and partake of all the Diversions of the
_beau monde_, and at the same Time be a very good Christian; when
Ministers of _Christ_, I say, assure their Hearers of this, they
certainly teach what they have no Warrant for from his Doctrine. For
it is in Effect the same as to assert, that the strictest Attachment
to the World is not inconsistent with a Man's Promise of renouncing
the Pomp and Vanity of it.
Hor. But what signify the Austerity of Life and Forbearance of Nuns
and Friars, if they were real, to all the Rest who don't practise
them? And what Service can their Self-denial and Mortification be of
to the Vain and Sensual, who gratify every Appetite that comes
uppermost?
Cleo. The Laity of the _Roman_ Communion are taught and assured, that
they may be of great Service even to the Wicked; nay, it may be proved
from Scripture, that the Intercession of the Righteous and Innocent,
is sometimes capable of averting God's Vengence from the Guilty. This
only wants to be believed; and it is the easiest Thing in the World to
make the Multitude believe any Assertion, in which there is Nothing
that contradicts receiv'd Opinions, and the common notions which Men
have of Things. There is no Truth, that has hitherto been more
unanimously believed among all Sects and Opinions of Christians in all
Ages, than that the gospel warns Men against Carnal Pleasures, and
requires of them Humility, the Contempt of Earthly Glory, and such a
Strictness of Manners and Morality, as is difficult for Human Nature
to comply with. Now when a clergyman, who pretends to preach the
Gospel, puts such Constructions on the plainest texts, in which the
Doctrine I spoke of is literally taught, as can only tend to extenuate
and diminish the Force of them, and when moreover he leaves no Shifts
or Evasions untied, till he has destroy'd the Observance of those
Precepts; when a Clergyman, I say, is thus employ'd, it is no Wonder
that his Doctrine should raise Doubts and Scruples in his hearers,
when they compare it with the common Notions Men have of Christianity.
Hor. I am no Admirer, you know, of Priests of any Sort; but of the
Two, I would prefer a Man of Learning and good Sense, who treats me
with good Manners, recommends Virtue, and a reasonable Way of Living,
to an ill bred sour Pedant, that entertains me with fanatical Cant,
and would make me believe, that it is a Sin to wear good Cloaths, and
fill my Belly with what I like.
Cleo. There is no Doubt, but the _beau monde_, and all well bred People,
that desire to be judged of from outward Appearance, will always chuse
the most easy _Casuists_; and the more ample the Allowances are, which
Clergymen give them, of enjoying the World, the more they'll be
pleas'd with them. But this can only be of Service among the
Fashionable and the Polite, whose Religion is commonly very
Superficial, and whose Virtue is seldom extended beyond good Manners.
But what will it do to Men of greater Sincerity, that can and dare
examine themselves? What will it do to serious and able Enquirers,
that refuse to trust to Outsides, and will not be barr'd from
searching into the Bottom of Things? If this was only a Matter of
Speculation, a disputable Point in a Ceremony, as whether Men are to
sit or to stand at the Performance of it, the Thing might easily be
given up: but it plainly appears to be a Theory skilfully raised by
Clergymen, to build a Practice upon in their Favour. Those easie
Divines don't make such large Allowances to others for Nothing: They
speak one Word for the Laity, and two for themselves, and seem to have
Nothing more at Heart than to enjoy the Benefit of their own Doctrine.
It is no Wonder therefore, that so many of the Clergy are always
desirous to converse with the _beau monde_. Among the best bred People
there is seldom any Difference to be seen between Believers and
Unbelievers; neither of them give any Trouble to their Pastors, and
they are all equally cautious of offending. Polite People contradict
No body, but conform to all Ceremonies that are fashionable with
Regard to the Time and the Places they are in; and a courtly Infidel
will observe Decency at Church, and a becoming Carriage there, for the
same Reason that he does it at a Ball, or in the Drawing-Room.
Hor. As to Indulgences and large Allowances, the _Roman Catholicks_
out-do us far, especially the _Jesuits_, who certainly are the most easy
_Casuists_ in the World.