Natural Infirmities are well nigh Insuperable; and Men that are Cowards
by Complexion, are hardly ever to be made Valiant by Discourse. But
They are Conscious yet of the Scandal of that Weakness, and may make a
shift perhaps to Reason themselves now and then into a kind of Temporary
Resolution, which they have not the Power afterwards to go Thorough with.
We find it to be much the same Case in the Government of our Affections
and Appetites, that it is in These Bodily Frailties of Temperament and
Complexion. Providence has Arm’d us with Powers and Faculties, sufficient
for the Confounding all the Enemies we have to Encounter. We have Life
and Death before us: That is to say, Good and Evil; And we know which
is which too: Beside that it is at our Choice to Take or to Refuse. So
that we understand what we ought to do; but when we come to Deliberate,
we play Booty against our selves: And while our Judgments and our
Consciences direct us One Way, our Corruptions Hurry us Another. This
_Stag_, in fine, is a Thorough Emblem of the State and Infirmity of
Mankind. We are Both of us Arm’d and Provided, either for the Combat, or
for Flight. We see the Danger; we Ponder upon it; and now and then by
Fits, take up some Faint Resolutions to Outbrave and break through it:
But in the Conclusion, we shrink upon the Trial; We betake our selves
from our Heads to our Heels; from Reason to Flesh and Blood; from our
Strength to our Weaknesses, and suffer under One Common Fate.