The Methods of Government, and of Humane Society, must be Preserv’d where
Every Man has his Roll, and his Station Assign’d him; and it is not for
One Man to break in upon the Province of Another. This Moral tells us
also, that when One Man Condoles for the Distresses of Another, ’tis more
for Money, or for Company, then for Kindness.
’Tis a slavish sort of Ceremony and Imposition, that People must be
Train’d up, by certain Rules of Art, and Prescription, to the very Manage
and Government of the most Free and Natural of our Affections; for we
are Taught and Appointed the very Methods, and Degrees of Grieving,
and _Rejoycing_; and to do Honour to the Dead, by the Counterfeit
Lamentations of the Living. But this way of Mourning by Rule, is rather
an Ostentation of Sorrow, then Indication of it. Now to say the Truth of
the Matter, Terms and Modes have Corrupted the Sincerity of our Manners,
as well toward our Living Friends, as to the Memory of Those Departed. We
have hardly anything left in our Conversation that is Pure and Genuine:
But the way of Civility in Fashion, casts a Blind over the Duty, under
some Certain Customary Presidents of Empty Words: So that at This rate,
we Impose One upon Another, without any regard to Faith, Truth, or
Vertue. But we must Sing in some Cases, and Cry in Others, and there’s an
End on’t.