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Show 124 Pawer. Book II. Ear !Jatb not beard nor l1atb entred into the Heart of Man to concei-ve. llut offome degrees of both, we have very lively impreffions made by feveral in fiances of Delight and Joy on the one ftde, and Torment and Sorrow on the other: which,for fhortnefs fake,I !hall com_Prehend under the names ofPleafure and Pain, there being pleafure and pam of the Mmd, as well as the Body: Wit/1 Him is fulnefi of Joy, and Pleafures for evermore: Orro fpeak truly they are all of the Mind ; though fame have their rife in the Mind from' Thought, others in the Body from Motion. Happinefs then is the utmofi PJeafure we are capable of, and M1fery the utmofl: Pain. Now becaufe PJeafure and Pain are produced in us , by the operation of certain Objetts, either on our Minds, or our Bodies ; and in different degrees : therefore what has an aptnefs to produce pleafure in us, is that we labour for, and is that we call Good; and what 1s apt to produce pain in us, we avoid and call Evil, for no other reafon, but for its aptnefs to produce PJeafure and Pain in us, wherein conftfis our happinefs or mifcry. Farther, becaufe the degrees ofPleafure and Pain have alfo jufily a preference; though what is apt to produce any degree ofPJeafure, be in it felf good ; and what is apt to produce any degree of Pain, be evil ; yet it often happens, that weuo not call it fo, when it comes in competition \~ith a greater of its fort. So that if we will rightly efiimate what we call Good and Evil, we Jhall find it lies much in comparifon: For the caufe of every lefs degree of Pain, as well as every greater degree of PJeafure, has thenatureofGood,andvice verJS, and is that which determines our Choice, and challenges our Preference. Good then, the greater Good is that alone which determines the Will. 9. ;o. This is not an imperfettion in Man , it is the higheft perffttion of intellettual Natures : it is fo far from being .a reffraint or diminution of Freedom, that it is the very improvement and benefit of it: 'tis not an Abrigdment , 'tis the end and ufe of our Liberty: and the farther we are removed from fuch a determination to Good, the nearer we are to Mifery and Slavery. A perfett lndiffereocy in the Will, or Power of Preferring, not determinable by the Good or Evil, that is thought to attend its Choice, would be fo far from being an ad vantage and excellency of any intelleB:ual Nature, that it would be as great an imperfection, as the want of lndifferency to aB:, or not to att, till determined by the Will, would be an imperfeB:ion on the other ftde. A Man is at liberty to lift up his Hand to his Head, or let it refi quiet: He is perfeCtly indifferent to either; and it would be an imperfeB:ion in him, if he wanted that Power, if he were deprived of that lndifferency. But it would beasgreatan imperfefrion, if he had the famelndifferency, whether be would prefer the lifting up his Hand, or its remainin{l; in refr, when it would fave his Head or Eyes from a blow he fees coming : 'tis as much a perfeE/ion, that tbe p~u•er of Preferrinr,fh~u!d /;e detefmiimJ bJ Good, as that the power of Attmg fhould be determmed by the Will; and the certainer fuch determination is, the greater is the perfet.lion. 9. 1 r. If we look upon thofe fuperiour Beingr above us, who enjoy perfeB: Happm~fs, wdl1all havereafon to judge they are more fl:eadily determmed m tlmr chozce of Good than we: and yet we have noreafon to think they are lefs happy, or lefs free, than we are. And if it were fit for fueh poor finite Creatures as we are, to pronounce what infinite Wifdom and (ioodnefs could do, l thin~ we might fuy,That God himfelf cannot choofe what 1s not good ; the Fredom of the Almighty hinders not his being determined by what is befl:. §. P· Chap. XXI. P{)J'IJer. §. p. Bur to confider ~his mifiaken part of Liberty right, Would any one be a Changelmg,_becaufe he 1s lefs determined,by wife Confiderations, tl1an a w1fe Man! Is 1t worth the Name of Freedom to be at liberty to play the Fool, and draw Shame and Mifery upon a Man's fclf 1 If want of refiraintto chufe, or to do the worfe, be Liberty, true Liberty, mad Men and Fools are the only Free-men : but yet, I think, .no Body would chufe to be mad for the fake of fuch Liberty, but he that is mad already. 6. ll· But though the preference of the Mind be always determined by the oppcarancc of Good,,greater Good; vet the Perfon who has the Power, in which alone confifis liberty to act; or. not to act_ according ro fuch preference, 1s neverthelefs tree, fuch determmat1on abndges nor rhat Pow· er. He that has Ius Chams knocked off,and the Prifon-doors fct open 10 lum, 1S perfefrl~ at hberty, bccaufe he may either go or !lay, as he befi h~es; tho~~h Ius ~reference be determined to !lay by the darkne(s of the N1ght, or 11Incfs ot the Weather~ or want of other Lodging. He ceafes not to be free; though that wh1ch at that t1u1e appears to him rhe greater Good abfolutel y determmes lu~ preference, and makes him flay in his Pnfon. I have rather made ufeot tll(i Word Preference than Choice, to exprcfs the aB: of Vohuon, becaufe ch?1ce 1s of a more doubtful /ignificauon, and bordermg more upon Dellre, and fo 1s referred to things remote ; whereas Volition, or the ACl:ofWilling,fignifies nothihgproperly but the aB:ual producing of fomething that is voluntary. ' §. l4· The next thing to be confidered is, If our Wills be determined by Good, How it comes to pajs that Men's Wills carry tbem fo contrarily and confequently fome of them to what is Evil 1 Afid to this I fay, tha~ the various and contrary choices, that Men make in the World doe not argue, that they do not all chufe Good ; but that the fame tiling is not good to e\'cry Man. Were all the Concerns of Mon terminated in this Life; why one purfued Study and Knowledge, and another Hawking and Hunting; why one chafe Luxury and Debauchery, and another Sobriety and Riches, would not be, becaufe every one of thefe did not purfue his own Happinefs; but becaufe their Happinefs Jay in different thing•: And therefore 'twas a right Anf\ver of thePhyftcian to his;Patienr,that had fore Eyes. If you have more Pleafure in the Tafie of Wine, than in the ufe of your Sight, W inc is good for you : but if the Pleafure of Seeing be greater to you, than that of Drinking, Wine is naught. §. H· The Mind has a different relifl1, as well as the Palate; and you will as fruitle!ly endeavour ro delight all Men with Riches or Glory, (which yet fome Men place their Happinefs in,) as you would to fi11isfie all Men's Hunf\er with Cheefc or Lobfiers; which , though very agreeable and del!cious fare to fame, arc to others extremely naufeous and olfenfive: And many People would with Reafon prefer the griping of an hungry Belly , to thofc Difl1es, which are a Feafl: to others. Hence it was, I think, that the Philofophers of old did in vain enquire, whether Summum bo"um con filled in Riches, or bodily Delights, or Virtue, or Contemplation : And they might have as reafonably difpmed, whether the befl: Relifl1 were to be found in Apples, Plumbs, or Nuts; and have divided rhemfelves into Sects upon it. For as plcafant Tafl:es depend not on the things themfclves, but their agreeablenefs to this or that particular Palate, wherein there is great variety: So the greatefl: Happinefs conftfl:s, in the having thofe things which produce the greatefi Plcafure, and the abfence of thofe which caufe any difrurbance, any pain, which to different Men are very different things. If l 2 ~ |