is this Difference betwixt a thankful Man, and an unthankful; the one is always pleased in the Good he has done, and the other only once, in what he has received. There must be a Benignity in the Eftimation even of the fmallest Offices; and fuch a Modefty as appears to be obliged in whatsoever it gives. And it is indeed a very great Benefit, the Opportunity of doing a good Office to a worthy Man. He that attends to the prefent, and remembers what's past, fhall never be ungrateful. But who fhall judge the Cafe? For a Man may be grateful without making a Return, and ungrateful with it. Our beft way is to help every thing by a fair Interpretation; and wherefoever there is a Doubt, to allow it the most favourable Conftruction, for he that is exceptious at Words or Looks, has a Mind to pick a Quarrel. For my own Part, when I come to caft up my Accompt, and know what I owe, and to whom; though I make my Return fooner to fome, and latter to others, as Occafion or Fortune will give me leave, yet I'll be just to all. I will be grateful to God; to Man, to those that have obliged me; nay, even to thofe that have obliged my Friends. I am bound in Honour and in Confcience, to be thankful for what I have received; and if it be not yet full, it is fome Pleasure ftill, that I may hope for more. For the Requital of a Favour, there must be Vir tue, Occafion, Means and Fortune.

It is a common thing to fcrew up Juftice to the pitch of an Injury.* A Man may be Overrighteous; and why not Over-grateA man may ful too? There is a mifchievous Ex- be over-gratecefs, that borders fo close upon Ingra- ful as well as titude, that it is no eafy Matter to di- over-righteous. ftinguish the one from the other; but,

in regard that there is good Will in the Bottom of it, (however diftempered; for it is effectually but Kindness out of the Wits) we fhall discourse it under the Title of Gratitude mistaken.

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CHAP. XVIII.

Gratitude Mistaken.

O refufe a good Office, not fo much because we do not need it, as because we would not be indebted for it, is a kind of fantastical Ingratitude; and fomewhat a-kin to that Nicety of Honour on the other fide, of being over-grateful; only it lies another way, and feems to be the more pardonable Ingratitude of the Some People take it for a great Inftance of their good Will, to be ftill wishing their Benefactors fuch or fuch a Mischief; only, forfooth, that they themselves might be the happy Inftruments of their Release. These Men do like extravagant Lovers, that take it for a great Proof of their Affection, to wish one another banished, beggared, or difeafed, that they might have the Opportunity of interpofing to their Relief. What difference is there betwixt fuch Withing and Curfing? Such an Affection, and a mortal Hatred? The Intent is good, you will fay, but this is a Mifapplication of it. Let fuch a one fall into my Power; or into the Hands of his Enemies, his Creditors, or the common People, and no Mortal be able to rescue him but myfelf. Let his Life, his Liberty, and his Reputation lie all at Stake, and no Creature but myself, in Condition to fuccour him; and why all this, but because he has obliged me, and I would requite him? If this be Gratitude, to propound Jails, Shackles, Slavery, War, Beggary, to the Man that you would requite; what would you do where you are un grateful! This way of Proceeding, over and above that it is impious in itself, is likewife over hafty, and unfeafonable; for he that goes too falt, is as much to blame, as he that does not move at all (to fay nothing of the Injuftice) for if I had never been obliged I should never have with'd it. There are Seafons wherein a Benefit is neither to be received, nor requited. To prefs a Return upon me, when I do not defire it, is unmannerly; but it is worfe to force me to defire it. How

rigorous would he be to exact a Requital, who is thus eager to return it? To wish a Man in Distress, that I may relieve him, is, first, to wish him miferable: To with that he may stand in need of any Body, is against him; and to wish that he may ftand in need of me, is for myfelf: So that my Bufinefs is not fo much a Charity to my Friend, as the cancelling of a Bond: Nay, it is half way the Wish of an Enemy. It is barbarous to wish a Man in Chains, Slavery, or Want, only to bring him out again : Let me rather with him powerful and happy, and myself indebted to him. By Nature, we are prone to Mercy, Humanity, Compaffion; may we be excited to be more fo by the number of the Grate ful; may their Number increase, and may we have no need of trying them.

‡ We must not do an ill thing that good may come of it.

It is not for an honeft Man to make way to a good Office by a Crime; as if a Pilot fhould pray for a Tempeft, that he might prove his Skill; or a General with his Army routed, that he might fhew himself a great Commander in recovering the Day. It is throwing a Man into a River, to take him out again. It is an Obligation, I confefs to cure a Wound or a Disease, but, to make that Wound, or Difeafe, on purpose to cure it, is a molt perverfe Ingratitude. It is barbarous even to an Enemy, much more to a Friend; for, it is not fo much to do him a Kindness, as to put him in need of it. Of the two, let it be rather a Scar, than a Wound; and yet it would be better to have neither. Rome had been little beholden to Scipio, if he had prolonged the Punick War, that he might have the finishing of it at laft; or to the Decii, for dying for their Country, if they had first brought it to the laft Extremity of needing their Devotion. It may be a good Contemplation, but it is a lewd Wish. Eneas had never been furnamed the Pious, if he had wished the Ruin of his Country, only that he might have the Honour of taking his Father out of the Fire. It is the Scandal of a Phylician to make Work, and irritate a Disease, and to torment a Patient for the Reputation of his Cure. If a Man fhould openly imprecate Poverty, Captivity, Fear, or Danger, upon

a Perfon that he has been obliged to, would not the whole World condemn him for't? And what's the Difference; but that the one is only a private Wish, and the other a public Declaration? Rutilius was told in his Exile, that, for his Comfort, there would be ere long a civil War, that would bring all the banished Men home again. God forbid (fays he) for I had rather my Country fhould blufh, for my Banifhment, than mourn for my Return. How much more honourable is it to owe chearfully, than to pay dishonestly? It is the Wish of an Enemy to take a Town, that he may preferve it, and to be victorious, that he may forgive; but, the Mercy comes after the Cruelty; befide, that it is an Injury both to God and Man, for the Man must be first afflicted by Heaven to be relieved by me. So that we impofe the Cruelty upon God, and take the Compaffion to ourselves; and, at the beft, is but a Curfe, that makes way for a Bleffing; the bare Wish is an Injury; and, if it does not take effect, 'tis because Heaven has not heard our Prayers. Or, if they fhould fucceed, the Fear itfelf is a Torment; and, it is much more defirable to have a firm, and unfhaken Security. It is friendly to wifh it in your Power to oblige me, if ever I chance to need it; but it is unkind to wish me miferable, that I may need it. How much more pious is it, and humane, to wish that I may never want the Occafion of Obliging, nor the Means of doing it; nor ever have reason to repent of what I have done?

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CHAP. XIX.

Of IN GRATITUDE.

NORATITUDE is, of all Crimes, that which we are to account the most venial in others, and the most unpardonable in ourfelves. It is impious in the highest degree; for, it makes us fight against our Children, and our altars. There are, there ever were, and there e

ver well be Criminals of all Sorts; as Murderers, Tyrants, Thieves, Adulterers, Traitors, Robbers, and fa crilegious Perfons; but there is hardly any notorious Crimes without a Mixture of Ingratitude. It difunites Mankind, and breaks the very Pillars of Society. And yet fo far is this prodigious Wickedness from being any Wonder to us, that even that Thankfulness itself were much the greater of the two. For Men are deterred from it by Labour, Expence, Laziness, Business; or elfe diverted from it by Luft, Envy, Ambition, Pride, Levity, Rashness, Fear: Nay by the very Shame of confelfing what they have received. And the unthankful Man has nothing to fay for himself all this while; for there needs neither Pains nor Fortune, for the Discharge of his Duty; befide, the inward Anxiety and Torment, when a Man's Confcience makes him afraid of his own Thought.

To speak against the Ungrateful, ist We are all to rail against Mankind: + for, even ungrateful. thofe that complain are guilty: nor do

I fpeak only of thofe that do not live up to the ftrict Rule of Virtue; but Mankind itself is degenerated and lost. We live unthankfully in this World, and we go ftruggling and murmuring out of it; diffatisfied with our Lot; whereas we fhould be grateful for the Bleffings we have enjoyed, and account that fufficient which Providence has provided for us: A little more time may make our Lives longer, but not happier; and whenfoever it is the Pleasure of God to call us, we must obey; and yet all this while we go on quarrelling at the World, for what we find in ourselves; and we are yet more unthankful to Heaven, than we are to one another. What Benefit can be great now to that Man that defpifes the Bounties of his Maker? We would be as strong as Elephants, as fwift as Bucks, as light as Birds, and we complain that we have not the Sagacity of Dogs, the fight of Eagles, the long Life of Ravens, nay, that we are not immortal, and endued with the Knowledge of things to come. Nay, we take it ill, that we are not Gods upon Earth: never confidering the Advantages of our Condition, or the Benignity of Providence in the Comforts that we enjoy. We fubdue the strongest of