L I B. VII. Of the Advancement of Learning. 223 



ind determirte many of theprofoundeft Controverfies in Moralrhilojo- 

 fhy. Forfirft, it decideth the Queftion touching the prefcrmeKt of the 

 Contemplative or Alfive life 5 and that againft the opinion Q^Ariiiotle ; 

 for all the reafbns which he brings for the Contemplative, refpeft a.prir 

 vtite Good,3T\d the pleafure and dignity of an Individual only , in which 

 refpcfts (no queftion) a Contemplative life hath the preheminence. For 

 ihc Contemplative fife-isnot much unlike to that comparifbn which 

 Tythagoras made for the gracing and magnifying ofPhilofophjr and Con- 

 templation 5 who being askt by Hiero what he was, anfwered j " That 

 " if Hiero TPereever at the Olympian Games, he t^new the manner that fame jg^i, jj," 

 '' came to try their fortunes for the prii.es '^ andfome came as Merchants to vita. 

 *^ utter their commodities 5 andfome came to make good cheer, to be merry, 

 " and to meet with their friends ; andfome came to looh^on, and that he 

 *' was one of them that came to look^ on. But men muft know that in this 

 Theatre of Man's life, it is reftrved only for God and Angels, to be 

 Lookers on.Neither (urely could it have been that any doubt, touch- 

 ing this point, (hould ever have been rais'd in the Church (notwith* 

 (landing that (aying was frequent in many mens mouths, Tretiofa in O' 

 culis Domini morsfanQorum ejus : by which place they u(e to exalt their 

 Civil Death and the Laws of a Monaftick and Regular courfe oflife ;) Q^yii 

 but upon this defence, that the MonaSiical life is notfimply Contempla- 

 tive 5 but is altogether conversant in Ecclefiafiick^Duties, fuch as are in- 

 ceflant Prayer 5 Sacrifices of Vows performed to God, the writing al- 

 io, in (uch great leifure. Theological Books for the propagation of the 

 knowledge of the Divine Law, as Mofes did when he abode fo many E*°d' 

 days in the retir'dfecrecy of the Mount. And Co we lee Enoch the fevcnth ^^"''' 

 from Adam, who (eemsto be the firft founder of a Contemplative life, 

 (for he is faid to have walked with God) yet endowed the Church with G«n.Y. 

 a Book of Prophecie, which is alfo cited by St. Jude. But as for a mere j ^ .„ 

 Contemplative life, and terminated in it felf^ which cafteth no Beams of " ^' ' 

 heat or light upon humane (bciety, affuredly Divinity knows it not. 

 It decides alfo the Queftion controverted with fuch heat between the 

 Schools oCZeno and Socratgs^ on the one fide, who placed Felicity in 

 Virtue fimple or attended, which hath a great (hare in the Duties of 

 life : and on the other fide other Sefts and Profeffions, as the Schools 

 oftheCyrenaicks2ind Epicureans, who placed it in pleafure 5 and made 

 Virtue, (as it is ufed in (bme Comedies, where the Miftrels and the Maid 

 change habits) to be but as a hand-maid, without which Pleafure can- 

 not be well waited and attended upon ; as alfo that other, as it were, 

 reformed School of £p7f«r«/, which aflerted Fe//«7;/ to be nothing elfe 

 than a Tranquillity and Serenity of Mind free and void of all Pertur- 

 bations j as if they would have depofod Jupiter from his Throne and 

 Teflored Saturn with the Golden Age, when there was no Summer 

 nor Winter, nor Spring nor Autumn, but all after one Air and Seafon. 

 Laftly, the exploded School of FyrrAfl and Her/ //«/, which placed Fe- 

 licity in the ufter exftinftion and extirpation of all thefcruplesanddifi 

 putes of the mind, making no fixt and conftant nature of Good, and E- 

 vil, but efteeraing Adions Good or Evil, as they proceed from the 

 Mind in a clear and refolute motion j or contrary- uile with avcrfation 

 and reluftance. Which opinion notwithftanding hath revived in the 



Hcrefy 



Uert. vi- 

 ta. 



