A Methodical System of Universal Law

Chapter VI: Of the duties of man to himself

107 u c h a p t e r v i u Of the duties of man to himself. section cxxxix Nothing is nearer to man, besides the ever-blessed God, than he is to himself; nature having inlaid into his frame such a sensibility to his interests , and so tender a love of himself, that we justly look upon him to be out of his senses and distracted, who hates and wishes ill to himself. Nor is this self-love unjust, while it does not disturb good order. For it is that love with which one delights in his own perfections and happiness, and is concerned to procure and augment these goods. But since God hath created us, and adorned us with many excellent perfections , and given us the means of improving in perfection andhappiness, he must be concluded to will that we should endeavour to promote our happiness and perfection, and be delighted with it; i.e. that we should love our selves (§92). section cxl From which we have already inferred (§92), thatman isboundtopursue, promote, and preserve his own perfection and happiness, as far as is consistent with the love of the supreme Being.* * Therefore, we do not perform these duties to ourselves that we may be happy (for we have shewn above, that this tenet is false, that utility is the only source or rule of just and unjust) but because God wills that we study to promote our happiness and perfection: and therefore to promote our perfection and happiness is itself our duty; and is not the cause which impels or obliges us to it. Man is obliged to love himself. What this love is. 108 the laws of nature and nations section cxli Since man is obliged, by the will of God, to all and every thing which tends to promote, preserve, and enlarge his happiness and perfection (§140); and man consists, not only of mind, but of body likewise, in such a manner, that he is a compound of body and mind; the consequence is, that man is obliged to promote the perfection of both his constituent parts; and because the faculties of the mind are two, understanding and will, he is obliged to study the perfection of both; wherefore the duties of man, with respect to himself, are relative partly to the whole man, partly to the understanding, partly to the will, and partly to his body and external state.* section cxlii Whence we conclude, that these duties ought not to be severed fromone another; and therefore, that neither the mind nor the body ought totally to be neglected: but if it should happen that the duties due to both cannot be performed, we ought, of many perfections and goods,whichcannot be obtained at one and the same time, to choose the most excellent and necessary (§94). And therefore the mind being more excellent than * It is proper to observe this, in opposition to the doctrine of Socrates and others, who maintained that the body is not a part of man, but his instrument only, andthat external things do not properly appertain to man, or in the least concern him. So Simplicius, in his preface to his commentary on Epictetus, “If a man commands his body, and the body doth not so much as command itself, then man is not body, and for the same reason, he is not both mind and body, but wholly mind.” [[Simplicius, Commentarius in Enchiridion Epicteti (On Epictetus’ Handbook, Introduction, 37– 40).]] Whence he a little after reasons thus: “He who bestows his care upon the body, bestows it upon things which belong not to man, but his instrument: But he, whose study and cares are set upon riches, and such like external things, bestows his care neither upon man, nor his instrument, but upon things subservient to that instrument .” Many other such foolish boasts we find in some ancient writers, which are equally false and hurtful. What are its objects. These duties ought not to be severed. book i, chapter vi 109 the body, we ought tobemorediligent abouttheperfectingof ourminds than our bodies, yet so as not to neglect the latter.* section cxliii As for what relates to the whole man, as consisting of soul and body, his felicity and perfection as such, consists in this,thattheunionof hismind and body be safe, because these parts being separated, tho’ the mind, being immortal, survive, yet the...