Of wisdom three books / written originally in French by the Sieur de Charron ; with an account of the author, made English by George Stanhope ...

CHAP. XXIII. Of Captivity or Imprisonment.

THis Affliction is very inconsiderable in comparison of the former, and the conquest of it will prove exceeding easie to them, upon whom the prescriptions against Sickness and Pain have found their desired effect. For Men in those cir∣cumstances have the addition of this misfortune, confined to their houses, their Beds, tied to a Rack and loaded with fet∣ters; and this very consinement is a part of their complaint, though the least part. But however we will say one word or two of it.

Now what is it that Captivity or Confinement imprisons? The Body, that which is it self the cover and the Prison of

the Soul; but the Mind continues at large and at its own disposal, in despight of all the World: How can it indeed be sensible of any inconvenience from a Prison, since even there it ranges abroad as freely, as gaily, takes as noble, as sub∣lime, as distant slights, if not much more so, than it does in other circumstances? The Locks and Bars, and Walls of a Prison are much too remote to have any power of fastening it down or shutting it in; they must needs be so, since even the Body it self which touches upon, is linked to, and hangs like a Clog fastened to it, is not able to keep it down, or six it to any determinate place. And that Man will make a jest of all these artisicial and wretched, these slight and childish enclosures, who hath learnt how to preserve his na∣tive liberty and to use the privilege and prerogative of his condition, which is, to be confined no where; no, not e∣ven in this World. Thus Tertullian derides the cruelty of the Persecutors, and animates his Brethren by relling that a* 1.1 Christian even when out of Prison had shaken hands with the World, that he desied and was above it; and that when under Con∣finement, the case was the same with his Gael too. What mighty matter is it in what part of the World you are, whose principle it is not to be of the World? Let us change that name of so ill a sound, and instead of a Prison call it a retreat; where when you are shut up the slesh may be kept to a narrow room, but all doors are open to the Spirit, all places free to the Mind; this car∣ries the whole Man along with it, and leads him abroad whither∣soever it will.

Prisons have given very kind entertainment to several va∣luable, and holy, and great Men; to some, a Gaol hath been a refuge from destruction, and the Walls of it so many for∣tifications and entrenchments against that ruine which had certainly been the consequence of liberty; nay, some have chosen these places that there they might enjoy a more per∣fect liberty, and be farther from the noise and clutter and confusion of the World. He that is under Look and Key is so much safer and better guarded: And a Man had better live thus, than be crampt and constrained by those Fetters

and hand-cuffs which the World is full of; such as the pla∣ces of publick business and concourse, the Palaces of Prin∣ces, the conversation of great Men, the tumult and hurry of Trade, the vexation and expence of Law-suits, the envy and ill-nature, the peevishness and passions of common Men, will be continually clapping upon us.* 1.2 If we do but reflect (says the same Author again) that the World it self is no bet∣ter than a Prison, we shall imagine our selves rather let out of a Gaol than put into one. The darkness by which the World blinds Man's minds, is thicker and grosser, the chains by which it clogs and binds their affeclions heavier; the silth and stanch of Men's lewdness and beastly conversation more offensive, and the Criminals in it more numerous, for such in truth are all Mankind. There have been several instances of persons, who, by the benefit of a Prison, have been preserved from the malice of their e••emies, and escaped great miseries and dangers. Some have made it a studious retirement, compo∣sed Books there, or laid a foundation of great vertue and much learning, so that the uneasiness of the flesh hath been a gain to the spirit, and the confinement of the body was well laid out in a purchase so valnable as the enlargement of the mind. Some have been disgerged as it were by a Pri∣son, thrown up when it could keep them no longer, and the next step they made hath been into some very eminent dig∣nity, as high as this World could set them; this remark the Psalmist hath left us of the wonderful dispensations of providence:* 1.3 He taketh the simple out of the dust, and lifteth the needy off from the dunghill, That he may set him with Prin∣ces, even with the Princes of his people. And he indeed who was an Israelite might well make this reflection, since even among his own Ancestors they had so eminent an instance as Jeseph, of the mighty alteration we are now speaking of. But others have been advanced yet higher, exhaled as it were and drawn up into Heaven from thence. But thus much is certain, that there can be no such thing as perpe∣tual Imprisonment; general Gaol-deliveries are unalterably

established, an Article of the Law of Nature; for no Prison ever yet took in a Man, whom it did not shortly after let out again.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Christianus, etiam extra carcerem, saeculo renunciavit, in Car∣cere etiam carceri; nihil interest ubi siris in saeculo, qui extra sa∣calam estis. Auseramus carceris nomen, secessam vocemus; ••••si corpus includitur, caro detinetur, omnia Spiritui patent; totum ho∣minem animus circumfert, & quo vult transfert.
• * 1.2

  Si recogi••emus i••sum magls mundum carcerem esse, exisse nos è carcere, quam in carcerem introisse intelligemus. Majores tenebras habet mundus, quae hominum praecordia excaecant, graviores ca••enas induit, quae ipsas animas coustringunt, pejores immunditias expirant libidines hominum, plures postremo reos coutinet, universum genus hominum.
• * 1.3

  Psal. 113.