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strain this or that corrupt Affection; the Affections are certainly regimented in a subordinate Station in the Soul, and are placed in subjection to the Understanding. He that gives them leave to advance beyond their Appointment, suffers his Soul to be hurry'd down the Stream of the Affections, is so far divested of himself, and out of his own Government, and ought to use rational Means to recover the Exercise of his Reason, and to give those upstart tumultuous Things, called the Affections, a due and severe Check.
This Doctrine of Discipline and Mortification, how much soever it may look like Popery, is notwithstanding a most absolutely necessary thing in the Life of a Man of Sense; and tho' I am not talking of it here as a religious Exercise, at least not in the Manner and on the Principle of Merit, as the Papists practise it; yet I must own, 'tis the most effectual Means to answer the End in such Cases as these.
If it be true, that the Affections, which are the grossest Part of the Man, are up in Arms; if this Mob is rais'd in his Soul, for such it is, the Militia must be rais'd to suppress them; Violence must be suppress'd by Violence; the Torrent must be check'd, and the Man be reduced to the Government of himself, and brought into good Order by proper Powers; for as it is (in short) a Tumult in his Soul, and a Rebellion against the just Dominion of his Reason, so he must use the means Nature has put into his hand to quash and suppress the Rebellion, and chain them down like Galley-Slaves to the Oar, to humble and mortify them.
The
