- ments are bestowed upon such Persons as are best
able to manage them; and every Man hath an opportunity to be the Hammerer out of his own Honour and Preferment. Those which at present are the greatest Officers under their Emperor, were mostly the Sons of Shepherds or Neatherds; and they are so far from being ashamed of the Meanness of their Original, that they glory therein among one another; and account it more Praise-worthy to be the Advancers of themselves, than if they had Honour transmitted down to them from their Ancestors.
For thus they argue, Virtue is not propagated from our Parents, but is partly the Gift of God, and partly acquired by good Discipline, and by our own Labour and Industry; so that, as no Son hath his Father's Skill in Music, Arithmetic or Geometry, derived to him from his Birth, so neither can Fathers bequeath Virtue as an Inheritance to their Children; for the Soul, say they, is not communicated with the Father's Seed (so that a Son must necessarily be born alike qualified as his Father was) but it is infus'd into his Body from the God of Heaven. Thus in that Nation, Dignities, Honours, Offices, &c. are the Rewards of Virtue and Merit; as on the other side, Dishonesty, Sloth, and Idleness, are among them the most despicable things in the whole World. And by this means they flourish, bear sway, and enlarge the Bounds of their Empire every day more and more. But we, Christians, to our shame be it spoken, live at another manner of rate; Virtue is little esteemed among us, but Nobleness of Birth (forsooth) carries away all the Honour and Preferment. But enough of this at present: More may be spoken on this Argument hereafter; and what I have now said about it, pray keep it to your self, for other Men may not be able to bear my Freedom herein.
