Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

The Plain Dealer, No. 3

Monday, March 30, 1724

"So weak is the Frailty of Human Nature, that we can never be too secure, tho' arm'd with the sublimest Vertue, against the repeated Attacks of so many Passions, as constantly besiege us; and, tho' the Garrison of the Mind may be never so well provided with all Means of Resistance, the greatest of Qualities, Vertues, and Perfections, that our Nature is capable of attaining; nevertheless Treachery, within, Force or Stratagem, from without, may surprize and defeat us."

So weak is the Frailty of Human Nature, that we can never be too secure, tho' arm'd with the sublimest Vertue, against the repeated Attacks of so many Passions, as constantly besiege us; and, tho' the Garrison of the Mind may be never so well provided with all Means of Resistance, the greatest of Qualities, Vertues, and Perfections, that our Nature is capable of attaining; nevertheless Treachery, within, Force or Stratagem, from without, may surprize and defeat us: An Example of which Infirmity the following Story will furnish the Reader, and teach him, of all Things, to avoid, what is call'd Spiritual Pride, That Contempt of another for not being so good, as himself, when he sees how, in an Instant, the greatest Piety and Religion, may be chang'd, (by indulging only one dangerous Passion) into the other Extream of Wickedness; so that we may apply to the Lubricity of Human Vertue, what a wise Man of Greece, said of Happiness, That it can never be determin'd, 'till Death.
(pp. 14-15)

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Text from The Plain Dealer: Being Select Essays on Several Curious Subjects: Relating to Friendship, ... Poetry, and Other Branches of Polite Literature. Publish'd originally in the year 1724. And Now First Collected into Two Volumes (London: Printed for S. Richardson, and A. Wilde, 1730.) <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Link to Vol. II in ECCO-TCP>

08/17/2013