system with regard to our body:
which is, that though nothing be more agreeable than health, and more
painful than sickness, yet commonly men are neither proud of the one,
nor mortifyed with the other. This will easily be accounted for, if
we consider the second and fourth limitations, proposed to our general
system. It was observed, that no object ever produces pride or humility,
if it has not something peculiar to ourself; as also, that every
cause of that passion must be in some measure constant, and hold some
proportion to the duration of our self, which, is its object. Now as
health and sickness vary incessantly to all men, and there is none, who
is solely or certainly fixed in either, these accidental blessings and
calamities are in a manner separated from us, and are never considered
as connected with our being and existence. And that this account is just
appears hence, that wherever a malady of any kind is so rooted in our
constitution, that we no longer entertain any hopes of recovery, from
that moment it becomes an object of humility; as is evident in old men,
whom nothing mortifies more than the consideration of their age and
infirmities. They endeavour, as long as possible, to conceal their
blindness and deafness, their rheums and gouts; nor do they ever confess
them without reluctance and uneasiness. And though young men are not
ashamed of every head-ach or cold they fall into, yet no topic is so
proper to mortify human pride, and make us entertain a mean opinion of
our nature, than this, that we are every moment of our lives subject to
such infirmities. This sufficiently proves that bodily pain and sickness
are in themselves proper causes of humility; though the custom of
estimating every thing by comparison more than by its intrinsic worth
and value, makes us overlook these calamities, which we find to be
incident to every one, and causes us to form an idea of our merit and
character independent of them.

We are ashamed of such maladies as affect others, and are either
dangerous or disagreeable to them. Of the epilepsy; because it gives a
horror to every one present: Of the itch; because it is infectious:
Of the king's-evil; because it commonly goes to posterity. Men always
consider the sentiments of others in their judgment of themselves. This
has evidently appeared in some of the foregoing reasonings; and will
appear still more evidently, and be more fully explained afterwards.

SECT. IX OF EXTER