crosses as a man would haue thought them their vtter ouerthrow and vndoing haue beene raised by the selfesame meanes to the highest pitch of their owne desires and contrariwise without that infelicitie had still remained vnder hatches as that great Athenian Captaine knew well when hee said perier amus nisi perijssemus A very excellent example heere of was Ioseph the sonne of Iacob It is true that these are blowes from heauen but the vertue and wisedome of man serueth as a proper instrument from whence came that wise saying of the Sages To make of necessitie a vertue It is a very good husbandrie and the first propertie of a wise man to draw good from euill to handle his affaires with such dexteritie and so to winne the winde and to set the bias that of that which is ill he may make good vse and better his owne condition Afflictions and aduersities proceede from three causes 10 It hath three causes and three effects which are the three authors workers of our punishments sinne the first inuentor which hath brought them into nature the anger and iustice of God which setteth them aworke as his Commissaries and executioners the policie of the world troubled and changed by sinne wherein as a generall reuolt and cruill tumult things not being in their due places and not doing their office all euils do spring and arise as in a body the disiointing of the members the dislocation of the bones bringeth great paine and much vnquietnesse These three are not fauourable vnto vs the first is to be hated of all as our enemie the second to be feared as terrible the third to be auoided as an imposture That a man may the better defend and quit himselfe from all three there is no better way than to vse their owne proper armes wherewith they punish vs as Dauid cut off Goliahs head with his owne sword making of necessity a vertue profit of paine and affliction turning them against themselues Affliction is the true fruit or science of sinne being well taken is the death and ruine thereof and it doth that to the author therof which the viper doth to his damme that brought him foorth It is the oile of the Scorpion which healeth his owne sting to the end it may perish by it owne inuention perijt arte sua patimur quia peccauimus patimur vt non peccemus It is the file of the soule which scoureth purifieth and clenseth it from all sinne And consequently it appeaseth the anger of God and freeth vs from the prisons and bands of Iustice to bring vs into the faire and cleare sun-shine of grace and mercy Finally it weaneth vs from the world it plucketh vs from the dug and maketh vs distaste with the bitternesse thereof like wormwood vpon the teat of the nurse the sweet milke and food of this deceitfull world A great and principall meane for a man to carrie himselfe well in aduersitie is to be an honest man A vertuous man 11 A generall aduice is more peaceable in aduersitie than a vitious in prosperitie like those that haue a feuer who feele and find more harme and violence in the heat and cold thereof and in the extreamitie of their fittes than such as are sound in the heat and cold of Summer and Winter And euen so they that haue their consciences sicke are much more tormented than they that are sound that are honest men For hauing the inward part whole and healthfull they can no way bee endamaged by the outward especially opposing against it a good courage Aduersities are of two sorts some are true and naturall as 12 An aduice more speciall sicknesse griefes losse of those things we loue others are false and fained either by a common or particular opinion and not in veritie That it is so man hath his spirit and body as much at command as before they hapned To these kind of men only this one word That which thou complainest of is neither painfull nor troublesome but thou makest it such and makest thy selfe to beleeue it As touching the true and naturall the more prompt and popular and more sound opinions are the more naturall and 13 Naturall more iust First we must remember that a man indureth nothing against the humane and naturall law since euen at the To endure is naturall and humane birth of man all these things are annexed and giuen as ordinarie In whatsoeuer doth afflict vs let vs consider two things the nature of that that hapneth vnto vs and that which is in our selues and vsing things according to nature we can receiue no tediousnesse or offence thereby For offence is a maladie of the soule contrarie to nature and therefore should by no meanes come neere vnto vs. There is not any accident in the world which may happen vnto vs wherein nature hath not prepared an aptnesse in vs to receiue it and to turne it to our contentment There is no maner of life so strait that hath not some solace and recreation There is no prison so strong and darke that giues not place to a song sometimes to comfort a prisoner Ionas had leasure to make his prayers vnto God euen in the bellie of the Whale and was heard It is a fauor of nature that it findeth a remedie and ease vnto our euils in the bearing of them it being so that man is borne to be subiect to all sorts of miseries omnia ad quae gemimus quae expauescimus tributa vitaesunt Secondly we must remember that there is only the lesser part of man subiect to fortune we haue the principall in our 14 It toucheth but the lesser part of man owne power and it cannot be ouercome without our owne consent Fortune may make a man poore sick afflicted but not vitious dissolute deiected it cannot take from vs probitie courage vertue Afterwards we must come to fidelitie reason iustice Many times a man complaineth vniustlie for though he be sometimes 15 It is not against reason and iustice surprised with some ill accident yet he is more often with a good and so the one must recompence the other And if a man consider well thereof he shall find more reason to content himselfe with his good fortunes than to complaine of his bad and as we turne our eyes from those things that offend vs and delight to cast them vpon greene and pleasant colours so must we diuert our thoughts from heauie and melancholike occurrents and applie them to those that are pleasant and pleasing vnto vs. But we are malicious resembling cupping-glasses which draw the corrupt bloud and leaue the good like a couetous man who selleth the best wine and drinks the worst like little children from whom if you take away one of their play-games in a furie they cast away all the rest For if any misfortune happen vnto vs we torment our selues and forget all the rest that may any way comfort vs yea some there are
the means wherby to prouide for our affaires and with time it rusteth and fenoweth the soule it corrupteth the whole man brings his vertues asleepe euen then when he hath most need to keepe them awaked to withstand that euil which oppresseth them but we must discouer the foulnesse and follie the pernicious effects yea the iniustice that is in this cowardly base and feeble passion to the end wee may learne with all our might to flie and auoid it as most vnworthy the wisest men according to the doctrine of the Stoicks which is not so easy to be done because it excuseth and couereth it selfe with many beautifull colours of nature pietie goodnesse yea the greatest part of the world it drawes to honour and fauour it making it an ornament to wisedome vertue conscience First then it is so farre from being naturall as it would 2 Not naturall Publike mournings make men beleeue that it is formall and an enemie to nature as may easily be prooued Touching ceremonious sorrowes and publike mournings so much affected and practised in former times and likewise at this present my meaning is not to touch the honestie and moderation of obsequies and funeralls nor that sorrow that belongs to piety and religion what greater imposture or deceitfull cousenage can there be in any thing besides How many fained and artificiall counterfeit cousenages are there with no small cost and charges both in those whom it concerneth the authors of the sport and those whose offices they make vse of in that businesse For to giue the better credit to their iugling tricks they hire people to lament and to send vp their shreeking cries and lamentations which all men know to bee fained and extorted for mony teares that are not shed but to bee seene and so soone as they are out of sight are dried vp where is it that nature hath taught vs this Nay what is there that nature doth more abhorre and condemne It is a tyrannicall false and vulgar opinion the worst as hath beene said almost of all the passions that teacheth vs to weepe and lament in such a case And if a man cannot finde occasion of teares a heauy countenance in him selfe he must buy it at a deare price in another in such sort that to satisfie this opinion hee must enter into a great charge whereof nature if we would credit it would willingly discharge vs. Is not this willingly and publikely to betray reason to enforce and to corrupt nature to prostitute his owne manhood to mocke both the world and himselfe to satisfie the vulgar sort which produce nothing but errour and account of nothing that is not counterfeit and disguised Neither are those more particular sorrowes naturall as it seemes to many for if they did proceed from nature they should Particular bee common to all men and almost touch all men alike Now wee see that the selfe same things that are causes of sorrow to some giue occasion of ioy vnto others that one Prouince one person laugheth at that whereat another weepeth that they that are conuersant with those that lament exhort them to resolution and to quit themselues of their teares Yea the greatest part of those that thus torment themselues when you haue talked with them or that themselues haue had the leasure but to discourse vpon their owne passions they confesse that it is but a folly thus to afflict themselues and praise those who in the like aduersities haue made head against fortune and with a manly and generous courage haue withstood their afflictions And it is certaine that men do not accommodate their mourning to their cause of sorrow but the opinion of those with whom they liue And if a man marke them well he shall finde that it is opinion which the more to annoy vs presenteth the things vnto vs which torment vs either more than they should or by anticipation feare and preuention of that which is to come sooner than they should But it is against nature inasmuch as it polluteth and defaceth 3 Against nature whatsoeuer nature hath made beautifull and amiable in vs which is drowned by the force of this passion as the beautie of a pearle is dissolued in vineger Wee make our selues heerby spectacles of pity we go with our heads hanging our eies fastned on the earth our mouthes tonguelesse our members immooueable our eies serue for no other vse than to weepe that you may say wee are nothing but sweating statues turned as the Poets faine like Niobe into a stone by the power of this passion Now it is not only contrary and an enemy vnto nature but 4 Iniust and impious God himselfe for what other thing is it but a rash and outragious complaint against the Lord and common law of the whole world which hath made all things vnder the Moone changeable and corruptible If we know this law why do we torment our selues If we know it not whereof doe we complaine but of our owne ignorance in that we know not that which Nature hath written in all the corners and creatures of the world We are heere not to giue a law but to receiue it and to follow that which we find established for to torment our selues by contradicting it doth but double our paine Besides all this it is pernicious and hurtfull vnto man and by so much the more dangerous because it killeth when we 5 Pernitican thinke it comforts hurteth vnder the colour of doing good vnder a false pretence of plucking the iron out of the wound it driues it to the heart and the blowes thereof are so much the more hardly auoided and the enterprises broken because it is a domesticall enemy brought vp with vs which we haue engendred for our owne punishment Outwardly by a deformed and new countenance wholly 6 Outwardly altered and counterfeited it dishonoreth and defameth man Doe but consider when it entreth into vs it filleth vs with shame in such sort that wee dare not to shew our selues in publike place no not priuatly to our dearest friends and after we are once possessed of this passion we doe nothing but seeke corners to hide our selues from the sight of men What is this to say but that it condemneth it selfe and acknowledgeth how indecent it is For it is for a woman that is taken in her wantonnesse to hide herselfe and to feare to be knowen Againe do but consider the vestments and habits of sorrow how strange and effeminate they are which sheweth that it taketh away whatsoeuer is manly and generous in vs and puts vpon vs the countenances and infirmities of women and therfore the Thratians adorned those men that mourned like women And some say that sorow makes men eunuches The first and more manly and generous lawes of the Romans forbad these effeminate lamentations finding it an horrible thing that men should so degenerate from their owne natures and do things contrary to manhood allowing only of those
the waspe which with his sting offendeth another but much more himselfe for he leaueth behind him and that for euer both his sting and his strength vice hoth pleasure in it otherwise it would not be receiued nor find place in the world nemo enim animi causu malus est but it doth withall ingender displeasure and offence paine followeth firme saith Plato yea it groweth with it saith Hesiodus which is quite contrarie to the will and to vertue which reioyceth and contenteth There is a congratulation a pleasing contentment and satisfaction in well doing it is the true and essentiall reward of a good soule which can neuer faile him and wherewith he must content himselfe in this world There is no man maketh a doubt whether vice be to be auoided and hated aboue all things but it is a question whether 18 Whether it be neuer permitted to sinne there may be any such profit or pleasure as may carrie with it a sufficient excuse for the committing of such or such a finne It seemeth to diuers that there may Touching prosin if it be publike there is no doubt but yet with limitation as shall be sayd in the vertue of politike prudence but some will say as much of particular profit and pleasure A man â— Lib. 3. cap. 2. might speake and iudge heereof more certainly if some certaine fact on example were proposed but to speake simplie we are firmly to holde the negatiue That sinne can not inwardly furnish vs with such pleasure and content as honestie doth there is no doubt but that it 19 Whether all sinne ingender repentance The distinction of vice or wickednesse tormendth as hath been sayd it is not vniuersally and in all senses true we must therefore distinguish it There are three sorts of wickednesse and wicked people some are incorporated into euill by discourse and resolution or by long habit in such sort that their vnderstanding it selfe approueth it and consenteth there unto This falleth out when sinne hauing met with a strong and vigorous heart is in such sort rooted therein that it is there formed and as it were naturalized and the soule infected and wholly tainted therewith Others contrariwise do ill by impulsions according as the violent winde of temptation troubleth stirreth and precipitateth the soule vnto sinne and as they are surprised and caried by the force of passion The third as midlings betwixt these two account their vice such as it is they accuse and condemne it contrarie to the first and they are not carried by passion or temptation as the second but in colde blood hauing well thought thereof they enter into the market they ballance it with some great pleasure or profit and in the end at a certaine price and measure they yeeld thereunto and they thinke they haue some excuse to doe it Of this sort of sinnes are vsuries obscenities or venereous pleasures and other sinnes manie times resumed consulted deliberated as also the sinnes of complexion Of these three the first do neuer repent without some extraordinarie 20 Their comparison touch from heauen for being setled and hardned in wickednesse they feele not the pricke and sting thereof for since the vnderstanding approueth it and the soule is wholly tainted therewith the will hath no will to gainsay it The third repent or seeme in a certaine fashion that is to say simply considering the dishonest action in it selfe but afterwards weighing it with profit or pleasure they repent not at all and to say the truth and to speake properly they do not repent since both their reason and conscience willeth and consenteth to the fault The second are they that repent and readuise themselues and of whom properly it is called repentance whereof I will heere take occasion to speake a word or two Repentance is a disauowing or deniall and a retractation 21 Of repentance of the will that is a sorrow or griefe ingendred in vs by reason which driueth away all other sorrowes and griefs which proceed from outward causes Repentance is inward inwardly ingendred and therfore more strong than any other as the heat and colde of a feauer is more violent than that which is outward Repentance is the medicine of the soule the death of sinne the cure of our willes and consciences but it is necessarie that we well know it First it is not of euerie sinne as hath beene sayd not of that which is inueterate habituated authorized by the iudgement it selfe but of the accidentall and that which happeneth either by surprise or by force nor of things that are not in our power whereof we are sorrie we cannot repent neither can it be in vs by reason of bad issues and contrary to our counsels and designments If a matter fall out besides a mans thought conceipt and aduice for that he must not repent him of his counsell and aduice if he therein carrie himselfe as he ought for a man cannot diuine of euents and if a man did know them yet he hath no place to consult of them and we neuer are to iudge of counsels by their issues neither must it grow in him by the age impotencie distaste of things this were to suffer his iudgement to be corrupted for the things are not changed because we are changed by age sicknesse or other accidents The growing wise or amendment which comes by anxietie distaste or feeblenes is not true and religious but idle and languishing The weaknesse of the bodie is no fit post to carie vs to God and to our dutie and repentance but true repentance is the gift of God which toucheth our heart and must grow in vs not by the weaknesse of the bodie but by the force of the soule and of reason Now from true repentance there ariseth a true free and religious confession of our faults As in the maladies of the bodie 22 Of confession and excuse we see two kinds of remedies the one which healeth taking away the cause and roote of the maladie the other which doth only couer it and bring it asleepe and therefore the former is more forcible and more wholsome So likewise in the maladies of the soule the true remedie which clenseth and healeth is a serious and modest confession of our faults the other false which doth only disguise and couer is excuse a remedie inuented by the author of euill it selfe whereof the prouerb is That sinne soweth itselfe a garment that is excuse the garment made of figge leaues by the first offenders who couered themselues both with words and deeds but it was a garment without warmth We should therefore learne to accuse our selues boldly to confesse all our actions thoughts for besides that it were a faire and generous libertie it were likewise a meane not to do or thinke any thing which were not honest and fit to be published for he that will be content to be bound to tell all will be likewise content to bind himselfe to do
owne willes and the more voluntarie it is the more honorable and there are a thousand waies vnto it We may want meanes whereby to liue but not to die Life may be taken away from euery man by euery man but not death vbique mors est optime hoc cauit deus eripere vitam nemo non homini potest at nemo mortem mille ad hanc aditus patent The most fauorable present that nature hath bestowed vpon vs and that taketh away from vs all meanes of complaint is that it hath left vnto vs the key of the closet libertie to die when we will Wherefore complainest thou in this world It holdeth thee not if thou liue in paine thy idlenes and feare is the cause for to die there is nothing necessarie but a will The other case is a liuely apprehension and desire of the life to come which maketh a man to thirst after death as after a great gaine the seed of a better life the bridge vnto paradise the way to all good and an earnest pennie of the resurrection A firme beleefe and hope of these things is incompatible with the feare and horror of death it perswadeth vs rather to be wearie of this life and to desire death vitam habere in patientia mortem in desiderio to haue life in affliction and death in affection their life is a crosse their death a comfort and therefore their vowes and their voices are cupio dissolui mihi mors lucrum quis me liberabit de corpore montis huius And for this cause those Philosophers and Christians haue been iustlie reproched which is to be vnderstood of those that are weake and idle and not of all that play the publike dissemblers and do not in veritie beleeue that which they do so much talke of and so highlie commend touching that happie immortalitie and those vnspeakable pleasures in the second life since they doubt and feare death so much the necessarie passage thereunto The fift and last is the execution of this precedent desire 18 To kill himselfe which is for a man to be his owne executioner and the authour of his owne death This seemeth to proceed from vertue and the greatnes of a mans courage hauing been ancientlie practised by the greatest and most excellent men and women of euerie nation and religion Greekes Romanes Egyptians Persians Medes French Indians Philosophers of all sects Iewes witnes that good old man Razis called the father of the Iewes for his vertue and his wiues who vnder Antiochus hauing circumcised their children cast themselues hedlong from the rock with them And Christians too witnes those two canonized Saints Pelagius and Sophronia whereof the first with his mother and sisters cast himselfe into the riuer and the other killed hir selfe with a knife to auoid the violence of Maxentius the Emperour Yea witnes diuers people and whole cities as Capona in Italy Astupa Numantia in Spaine besieged by the Romans the Abideens enforced by Philip a citie in India besieged by Alexander But this resolution hath been likewise approued and authorized by many common-weales by lawes and rules established thereupon as at Marseilles in the I le of Cea in Nigropont and other nations as in the Hyperborean Ilands and iustified by many great reasons drawne from the precedent article which is of the iust desire of death For if it be permitted to desire to aske to seeke after death why should it be an ill acte to giue it vnto our selues If a mans owne death be iust in the will why should it not be as iust in the hand and the execution Why should I expect that from another which I can do my selfe and why should it not be better to giue it than to suffer another to giue it to meete than to attend it for the fairest death is the more voluntarie Finallie I offend not the law made against theeues and robbers when I take but my owne goods and cut but my owne purse neither am I guiltie of the lawes made against murtherers by taking away my owne life But this opinion is reproued by diuers not only Christians but Iewes as Iosephus disputeth against his captaines in the caue du Puis and Philosophers as Plato Scipio who held this proceeding not only for a vice of cowardlines and impatiencie for it is for a man to hide himselfe from the blowes of fortune Now a true and liuely vertue must neuer yeeld for euils and crosses are nourishments thereunto and it is greater constancie well to vse the chaine wherewith we are tied than to breake it and more setled resolution in Regulus than in Cato Rebus in aduersis facile est contemnere vitam Fortius ille facit qui miser esse potest Si fractus illabitur orbis Impauidum ferient ruinae But also for a fault of desertion for a man ought not to abandon his charge without the expresse commaundement of him that gaue it him we are not heere for our selues nor our owne masters This then is not a matter beyond all doubt or disputation It is first beyond all doubt that wee are not to attempt this last exploit without very great and iust cause nay I cannot see how any cause should be great and iust enough to the end that it be as they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an honest and reasonable departure It must not then be for any light occasion whatsoeuer some say that a man may die for light causes since they that hold vs in life are not weightie It is ingratitude to nature not to accept and vse hir present it is a signe of lightnes to be too anxious and scrupulous to breake companie for matters of no moment and not for such as are iust and lawfull if there be any such And therefore they had not a sufficient excuse and iust cause of their death of whom I made mention before Pomponius Atticus Marcellinus and Cleantes who would not stay the course of their death for this only reason because they were alreadie neere vnto it The wiues of Petus of Scaurus of Labio of Fuluius the friend of Augustus of Seneca and diuers others who died only to accompanie their husbands in death or rather to encourage them therein Cato and others who died because their businesse succeeded not well and because they would not fall into the hands of their enemies notwithstanding they feared no ill vsage at their hands They that haue murthered themselues because they would not liue at the mercie and by the grace and fauor of those whom they hated as Grauius Siluanius and Statius Proximus being pardoned by Nero. They that die to recouer a shame and dishonor past as that Romane Lucretia Sparzapizes the sonne of Queene Tomyris Boges the Lieutenant of king Xerxes They that for no particular cause but only because they see the weale-publike in a bad and declining estate murther themselues as Nerua that great Lawyer Vibius Vircus Iubellius in the taking of Capona They that
internall the one proceedeth from without it is called by diuers names aduersitie affliction iniurie vnhappinesse euill and sinister accidents The other is inward in the mind but caused by that which is outward These are hatefull and hurtfull passions of feare sadnesse choler and diuers others We must speake of them both prescribe meanes and remedies to ouercome suppresse and rule them These are the arguments and counsels of our vertue fortitude and valour It consisteth then heere of two parts the one of euils or ill accidents the other of passions which proceed thereof The generall aduice against all good and euill fortune hath beene declared before we will speake heere more specially and particularly thereof CHAP. XX. The first part of outward euils VVE will consider these outward euils three waies in 1 The distinction and comparison of euils by their causes their causes which shall be declared in this chapter afterward in their effects lastly in themselues distinctly and particularly euery kinde of them And we will giue aduice and meanes in them all by vertue to be armed against them The cause of euill and hatefull accidents which happen to vs all are either common and generall when at the same instant they concerne many as pestilence famine warre tyranny And these euils are for the most part scourges sent of God and from heauen or at least the proper and neerest cause thereof we cannot easily know Or particulars and those that are knowne that is to say by the meanes of another And so there are two sorts of euils publike and priuate Now the common euils that is to say proceeding of a publike cause though they concerne euery one in particular are in diuers kinds more or lesse grieuous weightie and dangerous than the priuate whose causes are knowne More grieuous for they come by flockes and troopes they assaile more violently with greater stirre of vehemencie and furie they haue a greater concurse and traine they are more tempestuous they bring foorth greater disorder and confusion Lesse grieuous because generalitie and communitie seemeth to mitigate and lessen euery mans euill It is a kinde of comfort not to be alone in miserie it is thought to be rather a common vnhappinesse where the course of the world and the cause is naturall than personall affliction And indeed those wrongs which a man doth vs torment vs more wound vs to the quicke and much more alter vs. Both these two haue their remedies and comforts Against publicke euils a man ought to consider from whom and by whom they are sent and to marke their cause 2 The aduice against publicke euils Prouidence Destinie It is God his prouidence from whence commeth and dependeth an absolute necessitie which gouerneth and ruleth all whereunto all things are subiect His prouidence and destinie or necessitie are not to say the truth two distinct laws in essence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither are they one The diuersitie is only in the consideration and different reason Now to murmure and to be grieued at the contrarie is first of all such impietie as the like is not elsewhere found for all things doe quietlie obey man only torments himselfe And againe it is a folly because it is vaine and to no purpose If a man will not follow this soueraigne and absolute mistris willinglie it shall cary all by force ad hoc sacramentum adacti sumus ferre mortalia nec perturbari ijs quae vitare nostrae potestatis non est in regno nati sumus deo parere libertas est Desine fata deûm flecti sperare querendo There is no better remedie than to applie our willes to the will thereof and according to the aduice of wisdome to make a vertue of necessitie Non est aliud effugium necessitatis quà m velle quod ipsa cogat In seeking to contend or dispute against it we doe but sharpen and stirre the euill Laeto animo ferre quicquid acciderit quasi tibi volueris accidere debuisses enim velle si scisses ex decreto Dei fieri Besides we shall better profit our selues we shall do that which we ought to do which is to follow our generall and soueraigne who hath so ordeined it Optimum pati quod emendare non possis deum quo authore cuncta proueniunt sine murmuratione comitari Malus miles est qui imperatorem gemens sequitur And without contestation to allow for good whatsoeuer he will It is magnanimitie of courage to yeeld vnto him Magnus animus qui se Deo tradidit It is effeminacie and dastardlines to murmure or complaine pusillus degener qui obluctatur de ordine mundi male existimat emendare mauult Deum quà m se Against those priuat euils which do proceed from the act of another and which pierce vs more we ought first well to 3 The distinction Of priuat euils distinguish them lest we mistake them There is displeasure there is offence We often conceiue ill of another who notwithstanding hath not offended vs neither in deed nor will as when he hath either demaunded or refused any thing with reason but yet was then hurtfull vnto vs for such causes it is too great simplicitie to be offended since that they are not offences Now there are two sorts of offences the one crosseth our affaires against equitie this is to wrong vs the others are applied to the person who is contemned by it and handled otherwise than it ought be it in deed or in word These are more grieuous and harder to be indured than any other kind of affliction The first and generall aduice against all these sorts of euils is to be firme and resolute not to suffer himselfe to be lead by 4 The aduice against them in generall common opinion but without passion to consider of what weight and importance things are according to veritie and reason The world suffereth it selfe to be perswaded and lead by impression How many are there that make lesse account to receiue a great wound than a little blow more account of a word than of death To be briefe all is measured by opinion and opinion offendeth more than the euill and our impatience hurts vs more than those of whom wee complaine The other more particular counsels and remedies are drawne first from our selues and this is that we must first 5 Particular aduisements drawne from our selues looke into These pretended offences may arise of our owne defects and weaknesse This might be a follic grounded vpon some defect in our owne person which any one in derision would counterfait It is follie to greeue and vex himselfe for that which proceedeth not from his owne fault The way to preuent others in their scoffes is first to speake and to let them know that you know as much as they can tell you if it be that the iniurie hath taken his beginning by our default and that we haue giuen the occasion of this abuse why should we be offended
so many lawes customes opinions different maners and contrary to ours as there are in the world there are none good but ours Hath all the world besides beene mistaken Who dares to say so and who doubteth but others say as much of ours and that he that thus condemneth others if he had been there borne and brought vp would thinke them better and prefer them before those he now accounteth the only good and all because he hath been accustomed vnto them To conclude to him that shall be so foole-hardy to say it I doe answere that this rule shall at the least be good for all others to the end that they iudging and examining all may finde ours to be the better Go to then the wise man shall iudge of all nothing shall escape him which he bringeth not to the barre and to the ballance It is to play the part of prophane men and beasts to suffer themselues to be lead like oxen I will that men liue and speake and do as others and the common sort do but not that they iudge like the common sort but iudge them What can a wise man or a holie man haue aboue a prophane if he must haue his spirit his mind his principall and heroicall part a slaue to the vulgar sort The publicke and common should content it selfe if a man conforme himselfe thereunto in all apparent things what hath it to do with our inside our thoughts and iudgements They shall gouerne as long as they will my hand my tongue but not my spirit for that by their leaue hath another master It is a hard thing to bridle the libertie of the spirit and if a man would do it it is the greatest tyrannie that may be a wise man will take heed thereof actiuely and passiuely will maintaine himselfe in his libertie and not trouble that of other men Now a wise man enioying this his right to iudge and examin all things it many times comes to passe that the iudgement 3 The effect of this first treatise A wise man one within another without and the hand the mind and the bodie contradict one another and that he will carie himselfe outwardlie after one maner and iudge inwardlie after another will play one part before the world and another in his mind which he must do to preserue equitie and iustice in all That generall saying vniuersus mundus exercet histrioniam should properly and truly be vnderstood of a wise man who is another man within than he outwardly shewes If he were without such as he is within he should not be accounted of but in all things offend the world If he were within such as without he should be no more a wise man he should iudge amisse be corrupted in his mind He must do and carie himselfe outwardly for publike reuerence and so as he offend no man according to the law custome and ceremonie of the countrey and inwardly iudge of the truth as it is according to the vniuersall reason whereby it many times comes to passe that he condemneth that which outwardly he doth Sapiens faciet quae non probabit vt ad maiora transitum inueniat nec relinquet bonos more 's sed tempori aptabit omnia quae imperiti faciunt luxuriosi faciet sed non eodem modo nec eodem proposito multa sapientes faciunt quâ homines sunt non quâ sapientes He will carie himselfe in things and actions as Cicero in words who said I leaue the vse or custome of speach to the people and obserue the true science and knowledge of words Loquendum extrà viuendum vt multi sapiendum vt pauci Some few examples heereof and first of things of lesse moment In all humilitie I take off my hat and keepe my head vncouered before my superior for so doth the custome of my countrey require but yet I will not leaue to iudge that the custome of the East is farre better to salute and do reuerence by laying the hand vpon the brest without vncouering the head to the preiudice of our health and other inconueniences Contrariwise if I were in the East I would take my repast sitting vpon the earth or leaning on the elbow or halfe lying looking vpon the table side-wayes as they do there and as our Sauiour with his Apostles did vse to do recumbentibus discumbentibus and yet I would not cease to iudge that the maner of sitting vpright at table our faces towards it as the custome is heere is more honest more fit and commodious These examples are of small weight and there are a thousand the like let vs take another of better importance I will and I yeeld my consent that the dead be interred and left to the mercie of the wormes of rottennesse and stench because it is now the common custome almost euery-where but yet I will not cease to iudge that the ancient manner of burning them and gathering their ashes together is more noble and more neate to commit and commend them to the fire the excellentest element enemie to putrefaction and stench neighbour to heauen it selfe a signe of immortalitie a shadow of the diuinitie and whereof the vse is proper and peculiar vnto man rather than to the earth which is the ordure lees dregs of the elements the sinke of the world the mother of corruption and to the wormes which is the extreamest ignominie and horror and so to couple and handle alike a man and a beast Religion it selfe teacheth and commandeth to dispose after this maner of all things as of the Paschall lamb which might not be eaten and where popery beareth sway the consecrated host and diuers the like why then should not the like respect be had of our bodies What can a man do that is more dishonorable to the bodie than to cast it into the earth there to corrupt It seemeth to me to be the vttermost punishment that can be inflicted vpon infamous persons and heinous offenders and that the carcasies of honest and honorable men should be handled with better respect Doubtlesse of all the maners in disposing of dead bodies which may be reduced to fiue that is to commit them to the foure elements and the bowels of wild beasts the vilest and basest and most shamefull is to interre them the most noble and honorable to burne them Again I will and consent that this my Wise man in things naturall be modest that he hide and couer those parts and actions that are called shamefull dishonorable and he that should do otherwise I would detest and thinke hardlie of him because it is almost the custome of the whole world but yet I will neuerthelesse that he iudge that simplie in themselues and according to nature they are no more shamefull than the nose or the mouth to drinke and to eate Nature that is God hauing made nothing shamefull but it is for another cause not from nature that is to say from the enemie of nature which is
sinne Diuinitie also more chaste than Philosophie telleth vs that in entire nature not yet altered by the sinne of man these parts and actions were not shamefull for then shame was not it is the enemie of nature the fruit of sinne I consent to apparell my selfe like those of my countrey and profession and if I had beene borne in those countries where they go naked I would haue gone so too but yet I cease not to iudge that neither of the two fashions is very good and if I were to chuse and ordaine I would chuse a fashion indifferent betwixt both out of those countries where they couer themselues with one only and simple couering light and easie enough without fashion or cost for our maner of attiring is not good yea worse than to goe naked to be so fast wrapped and bound with such a multitude and varietie of couerings of diuers stuffes euen to the number of foure fiue six one vpon another and whereof some are double that they hold vs prest and packt vp with so many tyes binding butnings not to speake of that dissolute and abominable excesse condemned by all good lawes that we can hardlie stirre our selues in them I will content my selfe with these examples The selfesame a man may say of all lawes customes maners and of that which is de facto and much more of opinions and that which is de iure If any man shall say that I haue iudged amisse in these examples and that generally if libertie be giuen to iudge of all 4 An obiection things the spirit will wander and lose it selfe filling and furnishing it selfe with follies and false opinions I answere to the first which toucheth me in particular that it is very easie to erre in finding the truth in all these instances and yet it is ouer-boldnes to accuse any man for it is as much as if he should say that a man knowes where and what the truth is in things which who can perfectlie know or iudge of Now not to find the truth is not to iudge amisse to iudge amisse is to wey and ballance and compare amisse that is to say not to examin the reasons and to ponder them according to the first and vniuersall nature both which though a man do yet it followeth not that he must needs find out the truth Now I beleeue nothing that is but simplie affirmed if it be not likewise proued but if any man by contrarie reasons more strong and forcible shall make good what he saith of all others he is the welcomest man vnto me and the man I looke for for oppositions and contradictions well vrged and with reason are the true meanes to exercise this iudging office I had neuer set downe these opinions but that I looked that some one or other should abrogate them and help me to better and to answere more effectuallie and to that generall obiection of the danger that there is in this libertie besides that which hath been spoken and shall more expresly be said in the third lesson of Wisdome and Chapter following that the rule which we ought to hold in iudging and in all things is nature naturall and vniuersall reason following which a man can neuer erre See heere the other member of this iudicious libertie which we are about to handle which will furnish vs with a remedie against this pretended danger The other point of this lord-like libertie of spirit is an indifferencie of taste and a differring of a setled resolution 5 2 Not to binde our selues to any thing whereby a wise man considering coldly and without passion all things as is said is not obstinate doth not sweare tye bind himselfe to any opinion keeping himselfe alwaies readie to receiue the truth or that which seemes to him to haue best semblance of truth and saying in his inward and secret iudgement that which our ancients were wont to say in their outward and publicke it a videtur it seemeth so there is great appeerance of truth on this side and if any man do contradict and oppose himselfe with patience he is readie to vnderstand the contrarie reasons and to receiue them finding them more strong better and when he hath heard what he can heare he still thinketh that either there is or may be better though as yet it appeareth not This dilation and putting off of a mans iudgement is founded first vpon those propositions so much celebrated among the wise That there is nothing certaine that we know nothing that there is nothing in nature but doubt nothing certaine but incertaintie Solum certum nihil esse certi hoc vnum scio quòd nihilscio That of all things a man may dispute alike that we do nothing but search enquire and grope after appearances scimus nihil opinamur verisimilia That veritie is not a thing of our owne inuention and purchase and when it yeelds it selfe into our hands we haue nothing in our selues whereby we may challenge it possesse it or assure our selues of it That truth and falshood enter into vs by one and the same gate and there hold the same place and credit and maintaine themselues by the same meanes That there is no opinion held by all or currant in all places none that is not debated and disputed that hath not another held and maintained quite contrarie vnto it That all things haue two handles and two visages and there is reason for all and there is not any that hath not his contrarie it is of lead it turneth and accommodateth it selfe to whatsoeuer a man will haue it To be short it is the doctrine and practise of all the wisest greatest and most noble Philosophers who haue made profession of ignorance doubting enquiring searching Others notwithstanding they haue beene dogmatists and affirmers yet it hath beene of gestures and words only and that to shew how far they could wade in the purchase and search of the truth quam docti fingunt magis quà m norunt giuing vnto all things no other nor stronger title than probabilitie and true likelihood and handling them diuersly sometimes with one visage and in one sense sometimes in another by problematicall questions rather enquiring than instructing and many times shewing that they speake not in earnest but in sport and for exercise non tam id sensisse quod dicerent quà m exercere ingenia materiae difficultate voluisse videntur And who will beleeue that it was the purpose of Plato to tie men to his Common-wealth and his Idees of Pythagoras to his numbers of Epicurus to his Atomes or to giue them for currant coine They tooke pleasure to solace their spirits with pleasant and subtile inuentions quae ex ingenio finguntur non ex scientiae vi Sometimes likewise they haue studied after difficultie to couer the vanitie of their subiect and to employ the curiositie of their spirits And Aristotle the most resolute of all the rest the prince of dogmatists and peremptorie affirmers