is Satiety Now What matters it though One Eats and Drinks more and Another Less so long as the One is not a hungry nor the Other a thirst Epicurus that limits Pleasure to Nature as the Stoicks do Virtue is undoubtedly in the Right and those that Cite him to authorise their Voluptuousness do exceedingly mistake him and only seek a Good Authority for an Evil Cause For their Pleasures of Sloth Gluttony and Lust have no Affinity at all with his Precepts or Meaning 'T is true that at first sight his Philosophy seems Effeminate but he that looks nearer him will find him to be a very Brave Man only in a Womanish Dress 'T IS a Common Objection I know That these Philosophers do not Live at the rate that they Talk for they can flatter their Superiors Gather Estates and be as much concern'd at the Loss of Fortune or of Friends as other people As sensible of Reproches as Luxurious in their Eating and Drinking their Furniture their Houses as Magnificent in their Plate Servants and Officers as Profuse and Curious in their Gardens c. Well! And what of all This or if it were twenty times More 'T is some degree of Virtue for a Man to Condemn himself and if he cannot come up to the Best to be yet better than the Worst and if he cannot wholly Subdue his Appetites however to Check and Diminish them If I do not Live as I Preach take notice that I do not speak of my Self but of Virtue nor am I so much offended with Other Mens Vices as with my Own All this was objected to Plato Epicurus Zeno Nor is any Virtue so Sacred as to scape Malevolence The Cinique Demetrius was a great Instance of Severity and Mortification and one that Impos'd upon himself neither to Possess any thing nor so much as to Ask it and yet he had this Scom put upon him that his Profession was Poverty not Virtue Plato is blam'd for Asking Mony Aristotle for Receiving it Democritus for Neglecting it Epicurus for Consuming it How happy were we if we could but come to Imitate these Mens Vices for if we knew our Own Condition we should find work enough at Home But we are like People that are making Merry at a Play or a Tavern when our own houses are on fire and yet we know nothing on 't Nay Cato himself was said to be a Drunkard but Drunkenness it self shall sooner be prov'd to be no Crime than Cato Dishonest They that demolish Temples and overturn Altars shew their Good Will though they can do the Gods no hurt and so it fares with those that invade the Reputation of Great Men. If the Professors of Virtue be as the World calls them Avaritious Libidinous Ambitious What are they then that have a detestation for the very Name of it But Malicious Natures do not want Wit to abuse Honester Men than themselves It is the Practice of the Multitude to bark at Eminent Men as little Dogs do at Strangers for they look upon Other Mens Virtues as the Upbraiding of their Own Wickedness We should do well to commend those that are Good if not let us pass them Over but however let us spare our selves for beside the Blaspheming of Virtue our Rage is to no purpose But to return now to my Text. WE are ready enough to limit Others but loth to put Bounds and Restraint upon our selves though we know that many times a Greater Evil is Cur'd by a Less and the Mind that will not be brought to Virtue by Precept comes to it frequently by Necessity Let us try a little to Eate upon a Joynt-Stool to serve our selves to Live within Compass and accommodate our Cloths to the End they were made for Occasional Experiments of our Moderation give us the best Proof of our Firmness and Virtue A well-govern'd Appetite is a great part of Liberty and it is a Blessed Lot that since no Man can have all things that he would have we may all of us forbear desiring what we have not It is the Office of Temperance to Overrule us in our Pleasures Some she Rejects Others she Qualifies and Keeps within Bounds Oh! the Delights of Rest when a Man comes to be Weary and of Meat when he is heartily Hungry I have learn'd sayes our Author by one Journey how many things we have that are superfluous and how easily they may be spar'd for when we are without them upon Necessity we do not so much as feel the want of them This is the Second Blessed Day sayes he that my Friend and I have Travell'd together One Waggon carries our selves and our Servants My Mattress lies upon the Ground and I upon That Our Diet answerable to our Lodging and never without our Figs and our Table-Books The Muletier without Shooes and the Mules only prove themselves to be Alive by their walking In this Equipage I am not willing I perceive to own my self but as often as we happen into better Company I presently fall a blushing which shews that I am not yet confirm'd in those things which I Approve and Commend I am not yet come to Own my Frugality for he that 's Asham'd to be seen in a Mean Condition would be proud of a splendid one I value my self upon what Passengers think of me and Tacitely renounce my Principles whereas I should rather lift up my Voice to be heard by Mankind and tell them You are all Mad your Minds are set upon supersluities and you value no Man for his Virtues I came one Night weary home and threw my self upon the Bed with this Consideration about me There is nothing Ill that is Well Taken My Baker tells me he has no Bread but sayes he I may get some of your Tenants though I fear 't is not Good No matter said I for I 'll stay till it be Better that is to say till my stomach will be glad of worse It is Discretion sometimes to practice Temperance and wont our selves to a Little for there are many Difficulties both of Time and Place that may Force us upon it When we come to the Matter of Patrimony How strictly do we examine what every Man is Worth before wee 'll trust him with a Penny Such a Man we cry has a great Estate but it is shrewdly incumber'd a very Fair House but 't was built with borrow'd Money a Numerous Family but he does not keep Touch with his Creditors if his Debts were paid he would not be worth a Groat Why do we not take the same Course in other things and examine what every Man is worth 'T is not enough to have a Long Train of Attendants Vast Possessions or an Incredible Treasure in Money and Jewels a Man may be Poor for all this There 's only this difference at Best One Man borrows of the Usurer and the Other of Fortune What signifies the Carving or the Guilding of the Chariot Is the Master ever the better for 't WE
stand the Test. One Man is Forsaken for Fear or Profit Another is Betray'd 'T is a Negotiation not a Friendship that has an Eye to Advantages only through the Corruption of Times that which was formerly a Friendship is now become a Design upon a Booty Alter your Testament and you lose your Friend But my End of Friendship is to have One dearer to me than my Self and for the saving of whose Life I would chearfully lay down my Own taking this along with me that only Wise Men can be Friends Others are but Companions and that there 's a great Difference also betwixt Love and Friendship The One may sometime do us Hurt the Other alwayes does us Good for One Friend is Helpful to Another in all Cases as well in Prosperity as Affliction We receive Comfort even at a Distance from those we Love but then it is Light and Faint whereas Presence and Conversation touches us to the Quick especially if we find the Man we Love to be such a person as we wish IT is Usual with Princes to Reproach the Living by Commending the Dead and to Praise those People for speaking Truth from whom there is no longer any Danger of Hearing it This was Augustus his Case He was forc'd to banish his daughter Iulia for her Common and Prostituted Impudence and still upon Fresh Informations he was often heard to say If Agrippa or Mecaenas had been now alive this would never have been But yet where the Fault lay may be a Question for perchance it was his Own that had rather complain for the Want of them than seek for Others as Good The Roman Losses by War and by Fire Augustus could quickly Supply and Repair but for the Loss of Two Friends he lamented his whole Life after Xerxes a Vain and a Foolish Prince when he made War upon Greece One told him 'T would never come to a Battel Another That he would find only empty Cities and Countryes for they would not so much as stand the very Fame of his Coming Others sooth'd him in the Opinion of his Prodigious Numbers and they all concurr'd to puff him up to his destruction Only Demaratus advis'd him not to depend too much upon his Numbers for he would rather find them a Burthen to him than an advantage And that 300 Men in the Streights of the Mountains would be sufficient to give a Check to his whole Army and that such an Accident would Undoubtedly turn his vast Numbers to his Confusion It fell out afterward as he foretold and he had Thanks for his Fidelity A Miserable Prince that among so many Thousand Subjects had but One Servant to tell him the Truth CHAP. XIX He that would be happy must take an Accompt of his Time IN the distribution of Humane Life we find that a great part of it passes away in Evil-doing A Greater yet in doing just Nothing at all and effectually the whole in doing things beside our business Some hours we bestow upon Ceremony and Servile Attendances Some upon our Pleasures and the Remainder runs at Waste What a deal of Time is it that we spend in Hopes and Fears Love and Revenge in Balls Treats making of Interests Suing for Offices Solliciting of Causes and Slavish Flatteries The shortness of Life I know is the Common Complaint both of Fools and Philosophers as if the Time we have were not sufficient for our duties But 't is with our Lives as with our Estates a good Husband makes a Little go a great way whereas let the Revenue of a Prince fall into the Hands of a Prodigal 't is gone in a moment So that the Time allotted us if it were well employ'd were abundantly enough to answer all the Ends and Purposes of Mankind But we squander it away in Avarice Drink Sleep Luxury Ambition fawning Addresses Envy Rambling Voyages Impertinent Studies Change of Counsels and the like and when our Portion is spent we find the want of it though we gave no heed to it in the Passage In so much that we have rather Made our Life Short than found it so You shall have some People perpetually playing with their Fingers Whistling Humming and Talking to themselves and Others consume their dayes in the Composing Hearing or Reciting of Songs and Lampoons How many precious Mornings do we spend in Consultation with Barbers Taylors and Tire-Women Patching and Painting betwixt the Comb and the Glass A Counsel must be call'd upon every Hair we cut and one Curle amiss is as much as a Bodies Life is worth The truth is we are more sollicitous about our Dress than our Manners and about the Order of our Perriwigs than that of the Government At this rate let us but discount out of a Life of a Hundred years that Time which has been spent upon Popular Negotiations frivolous Amours Domestick Brawls Sauntrings up and down to no purpose Diseases that we have brought upon our selves and this large extent of Life will not amount perhaps to the Minority of another Man It is a Long Being but perchance a Short Life And what 's the Reason of all this we Live as if we should never Dye and without any thought of Humane Frailty when yet the very Moment we bestow upon this Man or Thing may peradventure be our last But the greatest Loss of Time is Delay and Expectation which depends upon the Future We let go the Present which we have in our own Power we look Forward to that which depends upon Fortune and so quit a Certainty for an Uncertainty We should do by Time as we do by a Torrent make Use of it while we may have it for it will not last alwayes THE Calamities of Humane Nature may be Divided into the Fear of Death and the Miseries and Errors of Life And it is the great Work of Mankind to Master the One and to Rectifie the Other And so to Live as neither to make Life Irksome to us nor Death Terrible It should be our Care before we are Old to Live Well and when we are so to Die well that we may expect our End without Sadness For it is the Duty of Life to prepare our selves for Death and there is not an hour we Live that does not Mind us of our Mortality Time Runs on and all things have their Fate though it lies in the Dark The Period is Certain to Nature but What am I the better for it if it be not so to me We propound Travels Armes Adventures without ever considering that Death lies in the way Our Term is set and none of us Know how Near it is but we are all of us Agreed that the Decree is Unchangable Why should we wonder to have That befall us to Day which might have happen'd to us any Minute since we were Born Let us therefore Live as if every Moment were to be our Last and set our Accompts Right every day that passes over our Heads We are not Ready for Death
Condition Upon these Thoughts I betake my self to my Philosophy and then methinks I am not well unless I put my self into some Publick Employment Not for the Honor or the Profit of it but only to place my self in a Station where I may be serviceable to my Country and to my Friends But when I come on the other side to consider the Uneasiness the Abuses and the Loss of Time that attends Publick Affairs I get me home again as fast as I can and take up a Resolution of spending the Remainder of my dayes within the Privacy of my own Walls How great a madness is it to set our hearts upon Trifles especially to the neglect of the most serious Offices of our Lives and the most important End of our Being How Miserable as well as Short is their Life that Compass with great Labor what they Possess with Greater and Hold with Anxiety what they Acquire with Trouble But we are govern'd in all things by Opinion and every thing is to us as we Believe it What is Poverty but a Privative and not intended of what a Man Has but of that which he has Not The great Subject of Humane Calamities is Mony Take all the Rest together as Death Sickness Fear Desire Pain Labor and those which proceed from Mony exceed them all 'T is a Wonderful Folly that of Tumblers Rope-Dancers Divers and what pains they take and what hazards they run for an Inconsiderable Gain And yet we have not Patience for the Thousandth Part of that trouble though it would put us into the Possession of an everlasting Quiet Epicurus for Experiment sake confin'd himself to a narrower Allowance than that of the Severest Prisons to the most Capital Offenders and found himself at Ease too in a stricter Diet than any Man in the Worst Condition needs to Fear This was to prevent Fortune and to Frustrate the Worst which she can do We should never know any thing to be Superfluous but by the Want of it How many things do we provide only because Others have them and for fashion sake Caligula offer'd Demetrius 5000 Crowns who rejected them with a Smile as who should say It was so little it did him no honor the refusing of it Nothing less sayes he than the Offer of his whole Empire could have been a Temptation to have try'd the Firmness of my Virtue By this Contempt of Riches is intended only the Fearless Possession of them And the way to attain That is to perswade our selves that we may live Happily without them How many of those things which Reason formerly told us were Superfluous and Mimical do we now find to be so by Experience But we are misled by the Counterfeit of Good on the One hand and the Suspicion of Evil on the Other Not that Riches are an Efficient Cause of Mischief but they are a Precedent Cause by way of Irritation and Attraction For they have so near a Resemblance of Good that most People take them to be Good Nay Virtue it self is also a Precedent Cause of Evil as many are Envy'd for their Wisdom or for their Justice Which does not arise from the thing it self but from the Irreprovable power of Virtue that forces all Men to Admire and to Love it That is not Good that is More Advantageous to us but That which is Only so EPIST. VI. The Blessings of a Virtuous Retirement How we come to the Knowledge of Virtue A Distinction betwixt Good and Honest. A Wise Man Contents himself with his Lot THere is no Opportunity of Enquiring Where you are What you do and What Company you keep that scapes me And I am well enough pleas'd that I can hear nothing concerning you for it shews that you live Retir'd Not but that I durst trust you with the wide World too But however it is not easie such a General Conversation Nor is it absolutely safe neither for though it could not Corrupt you it would yet Hinder you Now wheresoever you are know that I am with you and you are so to Live as if I both heard and saw you Your Letters are really Blessings to me and the sense of your Emprovements relieves me even under the Consideration of my own decay Remember that as I am Old so are you Mortal Be true to your Self and Examine your self whether you be of the same Mind to day that you were yesterday for That 's a Sign of Perfect Wisdom And yet give me leave to tell you that though Change of Mind be a Token of Imperfection it is the Business of my Age to Unwill One day that which I Will'd Another And let me recommend it to your Practice too in many Cases for the Abatement of our Appetites and of our Errors is the best Entertainment of Mankind It is for Young Men to Gather Knowledge and for Old Men to Use it And assure your self that no Man gives a fairer Accompt of his time than he that makes it his daily Study to make himself Better If you be in Health and think it worth your while to become the Master of your Self it is my Desire and my Advice that you apply your self to Wisdom with your whole Heart and judge of your Emprovement not by what you Speak or by what you Write but by the firmness of your Mind and the Government of your Passions What Extremities have some Men endur'd in Sieges even for the Ambition and Interest of other People And Shall not a Man venture the Crossing of an Intemperate Lust for the Conquest of himself You do very well to betake your self to a Private Life and better yet in keeping of that Privacy Private For otherwise your Retreat would look like Ostentation The greatest Actions of our Lives are those that we do in a Recess from Business Beside that there are some Governments and Employments that a Man would not have any thing to do withall And then it is to be consider'd that Publick Offices and Commissions are commonly bought with our Mony Whereas the great Blessings of Leisure and Privacy cost us Nothing Contemplation is undoubtedly the best Entertainment of Peace and only a Shorter Cut to Heaven it Self Over and above that Business makes us Troublesome to Others and unquiet to our Selves For the End of One Appetite or Design is the Beginning of Another To say nothing of the Expence of Time in Vexatious Attendances and the Danger of Competitors Such a Man perhaps has more Friends at Court than I have a larger Train a Fairer Estate more profitable Offices and more Illustrious Titles But What do I care to be overcome by Men in Some Cases so long as Fortune is overcome by Me in All These Considerations should have been Earlyer for 't is too late in the Article of Death to Project the Happiness of Life And yet there is no Age better Adapted to Virtue than that which comes by many Experiments and long Sufferings to the Knowledge of it For our Lusts
asking and when we have no value any further for the Benefit we do commonly care as little for the Author People follow their Interest one Man is Grateful for his Convenience and another Man is Ungrateful for the same Reason SOME are Ungrateful to their Country and their own Country no less Ungrateful to others so that the Complaint of Ingratitude reaches all Men. Does not the Son wish for the death of his Father the Husband for that of his Wife c. But Who can look for Gratitude in an Age of so many Gaping and Craving Appetites where all People take and none give In an Age of License to all sorts of Vanity and Wickedness as Lust Gluttony Avarice Envy Ambition Sloth Insolence Levity Contumacy Fear Rashness Private Discords and Publick Evils Extravagant and Groundless wishes Vain Confidences Sickly Affections Shameless Impieties Rapine Authoriz'd and the Violation of all things Sacred and Profane Obligations are pursu'd with Sword and Poyson Benefits are turn'd into Crimes and that Blood most Seditiously Spilt for which every honest Man should expose his own Those that should be the Preservers of their Country are the Destroyers of it and 't is matter of dignity to trample upon the Government The Sword gives the Law and Mercenaries take up Armes against their Masters Among these turbulent and unruly Motions What hope is there of finding honesty or good Faith which is the quietest of all Virtues There is no more lively Image of humane life than that of a conquer'd City there 's neither Mercy Modesty nor Religion and if we forget our Lives we may well forget our Benefits The World abounds with Examples of Ungrateful Persons and no less with those of Ungrateful Governments Was not Catiline Ungrateful Whose Malice aim'd not only at the Mastering of his Country but at the total destruction of it by calling in an Inveterate and Vindictive Enemy from beyond the Alpes to wreak their long thirsted-for Revenge and to Sacrifice the Lives of as many noble Romans as might serve to answer and appease the Ghosts of the Slaughter'd Gaules Was not Marius Ungrateful that from a Common Soldier being raised up to a Consul not only gave the Word for Civil Blood-shed and Massacres but was himself the Sign for the Execution and every Man he met in the Streets to whom he did not stretch out his Right-hand was Murther'd And Was not Sylla Ungrateful too that when he had waded up to the Gates in Humane Blood carry'd the Outrage into the City and there most barbarously cut two entire Legions to pieces in a Corner not only after the Victory but most perfidiously after quarter given them Good God that ever any Man should not only scape with Impunity but receive a Reward for so horrid a Villany Was not Pompey Ungrateful too who after three Consulships three Triumphs and so many honors Usurp'd before his time split the Common-wealth into three Parts and brought it to such a pass that there was no hope of Safety but by Slavery Only forsooth to abate the Envy of his Power he took other Partners with him into the Government as if that which was not lawful for any one might have been allowable for more dividing and distributing the Provinces and breaking all into a Triumvirate reserving still two parts of the three in his own Family And Was not Caesar Ungrateful also though to give him his due he was a Man of his Word Merciful in his Victories and never kill'd any Man but with his Sword in his hand Let us therefore forgive one another Only one Word more now for the shame of Ungrateful Governments Was not Camillus banish'd Scipio dismiss'd and Cicero exil'd and plunder'd But What is all this to those that are so mad as to dispute even the goodness of Heaven which gives us all and expects nothing again but continues giving to the most Unthankful and Complaining CHAP. XX. There can be no Law against Ingratitude INGRATITUDE is so dangerous to it self and so detestable to other people that Nature one would think had sufficiently provided against it without need of any other Law For every Ungrateful Man is his own Enemy and it seems superfluous to compell a Man to be kind to himself and to follow his own Inclinations This of all wickedness imaginable is certainly the Vice which does the most divide and distract Humane Nature Without the Exercise and the Commerce of Mutual Offices we can be neither happy nor safe for it is only Society that secures us Take us one by one and we are a Prey even to Brutes as well as to one another Nature has brought us into the World naked and unarm'd we have not the Teeth or the Paws of Lyons or Bears to make our selves terrible but by the two Blessings of Reason and Union we secure and defend our selves against Violence and Fortune This it is that makes Man the Master of all other Creatures who otherwise were scarce a Match for the weakest of them This is it that comforts us in Sickness in Age in Misery in Pains and in the woâ—…st of Calamities Take away this Combination and Mankind is dissociated and falls to pieces 'T is true that there is no Law established against this abominable Vice but we cannot say yet that it scapes unpunish'd for a publick hatred is certainly the greatest of all Penalties over and above that we lose the most valuable Blessing of Life in the not bestowing and Receiving of Benefits If Ingratitude were to be punish'd by a Law it would discredit the Obligation for a Benefit is to be Given not Lent And if we have no Return at all there 's no just Cause of Complaint for Gratitude were no Virtue if there were any danger in being Ungrateful There are Halters I know Hooks and Gibbets provided for Homicide Poyson Sacrilege and Rebellion but Ingratitude here upon Earth is only punish'd in the Schools all further pains and Inflictions being wholly remitted to Divine Justice And if a Man may Judge of the Conscience by the Countenance the Ungrateful Man is never without a Canker at his heart his Minâ—… and Aspect is sad and sollicitous whereas the other is alwayes Chearful and Serene AS there are no Laws Extant against Ingratitude So is it utterly Impossible to contrive any that in all Circumstances shall reach it If it were Actionable there would not be Courts enough in the whole World to try the Causes in There can be no setting of a day for the requiting of Benefits as for the payment of Mony nor any Estimate upon the Benefits themselves but the whole matter rests in the Conscience of both parties And then there are so many degrees of it that the same Rule will never serve all Beside that to proportion it as the Benefit is greater or less will be both impracticable and without Reason One good Turn saves my Life another my Freedom or peradventure my very Soul How shall any Law
a few Inches one of another but they are as near every where else too only we do not take so much notice of it What have we to do with Frivolous and Captious Questions and Impertinent Niceties Let us rather study how to deliver our selves from Sadness Fear and the burthen of all our Secret Lusts Let us pass over all our most Solemn Levities and make haste to a Good Life which is a thing that Presses us Shall a Man that goes for a Midwife stand gaping upon a Post to see what Play to day or when his house is on Fire stay the Curling of a Perriwig before he calls for help Our Houses are on fire our Country invaded our Goods taken away our Children in danger and I might add to these the Calamities of Earthquakes Shipwracks and what ever else is most terrible Is this a time for us now to be playing fast and loose with Idle Questions which are in effect but so many unprofitable Riddles Our Duty is The Cure of the Mind rather than the Delight on 't but we have onely the Words of Wisdom without the Works and turn Philosophy into a Pleasure that was given for a Remedy What can be more ridiculous then for a Man to neglect his Manners and Compose his Stile We are Sick and Ulcerous and must be Lanâ—…'d and Scarify'd and every Man has as much Business within himself as a Physitian in a Common Pestilence Misfortunes in fine cannot be avoided but they may be sweetened if not overcome and our Lives may be made happy by Philosophy CHAP. V. The Force of Precepts THERE seems to be so near an Affinity betwixt Wisdome Philosophy and Good Counsels that it is rather Matter of Curiosity then of Profit to divide them Philosophy being only a Limited Wisdom and Good Counsels a Communication of that Wisdom for the Good of Others as well as of our Selves and to Posterity as well as to the Present The Wisdom of the Antients as to the Government of Life was no more than certain Precepts what to do and what not and Men were much Better in that Simplicity for as they came to be more Learned they grew less Careful of being Good That plain and Open Virtue is now turn'd into a dark and Intricate Science and we are taught to Dispute rather than to Live So long as Wickedness was simple simple Remedies also were sufficient against it But now it has taken Root and spread we must make use of stronger THERE are some Dispositions that embrace Good things as soon as they hear them but they will still need quickening by Admonition and Precept We are Rash and Forward in some Cases and Dull in others and there is no Repressing of the One humor or Raising of the Other but by removing the Causes of them which are in one Word False Admiration and False Fear Every Man knows his Duty to his Country to his Friends to his Guests and yet when he is call'd upon to Draw his Sword for the One or to Labour for the Other he finds himself distracted betwixt his Apprehensions and his Delights He knows well enough the Injury he does his Wife in the keeping of a Wench and yet his Lust over-rules him So that 't is not enough to Give Good Advice unless we can Take away that which hinders the Benefit of it If a Man does what he Ought to do he 'll never do it Constantly or Equally without knowing Why he does it And if it be only Chance or Custome he that does well by Chance may do Ill so too And further A Precept may direct us what we Ought to do and yet fall short in the Manner of Doing it An Expensive Entertainment may in One Case be Extravagance or Gluttony and yet a Point of Honor and Discretion in Another Tiberius Caesar had a huge Mullet presented him which he sent to the Market to be sold And now sayes he my Masters to some Company with him you shall see that either Apicius or Octavius will be the Chapman for this Fish Octavius beat the Price and gave about 30 l. Sterling for 't Now there was a great difference betwixt Octavius that bought it for his Luxury and the Other that purchas'd it for a Compliment to Tiberius Precepts are idle if we be not first taught what Opinion we are to have of the Matter in Question Whether it be Poverty Riches Disgrace Sickness Banishment c. Let us therefore examine them one by one not what they are Call'd but what in Truth they Are. And so for the Virtues 'T is to no purpose to set a high esteem upon Prudence Fortitude Temperance Iustice if we do not first know what Virtue is whether One or More or if he that has One has All or how they differ PRECEPTS are of great Weight and a few Useful ones at hand do more toward a Happy Life than whole Volumes of Cautions that we know not where to find These Solitary Precepts should be our daily Meditation for they are the Rules by which we ought to square our Lives When they are contracted into Sentences they strike the Affections whereas Admonition is only blowing of the Coal it moves the vigour of the Mind and Excites Virtue We have the Thing already but we know not where it lies It is by Precepts that the Understanding is Nourish'd and Augmented the Offices of Prudence and Justice are Guided by them and they lead us to the Execution of our Duties A Precept deliver'd in Verse has a much greater Effect than in Prose and those very People that never think they have enough let them but hear a sharp Sentence against Avarice How will they clap and admire it and bid open Defyance to Money So soon as we find the Affections struck we must follow the Blow not wish Syllogisms or Quirks of Wit but with plain and weighty Reason and we must do it with Kindness too and Respect for there goes a Blessing along with Counsels and Discourses that are bent wholly upon the Good of the Hearer And those are still the most Efficacious that take Reason along with them and tell us as well why we are to do this or that as what we are to do For some Understandings are weak and need an Instructer to expound to them what is Good and what is Evil. It is a great Virtue to Love to Give and to follow Good Counsel if it does not Lead us to Honesty it does at least Prompt us to 't As several Parts make up but one Harmony and the most agreeable Musick arises from Discords so should a VVise Man gather many Arts many Precepts and the Examples of many Ages to enform his own Life Our Fore-Fathers have left us in Charge to avoid three things Hatred Envy and Contempt now it is hard to avoid Envy and not incurr Contempt for in taking too much Care not to usurp upon others we become many times lyable to be trampled
little but it is of Force enough to bring us to our Last End Nay so far should we be from dreading an Eminent Fate more than a Vulgar that on the Contrary since Dye we must we should rather Rejoyce in the Breathing of our Last under a more Glorious Circumstance What if the Ground stand still within its bounds and without any Violence I shall have it over me at Last and 't is all one to me whether I be laid under That or That layes it Self over me But it is a Terrible thing for the Earth to gape and swallow a Man up into a Profound Abyss And what then Is Death any Easier Above Ground What cause have I of Complaint if Nature will do me the honor to Cover me with a Part of her Self Since we must Fall there is a Dignity in the very Manner of it when the World it self is Shock'd for Company Not that I would wish for a Publick Calamity but it is some Satisfaction in my Death that I see the World also to be Mortal Neither are we to take these Extraordinary Revolutions for Divine Judgments as if such Motions of the Heavens and of the Earth were the Denouncings of the VVrath of the Allmighty but they have their Ordinate and their Natural Causes Such as in Proportion we have in our own Bodies and while they seem to Act a Violence they Suffer it But yet for want of knowing the Causes of things they are Dreadful to us and the more so because they happen but seldome But why are we commonly more Afraid of that which we are not Us'd to Because we look upon Nature with our Eyes not with our Reason Rather Computing what she Usually Does than what she is Able to do And we are Punish'd for this Negligence by taking those things to which we are not VVonted to be New and Prodigious The Eclipses of the Sun and Moon Blazing Stars and Meteors while we Admire them we Fear them and since we Fear them because we do not Understand them it is worth our while to Study them that we may no longer Fear them VVhy should I fear a Man a Beast an Arrow or a Lance when I am expos'd to the Encounter of Greater Dangers We are Assaulted by the Nobler parts of Nature it self by the Heavens by the Seas and the Land Our Business is therefore to Defy Death whether Extraordinary or Common No matter for the Menaces of it so long as it Asks no more of us than Age it self will take from us and every petty Accident that befalls us He that Contemns Death What does he Care for either Fire or Water the very Dissolution of the Universe or if the Earth should Open Under him and shew him all the Secrets of the Infernal Pit He would look Down without Trouble In the Place that we are all of us to go to there are no Earthquakes or Thunder-Claps no Tempestuous Seas Neither War nor Pestilence Is it a Small Matter Why do we fear it then Is it a Great Matter Let it rather once fall upon us then always hang over us Why should I dread my Own End when I know that an End I must have and that all Created things are Limited EPIST. XXIV A Discourse of Gods Providence in the Misfortunes of Good Men in this World and in the Prosperity of the Wicked YOu are troubled I perceive that your Servant is run away from you but I do not hear yet that you are either Robb'd or Strangl'd or Poyson'd or Betray'd or Accus'd by him So that you have scap'd well in Comparison with your Fellows And Why should you complain then especially under the Protection of so gracious a Providence as suffers no Man to be miserable but by his own Fault Nor is this a Subject worthy of a wise Mans Consideration Adversity indeed is a terrible thing in Sound and Opinion and that 's all Some Men are Banish'd and strip'd of their Estates Others again are Poor in Plenty which is the basest sort of Beggery Some are overborn by a Popular Tumult that breaks out like a Tempest even in the highest security of a Calm Or like a Thunder-Clap that frights all that are near it There is but One Struck perhaps but the Fear extends to all and affects those that May Suffer as well as those that Doe As in the Discharge of a Piece only with Powder 'T is not the Stroke but the Crack that frights the Birds Adversity I 'll grant you is not a thing to be wish'd no more than War but if it be my Lot to be Torn with the Stone Broken upon the Wheel or to receive Wounds or Maims It shall be my Prayer that I may bear my Fortune as becomes a Wise and an Honest Man We do not Pray for Tortures but for Patience nor for War but for Generosity and Courage in all the Extremities of War if it happens Afflictions are but the Exercise of Virtue and an Honest Man is out of his Element when he is Idle It must be Practice and Patience that Perfects it Do we not see see how one Wrestler provokes another And if he find him not to be his Match he will call for some Body to help him that may put him to all his strength It is a Common Argument against the Justice of Providence in the matter of Reward and Punishment the Misfortunes of Good Men in this World and the Prosperity of the Wicked But it is an easie matter to vindicate the Cause of the Gods There are many things that we call Evil which turn very often to the Advantage of those that suffer them or at least for the Common Good whereof Providence has the greater Care And further they either befall those that bear them willingly or those that deserve them by their Impatience under them And Lastly they come by Divine Appointment and to those that are Good Men even for that very Reason because they are Good Nor is there any thing more Ordinary than for that which we fear'd as a Calamity to prove the Foundation of our Happiness How many are there in the World that enjoy all things to their Own Wish whom God never thought worthy of a Tryal If it might be imagin'd that the Allmighty should take off his Thought from the Care of his Whole Work What more Glorious Spectacle could he reflect upon than a Valiant Man Struggling with Adverse Fortune Or Cato's Standing Upright and Unmov'd under the Shock of a Publick Ruin Let the Whole World sayes he fall into one hand and let Caesar encompass me with his Legions by Land his Shipping at Sea and his Guards at the Gates Cato will yet cut out his way and with That Weapon that was untainted even in the Civil VVar give himself that Liberty which Fate deny'd to his Country Set upon the great VVork then and deliver thy self from the Clog of thy Humanity Juba and Petreius have already done the good office One for the Other