of some that have risen from the Dead put them many times into such agonies that they would be glad to be assured of their Annihilation after this Life When they venture to think seriously which they dare but seldom doe they have such an unacceptable remembrance of what they have been and so much assurance that if there be any happiness afterward they shall have no share in it that to comfort themselves they vote That there is nothing after this Life These suffrages signifie indeed their strong desires but are no Arguments of a true Opinion concerning the Future state but that uneasie Temper of Soul which makes them wish so proves what I assert That they are not happy at present It may be this is true replied Apronaeus and if it be I confess that those whom you call Wicked are very unhappy yet it seems still a kind of slur to that Government you speak of that if they deserve that Punishment they have it not sooner It is something which you say of the former sorts of Tormeut which you have mention'd but they are invisible and so little notice is taken of them by others but if they were hurried to Execution as soon as they sin it would strike a Terrour upon By-standers but since Vengeance is so long in coming they are incourag'd to sin by delay Good mens Hopes are weaken'd and they are ready to say If God neglect his servants why should they worship him Justice is blasphem'd and the Force of Law enervated If some happen to be struck sooner it is but as Thunderbolts fall by chance And who can imagine but they do for they often cleave a gallant Oak and sometimes tear an useful Sail or kill a harmless Traveller when those which sin boldly arrive at gray Haires without any considerable Misfortune and in appearance die peaceably Poor Apronaeus said the Prince smiling what slight devices art thou constrain'd to use to support a false plea Must there be no Providence unless those which sin be presently Condemn'd and immediately Executed Those which sin are alwayes Condemn'd and God is so merciful that he thinks it punishment enough that for a while they carry their heavy crosses to which you would have them presently nail'd He is 〈◊〉 Gracious that he doth usually respite their irreversible Doom in expectation of Amendment and so both saves sinners and teacheth those which look on to imitate his merciful Example Those which have deserved the blow fear that he will strike too soon and shall any be weary of the Divine Patience which comforts others because they love to see sinners fall I must also tell you Apronaeus that he is not so gentle as to neglect Justice God doth make Examples enough in every Age to let all the World see their danger and though some be spar'd that deserve present Punishment it is both a Glory to his Forgiveness that some of those which escape Repent and if he let many go in 〈◊〉 of their Emendation may he not as well and much better doe it then a General decimate his Regiments for a Mutiny of which they are all guilty God is not endamag'd by delay those which continue their Rebellion can never get out of his reach he is not willing to dispeople the Earth by sudden Executions But because men are apt by long Impunity to imagine that either they are not obnoxious or that none regards what they doe God many times is forc'd to confute their Imaginations by Great Plagues Pining Famine Cruel Wars to unburthen the Earth of its wicked Load and takes away such as had too long oppress'd Vertue and supported Wickedness with the most vile Examples by which means he shews both how unreasonable Sinners are whom no forbearance will reclaim and how just he is when he useth severity because those which suffer it sinn'd so long against one that was loath to punish and by his Punishments asserts his Providence By some words which you have deliver'd you seem to be willing to think Apronaeus that God doth not manage his Justice with Prudence because he doth not inflict all Mulcts upon the persons of sinners But must this piece of his Goodness also be made an Argument against his Providence and shall we think he doth punish by chance because he is mercifully Just Was it not esteem'd a Favour to the Persians when their Emperour commanded only their Turbans to be beaten Did the World use to grumble at the Charge of their Sacrifices when God requir'd only a Beast for a Man But I spare to urge this any further because those which are ready to sink must be permitted to catch at Reeds Here Apronaeus made such a pause as signified that he had no mind to proceed any further but Diaporon craving leave to continue the Discourse added I have so great satisfaction most Excellent Prince in your Answers to the Objections which Apronaeus hath made that I have nothing to renew a Reply yet other things which he hath not quoted disturb my belief in this Point For if God be Almightily Good and Rule this World by an unerring Prudence how came this Unlucky thing Sin which 〈◊〉 so much trouble into it You say it is Evil and assert that nothing but Good comes from God whence is it then What did some envious Anti-God put this flaw upon his Work There is no Question replied the Prince but Sin is Evil for nothing else doth properly deserve that name and it is as indubitable that the most good God is not the Author of it and yet to defend his Honour we need not run to that old Fable of Oromasdes and Arimanius whom the Ancients not knowing how otherwise to answer the Question concerning the Original of Evil set up as two Gods and made one the Author of Good and the other of Evil for this matter is determinable by ascribing Evil to its proper Cause which will clear the doubt and reflect no disparagement upon the all-All-Good God Men brought in Evil by the foolish abuse of that Free-will which God had given them It is the Glory of the Creatour that he could make such a Noble Automaton as Man who moves spontaneously and according to an innate Liberty of Election determines himself to his Actions He put this Liberty into the hands of an Intelligent Creature whom he both made able to know that which is Good and fitted his Nature to the Love of it He made it so much his Interest to be Obedient that he promis'd him great Rewards for doing small Duties unto the performance of which he gave him sufficient Assistance He told him wherein Evil consisted forewarn'd him of its mischievous Nature forbad him to introduce it and by a most rightful Authority threaten'd him severely if he transgress'd the Orders which he had receiv'd But Man by a perverse abuse of his Freedom chuseth that which is worse will not take pains to distinguish that which is truly Good from that which is
where I am too much concern'd for not only this dayes Intentions but the rest of my Misfortunes began in a Step-mother My own Mother having departed this World not many yeares after she had brought into it my self and a Sister my Father in a short space marryed a young Woman of competent Beauty and reported for Vertuous more then our Observation can make good by whom he had divers Children She being as most of them are very covetous endeavoured what she could to advance their Estate above ours and finding that taske something hard unlesse she could remove us out of the way she resolv'd to try what might be done as to that She soon dispatch'd my Sister partly with the abuses of evil Servants which were so far acceptable to her as they were offensive to my Sister and partly by framing malicious Representations of her to my Father by which means she was often reprov'd for no other cause but that my Mother-in-Law hop'd that it would help to break her heart When she was gone there was but one more to dispose of and that was my self Of this Design she made small show by any of her actions which lay open to common Censure her publick Carriage was as affectionate as the naturall love of Mothers useth to put on and something more that the overplus of Appearance might shade the defect of Reality and though she tryed by all means which she thought available to disaffect my Father towards me yet her more publick speeches seem'd wholly to be directed to procure and maintain a very good opinion of me in his mind But she had Servants tutor'd to make him believe that I was a scorner of his Choice and a hater of his Marriage and they made me the Author of Reports against her which he knew to be false that he might believe every thing to be true which was said against me To be short the disaffections which they had planted in him towards me by their incessant improving them with fresh arguments of their reasonablenesse grew to that height that I was disinherited which though it was most afflictive arising from such groundless causes and brought on by a most hatefull person yet upon consideration of my Fathers Innocence abus'd and the relation by which I was taught indispensable Obedience I made a shift to swallow it and having been for a good while accustom'd to such Diet I began more easily to digest it My Adversary enrag'd to see every envenom'd Dart cast in vain by the forementioned hands resolv'd to take another course fearing lest her Plot should be discovered since it was so long before she could put it in act and therefore as I now perceive to dispatch the businesse she had by poysonous insinuations endeavour'd to make this Innocent Gentleman thirsty for my guiltless blood They made a fine Tale indeed of my being his Rival in affections to a Lady with whom I never talk'd privately in my life and indeed by reason of the discouragements which I apprehended from being disinherited I abandon'd all thoughts of Love to her or any else Misokalon to procure this unhappy Meeting invited me to a private Hunting in this place and perceiving this Gentleman whom they had abus'd not come in whose courage it seems they trusted more then their own they pretended to go to a Gentlemans House to hasten his coming and to fetch away the Doggs desiring me to entertain my self in the Valley where from some Stand which they had they had no sooner espied me engag'd but they came in with dishonorable assistance not to help this Gentleman but to ruine me and satisfie my Wicked Mother And was I said the wofull Abulus the only Instrument which this Devilish Woman could single out for her last act of Villany All-knowing Power which art Witnesse of my Innocence take not Vengeance of my Ignorance forgive my Rashnesse and grant me with more sober Prudence to guide my future undertakings And for the wrong which I have through indiscretion done to you said he turning his speech to the Gentleman I offer besides the hearty repentance of my Error such other satisfaction as you shall require Nothing else replyed he but that for the future you would continue to love one whom you would not have hated but for Misinformation I do also beseech you said he to Bentivolio of whom I know nothing but Courage and Pity to accompany me to the Town which is not far off that you may be a means to procure me that Justice which I doubt not may be had easily through the assistance of your Testimonies both because my Father is of so good a Nature that he loves Truth and hath so much reason left as to understand it when it is aptly revealed to him and because the Judge who is lately sent hither is such a true lover of Justice that he will spare no Offender for any Personall Considerations His coming was occasion'd by the removall of his Predecessor who was so over-aw'd by the Interest of a great Courtier call'd 〈◊〉 that no Cause was ever heard till he knew his Opinion of it or if it was and the Evidence never so clear yet they could get no Sentence against Forzario's friends by which means poor men crucified with Expectation car'd not what became of their Causes since they could bring them to no conclusion notwithstanding their most constant endeavours But when his Patron Forzario was gone the wrong'd people procured a Punishment to be appointed for him with some resemblance of his Sin for he was hung up alive with a line run through the Ankles of both his Feet to be tormented between Life and Death as others had been by his means between Hope and Doubt When they were come to the City they went directly to the President accompanied with multitudes of people who were astonish'd at the lamentable sight of persons besprinkled with bloud and the Fellow with his hands cut off The President seeing Bentivolio with the rest received him in most courteous manner as well remembring what kind of Person he had discovered himself in Erotocleus business but he desiring the President to omit all Ceremonies concerning himself pray'd him to take cognisance of an eminent piece of Wickednesse which would require a most severe Castigation So having produced Abulus who related all that he knew and Doulogynes who was willing to say any thing which might help to put him out of his pain having accused Antimater for contriving the businesse and hiring them to do it she was forthwith sent for the people being much startled that one esteem'd very Vertuous should appear by her Actions so contrary to the general opinion Gynicaeus the Gentlemans Father who was present was equally troubled with the Perfidiousnesse of his Wife and the Innocence of his Son Antimater vext with the ill successe of her Design which she now gave for lost took a glasse of Poyson which she had kept as her last remedy for her
that Apiston doth believe it And since you are fallible as you confesse you are you ought not to be so much offended with a good man that thinks you are deceived in something where your selves do not deny but that you may If he dissent from your determinations no doubt but he thinks all necessary Truths are determin'd long ago both for you and him infallibly and he is not so much to blame for refusing assent to your fallible desinitions as you are for making new additions being neither divinely warranted nor infallibly guided to do it You know you differ from many others in the world that think themselves highly wrong'd in the neglect therefore good Sir for the future be perswaded to suffer it patiently that others do not in all things agree with you That Apiston is very tolerable in other respects appears from that Character which you have given of the Temper of his spirit and the Excellency of his Conversation by which it may be perceiv'd he is one of Wisdom and Modesty in his Carriage towards others and unblameable in regard of his proper Accomplishments and though you may have receiv'd misreport concerning him you ought not much to value that if you consider the general inclination which is in men to disparage such as differ from them thinking that a worth will accrue to their own Opinion from a creditable disrepute cast upon the persons of the Dissenters and you may commonly observe it that they can easily wink at grosse Faults in themselves though they are alwaies quick-sighted as to the least of others Whilst Panaretus was speaking these words they came to a place where two wayes met and Megabronchus being weary of the discourse especially because he could not answer it he told them his way was to the left hand and having resolved which way soever they went he would go no further with them he made a rude haste from their Company They took the right hand as they were directed by Eupathus and came in a short space of time to Apiston's house He was walking up and down in a serious Meditation concerning some Discourses which he had lately heard in Vanasembla wherein he thought the Goodness of God to be greatly misreported and his Creatures taught to put very little confidence in him to wit that he cared but for a few of his Creatures but did eternally hate the rest As he was giving thanks to God for making him partaker of a better knowledge of him by which he was saved from blasphemous hatred and Hellish despaire his Meditations were broke off by the arrival of Urania and Panaretus He accosted them so as they might easily discern he had some doubts concerning them by his Countenance but that they might not impute his strangeness to Incivility he told them that he made no question but they knew the times to be such that they required a great wariness in those that would not be abused Though he had no particular causes of Suspicion but that they made their 〈◊〉 with a Courteous Intention yet he desired to know whence they came They answer'd From Eupathus He is my Friend indeed replied 〈◊〉 and some that have understood of our intimate Acquaintance have made use of his name to deceive me in some things wherein I had not been abus'd but for the credit I gave to that pretended Recommendation and therefore I must desire some further assurance besides your bare words that you came from thence Upon that Urania pull'd out of her bosom where she had kept it all that day the Tablet which Eupathus gave them Apiston having read the Symbol immediately saluted them in most friendly manner brought them into his house and gave them such entertainment as men usually bestow upon those whom they love unfeignedly Panaretus and Urania abundantly satisfied concerning the reality of their Welcome desired him to give them some account of the reasons of that change which they manifestly perceiv'd in his Countenance and deportment to them after the receiving of the Tablet Apiston told them that there were in that Country and in divers parts of the world a certain company of plain honest men that desired nothing so much as to revive true Charity and to maintain those few sparks of it which are yet unquench'd by Covetousnesse Malice and Hypocrisie and that though they did abhor to divide themselves from mankind by a sort of Conspiracy combining against their friendship yet they found it necessary to have some private signe by which they might be known in forreine parts to such as having never seen their faces before might by this token be assured that they were their Friends and so supply them with advise or money or such assistances as the businesses which they were employed in might require The reason of this necessity is said he because many that are incomparably good are sometimes very poor and being in strange Countries might be in danger of perishing by reason of that Uncharitableness which prevailes in the world and hath so hardned the hearts of the Rich that they will not relieve even those whom they believe to be in want and might know to be such as do well deserve supplies Besides some of our Friends are sometimes engaged in such undertakings that require more assistance then one or two or twenty can contribute and we want conveniency of transmitting such things into other places as are of necessary use but by this means these defects are made up none refusing either to give credit to him that carries it or to bestow their help in such waies as they find to be best to accomplish these Vertuous designs which are undertaken for the Universall good of Mankind Panaretus much pleas'd with the device demanded of him who was the first Author of it Pythagoras said Apiston and in Imitation of the Vertuous example of those excellent Philosophers which by obedience to his Precepts reviv'd Charity to the Admiration and Envy of the World we have amongst some more of their laudable Customs embrac'd this We have had some Experience quoth Urania that it is not unuseful but do you think Apiston that the Pythagoreans did accomplish such effects as you mention by it There is no doubt of that said Apiston and if you will have the patience to hear it I will relate you a Story out of an Authentick Author which will give you plentiful assurance of what I said There was a poor Pythagorean who having travailed a great way on foot by reason of the heat of the weather and the length of his Journey fell into a violent Fever He lay at a publick Inne where no body knew him and having not provided money sufficient for such Accidents he began to be destitute of Necessaries which the Host understanding supplyed him out of meer Compassion of his sad Case When the Disease had gone so far that Death was now at hand the Sick man call'd for a Writing-Table which means was only left