forgiving no man Yet when thou art forced through justice to punish Criminels be not wholly unmindfull of mildnes and Clemency When thou punishest the guilty doe it as if thou wert forced to it against thy will and inclination and carry thyself towards those who offend the Laws as God beareth with thee As he beareth with thee in hope of making thee better soe thou oughtest to bear sometimes with others that they may grow better Thou hast no confidence in the Phisitian when thou despairest of the sick mans recovery But we ought to have more hope of his recovery by how much the Phisitian is more skillfull and obliging A man that is mild appears as a Rock above all the waves and storms of Anger and breaks all the force of the Tempest He is more contented to see the sinner repent then punished Our B. Saviour cryes unto all human kind Come all and learn of me not how to cure the sick and give health to Leapers not how to restore sight to the blind or raise up the dead But what Learn saith he of me because I am mild He seems to have included all the Treasures of wisedome and science in this one point to wit that we are to learn of him how to be mild Such is the excellency of this Vertue 2. As mildnes is a vertue that moderates Anger so clemency is a vertue which moderates the severity of punishment The first belongs unto all men the second unto Princes only and Superiours The nature and property of it is to inflict a lesser punishment then the Laws require not out of fear interest friendship or other motive but through a pure motive of mildnes He that is armed with this vertue will have no need to build castles fortresses upon steep Rocks a Prince that is clement is secure without all fortifications Clemency is the only invincible strength which secureth Governments An evill Prince is hated because he is feared and he desires nothing more then to be feared because he knows he is hated All subjects hate those whom they fear consequently wish the death of such as they hate He that contemns his own life is said to be master of his Princes life T is in vain for a King to think to secure himself by his power if he wants the good will of his people It is as great a disgrace for a Prince to punish many as it is for a Phisitian to be the cause of many funerals If a King is slow in making use of his power to revenge if he contemns thinks himself above all injuries and affronts if he sacrifices some offenders to the anger of others and none to his own he shews himself a true King It is the nature and property of a gallant spirit to be ever mild and quiet CHAP. XXXIII Of Modesty The properties of studiosity Of the rule use of Eutrapelia 1. MOdesty is a geat ornament to all other vertues and good qualities It is the true form of honesty and bridle of vice Although thou speakest nothing yet thy habit and gestures shew what thou art We may judge of vertue by small signs We often see what a man is by his countenance laughing gate and turning of his eyes Live soe that all may know thou belongest to the society of Angels Observe a constant decorum in all the motions of thy body in all thy gestures speech and looks that thou maist not seem rude or effeminate in any thing True modesty doth not only reside in the mind but appears also in an outward gravity of the body as if the soul took pleasure in seeing the exteriour conform itself to the interiour A modest man is a living picture of the Deity for his only sight is enough to strike gravity into those who behold him And who can expresse what an excellent thing it is to doe good unto our neighbours by being seen only It belongs also unto modesty not to exceed thy state and condition in thy cloaths household-stuffe and multitude of Servants These are impediments of thy mind which doe not adorn thee but the things that are without thee Why therefore dost thou rejoyce in thy unhappines Why dost thou admire vain things and makest glory in things which doe thee more hurt then good This great Trayn of servants which are alwaies about thee may be rather called a troop of Enemies whom thou canst never fear enough They are still more ready to observe what thou dost then to hear what thou commandest Nothing is more humble then their entrance into thy service nothing more insolent then their progresse or comportment in it and nothing more full of hatred then their going from thee 2. Studiosity hath two properties the one is to know how to govern and moderate the desire of knowing which most commonly is greater then it should be the other is to shake of all idlenes and to stir up out industry to learn those things which are necessary Nature hath given man a wit naturally enclined to Curiosity and conscious of her own beauty skill hath made us spectatours of all her excellent works and would esteem all her labour lost if so many great and excellent things lay hid and were seen by none but herself But we abuse the goodnes of nature searching with too much curiosity into those things which were better unknown He is not to be counted wise or learned who knows much but who knows what is to the purpose We should first learn those things which concern our Salvation But I doe not dissuade thee from reading other things provided thou referrest all things to good manners and to make thyself better Take heed that too much reading of too many books doth not discover a fickle unconstant spirit Thou must fixe thy study upon a certain number of good and choyce books if thou desirest to learn any thing that may remain in thy mind There is more pleasure in reading severall sorts of books but more profit in reading few choyce ones 3. It is necessary to let our mind rest sometimes and to recreate it after much labour for no study can last long without some intermission The antient Law-givers designed certain dayes wherein the people might meet together to be merry and recreate their spirits There are severall sorts of actions which may divert and recreate the mind As for example to walk in some open and pleasant place where the mind may be free to contemplate and the body grow more vigorous with enjoying fresh ayr to goe and passe some time in the countrey free from all the tumults of the City Thou maist also divert thyself in hawking hunting fishing and the like innocent recreations supposing they are not misbecoming thy state and condition thou maist likewise apply thyself to some mild and recreative Study hear or play upon some Musicall Instrument use some innocent play converse merrily and jeast with thy friends but with this caution that thou dost not
lead or direct others unto Heaven being thyself soe addicted and tyed to the world Or with what confidence dost thou goe about to describe vertue unto us being thyself soe little vertuous Secondly what new Instructions dost thou give us in thy Book Thou repeatest the same things after a rude and unpolish'd manner which had bine written long since by innumerable Authours with much more Learning and in a more elegant stile and thou art not ashamed with a proud deceit to expose the riches of others for thy own These are the words wherewith some perhaps will endeavor to carp at my labour But first I could excuse myself with the saying of a wise man because Fungor vice cotis acutum Reddere quae ferrum valet exors ipsa secandi Horat. de Art Poet. That is If I cannot doe well myself I may at least excite others to doe well Like to a Whet-stone that an edge can put On steel though't self be dull and cannot cut And that I may use the words of another learned man I am not soe foolish as to pretend to be able to cure others being myself subject to the same infirmities but like one that lyes sick in the same Hospitall with others I make bold to entertain thee with the discourse of our common miseries and I communicate the remedies which I think are most proper to cure them Imagine therefore that thou only hearest me talking to myself I am not afraid to let thee be partaker of my secrets in this kind In writing these Instructions I doe not soe much professe myself a Master to teach others as a Scholler that learneth or rather teacheth himself by teaching others These are two things which are done reciprocally for whilst we endeavour to teach others we teach ourselves at the same time As to the second Objection which may be brought against me I have no better Answer then to confesse ingeniously that here is but very little of my own invention having borrowed most of the matter from other writers I have set down many things which I had partly observed by my own experience which partly also in reading the holy Fathers and antient Philosophers I had noted as usefull Documents for my own practise But I have laboured after the example of Bees to make one good well-tasted Honey out of the mixture of severall Collections mingling still something of my own to the words of my Authours And I have endeavour'd to use an easy stile without any vain ornaments of flourishing Rhetorick because my design is to teach Christians how to doe wel not how to speak well Thou hast here then a summe or Compendium of all the Morall instructions which have bine severally delivered by the antient Fathers for teaching us how to live well happily in this world Thou hast here the Quintessence of all the best morall sayings of Seneca Epictetus Antonius and other Sages of the antient Times And I thought it sufficient to set down those wholesome Admonitions which to me had often proued efficacious Remedies in my greifs and troubles without quoting the places from whence I had taken them because I had gathered them as spirituall Remedies for the Soul not as points of wit to please the fancy my intention design being more to profit then delight my Reader A sick man does not trouble himself to enquire who it was that mingled the Physick which he is to take nor is he sollicitous to know whence the Remedy is brought provided it be good cures him of his Sicknes I have omitted many things which I could have said as also many things which might have bine declar'd with more Subtility I thought it better to have a few good Morall precepts which may be alwaies ready at hand then to study a greater number not to have them ready for use when occasion requires He hath learnt much who knows as much as is necessary for the Salvation of his Soul God send that this my small Labour may be useful to all those who shall read it especially to myself least that my Book should be forced to blush when my life is marked to be of a contrary practise unto what I write A TABLE of the Chapters CHAP. I. OF mans last End The misery of declining from it and of the means to arrive unto it page 1 Chap. II. That he who desires to live well must choose a good spirituall Directour The Qualities of such a Directour and the duties of such as desire to learn Vertue pag. 7 Chap. III. Of the Purgative way and how to extirpate all sins and vicious Affections That the best motive to this is a continuall Remembrance of Death and Eternity pag. 13 Chap. IV Of Gluttony The disorders caused by it and Remedies against it How to know when we have got the victory over it pag. 24 Chap. V. Of Luxury the shamefulnes of it how easy it is to fall into it and how it is to be avoided by seeking spirituall Delights and the solid pleasures of the mind pag. 29 Chap. VI. Of Avarice the evill effects of it The comparison betwixt a rich man and a poor man The inconstancy and Vanity of Riches pag. 35 Chap. VII Of Anger The Character of an angry man The causes effects Remedies of Anger pag. 43 Chap. VIII Of Envy and Sloth The description of both vices Remedies against them pag. 58 Chap IX Of Pride Ambition and vain Glory The Character of a proud man The vanity and danger of Honours and dignities The evill effects of Pride remedies against it pag. 62 Chap. X. Of moderating our outward Senses How we must treat our Body and how to govern our Eyes Of the vanity of Apparell pag. 73 Chap. XI Of the Tongue the importance and difficulty of governing it What is to be observed and what to be avoided in speech and lastly how to endure the euill Tongues of others pag. 80 Chap. XII Of the inward Senses The use of opinions How to cultivate our mind with good Thoughts Diverse instructions how to govern the Sensitive faculties of our Souls pag. 88 Chap. XIII Of Love the nature causes effects of it Of the Remedies against it Of Hatred pag. 93 Chap. XIV Of Desire and Flight What we are to desire and what to fly or avoid pag. 100 Chap. XV. Of Ioy and Sadnes How a vertuous man is to rejoyce That he who foresees all things is never sad Severall Remedies against Sorrow and Sadnes pag. 105 Chap. XVI Of Hope and Despair How to moderate both pag. 111 Chap. XVII Of Fear How vain it is how to be overcome How to avoid Boldnes Something again of Anger pag. 114. Chap. XVIII Of the faculties of a Rationall Soul How we are to keep our understanding from Curiosity What Study is best How hurtfull it is to search into the life and manners of others How we are not to heed what others falsely report of us Of the
wrong who is ignorant of the injury done him 7. When thou knowest that others speak ill of thee ask thy own conscience if thou hast never spoken ill of them Then think with thyself of how many severall persons thou dayly speakest By this means if thou often consultest thy own conscience thou wilt be more moderate in regard of thy neighbour For how canst thou exclaim so much against the debauchery of others since thou hast spent thy youth in the same disorders Why art thou so subject to blame others for lying being thyself guilty of perjury why dost thou rayl so much against the perfidiousnes of men since thou thyself hast so often broken thy word and deceived others why art thou so forward to correct others and yet canst not endure to be corrected thyself Think with thyself not only what thou sufferest but also what thou hast given others to suffer All that thou reprehendest in others thou wilt find the same in thy own brest We are all bad enough and therefore we must pardon those faults which are common to all And though thou hast not as yet committed the same fault yet thou maist doe it hereafter He that stands let him take heed he doth not fall 8. What wonder is it that an enemy should doe thee hurt that a friend should give thee offence that thy children doe amisse that thy servants commit a fault These things are alwaies as common in the world as roses in the spring as fruits in summer As it is impossible for a man to walk up and down a great Town and not to get a fall sometimes to be stopped to be spotted with dirt soe many troubles many wranglings many impediments often occurr in the various course of a mans life Why dost thou wonder then art troubled to see a wicked man doe thee an injury It is but what was to be expected from him But if thou art good thyself doe alwaies good unto thy neighbour and strive to make others also good by thy example T is not thy revenge but thy patience and good deeds that must make them soe at least by this means if thou canst not make them good thou will make them Courteous and civill if thou canst effect neither yet without doubt thou wilt make thyself much better by it Such a man perhaps speaks ill of thee and is much incensed against thee Wilt thou know what thou art to doe in this case Say to thyself I cannot believe it If he hath said any hurt of me he did it by mistake his zeal was good and his intention not bad perhaps either he said it for my good or I have given him some occasion to speak so of me We cannot properly call it an injury when we only suffer what we have done unto others I am truly guilty of such a fault and t is but just I should be taxed with it But perhaps I suffer unjustly and am blamed without reason What then I will imitate my Sauiour Jesus Christ and I will say with the Royall Prophet I was dumb and did not open my mouth because thou didst it The evill words evill deeds of others although they are bad in themselves will doe thee no harm unles thou makest bad use of them They are good or bad in our regard according to the use we make of them 9. What is the cause of all offense opinion Take away the opinion of harm that is doe not think thyself hurt nothing will hurt thee There is nothing which can touch reach or enter into thy mind nothing can move it but thy own judgment it is that which makes things seem insupportable when they happen Nothing can hurt thee unles thou hurtest thyself But thou wilt say perhaps he is a wicked man that persecutes me Stay a little and he will suffer that punishment from others which he hath deserved from thee and he hath already begun his own punishment because he hath sinned But he hath wit and knowledge enough why then doth he not mend his faults True and thou who dost not want the light of reason why dost thou not correct thy impatience The sins of others are still before thy eyes but thou canst not see thy own imperfections But hear me a little whosoever thou art who delightest in revenge I will suppose that God had given thee free power to revenge sin but with this condition that thou art to begin with punishing the greatest offenders Let the injuries be punished in order The greatest enemy thou hast is thy own anger it is that which hath done thee most hurt begin then thy revenge in punishing that Thou hast no need to seek enemies abroad having still soe great an Adversary in thy own bosome Plato being once angry with his servant and having lifted up his hand to strike him stopped saying I would strike thee if I were not angry Thus he thought it better to punish his own anger rather then his servant esteeming it more reasonable to punish the master that was angry then the Servant that was negligent The greater is our rank and condition soe much the more generous we should be in suppressing our Anger 10. Judges and such as bear Authority to govern others may be obliged sometimes to shew themselves angry and to make others suffer the effects of their anger yet soe that nothing be done against reason and justice in the case Offenders against the law must be punished but without anger If a vertuous man were alwaies to be angry when he sees others doe ill he might passe all his whole life in Anger For he will scarce find a moment wherein he may not see something which is not good He shall never have done if he resolves to be angry as often as he sees occasion to be soe He that is of a mild sweet nature will have the same compassion of those who commit offences as a Physitian hath of frantick persons As thou art not moved to impatience against the heats and colds which are caused by the severall seasons of the year soe also it doth not become thee to be angry against wicked men for the injuries they doe thee because it is their nature to doe soe They are like sick persons who are alwaies intemperate and cannot be ruled and therefore we must pardon them We revenge ourselves sufficiently upon one that speaks ill of us by seeking no revenge at all Thy enemies intention is to make thee grieve and suffer But if thou takest it patiently and grievest not the greif and suffering will fall upon him when he sees he hath bine frustrated of his hope to see thee suffer by his contumelies Soe that the fruit as we may say of an injury depends on the feeling and impatience of him that suffers it When thou shewest thyself angry against injurious words thou seemest to own them but if thou neglectest contemnest them they will vanish away of themselves But thou wilt say perhaps
the midst of his pains when he is stoned to death S. Laurence rejoyceth and triumpheth over the Tyrant in the midst of the flames S. Apollonia a yong Virgin throws herself into the fire which was prepared for her Anaxarchus the Philosopher being pounded in an iron morter laughs at his Tormentor Socrates takes the poyson which was brought him with a chearfull countenance and drinks a health to Critias Why art thou afraid of fire and a troop of hangmen that stand about thee ready to butcher thee Death lyes hid under all these preparations which are terrible only unto fools death lyes hid which so many children and yong Virgins have embraced with joy Consider the things in themselves without all disguise and thou wilt see there is nothing terrible in them but thy fear We are like children who are afraid even of those whom they love most and are most familiar with if they fee them maâ—ked But thou art worse then any child in thy folly whilst thou art afraid not only of greif itself but of the very shadow of it 3. Turn thy mind from thy own private cause to consider the common misery of the world Say to thyself I know that my body is frayl and mortall subject unto many miseries and must at last yeild to death I knew long agoe that many afflictions would befall me What then am I now afraid of If I am sick the infirmity of my body will conduce to my spirituall health Shall I be reduced to poverty I shall lead a more safe and quiet life Shall I loose my riches I shall also be quit of many cares and freed from continuall danger Shall I suffer any shame if it be just I will hate the cause of it if unjust I shall comfort myself with the innocency of my own conscience Shall I come short of my hopes I will consider that even Kings are not able to obtain all which they desire Shall I be banished I will goe with a willing mind and I will esteem it as a pilgrimage Shall I be blind by this means I shall not see such objects as move concupiscence Will men speak ill of me They will only say what I deserve and doe as they are wont Shall I dye I know I came into the world on this condition to goe out again But shal I dye abroad no contrey is a banishment to him that considers we have no permanent City in this world Shall I dye yong and before my time no reasonable man should complain that he is released out of prison too soon and before his time Death banishment and sorrow are not pains to be feared but the Tributes of our mortall condition It is a folly to fear that which thou canst not avoid 4. Be not too confident or bold and undertake nothing above thy forces for no man is sooner oppressed then he that presumeth too much of himself Our forces are but weak without Gods help from whom cometh all our power all our strength Boldnes ever proceeds from too much esteem of our own strength from contempt of our Adversaries from a hasty wit and a mind not much accustomed to the management of affairs He that is more wise feareth more for he measureth his own forces and considers what he is able to bear and what not Bold persons when they are fallen into some great dangers contrary to what they expected resist a little but presently loose courage being forced at last to confesse that human counsells are full of vanity incertitude A careles unwary security is the beginning of future misery 5. Anger will never overmaster thy judgment if thou first takest away the opinion of a supposed injury Thou art thyself the cause of all thy own evills misery and sufferings Why dost thou cast the blame of all thy disquiet upon others if thou fallest into them by thy own fault No man is hurt but by himself As nurses use to say unto children doe not cry and thou shalt have it thou maist say the same with better reason unto thyself when thou art moved with anger Be not angry doe not make a stir and thou wilt sooner obtain what thou desirest Resolve with thyself upon certain dayes not to be angry at all whatsoever shall happen and soe try thyself after this manner for a month or two and thou wilt find in time that thou hast much profited by it and thou wilt laugh at those things which formerly were wont to make thee angry and disquiet thy mind A quiet and sweet disposition is not only gratefull to those with whom we converse but also is most advantageous unto him that is endowed with it A quiet mind hath this advantage that it alwaies rejoyceth alwaies triumpheth CHAP. XVIII Of the Faculties of a Rationall Soul How we are to keep our Vnderstanding from Curiosity What study is best How hurtfull it is to search into the life and manners of Others We are not to heed what others falsely report of us Of thee Abnegation of our will 1. GOd hath given thee Vnderstanding that thou mightest know him and by knowing love him but thy understanding hath received a double wound by sin to wit Ignorance blindnes Thou mistakest in the knowledge of Truth and thou art ignorant for the most part what to doe and what to fly How great diligence is used to preserve a Town from the plague or to defend a castle from the enemies forces least any Spy should enter within the wals Soe shouldest thou watch least thy understanding should give entrance to any evill object The Senses first represent the species of things then the undersanding admits them and proposes them to the Judgement and lastly the judgment proposeth them to the will But the senses propose equally good and bad and it belongs to the mind to admit them or exclude them 2. First we must keep our mind and understanding from Curiosity Why dost thou employ thy mind in vain things since it was created for God and solid wisedome Wisedome is thrifty As he that tasteth the hearb wolf-bane that he may know the quality of it dyes before he can judge what Tast it hath soe they who look after what doth not belong unto them doe themselves much harm before they come to know what they sought after To know unprofitable things is little better then being ignorant He that desires to be truly wise doth not study to get knowledge that he may be esteemed but that be may live well nor doth he seek so much to delight his mind by his studies as to find in them a remedy of his passions and evill inclinations Dost thou desire to know the course force and influence of the stars What art thou the better when thou knowest all this if in the mean time thou art ignorant of thy own weaknes Dost thou desire to speak in an elegant stile It will be more to thy purpose to learn to be silent Dost thou long to know news what
for ever to the ship and sea and ever after blesse the providence of God as often as they think on the danger they escaped I could wish thou wouldest make the like resolution that is never again to expose thyself to that which thou hast once feared Thou hast escaped a great danger doe not expose thyself again to the same God hath still pardoned thee as often as thou hast sinned take heed thou dost not make this a pretense to wickednes by growing worse because God is good Thou advisest sometimes what thou art to doe why dost thou not rather call to mind what thou hast done For advice for future proceeds from experience of what is past Many would become wiser then they are did they not think themselves wise enough already Unles thou mendest dayly thou wilt grow worse and worse every day CHAP. XXIV Of Piety and observance Obedience and gratitude are commended How to receive and return good deeds 1. NO tongue is able to expresse and sufficiently to extoll the praises of a man who can truly say I have alwaies obeyed my parents I have alwaies submitted to their will in all things without the least murmuring I have alwaies observed the laws of my countrey I have alwaies done good to my kindred and relations I have alwaies endeavored to oblige every one by good turns These are the duties of Piety which we owe and ought to pay to our countrey friends and relations But as we are to pay these offices of Piety to our friends so likewise we are to pay due respect to all our Superiors Princes masters and others who are any way above us in dignity wisedome age religion and piety For it is the custome to rise and stand in their presence bare-headed to give them way to light from horse-back or to come out of the Coach when we meet them to kneel at their feet to kisse their hands or garments to shew them other signs of our respect according to the fashions of the countrey we are in And thou wilt find no difficulty to give them their due in this point if first thou hast conceived a high esteem of their dignity For by this means there will arise in thy will a certain care and fear which will make thee avoid all familiarity with them and by considering their greatnes acknowledge thy own littlenes All power is from God and consequently all the honour and respect thou givest to thy betters is still lesse then what thou owest them that is if thou considerest God in them 2. As all misery had its beginning from the disobedience of our firsts parents so we haue bine put again in a capacity of being happy by the obedience of the son of God provided we also keep our obedience to God and our Superiors Obedience is the perfection of all things and strongest connexion which they have with their first beginning For it deriveth all things from God and referreth all to him Christ recommended this vertue in particular and chose rather to loose his life then to loose his obedience Obedience is better then sacrifice because thereby a man sacrifyes his own will We must receive the command of superiors as a voice coming from heaven without examining the cause and motive of such commands He that hath learned perfect obedience will not stand to give his own judgment of the thing commanded When my superiour admonisheth me when the law commands me and tells me what I am to doe I must not dispute or excuse the busines but obey with promptitude simplicity shewing myself equally ready to perform all things great or small easy or hard There is only one case wherein thou maist be obstinate and refuse to obey that is if any one goes about to draw thee from vertue or force thee to doe any thing against Gods law As for any thing else which is commanded thee thou art to obey readily and without all murmuring 3. Gratitude consisteth in acknowledging ourselves oblig'd for some curtesy received Our cheif care must be to have a true esteem of the benefit which is done us in which we should not so much regard the greatnes of the gift itself as the greatnes of his good will who giveth it And we ought to have such continuall memory of good deeds which are done us as never to forget them He cannot be thankfull for a curtesy who soon forgets it and he that still remembers it may be esteemed to have already requited it There needs no great riches nor labour nor prosperity to shew ourselves gratefull T is alwaies in our power If thou wantest means and strength thou canst not want a will in which thou art able to repay Kings When thou receivest a curtesy from any one receive it cheerfully and in such a manner that he who obliges thee may see his curtesy is well bestowed He hath good reason to rejoyce that sees his friend merry and light-hearted but his joy encreases when he considers that he is the cause of his friends joy He that receives a benefit with gratitude with a kind acceptance may be said to repay the first pension of it He hath no intention to be gratefull who throws as we may say all curtesies so far out of his memory that they seem quite out of sight He that extolleth the good which is done him and confesseth his own incapacity to requite it hath already requited it He that receives a curtesy with a proud or negligent carriage seems to make no account of the gift He that is cold in returning thanks and scarce moves his lips to acknowledge the obligation is more ungratefull then if he said nothing An honest man at the very time he receiveth a curtesy is thinking how to requite it For what is more contrary to civility then not to return what thou hast received and when we return a curtesy we should endeavor to doe rather more then lesse as good ground is wont to yeild a double encrease of the seed it hath received Notwistanding take heed thou dost not make too much hast in returning thanks Some are of that nature that when any little present is sent them they presently send another to the same person as if they would restify they owe him nothing This is a kind of refusing to accept a curtesy when thou blottest out one gift with another with so much hast CHAP. XXV Of Truth and the use of it Simplicity is commended Acts of fidelity 1. IN all thy words gestures writings and other outward signs still observe Truth It doth not become a Christian to have a lying Tongue T is a weak vulgar and womanish imperfection to speak one thing and think another An honest generous spirit speaks things as they are doth not exaggerate or amplify them doth not deceive doth not dissemble doth not use ambiguous words Truth which is simple in itself loveth simple expressions It hates all disguise because it is innocent But he that
private miseryes There is no vertue which we can have a more frequent occasion to practise For we are encompassed on all sides with so many enemies and so many miseries that Job had good reason to say that the life of man is a warfare upon earth There is â—…rdly any moment of our life wherein we have not occasion to fight And althô we had no outward enemies yet every man is a sufficient enemy to himself The source and cause of all that troubles and torments us is in ourselves and from ourselves We begin our life with Tears and we are fit for nothing else in our infancy This is the first thing we learn and we practise it ever after untill death We read of many that never laughed but we have not one example of any man that never wept Patience therefore is necessary to fortify our harts to strengthen our spirit to compleat our vertues No man knows his own strength and vertue unles he hath suffered some crosse or adversity And he that wanteth patience cannot be esteemed a wise man 2. He cannot be happy who hath never suffered some adversity Phisitians tell us that too much health is a bad sign and consequently to be feared and Mariners are ever afraid of the sea in too great a calm If thou art in some calamity or sufferance doe not think it intolerable but remember it is a combat which God hath sent thee Unles thou fightest thou canst not overcome and unles thou overcomest thou wilt never be crowned And since it was necessary that Christ should suffer and soe to enter into his glory darest thou presume or hope to be partaker of his glory felicity without having suffered any thing Thou art much mistaken if thou thinkest to find any other way to heaven The two main principles of vertue are to doe good and suffer evill It is a mark of true patience when thou canst quietly bear an injury from another when thou canst suffer misery without murmuring against God when thou canst endure the company of those who have done thee wrong when thou canst hear thyself calumniated without hating the person who does it when thou submittest thyself to the will of God in all thy sufferances when thou dost not complain unto others of thy crosses when thou louest those who hate thee when thou makest thy complaints only unto God and art ready to endure much more with joy and thanks-giving Lastly he is truly patient who doth not fall into impatience against the imperfections of others 3. When we suffer any losse in our temporall affairs we may soon comfort ourselves if we consider the inconstancy of all wordly things Whatsoever thou possessest whatsover thou louest naturally flyes away from thee it is in thy custody for a while but is not properly thine Doe not permit thyself to be deluded with the hopes of an imaginary stability in such things Being thyself infirm thou art not to expect any thing firm in this world and of all things thou possessest nothing will remain with thee to the end but vertue This is the only immortall thing which mortall man can challenged all things else are subject to death Therefore whatsoever thou possessest esteem it soe as still to leave a great distance betwixt it and thyself A vertuous man can loose nothing because he possesseth nothing as his own Why dost thou grieve for the losse of thy mony for the death of thy Children and the burning of thy house and yet art not sorry for the losse of thy modesty constancy and other vertues whereas these latter are in thy power and those first are neither thine nor in thy power If thou art sorry for the losse of them thou shewest thyself worthy to loose them Thou wouldst esteem thyself to have lost nothing if thou didst love nothing with a disordinate affection A wise man is never troubled for these exteriour things because they doe not touch nor concern him 4. Before thou goest about to doe any thing consider all the circumstances that belong unto it and thou wilt find many things which may give thee trouble unles thou preventest them Hast thou occasion to call a Servant it may happen that he is not present or does not doe what thou wouldst have him doe Art thou going to visit any body it may happen that the party is at home but neglects thee and will not answer Foresee all these things and all will be well Such a one would not accept of my company to day having admitted others He would not hearken to my discourse he placed me in the last place These are the ordinary complaints of difficile spirits into which delicate effeminate and indiscreet persons are wont to fall A wise man never takes notice of these things because he knows the life of man is subject to them The best remedy is to suffer what thou canst not mend If thou art offended with the malice or impudence of any one consider that t is in a manner impossible the world should be without some wicked or impudent people And if this seems impossible what wonder is it to see evill men doe evill Take heed thou art not more to blame thyself who didst not foresee that such a person would offend thee in that kind The world is still like itself and will never be without sin as long as men are in it 5. When thou suffereth any pain or greif consider not soe much what thou endurest as what thou hast done to deserve it And if thou wilt acknowledge the Truth thou wilt confesse thou hast deserved far greater sufferings God is the author of all things The end of his chastising thee is that he may cure thee that he may exercise thy vertue that he may harden thee to afflictions prepare thee for himself And those Whom he seems to spare he reserves for future punishment How shall I know what vertue thou art armed with to suffer Poverty if thou aboundest in Riches how shall I know thy constancy against the calumnies and hatred of thy enemies if thou growest old without over having had any I have often heared thee comfort others in affliction but I should be more willing to hear thee comfort thyself and see thee moderate thy greif when any Crosse doth befall thee If thou art wont to thank and reward the Phisitian that burns and cuts thy flesh why dost thou not also yeild to that medicine which is sent thee from heaven It is a folly to esteem that a losse which is rather a remedy If poverty sicknes and all those other things which thou callest evils could speak they would insult over thee and tell thee why oh man dost thou think us thy enemies Art thou deprived of any happines through our fault What vertue have we taken away from thee have we made thee loose thy Prudence Justice or Fortitude what hinders on our part but that thou maist still be merry That which thou esteemest bad will turn