surely ran in Aristotle's mind when He would have us put our Anger as it were into a Scale and so encrease and abate it at our pleasure whereas if the powers of our Reason were strong we should do all things in good order though we had no such Passion at all as Anger For there is never any necessary occasion for being angry or if there be it is because of a perverse and peevish Humour that reigns in mankind which would usurp upon us unless we do exert an earnest Passion to oppose it Wherefore in Human Life it is not amiss to put on a Disguise and act a Fit of Anger when we are not really moved that we may defend our selves against all Invaders of our Right and that we may wrest it out of the hands of such as otherwise would never yield it to us Fasting no Remedy against Anger 'T IS true an abstemious Diet and a just restraint of our Appetites do make an easie Conquest of many other Passions but Anger is a Devil which no Fasting can cast out the warmth whereof is rather augmented and blown sooner into a Flame by thinness of Diet For we have a Question in Natural Philsophy cur qui jejunant sitiunt magis to which this answer is made That by Fasting our internal Heat is encreased Now our Thirst and our Anger arising from Heat as this encreases they must do so likewise No wonder then if Aristotle found himself at a loss in giving Rules for preventing moderating and ending of Anger Whereas such Rules as teach us to govern other Passions we must apply to this of Anger With whom we may and with whom we may not be Angry AS first The causes of our Anger must not be slight and easie but just and of some importance either the Service of God or the violation of the Laws of our Country the wronging of our Parents and Family the taking away our good Name these or the like occasions may move us to Anger and justifie it Secondly WE must consider the Person with whom we are angry For we may not lawfully be angry with God or our Parents with our Masters Friends or Companions with those that teach and admonish us or with those in eminent Place that are to govern us Whenever such unjustifiable Anger seizes us its motions are so violent that they shake the very principles of Religion and will not permit us to do any thing that is Christian-like or manly But if we are guided by the Rules of true Reason and peaceable Wisdom we shall be angry with none but wicked men then our Anger will be called Zeal and that with Virtue and Understanding ONE thing by the way it may not be impertinent to give warning of that we be angry especially in such cases as concern us and in which we have power to pardon or forgive NOW it being unlawful for any Man to judg in his own Case but He must betake himself to those who are appointed for that end Persons in Authority to whom it belongs to avenge Wrongs do often affect the reputation of Clemency by pardoning injuries done to others who call upon them for Justice But this is a foul mistake and very prejudicial to Equity For Magistrates are in This like private men They are then merciful when they forgive Injuries against themselves when they do the like in ministring Justice for other men it may be some inconsiderate pity but mercy it cannot be What the temper of our Anger must be Thirdly THE third thing to be considered is the Temper of our Anger how far and how much we are to allow to our selves in the case of Anger we may not let loose the Reins but keep it within due bounds and not be difficult in forgiving such as have offended us considering our own manifold infirmities This is the Way to vanquish all the Sratagems and Conflicts of Malice But whoso does any thing in the first kindlings of Anger He is soon misled into the most desperate precipices of Action To remove this Evil We must suffer our Passion to take vent and cool it self For to fly out into the heedless Adventures of Revenge and Outrage at the first instant as it were hath prejudiced otherwise very good Men When Theodofius therefore a Prince of the highest Virtue and merit had much overshot himself upon sudden Wrath Saint Ambrose advised him ever after that to rehearse the Alphabet before He suffered himself to proceed in his Choler that He might gain time thereby to weigh the reasons of his Wrath and so might have an opportunity to prevent the breaking out of so dangerous a Fire Fourthly What time our Wrath may continue A fourth thing to be considered is the time of our Wrath How long we should suffer it to depend For long Anger grows sour and is easily turned to Hatred which of all Vices hath in it the most Venom and filthiness For if Charity be the principal of all Virtues then certainly Malice is the principal of all Vices as being most contrary to Charity The Master of the Sentences had a Conceit that Charity was the very Essence of the Holy Ghost and that He really dwelt in our Hearts when this gift of Charity was infused into us I verily suppose He was deceived but he said enough to make us believe that Malice is that great Sin against the Holy Ghost which at no time shall find Remission ABOVE all things therefore we must be wary how we suffer our Anger by long retaining it to degenerate into the most pernicious Sin of Malice For Moroseness a pettish Humour or whatever perversness there is in our Natures are nothing but the Ways and steps unto Malice a Vice by so much the more to be avoided because it is one of those Sins of which Men seldom or never repent them as it is in the case of Avarice and Ambition which after they have taken root are seldom or never removed by Repentance The Apostle therefore to cure the mischief which may come of long preserving our Anger confines it to one day Let not the Sun faith he go down upon your Wrath And the Scripture exhorts us all to possess our Souls in patience as if He who is out of patience was out of the possession of his own mind and acted as the Bees do animasque in vulnere ponunt MANY other Particulars there are in common life We must not be froward in Company in which we are to watch over our Anger as for Example When we are disposed to harmless Mirth if we are froward the whole Entertainment is spoiled so bitter Words break to pieces the love and kindness of good Conversation besides Anger makes a man unfit for Society because it will force him to reveal Secrets and fits thereof destroy the Methods of all sorts of Business above all things it must not be indulged by Magistrates For mediocritatem in puniendo nunquam servabit
such as Piety to God Adoration of the Divine Nature Gratitude to Benefactors Temperance Meekness Charity Justice Fidelity and such like these are agreed upon by mankind to be good and the contrary to these evil for they are generally had in esteem by Men and their opposites are evil spoken off now to praise any thing is to give testimony to the goodness of it and to dispraise any thing is to declare it to be evil and if we consider the Customs of the World and the instances of all Ages we shall find that the Things that have been praised in the lives of Men are the Piety and Devotion of Men towards their Gods their Temperance and Gratitude their Justice and Fidelity their Humanity and Charity The contraries to these have been ever condemned as Atheism and Profaneness contempt of God and Religion Ingratitude Falsness Oppression Cruelty Nay so steddy hath mankind been in commending Virtue and censuring Vice Vicious Men speak well of Virtue that we shall find not only the virtuous themselves giving their testimony to Virtue but even those that are vicious have so much Justice as to speak well of Moral Virtues not out of love to them but because their Affections are prevented by the Conviction of their own Minds and the testimony of these persons is the more valuable because it is that of an Enemy for Friends are apt to be partial but the acknowledgement of an Enemy is of great weight because it seems to be extorted from him and that which he is even forced to do against his will And it is a clear evidence that Vice is generally cryed down by Mankind because those that are so kind as to spare themselves are yet very quick-sighted to spy a fault in any one else and will arraign Vice in another with very much freedom HENCE it is that the Scripture commands that our Light should so shine before Men that they may see our good works Matth. v. 13. Charges us to promise things honest in the sight of all Men Rom. xii 17. To have our Conversation honest among the Gentiles that is to do those things which the Light of Nature cannot but approve of 1 Pet. ii 12. By well doing to put to silence the ignorance of foolish Men for this saith the Apostle is the Will of God by which it is intimated that there are some Virtues so good in themselves and so owned to be such that the worst of Men have not the face to open their mouths against them BESIDES Mankind do generally stand upon their Justification when they are conscious to themselves that they have done well but are ashamed when they have done ill Some indeed are such Monsters of Impiety that they can glory in their Shame but these are but few in comparison and they attain to this Temper by a long habit of great and enormous Vices But generally Men are Modest and are apt to Blush at what they do amiss Now Shame is a Trouble arising from a Sense What Shame is that we have done amiss and have forfeited our Reputation Guilt is a Passion towards our selves but Shame is with respect to others so that he who is ashamed of an Action doth thereby declare that he hath acted amiss and that what he hath done is accounted so by others for if he did not believe that Men had a bad opinion of such actions however he might be guilty in himself he would not be ashamed in respect of other Men But when Men have walked by the Rules of Virtue the Conscience of their Integrity lifts up their Heads because they are satisfied that other Men have a good esteem of their Actions And the Men sometimes will declare their dislike of the Ways of Virtue yet they have a secret reverence for those that do well and when their Passions are over they cannot but declare their Approbation and frequently do so All Men have a secret reverence for those that do well And this is a great evidence of the Consent of Mankind about Virtue and Vice for that those that do their Duty act above Board and live in the Practice of Goodness need not hide their Faces nor seek dark corners to do their work in as they who are forging evil deeds must do For no Man is ashamed to meet another with whom he has kept his Word and performed his Trust as he who hath done otherwise is wont to be Glory and Shame being an appeal to the Judgment of Mankind concerning the Good or Evil of our Actions NOW Vices such as Murder Adultery Drunkenness Rebellion Sedition Fraud Perjury and breach of Trust are provided against by most Nations and severely punished by the Laws of most Countrys which is a demonstration what opinion all Nations have had of these things No Law ever made against Virtue but there was never any Law made against Virtue no Man was ever forbidden to honour God tho particular Ways of Worship have been prohibited no Man was ever forbidden to be grateful faithful temperate just righteous honest charitable and peaceable which is an acknowledgment that Mankind always thought 'em good and were never sensible of any harm or mischief to come by them for had they done so they would at some time or other provided against 'em by Laws but as the Apostle saith against these things there is no Law as if he had said turn over the Laws of Moses search those of Athens read over the Twelve Tables of the Romans and you shall not find one of those Virtues that are commanded in the Scripture condemned or forbidden a sure and clear proof that Mankind never took any exception against them but rested in the goodness of them that they were necessary and profitable for all things NOW this general consent of Mankind about what is Good and Evil is a very good Argument of their being so in Truth and reality for the Consent of Mankind is the Voice of Nature and the Voice of Nature is the Voice of God the Author thereof for Tully tells us that God would not have planted these Notions in the Minds of Men had they not been agreeable to the Truth of Things there is no better way to establish what is Natural than if the whole kind agree in it and if it be Natural it is from God and whatever is from God is Real and True Now I have proved that God hath planted in Humane Nature a Sense of the difference between Virtue and Vice and hath made us able to judg what is Good and what is Evil. BUT besides this there are but two Causes into which this general Consent of Mankind can be resolved Tradition and humane Policy not Tradition because that is insufficient for so large and long a Conveyance of so many particulars as the Law of Nature consists in throughout all Ages and Nations for the Traditions of particular Nations which are supposed to be Arbitrary and to have no
Imprimatur Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacris Nov. 20. 1690. A TREATISE OF Moral and Intellectual VIRTUES WHEREIN Their NATURE is fully explained and their USEFULNESS proved AS BEING The best Rules of LIFE AND The Causes of their Decay are enquired into concluding with such Arguments as tend to revive the Practice of them WITH A PREFACE shewing the Vanity and Deceitfulness of VICE Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines Quos ultrà citráque nequit consistere rectum By JOHN HARTCLIFFE B. D. and Fellow of Kings College Cambridge London Printed for C. Harper at the Flower-de-luce over against S. Dunstan's Church Fleet-street 1691. To the Right Honorable CHARLES Earl of Maclesfeld Lord President and Lord Lieutenant of the Principality of Wales Lord Lieutenant of the Counties of Gloucester Hereford and Monmouth and of the City and County of Bristol and one of the Lords of Their Majesties most Honorable Privy Council May it please your Lordship THE Cause of Virtue belongs to great and brave Men therefore I thought it my Duty to lay this Treatise at your Lordships Feet it will not much enlarge your Thoughts or acquaint you with any new things but I hope it may please the Generosity of your Temper to read the Characters of Virtues the greatest Ornaments of that pure Religion which your Lordship hath laboured so much to recover from the Knavery and base Corruptions as well as Bondage of Popery For the Jesuits Morals are as destructive of a good Life and as pernicious to human Society as their Plots and their Gun-Powder I am very well satisfied that if I had sought a Patron in all the List of Noble Persons I could not have found a more proper or competent Judge in a Discourse of this Nature because your Lordships Case and that of Virtue it self have been much alike you have been both persecuted for your Integrity and Truth but like Truth you must and shall prevail in spight of the malicious and the false the Parasite or the Detractor I have not troubled your Lordship with the fine and nice Speculations in Divinity because they have done our Religion much Dis-service by raising a multitude of Questions which neither advance true Piety nor good Manners But I present your Lordship with the Rules of naked Truth and Reason the free Use whereof is as much our Birthright as any thing else Therefore your Lordships Name and the Names of all those shall be had in everlasting remembrance who have placed Their Majesties upon the Throne whereby not only our Properties but our Understandings are secured to us and an healing Plaister is laid upon all our Maladies For we must needs say our Nation was in a very distempered Condition before it came into the hands of this wise and great Prince WILLIAM the Third whose Breaches in its Manners as well as in its Laws may be made up by his seasonable Application of the most proper Remedies as its Greatness and Glory will ever be maintained by His Wisdom Power and Courage under the Influence of these Royal Virtues England methinks begins to recover its just Temper apace and the old British Genius revives so that in time it may be restored to a perfect Health as strong Bodies will work out the Poyson they take by degrees That this Deliverance which hath been so wonderfully wrought for us may have the same effect upon our Country which the Christian Religion had at its first entrance into it when it did so quickly turn the first Inhabitants of this Island who were uncivilized and barbarous into humble affable meek charitable modest prudent tender and compassionate Creatures That the Practice of Virtue may be establish'd in these Kingdoms without which the firmest Government must dissolve because a regard to that will ever have an Influence upon the Honour and Authority of those who rule as well as upon the Happiness and safety of those who obey And that your Lordship may long enjoy the only Sweetness of Life a retreat from Noise and Disturbance that nothing may break or interrupt your Thoughts in the ways of Virtue and Goodness is the Prayer of May it please your Lordship Your Lordship 's most humble and most obedient Servant J. HARTCLIFFE THE PREFACE To the READER THE reason which moved the Author to publish these short Characters of Moral Virtues was a desire he had to revive the Practice of them as much as he could in a very degenerate Age The World we know has ever had its Vicissitudes and Periods of Virtue and Wickedness and all Nations have advanced themselves to their Power and Grandeur by Sobriety Wisdom and a tender regard of Religion This very Remark hath filled us with hope that upon this our late wonderful Revolution the English Nation may recover its ancient Virtues that have been too long under the Oppression of Debauchery which hath been an Evil of so great Malignity as to threaten ruin to the very Constitution of the Government Therefore the Providence of God hath sent us a Prince for our deliverer whose Piety is set off with the whole Train of Moral Virtues whose Temperance is so great and impregnable amidst all those Allurements with which the Palaces of Kings are apt to meet even the most resolved Minds that at the same time he doth both teach and upbraid the Court whose Fortitude is more resplendent in the Conquest of himself than when he strewes the Field with the Armies of Rebels whose Gentleness and Mercy is so remarkable that if ever the Lion and the Lamb dwelt together it is in the Breast of this Royal Person whose personal Virtues will in a little time render all vicious Courses unexcusable and will shed a suitable Influence upon his Government that not only the Honour and Plenty but the Virtue and Goodness of the English People may spread it self even to the Envy of all Neighbour Nations 1. Irreligion the Cause of Ruine to a Nation But whenever men contemn the Laws of God and are loose in all their Conversation they will certainly decline into Softness and Effeminacy on the other side when they are virtuous and upright in their Actions they are unmoveable like a House built upon a Rock for this is the Circle of human Affairs And when Atheism or a neglect of Virtue hath been at the greatest height as it was very lately they have certainly brought on Changes and Dissolutions because the Principles of Irriligion do unjoynt the Sinews of all Government If this be so methinks all Mankind should be ready to weigh and examin all the Arguments for Virtue should carefully enquire into the Grounds of the Christian Faith and take an account of the Truth and Credibility of the Scriptures when they have done this I am confident they will think themselves as effectually obliged in Prudence to the Duties of Virtue and Religion by the Possibility as by the Certainty of things for whatever they
but the Expectation of Good as Fear is the Expectation of Evil there are Causes alternately working in the mind some that make us expect Good and some that make us expect Evil if the former prevail then the whole Passion is Hope if the latter then the whole is Fear Now Hope is the greatest Cheat to and Abuser or Men for in this are founded all the vain though specious Attempts which men have cast themselves upon whether it be of the Arena where the Gladiators sported themselves in the most bloody and cruel Exercises for no other end but only Hope of Conquest or whether it be any other gallant Madness and Vain-Glory such as reading of Romances may produce in pusilanimous men as it did in Don Quixotte UNTO the same order of things we may add all those famous Madnesses and Furies so much sung of and celebrated by Prose-Writers and Poets I mean the Olympian Nemaean Pythian and Isthmaean Games wherein the choicest and fairest young men tryed their utmost Strength to no purpose For it is so noted whosoever won the Victory in the Olympian Games were for ever after good for nothing All the Sun and Dust they so patiently endured was only for a Crown of Bays that they might not enter their Towns by the Gates or Common Passages but be carried home upon mens Shoulders Were it worth our while to consider these things it would strike us into an Amazement to see what Honour hath ever been done to mere Trifles to things utterly of no use and that for so many Hundred Years space from Thirty Years or thereabouts before the Building of Rome until almost the expiration of that Empire with a general Applause and Concourse of almost the whole World Upon this have we grounded all our books and monuments of Learning which concern our Epochaes and Dates of time The Olympian Games great Follies as it were to bear Witness against our selves how vain we are by making and framing our memorials by those things that were the greatest Follies that ever were BUT this may represent to us the Nature of Mankind and shew us by what springs they are moved how the little hopes of empty Honour or Profit will drive 'em into the most hazardous Attempts Honour and Profit drive men upon the greatest Hazards how easily they swallow the most bitter Pills when they are gilt over how ambitiously they hunt after the Troubles of greatness and basely adore the fine and gawdy nothings of this Life ONE kind of false Fortitude still remains and that is Courage upon ignorance when through want of Experience and Knowledg we rush unadvisedly upon the Swords point and walk upon the very edge of a Precipice For that of Thucydides is most certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignorance and Unexperience makes men bold and foolhardy but good Advice is naturally slow-placed Thus it is commonly observed that your fresh-water Soldiers go to the Battel as chearfully as if they went to a Wedding but as soon as they see their own Blood their Hearts fail them Something allied is this Valour upon Ignorance with that upon Hope for therefore do men run upon Danger because they have a Hope to speed well and come off without Harm For as soon as the Danger which they knew not begins to appear in its own Colours their Constancy leaves them and none more readily run away The Men of Argos waging Warr with the Sicyonians and beating them often it happened that the Syconians entertained the Spartans for help who coming into the Field in Habit and Furniture like the Syconians whilst they were undiscovered the People of Argos fought stoutly as against their accustomed Enemies but as soon as they percieved they were Spartans without more adoe they fled MANY more things might be said by way of farther opening the Nature of Fortitude but we will shut up all with this one Conclusion that it is not Hope nor Anger The Lawfulness of the Cause warrants men to be valiant nor Reward nor any thing else but only the consideration of the Goodness and Lawfulness of the Cause that warrants men to be valiant else Thieves and Robbers might be accounted so whose Courage is like Zeal and Learning in a Heretick wholly bent upon doing Mischief else rash and unadvised Persons and such as palliate their Lust under the name of Love and every one that is carried on by the strength and violence of any Passion whatsoever may be esteemed men or true Courage and Fortitude Nam impetu quodam instinctu currere ad Mortem commune cum multis deliberare verò causas ejus expendere utque suaserit Ratio vitae mortisque consilium suscipere vel ponere ingentis animi est * For it is a common thing with many to run headlong to Death through a certain instinct and violence of Nature but it is the part of a wiâ—e great Soul to deliberate well and weigh the Cauâ—es of it then as Reason shall perswade to take up or lay down the Intent either of Life or Deatâ— YET after all if we look into a Christian man as he is proposed to us in the Gospel we may justly wonder to what purpose God hath planted in us this Faculty and Passion of Courage since the Characters of a Christian are Patience Christianity not opposite to Military Discipline Humility and Gentleness which Virtues are to possess the Room of Anger and Resentment that stirs up Fortitude why else are we to obey the Precepts of suffering Wrong rather than go to Law of yielding the Coat to him who would take the Cloak But there are two Cases among Christians wherein Bloodshed is allowed first in case of Justice when a Malefactor dyes for his Crime secondly in case of publick War and defence of our Country or our selves for the Christian Religion is no Enemy to it Therefore John the Baptist instead of advising the Soldier to lay aside his Weapons as unlawful instructs him rather in his Calling not to wrong any place by Pillage nor to mutiny in dislike of his Pay These being the two principal Vices of a Soldier which the Preacher of Repentance would have him avoid TO shut up this point we must not be too prodigal of Life nor trifle it away upon every Occasion but we must freely expose it when we truly know upon what Occasion to spare or upon what to spend it a violent Lust an ungovernable Rage heightned by Provocation or enflamed by the Spirit of Wine may so furnish out a Hector to a Duel and prompt him on to dye as a Fool dieth But the Foundation of great and Heroical performances the just and rational the considerate and sedate the constant Christian Principles the best Foundation of couragious performances perpetual and uniform Contempt of Death in all the Shapes thereof is only derived from the Christian Principle this inspires Passive Valour and furnishes invincible Martyrs for the
Passion of the Magnanimous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pindar saith to garble the Virtues and cull out the prime parts of them this is that which makes up the great Virtue we speak of For he who yields to any the least Vice who is so low-spirited and silly as to swallow its Baits abates so much of Magnanimity Let us then as Aristotle does trace the man through some particulars in his Behaviour and Carriage First IN all Fortunes good or bad he carries himself with singular Equanimity neither puff'd up with Pride in Prosperity nor broken or dejected with adverse Fortune sperat infestis metuit secundis alteram sortem bene preparatum pectus he hath a mind so well prepared against all the Changes of this Life that Adversity never puts him out of hope nor Prosperity makes him think that He cannot fall By this means let the passions of men be never so fretful He is never moved by them Let the turns of the World be never so sudden and wonderful his magnanimity withstands their Force which in this instance is the most splendid and glorious part of Fortitude Secondly IN encountring Dangers He is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were in love with the Danger like your Bravoes or Hectors as we call them that are easily hired to undertake a Quarrel Such are in all States with great care to be suppressed Vain-glory condemned because qui suam vitam contempsit Dominus est alienae having desperately contemned his own He makes himself Lord of the Lives of others These are the Men who aspire after a vain and false Glory therefore in their Words always you will find Ostentation and Insolency in their Actions Where as the glory of the Magnanimous is ever just and well grounded Hence it is that they never go about any thing but what they have power sufficient to bring to pass They fly not to Fallacies or Tricks are not prone to Anger nor to Boasting They are never irresolute in their proceedings because they are above those Difficulties that make deliberations hard neither will they be at Enmity with Inferiours nor laugh at the infirmites of other men from any sense of Ability in themselves Thirdly HE is no medler in Alehouse Quarrels nor in any inferiour Petts among Vulgar Persons Whenever He is engaged it is in such a War as may bring in the Issue Praise and Honour Such as upon which Justice and Equity attends There He hath par animo periculum encounters a danger equal to his mind He puts no great value upon his own life but is very well contented to lay it down when it may be for his Countreys service or for his own Honour And in all his Adventures He hath an Eye upon the good and conveniency of of that Party whose Cause He undertakes notwithstanding for the present his Fame and Credit do a little suffer Thus Fabius Maximus refused to fight with Hannibal till He was sure of his Advantage notwithstanding the false and ill Reports which his Rivals did endeavour to spread of him non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem and in this matter did this Illustrious Commander behave himself with true Magnanimity Quite contrary to this Action was that of Callicratidas the famous Lacedaemonian Captain who being advised in a Council of War to avoid engaging the Athenian Fleet did notwithstanding run the hazard of fighting and so lost the Day for which he gave only this Reason That the Lacedaemonians were able to provide another Navy if they lost this but if He should fly his Honour could in no wise be redeemed Thus a Punctilio of Honour cast his Country into distress and had well near ruined it THOSE who would be thought the only Heroes put a great value upon these Punctilio's in defense whereof they are moved by very violent passions but as soon as the storm is over they slacken insensibly of themselves if not to the lowest degree at least so as to be no more the same persons Insomuch that upon every triffle they shall be provoked to Wrath and by as little a matter be cooled again therefore we can never make a right judgment of a Man unless we pry into his common Actions and surprize him in his every-day Habit Philosophical disquisitions do not so well unfold to us the Mysteries of Human Nature as our own Remarks would do upon the daily Conversation of Men For their lives do seldom or never correspond with Speculative Doctrines If therefore I behold a Man in the management of his Actions to demean himself steddily and never to stop at any Impediment that stands in his way to a good End He is the Magnanimous Man whom we enquire after Some pains must be taken to bring the mind to so constant a Resolution But when once it is confirmed nothing shall discompose nothing shall shake it The best season for the exercise of Magnanimity Therefore the best Season for the exercise of Magnanimity is in the time of hardship and Affliction when as a Tree planted in Winter it will thrive better than in the warmth or in the midst of those Delights that are tasted in the Ages of Peace and Plenty Nay when Affairs are drawn to the very dregs of Malice a Man fortified with this Virtue will look upon all its Stings as unpoisonous though they are sharp whatever severe Conflicts we may have with the thoughts of Death the Feast of a good Conscience and the Wall of a judicious Constancy will fence us against them This is the greatest glory of a Christian to subdue the Burdens of Life while we are deprived of health liberty power safety or Estate by the Virtue of Magnanimity all this may be done which is the greatest honour of our Lives and the best improvement of our Deaths We must acknowledg it is not easie to contend with the many dangers losses disappointments and troubles we meet withal in this Life yet this Heroick greatness of Spirit will so patiently sustain them all that they will afford much sweetness at the last and bring a Crown at the end of the Race IF we consider further The Magnanimous Man abhors Malice what this Virtue is in common Conversation it will also appear in that kind very useful First BECAUSE the Magnanimous man in his behaviour with others carries his love and his hatred openly and in his hand For the causes of either of them being justifiable he cares not who sees them his Love He will not conceal because his Friend may not suspect that he hath any aversation to him neither will he hide his Hatred or dislike because the Soul thereby may be stained with the most venomous malice as the Diseases that proceed from Stoppings are the most mischievous to the Body He hates Dissimulatâ—â—n Secondly HE is no Dissembler he carries his Heart in his Tongue and boldly speaks the truth when a just occasion demands it but always with discretion For men's
practice of Virtue it is as impossible that a Man should he happy or pleased as for a sick Man to find ease by removing from one Bed to another because the Distemper is lodged within his Breast all the Disorders of which must be quieted before we can be happy for Happiness must be in our Hearts and it must spring out of our own bosoms and from thence thro the comfortable influence of God's Holy Spirit must all our Peace and Pleasure flow Wherefore I cannot conclude this whole Discourse with a better or more persuasive Exhortation than that which S. Paul makes use of to the Philippians Phil. iv 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever is right sincere and true whatsoever is comely grave and venerable whatsoever is fair just and equal whatsoever is sacred pure and holy whatsoever is generous noble and lovely whatsoever is of credit value and esteem if there be any Vertue if there be any Praise think of these things FOR these things the Lord will have us to do God's Will must be the Rule of our Actions and his Will must be the Rule of all our Actions whose Laws are like himself just and holy pure and undefiled unchangeable and everlasting fitted to the first Age of the World and to the last to the wisest and to the simplest to the times of Peace and of War established against all alterations and occurrences whatsoever for there is no time in which a Man may not be just and honest merciful and compassionate humble and sincere a Conversation thus tempered we ought to continue and carry along through honor and dishonor through all the terrors which evil Men or Devils can place in our way and if we consider the Nature and Reason of Things Virtue only doth qualifie and dispose us for the injoyment of God Vertue only doth qualifie us for the enjoyment of God because it quiets the Mind rectifies all its Faculties governs the Affections cleanses the whole Soul from all sin and pollution whereas if it were possible for a wicked Man to be admitted into the presence of God or a local Heaven to see all the glories and delights of that Place and State all this would signifie no more to make him happy and contented than heaps of Gold and Consorts of Musick a well spread Table or a rich Bed can bring any relief to a Man in the Paroxism of a Fever or in a sharp fit of the Stone the Reason is because the Man's Spirit will still be out of order till he be put into a right Frame by Virtue and Godliness 'T IS true all Men naturally desire ease and happiness because all Natures would fain be pleased and contented but they hunt after it Men are apt to mistake their Happiness where it is not to be found Men say loe here is happiness and loe there in a high Place in a great Estate or in earthly Delights but believe them not they are all shadows when you come to embrace them therefore your Happiness must be nearer and more intimate to your Minds than any thing this World can afford for those who look after the Pomps of this World grow vain and inconstant lazy and negligent those who covet the applause of the People are often disappointed of the felicity they hoped for because the People guide not themselves by Reason but Chance All outward things coming thus short of rendering us Happy we must expect our Happiness in observing the Duties and in obeying the Precepts of Virtue because they are upon all accounts for our advantage and are founded upon the Interests of Mankind so that if it were not that the God of this World did blind Mens Eyes and abuse their Understandings from discerning their true Interest it were impossible so long as Men love themselves and have a desire of their own Happiness but they should be virtuous If men sought their true Happiness they must be Virtuous for God promiseth to make Men happy for ever upon condition that they will do those things that will make them happy and easie in this World considering our infinite obligations to God the unquestionable Right and Title he hath to us and his Sovereign Authority over us he might have imposed Laws and have given us such Statutes as were not so good for us but so gracious a Master hath he been as to link together our Duty and our Interest and to make those things instances of our Obedience which are Natural means and Causes of our Happiness IT hath been antiently observed that Pythagoras his Learning ended in a few Musical jingles Thales his Wisdom in some uncertain Astronomical fansies Heraclitus his Contemplations concluded in Solitude and weeping Socrates his Renowned Philosophy led him to the practice of unnatural Lust Diogenes his sharpness of Wit to use his body to endure all manner of nastiness and coarse Labour Epicurus his Inventions and Discourses of which he boasts so much set him down contented with any kind of pleasure The same thing may be said of the Stoicks and Peripateticks WE must therefore be much out of the way if we search for Happiness in their Lessons and neglect our most Holy Religion Religion is the surest foundation of our Hopes which whosoever does he will unsettle the strongest Foundation of our hopes he will make a terrible confusion in all the Offices and Opinions of Men he will destroy the most prevailing Argument to Virtue he will remove all human Actions from their firmest Centre he will deprive himself of the prerogative of his immortal Soul and will have the same success that the ancient Fables make those to have had who contended with their Gods of whom they report that many were immediately turned into Beasts Whereas if we were to contrive a way to make our selves happy we should pitch upon just such Laws as those of Christianity are The Laws of Christ are most agreeable to the frame of our Natures they are so agreeable to the Frame of our Natures and Understandings they require of us so Rational and Spiritual a service of God they oblige us to perform Duties so plainly necessary and beneficial to us the harshest and most difficult Precepts thereof tending upon one account or other to our manifest advantage it being very reasonable for a Man to be sorry for what he hath done amiss and to amend his Life for the future to mortifie Lusts and Passions which are so disorderly and troublesom to the Mind to bring down every proud Thought which fills a Man with insolence and contempt of others to be patient in the meanest Condition which will prevent those anxieties that come from the contrary Passions to love Enemies and forgive Injuries which removes the perpetual torments of a malicious and revengeful Spirit FOR a Man is accomplished by two things First BY his being enlightened in his intellectual Faculties which is the perfection of his Understanding Secondly BY his being well directed