ought in the very order of Nature to govern guide moderate and direct that inferiour part which is common to us with Brutes and that man that keeps not this Government and Rule of his nobler Nature over the lower Faculties of his soul degrades himself below the Dignity of a Man and having forfeited all the Royal Prerogatives of his Rational nature debases himself to a parity with Beasts nay and below them too for even these restrain their Appetites from Excess and Immoderation How admirably Great Excellent seems that Noble temper of Mind which is Appositely enough called Equality of Humour When a man keeps so much freedome and liberty in his soul as never ro be disquieted but as you leave him so you find him alwaies indifferently chearful and ever the same For is he rich prosperous great yet he continues safe because he is still humble thankful watchful lest he should be deceived or transported careful lest he should be carryed into Pride Arrogance Insolency Presumption Is he poor neglected unfortunate Yet he remains patient humble contented thankful depending upon that God he fears looking up to the great Lord of Heaven and Earth as knowing that he observes and eyes all men and that his Providence governs all things And this keeps him still even and square without any considerable Alteration whatsoever his condition be His Soul is lifted up above all those inconsiderable toys the world ranges under the smiles and frowns of Fortune and relishes more happiness in a peaceable and quiet Spirit a comfortable serenity of Soul then he could do in the enjoyment of all that others court with so much eagerness and ardour How wonderfully happy is this temper of mind how infinitely preferable to the disorder and uneasiness of Impatience in most men When if a man be rich or powerful there is nothing more vain proud insolent than he but if poor low unfortunate how does he sink and despond and murmur and dye under his Affliction And there is nothing under Heaven more miserable and dispairing than he We must conclude him therefore happy to wonder and envy whose noble Spirit does not vary with his Fortune Who scorns to let his Eyes be allways melting over a Remediless Evil or suffer one Misfortune to swallow up all his Joys but notwithstanding all the Calamities that either lay upon him or hang over him he can preserve a rare and happy Calmness in his mind which appears in an unclouded Serenity that dwells always on his looks and discovers him ever Well pleased So great is the advantage and happiness that by a due rule and Government of Passion does acrue to a wise man And I shall venture confidently Dear Sir to affirm that this Freedom of Mind and Serenity of Soul ought to be preferr'd before the Empire of the World Besides 't is a true Maxim in Morality He that commands himself Commands the world too I should now proceed to Particularize the Passions and shew the necessity of subduing each of them I should likewise here enlarge upon those two known general Rules touching Regulation of Passions viz. 1. That they ought always to be determined to their proper objects For Example We ought to love and admire nothing but what is truly good great highly valuable nor hate and despise any thing but what is bad mean and contemptible fear nothing but what is truly evil and hurtful hope for nothing but what is really good and desireable rejoyce in nothing but what will some way or other make us better and so for the rest 2. That being thus rightly placed as to their objects yet that they be not intended nor acted beyond that degree that may justly be allowed to the objects Thus according to the several degrees of goodness and excellency in the objects we ought to share out unto them our love and desires The best and worthiest ought to be prosecuted with the greatest love and veneration We ought not to love excessively what does not deserve so great a measure of it So likewise we ought not to be angry for a longer time or in a greater measure then the cause requires c. But leaving these I shall confine my self to those three Passions which have a more especial reference to my present purpose Joy Grief and Desire A due regulation of these being capable to render a man's mind quiet and constantly composed his life comfortable and happy Treating of them in the particular relation they have to the good things of this world and First of 1. The moderation of Joy in the affluence of worldly things The Consideration of some present good belonging to us in particular begets in us that delight which we call Joy and it is generally defin'd to be a delightful commotion of the Sensitive Soul as it were Triumphing in the fruition of present Good Now that we may know how to regulate our Joy in the affluence of these things We are to consider the world and examine whether those things which our own thoughts and the sense of the Generality call Good be really so or no and if so what degrees of goodness they have that we may share out to them our esteem delight and joy accordingly For as I said before concerning our Passions in general our delight and joy in the fruition of any Good is to be proportioned to the degrees of goodness in the object Now we must grant that wordly things as riches honors greatness c. are Good in their respective uses i. e. when they are honestly imploy'd in the service of God and to his Glory and consequently we must allow a sober moderate Joy in the fruition of them and a chearful thankfulness to God for them But 't is against the Excess and Irregularity of Joy that I am speaking and do therefore affirm that because the Goodness and value of these things is really and truly very small and slight our Joy in the Affluence of them ought not to be great or excessive For those things which are very uncertain very casual and withal many times extreamly dangerous to the Soul which are not capable to make us either better or wiser can scarce be said to be Good We have little reason therefore for any great or extravagant Joy in the fruition of what we might as well nay perhaps more safely be without than have I shall enlarge upon this Argument Our Joy ought to be moderate as to these things Because 1. They onely concern this life which is uncertain and transitory and passeth away These pleasures of Sin endure but for a moment our whole Life is no more All the Good or Happiness they do or can yield is fadeing and perisheth in the very Enjoyment And besides a small matter any little inconsiderable accident may put a Period to all these pleasures these delights this life in a year in a week in a day in an hour in a moment and then these gawdy things leave us and
Disappointments which give men so much unhappy disturbance and uneasiness in their several Conditions or that it is the Great Cause of Discontent 2. That 't is the absolute and necessary Duty of every Rational Creature to Rule Govern and Discipline these Passions to use his utmost Care and Endeavour to bring them to a continued subjection to his Reason and Judgment and so introduce with ease into his Soul a due Comfortable and Sanctified use of all Conditions in Prosperity Thankfulness and Sobriety in Adversity Contentedness and Humility in all Moderation 1. The Inordinacy of Passion is the great Cause of Discontent This I take to be so certainly and universally true that it may pass for an Axiom or one of those truths we call First Principles so as to need no demonstration or proof The great evil of suffering is not so much in the thing a man suffers as in the mind and temper of the man who meets with it Impatience and Discontent come not so much from the strength and force of any external Calamity as from the great Struggling and reluctancy of the mind that suffers it For take a humble and moderate man free from Pride Haughtiness Covetousness and Ambition how easily and softly do Crosses and Troubles fall upon him With how much evenness and equality of temper does he recieve Calamities and Afflictions when God pleases to send them The Reason is his thoughts are prepared and qualified for it he is master of himself and his Passions never transported or hurryed beyond what becomes a Reasonable man is all quiet within does alwaies possess and enjoy himself in a happy peace and serenity of soul a constant setled composure of spirit On the contrary a Proud and Lofty man swoln with the conceit of his own worth goodness how does he stomack rise at the least disappointment Into what desperate rage and choler does he throw himself upon any cross or misfortune that befalls him He thinks Heaven obliged to favour his great merits and gratify his humour And if dishonour reproach poverty loss of estate or reputation chance to happen to him how much trouble and tumult disturbance discomposure arises in the mind hereupon How does the rage and boylings of such an ones haughty ambitious and distemper'd spirit raise a storm within him that may possibly endanger the whole man his struggling galls worse than the Yoke it self otherwise would do and he himself contributes infinitely more to his own uneasiness than his Affliction doth Again 't is the over-value we put upon Worldy goods and the seeming blessings and conveniencies they yeild us that gives us so much trouble and torment in the loss of them What infinite disorders of mind do our exvagant desires and longings after Riches create in us What care and trouble to get them What anxiety and restless fear least we should loose them when got What infinite strugglings and shiftings to keep them when they are going And what extream vexation sorrow and affliction when they are gone So likewise 't is the excess of love we undeservedly place upon our health pleasure reputation greatness honours or the like that makes us so unable to bear the loss of them by sickness reproach poverty or false friends with that patience and quietness of mind which we ought 'T was Ahabs Covetousness that made him troubled and sick for a small parcel of his neighbours ground 'T was Haman's pride ambition and excessive love of Honour that made him afflicted and discontented for the want of poor Mordicai's Knee Whereas if our desires of things here below were reasonable and moderate we should be little or nothing concern'd in the want or loss of them For it cannot greatly trouble a man to part with what he never greatly cared for Now 't is certaine that Pride Covetousness Ambition c. which cause all discontent and disturbance of mind in us are nothing else but the Irregularities and excesses of passion for the excess of self-love is Pride the extravagancy of desire or delight in the honours or profits of this world Ambition Covetousness c. So that Pride Covetousness Ambition Intemperance c. really causing all discontents and these being nothing but the irregularities of Passion We must conclude the irregularity of Passion the Cause of all our Discontent 1. A man ought therefore to disburden himself of these original foundations of folly and misery to give a Law to the Sensitive Appetite bring it into Subjection and keep it within just limits and bounds under the discipline and rules of Reason and Religion Which is the next thing to be proved 2. 'T is the Duty I say of every Rational Creature to Subdue Govern and Regulate his Passions and to keep them in that they may be in subjection not in Dominion may Serve not Rule The sensitive Appetite to which the Passions belong is the Inferiour part of the Soul answerable to the Dreggs of the people in a Government of themselves indeed apt to be heady tumultuous unruly factious if not restrained by a Superiour power Now God has committed this Appetite with its Passions to the Rule and Guidance of the Rational Soul to the Government of the Judgment and Understanding It is therefore an Absolute and Necessary duty in the Soul or Mind to exercise a due austere rule and superintendency over these Subjects and by no meanes to suffer them through want of vigilancy and severity in its Administration to usurp and prevail over the Judgment and Reason and so invert the very order of Nature by suffering the whole unhappy man to be carryed to serve the brutish lusts of an Insolent and Licentious Appetite She ought not to let them swerve from their due submission and conformity least they become rebellious and bring in confusion disorder upon the whole Man No as God Almighty hath substituted the Soul of man as his Vicegerent in this Province which he hath committed to it so he expects an account of the Management of this trust and will certainly punish the soul for the male-administration of its government We are therefore under a great and strong obligation to improve and govern this Province to the glory of God We ought to Resolve and practise severity over our unruly Appetites to bring our Passions into order and obedience to refuse to gratifie their intemperate desires to keep them in awe and under discipline and so reduce the whole Province to a due constant subjection Again the sensitive Appetite is Common to us with Brutes and its inclinations lusts and affections are in a great measure the Law in them and us If men therefore set up their Passions for the Rule and Guide of their Actions if they will yeild to the craving of an importunate inordinate sensual Appetite and to serve and obey their lusts they are no way superiour to the very Beasts that Perish Now Almighty God having given to mankind a higher and a nobler Faculty it
MORAL CONSIDERATIONS TOUCHING The DUTY of CONTENTEDNESS UNDER Afflictions In a LETTER to the most Affectionate and Best of FATHERS Mr. JAMES SIMPSON By R. S. OXFORD Printed by L. Lichfield 1685. MORAL CONSIDERATIONS Touching the Duty of CONTENTEDNESS under AFFLICTIONS Dear Sir A midst all my Afflictions nothing troubles me so much as that by the disappointment of my hopes in this place I am like to continue still incapable of paying some part of the Duty I owe You in a way suitable to my Education I mean of giving you some handsome Evidence of my Improvement in my Studies A thing I have alwaies infinitely desired having perhaps the greatest obligation to you that ever any son in the world had to a Father But in the Circumstances I am now in cut off from the advantages of the Foundation I must despair of doing any great matters in the way of a Scholar All my concern is what I shall want in intellectuals to make up in Morals and tho I may not be a great Clerk yet to approve my self in the whole course of my Life and Actions as I hope I have hitherto done a dutiful Son an honest Man and a good Christian Sir In your last you were pleas'd to order me to send you some Considerations of my own pening touching Contentedness under Afflictions I have very readily obey'd your Commands and such poor indegested Collections as I could make upon this Subject in the great trouble I am under I now send you wishing they may contribute something to your Satisfaction and Comfort Tho I am sensible in handling this Argument I shall fall far short of my wishes yet I have done as under all the obligations of Duty and Gratitude I am bound what I could to please and satisfy you being still desirous tho unable in some measure to be a Comfort to you and to Contribute somthing to the Content and Happiness of your Life I have chosen rather to deserve a check for my bad performance than for my neglect and had rather you should be sorry for my weakness then my disobedience Tho I must confess I can expect nothing but Candour and Kindness from you in reference to what is here offer'd you purely in obedience to your Commands look for no worse censure from the Tenderness of a Parent then they usually have that are making their first Essaies under a Writing-master whose first Copyes tho the Letters are awkwardly made and crooked are smiled upon not blam'd rather pitied than reproved Now as I hope you will favourably look upon this ruffled undressed piece and so lay it by so I must earnestly intreat you not to shew it to any curious eye not to expose your son's imperfections to any Critical or Censorious persons for you see 't is huddled up in a short time and wants all the Beauty and Ornaments of Method and Language My retiredness and solitude which I take a great delight in has given me time and leisure for the thoughts I here set down and my late misfortune abundantly supply'd me with Subject-matter for them So that most of the Considerations I here present you with are what every assault of grief every sad reflexion upon my late disappointment here in the Colledge put me upon whereby I endeavoured to settle and compose my mind to fit my self as well for the sincerity of Chamber and Chappel-Devotion a great part whereof you know consists in hearty Thanksgiving as for the Company and Society of my Friends and Acquaintance And I pray God these may prevail more at least as much upon you as they have upon me You desired a Letter of Advice and Comfort under your present pressure and Trouble or some Considerations touching the Duty of Contentedness under Afflictions I have here I say ventur'd upon somthing in order to your satisfaction I shall not dare not yet meddle with any thing of Divinity but design only to let you see how strong and forcibly perswasive bare Morality is in this Point And that I may not arrogate to my self more than I ought nor be justly condemn'd for a Plagiary I hold my self bound here ingeniously to acknowledge that much of what is here deliver'd has been borrowed from the Elaborate Works of the more Learn'd Heathen-Moralists Latine and Greek Authours who have writ upon this Subject so that a great part of my small pains in this business has been to Collect Translate and Methodize their Morality The Ancient Moralists do usually teach and enforce the Duty of Patience and Contentedness under Afflictions 1. By shewing the necessity of subduing and regulating the Passions those great disturbers of the quiet serenity of the Soul and consequently of acquiring a constant peace and tranquility of mind and of living comfortably and contentedly under all conditions and circumstances of life For if the irregularity of Passion be the grand cause of Discontent and if which is certain the removal of the Cause be at all times the removal of the Effect too then the Inference is plain and clear That a due Government Regulation of our Passions as it takes away all struggling disturbance and discomposure of Spirit so it leaves us in a quiet possession of our own Souls in internal peace and tranquility of mind 2. They enforce this Duty by laying down the necessity of Obedience and Submission to Almighty God in all the several dispensations of his Providence as to the Creatour and Governour of the World For all the Heathen Moralists allowing the Existence of a God a Natural Principle and known to all men they concluded him to be Infinitely Wise Good and Powerful And from every one of these Attributes they deduc'd a necessity of submission to and acquiescence in his pleasure as to the disposal of all things in the world viz. In respect of his Omnipotence we ought to submit to his Will out of plain and absolute Duty and necessity In reference to his Infinite Wisdom we ought to do in point of Prudence In reference to his Infinite Goodness we ought to do it in point of Gratitude 1. 'T is the Absolute and Necessay Duty of every Rational Creature to Subdue and Regulate the Passions those great disturbers of the peace and quiet of the soul and consequently to be Patient and Content in all Conditions and Circumstances of life For 't is undeniably true that if the due Order and Government of Passion removes all trouble and tumult and disquietness of mind from a man then it leaves him in the enjoyment of all peace tranquilty and serenity imaginable i. e. gives him Patience and Content For what is Quietness and Tranquillity of mind under Crosses and Sufferings but Patience What is Peace and Serenity of Soul under the loss of Friends Estate Credit c. but Contentedness I shall therefore proceed to let you see distinctly 1. That the Irregularity of our Passions does really create allthese troubles and disquiets under Crosses and
The more weak any thing is the more apt to complain Again the more we struggle with our Yoke the more 't will hurt us That the only allay under great Sufferings is to bear them quietly and obey Necessity to submit to what we cannot remedy But without enlarging upon these Excellent peices of Morality let us go on We have no great reason for excessive Grief in the Loss of Worldly Goods if we consider that the loss of Friends and Relations comes from the common condition of our Nature and from the very notion of Morality And can we think that the very Nature of things ought to be changed to please our humors The loss of Goods Riches Wealth is for the most part by Thunder or Storms or Tempests or Fire the loss of health from the Intemperature of Air or Meteors c. And can we rationally expect that the great God of Heaven should alter the setled Laws of Nature for the convenience or profit of such Worms as we In a word the Course of the world is such that Crosses and Afflictions must of necessity come And therefore why should any man sink into despair or discontent because the world does go as it always did and follows its own natural State and Condition Many times when I have known my Friend dead I could have bedewed my Face with Tears and as passonately have wept over his sacred Urn as I ever rejoyc'd in the happiness of his Company while living But I resolved to lay aside my trouble when I had considered that it was more Kindness in me then Prudence For I might as reasonably have wept that my Friend was born no sooner as that he should live no longer Thus I cannot but interpret even that extraordinary concern SIR you have express'd upon my late disappointment in this College It signifies indeed rather a deal of tenderness and affection than allow me I beseech you the Insolence of the Expression for once of true wisdom and discretion You might with almost as much reason grieve that I was ever born into the world as that I should receive troubles and afflictions in it This world is nothing but a heap of Cares Anxieties and Miseries with which every rank of men and state of life is beset Man is born to Trouble as the sparks fly upward saith that great Example of Patience and Resignation Job So common and universal is an afflicted condition of life to poor Mortals that it seems to be as natural as that propriety in Fire to ascend Nay our very entrance into the world seems to acquaint us with the Entertainment we are like to have in it ever after Our first Minutes being attended with bitterness and pain and 't is certainly ominous to the remainder of our life that we are born Crying If then no Person howsoever Good Just Wise and Pious of what Age Sex Degree Quality and Profession soever could ever yet boast an Exemption from this Universal State and Condition of Humane life we may as justly grieve that God has given us life and made us men as that in this life we should meet with Trouble and Afflictions the common Lot of Mankind We ought therefore chearfully and contentedly to bear these light afflictions which endure but for a moment and to speak with the forementioned Heathen Author submit patiently to what we cannot remedy Give me leave now to venture upon a Word or two of Advice in order to the preventing all excess of Grief under crosses and misfortunes 1. In Reference to any cross or ill success in business or failure in any undertaking Take heed of being too solicitous about the Issue of things and of determining your self too peremptorily to particular Events 'T is indeed our business to serve Providence in the use of means But to God alone belongs the Issue of Things and that which is not within our power ought to be out of our care If therefore success of business doth not at first answer your expectation let no fumes of Melancholy possess you Use other Expedients and Addresses but do not by any means engage your Affections too passionately in it nor promise your self success so you will not be disturbed if you miscarry which you must make account will often happen to you For all things by nature in the Universe are subject to a continual change and alteration And there is no Constancy either in the favour of Fortune or minds of men so that no wise man can either wholly trust to the one or depend upon the other Expect therefore often to be disappointed and then you will not be disquieted when the frustration comes For what you do possibly look for is come to pass and what should amaze you That which hath happened now is but what you have often seen and known and what should either surprize or disquiet you 2. Endeavour by frequent Anticipation of affliction and misfortunes to habituate and fit your mind for them when they do come For these thoughts will furnish you with a suitable temper for them render them easy to you and keep your Soul in a due State of watchfulness and moderation before they come Affliction makes the deepest impression when it surprizes us and comes unexpected because it takes a man upon the sudden and before he can compose himself or rally the succours of reason and religion to support him against it It is like a suddain disease that surprizeth the body labouring under ill humours before it has dispersed and allay'd these humours by preparative helps or Catharticks And then many times more danger arises from the discomposure of the humours then from the malignity of the disease it self But if the mind be prepared for troubles and crosses by a kind of Anticipation this abates the edge keenness and sharpness of them and makes them fall light and easy upon us Now if in that various change and revolution of events which we behold in the world we do not look upon possible crosses and troubles as future we lose our selves in a dangerous security and are little better then mad-men Where therefore we see at any time the losses and imprisonments poverty and misfortunes of others we should presently reflect this tho at present it is not yet may be shortly our own case Thus the stroke of Fortune will have less force and smart which is wisely foreseen expected and provided against By this means a man in a great measure knows the worst of them before he feel them which renders them a great deal more tolerable and easy And by thus Anticipating what we have just cause to fear and putting our selves under a pre-apprehension of it we learn the Lesson of Patience and Resignation before we have occasion to use it Thus we are prepared to entertain Affliction with Courage and Christian fortitude Thus we habituate our minds to a chearful and due reception of them But as to this I desire SIR to be rightly understood I
grant were to be sought after above all other things if they brought content or peace of Soul the greatest blessing of life along with them But Moralists and Philosophers do usually teach us that Content dwells not in Courts and Palaces or Rich-mens houses but in Hermitages and amongst Shepheards and Swains Where free not only from the Turmoyle and distraction of the world but even from all Idle Vain and Ambitious thoughts and desires those general causes of discontent The poor man learns seriously to veiw the Vanities of the world in their full proportion and so to despise them Where he likewise can with chearfulness and innocent joy look upon the honesty and increase that little stock of Goods God is pleased to allow him and living in great tranquility and satisfaction of mind at present for the future with an humble submission refers himself to Providence Thus the Poor but honest Cottager that patiently endures his Wants is rich enough and by his continued serenity of mind invites Content to come and dwell with his humble Fortunes whilest the Greedy Miser that spends his time labour life and very soul in scrapeing wealth together is never satisfed never content never at rest For Experience hath made it a Proverbial truth The more a man hath the more he wanteth And here to make a little digression When my late misfortune put me upon solitude I took delight in walking alone in the Meadows and Pastures near this place to observe the simplicity sincerity and innocency I fancied in the Country Swains and Shepheards I was hugely taken with the calmness and security as likewise with the honest pains and industry of that manner of life where they meet not with any occasions or opportunities of doing ill have no alluring Temptations to sin or vanity no Cares no Troubles to disturb the peace and tranquillity of their minds And here to lay my heart naked and open before you and let you read there my inmost thoughts wishes and desires I must confess was I to dispose of my condition of life according to my own inclination I should pitch upon this before any other I should willingly chuse to be as those Swains and Shepheards of old who tuned their Oaten-Reeds at the foot of mount Ida or upon the Banks of Tiber so much celebrated by the Curious pens of Theocritus and Virgil. And here bidding farewel to the Noise Injustice Ambition and Inquietudes of the world I would give up my self to repose and solitude to the pleasant retiredness of the Fields and Woods where having less of Vanity but more of Prudence less Pride but more Virtue less Ambition but more Content I should fancy to meet with all the Remainders of the Primitive Golden-age and almost all the blessings of lost Paradice Where I might without interruption not only study the Book of Nature as delivered to us in the elaborate glosses of Aristotle Pliny c. but have leisure enough more sensibly to contemplate all the Excellencies of God which are legible and conspicuous in the Creation lose my self in admiration of those vast Moveables that adorn the highest Regions of the world look upon with wonder and amazement Natures curious and unimitable Workmanship in every Flower and Herb of the Field might discern the being of a God in every inferiour Creature and in their fitness and convenience for man's use read that propriety he has in them to be short Every where meeting with fresh Instances of the Divine Goodness liberality and bounty of his Power Majerty and Glory of his Wisedome Providence and Government which are at least ought be so many precepts to learn us to know admire and magnifie him behave our selves thankfully dutifully and obediently towards him so many instructions to teach us Resignation Contentedness Submission and Dependence upon him Every where I say discerning the Admirable Instances of Providence and a Deity I might wisely dispose and fill my mind for the reception of sublimer truths Thus happily spending my daies in Contemplation of God and his mysterious works till I came to the accomplishment and completion of Knowledge in another World where I should spend not only my time but Eternity it self in what I here imperfectly begun But to Proceed I could easily prove this Paradox That what is beyond that which is purely necessary is useless That he whose possessions are in a reasonable manner proportionable to the exigencies of his condition of life and will afford him and his a competent livelihood is really rich enough That nothing of superfluity or redoudance can be of any service or use to us because we stand in no need of it have enough without it That money and wealth which is over and above what serves for our present subsistance and the support and maintenance of our Families is indeed our Burden our Care and Trouble but is of no more use to us in our Chests than if it were in the Center of the Earth Whatsoever therefore is more than enough for our natural support and the necessary supply of our Families and is so imployed is in truth needless useless and unserviceable because the only use of externals is to supply natural necessities Unless in an Age of Universal Indevotion you would think of reviveing that Antiquated Custome of putting out your Spare-money to Charitable uses as Buildings and Endowing Churches Colleges Hospitals c. So that 't is not the use but abuse of Redundance and Superfluities that we may dayly observe in all manner of Excess either in eating or drinking in gratifying our Lusts Pride c. Now the Inference from discourses of this nature would be that the desires of men in reference to this life and its enjoyments ought not to be lavish and extravagant in gadding after redundance of Wealth and Riches but to be terminated in things of necessity for their present subsistence convenient Food and Raiment for them and theirs and that if it please God to allow us a Sufficiency and Competency for the Necessities of our Natures and the honest supply of our families we have great reason to be contented with it not only as it is a duty enjoyn'd us but upon most evident conviction of sound reason Not that any thing we say of this kind should encourage any man to be careless and remiss in his Business or Trade nor hinder him from imploying himself with honesty and diligence in that Temporal calling and station Providence hath placed him in No tho we ought not to set our hearts upon the conveniencies of this life yet we are not to reject them but to use them soberly thankfully for they are Blessings that deserve our gratitude tho they ought not entirely to take up our thoughts or desires God Almighty has allowed and indulg'd a moderate care to get these goods and use of them when got as in the competent supplies of our Natue with Necessities the Provision for our Families Relations Dependencies the diligent and