pleasure which carrieth us head-long with it 14. He that is not tyed to the World is contented with little he burthens himself only with necessaries for his journey living from day to day in expectation of that day which is to put a period to his life 15. The wise Christian longeth for nothing but after God for seeing he resigns himself absolutely to the conduct of his Providence he hath no other thoughts but what his bounty inspireth in him 16. If it be a pleasure to be rich during our life it is a grief to leave our riches at death and this is it wherein covetous men are deceived for seeing this grief can never be felt but once they never make tryal thereof but to their disadvantage 17. I know very well that all men abhor Poverty but they know not that Patience with it doth work miracles The Poor-man content is a voluntary Martyr who is offered in sacrifice as often as he breaths in the air infected with his miseries seeing he dies every moment 18. Consider that Rich men cannot be saved but by the Poor for God heapeth Riches on Those for no other end but to be charitable to These and it is an infallible sign of the reprobation of a Prodigal when he becomes covetous towards the Miserable He that refuseth compassion can never look for any 19. They that ask for Riches do not know what they desire the good of the Earth is an unavoidable Evill unless it be used aright and the good usage of it is so rare that we see few examples of the practice thereof 20 When you envy the Riches of your Neighbour you murmure against Providence which hath deprived you of them and given them to him the actions of God accompanied with their justice do at once impose upon you both silence and respect 21. Be not dazled at the splendor of Riches it is the light of a deceitful Beacon that draws you on to shipwrack Begin to make your Heaven in that condition wherein you are to the end that stream may be joyn'd one day to its scource to heap upon your true Treasures 22. The Trade of a Rich man is a base Trade because as it is very difficult in the exercise thereof to save himself so we see nothing but Apprentices in it no body passeth Master 23. Know for certain that Hell is filled only with wicked Rich men hence you may draw this advantage in making the example of their destruction serve for a lesson to shun it When God makes us witnesses of the miseries of others the same chastisement threatens us 24. It is not hard for wicked men to make themselves rich but God suffers eternall torments to be the success of their pains past they have sown in labour and they shall reap in sorrow 25. He that seeketh his Riches in God hath found the Philosophers Stone seeing he is rich according to the measure of his desires and as this Treasure is of its own nature insinite so it abouneth alwayes with Riches whether it be in Time or in Eternity CHAP. IX That our Salvation and Repose depend of the knowledg of our selves 1. COnsider that God formed our first Parents of clay to the end that the memory of his Original might be the Tomb of his Pride and the chastisement of the Angels the continual object of his fear 2. Take notice of your faults every moment correct them every hour if you would enjoy the light of your dayes at ease He is very unhappy who to the weakness of his mind adds that of contemning the remedies thereof although our Will alone can be able to cure us of it 3. They who do not know themselves are wilfully blind and are neither to be envyed nor pitied how can they beget compassion in others if they have none for themselves and how can they be envyed seeing those who have imitated them are not otherwise known than by the memory of their ruine 4. The Wiseman liveth only to know himself to the end that knowing himself he may live happily Because this Life is pleasant in nothing but in the hope to exchange it for a better therefore he studieth his miseries for to contemn the World that produceth them 5. Let your own unworthiness be your object because you are truly nothing at all to run alwayes towards our grave without being able to stay but to enter therein is not this to die rather then to live yet think at least when you are running that every step may be the last of your journey and that in going out of the Empire of Time you enter into that of Eternity 6. Study your misfortunes that you may be happy study your miseries that you may be exempted from them so that as the study will make you know the nature of your condition you will without doubt mitigate the bondage by the necessity which you will impose upon your self to suffer it without repining 7. I do not much wonder that the Prophet preacheth no other thing to us but the knowledge of our self seeing this study alone can render us learned Learn to live learn to die these are the lessons which are taught in Wisedoms School 8. All the faults of our life proceed only from the ignorance of our miseries for it is impossible to know them and go astray from our duty we live in appearance and we die indeed we are under the Empire of Time because every moment we change countenance with it we do sensibly breath under the Tyranny of Fortune what cause have we then to be proud 9. Examine your self often how you employ your time that you may give account thereof to your self before it be asked of you to the end you may benefit your self in the time to come by the memory of what is past in being a good husband of the time present 10. Every man that is ignorant of himself cannot go far without stumbling in his blindness and it is to no purpose for him to be led for if he fall not to day he will surely fall to morrow since that his Fall is unavoidable 11. Attribute nothing to Chance nor Fortune and receive all from Providence without making a distinction of the Presents thereof Because Good and Evil come from the hand of Providence they ought to be alike acceptable to you A humble spirit never murmureth 12. If the whole Knowledge of Wisedom be comprised in this one precept To know our selves you cannot be wise but according to the measure of this Knowledge Frequent Schools turn over Books follow the Learned yet you must study your self if you would become such 13. What doth it availe you to know all the Maximes of Law unless you practise them in doing your self Justice first Is not this a foolish Argument when you are upon your way never to think of the journey you are making because you are not to turn back 14. It is hard to believe that a man finding himself taken with an
be ended seeing the grief thereof is continual and the reward imaginary 19. Do not lull your self asleep in the success of your wicked designes the justice of God is so much the more rigorous as it appeareth slow and if you do not prevent it by correcting your self first you shall never be able to shun it 20. Learn to admire the mercy of God that giveth your heart leave every moment to justify it self before him seeing the least of the sighs thereof can expiate the crimes of it 21. Establish unto your self a way of living wherein Honour may be your object and Reason your guide and be not slack in your duty this is the only means to find repose in the troubles of the World and to enjoy a calme amidst the storm whereby we are continually agitated 22. Every body loveth life and yet no body learns to live all the world dyeth and yet there is none that knoweth rightly how to dy This Science ought to be the only study of the Wiseman seeing it alone can sufficiently instruct us in the Art of working out our own Salvation 23. A Soul deprived of Grace is alwayes in Alarum being continually disturbed with the horrour of the crimes it hath committed and it may be said truly of it that it is a blind thing walking along the brink of a precipice 24. Imagine the disquiet of a sick-man in the heat of a continual Feaver He hath no rest night nor day feeling himself by little and little consumed by a secret fire which burneth him without being perceived devoureth him without being known and at last reduceth him to ashes without giving the least moment of intermission to his painful burnings 25. This poor afflicted man is the true picture of a guilty Soul which seeing it self buried in a body tormented with a continual agony feels it self already burning in apprehension in those Eternal Fires which are destined for the punishment thereof No wonder if his disquiet be great seeing every moment may be the last of his life and the first of the just vengeance of an angry God CHAP. III. That we ought to draw our consolation against the miseries which befall us from the consideration of the Original whence they are derived 1. COmplain not of the Crosses which are inflicted by the Divine Majesty they are presents sent from Heaven your patience will shortly make you know the value of them 2. Complaints are unseemly in the mouth of a Malefactor if you can do no other thing but provoke God do not augment the number of your offences in murmuring against his justice 3. You must know that God doth commonly afflict his Elect in strowing under their feet those Roses wherewith his head was crowned therefore seeing he hath been a sharer in them his Elect can have no part in his glory but by right of that succession 4. What cause have you to complain of the justice of God seeing his very rigours are the effects of his compassion he punisheth you in this World to the end that he may shew mercy to you in the next in his vengeance he constraineth you to admire his Bounty 5. In all your afflictions let Reason prevent Time in comforting you and be indebted to none but your self for the healing of your pain seeing you may find the remedy in your submissive Spirit 6. He that complains of the evill that he suffers must needs have forgotten the evil he hath done if he doth remember it his complaint passeth for a new crime greater then any that went before 7. As often as Heaven punisheth you do reason to justice in suffering without murmuring the chast sement which it inflicteth upon you silence and Submission do alwayes appease the wrath of God 8. There is no greater misery then to complain of those miseries that happen unto you because in murmuring against Justice which punisheth you you constrain it to augment the force thereof and to fall more heavily upon you by reason of this last crime which you commit 9. A heart filled with God doth never sigh but for joy amidst the greatest afflictions so that seeing he loveth much more then he suffereth the excess of his love doth so vehemently moderate that of his pain that by little and little he loseth the feeling thereof 10 Consider that you are the cause of your own afflictions to the end that punishing your self by the sorrow which you ought to have for them this sorrow may be your first comfort 11. How unhappy are the favorites of Fortune to follow the blind in their blindness suppose she should lead them a pleasant way yet that is no other then the way to their grave where they shall find the thorns of all those Roses which they have trampled upon 12. In all your calamities look up to the hand that smites you before you complain of the stroke it hath given you God doth never punish us in Time but to make us afraid of his vengeance in Eternity 13. The Time of afflictions is of short continuance in respect of that Eternity of glory which is to succeed it the evill of our sufferings soon passeth away but the good of our constancy ought never to have an end 14. Generous spirits have alwayes carried a respect and reverence toward the unfortunate knowing that they are sick persons who should at least be comforted if they cannot be cured 15. Never refuse comfort to an afflicted person to the end that God may repay it you when you stand in need of it As all the evils are punished in this world so is all the good recompensed 16. Flee not from the unfortunate seeing that to morrow you may be of their number but render to them what you would expect from others if you were in their condition The afflicted have no enemies seeing their misery maketh truce with all those who have proclaimed war against them 17. If it be true that the Object hath influence upon the Power or Faculty there is no afflicted person which may not receive abundance of consolation in the apprehension of a crucified Saviour never was any frustrated that came to him in sincerity 18. Be not weary in suffering as the Rose fadeth the prickles thereof become blunt it is not a small comfort to you in your crosses that you can reckon the houres thereof Those evils that must needs take an end are never of long continuance 19. O how happy a thing it is to grow old in affliction He that dyeth upon the Cross carrieth his death so far into the second Life which he hopeth for that he feeleth himself reviving according to the measure that he feeleth himself dying 20. The livery of the unfortunate is the livery of the Predestinate and it may be truly said that their silent constancy is continually working at those Crowns which are appointed to be the reward of their labours 21. They that rejoyce at the miseries of others prepare their own punishment after they have
and walking openly in the sight of the whole World make it the witness of your life although it be the judge thereof the approbation of the World is necessary here below for the establishment of your repose 12. Do not desire to appear an Honest man unless you be truly such your hypocrisy will stain your reputation with a new blemish which can never be blotted out you may endeavour to hide it but in vaine for He who inlighters the darkest corners of your heart will manifest the wickedness thereof by a publick vengeance 13. The wise Christian hath no other Looking glass then that of his Conscience seeing it is such a one as cannot flatter it represents him such as he ought to be who should next to his own satisfaction labour to please all men 14. Let your behaviour be adorned with such Integrity as may purchase credit to your words and esteem to your actions to the end that prepossessing the minds of men to your own advantage you may find friends in all places and admirers at all times 15. Consider that every one is Master of his own Honour and Salvation seeing the one and the other do depend of us and because uprightness is the foundation of both we may enjoy with it the repose which it gives us in expectation of that which it maketh us hope for 16. You may well project a thousand designes and execute them too and that happily by your ordinary tricks and subtilties but I declare unto you in Gods name that his just Providence shall cause your misery to rise out of their success and shall draw your disquiet from that very repose whereof as you believed you had laid the solid grounds 17. He that deceiveth others first deceiveth himself and it is bad policy to establish a commerce whereof our ruin is the object and our damnation the end 18. The deceitful man is quickly known and immediately cryed down and this discredit breeding contempt and contempt hatred he doth but breath in an Aire infected with reproaches cast justly upon him 19. The Vertuous man makes himself known and beloved both at once and without any other charm then that of Vertue he subdueth to himself all hearts that are worthy of his Conquest 20. Let Honour regulate your interest to the end that your only interest may be to preserve your Honour and believe it to live without reproach is the only paradise here below 21. Be not proud of those advantages Nature hath bestowed on you they are goods whereof in passing by you have but the use Vertue alone is a glorious succession which taketh its aime beyond Time 22. Carry your heart upon your lips that from the Concord of your words and actions you may draw a Harmony which may charme all the World There is nothing sweeter to a man than to survive himself in making the memory of his life past to be honorable before his death 23. Be alwayes jealous of your Honour and carefull of your Salvation and seeing the Honour of the World is nothing but a Chimaera seek for your Reputation in Vertue because Vertue alone can make your Reputation Eternal CHAP. VI. That in what condition soever we be we ought therein to seek for our Repose and Salvation 1. EVery man is the Work-man of of his own Repose in this World and Christian Morals being the study of all Wisemen make them at last so expert in learning to obey the laws that Providence imposeth upon them that they pass their life without disquiet and wait for death without fear 2. When you are tyed in that condition which hath been the object of your choice let your dutie be the only Compass that regulates your actions to the end that you may live without reproach and die without sorrow 3. Consider not the morall vertues which you practice upon the account of acquiring the esteem of the World it is a deceitful Fame which will perish with you you must live like a Christian if you desire to die like a Christian 4. Labour to settle your self in that Condition whereunto you are called according to the rules of Conscience as well as those of Honour and do not confound the one with the other the Glory of God and the Honour of the World have their Objects quite different 5. Consider that every man carrieth his Heaven or his Hell about with him according to the good or bad imploying of his life and seeing Life hath no returning you do continually work either your own Salvation or Destruction 6. Why do you disquiet your self in that bondage to which you are reduced seeing the chains thereof cannot be broken your disquiet makes new bonds to enthral you the more because it augments the grief without shortning the terme thereof 7. If God hath called you to a solitary life make it your Heaven lest it be your first Hell there is no chain so harsh which Time and Necessity will not sweeten as well as Reason or Death 8. He is very happy in his misfortune that doth support it patiently Constancy is continually at work in making the Crown of our sufferings and the Science of suffering without repining is one of the greatest perfections of a Christian life 9. He that consults with submission the Oracle of Heaven before he make choice of his condition on earth a never in disquiet although he find himself engaged because since that Providence hath made the bonds of it it makes the bondage thereof so pleasant that he hath greater occasion of thankfulness then of complaint 10. When a man is inlightned only with the light of humane Prudence he cannot go far without stumbling he must make use of another Lantern the light whereof is never extinguished and he must alwayes look up to Heaven to the end that he may not go astray here on Earth 11. Think not to find the Repose of your condition in the success of your affairs that is too weak a foundation to build upon for seeing that they change countenance every houre they can make you unhappy every moment 12. It is not enough to be at ease in your condition this Ease is ill grounded unless your Conscience give it you and he that is acquainted with the imploying of your time is as skilfull as your self in knowing the happiness and miseries of your life 13. There are few that will say they are happy although they have cause to be so because being over-swayed by their ambition which is alwayes unsatiable they must needs be always disquieted 14. They may call themselves truly happy who desires no other fortune but what God is pleased to send them And being disposed to receive Good and Evill with an equal cheerfulness considering the hand whence they are sent Time that changeth always never changeth to them 15. In what condition soever you be consider that from all Eternity God hath designed out that place for you and if you doe not discharge it instead of possessing
and to give an account of that Life whereof they have contemned the reputation 18. If your Name be not known by your Condition make it known by your Exemplary Life Vertue is a Balm whereof the sweet Odor is spread every where 19. We have no cause to call Nature Step-mother what inequality soever we finde betwixt the Noblemen and the Peasants since that by Birth and Death we have the same destiny And if there appear a great difference in their Life yet know that the different ways which they keep do meet at the Grave 20. If you draw Vanity from the outward qualities of the Body Time will make you know your Folly every day because it destroyeth the ground thereof every moment In ruining the subject that causeth it CHAP. XI That we ought to be dis-engaged from all things to the end That we may live without disquiet and die without sorrow 1. CAll not your self the Owner of the Goods you possess every moment reneweth unto you the favor of the use of them We have nothing that is our own but miseries and unhappiness 2. If your heart be fastned on any Object consider the perishing nature of it and seeing you cannot love it but as a transitory thing justifie your love by the necessity of its ruine 3. When we love any thing passionately we expose our selves anew to the view of Fortune which can wound us in as many parts as we are divided 4. The Covetous man whose heart is in his Treasures feels it pluckt out as often as they are diminished without considering that as streams return to their source so this Piece of Earth wherewith he is intrusted must be re-joyned to its whole 5. The Ambitious man who renders himself Imaginary Possessor of all the goods he wisheth believeth that he is robbed of them when he is prevented in acquiring them This lets us see that as we live in our Passions so we feel our selves dying with the causes of their Birth 6. All that you would love love it in God to the end that your Love may produce your Repose rather than your Trouble All the Affections which we contract in this World do nothing else but breed and die seeing every moment may be the first and last of their continuance 7. What an ingenious thing it is for a man to torment himself in being willing to die for every object he loveth Is it not enough to give up his heart to one love that is allowable and lawful without dividing it amongst a thousand other Passions to resent as many different torments 8. The Chains wherewith we are tyed here below are easie to be made and hard to be broken And if death alone restore us to liberty yet we lose it in recovering it seeing that commonly we carry the guilty remembrance of our pleasant Bondage to the Grave with us 9. A mans love towards himself is to be excused when his Salvation is the object thereof he is permitted to love himself in a lawful way yea with excess too using extraordinary endeavors to testifie the violence of that Love by the contempt of all other 10. Happy is that man who is altogether his own that he may give himself wholly to God Unhappy is he that after he hath given his heart to the World seeth himself constrained to leave it with the World not having so much power as to take it back 11. The Wisemans Love is never blinde because Reason which is nothing else but Light produceth it Whence it comes to pass that he loveth with pleasure drawing his delights from the Object of his Affections which are as harmless as himself 12. Every Body loveth Liberty yet every Body is engaged They that have no Master become Slaves to their own Passions and in this shameful Bondage they render themselves unworthy of compassion because they have no compassion on themselves 13. Seeing that Christian Perfection consists in the contempt of all things and in the dis-engagement from our Selves we must be our own to the end that we may give our selves Unless our hearts be emptied they shall never be filled with God 14. Every man goeth about his own business and we do always forget the most important which is that of our Salvation All others are unprofitable at the end of our days work seeing an account will not be required of them no not so much as of their success 15. I know very well that all our desires do divide our heart and it is so possessed with a continual longing after their object that it liveth out of its self for anothers sake But though it be divided during life it must needs be united in it self at last to die all alone for its self onely 16. Do not wait till Age draw you from the World but preventing Necessity by Reason triumph over your self before Time become your Conqueror 17. Consider that your Habits and Customs are as so many Bonds which strengthen themselves continually and seeing Nature doth much contribute thereunto all endeavors at last are too weak to break them without the help of Grace 18. O what a contentment it is to a man to be free to die and to be wholly his own at the hour of death The Objects of our Passions are as so many Chains which fasten us to the World when we are upon the point of departing from it We must bid them adieu betimes that we may make our retreat without sorrow 19. It is very hard for us to hinder our selves from being surprised by Time in those Affections that we contract here below because as the hour of our departure is uncertain and the hope that dieth after us deceiveth us too so we do not commonly forsee our mishap but when it is unavoidable 20. Dis-engage your self from your Children and after you have put them under the Protection of Providence it is enough to shew them the way wherein they should walk to work out their own salvation by going before them your self 21. Be not tied with your Dignities these are the Liveries of Fortune which she giveth and taketh away at her pleasure Content your self in that you deserve them seeing you must give an account of the use of them 22. Let not your heart finde any place in your Palaces to lodge its Affections there least the Chains thereof be too strong Do not establish your dwelling there all the steps of your walks are numbred and in going under the covert of the shady Allies in your Gardens you draw nearer your Grave 23. Every Man loveth his Repose and no body takes pains to acquire it It is not enough to be rich in this World and to taste of a thousand pleasures therein because these riches remain in the World and the pleasures pass away leaving us nothing but a troublesome remembrance and an unprofitable sorrow 24. It is not enough to live at Liberty we must die so and what tye soever we have here below the failing of