Ethice Christiana OR THE School of Wisdom Wherein the GROUNDS of MORAL PHILOSOPHY Are Demonstrated to comply with the Principles of Christian Religion By a mixt Exercise of GRACE and VERTUE Written Originally in French by the Exquâ—â—â—â—e â—en M. DE LA SERRE And done into English by J. A. LONDON Printed by D. M. for Henry Marsh at the sign of the Princes Armes in Chancery Lane 1664. TO THE Right Noble and Excellent PRINCE JAMES Duke of MONMOVTH c. AND His most Illustrious Consort ANNE c. May it please your Highness THE Deity which attended your Cradle being most affectionately fond of your Glory and Happiness doth yet officiously pursue the care of your Illustrious Person and the Conduct of your Affairs Often hath she appeared to your Highness in broken reflexes and imperfect sight vayled and weakned by your Infant years but now she represents her self to you in her most August and Divine Form and Image and gives you her Hand inviting your Adult Age to the due exercise of your Heroical vertues And O Dea Certe I cannot doubt therefore but your Highness will readily own these Features of such an excellent and indulgent Tutress which she hath commanded to be drawn to publick view and inscribed to your Name as wherein she hath placed the resembling veneration of her great self These sentences the first fruits of a foraign growth I doe most humbly offer to your Highness as an earnest of the full Increase which the universal world shall certainly pay to your arrived and Compleated Felicity the Progress and perfection whereof is and shall ever be my most assiduous and earnest prayer And Madam having had the good Fortune to be a Servant in that Honorable Family where your Highness had your first Education My Inclinations being more particularly devoted to your Highness service I have presumed also to dedicate this Translation of Christian Moralls to your most Noble Duke and most Vertuous self before whose happy time the world is pregnant in their desires and expectations of some eminent effects of whatsoever can be taught in the School of Honor and Wisdom I hope your Highness will be pleased to accept of this small Endeavour of mine as a Testimony of the Dutiful Respects that are born you By Your Graces most humbly Devoted Servant in all Obedience James Alardis TO The Noble READER FOr to such only did the Author direct his Original and such cheifly will find themselves concerned in it There is nothing mean in the whole Discourse for it is above that Region There are some Exercises appropriate only to great spirits and vindicated to be so by their sole competence thereunto yet if any man dare try his ability we are not so nice or curious of his adventure Only thus much the world may be now informed that it hath passed Ten Impressions in France lodged altogether in Gentlemens hands and might have sooner spoke English but that it scorned our late Democracy as a most profane brute and indocible Herd There are many things which we have vainly and ridiculously learned from the French Nations but we justly own them nothing but this Treatise for the fashion of wisdome is altogether immutable and invariable and upon that score leaves us eternally obliged We promise much but whether we now injure the Renowned Author or the Equal Reader let the perusal determine IMPRIMATUR Ex Aed Lamb. Dec. 14. 1663. Geo. Stradling S. T. P. Rev. in Christo Patr. D. Gilb. Archi. Cant. à Sac. Domest TO THE READER EXpect not in these leaves to finde The trifles of an airy minde No froliques of a jovial Pen No Words for children here but men Not Wit but Wisdome that best thing Prefer'd by Israel's mighty King Wisdome that double-guild's a Crowne And make 's a man's best part his owne He that observe's these rules ha's found That solid Rule that certain ground That constant and unerring Guide Shall hold him up what ' ere betide For though the world's tempestuous sea Should roare and very angry bee Mount up it's foaming waves on high And with it's waters dare the sky Though ev'ry gust destruction breath And every billow threaten death Where Wisdom shall the wary Pilot be Thou canst not shipwrack in the deepest Sea T. F. THE TABLE CHAP. I. THat we ought to have God for the Object of all our Actions Page 1. CHAP. II. That in this Life we can find no true case but in peace of Conscience Page 9. CHAP. III. That we ought to draw our consolation against the miscries which be fall us from the consideration of the Original whence they are derived Page 16. CHAP. IV. That true glory doth only consist in living vertnously Page 26. CHAP. V. That Integrity and upright dealing only maketh a vertuous man Page 33. CHAP. VI. That in what condition soever we be we ought therein to seek for our Repose and Salvation Page 49. CHAP. VII That he that knoweth how to live well is the most learned man in the World Page 48. CHAP. VIII That Moderation in Riches is more to be desired then Excess because it is more profitable Page 56. CHAP. IX That our Salvation and Repose depend of the knowledg of our selves Page 63. CHAP. X. That we ought to derive our Nobility from our selves as well as from our Ancestors Page 70. 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 Page 76. CHAP XII That the Good we do in this World is of greater value than the Goods we possess in it Page 83. CHAP. XIII If we we would léave the World chearfully we must dis-engage our selves from it ere we leave it Page 89. CHAP. XIV That the World is a Theatre where every man acteth his Part in Time for an Eternity Page 95. CHAP. XV. That the Wise man waiteth for Death without either wishing or fearing it Page 101. Books sold by Henry Marsh at the Princes Arms in Chancery-Lane 1. A Compendious Chronicle of Portugal from Alfonso the first King to Alfonso the sixth now Reigning together with a Cosmographical Description of the Dominions of Portugal by J. D. Gent. 8. 2. The useful Book for Gentlemen and Travellers being an exact Description of the several Countries and Shires of England by Edw. Leigh Esq 8. 3. Blood for Blood or Murther revenged in 35 Tragical Histories some whereof have been the sad Product of our Times 8. 4. Royal History compleated in the Life of his Sacred Majesty Charles II. James Duke of York and Henry Duke of Gloucester with their Restauration happily concluded by his Grace the Duke of Albemarle Fol. 5. Rumps Looking-Glass or a Collection of such Pieces of Drollery as were prepared by several Witts to purge the Rump 4. 6. The Faithful Lapidary being a History of all pretious Stones very useful for Gentlemen Merchants and others 40. 7. A short view of the Life and Actions of the Illustrious
us to remove both Heaven and Earth in quest of our repose if both of them faile us in the end so that we be not able to find it and if the Earth remain to us it serveth for a tomb to our hopes aswell as to our selves 18. We must of necessity work in the Lords Vineyard if at the end of the day we would receive our wages all other employments are unprofitable as well as our sorrow for the mispending of time seeing the want thereof renders us incapable to repaire our losses 19 Whatsoever Actions you do here below all the recompense that the World can give you for them cannot enrich you and if you do not take your aime beyond Time all the houres thereof are fatall to you seeing every moment may sound your retreat but such a retreat as hath no returne 20. Undervalue all things here below seeing all that you set your eye upon changeth countenance with you and let your apprehension be continually filled with this truth that only the good which we do in this life is the sole consolation which remains unto us at our death 21. Know then that Good hath this property it replenisheth with joy the heart of him who exerciseth himself in the practice thereof and although a man should never expect any other reward yet the good it self is alwaies our Glory our Happiness and our Prize 22. Our Actions are only rendered considerable by their Object and End and although the event of them be happy yet if their Object be not just and lawful both shame and loss are inseparable companions to their success 23. It is not enough not to do evill we do it alwayes when we cease from doing of good We must diligently worke out our own salvation without the intermission of one moment for that one moment may prove most fatal to us 24. Consider that in this World every man liveth as he pleaseth and although the manner of living and dying be quite different all must undergo the same judgement for an Eternity 25. If you desire to establish your repose firmly lay the foundation thereof upon your Salvation which ought to be the only scope of all your actions else they are to no purpose Suppose you were eminent in Honour and Riches this is as much as to enjoy a temperate Aire in the Country wherein you are but seeing you are alwayes upon your journey the change of the Climate will breed an alteration in the countenance of your Fortune and in the end you shall be only happy in remembring that you have been so 26. Consider that the vertuous actions of our life are as so many pictures of our good fortunes whereof the object being alwaies present renders us still happy So that the honest and vertuous man hath this advantage that he surviveth himself before his death seeing he enjoyeth the felicity of his life past by the pleasant remembrance thereof which abideth with him CHAP. II. That in this Life we can find no true ease but in peace of Conscience 1. YOu may well looke for Ease here below but you must give it to your self before you can find it it must be a piece of work of your own making seeing you cannot obtain it but only by the force of your own Industry 2. Suppose that Messengers bring you glad news every day and that your affairs are regulated by your wishes yet you cannot deny but that the remorse of Conscience hindereth your mind from enjoying that rest which it desireth 3. Consider that all sins carry their torment along with them and that God punisheth them in the Thought aswell as in the Will and that with a continual punishment seeing the remembrance of them is both the Torment and Executioner 4. The Sinner never taketh his Pastime with delight because the justice of God pursueth him alwayes to punish him without intermission and mingleth so many thorns among his Roses that the sighs of his heart do often belie the cheerfulness of his countenance 5. Imagine the greatness of the disturbance of a Malefactor fain would he flee from his punishment but the thoughts of his crimes do torment him incessantly so it is with the Sinner as God is every where so the Sinner feeleth his justice in every place which keepeth his soul upon the rack by the remembrance of his sin 6. Think not to find any delight yea in your very pleasures having your soul contaminated with the staines of your crimes God is pleased to change the nature of your contentments and to turne the subject of your consolation into that of your torment 7. Let the wicked man withhold no delightful thing from his Senses and let Voluptuousness be their nursing-mother her breasts are alwayes filled with bitterness to seed them seeing that by chastisements from above they find an unsavoury taste in the most delicious dishes 8. Trust not to the testimony of wicked men for God layeth his hand upon them to such an extremity as to make them insensible of his correction and as this stupidity is a marke of their reprobation so it witnesseth before hand the Eternity of the torments to which they are destined 9. Innocency carrieth alwayes Heaven with it and it is never found in any soul without communicating unto it the sweetness of that Repose which doth properly belong unto it it being the effect and Innocency the cause 10. Hell also followeth Sin unseparably so that Sin causeth its own torments in bringing them forth by reason of the necessity of justice which doth alwayes punish it 11. Know for a truth that the repose of the Conscience bringeth forth peace to the Soul and as both these together make up a Heaven upon Earth so there is no other Hell but that which consists in the privation of them 12. As often as you make a divorce from your Conscience you proclaime warr against your self and it is a warr wherein no Truce is to be looked for seeing justice gives none 13. Study to employ well the precious moments of your dayes if you would not die a Death which will admit no return to life again unless it be to make you the eternal object of the wrath of an angry God 14. O how unhappy is he at the hour of Death who hath mispent the time of his Life because as his sorrow for this fault is in vain so he feeleth himself instantly strucken with an evill both sudden and incurable 16. That God hath a love towards his creatures doth manifestly appear by the trouble they are in when he withdraweth his presence from them for they can find no rest but in him alone 17. There is no pleasure that can satisfy our mind or fill our heart because it is the property of our Envy to be irregular and from the satiety thereof there ariseth alwayes a new appetite 18. All that you do without consulting the Oracle of Heaven passeth for an improfitable labour whereof the pain abideth although the work
the heart is that of the Soul because the will of this followeth the thoughts of the other 25. If you be addicted to the World quit this bad Master betimes and restore you to your self that you may offer your self totally to God All streams return to their Fountain all Beams are joyned to the Body of their Light You must render your Soul to its Creator in the Innocency of Baptism and in the Freedom of your Cradle CHAP. XII That the Good we do in this World is of greater value than the Goods we possess in it 1. THink not that you are Rich according to the worth of the Goods you possess but rather according to the measure of the Good which you do Your Treasures remain with your Heirs but your Works follow you Those are Strangers to your Soul but these do properly belong to it 2. The Inventory of your Goods serve onely for a memory of the Accompt you have to make both of the Purchase and the Usage of them So that when you die you shall know that you have taken pains onely for others seeing they are to reap the fruit of your labors and also of the torments appointed for you 3. He is truly miserable who hath his Coffers filled with Money and his Soul stained with the guilt of the purchase thereof Suppose your Riches did level the path of your life to render it more pleasant and you cease not to go on in your journey but when you are at the end of your course you shall be afraid of him whom you shall finde there after you have forgotten him to whom you should rather have betaken your self 4. Every body taketh pains for this Life as though it were immortal and no body thinks on Death which we carry in our bosome Whence it comes to pass that after we have spent our time in gathering of Riches a stranger enjoyeth them for our first punishment and Hell waiteth for us for our final torment 5. To what purpose do you put out your Money to Usury to assure your self of this Life seeing that by Grace you wait continually for the Life to come to prolong it The Fire of Covetousness devoureth you in the behalf of a Life which is nothing but the smoak thereof since that like smoak it is dissipated by the blast of our sighs 6. You keep an exact account of your Revenues and Disbursements without considering that you have nothing which is to be valued but the time you have to live and because that is uncertain and Death infallible you must make good the use and possession of a Good which you forsake for ever 7. What pleasure can you take in walking abroad upon your Territories if at every step you walk upon your Grave You take all your Walks in a Circle whereof your Grave is the Centre 8. You enjoy indeed a great satisfaction in having many Houses of Pleasure there to pass the different seasons of the year but the year passeth and your pleasures too and from season to season your last approacheth wherein you must give an account of the Fruits which all these seasons have yielded you 9. It is a sad pleasure for a man to contemplate himself in his greatness as in a Looking-Glass because though this Looking-Glass did flatter us yet it cannot represent us but in a continual motion seeing our life hath no stay and what delight can we have in a way how pleasant soever it be if it end at the Grave 10. How astonished may a Man be at the reading of his Testament when he heareth the Inventory of the Goods he hath purchased but hath no body to represent to him the Good he hath done Yet he forsaketh Those eternally and to all Eternity he can pretend to nothing but the fruits of These Judge of his astonishment by this thought 11. Do not reckon Greatness and Riches in the number of the Felicities of this Life they are either the Goods of Nature or Fortune whereof the use is much more dangerous than the possession seems pleasant He is Great before God who is willingly Small before Men. 12. Consider that the Goods which the World yieldeth are false but the Miserie 's true And if when you die you be rich onely in pieces of Land that Earth will remain to you both for your Grave and for your share 13. You cannot enrich your Soul but with Eternal Goods seeing those that are perishing are not for its use You cannot heap up Treasures in your Soul unless Heaven be the Fountain of them 14. It is a great ease to our Minde that we have onely purchased Goods to do Good withal and that we can be able to distribute that before we die which we would give after death For by making it pass through strange hands we run the hazard of diminishing our Charity although we enjoy the advantage thereof 15. Although we should not keep an Accompt of the good Deeds which we do yet it is lawful to preserve the remembrance of them so that the Memory being filled with a habit so commendable this Object always present powerfully moveth the Will whereon depends our future concernment 16. He that doth much Good gathereth much Goods A good life filleth the House with Riches in filling it with gladness A voluntary or patient Poverty may enrich us with Real Treasures 17. Be not disquieted for the meanness of your Estate what is Necessary is sufficient to the Wiseman Abundance never produceth Repose but Mediocrity is able to give it 18. He is free indeed who willeth always that which God willeth But since that we are blinde in our Liberty not knowing to what we shall direct our determinations we preserve our Freedom in putting it into the hands of him who gave it us to make a good use thereof seeing He is the Object and the End of that Usage 19. Covet no more riches than God bestows on you or what comes of the sweat of your Labors And though your Children have no more know that the Seed thereof is so fruitful that it increaseth continually and is never diminished 20. If you knew how great a pleasure it were to do good you would contract so powerful habits of it that it were impossible to break them But if you be so unhappy as to doubt of it let this disadvantage yield you some profit because experience may make you happy CHAP. XIII If we would leave the World chearfully we must dis-engage our selves from it ere we leave it 1. STudy to know the World that you may learn to contemn it seeing the contempt thereof proceeds from the knowledge we have of it No man ever knew it and loved it and they that tie themselves to follow it are wilfully blind who settle their chief happiness here below 2. If Examples are able to instruct you you have no more to do but to cast your eyes on every side to look on the miserable People the World hath made and is
us 8. Because at death vows are to no purpose we ought to make and accomplish them during Life the occasion of well-doing is not alwayes prefent Though the seasons be ordered as well as the Days and Nights yet it is not so with Life because the moments thereof succeed one to another without having so much as one assured 9. The meer necessity of dying doth perswade Wisemen to work out their own Salvation while it is day without standing in need of any other Clock to mark the hours of their work 10. Wise men do never sorrow for their Life past because they live only to die And though the time to come be not theirs yet they dispose of it before hand to their own advantage in the resolution they are alwayes to imploy it well 11. Life hath nothing that is its own but death all the Goods which it injoyeth are imaginary because they subsist only in the Fancy And seeing that subsistence depends of Time and Fortune if This take away from us the use of it That can limit the continuance thereof 12. He is happy upon the account of Justice who seeth himself die in doing of his duty the Race of this Life how painful soever it be becometh pleasant when we run it happily 13. To live but for one day is to live a whole Age provided we spend that day to good purpose A thousand years of Life are reckoned only by the last moment which doth finish it because that alone must Crown all the former 14. There is nothing so dreadful at Death as the remembrance of a long Life because as we must give an account of all our days past seeing they are present with God either to justify or condemn them so the doubt of our happiness or misery keeps our Souls on the Rack 15. We cannot go but once from Time to Eternity it is a journey that hath no returning and seeing that all Wise men prepare themselves to make it as soon as they are capable of reason he must needs be quite deprived of reason who is surprised at the hour of retreat 16. As the Pilgrim doth accomplish his vow when he puts himself on the way to make his Pilgrimage so we begin to go about our Mission as soon as we are born in the Path which we hold it is enough that Reason be our Lantern and Duty our Guide to keep us from going astray without measuring the paces of our Race 17. Although we do but pass away here below yet every man may work out his own Salvation here in passing All consists in the imploying well the Time allowed us without being solicitous for more or less a good life is alwayes long though it should last but for one moment 18. Endeavour every day to dosome good work to the end you may injoy what is past as you do what is present The Wise man never searcheth in vain for his Repose is in his Memory 19. Seeing that the Way which we are to hold in our Life is marked out let us go on cheerfully and consider that the more painful it be it is the safer provided that Patience be our Guide 20. Know that Death is the reward of the just and the punishment of the Wicked because Those when they die may lawfully hope for the Crown of their labours but These for the chastisement of their crime CHAP. XV. That the Wise man waiteth for Death without either wishing or fearing it 1. HE that wisheth for Death hath cause to fear it because the guilt of his desire prepareth his punishment as we are born here below by a secret Order of Providence so this alone can sound our retreat and of all the miseries which can befall us Desperation is the greatest 2. We should never fear the Evils which we cannot avoid because Fear is a new Evill far more painfull than that which we are to incurre and if in these encounters Nature overcome Reason we ought to implore the help of Grace because it triumpheth alwayes 3. Death frights none but the Wicked not but that the Godly do fear it but their Hope being stronger than their Fear the one is diminished by the growth of the other 4. Wise Christians do never dispute with Providence they undergo the laws thereof without repining and how rigorous soever they be seeing there is more glory in suffering than in complaining they beg for Constancy in their distresses rather than for Comfort 5. They that have a love to Life know not what they love For if it be a Good the imaginary propriety and uncertain usage thereof make us sensibly know the contempt we ought to have of it 6. A good Life is always long how short soever it be and seeing the greatest Heroes reckon their years by their Heroick acts the wise Christian ought to keep an account of his age by the Good he doth 7. Although we be born here below unwitting to us we have liberty to live here as we please but seeing that we must give an account of our Life we ought to be good husbands of Time for it conducts us to Eternity 8. Life may be justly compared to a Dream because we live in a continual dotage taking the false Good for the reall and the way of Vice for the path of Vertue 9. Know that the preparation to Death doth mitigate the fear thereof as the continuall thoughts of it taketh away the horrour and as Experience cannot chuse but be profitable to you so the profit you shall receive by it will far surpass the pains you shall take for it 10. If you would forsake Life without sorrow enjoy it without being tyed to it we should never think but of finishing our journey so much the rather because we cannot stay by the way 11. This Interval of dayes and nights whereof our Life is composed lets us see by the Image of Sleep that it is so confounded with Death that it is but one and the same thing 12. Nature causeth us to be born like unto Posts in this World where every man carrieth the sealed Letter of his Destiny directing to Death and seeing Time leadeth us thither if we do not go it will pull us This obligeth us to follow our Fate with that submission which becometh a creature 13. Seeing we do not live but to die and that we do not die but to live again let us drive the Trade of the Vertuous man because he alone can find at the end of his Course that Eternity which he waits for 14. He that liveth only to live doth deprive himself of Hope which is the sole Good of Life What would become of us in the miseries wherein we are if we did not pretend to Eternal happiness seeing our Souls can never die 15. Life is not otherwise considerable than by the good use we make of it though you should live a whole Age abounding with Riches and Happiness if the last moment do not justify all the former you may be reckoned in the number of the most miserable men in the World 16. Every body wisheth to live long not considering that a long life is a long receit of Time bestowed on us seeing that we must give an account of the imployment of our dayes The felicity of our Life depends of the happiness of our Death 17. Consider that every Age seeth die all that it hath seen born and that it draweth along with it all that hath appeared like it in the World without hope of returning because the years whereof it is composed are never twice counted 18. As soon as a man hath attained to the years of Reason he liveth long enough if he live but one day provided that one day be well spent The rest of the Time which is allowed us turneth to our reproach rather than our advantage if we do not spend it to good purpose 19. When we wish for Death we manifest our Cowardise more than our Courage because this fails us through want of resolution to endure the memory of what is past the trouble of what is present and the fear of what is to come whereof the only Hope of Eternity can sufficiently instruct us 20. Know that the Life of Great Men is a path strewed with Roses whereof the Thorns are at the end For after they have smelled the sweet odour of Those they must needs feel the sting of These 21. There is none but God and Vertue that can prolong the Life of Man God in adding to it that which is to come and Vertue in recalling what is past by the satisfaction we injoy in having spent it well 22. He that loveth Life in his miseries to suffer them constantly hath cause to fear Death because in suffering new torments it taketh away from him the means to acquire new Crowns 23. Live only to die if you would live without reproach he that thinks on that which is to come doth not sorrow for what is past and enjoyeth what is present without disquiet FINIS
hearts that are alwayes disquieted in their expectation 10. All the World doth breath after nothing so much as Glory and no body taketh pains to acquire the true Glory the contempt of worldly honours is most safe a man cannot deserve them but in shunning them 11. Purity of Conscience is the fountain of true Glory and it is in vain for wicked men to run after the Crowns thereof God for their sakes changeth the nature of these Crowns seeing they cover them with infamy instead of adorning them with honour 12. In this World every man is the Artist of his own Glory but to the end that this work may be the better effected he must be for a long time Vertues Apprentice seeing she alone is able to make him Master 13. True Glory is the effect of a vertuous life and good works are so many glorious actions Care not for the verdict which the World may pass on them your own judgement ought to give you the first approbation of them and your conscience the last crown 14. It is not enough to live honorably the Morals of Jesus Christ are far different from those of the World for these teach us the love of our selves but our Saviour the contempt and because Example is more powerful then Precept he doth perswade us to it by his own Practice 15. We may well seek for Glory in Combats but we can only find it in the victory we obtain over our Passions Suppose you could gain Battels take Cities and conquer Kingdoms and Provinces yet you must triumph over your self if you would beare the title of a true Worthie 16. The World hath her Persons of honour but I doe pitie them with all their Glory they adorn themselves with many specious Titles and they forget that of Miserable which doth properly belong unto them they muster up all their qualities and remember not that of their perishing nature which blemisheth all the rest 17. If you desire to acquire true Glory let the Glory of God be your object The World hath nothing to give but false honours and if you would be of the number of true Heroes let your ambition extend only to the conquest of Heaven all those that have busied themselves in conquering the Earth have been constrain'd at their death to content themselves with seven foot 18. After that the Rival of Cesar had made his conquest there could hardly be found so much room as to write upon his grave Here lies Pompey This sheweth that the vanity of the Glory of the greatest men is altogether nothing 19. True Glory hath no original in nature the fountain thereof cometh from above and as Eternity is the object of it Eternity ought to serve also for the reward thereof 20. Covet no other quality but that of an Honest man seeing that alone is able to accomplish your Glory he that liveth well liveth gloriously the quiet of his Conscience is the honour of his life as well as the happiness thereof 21. It will not be asked at the houre of death if the honors you have received have been great but rather if the works you have done have been good True Glory lyes in the contempt of the Glory of the World 22. As all things created returne to their Original the World seeth all that Glory die which it bred and if you draw not from Heaven those thoughts of that Honour which you profess you shall ere long be ashamed to survive it seeing you shall be a witness of the ruine thereof 23. The contempt we ought to have of the honors of this life is never known but at the houre of death but seeing that knowledg is unprofitable we must then prevent it by doing that to day which we would have done to morrow 24. Time surpriseth the wisest men although it be alwayes present you may well heare a Clock or carry a Watch in your pocket but it is to no purpose seeing you do not profit by he counsell they give you which is that Time passeth away as well as the Glory we have acquired in it CHAP. V. That Integrity and upright dealing only maketh a vertuous man 1. WHether you be rich or great or happy all these qualities can make no impression capable to gain Reputation Integrity only can give that and without this title of honour a man is nothing but a meer shadow 2. You are very glad to purchase with money the most eminent dignities and Offices But after examination of your Conscience if you find your self incapable to discharge them you do but expose your self in publick view upon an Altar there to serve for the sacrifice 3. Men of Integrity are the true Heroes of their Age because they have their souls filled with true Glory and seeing it is impossible for a man to live with honour unless he live without reproach labour therefore in all your actions to make your duty here below your first object and last reward 4. What doth it availe you to possess large Offices and to receive great Honours if being incapable of the one you render your self unworthy of the other your Office gains respect whereas your person deserves contempt as if your Livery were more to be esteemed than your self 5. Suppose your were served in State and had your Ushers marching before you c. Yet all the honor or disgrace that encompasseth you do proceed from your good or bad reputation and whatsoever pompe doth accompany you your way of living produceth either your esteem or contempt 6. A Righteous man carrieth his ranke about with him all his words and actions are stirred up by an honest boldness and that is it that draweth respect and esteem by a secret vertue whereof the first cause is never known seeing it is above nature 7. The first enquiry that is made after your manners serves instead of a Judge of your life This doth oblige you to give proof of your vertues betimes that the esteem of your person may take the deeper impression because publick Fame renders it self the soveraign Umpire of your reputation 8. The respects that are rendered to a man of a corrupt life do cover him rather with infamy then glory so that when he challengeth respect in regard of his Authority he receiveth nothing but forced acknowledgements which do shamefully reproach his soveraignty yea upon the very Throne of his Empire 9. Seeing vertuous actions are valued according to the reputation of him who performs them they must needs be built on a solid foundation lest they be attributed to chance and Fortune have all the glory Every one in this world is worth so much as he maketh himself to be worth 10. It is Uprightness and Integrity alone that doth distinguish us from one another all other qualities are strangers to us seeing they follow us but to the grave but this alone can exempt us from it 11. Frame unto your self certain wages of Honour which can be filled by no other but your self