eternall in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 Therefore labour and heavy load make us seek to him that saith come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy loaden and I will give you rest Matth. 11.28 Thus evil doth good to them that are good and helps evil men to turne good In sicknesse and dolours Gods children find the peace of the soule and contentment of mind CHAP. XIII Of Exile TO speake of exile after dolour is an abrupt passage from sensible evils to imaginary The world is the natural and general countrey of al men To be exiled is but to be sent from one Province of our Countrey to another That other Province where one is exiled is the Countrey of them that are borne there and of them also that live there exiled if there they get accomodation That particular Province which a nation calls their Countrey is a place of exile to them that are borne in it if they doe not know it as to Oedipus exiled from the place where he was bred to the place where he was borne Children brought from nurse to the mothers house wil cry taking it for a place of exile It is a childish weaknesse in a man to thinke him-selfe lost when he is in a place where he never was before Every where wee have the same nature the same heaven men of the same kind Reasonable creatures should be ashamed to be surmounted by unreasonable in that easinesse to shift Countreies Swallowes hatch about our houses are banisht from our Climat by the approach of winter and they make no difficulty to goe seeke another beyond al the lands and Seas of Europe but men wil cry when they are driven from their chimney corner having the choice of al places of the world which is so large Yet that advantage we have over birds and beasts that al Countries are not alike to them but al Countries are alike unto vertue and to us if we have it for that treasure no enemy can hinder us to carry along with us We may indeed be exiled into an ill Countrey but that Countrey is never the worse for not being our Countrey All lands are in equal distance from heaven the Countrey of gods children God is as soon found in the land of our exile as in that of our birth and sooner too for God is neer those that are destitute and preserveth the stranger Psal 146.9 Are you banisht by a Tyrant Thinke how many persons are exiled from their countrey and dearest relations by their covetousnesse which is the worst tyranny ranging the unknown seas of a new world for many years some to fetch cucineel and pearles from burning climats others to get sables and hermines from the snows under the Pole Some are banisht by others some bythem-selves Nothing is strange to a man when his wil goeth along with it we need but to encline our wil where necessity calls us Impatience in exile is want of a right apprehension of the condition of gods children in the world Heaven is their countrey Life is their Pilgrimage They are strangers even in the place of their birth yea in their very bodys Whilest we are at home in the body we are strangers from the Lord saith Paul 2 Cor. 5.6 Being then strangers in al places of the world one place must not seeme to us more strange then another Wee are never out of our way as long as we are going to God CHAP. XIV Of Prison PRison is the grave of the living There men are buried before their death Liberty is the priviledge of nature without which life is a continual death And it were better to have noe life then not to enjoy it All beasts enjoy liberty some few excepted that have lost it by being too much acquainted with us But as there is need of iron cages to keepe lyons there is need in the world of prisons and captivity to keepe in men that wil not be ruled by reason equity And though many be imprisoned wrongfully if they have the grace to look up to God the disposer of their condition they will acknowledge that God is wise to use them so and that licentious humour hath need of restraint Or if they need it not they have lesse need to afflict themselves A well composed spirit is free in the closest Prison bonds and fetters cannot restraine his liberty The worst fetters are covetousnesse ambition lust appetite of revenge wherewith many that seeme free are kept in bondage Who so can shake them off is at liberty though he were in a dungeon Such was St. Pauls freedom in a chaine 2 Tim. 2.9 I suffer trouble said he as an evill doer even unto bonds but the word of God is not bound The grace of God also cannot be bound and many times God makes use of the bonds of the body to set the soule free A man is very hard tyed to the world if he cannot be untied from it by a long imprisonment Prison will bee lesse tedious to him that remembreth that it is his natural condition That he was nine moneths Prisoner in his Mothers wombe That after his death he shall be made close Prisoner under ground And that as long as he liveth he is loaden like a snaile with his owne Prison which he carrieth about slowly and with great incommodity a clog put by our wise Master to the swiftnesse and quick turnes of our spirit which is alwayes in action Think how fast our thoughts go which in a moment travell from one end of the world to the other and how high our designes will rise whose wings we are constrained to clip and abruptly to pull down our soaring minde to look to the necessities of our craving body and then acknowledge that our body is a very Prison confining the spirit which is the Man The imprisonment of that body is no great addition to its captivity It is but putting one boxe within another And if we looke about us how much captivity do me meet with in society Is not ceremony a slavery which is multiplyed and diversifyed at every meeting Are not honours golden fetters and businesses Iron fetters Do not publique factions enslave particular interesses and spread nets for the conscience Many times that captivity is avoided by that of the Counter and the Fleet. To many their prison hath been a Sanctuary and a strong hold against the dangers of a turbulent and destructive time No dungeon is so close as to keep the faithfull soul from rising to God They that are forbidden the sight of their friends may converse with God at any time which is a great liberty And the Lord Jesus who recommends that worke of mercy to visit the prisoners himselfe doth carefully practise it comforting by his Spirit his disciples to whom the assistance of men is denyed and shewing them heaven open when they are lockt and bolted In effect it is the body not man that is imprisoned The Jalour may keepe out a
God in his breast that he should invite and then entertaine him there by a pure service a sincere love an entire cōfidence Many by much good Kindred many Friends and relations become lesse vertuous and industrious getting the ill habit of the Italian Signora's who walking in the streets beare more upon the armes of their supporters on both sides then upon their owne legs They have need to be sent from home to learne to stand alone without a Nurse to hold them None can be owner of any measure of stedfastnesse and content that makes all his support and satisfaction to depend of his neighbours That man hath more content in the world who having confined his desire to few things troubleth also but few persons and is desirous of Friends to do them not to receive of them good offices regarding their vertue more then their support When we have got good Friends we must be prepared to lose them Death separateth Friends and disolveth Mariages When that happens wee must remember without trouble or amazement that those persons so deare to us were mortal but indeed that should have bin remembred before A Philosopher visiting his neighbour who was weeping bitterly for the death of his Wife left him presently saying aloud with great contempt O great fool did he not know before that he had married a woman not a goddesse After we have condemned that cruel incivility yet must we acknowledge that it is a folly to lament for that which we knew before to be unavoydable Yet after all reasons when love hath bin very deare the separation cannot but be very sad Teares may be permitted not commanded to fall And after the duty payd of a mournful Adieu to the beloved person we must remember upon what terms and condition we hold of God that which wee love best even to leave it at any time when God redemands it And if besides we have good ground to hope that the person departed is received into peace and glory we must praise God for it which we can hardly do as long as our obstinate mourning repines against his will Lamenting for those that are well is ignorance or envy or selfe love If we would not rejoyce when they were in affliction why should we afflict our selves when they are in joy It is some recompence for the death of our deare Friends that our enemyes are mortal as well as they A wise man will consider his enemyes as rods in Gods hand and minde the hand rather then the rod. To destroy our enemies when they are in our power is a childish folly for so will Children burne their Mothers rod as though there were no more rods in the world Our enemies oftentimes do us more good then our friends for the support of our friends makes us carelesse but the opposition of our enemies makes us wary and industrious They make us strong and safe for they make us flye to God In nothing wisedome is more seene then in judging of an adversary A great serenity is requisite that feare make us not think him more dangerous then he is and that pride make us not despise him blinding our eyes not to see the good and evil that is in him and what harme he may do us It is a common and useful maxime for the conduct and tranquillity of mans life that there are few great freinds and no little enemyes When enemies are reconcileable all things past must bee taken to the best by charitable interpretation When there is no possibility of reconciliation al things to come must be taken to the worst both to strengthen us with resolution within and to encounter the evill without by prudence and vigorous wayes In the reconcilement we must pardon freely receive ill excuses and if there be an offence which cannot be excused never mention it The remedy of injuries is oblivion If an enemy can neither be mitigated by charity nor overcome by strength nor avoyded by prudence there remaineth still unto the wise Christian an intrenchment out of which he cannot be forced which is a good conscience and the peace of God in it These he must cherish and keep fast not onely as his last intrenchment but his onely possession and the strong hold only worth keeping It is impregnable as long as faith and love are the Garrison CHAP. XVI Of Death IT is the subject of which Seneca speakes most and of which there was least for him to speak for being doubtfull whether Death destroyed the soul or released it Mors nos aut consumit aut emittit and being more inclined to the first Opinion it was better for him neither to speake nor to think of it But what others of his rank that had reasoned before him about the immortality of the soul had quitted themselves so meanely of that task that out of their labours in that field he could not reape any satisfaction of his doubt This is the grand priviledge of the Christian that he seeth life through Death and that the last limit of Nature is the date of his franchising and the gate of his felicity and glory Death that moweth downe all the hopes of this world perfecteth Christian hope Death is the separation of body and soul It is the returne of these two parts of man so different to their several principles Eccles 12.4 Then the dust returneth to the earth as it was and the spirit returneth unto God that gave it Who disposeth of it either in mercy or justice Death is the last Act of the Comedy of this world To every one Death is the end of the world in his own respect In one sense it is against nature because it destroyes the particular being In another it is according to nature for it is no lesse natural to dye then to live Yea Death is a consequence of life we must dye because we live and we dye not because we are fick and wounded but because we are animals borne under that Law Wherefore considering Death in the natural way as Charron doth I approove what he saith that we must expect Death in a steady posture for it is the terme of nature which continually drawes neerer and neerer But I cannot approove that which he adds that wee must fight against Death Why should we fight against it seeing we cannot ward its blowes It is more unreasonable then if he had said that we must fight against the raine the winde for wee may get a shelter from these none from that Wherefore as when it raines wee must let it raine so when Death is coming and it comes alwayes wee need but let it come not thinking it more strange to live then to dye In stead of fighting against Death wee must acquaint our selves with it Indeed they that feare Death must fight against that feare Of them that feare Death there are two sorts Some feare it for its owne sake Some for that which comes after The former which are more in
delightfull when they are possest without care and without that which makes prosperity bitter the feare to lose them Whether I have little or much let me allwayes say Praised bee God for his temporal gifts Here is more then I need to live and dye well But these are not the goods that he promist me and to which he calls me by by his Gospel O when shall that day come when I shall be satisfied with the goodnesse of his house even of his holy Temple Psal 65.4 My desire is to depart and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 The imprisonment of our immortal Soul of heavenly nature in a body cosingerman to the beast where it lyeth heavy drowzy and mired in the flesh ought to make us think that a happy day when we shall be awake quickned and set at liberty Children in the womb sleep continually Men if you take their whole age together sleep well nigh halfe their time But after death the spirit which is the true man hath shaken off all his sleepinesse The faithfull soul is no more in darknesse She receives light no more at two little loope-holes She is all eye in the presence of God who is all Light She is free holy joyfull all vertue and all love and all glory for seeing God and being seene by him she is changed into the same image And to that blessed state death is the way Who so knoweth so much of the nature of death yet feares it as a terrible evill sheweth that he is very farre within another death which is the death of sinne and that he hath more flesh then spirit that is more of the beast then man CHAP. XVII Of the Interiour of Man FRom that which is altogether without us and out of our power and may be taken from us by others or by death Let us turne our eyes within us upon that which is more ours our soule and her endowments naturall and acquisite either by study or infusion Not to examine very exactly their nature but enough to judge of their price and what satisfaction may be expected of them Because I have restrained solid content to those things that are within us and which cannot be taken from us I acknowledge my selfe very much perplexed about some things within us and doubtful whether they be ours or no seeing that many things within us may be taken from us without our consent and therefore are not ours absolutly Is there any thing that seemes more ours then the illumination and dexterity of our wit and our learning and prudence got by study and experience for those were the goods which that Philosopher owned with so much oftentation who carrying nothing but himself out of a Town taken by storme and pillaged answered the victor that gave him leave to carry our all his goods I carry out all my goods along with mee But how could he make good that possession there being no Wit so clear no Philosophy so sublime but a blow upon the head or a hot feaver may overturne it Epictetus accounteth nothing ours but our opinions our desires and our actions because these alone are in our power But in an understanding maimed by Phrensy that power is lost It is true it is not the soule but the Organe that is vitiated But howsoever you cannot dispose of your soul when that organ is out of tune Here to say that death will set the soul at liberty and then the spirit shall enjoy himselfe and all his ornaments is to bring a higher question to resolve a lesser For there is no doubt but that the spirit loosed from the matter will recover that liberty of his faculties which was obstructed by materiall causes but it is a point of singular difficulty to judge whether he shall retaine all the skill hee had got in this life As for mechanicall Arts altogether tyed to the matter it is not likely that the spirit will retaine that low skill when he liveth separat from the matter But as for higher intellectuall sciences it seemes very unreasonable that a Spirit polisht sublimated by long study and stored with a great treasure of knowledge should lose all in an instant by the death of the body and that the soul of a great Naturalist as my Lord of St. Albans be left as bare of learning and acquisite capacity as the soul of a skavenger And when the soul not only is made learned but good also by learning were it not lamentable that death should have the power to make it worse Neither would holy writ presse this command upon us with so much earnestnes Get wisdome get understanding forget it not if wisedom were an acquisition that the soul must lose with the body The difficulty lyeth in picking among the sciences those that will be sure to stick unto the separat soul It is much to be feared that those sciences which cost most labour will bee sooner lost and will goe out together with the lampe of life For since the dead have no share in al that is done under the sun it is like that great students who have fraught their memory with histories both antient moderne shall lose when they dye the remembrance of so many things that are done under the Sunne By the same reason Lawyers Linguists Professors of Sciences and arts depending upon humane commerce should leave all that learning behind them But I doubt whether the contemplators of Gods works as the Naturalists shall lose their learning when they dye seeing that it is the duty the perfectioning of the rationall creature to know the wisedome and the power of the Creator in his wonderfull workes And I am inclined to beleeve that those things that are done under the Sunne in which the dead have no share are the actions businesses of men not the workes of God but that Naturalists shall learne the science of Gods workes in a higher and transcendent way Also that Astrologers shall need other principles to know heaven to which their forbidden curiosity to foretell humane events out of the Starres wil rather be a barre then a furtherance Nec quicquam tibi prodest aerias tentâsse domos morituro Among all the spirituall ornaments there is one which we may be confident to keep for ever when we have it once really therefore it is properly our owne That rich and permanent Ornament is heavenly wisedome of which Solomon saith Prov. 3.16 Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Her wayes are wayes of pleasantnesse and all her pathes are peace She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaines her That wisedome consisteth in knowing loving and obeying God and trusting upon him It is good studying that wisedome that giveth eternal felicity and glory We finde but two things in the interiour of man which we may be sure not to lose by death The one is the
wee beare to God is the love that he beares to us wee must before all things study to conceive as well as wee may of the great love of God to us-ward Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that wee should be called the sonnes of God 1 John 3.1 This is the principall point of his love where all other testimonies of his love doe beginne and where they end Without this none can say that he is beloved of God For to be the work of Gods hands and maintained by his providence is common to all creatures and to be made after Gods image and by his liberality to enjoy the plenty and service of nature is common to all men good and evill But because creatures without reason and men without goodnesse beare no love to God it cannot properly be said that God loveth them though he be their maker and preserver Love being the bond of perfectnesse Col. 3. Gods love would not be the bond of perfectnesse if he loved those things that never return him love For that love may be a bond the two ends must meet knit together now these two ends knit when a creature beloved of God beares a reciprocal love to him For thereby not onely the man that feareth God joyneth with him but the whole nature also and all the creatures are re-joyned with their principle and Origine And whereas some creatures cannot others will not love God the true child of God because he gets some utility out of them all yea of those that are Gods enemies loveth him and gives him thanks for and in the name of all and so by this meanes love proveth a true bond of perfectnesse which proceeding from God and knitting with God againe embraceth and holds fast together the whole creation and brings it back to its Creator A consideration which cannot but bring a singular content and a great peace to the soule Being perswaded of the love of God to us whereby we are called the sonnes of God we looke upon all creatures as the goods of our fathers house prepared for us And though others which are none of Gods children enjoy them also yet they are for us since the wicked are for the good either to exercise their vertue by tryals or even to serve and sustaine them For as the angry waves roaring and foaming about the ship where Christ was with his disciples yet were bearing the ship likewise the enemyes of God and his Church while they are beating and storming against it beare it up in spite of their hearts The agitations of the great sea of the world make Gods children more sensible of the great love which the Father hath bestowed upon them to have given them his beloved sonne to be in the ship with them to keep them safe in the storm and the dangers that overwhelme others are helps for good unto them that love God All the deliverances that God sends them all the blessings that God powreth upon them they take them as productions of the fatherly love of God who hath adopted them in his Sonne They taste that love in the enjoyment of present goods they breath that love in the enjoyment of future eternall goods they rest upon that love when they sleepe they leane upon that love when they walk they find that love in all the occurrences of their life with what face soever the various accidents of the world looke upon them they see through them the evident love of God being certaine that nothing happens to them but is directed by the good hand of their loving Father These pleasant rivers of the love of God conduct our meditation up the streame to the great Source that love which passeth knowledge that mysterious deepe love which the Angels desire to looke into whereby of his enemyes that wee were he hath made us his children giving for us even to death his owne precious Sonne entitling us by him to his eternal glory and giving us the earnest of it by his good Spirit crying in our hearts Abba Father O incomprehensible love which hath undergone overcome death to give us life and that he might have from us an immortal love That immortal love ought to be the effect of this meditation So that having conceived to our power how much God loves us wee may also to our power apply our heart to love him acknowledging that all our heart all our soule and all our understanding is yet too little to returne him love for his love It it true that this is a debt from which we can never be acquitted and wee owe it even after wee have payd it But as this debt must be payd continually the continual payment yeelds a continual satisfaction to him that payeth it oweth it still For whereas pecuniary debts make the heart sad this debt of love makes it glad when our duty meetes with our inclination and when wee most desire to dok that which wee are most obliged to doe Besides this debt is of that nature that when wee pay it wee make together an acquisition for although the love began by God he takes it upon him to repay us the love that we pay him Ps 91.14 Because he hath set his love upon me saith the Lord therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath knowne my name Pro. 8.17 I love them that love me and they that seeke me early shall finde me But love is due to God not onely for the love that he hath done us and for the good that wee hope from him but for the good that is in him and because he that is the soveraigne beauty and goodnes must be beloved in the chiefest highest manner All that is beautifull and good in Nature the glory of the celestial bodies the fertility of the earth the shady greene of trees the fragrancy of flowers the variety and utility of animals the rational inventive vivacity of intellectual natures the admirable order of the Universe both in disposition and conduct All these are so many productions of the great bottomlesse depth of beauty bounty power and excellency and who so wisely considereth them presently conceiveth that the Authour is possest of an infinite perfection onely worthy to be beloved for his owne sake and that all the good and beautifull things that he hath done must be beloved onely in relation to him and for his sake To which if you adde two other points of which Nature cannot sufficiently informe us and wherein the Word of God supplies the deficiency of Natures teaching which are the justice and the mercy of God towards sinners O who would not love that infinite love and excellency though he had no interest of his owne in it But how can we barely consider Gods excellency in it selfe with an abstraction of our interest Certainly the consideration of our concernment will go along though unsent for with the contemplation of Gods supreme
and warre in the world and of the subsistence and revolution of Empires Who would beleeve that at the same time he tels the number of our hairs and that not so much as one sparrow falls to the ground without his speciall appointment but that we are told it by his own mouth and that our experience assureth us of his care of the least of our actions and accidents of our life Here wee must rest amazed but not silent for our very ignorance must help us to admire and extoll that depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God whose eye and hand is in all places whose strength sustaineth whose providence guideth all things and taketh as much care of each of his creatures as if he had nothing else to looke to If our minds be swallowed up in the depths of Gods wisdome this one depth calls in another deep which brings no lesse amazement but gives more comfort that is the fatherly love of God to us his children Eph. 3.18 O the bredth the length the depth the heighth of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge the bredth that embraceth Jewes and Gentiles having broken the partition wall to make a large room to his wide love that his way might be known upon earth his saving health among all Nations Psalm 67.2 The length which hath elected us before the foundation of the world and will make us live and reigne with himselfe for ever The depth which hath drawne us out of the lowest pit of sorrow death to effect that hath drawn him down to that low condition The height which hath raised us up to heaven with him and makes us sit together with him in heavenly places With what miracles of mercy hath he preserved his Church from the beginning of the world How many graces doth he poure upon the several members thereof nourishing our bodies comforting our souls reclaiming us from iniquity by the gift of repentance and faith keeping off the malice of men and evill Angels from us by the assistance of his good Angels delivering our life from death our eyes from teares and our feet from falling But before and after all other benefits we must remember that principal benefit never sufficiently remembred Col. 1.12 Giving thankes unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darknesse and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Sonne in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgivenesse of sins This is the highest top of our felicity the main ground of the peace of the soul and the incomparable subject of the contentment of our minds Yea if we have such a deep sence of that heavenly grace as to praise God continually for it with heart and mouth For as we praise God because he blesseth us he blesseth us because we praise him and by his praise which is the eternal excercise of his blessed Saints we become already partners of their imployment their peace and their joy CHAP. IX Of good Conscience ALl that we have said hitherto regardeth the Principal causes both the efficient and the instrumental of the peace with God There are other causes which of themselves have not that vertue to produce that great peace yet without which it cannot be preserved nor produced neither these are a good conscience and the excercise of good workes Not that the reconciliation made for us with God by the merit of his Son needs the help of our works but becaus the principal point of our reconciliation and redemption is that we are redeemed from iniquity which is done by the same vertue that redeemes us from Hell and by the same operation For it is a damnable self-flattery and self-deceipt for one to beleeve that he is reconciled with God if he feele in himselfe no conversion from that naturall enmity of the flesh against God neither can he enjoy a true peace in his soul In that reconciliation God makes use of our wil for in all agreements both parties must concur and act freely And to make us capable of that freedome God by his spirit looseth the bonds of our unregenerate will naturally enthralled to evill But it will be better to medle but little with the worke of God within us and looke to our owne learning the duties which wee are called unto as necessary if wee will enjoy that great reconciliation The first duty is to walke before God with a good conscience for in vaine should one hope to keepe it tranquil and not good Conscience is the natural sence of the duties of piety and righteousnes warning every man unlesse he be degenerated into a beast to depart from evil and doe good And a good conscience is that which obeyeth that sense and warning But the ordinary use which I will follow by a good conscience understands onely the first part which is to beware of evil This good conscience is so necessary for the enjoying of that peace of God applyed to us by faith that the A postle to the Hebrewes requires it that wee may stand before God with a full assurance of faith Heb. 10.22 Let us draw neere saith he with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washt with pure water And St Paul chargeth Timothy 1. Tim. 1.19 to hold faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack shewing that faith and a good conscience must goe hand in hand and that the losse of a good conscience ushereth the losse of faith which is consequently followed with the losse of inward peace Whereas a good conscience brings forth confidence as St John teacheth us 1. Joh. 3.21 Beloved if our heart condemne us not then have wee confidence before God By a conscience that condemnes us not wee must not understand a conscience without sinne for there is none such to be found Much lesse a conscience that condemneth not the sinner after he hath sinned for the best consciences are those that forgive nothing to themselves and passe a voluntary condemnation upon themselves before God by a free and penitent confession But the good conscience that condemnes us not according to St Johns sense is that which beares witnes to a man to have walked in sincerity and cannot accuse him to have shut up his eyes since his conversion against the evident lights of truth and righteousnes or to have hardned his heart against repentance after he hath offended God The godly man will remember that the peace betweene God and us was made by way of contract whereby God gives himselfe to us in his Sonne and we give our selves to him If then any refuse to give himselfe to God there is no contract God will not give himselfe to him and so no peace for every contract must be mutual When the one party
are either the goods of fortune as they are called which are riches honour friends and family Or goods of the body as beauty strength health pleasure and life it selfe As these things depend not of us no more do their contraryes poverty dishoner enemyes losse of friends deformity paine sicknesse and death When one hath those former at will that state is called prosperity the latter passe under the name of adversity The things that depend of us or rather of the grace of God in us which becomes the best part of ourselves are piety honesty wisedome diligence and their contraries depend of us also yet with some dependance from outward agents the world and the Devill There be other things of a mildle rank which partly depend of us partly not and therefore are ours onely in part as learning and capacity where industry and diligence may do much but nothing against or without nature and they are lost by age and sicknesse and other outward causes Let us review this order with more leasure and weigh the price and inconvenience of each thing for without that it is impossible to behave our selves about them with a judicious tranquillity We beginne with things belonging to prosperity CHAP. III. Of Riches OF things that depend not of us the most remote from us are the goods of fortune The goods of the body are neerer for our body is the house of our minde which is our trueselfe and whose goods are properly ours Yet such is the imprudence of men that they are most busy about that which is most remote and neglect that which is neerest and most essential to them for the goods of the body neglecting those of the minde and for the goods of fortune neglecting those of the body They will forfeit their conscience to please and serve their body and hazard their body to get or preserve the goods of fortune Whereas they should follow a clean contrary order hazarding and neglecting their body if need be for the good of the mind and the goods of fortune for both Here I say once for all that by fortune I understand not blind chance since Gods providence rules all but the exteriour of a mans condition as it is distinct from those things which properly belong to the body and the mind So farre I will comply with the humour of the world as to speak of riches in the first place for it is that they seek before all things shewing by their actions which alwayes must be beleeved rather then words that they hold it the first and chiefe good Pecunia ingens generis humani bonum An errour that hath provoked some to oppose it with another errour saying that money is the root of all evill St. Paul decides the difference saying that the love of money is the roote of all evill 1 Tim. 6. the love of money not money it selfe It is not wealth that doth the mischiefe but the weaknesse of men that cannot wield it coveting it with greedinesse purchasing it with wicked wayes imploying it in unjust actions keeping it with trouble and losing it with despaire Riches are good but in the lowest rank of all goods for they have no place among laudable goods there being no praise to be rich Nor among goods desirable for their own sake for they are desired because of other things It is not nature but custome and fancy that giveth price unto gold silver instead of which shells are used for commerce in some part of the East Indyes But for fancy a barre of Iron would be more precious then a wedge of Gold In one point as indeed in all other respects money is inferiour to other goods as health honour and wisedome that whereas one may enjoy them by keeping and increase them by using one must lose his money to enjoy it and part with it to use it But in two things especially the imperfection of riches is seen that they satisfye not the desire and that in the greatest need which is the redemption of the soul they are of no use rather a hindrance True goods are those that make the possessors good which riches do not They are indeed instruments of good in the hands of those that can uve them well But they are instruments of evill in the hands of those that know not how to use them And the number of these last being the greater by farre riches do much more evill then good in the world They stirre up folly lust and pride and open a wide gate to wickednesse yet themselves not wicked of their nature To a well composed and disposed minde they are excellent helps to vertue for they afford meanes for good education and matter for good actions Wisedome and riches together is a faire match The rich and wise Solomon speakes thus of it by his experience Eccl. 7.11 Wisdome is good with an inheritance and by them there is profit to them that see the Sunne for wisedome is a defence and money is a defence the excellency of knowledge is that wisdome gives life to them that have it The French version of that Text saith that Riches cover the owners So they do but it is as the shell covers a snaile for they are a heavy toilesome luggage wherewith a man can advance but slowly and without which he cannot goe And if they shelter him from some injuries they expose him to other they provoke envy and are a faire butt for fraude and insolency So to go one step further in the comparison that shelter may be broken upon a mans back and he crusht under it To know the just price of riches reckon what they cost both to get and to keepe what paines there is to get them what danger and care in the keeping what unsatisfaction in the enjoying what uncertainty in the possession Prov. 23.6 for they make themselves wings saith Solomon which no humane art can clip A thousand accidents which no prudent forecast can prevent make them suddenly flee away The worst is that they distract the minde from the true goods for they that have got them and possesse them most innocently if they will preserve them and keepe them from sinking which they will naturally do must apply their mind to them and much more if they will increase them Which interposition of the earth cannot but eclipse the cleare light of the minde and hide heaven from the sight of the soul This made the Lord Jesus to speak this sentence confirmed with an oath and a repetition Matth. 19.23 Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdome of heaven And againe I say unto you It is easier for a Camell to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdome of God And truly although riches of themselves be not evill but be as the minde of him that possesseth them is good to him that useth them well evill to him that useth them ill yet
number that love the present world and cannot fixe their thoughts upon that which is to come imagin that when they dye they lose all A great folly They cannot lose that which is none of theirs They have the use of the world only til their Lease be out Death is the great proofe of that fundamentall Maxime which I so often urge and no oftner then I need That the things that are out of the disposition of our will are none of ours and such are riches honours our body and life it selfe To them that are so farre mistaken as to thinke themselves owners of these things death is an undoing not to them that acknowledge themselves tenants at will and look continually to be called out of their tenement The goods of the world are held by turnes When you have enjoyed them a while you must give place to others Make your successours case your owne How should yee like it if a certaine number of men should be priviledged to monopolize to themselves the goods of all the world for ever to the perpetuall exclusion of all others This reasoning belongs to few persons for it presupposeth plenty and prosperity But how few have plenty and of those few againe how few have prosperity with it One would thinke that distressed persons have no need of comfort against death Yet they that have the greatest sorrowes in the world many times are the most unwilling to leave it But certainly if life be evill it is good to go out of it All men being born under the necessity of suffering and misery being universall in all conditions Death which ends all misery of life is the greatest benefit of Nature Blessed be God that there is no temporal misery so great but hath an end Take me a man that hath nothing but debts that liveth meerely by his shifts and tricks that hath the stone in the bladder and ten suits in Law that flyeth from the Sergeants to his house and then flyeth out of his house relanced by the scolding of his perverse wife If in that flight he be suddainly killed in the street by the fall of a tyle or the overturning of a Cart that happy misfortune delivereth him from all other misfortunes The Sergeants overtake him and let him are All attachments and Subpoenas against him are vacated Hee is no more troubled where to get his dinner His debts breake not his perpetuall sleep He is thoroughly healed of the stone and his wife now desperaetly crying because she seeeth him insensible for ever and unmoved at her noise Certainly Death is a shelter against all inâ—uries Death puts an end to endlesse evills It is the rest after a continual toyle It is the cure of the sick and the liberty of the slave So Job describeth that quiet state Job 3.7 There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest There the prisoners rest together they heare not the voyce of the oppressor The small and great are there and the servant is free from his Master It is a great folly to feare that which cannot be avoyded but it is a greater to feare that which is to be desired When we have considered the evills of life those that we do and those that we suffer after that to feare Death what is it else but to be affraid of our rest and deliverance And what greater harme can one wish to him that will not dye but that he may live alwayes and be guilty and miserable for ever If it be for the paine that we feare Death for that reason wee ought rather to feare life for the paines of life are farre more sensible then the paines of Death if in Death there is any paine of which I see no great likelyhood For why should we imagine the revulsion of the soul from the body to be very painful it being knowne that the vital parts as the heart and the liver have little or no sense No more sense hath the substance of the braines though the source of the senses for the head-ach is in the tuniques When the braines is benummed and weakened the sense of paine is weaker over all the body And generally when strength decreaseth paine decreaseth together Hence it is that most of them that are sick to Death when they draw neere their end feele themselves very much amended That state is called by the Italians il meglioramento della morte The decay of senses in that extremity is a fence against the troublesome diligence talke cries more troublesome then Death wherewith dying persons are commonly persecuted But as a man upon the point of death is too weake to defend himselfe against all that persecution he is too weak also to feele it much Then all suffocation is without paine that is the most ordinary end of life In the most violent death paine is tolerable because it is short and because it is the last It is a storme that wracks us but casts us upon the haven To that haven we must looke continually and there cast anchor betimes by a holy hope conceiving Death not so much a parting as an arrival for unto well disposed soules it is the haven of Salvation The feare of that which comes after death makes some mens lives bitter and through feare of dying after Death they have already eternall death in their Conscience They have eyes to see Hell open gaping for them but they have none to see the way to avoid it In others that feare is more moderate and is an ill cause working a good effect inducing or rather driving them to seeke and then to embrace the grace and peace that God offers unto them in Jesus Christ and together to do good workes which are the way to the Kingdome of heaven A man cannot afeare God too much but he may be too deeply afraid of his Justice And the feare of that death after death must be swallowed up by the faith in Jesus Christ who by his death hath delivered them who through feare of death were all their life subject unto bondage Heb. 2.15 He hath made death the gate of life and glory to all that trust in him and doe good Godly men will not feare death for the sting of it is pluckt off by Christ It is the terrour of evill consciences but the joy of the good It is this pleasant meditation that sweetneth their adversities and makes them joy Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 The troubles of life are soone ended by death and after death comes a life without trouble and a glory without end Men may deprive us of life but they cannot deprive us of death which is our deliverance The same meditation will make us relish prosperity when God sends it for none can enjoy the goods of this life with delight but he that is prepared before to leave them Then are they
cheerefully out of hope of eternal felicity after death It is pittiful to behold what paine these old Philosophers tooke to arme themselves against death and how the seeming lofty peace wherewith they marcht towards death is like that of a starting hors blowing and pricking up his eares at the entry of a dark place whereas the good Christian goeth gently to it with simplicity joy and considence Why the Pagans knew not whither they went and conceived of death as of a ghastly darke denne but the right Christian seeth his way and thinking of death saith I know whom I have beleeved He gives thankes to the father who hath made him meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light His desire is to depart and to be with Christ remembring that Christ went before and sayd to all his disciples both present and to come when he went up to heaven I goe to prepare a place for you So whereas pagan Philosophy seekes comforts against death Christian Philosophy presenteth death as a comfort Fellons condemned to the gallowes heare not with so much joy the grace and pardon that giveth them life as good Christians heare the glad tidings of their approaching death for death is a grace unto them since it opens them the prison doore If they be dangerously sick the way to cheere them up is not to say Be of good heart you shall recover but be of good heart you must dye for they conceive of death as of their haven of salvation after a stormy voyage That hope sweetens all their Adversities It is a corke that keepes up their spirits above the most raging waves not suffering it to sinke under any sorrow It is the charme of all cares which makes the Christian to say when he loseth his earthly goods Now I am unloaden of that luggage I am the lighter for my journey to the Kingdome of heaven and there I have my true goods which no man can take from me So were the Hebrewes disposed that received with joy the spoyling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance Heb. 10.34 This also makes the Christian disgest injuries and contemne contempt saying Earth is not the Country where am I to expect glory I shall have enough in heaven shortly I am little concerned in the Opinion of men during this life of few dayes and I am yet lesse concerned in that they shall say of me after my death Of all sufferings the sufferings for righteousness have the surest comfort Christ saying so expresly Matth. 5.10.12 Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the Kingdome of God Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven Since by many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdome of heaven we perceive by the thornes which we were told we should finde in the way that we are in the right Any way is pleasant that leads us to salvation Finally this heavenly hope abates the tediousnesse of sickness and the chagreene of old age For the godly soul finding her house of flesh ready to fall prepareth herself with joy to come out at the breach and finding the race of this life neere done stretcheth herselfe towards the prize which the great Saviour holds her up from heaven Thus faith is found to be the most sublime Philosophy for it takes off the heart from things transitory and raiseth it up to the eternall It is the chiefe valour for it is victor over dolour and armeth the weake with invincible strength It makes the Christian to walke in the midst of calamities with a resolute and undanted march and to grow familiar with death finding in the principall subject of humane feares the great subject of his confidence and joy and in the cross a ladder to glory OF PEACE AND CONTENTMENT OF MIND FIFTH BOOK Of Peace in Society CHAPTER I. Of Concord with all men and of Meeknesse OUr first Book hath bin imployed about the Peace of man with God The three following about the peace of man with himselfe To confirme himselfe in these his next care must be to have peace with his owne kind For in vaine should we hope to keepe peace with God and our owne selves if we live in wilfull discord with our neighbours these are things altogether inconsistent If a man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seene how can he love God whom he hath not seene and if a man be at odds with God and his brother how can he have peace at home We are commanded to follow peace with all men Heb. 12.14 Which because it is more easy to follow then to obtaines the Apostle St. Paul prepares us to meet with opposition by these termes If it be possible as much as lyeth in you live peaceably with all men Rom. 12.18 Now what lyeth in us with Gods assisting grace to live peaceably with all men is exprest in two counsels in the words next before The first is to recompense no man evill for evill It is impossible to go through the croud of the world and not to be thrust Fooles returne the like and thrust againe and thrusting brings striking The wise passe quiet and unconcerned As we must beare one with another for Gods sake that commands it we must do it for our own sake to keep tranquillity of mind the losse whereof cannot be recompenced by any satisfaction of revenge if revenge ever brought any Most part of injuries consisting in opinion the remedy consisteth in the same They hurt not him that resents them not Injuriarum remedium est oblivio But if the injury bee such that we must needs resent it Pardoning is the best resenting and the honorablest revenge of all is To recompence good for evill The other counsell is Provide things honest in the sight of all men For whether we live with good or bad men which are the greater number it were impossible for us to compasse all our designes if they were layd open in the sight of all men they must be so honest that when they are ripe for the knowledge of all men we need not be ashamed of them And if in the following of honest and beneficial designes we meete with opposition we must behave ourselves with so much meekenes that we make it appeare that we seeke not our advantage by the ruine of others and together with so much vigour that none be encouraged by our pusillanimity to crosse us There is no harder taske then to keepe ourselves free from dissention in this age which may be called the reigne of discord Here then wee must bestow the greater care to keep tranquillity in our conversation and more in our minde As for publique quarrels a wise man will wedde himselfe to no party with eagernes and if it be possible he will looke upon the game and himselfe
is that peace of God which passeth all understanding and keeps our hearts and minds through Jesus Christ It is a transfiguration of the devout soul for an earnest of her glorification It is the betrothing of the Spouse with Christ and the contract before the marriage After that all the Empires of the world all the treasures of Kings and all the delights of their Court deserve not to be lookt on or to be named If that divine Embrace could continue it would change a man into the image of God from glory to glory and he should be rapt up in a fiery charet like Eliah To enjoy that holy Embrace and make it continue as long as the soul in the flesh is capable of it We must use holy meditations prayers and good workes These strengthen those two armes of the soul faith and love to embrace God and hold him fast doing us that good office which Aaron and Hur did to Moses for they hold up the hands of the soul and keep them elevated to heaven And seeing that God who dwelleth in the highest heavens dwelleth also in the humblest soules let us indeavour to put on the ornament of a meek quiet spirit which in the sight of God is of great price 1 Pet. 3.4 It is a great incouragement to study tranquillity of minde that while we labour for our chiefe utility which is to have a meek and quiet spirit we become of great price before God and therefore of great price to ourselves How can it be otherwise since by that ornament of a meeke and quiet spirit we put on the neerest likenesse of God of which the creature can be susceptible For then the God of peace abiding in us makes his cleare image to shine in the smooth mirrout of our tranquill soul as the Sunnes face in a calme water Being thus blest with the peace of God we shall also be strong with his power and among the stormes and wrackes of this world we shall be as safe as the Apostles in the tempest having Christ with them in the ship It is not possible that we should perish as long as we have with us and within us the Saviour of the world and the Prince of life The universall commotions and hideous destructions of our time prepare us to the last and greatest of all 2 Pet. 3.10 when the heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the workes that are therein shall be burnt up In that great fall of the old building of Nature the godly man shall stand safe quiet and upright among the ruines All will quake all will sinke but his unmoved heart which stands firme trusting in the Lord. Psal 112.7 Mountaines and rocks will be throwne downe in his sight The foundations of the world will crack under him Heaven and Earth hasting to their dissolution will fall to pieces about his eares but the foundation of the faithfull remaines stedfast He cannot be shaken with the world for he was not grounded upon it He will say with Davids confidence Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth my flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy One to see corruption Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore A Table of the Books and Chapters of this Treatise THE FIRST BOOK Of Peace with God Chap. 1. Of the Peace of the Soule pag. 1. Chap. 2. Of the Peace of Man with God in his integrity and of the losse of that peace by sinne pag. 6. Chap. 3. Of the Reconciliation of Man with God through Jesus Christ pag. 16. Chap. 4. Generall meanes to preserve that peace with God and first to serve God purely and diligently pag. 25. Chap. 5. Of the love of God pag. 35. Chap. 6. Of Faith pag. 45. Chap. 7. Of Hope pag. 49. Chap. 8. Of the duty of praising God pag. 53. Chap. 9. Of good Conscience pag. 59. Chap. 10. Of the exercise of good works pag. 66. Chap. 11. Of redressing our selves often by repentance pag. 72. SECOND BOOK Of Mans peace with himselfe by rectifying his Opinions Chap. 1. Designe of this Booke and the next pag. 77. Chap. 2. Of right Opinion pag. 80. Chap. 3. Of Riches pag. 87. Chap. 4. Honour Nobility Greatnesse pag. 92. Chap. 5. Glory Renowne Praise pag. 98. Chap. 6. Of the goods of the Body Beauty Strength Health pag. 104. Chap. 7. Of bodily pleasure and ease pag. 110. Chap. 8. Of the evils opposite to the forenamed goods pag. 116. Chap. 9. Of Poverty pag. 121. Chap. 10. Of low condition pag. 130. Chap. 11. Of dishonour pag. 134. Chap. 12. Of the evills of the body unhansomenesse weakenesse sicknesse paine pag. 136. Chap. 13. Of Exile pag. 142. Chap. 14. Of Prison pag. 144. Chap. 15. Husband Wife Childen Kinred Friends Their price their losse pag. 147. Chap. 16. Of Death pag. 155. Chap. 17. Of the Interiours of Man pag. 163. Chap. 18. Of the ornaments acquisite of the understanding pag. 177. Chap. 19. Of the acquisite ornaments of the will pag. 188. Chap. 20. Of the World and Life pag. 195. THIRD BOOK Of the Peace of Man with himselfe by governing his Passions Chap. 1. That the right Government of Passions depends of right Opinion pag. 205. Chap. 2. Entry into the discourse of Passions pag. 211 Chap. 3. Of Love pag. 214. Chap. 4. Of Desire pag. 231. Chap. 5. Of desire of Wealth and Honour pag. 237. Chap. 6. Of desire of Pleasure pag. 243. Chap. 7. Of Sadnesse pag. 248. Chap. 8. Of Joy pag. 257. Chap. 9. Of Pride pag. 265. Chap. 10. Of Obstinacy pag. 273. Chap. 11. Of Wrath pag. 278. Chap. 12. Of Aversion Hatred and Reuenge p. 289 Chap. 13. Of Envy pag. 298. Chap. 14. Of Jealousie pag. 305. Chap. 15. Of Hope pag. 309. Chap. 16. Of Feare pag. 313. Chap. 17. Of Confidence and Despaire pag. 319. Chap. 18. Of Pitty pag. 323. Chap. 19. Of Shamefacednesse pag. 327. FOURTH BOOK Of Vertue and the exercise of in Prosperity and Adversity Chap. 1. Of the Vertuous temper requisite for the peace and contentment of mind pag. 331. Chap. 2. Of Vertue in Prosperity pag. 344. Chap. 3. Of Vertue in Adversity pag. 357. FIFTH BOOK Of Peace in Society Chap. 1. Of Concord with all men and of meeknesse pag. 375. Chap. 2. Of brotherly Charity and of friendship pag. 387. Chap. 3. Of Gratefulnesse pag. 395. Chap. 4. Of Satisfaction of Injuries pag. 399. Chap. 5. Of Simplicity and Dexterity in Society pag. 402. Chap. 6. To have little company and few businesses pag. 412. Chap. 7. Of moderation in conversation pag. 421. SIXTH BOOK Some singular Counsels for the Peace and contentment of minde Chap. 1. To content our selves with our condition pag. 431. Chap. 2. Not to depend of the Future pag. 436. Chap. 3. To retire within our selfe pag. 443. Chap. 4. To avoyd Idlenesse pag. 448. Chap. 5. To avoid curiosity in divine matters pag. 451. Chap. 6. Of the care of the body and other little contentment of life pag. 458. Chap. 7. Conclusion Returne to the great principle of the peace and contentment of mind which is to stick to God pag. 468. FINIS
Sed et hos quoque ipsos quos beavit perdidit The Court advanceth but few persons and destroyeth many but even those which it advanceth it destroyeth and spoyleth for most men as they grow in height decrease in goodnesse and many times in estate like squibs which consume themselves as they ascend It is in few mens choice whether they may be great or no some being borne to it and obliged by their birth to maintaine their condition Others being borne farre under it and there kept by invincible necessity Yet among great and small some still are in possibility to raise their degree and come to greater place And whereas it is in the choyce of few persons whether they shall be great it is in the choice of all whether they will be ambitious and aspire to high and negotious places Let a wise man consider whether honour be worth as much as it costs to get and to keep whether hee would lose his rest for it leave conversing with God to converse with men runne the danger to become wicked to become great and among the justlings of envy be alwayes ready to fall and break his neck Let him weigh in the scales of a right judgement the respect and Opinion of others against so much personal care perill and losse A middle degree of quality enough to stand a little out of the dirt is commodious and desirable The degrees above and beneath are slavery But a wise and pious man finds liberty and nobility in any degree CHAP. V. Of Glory Renowne Praise FRom the honour that attends greatnesse and riches we passe to that which is deferred to Vertue or that which beares the name of it For this second sort of honour many generous spirits have contemned the first and greatnesse and riches and life too dying willingly that they night have glory when they shall be past having any thing in this world Wise Solomon saith that a good name is rather to chosen then great riches Prov. 22.1 And better then be precious oyntment Eccl. 7.1 The goodnesse of it lyeth in some facility that it gives to do good for when mens minds are possest with a good opinion of a person they are susceptible of his counsels Thereby also a man may better his condition The content that a good action gives to the doer is a real and solid good but the content that the reputation of it giveth is vaine and deceitfull If the Renowne be for vaine things such as most things are in the world it can yeeld but a contentment like itselfe and though it be raised by real vertue yet reputation is but discourse and the Opinion of others It is hollow meat and who so will feed upon it will soone be like that hungry Dreamer of whom Isaiah speaketh who dreames that he is eating but he awakes and his soul is empty Isa 29.8 A wise and good man lookes for a better reward of his vertue then the talk of the world No action is good if it be don for praise or if approbation be sought of any but God and ourselves John 5.44 How can ye beleeve saith Christ which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God onely Our actions ought to be such as to be of good savour before the world else they can do no good in the world But that good savour must be sought as an accessory not a principal and must bee rejected when instead of an accessory it becomes a hindrance and a barre from the the principal which is the glory of God and a good conscience Let that witness beare testimony to our selves and let men say of us what they will My Opinions and Affections if they be good make me good and happy not the Opinion of my neigh bours A wise man must subject reputation to himselfe not himselfe to her If he can make her runne before him as his Harbinger to prepare for him an accommodation wheresoever he goeth and get him a roome in the judgements and affections of men it will be a prudent course And it will be a point of prudence not to hunt reputation too eagerly for Reputation is well compared to our shaddow she fleeth from us when we run after her and runnes after us when we run from her She will go more willingly where you would have her if she go not of your errand but of her selfe and doth better service when one thinkes not of her If she be desired it is for something else but to court her for her owne sake it is more then she deserveth A vertuous man will disdaine to do so much when he observeth that she is more apt to speak of frivolous then serious matters and will many times put a glosse of praises upon evill things What a coyle doth Roman antiquity keep about that harebrain'd girle Clelia for stealing a horse out of Porsena's Campe where she was an hostage and foording a River none of the greatest to returne to her Mothers chimney-corner For that action against the publique faith rash ungenerous injust and especially immodest in a mayd her statue on horseback was publiquely set in the Market place and fame is trumpetting her praise to the worlds end It were easy to name many both of old late date that have got reputation at a very easy rate How many famous men are like boyes crackers that give a great report without effect How many toyes are talked of and extolled while grave workes are buried in silence Since Fame hath trumpets it is no wonder that she fills them with winde that goeth farre and fast by its leightnesse and is fit to make a noise But a solid vertue makes little noise and the tongues of the vulgar do so much for her as to let her alone The Renown of great and good things advanceth but slowly but recompenceth her slownes by her long lasting But even in that long lasting there is vanity for what benefit is it for vertuous men deceased that the world speakes of them two thousand yeares after their death Are their soules more glorious for it in heaven Are their bodies the lesse cold in the grave Yet for that hope of an outliving uselesse renowne gallant men will climb up a breach through a thick haile of musket shot and granadoes that the world may say of them These gentlemen are dead in the bed of honour O brave men It is pitty that these praises make not these brave men to rise from the dead for joy preserve not their flesh from wormes and putrefaction and make no roses nor violets grow upon their graves Well let us pay them that praise which they have so deare bought O brave men But let us say also O the folly of men who having fed themselves with vanity in their life time will not end their vanity with their lives but seek to perpetuate it by their death It were strange that praise should do good to the dead since it
doth more harme then good to the living For one that is encouraged with praise to do well a thousand are thereby puft up with pride It is hurtfull to weak spirits and troublesome to the strong If praise were a real good every one ought to praise himselfe as one feeds himselfe And none ought to be ashamed to heare or speake his owne praise for none ought to be ashamed of good things That shame is a proofe either that praise is not good or that it belongs not to us This deserveth a deeper consideration Glory and praise among men are of those shades and images of divine attributes scattered in this inferiour world of which shades the substance and reality is in God Glory in him is a substance yea his owne essence and to him alone all Glory belongeth The sparkes of glory that are in creatures are rayes of that soveraigne splendour Now these rayes go not streight like those of the Sunne they go round and fetch a compasse to returne to the principle of their being Ps 145.10 All thy workes shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall blesse thee Since his works praise him by nature his Saints must praise him by will Those streakes of glory that are in his creatures as comming from him must returne to him by nature or by will For although man be not able to give any glory to God by praising God yet God knoweth how to receive from us that glory which we cannot give him and to make himselfe glorious in his owne workes Here is then the reason why men are desirous of praise and glory and yet are ashamed of it Their desire of it is a natural sence that it is good And that they are ashamed of it is another natural sense that it was not made for them Wherefore a wise Christian will desire and seeke the glory of God And when some image of that glory is given him by the prayses of men hee will presently bring that praise and glory to God as Gods proper goods saying Glory is a Crown that was not made for my head and on my knees I put it on the head of him to whom it properly belongs Such is praise in its Original and End both which do meet but being considered in its inferiour causes and conveighances as it comes from and through men it is a tide of popular applause as subject to go downe as to come up consisting in fancy exprest in talke rising upon small causes and upon small causes falling againe We must make more of our content then to pinne it upon such an uncertain possession never reckoning among our goods a thing lying in the Opinion of another and remaining in the possession of the person that gives it for humane praise belongs not to him that is praised but to him that praiseth since every one is or ought to be master of his Opinions and words They that give us praise retaine it in their power and may take it from us when they please CHAP. VI. Of the goods of the Body Beauty Strength Health FRom the goods of Fortune which are altogether out of us and many times consist in imagination we come to the personal beginning by those of the body The first is Beauty which among bodily goods may be called the first gift of God and the first advantage of nature I say not that it is the principal for health is farre above it in excellency But it cannot be denyed that it is the first since God hath placed it in the entry and on the front of this building of the flesh Beauty at the very first meeting winnes the good Opinion of beholders and gives an advantagious preconceit of a faire mind Beauty is a signe of goodnesse of nature The sweet vigour of the eyes the smoth skinne the lively white and red the handsome lineaments of the face and the comely proportion of the body are markes of a quick and well composed mind Which yet is not peculiar to Beauty For many persons in whom melancholy is predominant which tanneth their skin sets their eyes deepe in their head puts a sowreness on their brow have a penetrating and judicious understanding Open faces which are the most beautiful have commonly candid and serene soules but none of the craftiest The observation that Pride is a companion to Beauty is not naturally true but by accident for beautifull persons being praised and admired of all who can wonder that they grow proud since so much paine is taken to make them so A good presence is well sorted with valour and wisedome and doth excellent service to brave men if they spoyle it not by affectation Beauty is the loadstone of Love which courts her and calls it s her faire Sun And so she is for it gets heat by Beauty And as the heat caused by the Sun is allayed when the Sunne is set so doth the heat kindled by Beauty lose its flame when Beauty its gone When love outlives Beauty some other causes must keep it alive as vertue and utility Beauty is among desirable goods not among the laudable for nothing is laudable in us but the productions of our will and industrie For which reason handsome women ought to reject prayses of their Beauty for either these praises are injurious to God who as the Author ought to have the whole praise of his work or they are injurious to them and seeme to presuppose that they have made their beauty and sophisticated nature by art for none ought to be praised for that he hath not done Great and rare Beauty in its nature is desirable but by accident and as the world goes it is more to be feared then desired and does more harme then good It is hurtfull to the person that is endowed with it for it exposeth her to temptations and insolence which commonly make her wicked and miserable It is hurtful to the person that woeth it or enjoyeth it for it sets him as a marke for injuries Many might have led a tranquil life and escaped discredit quarrel ruine and stabbing in the end had not their wives bin too handsome But though beauty were not cumbered with all this danger the nature and price of it must be well considered that we may not expect of it a contentment beyond its kinde Beauty is the exteriour and superficiall ornament of a sickly and mortall body the inside whereof is unpleasing to the eye and would make the hearts rise of the admirers of the outside if they could see it It is a faire blossom onely for the spring of life which will fade with age or wither with sicknesse and cares in the very spring It is a cheater which promiseth much keepeth not promise for the most amorous never found in it a delight answerable to the desire that it kindleth Take the right measure of the goodnes of that so much desired possession of beauty so shal you not desire it above measure and when