and Persons wedded to their Senses and corpulent in Vice do not apprehend it and think there 's no such Matter because they cannot see it 't is too too thin to catch hold of their Senses and they too too thick for Incorporeal and Soul Notions It will be necessary to acquaint them with another Death which is after these we have mentioned and that is Eternal Now such Persons as we have mention'd may escape the first violent Death being not capitally punished in this Life but they shall not escape this last Death if they cheat the Gibbet and seare their Consciences yet they shall meet an Eternal Death with Satan their Lord and Master Were it possible for a Man to be always stabbing and slaying his Soul with Wantonness Pride Covetousness and other Vices and yet not smart as would his Body if consum'd with Ulcers and Dropsies yet the dart of Eternal Death is too too sharp not to be felt and this will plainly appear if we consider what eternal Death is And it is the state of the Demned It is a cursed departing from Christ into Everlasting Fire It is Blackness of Darkness for ever the Worm which never dies Eternal Damnation and Everlasting Punishment And were it possible for me to tell you all the pains of loss and sense wrapt up in this shroud of Death what it is to be punish'd with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his power what it is to dwell and to dwell for ever in a Lake of Fire fed with Brimstone what it is to have a Worm and that Worm as long as Eternity to be knawing and grinding our Souls Could I read and explain all the Deeds and Conveyances of Hell to shew you the Lease the for ever Lease that the Damned have got for their Souls and Bodies in the bottomless Pit Could I but describe to you the nature of Eternal Death you must conclude that 't is too too keen not to be perceiv'd and too certain and evident not to be avoided and they who get this Prize for their running and these Wages for their labour must needs be in a very sad and doleful condition their end is such an Eternal Death Phanias having thus confirm'd the two Propositions which his promised Method obliged him to he proceeded to give his Hearers some proper Directions whereby they might digest the full Feast of Knowledge which he had caressed them with and so they might be strong and well skill'd in opposing that politick Enemy Mistaken Wisdom which as he declar'd wars against Man's Soul And his first Direction herein was First Di 〈◊〉 that all Men would ponder and consider before they act For whilst they walk in this World they are in the company of Deceivers and they had need have their Eyes in their Heads and their Hands upon their Purses that is use all care that they be not deluded and in this Employment they should spend their time They should daily send out some Spies to give them true Intelligence and they should be as careful to get as good Law and Counsel to save their Souls as they are to secure their Bodies and Estates from the crasty Cheats and Delusions of others Believe it They should travel their Pilgrimage beset about with Guides and Opticks and all sorts of clear Glasses tied at their Girdles with Targets to defend their Heads and Eyes and with Weapons to force them away who would break and pull them from them This is their main business and this business they do or should know and own to be truly necessary and yet this is their usual Folly and Madness that they too too much neglect it They commonly pin their Welfare upon the Sleeves of Education and Custom doing as others do and have done before them and little very little regard why or wherefore they act thus or otherwise And whilst this is their course of life their Spiritual Enemies the Devil and their Lusts vanquish them for they lay Nets and Traps in their Walks and they never searching but running strait on are at length catcht and destroyed in them Now to overcome this danger this 〈◊〉 deadly danger they should fix their Thoughts upon what they do and examine what is their Rule and whither they tend They should consider whether their Enterprizes have God's Word for their Rule or only their own Wills and Desires which are naturally vain and vile They should turn their Actions this side and that and note which way their Bias leads them whether to Shame and Death or to Life and Glory whether to eternal Misery or Happiness They should pass no day without some Heavenly Soliloquy or holy dialogue with their Souls asking them what grounds they have to lay the 〈◊〉 of their Salvation on God's Mercy and their 〈◊〉 Merits How they can make it appear that they are Christ's Subjects and he their King What measure of Faith they have by which they expect the hope of Righteousness What Observance and Obedience to God by which they may be mark'd out and noted for his Friends as faithful Abraham was Such such Employs and Meditations are suitable for Christians high-born and precious Souls and when they are conversant in them they will be able to act according to the Prescriptions of true Wisdom and Knowledge Moreover since all of us are so much abus'd by our Natural Selves and our affected Folly and Knowledge wheedle us into the dark Chambers of Death let us resolve to cashiere these Enemies for ever never were such Stratagems and Delusions made use of as they exercise daily towards us They continually sport themselves with the Gulls and Cheats which they put upon us for they promise us Gardens and give us Dunghils Streams of Milk and Honey and give us an 〈◊〉 of Pitch and Brimstone Musical 〈◊〉 and delicious Banquets and only serve up to us wax'd Sweet meats and painted Venison and the Croakings of an affrighted Conscience Moreover they give us the World and at the same time snatch away our Souls and bargain to sell us some hours of Delight for an age of of Repentance and an Eternity of Woe Ask a poor Wretch who hath sadly experienc'd their Cheats what he can say in this case and he can tell you that they only shew'd him Pleasures which did bloodily scratch and bite him pleasant Groves tenanted with Tygers spacious Walks ending in bottomless Gulphs loaded Dishes and Golden Cups Canopied over with Swords and Halberds and underneath the Table lay in one place the Man made with Bones and his Dart in his Hand and hard by a ghastly Ghost with this Label from him Dying but never dead But if this Relation gain no Credit then if we dare be so bold call we up the Ghosts of Doeg Haman and Iudas and ask them how it now fares with them for their Treachery Pride and Cruelty Go go incredulous Fools and raise up Corah Dathan and Abiram
their last end will be thus qualified for there be many intermediate Ends of Vice which have not in them any appearance or symptoms of Death but of some good as Gain Sweetness Pleasure Honour but the last end will be deadly 'T is true the Wanton acts that he may have Pleasure and not Shame and Disease and the Thief robs to get Gain but the last end follows these which are intermediate and that is Death nay Deaths for it is Spiritual and Eternal And this will be found true in every vicious Course that wicked Men approve of and take to be vertuous because pleasing to their carnal Appetites for since the keeping of Gods Commands are recompenced with a double Reward of this Life and a better 't will follow that the breaking of them may be recompenced with a double Death and indeed in one and the same Vice not only a double Death but a manifold way of Destruction may be found as shall appear as we proceed The Holy Scriptures Seal to us the Truth of this Proposition for they say That the way of the wicked shall perish Psal. 1. 7. and if a Man wont turn from the Folly of his false Imaginations God will whet his Sword and bend his Bow and make it ready and prepare for him the Instruments of Death and ordain his Arrows against Psal. 137. 14. him St Iames says Sin bringeth forth Death the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thence the Apostles meaning is that Sin goes with Cap. 1. 15. Child of Death And this shall be made evident in several Instances That the end of Heresie is Death tho this Assertion the end of Adultery Sins are them up upon one the spiritual Death in it self a numerous for it doth not 〈◊〉 Greatness like a 〈◊〉 for many but because the Soul every fresh Heresie like a 〈◊〉 gives it a stab and 〈◊〉 it far more then once Brutus did Caesars shirt Now one Instrument it makes use of to destroy Mans Soul is by killing the Truth which is its Food and Sustenance for that being gone his Soul can no more subsist than the Body can without Meat and Drink But besides these Metaphorical Deaths which Heresies produce the Death of the Body and that more signal than ordinary hath through Gods just Iudgment followed them For Simon Magus who called himself a God could not by his Magical Power get to Heaven but the attempting of it by flight cost him a Fall which cost Euseb. Eccl. H. B. 5. c. 16. him his Life Such a corporal Death besel Theodotus the Montanist and Sorcerer Manes the Founder of the Maniches Socrat. B. 1. C. 22. undertook by Sorcery to heal the King of Persia's Son but instead thereof kill'd him and thereupon was taken and flaid alive his Skin fill'd with Chaff and hang'd at the Gates of his City Arius Socrat. B. 1. C. 38. did vent his Excrements and Life together Olympus an 〈◊〉 Bishop as he Bained himself at Carthage and blasphemed the ever Blessed Trinity was suddenly smitten from Heaven with three Darts and burned 〈◊〉 Cyrinus the Heretical Bishop of Calcedon from Socrat. B. 6. C. 19. a small accidental hurt of his Foot suffered much Misery he first lost both his Feet and then his Life Once more Severus the Heretical Bishop of Antioch had his Tongue pulled out by the Command of the Emperour Iustin Evagr. Eccl. H. A. D. 517. because he reviled the Orthodox Council of Calcedon and Preach'd railing Sermons Thus Heresie the Calenture Plague and Poyson of our Souls winds up fatal Bottoms for us and procures not only one but many ways of Death 2. As for those Carnal ways of Pleasure and Delight and of worldly Gain and Profit which deceive most Persons many of them as Murder Rebellion Sodomy Thieft and others are the High Roads to Capital Punishents and many instead of finding Riches and Content from them have been put off with an Ax or an Halter Yet if the eye of the Law cannot spy them or they escape the Execution of it yet Death will not be so baffled or deluded for if they run from one yet another Death will overtake and Arrest them tho' they run from the Corporal yet the spiritual Death will draw its Bow and fix its Dart in them Tho' they live to the World yet they are dead to Grace walking Carcasses living in Tombs and Sepulchres having putrid and rotten Souls And in good earnest such a living Death was accounted no Contradiction even amongst the Heathens for Persons who ran-counter to Philosophical Rules and whose Actions seemed wise only thro' the Medium of their sensitive Appetites were by them esteemed Dead and no better than rotten and stinking Carcasses Now to avoid this Soul Death the better sort of Heathens have physick'd themselves by mortifying their Bodies for they supposing that corporeal Pleasures were as great Murderers as Syrens who sang Persons into their fatal Embraces did prescribe a moral Purge and a strong one too called by the Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was a whipping Lecture for beating down those Motions which rose up against Reason and begot in the Body a downey softness and did flide them down into the Gulph of iniquity and they unstitched their Souls from too much sticking to bodily Delights and then proposed to them the love of Vertue and heavenly Matters The Stoicks used the same Medicine against this kind of Soul Death or Hectic of Vertue for their Doctors or great Philosophers prescrib'd their Schollars things severe and laborious for some were willing to be bound and others that their Bodies should smart with Rods and Whips How sad and lamentable his Condition is who through counterfeit Knowledge and false Wisdom hath brought his Soul into the Snares of Death may appear because in this Case it is stripp'd stark naked of all Grace and Vertue and it being thus swept and garnished the Devil enters in and takes Possession of it as of a Tenement of his own thus forfeited to him and there Commands as a most cruel and bloody Tyrant and is not this Condition sad Should we see a Person all naked bowed down and sadled and whipt into a full Career by the Devil thro' Church-Yards and over Vaults and Monuments of dry Bodies and Rottenness we would be much affected with the hideous condition of this Person and account it superlative Misery and in Anticipation of Hell it self Yet such is every one who through his own Glass looks well and at the same time is Domineer'd over by his carnal Appetite for he 's possessed and at the Command of Satan and is taken out and Rid up and down by him where he pleaseth And could this be made appear to his Senses it would horribly affright and make him break his Glass through which such a prodigious Monster did look fair and lovely But because this sort of Death is one of a subtle Nature
necessary and therefore should engage us in the Meditation of it because it is the most proper means for that end And when we have fix'd our thoughts to this purpose then we should fix them upon the main thing requir'd in us as We are Christians And that is set down by our Lord and Master from whom we have our Names in the Phrase of being Born again and the necessity of it is added Io. 3. 3. to stir up our diligence in assuring our selves that we are in that Condition for except it be thus we shall not see ver 3. the Kingdom of God So that we must be New or Undone Creatures live in Grace or die in Sin And next to the Necessity if it we must Meditate upon the Excellency the superlative Excellency of that New State As that it makes us partakers of the Divine Nature that is Regenerate by the 2 Cor. 5. 17. Holy Ghost or indewed with new qualities of Righteousness and Holiness wherein we resemble God as Children do their Father bearing the Image of his Wisdom and Purity And also that hereby we become Kings and Priests unto God Kings because of the Victories which in that Condition we obtain against the Flesh the World and the Devil and Priests because then we offer up to God a pure Body and Holy Prayers and the Works of Piety and Mercy The next Object we should fix upon in reference to our selves is to know what we shall be or what kind of future Life we shall live And in order hereto it will highly concern us to Meditate on the four last things namely Death Iudgment Hell Heaven These last things well consider'd will make us always last and live in spight of Death it self Now as a previous motive to six our thoughts upon the first of these Objects DEATH Let us Note that the Regular Death performance hereof may cause our Sins to Dye before they be Old and thereby secure us from the full strength and force of them in our Hearts for 't is the Nature of Sin to be stronger and more fierce when Old than Young the wither'd and drooping Body proves a Medicine for Sin 's growth and flourishing for when the Fort or Outwork of the Soul is Dismantled by many Breaches made in it by Lust and Intemperance and from the frequent Detachments and fresh Supplies sent by Satan from those vicious Habits as from a well furnish'd Magazine which he hath laid up against it then Sin retires into the Castle of Mans Soul and there un tes his Forces and makes them stronger and what Ruines the Out-work that is the Body hath suffer'd doth but Alarm Satan's Industry to make the Castle the more Invincible for himself Now the frequent thoughts of Death may out-wit Satan and prevent this his Stratagem and this should stir us up to be exercis'd in that counterplot and employment and that this will herein prove successful we may be assur'd from hence namely that the Heavenly Arithmetick of Numbering our Days that we may apply our Hearts to Wisdom must be learned by Meditation Hereby we should often visit our Sepulchres and take a turn in our Tombs and Dress our selves up in our winding Sheets By this Art we may make Death our Natures grim Enemy our choice Friend and hereby learn an Acquaintance with it and procure its familiarity and even touch and stroke it and so abate much of its fierceness when of necessity and according to Heavens Statute Law it must and doth come Believe it Meditation of it before is the best Receit to heal the anguish and sharpness of Death when it doth come and after our Thoughts have taken some Turns in the Charnel House let them come forth and by Meditation mount up to the place of Iudgment And there fix we our Minds upon the Righteous Iudge and the Glorious Tribunal and the Various Qualities and Postures of the Prisoners some smiling with their Pardons in their Hands and called by their Loving Master and Saviour from the Bar and plac'd at his Right Hand Others pale and ghastly and trembling under the terrours of a guilty Conscience and Seated on the Left Hand to be thrown down into a Prison of Eternal Darkness Meditate on the never Dying Worm that is bred in that Prison and there will fix his Venemous Teeth and Torment the Conscience for ever How to go through Hell to Heaven is a Road well known to those who have examined all the Passages which lead thither and are resolved upon that Iourney mauger all the dangers and frightful Objects and cruel usage which lye in the way to hinder them supposing it much better hereby to be scared to Happiness then to slide down delightfully to Misery we all know that the most dreadful State of those which are in Hell is express'd by Fire because it is the most terrible Element and the Meditation hereof may cause us through God's Grace to use all the proper means whereby we may escape it and that it may not be the Portion of our Cup. Now after such black and frightful thoughts which are as the Rod rather to keep us in awe and order than to assright and hurt us Let us Meditate on Heaven and this Heaven Object when duely entered upon will be so delightsome and delicious to our Souls that with the Spouse in the Canticles 2. Cap 5. they will crave whole Flaggons of it and drink so deep till they be inebriated with its sweetness For there all the precious and gracious Promises in God's Holy Word shall be fully accomplish'd and perform'd to them and what Draught can be more sweet and comfortable So that 't is our Recreation and Pleasure as well as our Obligation and Duty to Meditate on Heaven And that we may not be discourag'd from fixing our thoughts upon this Object because of the vast extent of it or surfeit them with the variety of those Delicacies which it affords For Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor can Man's Heart conceive what they are Let us set this Breviate or Epitomy of it before us and Meditate thereon Namely on the Incomparable and Incomprehensible Excellency of the Place of the unexpressible Ioys laid up in that place of the Fatness of that House of the innumerable Rivers of pleasure which glide along those Banks of the Transcendent Glory that fills every part of the Noble and Seraphical Quiristers which there attend of the Ravishing Anthems which are there heard and of the Vision of God himself which is Eternal Happiness And here Meletus looking about him and perceiving by the chearful aspects and diligent attention of his Hearers that their Ears were not yet satiated with his Lecture he went on to shew them some unquestionable Reasons why they should perform this Pious Office of Meditation and to what end and for what profit they should be so employ'd And the first Reason was because there is nothing more truly
and ask them how Schism thrives and what the end of it was and is to them Is it not for ever miserable If we are not hoarse and have still any Courage left us call we once more upon the rich Man and covetous Fool and ask them to what end their Pomp and worldly Mindedness brought them ask them who requir'd their Souls of them when their Barns were full of Grain and their Cellars of the best Wine and they must tell you that it was the Devil and his Angels with whom they dwell for ever These Examples may and should set before us the great Delusions which these our fore-mention'd Enemies use towards our Souls and the unhappy Condition they bring us into and how at last they decoy us into that Death whose Torments are as impossible to be express'd as to be endured Endless Eternal Torments And now my hearty and compassionate desire is that for God's and our Souls sake we would fix our Thoughts upon this unparallel'd Tragedy and that thereupon we would this day this hour begin or if we have done so continue to loath the softest Embraces of the World and arm our selves against all the Darts of its Temptations and become morose to all its gay and wanton Humours and to all the Solicitations of the Devil and our own deceitful Hearts The case is plain we have had base usage from them for their Delights lead to Misery their Riches to Poverty their Sweets to Bitterness and their Heaven to Hell wherefore there is all the reason imaginable that we should practice the utmost degree of revenge and hatred against them And whilst we make these our Foes and hate them let us make God our Friend and love him and since we can't do it our selves it highly concerns us to procure such a Friend who can and will assist us and will if we be not wanting to our selves put us into the right way of true Wisdom and Vertue even that way whose end is Pleasantness and Peace And that he would do so let us beg of him in our daily Devotions that he would order our Goings in his paths that our footsteps may not slide and that he would give us a Love to his Law and a right Understanding of it and a rectified Will to obey all the Precepts therein prescribed and a sober serious and settled Resolution and Perseverance herein to our lives end And if we thus act as we have prayed if in our Voyage to the Port of true Wisdom our hands are employed at the Rudder whilst our eyes are lifted up to Heaven then we may conclude that God hath been our Master and his Holy Spirit our Guide and we shall find to our Ioy and Comfort that we are truly Learned and Wise and our last end shall not be Death but Life eternal Life and Happiness Phanias having finished his Audit and therein given an exact Account of the Talent given to him to Traffick with and improve and having enrich'd his Auditors with the many excellent Commodities and vast Gain which was Imported thereby Glycon bethought himself who should succeed such a skilful and faithful Factor for the Company And having good reason to know and declare that Luperus was a wise and considerate Person he made a Courteous and obliging Insinuation to him that he would Discourse in their next Assembly Luperus beg'd his Pardon alledging for his Excuse that the Complement which he put upon him might have past much better upon any other of his present Friends and Moreover that he had been and was then exercis'd with many sorrowful Afflictions which ought to plead for his Supersedeas and discharge him from any Office in that place But the Society making some signs to Glycon to proceed in that Request He did so and with a convincing Argument as the event declar'd He told Luperus that his skilful Cruising in those Streights of Sorrows and Distresses which he was in made him the more accomplished to Pleasure his Friends with his wise Advice and proper Admonitions Hereupon Luperus replied That he would comply provided it might be with a lawful Revenge for his Importunity Glycon wished him to explain himself and in doing so he told him That as his Circumstances stood he must speak of that which would scarce gain Credit for it must be concerning joyful Sorrow and what advantage he had reap'd and carried into his own Garner thereby Glycon said that in his Conversation he had made it evident that he was Master of much true Wisdom and did believe that one apt means which he us'd for it was the right management of his Sorrows and Troubles and since Phanias went not that way in his Directions thereto he requested that the Company might hear his Sentiments herein upon his Subject of joyful Sorrow and the sweet and wholsome Fruits which grew upon it Hereupon Luperus stood up and bowing to the Assembly He undertook this following Discourse concerning that Subject CHAP. VII Of Ioyful Sorrow Discours'd of by Luperus I Have somewhere read that whatever Luperus one pensive and sorrowful from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trlste Vessels are put into the Stygian water whether of Stone Chrystal Glass or the like are broken with its force Also Iron Brass Lead Tin and Silver are dissolved therein nay Gold which resists the damage of Rust cannot the poison of this Water however saith my Author that which is made of the Horn of a certain Scythian beast is not Vid. Causin de Symb. Egypt Sap. l. 5. only not blemish'd but made the more excellent herein The wise and patient Person hath got the quality of this Horn for not all the Waters to which in Holy Scripture Adversity is compar'd can dissolve his Vertues but on the contrary by him they are rendred like the Streams of some Fountains which turn black things into white and hard into soft That is he turns Adversity and hardship into Ioy and Ease and makes them much betterthan he found them Now that he really doth so and how and why he and all mortified Christians accomplish this difficult Task shall at present be made known to you and for a compleat Demonstration hereof I shall shew that tho' the word Sorrow bears several meanings yet in some Degree each of them produce Ioy and Profit as may be seen especially in two Instances which may give us an Occasion of thinking upon more in our private Meditations Now the first Instance is That the First Instance word Sorrow signifies Anger and this is the Root of Ioy and Gain I do not mean such an Anger as is excessive and revengful But That whereby one Person chides and corrects another for his Faults and this Angry Sorrow is more profitable for the Transgressor than if he were smiled upon and applauded for his Folly For looking upon him with a furrowed Brow and giving him a biting smart Iuniper Lecture he may amend his Manners and hereby his Soul may be
live either that he may be reformed or that the good Person may be exercised by him And 't is worth a Remark that this is one Difference betwixt the Sons of Nobles and Inferiour Persons that the first have their Governors who care for them and reprove and correct them when there is need of it the others have none but they do what they list Thus those who are the adopted Sons of God 〈◊〉 they are dutiful and obedient and are Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven they have a Governor that is an Enemy who exerciseth corrects and reforms them Hereupon Christ saith Love your Enemies St. Mat. 44. and do good to them that hate you He saith not in this place Do good to them who do evil to you but to them who hate you And this saying shews that he who persecutes us does not do us evil but good because by him we are exercised to Vertue When Rebecca had two Sons in her womb Esau and Iacob they strove between themselves Hereupon God said The Elder shall serve the Younger i. e. Esau Iacob Hence S. Augustin asks How did Esau serve Iacob since he persecuted him to Death and through the fear of him he fied his Countrey To which he answered That the Elder was to serve the Younger not by Obedience but Vexation as the Fire serves the Gold Wherefore tho' the Sinner persecutes the Righteous by Scoffs and Injuries and threats of Death yet he doth not hurt but profit him he doth him good and not evil and therefore is not his Enemy He is only his true Enemy who seeks the Life of his Soul and always studies to deprive him of his eternal Inheritance and this the Devil doth and therefore is his true and only true Enemy This wrought such Conviction upon one of the Assembly who sate near the present Speaker named Eureketas that he openly said Certainly he must have no Eye in his Soul that is no understanding who cannot perceive much Splendour and he must be a bad Accomptant who cannot reckon up many Benefits which are plac'd in this Office of Love Enemy as you have describ'd it to us But if you can yet hold out I would beg the Favour of you to teach me how to make those Engines by which I may frame it in my self for till now I never esteemed it possible to be wrought in any Body I shall replied Eumenes only teach you to make one Engine and that will do it as well as a Thousand and that is this I would have you not only to know what the Grace of Charity is as it hath been lately described to you but to live in the right use and exercise of it for as the heat of the Sun consumes the Clouds so the heat of Charity melts away Injuries to nothing and so translates an Enemy into a Friend But on the contrary as the cold of the Night nourisheth the Clouds so the Heart grown cold with Malice and Revenge retains and encreaseth Reproaches and hatcheth Enmity out of a very little Injury It is worth more than our ordinary Notice what we read in Holy Writ of a little Cloud which ascended from the Sea and then the Heavens were much darkned 2 King 18. and many Clouds and much Wind did arise and there followed a great Storm For it may be thus applied It is frequent in our present Case That first a little Cloud ariseth from the Sea that is some small Injury from a salt bitter heart some Scurvy word is utter'd and then other Clouds of Injuries do follow Hereupon the Mind is much darkned and much Thunder and Rain that is many railing and angry Expressions fall but if the heat of the Sun of Charity extenuates the little Cloud of Reproaches and disperseth it then a Tempest of revengeful Evil will not arise Upon Tryal you will find that the Affection of Love is an hot Sun and he that takes it away deprives the World of that Planet but if it remain then as the Sun gives light to the Stars so that will give Loveliness to Angels and Men And as Gold gilds Wood and Iron and adorns them so will that Affection gild the Soul and cloath it with the Ornament of God I am hugely satisfied said the forementioned Eureketas that an Engine made as you have directed is proper to frame this sort of Affection and when it is fram'd I must own it to be an excellent Peice and such as will make the Soul very gay and lovely But there is one part of it generally disliked and I have seen some scornfully Smile at it and say that it spoils the whole and indeed most Persons whom I have convers'd with Shoot some Bolt against it I had thought said Eumenes to have given you a Taste a full Draught would prove nauseous of the Sentiments which some entertain against this Duty of Loving our Enemies But you speak but of one part which finds an ill Character with some Persons and therefore I pray mention it that you may have your desired Resolution therein It is then with Submission said he That part of the Duty which concerns the forgiving of Injuries That is replied Eumenes a curious Slip of that delicate Flower the Love of an Enemy and it is Pity it should be blown upon and ruffled with the Wind of a detracting Tongue However proceed and tell us What is the ill Character which you have heard of it It is this said Eureketas Namely that to forgive Injuries is called by some a low pittiful sneaking Temper and us'd only by Persons of narrow scanty Souls and Fortunes and void of all Bravery and Courage I have heard the same said Eumenes but this is an Errour and such which rather deserves Pity if not Scorn than a serious Thought and an Argument against it would be too too great an Honour for it For I pray weigh the Matter and N. B. tell me Doth God himself account it high and noble to Forgive and shall any Person account it vile and base Is it honourable in the Lords eye and shall it be despicable in the Servants Surely if there can be any such Conceit it must be the mishapen Child of Ignorance and Pride There are other Persons who instead of forgiving Injuries study to excuse themselves from the Duty by saying that if they do so All People will slight them and they shall bear no Figure or a very little one amongst their Neighbours Now herein I shall suppose as they do and also that they may be scorched with the Iuniper Coals or the scotts and Ieers of rude Tongues but then I must request them to tell me whether the Commendations of God and Angels will not prove a Remedy sufficient to cure the smart which they suffer hereupon It is well known that unworthy Persons condemn them and those of the best Qualifications think them Praise-worthy Fools deride and Wise men admire them and surely this Carriage may be made use