trouble And it is not for us to say This or that is a small Business for I tell ye let it seem never so small It is a great advance the very first Step that leads to Vertue and Perfection V. If we may compare to a Tree the old man in us that derives his Original from the infected Seed of Adam we may resemble Self-Love to the Root a Perverse Inclination to the Trunk Perturbations to the Branches Vitious Habits to the Leaves Evil Works Words and Thoughts to the Fruit. Now the way to hinder all subsequent Corruptions and Wickedness is to lay the Ax to the Root and to begin with Self-Love Take away that and the whole Off-spring of Carnal Appetite is destroy'd at one Blow And this is done by Humility and Contempt of our selves We must be lowly in our own Eyes and not fear either the Scorn or the Displeasure of Men We must chearfully submit to what condition soever God hath appointed for us He that hates himself as he ought shall be sav'd He that loves himself as he ought not is in danger to perish CHAP. XIII Of Love the Nature of it Causes and Effects Its Remedies and somewhat added of Hatred I. LOve is a certain Delight or Satisfaction we take in that which is Good The first Impression that affects the Appetite proceeding from the Pleasure we take in a known Good It is the Cement of the World the most powerful of all our Passions subdue this once and the rest are easily overcome The Love which is divine aspires naturally toward its Original All Good comes from the Soveraign Good and thither it tends Let every man call his own Soul to a Shrift and see what it is that his Heart is most set upon For it is either the God which he should worship or the Idol which he should not It is the Command of God that we love him with the whole heart and without a Rival He that loves any thing else with his whole heart makes that his God II. Beside the ordinary Motives to Love which are Vertue and Beauty there is also a certain Agreement and Congruity of Minds and Manners together with several Graces and Advantages both of Body and Mind As Modesty of Behaviour Industry Nobility Learning Sharpness of Wit c. But the great Attractive of Love is Love it self which if accompany'd with Benefits is sufficient to turn even the strongest Aversion into a Kindness Men of clear Spirits warm and sanguine Constitutions mild and gentle Natures are much given to Love III. So great is the Power of Love that it does in a manner transform the Lover into the thing belov'd It is a kind of a willing Death a voluntary Separation of the Soul and Body He that is in Love is out of himself he thinks not of himself he provides nothing for himself and effectually he is as good as no where at all if he be not with the thing he loves His Mind is in one place and his Body in another How miserable is that man that loves and loves not God! What Proportion is there betwixt a corruptible Object and the Immortal Soul The end of such Love is Vanity and Vexation and Disappointment Whereas he that loves God lives always where he loves in him in whom all things live and in a secure possession of an unchangeable Good In Carnal Love there is a mixture of Bitterness and Violence but the Love of God is altogether humble and calm The one is full of Jealousies the other has none Here we are afraid of Rivals and there we pray for them We are to love God if we love our selves for we are only the better for it not He. Man is changeable and mortal but there 's no losing of God unless we forsake him IV. If we would have the love we bear to our Neighbour sincere it must be wholly sounded upon Piety and Religion abstracted from all the common Considerations of Wit Likeness Good Humour c. The Platonic Love which pretends from the sight of a Corporal Beauty to raise the Soul to the Contemplation of the Divine proves in the end to be the very Bane of Vertue It is very rarely that a man stops at the view of a lovely Woman without a desire to come nearer and whether it be a Ray only or some kind of Fascination with it that passes from the Eye to the Object somewhat there is that dissolves a man and ruines him There 's more danger in a slip of the Eyes than of the Feet The Cure of Love is the more difficult because the more we oppose it the stronger Resistance it makes And if it be not checkt at the very beginning it comes so insensibly upon us that we are in before we are aware but if we begin with it betimes the Remedy is not difficult One way of Cure may be by Diversion and plunging a mans self into business to put the thought of it out of his head But then we must avoid all occasions and Circumstances that may mind us of the Person we love For if we relapse there will be no Remedy but Time and Absence and we must expect to be perpetually seized with it till in the end it 's weary'd out and falls asleep Many have been cur'd out of mere shame to see themselves pointed at and made Town-talk and then perhaps they may have been brought to a better understanding of the Dishonour and Hazzard of their Proceeding Others have relieved themselves by finding out of Faults and Inconveniencies and by enquiring into the Errors and Imperfections of the thing they love But the last and surest Remedy is to drive out a Carnal Love with a Spiritual and to turn our Affections to God to Vertue to Heaven and to Eternity which are truly amiable A generous Mind cannot but be asham'd to set his heart upon a Dunghil Evil Love corrupts good Manners V. What is it but a kind of Natural Love-Chain that ties the whole World together and the several parts of it The Stars of the Firmament in their Motions the Birds of the Air and the Beasts of the Field Now this Sacred Bond is only dissolv'd by Hatred which leads to Division and Dissension as Love does to Union The most subject to this Vice are the Slothful the Fearful and the Suspicious for they fancy themselves to be threatned with Mischief which way soever they look There are some people of so unsociable a Nature that like Birds of ill Omen they both hate and fear all things together These men are a Burthen to themselves and to Mankind and to be avoided by all means but with Pity not Hatred And in truth there will be no place for Hatred if we turn every thing to the best for there is no man so ill but he has some mixture of Good in him There is nothing truly detestable but Sin and Damnation If we turn our Hatred any other way the harm is to
Satisfaction He that covets Praise does not deserve it for what is there in us that is Praise-worthy Frail and miserable Wretches that we are and at the best but Unprofitable Servants If there be any man that has the Confidence to justifie himself and say he has done his duty let him have a care that he be really what he would be thought to be and that he approve himself in that which the World esteems him for Our Being Life and Reason we owe to Almighty God and the only thing we can claim to our selves is our Iniquity Nothing we are and nothing we have to boast of and till we acknowledge this we shall never be any thing CHAP. X. Of the Government of the Body and the Senses How far the Body may be indulged The Lust of the Eye and Excess in Apparel are condemned I. IN the Entertainment of our Bodies we are to take care that they be kept in Obedience to the Mind on the one hand and want nothing that is necessary for Health on the other We are to provide for them but not wholly to serve them Give me Meat to lay my Hunger Drink to quench my Thirst Clothes to keep me warm and Lodging to shelter me from the Weather I 'll ask no more Nay we are to suspect all Superfluities for Whatsoever is beyond a Competence is a Snare He that is over-solicitous for his Body is thecontrary for his Soul And certainly we are born to Nobler Ends than to be Slaves to our Carcases which we are no otherwise to consider than as the Cages and Prisons of our Minds A wise and a good man does not so behave himself as if his Body were the main end of his Being but he takes care of it because he cannot live without it The Body is the Instrument of the Soul and 't is not for a Workman to neglect his Trade and spend his whole time in ordering his Tools It is the sign of a Sot to be always tending of the Body II. Since it is by the Windows of the Senses that Death enters into the Soul we are to draw them as much as may be from the earthly Life to the Heavenly and to keep them from being altogether taken up with worldly Delights For we are to use them as Servants not as Masters In the first place we are to set a Guard upon our Eyes There is not any thing that more powerfully moves the Imagination stirs the Appetite or works upon the Mind than a wandring Glance and the Mischief is done in a moment Wherefore let the inward Eye accompany the exterior that we may see God in every thing we look upon and when we shall have once learn'd to adore him in his Creatures our next step will be the Contemplation of his Divine Majesty and to worship him in Himself A delicate well-drest Woman is an elaborate Luxuy There 's Death in her very Looks and if you stand to gaze upon her you 're undone Comedies Balls and Publick Spectacles do but weaken the Mind and fill it with Toys that take us off from the Consideration of better things One Error in the Eye begets another in the Affections III. Hearing is the Sense of Discipline the Gate by which the Notions of Truth and Wisdom are convey'd into the Mind If the Passage of the ear be not narrowly watch'd we shall entertain Lies and Fables for Verities and Folly for Wisdom We must keep out all Slanderers Tale-bearers New mongers Babblers Busie-bodies Idle Impertinents and whatsoever else is beside our main Business As in Musick a Man is not only affected upon the very Instant of hearing it but the Harmony leaves an Impression behind it that works upon him when it is over so in Conversation a lewd Discourse though it does us no hurt perchance at present will be yet running in our heads afterward and create in us evil Dispositions The less we hear Men about our ears the more shall we hear God in our hearts As to Perfumes and precious Odors they are an effeminate kind of Luxury Let us sweeten our Manners for it is more noble and manly to indulge our Souls than our Nostrils The Taste is to be humbled by Abstinence and Sobriety The Touch by Discipline Mortifications and Austerities Is it not bitter to punish the Body and preserve it than so to flatter and indulge it as to ruine both Body and Soul for ever IV. One may give a shrewd guess at the humour of a Man by his Clothes There is some regard therefore to be given to the decency of our Apparel and Dress A Fool is known by his Coat The ancient Sages among the Heathen would not suffer a man so much as to hold up his finger without giving a Reason for it Now though I would not be so strict I could wish yet that men would be a great deal more careful in many cases than they are I do not like profuse Laughter Scurrility Loose Behaviour Antick Motions and Gestures a huddling Gate nor any thing whatsoever that may give Offence as foul Linen a greasie Doublet an unpleasant Countenance waggling the Head or making Apes faces yawning and looking about as if one were weary of the Company nor in Conclusion any thing to make them weary of us Many things may be well enough done that are not fit to be seen V. Man was created naked and he was not ashamed for he knew no shame in it But after his Transgression came in his shame he lost his Innocence and kept him in Countenance before and made himself Breéches to cover his Nakedness But that which was originally a Mark of Guilt and Shame is now become a Badge of Dignity and Honour Our Garments now adays are not so much for Covering as for Ornament and to entertain the Eyes and Curiosities of others The Trimming and Dress is the index of the Mind It is a scandalous Effeminacy for a man to spend his time betwixt the Comb and the Glass If he that 's proud or enamour'd of an outside did but well consider what 's under it I am perswaded it would take down his stomach He that has Vertue in his Mind never troubles himself about Lace for his Back Vertue is best in her native Beauty without Arts or Fucusses and so glorious in her self that if she were covered with Jewels they would but serve her for a Foil It is a miserable mistake in men to bestow so much Cost and Care upon the Body and leave the Soul in all manner of Pollution and Uncleanness To see men load themselves with Chains and because they are of Gold to glory in them too without any sense of Infamy or Contempt as if the Metal made the difference We are Princes in Golden Fetters and Slaves in Iron Some are only shackled with Gold others are riveted and fastened to it Their ears are bored where they carry a whole Patrimony in a Pendent and that which was in old time a
effected by Revenge but rather by Patience and Obligations It may perchance work a thorow Reformation upon him but very probably it will quiet and sweeten him at the least Or however we our selves shall most certainly be the better for it if he be not Well! There 's such a one is my mortal Enemy he has spoken the basest and the most dishonourable things of me How am I now to behave my self in this case Why truly according to the Rules of Charity and of good Discretion I have this but at second hand I can hardly believe it Or if he did say it some body has abus'd him I am confident he had no ill meaning in it Nay it may be he said it on purpose that I should hear on 't again and be the better for 't The truth on 't is he hath right on his side for I cannot much deny the thing and I 'm e'en well enough serv'd for beginning with him But after all this what if it shall be found to be mere Malice and a Design upon an Innocent Person Was not my Saviour more innocent and incomparably a greater Sufferer I am to say with the Prophet I was dumb and opened not my mouth because it was thy doing Let us all look to our own ways and have a care that what other People say or do amiss prove not unto us an occasion of falling IX But what is it that troubles us Opinion If so It is but removing that Opinion and we are secure and this methinks might be done by a very ordinary way of Reason Nothing can hurt us unless we joyn with it to hurt our selves The mind is safe and inaccessible out of the reach of Injuries and Accidents It moves it self and in judging of Externals it makes every thing only to be as it is taken My Adversary says one is certainly the vilest Creature upon the Face of the Earth Let him alone then say I and leave him to be punish'd by some other hand Or however he has his Torment already in his Transgression He 's a man of Reason and I wonder he can allow himself in these Liberties I prethee wonder at thy self too and begin the Reformation at home upon thy own Impatience and learn to overcome Evil with Good But we have other mens faults in sight and our own behind us Oh the Pleasure of Revenge says the Vindictive man Let him take it then say I upon condition that he fall upon his greatest Enemy first Let him begin with his extravagant fury and rage Is not he a mad man that runs into the Streets to beat Boys for breaking his Windows when he has Thieves in his House that are ready to rifle hâ—m and cut his Throat When Plato's hand was up in Choler to strike an untoward Servant he consider'd better of it and checked himself Sirrah says he I would box ye if I were not angry with you Judging it more for his credit to chastise his Passion before he meddled with his Man and giving to understand that a Cholerick Master deserves the Lash better than a Negligent Servant You shall very rarely find any man Brave that is Furious X. Judges and Publick Magistrates may be allowed to put on a Countenance of Severity and Displeasure but if at any time it comes up to Anger let it be so ordered as only to wait upon Reason but not to preclude it Offenders are to be reprehended and corrected too but without Passion So long as there are bad men in the World there will be Villany in it and he that is resolved to fret himself for whatsoever he sees amiss shall never have one quiet hour while he breaths We are not angry at the Heats and Colds in their proper course and season No less natural are the Indignities we suffer from wicked men and no otherwise ought we to concern our selves for them A wise and a good man should deal with Malefactors as a Physician does with mad Men do them all the good he can and let their Extravagancies go for nothing The only Revenge for a Slanderer is to let him alone as if he were not worth a Revenge The less his Calumny works upon another the more it works upon himself by disappointing him of the end and pleasure of his Contumely But 't is a shame you 'l say for a man to be contemn'd and not to vindicate his Honour How great a shame is it then to fear to be contemned for no man fears Contempt but he that deserves it A wise man reckons nothing disgraceful but sin for he governs himself not according to the judgment of men but of God If any man despise me if any man hate me let him look to it it shall be my care not to deserve either Patience is invincible and triumphs in the end over Nature it self It is a kind of Imitation of God himself who forgives all suffers all and with his Mercies transcends our Iniquities It is more glorious to take no notice at all of an Injury than to pardon it CHAP. VIII Of Envy and Sloth with their Description and Cure I. THE Envious man is not only the first but the greatest Plague to himself He preys upon his own Bowels before he meddles with his Neighbours Goods and it is not in this as in other Vices where the Punishment follows the Sin for here it goes before it and yet keeps it company too for they go hand in hand together A Diabolical Affection That another mans Happiness must be my Torment and that which makes him fat must make me lean In other sins we find only an opposition to this or that particular Vertue But Envy perverts the very nature of things and professes open Enmity to all Goodness First to God himself whose Nature it is humanely speaking to communicate all his Mercies and Blessings Next to the Saints and Angels who rejoyce in the Comforts of their Companions as if they were their own Thirdly to Christian Charity which bids us do good even to our Enemies And lastly to the Law of Nature which commands us to wish other people as happy as our selves Envy is a kind of blear-ey'd Affection it cannot endure to look against the Light II. Satan indeed is envious but it is against Men not his Fellow-Devils Whereas in our Envy worse than the Devils themselves we fall foul one upon another A sign of a mean and abject mind for we envy nothing but what we think above us He that would deliver himself from this Distemper must take his heart off from this transitory World and fix it upon a better The love of Eternity is the death of Envy He that has set his heart upon Heaven can never envy any mans Enjoyments upon Earth It were as if a Prince should envy a Cobler He reckons the World and all the Glories of it not worth a serious thought We have enough to do a man would think to struggle with our own Afflictions
without vexing our selves at the prosperity of others No man shall ever be Happy so long as the sight of a Happier man than himself can make him miserable If by envying the Wealth the Abilities the Dignity of our Neighbours we could transfer all to our selves it were something But this is never to be done by Envy by Love in some measure it may For by loving what 's good in another we make it our own III. We may couple Envy and Sloth together for they both agree in an abject Heaviness of Mind The Envious mans Trouble is to see any body else happy and the Slothful mans to despair of being so himself And none but pitiful Wretches are subject to either of these Passions Sloth is the Vice of a languishing Spirit that 's weary of every thing that 's good and for fear of blocks and difficulties in the way shrinks at the very thought of any Generous Enterprize It will and it will not The Sluggard is various and unconstant a burthen to himself a trouble to others He 's perpetually wishing himself out of the World weary of his Life and the Contriver of his own Misfortunes He 's like a Top in continual Agitation the Whip drives him about but 't is only round not forward He stops still at half-way and goes through with nothing All his Works are insipid and like warm Water a Vomit both to God and man This stupid Drowsiness must be shak'd off and a generous Resolution taken up in the place of it or we are undone for ever As the Bird is made to fly so is Man born to labour And since Labour and Travel are our Portion why should we not rather take pains to be happy than to be miserable Let us be never so lazy to Godward the World will yet find us work enough to do One man labours for an Estate another for a Title or an Office when half that trouble and diligence would secure us a blessed Eternity and no body looks after it But Vices and Vanities come to a better Market The greater is our shame to be so dull and careless in a matter of that Importance as not to endure the Labour of one Moment for an Eternal Reward There is nothing so hard but Courage with Gods Blessing may overcome We fancy Difficulties where there are none Whatever the Mind imposes upon it self it obtains He that does what he can does as much as he needs to do God helps the willing CHAP. XI Of Pride Ambition and Vain-Glory The Description of a Proud Man The Vanity of Dignities and the Dangers The Evils of High-Mindedness and the Cure I. PRide Ambition and Vain Glory are Vices that are very near akin And they are to other sins as the Sea is to the Rivers the Source and Fountain of them all When a man comes once to be blown up with this Tumour of Adoring Himself farewel all Reverence and Respect both to God and Man And if there be no way to Glory but by Villany and Fraud by the Ruine or Death of his Brother That 's the way he 'l take without any difficulty or scruple The Proud man is abominable to God and intolerable to Mankind All his faculties and studies are bent upon Popular Applause He takes wonderful Delight in the Contemplation of his own Abilities and to think what pity 't is such Men as he are not employed at the Helm He 's as bold as blind Bayard and puts his Oar into every mans Boat ever magnifying himself and despising all others And yet all this is done under a Mask of Humility for fear he should be suspected of Ambition If he miss his end or fall into disgrace the whole World is too little to hear his Story and he makes it his business to stir up brawls and disputes No man so insolent and domineering to his Inferiours nor so arrant a Slave to those that are above him He 'll fawn upon ye like a Spaniel and you shall find him as tame a Mutton If there be any thing in him that 's good he has the Arrogance to challenge it to himself as if God Almighty had no hand in 't He loves to be in at every thing and to talk loud and Magisterially of matters that he understands no more than a Goose. He is a great meddler in other peoples affairs rash in his Judgment and severe in his Censure He 's much better at spying out his Neighbours Faults than his Vertues He has a kind of disdainful Singularity in his Port Words Looks Actions and Ways He is not to be wrought upon either by Correction Caution or good Advice He wants abundance of good things which he fancies he has and those which really he is possest of are nothing so great as he imagines them And this it is that makes him gall and fret himself as who should say Good Lord What an Age are we fallen into when Men of Parts are ready to beg their bread and such as I am come to be neglected He is afflicted with a perpetual Palpitation of the heart and it can hardly be otherwise with one that is continually upon the Tip-toe and streining at Honour a thing which is out of his reach Pride is the Foundation of all Evil. II. If we will know the Difference between the smallest Particle of Eternal Bliss and the whole sum of what appears to be desirable in this World Kingdoms Empire nay the intire Universe it self let us but lay them in the Scale one against the other and the Earth with all the Pomps and Pleasures of it are not so much as a Leaf or a Feather in the Ballance Let us look upward then and address our selves to the end for which we were created and laying aside all vain Opinions of our own Excellencies let us examine our selves and take a true estimate of our Worth and Value He that is proud in a mean Condition certainly if he had been born to a Crown there would have been no enduring him Now I would have every Christian to prize himself not as the Son of Caesar but which is more as the Son of God redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ. This is an Extraction that is truly Honourable Why do we not glorifie our selves upon this account but tather lie groveling upon the Earth to the scandal of our Divine Original God is our Father who hath elected us to the Dominion of the Heavens and the Stars and given us an Assurance of an everlasting Possession Here lies our Glory our Nobility our Comfort Here we may lawfully boast Let us therefore raise our Eyes and our Hearts and frame our Lives and manners to the Likeness of our Father which is in Heaven This is the way that leads to True and to Immortal Honour III. As for Crowns and Scepters what are they but Golden Fetters and glaring Miseries which if men did but truly understand there would be more Kingdoms than Kings to govern them A great
one to the Mind than the other is to the Body He that lives in Hope has not one moment of quiet so long as the Will wants the thing it hopes for II. We should never cast an eye upon any thing either without us or about us but with this Consideration It is all transitory and frail How strangely do we forget our selves Are we not born Mortal And this day nay this very hour what assurance have we of it Do we not live upon Trust and is not Death at the very heel of us It is by Gods Power and Mercy that we live and have a Being From him we have received all and when he calls to him it is that we are to render all without repining He 's an ungrateful Debtor that speaks ill of his Creditor There is not any thing under Heaven that we ought to hope for And Heaven it self is the only warrantable Subject of our Hope III. Despair proceeds from a sluggish Abjection of Mind too great an Apprehension of Difficulties a criminal Distrust of our selves and a Defect both of Resolution and Industry This weakness may be overcome by suggesting Encouragements drawn from the Examples of those that have extricated themselves out of greater Straits Let us begin then and press forward for God will assist our Endeavours and all Difficulties will be made easie to us so soon as we shall have relinquish'd the false Opinions that have misled us There is not any thing befalls us but what was allotted us from Eternity and it is either tolerable or otherwise If it may be born we are not to despair but to endure it If not it will make a quick end both of it self and of us too and we are not to despair there neither If we cannot endure it 't is short if we can 't is light It is in our own power to make many things tolerable by balancing them with the benefit and convenience that attends them Affliction is the occasion of Virtue CHAP. XVII Of Fear The Vanity of it and how to master it Rashness to be avoided and something more of Anger I. I Have known many people without any visible or so much as probable danger run raving up and down as if they were stark mad upon the bare Apprehension of some Imaginary Mischief to befal them The Torment they endure is unspeakable what betwixt the Impression of a present and the Apprehension of a mischief to come There are many Misfortunes which we create and have a Being only in the Imagination There are others which threaten us indeed but a far off and they 'll come soon enough of themselves without being drawn on before their time There are some so weak as to govern themselves by Dreams and idle Phansies without any reasonable ground of Conjecture at all and to be startled at every foolish Rumor A word mistaken is enough to break their sleep and the Apprehension of a Great Mans Displeasure puts them directly out of their Wits not so much for the Displeasure it self as for the Consequences of it But these are vain Thoughts and the vainer the more Troublesome For Truth has its Measure and Limits but Imagination is boundless And the main Difference I find betwixt the Sufferance of a Misfortune and the Expectation of it is this The Grief for what hath befaln us will over but the fear of what may befal us hath no end II. He that would deliver himself from the Tyranny of Fear let him take for granted that what he fears will come to pass and then enter into a Computation upon the whole matter Upon this Deliberation he will certainly find that the things he fears are nothing so terrible in themselves as in the false Opinion of them 'T is a hard case for a man to be banished or laid in Irons 'T is a terrible pain to be burnt alive And yet we have many instances not only of Christians but Infidels also that have Despised and Triumphed over all this and more indeed than this amounts to Stephen suffered death with a quiet Constancy of mind and pray'd for his Persecutors Laurence rejoyces upon the Gridiron and braves the Tyrant The Virgin Appollonia leaps into the Fire Anaxarchus is chearful in the Morter under the very stroak of the Hammer Socrates takes off his Cup of Poyson as if it had been a Frolick and drinks the Health to Critias What is there now so terrible in the Faggot or the Gibbet or in the train of Executioners and Officers of Justice that attend it under this Pomp and Formality which serves only to fright Fools there lies Death That which so many thousands of Men Women and Children have not only Welcom'd but Courted Set aside the noise the hurry and the disguise in these Cases and let every thing appear in its own shape we shall find there is nothing terrible in the matter but the mere Apprehension of it And that it fares with us great Boys as it does with little ones our very Nurses and our Play-fellows if they be but drest up with a white Sheet or a Vizard are enough to put us out of our Senses Nay and we are the sillier Children of the two for we are struck with a Panique Terrour not only at the Counterfeit of a Reality but the very Counterfeit of a Counterfeit torments us III. Bring it now from a particular to a common Cause and let every man say to himself I have a frail and mortal Body liable to distempers sickness and in the conclusion to death it self All this I have known from a Child and the many ill Accidents that threaten me What have I now to fear Bodily sickness My Soul will be the better for 't Poverty My Life will be the safer and the sweeter for 't Loss of Fortune Why then farewel all the Cares and Dangers that accompany it Loss of Credit If I suffer deservedly I shall detest the Cause but approve the Justice If wrongfully my Conscience will be my Comforter Shall I fear a Repulse or a Disappointment there never was any man but wanted something or other that he desired Banishment I 'll Travel and Banish my self Loss of my Eyes It will deliver me from many Temptations What if men speak evil of me It is but what they are us'd to do and what I deserve Shall I fear Death It is the very condition I came into the World upon Well! But to dye in a strange Country All Countries are alike to him that has no abiding-place here But for a man to die before his time As if a man should complain of having his Shackles knock't off and being discharged of a Prison before his time We are not to look upon Death or Banishment as causes of Mourning as Punishments but only as Tributes of Mortality It is a senseless thing to fear what we cannot shun IV. Let us take heed of being over-confident and venturing at things beyond our strength for no man is more