Honesty Fortitude hath a double Office one and the chief to endure Labours and Dangers the other to set upon them when 't is fitting A Valiant man thrusts not himself rashly into Evils but when they come he constantly suffers them he desires not dreadfull things but he despises them he 's there lifted high where others are depressed there he stands up where others lye down no disgrace no repulse no exile no injury daunts him not a Prison not Torments not Death it self terrifies him he dashes against his greatness all sorrow all sickness all trouble he permits not himself to be wrested from what is right by any Threats or Entreaties he loses not his Courage although many obstacles impede his well begun enterprizes he faints not under the burthen nor struggles with the Office he hath once undertaken but persists till he hath perfected it he stands upright under any weight no Force no Power no Terror makes him less he neither throws down his Virtue nor hides it when Dangers on all sides surround him He evermore considers whither he goes not what he endures 2. As one sailing with a prosperous Gale furnishes himself with several helps wherewith to entertain the Tempest so it will behove thee whilst Fortune is favourable to seek safeguards to shelter thee against its future frowardness Feign to thy self that whatsoever finister chance can happen is already faln upon thee Shipwreck Banishment Wounds Torments Diseases Disgraces Contempt and behave thy self in such sort as if thou wert now in the very midst of these miseries that exercised by this Preludium thou mayst say in any future event I have had these things already in my mind I have foreseen them and have despised them 'T is decreed from Eternity what thou shalt rejoyce at for what thou shalt weep and although each mans Life seems to be distinguished with great variety all comes to one sum We receiv'd perishable things our selves being to perish Why art thou Angry At what complainest thou Although all things perish nothing of thine perishes 'T is better to give what God demands back than to be forc'd to pay it Epicurus himself professes that a Wise man may be happy even in his Torments Were he in the Belly of Phalaris's Bull sayes he he will say How pleasant is this How little doth it concern me Surely a great word but not incredible to us who have extant amongst us so many examples of Martyrs whose Constancy in their torments whose Alacrity in their fiery tryals was so great that they seem'd to have no feeling of their sufferings To him who loves God all Punishments are Pleasures 3. The excellency of Fortitude appears no where more illustriously than in the danger of Death 'T is a difficult thing to perswade the Mind to a contempt of Life with which most men are so enamoured that they esteem nothing more happy nothing more precious But if thou art Wise as thou oughtst to be thou wilt cease to account Death amongst Evils which surely is the end of Evils and the beginning of Life Thou art therefore to go forth with a willing mind being to return again Death hath no invincible Necessity so that to fear it is the part of a Mad-man for things which are doubtfull are dreaded but things which are assured are expected Consider that Children and people faln from their Wits fear not Death 'T is a pittifull thing that Reason should not afford thee so much security as Foolishness gives them Life was given thee with the exception of Death He would not have Liv'd who will not Dye 4. Nature hath gratified us in that it hath granted us for a certain time the use of its Objects to be look'd upon that time being now expired we must depart What Wise man at his last gasp if his Life were again given him would be willing to re-enter the Prison of his Mothers womb to resume the follies of Infancy the fears of Childhood the dangers of Youth the cares of Virility the labours of Old-age No one hath liv'd so happily as that it would please him to be born again Observe therefore whither thou goest and from what thou departest The cause of thy fear is the emptiness of good works which thou beginnest to desire at the end of thy life otherwise thou would'st not tremble standing upon the threshold of Eternal Felicity It were a punishment for a just man to be born unless Death followed 5. No one receiv'd Death cheerfully but he who for a long time before dispos'd himself for it Render it familiar to thee by freequent reflections that when it comes thou may'st with alacrity entertain it Not the Days not the Years make thee to have liv'd long enough but a Mind glad to go forth and to fly back to its beginning He hath liv'd long who dyes well He dyes well who hath liv'd well Wilt thou prepare for thy self a peaceable Death Accustom thy self to despise all things He cannot fear Death who hath already depriv'd himself of more then Death can bereave him Wilt thou make thy life pleasant Cast off all solicitude concerning it Stand prepared for any kind of Death let it be to thee indifferent whether a Sword or a Feaver cuts off thy Life and so dispose it that thou mayst daily say I have Lived He Lives securely and Dyes chearfully who every day carries himself out to his burial to whom it is granted when his Life is ended Thou canst not Live well unless thou Diest daily CHAP. XXIX Of Magnanimity The Description of a Magnanimous Man 1. MAgnanimity sounds some great thing in its very name 't is a high Virtue whose strongest force tends evermore to great matters Without this all the endeavours of the other Virtues fall down to nothing For since in practising them many difficulties occur the mind is to be erected and emboldned to proceed against them nor ought it to desist till having broken through all interposed obstacles it generously gets the possession of the proposed Good This Magnanimity performs which evermore inclines man to high and heroick actions and supported by Gods Assistance securely and promptly sets upon all sorts of difficulties Somthing is to be attempted if thou wilt be any thing A great matter cannot be atchieved with little labour Man is a great thing when he is truly a Man 2. A great mind aspires always to great things and contemns all those things as little which the Vulgar look on as greatest He performs works which deserve high honor but as for the honor it self he neither seeks it when 't is deny'd nor scorns it when 't is offred unless Gods honour and Obedience otherwise require He doth nothing for Ostentation all for Conscience and expects the reward of his well done action not from the Peoples applause but from the deed it self He stands always aloft eminent invincible like to himself in all accidents and occasions nor doth he thrust himself into higher places content with his
invade the Divine Tribunal Look to thy self and search into the secrets of thy own Conscience See what evils are there what good is there wanting and turn not thy Eyes upon other mens lives and actions Thou wilt find a sufficient plenty of bad weeds to be pull'd out of thy own ground Faults which thou mayst boldly fall upon with a severe censure There 's scarcely any thing so justly done but that a depraved spirit may wrest it to an ill sence Hereticks abuse the very Gospels The Jews calumniated Christ's actions As Bodies of a melancholick and malevolent humour turn all the food they eat into Choler so an ill-dispos'd Soul mis-interprets all it sees all it hears A good or bad Intention makes things oftentimes good or bad but this is known to him alone who searches the reins and the heart If another persons doings can by no means be defended what 's that to thee Art thou not asham'd to bring filthy things out of corners and expose them to publick view Why dost thou not observe thy self who art worse than others Practise thy Slanderous tongue against thy self detract thy self to thy self accuse thy own crimes judge them condemn them Thou wilt avoid Gods Judgment if thou art a severe Self-censurer 6. As we are commonly very ingenious in observing the actions of others seeking thereby to be esteemed prudent so we easily suspect that others in like sort think and speak ill of us and that we are to them odious and despicable That thou mayst quell this cut off in the first place all desire of pleasing Men and of being by them highly esteemed then endeavour to cast away the very thought of knowing what others think or speak of thee especially since it often happens that they do not so much as once think of thee whom thou fanciest to speak ill of thee and observe thee Say to thy self with the Apostle If I pleased men I were not Christs Servant Say to others 'T is little to me that I am judg'd by you or by the day of man Thou art truly such as thou art with God The Opinion and Talk of men adds nothing to thy goodness takes nothing from thy malice 'T is better to be Good then so esteemed 7. Nothing will fall out contrary to thy Will if thou totally denyest it and transformest it into the Divine Will Thus thou wilt enjoy a solid Peace of Mind thus thou wilt attain to a true tranquility Thou wilt live as thou pleasest if thou wilt learn to will what thou oughtest And thou oughtest to will what God will This is the only felicity of this Life to will that whatsoever is done may be so done as God will and not as we our selves will God leads thee on to the End whereto thou wert eternally designed by sweetnesses and bitternesses by prosperities and adversities Obey the Divine Providence and follow with Alacrity for shouldst thou resist yet thou must follow and thou wouldst be wicked God leads the Willing draws the Unwilling CHAP. XIX Of the state of Proficients Several helps to Proficiency The value and use of Time The Presence of God Necessary 1. IF thou desirest to be Good first believe that thou art Bad. Thou wilt never profit if thou leavest off the desire to profit To have no will to go onwards is to go backwards Persevere therefore as thou hast begun and make what haste thou canst to the end thou mayst quickly enjoy a quiet and composed Mind 'T is an argument of a Mind chang'd into a better Condition if thou seest thy Crimes which before thou knewest not So we are wont to congratulate sick persons when they are sensible that they are sick Do not easily give credit to thy self but discuss and observe thy self and take a tryal of thy Proficiency from the firmness of thy Mind and the diminution of thy Cupidities Thou mayst esteem thy self to be in the Form of Proficients when thou shalt have obtain'd an absolute power over thy self 'T is an inestimable good to possess ones self and to be one A good man is alwayes the same a bad man alwayes another 2. Thou mayst if thou wilt in one day climb to the top of Sanctity if averting thy whole Heart from Creatures thou convertest it to thy Creator Now whether thou leadest a life inwardly with God thou wilt know by these signs If transitory things displease thee if solitude delights thee if thou aimest at what is most perfect if thou valuest not mens Judgments and Opinions Moreover the continual Meditation of Christ's Life and Passion will afford thee a great help to attain to all Virtue He is the Book of Life in which alone as in a rich and well stored Library thou wilt find whatsoever appertains to Salvation although all other Books with their Authors perished But it sufficeth not to know and meditate Christ unless thou also imitatest him and so livest as he taught by his Word and Example Crooked things cannot be corrected but by the Rule 3. One said excellently well That they who will profit ought so to live as if they were perpetually under cure For many things are continually to be observed which put a stop to one hastning to the Cittadel of Perfection as when thou lovest thy self or any creature inordinately when thou standest so affected to external things as that thou wouldst be troubled at their being lost or taken away from thee when thou too much seekest thy own ease and content in Meat Drink Talk wandring abroad when thou embusiest thy self more then is necessary in temporal affairs when thou pertinaciously adherest to thy own judgment and opinion when thou observest not Gods inward motions and refusest to listen to him speaking in thy interiour by his secret Inspirations These are the chief Impediments which detain thee in thy journey which thou art to remove with all vigilancy and diligence and set thy self manfully to thy work Let Virtue animate thee in all thou undertakest let the most perfect End encourage thee to proceed with promptitude and alacrity let a pure Intention comfort thee in thy progress and so apply thy self to the work as that it may fully equal the prenotion thou hast of its perfection Proficiency consists not in the multitude of Exercises but in doing those perfectly which thou daily performest For praise is not so much due to the deed as to the manner of doing it 4. The Dayes fly Time hastens and what is past no man can recall and give it back to thee Thou dost not live but thou art to live for thy life looks alwayes on the Morrow So thy Life slides away whilst thou art studying to prepare instruments to preserve it and in the mean while Old age steals upon thee Death seizes on thee and finds thee unprepared As men journeying together and deceiving the time with mutual Colloquies arrive at their journeys end before they apprehended themselves near it even so the continued journey of this Life
thou imaginedst Not because the contest is difficult thou darest not but because thou darest not the contest seems difficult Many things which before seem'd terrible have by use been made easie and familiar Begin and do not undervalue thy self God deserts not his Souldiers Thou shalt have as much strength as thou desirest 4. Thou wilt easily vanquish all Vices if thou believest every Day to be the last of thy Life What is it that fastens thee to this world 't is that thou seldom considerest how soon thou must leave it Dead Carkasses pass daily to the Graves before thy eyes which force thee who forgettest thy Mortality to look upon Death And yet thou amidst these frequent Funerals thinkest of nothing less than thine own departure Thou beholdest nothing more commonly and forgettest nothing more easily But the day will come which will separate thee from the fellowship of thy stinking Belly This cloud will then be dispersed and thou wilt then perceive thou livedst in darkness when thou beholdest the light Produce if thou canst of so many elapsed years one only day to witness thy sincere Virtue which was not blemished with some defect Thy Younger Age was spent amongst Play-games Nutts and Nifles thy Youthfull dayes amongst Lusts and Fopperies thy Manly time amongst greater crimes and wickednesses and after all the Years which have flow'd from thy Cradle to thy gray Hairs nothing now remains but the sad fruits of Iniquity Ah! what straits wilt thou be in when what is past will shame thee and what is to come will affright thee What will thy Riches then profit thee got with such sweat kept with such solicitude What fleshly and filthy Pleasures what the vain and empty Names of Honours and Dignities what Purple Robes Scepters and Crowns O were it permitted to return to thy Childish Innocence and to begin the spinning of a new Thread how much better wouldst thou behave thy self But these vows and wishes are unseasonable in that fatal moment If thou wilt make use of time begin even now and forsake such things as thou wilt then wish thou hadst forsaken 'T is a small matter to renounce momentary trifles for the obtaining of eternal Treasures 5. Ask if thou pleasest of a dying person what he thinks of his past life thou shalt hardly find one who hath not then a far different opinion of Riches Dignities and Worldly Vanities then he had whilst he was healthy At that time all things are weighed in a more equal Ballance and are judg'd of as they truly are Thus their over-late wisdom may turn to thy great profit if thou wilt learn by other mens Errors to correct thy own Thou mayst now sail safely why stayest thou till the weather grows tempestuous Thou mayst during the calm withdraw thy self from calamity why dost thou reserve thy self for extreme danger Precaution is too late when thou art drowned and Prudence is to no purpose when thou art already perished The greatest and holiest Men having put away all impediments and bid adiew to themselves and to the whole world made it their only study during the remainder of their Earthly Pilgrimage to learn how to live and how to dye and yet many of them professing their ignorance departed this life so difficult a matter it is to understand this Art And wilt thou delay till Old Age the laying hold of wholesome Counsels and there begin thy life where few have produced theirs 'T is a great Folly to begin then to live when we must necessarily cease to live 6. Whither dost thou throw thy self unwary man Dost thou believe thus and dost thou thus live Thy time is the passing-by of a shadow thy life is a Point and can any thing be less than a Point Scarcely born thou ceasest to be Stop one only day forbid one only hour from flowing command time to make only a short stay Vain is thy endeavour for it will sooner snatch thee along with it then cease to run most swiftly to the destruction of thee and all other things whasoever And dost thou preferr this moment before Eternity which hath no period O Folly O Phrensey thou omittest not to get for thy Body which is quickly to perish what appertains to it and there is no end of thy acquisition but for thy Soul which never dyes thou makest no provision for the future as if it were none of thine Thy Body languishes and thou art ready to undergo any danger to cure it Thy Soul languishes and thou neglectest it and art insensible of its sickness When was it told thee Hoise thy sails lest thou perish and thou delayedst to do it Take this bitter Physick and thou refusedst God enjoyns easie things that thou mayst live for ever and wilt thou not obey Hadst thou a Law-suit all thy thoughts all thy discourses would be imployed about it nor wouldst thou omit any means whereby the Judge might be moved to give sentence on thy side and the last Judgment drawing near upon which an Eternity depends dost thou laugh dost thou trifle dost thou sin being to perish eternally Ah! leave at last to be mad and getting forth of the Puddle of thy impieties put thy self daily in such a posture as if thou wert arrived at the last end of thy life This is true Philosophy to lead this soul out of the body with all possible security 7. Let this be thy business this thy Cessation this thy Labour this thy Rest to withdraw thy self from Time and drown thy self in Eternity That stands alwayes fix'd and unmovable which is asserted into the rights of Eternity The covetous Glutton after so many Ages demands still a drop of water and he shall vainly ask it with a perpetual bellowing Eternity is an evermore present duration never to be named without a sigh and horror 'T is a Wheel alwayes turning 'T is a continued unterminated and still commencing Beginning The serious thought of it mixes Wormwood with the Worlds delights and dejects astonish'd and as it were Planet-strucken men with deadly sorrow This tames the stubborn Soul and from the vain cares in which it lies slumbring rowses it up to Virtue This seasons hunger and thirst makes all labour seem easie all sorrow sweet all punishment pleasant and all difficulties of short durance Let the vast spaces of Heaven as they are every where immensely extended be fill'd with Numerical Notes who besides God himself will be found able to express this almost Infinite series of Numbers Yet these innumerable Numbers are not so much as the Beginning of Eternity Let so many Years so many Ages slide away as there are Unites in all those Numbers nothing yet is cut off from Eternity Those most unfortunate Mortals who lye perpetually frying in Hell-fire are not yet arrived at the beginning of this astonishing Eternity If thou tremblest not at this Consideration if thou fallest not upon a ferious amendment of thy life thou surely out-viest the hardest Flint in obduracy CHAP.
things as are not within the reach of thy own power 'T is a misery to have that wanting to the Will which is hoped for 2. The Mind is frequently to be admonished to look upon all things which are without thee and about thee as perishable and hanging by a slender Thread Why forgettest thou thy own Condition Thou art born Mortal Nothing is promised thee of this Day nothing of this Hour Death stands at thy back whatsoever thou hast is but borrowed the use of it is thine so long as it pleases the supreme Arbiter of all things When he calls all is to be rendred up without complaint 'T is the part of a perverse Debtor to injure his Creditor There 's nothing therefore under the Sun which thou oughtest to hope for That only is a true Hope which is rightly conceiv'd of the true and chief Good 3. Despair is caused by Sloathfulness Dejection of mind an over-great apprehension of Difficulties a faulty Diffidence of ones self and of the defect of his own Forces and Industry 'T is conquered by exciting the Mind to imitate their Example who being in far greater anguishes generously overcame all Obstacles Begin and drive on thy self for God helps them who do what they can and thou wilt find that most easie which seem'd most hard if the false Opinion concerning it is deposed Whatsoever happens to thee that all was designed from Eternity Now that either falls out as thou by Nature art disposed to endure it or otherwise if the first despair not but bear it if otherwise yet do not despair for whatsoever it is it will soon have an end and make an end of thee That 's light which thou canst bear short which thou canst not But remember that it is in thy own Power to render many things tollerable if thou wilt apprehend them as profitable and convenient Calamity is the occasion of Virtue CHAP. XVII Of Fear How Vain it is and how to be Vanquished Boldness to be avoided Something again of Anger 1. MAny there are who when there is no present Evil nor any assuredly to come do nevertheless rage and run about and either feign a Misfortune to themselves or increase it Humane cruelty hath not invented so many torments as a Mind endures which is ever anxious of the future which is over-solicitous to preserve his present Goods and over-apprehensive of future dangers Many things which would not be Evils are so because we fear them What profits it thee to be troubled before the time and by a vain providence to meet thy own Miseries Must thou needs be now miserable because thou mayst be so hereafter 'T is the part of a Fool to give up his reason to other mens relations and when no apparent signs foretell the Mischief to be terrified with false imaginations Oftentimes thou being deceiv'd with a sinister conjecture wrestest a Word of doubtful signification to the worst sence Sometimes thou conceivest the offence of a Nobleman to be greater than indeed it is and thinkest not how far forth he is angry but what he may do being angry But these Fears are vain and therefore trouble more because vain For true things have their measure but what comes from uncertainty is left to the conjecture and liberty of the timerous Mind It little differs whether thou endurest adverse fortune or expectest it but only there is a measure of grieving none of fearing Thou grievest for as much as thou knowst has hapned thou fearest for as much as may happen 2. If thou wilt put off all Fears propose that whatsoever thou dreadest lest it should come will certainly come then measure that Evil with thy self and tax thy Fear thou wilt soon perceive that the thing thou fearest is not in it self great but in thy Opinion Can any harsher misfortune befall thee than to be thrust into Banishment cast into Prison Can thy Body dread any thing more than to be burnt to death Discuss these particulars and reduce them to thy true Fear thou wilt find many even Infidels who contemned all these things Stephen amongst the Stones prayed to God with 〈…〉 Mind Lawrence triumphs in the Flames and insults over the Tyrant The Virgin Apollonia casts her self into the prepared Fire Anaxarchus smiles in the Mortar being beaten to pieces with Iron Malls Socrates chearfully drinks a health to Critias out of his poysoned Cup. Why dreadest thou Flames and Fires and the frowning looks of the Executioners who encompass thee Under all that pomp which affrights Fools Death lies hid which so many Boys and Girls have with joyful minds embraced Take away tumults from things put off their vizards restore to every thing it s own Countenance thou wilt see nothing terrible in them besides the terror it self That happens to us greater Children which does to little ones They if they see them whom they love with whom they live with whom they play personated and disguised are affrighted But thou more silly than Children art arriv'd at that height of Folly as not only to be vext at grief but with the Panick Fear of it 3. Lead thy Mind from the private to the Common Cause Think thou hast a frail and mortal Body subject to many Diseases and at last to Death And say to thy self I knew long since that many adverse verse Accidents hung over my Head What therefore do I now dread I shall be Sick The Sickness of my Body will conduce to the Health of my Soul I shall be reduc'd to Poverty My Life will be safer and more quiet I shall lose my Riches And with them many Cares and perpetual Danger I shall suffer Disgrace If the cause is just I will execrate it if unjust I will comfort my self with my own Conscience I shall be frustrated in my expectation of the thing I hoped for Neither do Kings obtain all they desire I shall be sent into Banishment I will go of my own accord and make it a Pilgrimage I shall become Blind The occasions of many Cupidities will be cut off Men will speak ill of me They will do what I deserve and what they are wont I shall Dye Upon this Condition I entred to go forth But I shall Dye in a Foreign Nation No Land is Foreign to him who hath here no permanent City I shall Dye before my time None but a Mad-man complains to be freed from his Fetters before the time and to be releas'd out of Prison Death Exile Grief are not punishments to be dreaded for they are but the tributes of our Mortality 'T is a Folly to fear the things thou canst not avoid 4. Beware of over-much Boldness and do not rashly set upon any thing above thy strength for none are sooner oppress'd than they who presume too much of themselves Small are our Forces without Gods help from whom proceeds all our sufficiency Boldness springs from the great value we put upon our own Virtue from a contempt of our Adversaries from a