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
Death a good man had better never have been born V. No man entettains Death so chearfully as he that has been a long time preparing himself for it for frequent Meditation makes it familiar and easie to us I had almost said and welcome It is not the number of days and years that makes a long Life but a well composed mind A Soul that rejoyces to think of leaving the Body and returning to him that gave it He that dies well has liv'd long enough and no man can fail of dying well that has liv'd well He that would die in peace must wean himself from all the satisfactions of this World before-hand What has he to fear that has already stript himself of more than Death could have taken from him If we would make Life pleasant we must cast off all care of that too and then let Death come in any shape and welcome whether we are dispatch'd by a Sword or a Fever it is the same thing No man is so happy both in Life and Death as he that can every day say to himself I have lived for all that follows is another Life to him in surplusage He that would live comfortably must die daily CHAP. XXIX Of Magnanimity The Description of a Magnanimous man I. MAgnanimity is an Heroical Vertue of an indefatigable force and undaunted courage and never without some glorious design There is somewhat extraordinary methinks in the very sound of it If it were not for this Vertue most of the rest would fall short of their ends for want of Resolution to grapple with the difficulties they are to encounter This is it that inspires us with great and generous Inclinations that animates and supports us in all hazards and Extremities and with God's assistance breaks through all oppositions till it has placed us in the possession of what we desire He that would make himself considerable must offer at something that is so The more Danger the more Honour Man when he is truly himself can do more than we think for II. Great minds are always intent upon great matters Not what the common people call great for that they look upon as despicable Their care is to do things that are Honourable in the sight of their own Consciences but whether the World gives or refuses them the Honour they deserve it matters not unless in case where duty or the glory of God requires the contrary Their business is Vertue nor Ostentation and the reward of well-doing they find in the Action it self without depending upon the voice of the people They are Eminent above others and Invincible and unalterably steady in all Fortunes no Intruders into high places but content in their own Stations They are above Submissions and entreaties to other people for they need nothing but what they find in themselves They know neither Fear nor Flattery and when they put themselves forward to be taken notice of it is not for Vanity sake but to justifie the cause of Religion and Vertue And yet in all this height of Spirit and Resolution toward men they are to God-ward the humblest and the meekest of all Mortals To him it is that they ascribe all from whom they have received all acknowledging that of themselves they have nothing they can do nothing they are nothing Provided that a man thinks soberly and humbly of himself he may be allowed to take some delight with modesty in the good opinion of other people It is not well to hunt or court Applause but if it follows us neither are we to reject it III A great Mind presses to his end thorow the thickest of his Enemies and upon the very points of their Weapons without any stop or hesitation His behaviour toward his Equals or Inferiors is Temperate and Modest. Towards his Superiors he is neither slavish nor insolent He never passes the bounds of Decency and Respect but on the other side he is not to be trampled upon Where he Loves or Hates he owns it publickly and takes the same freedom in his Actions and Discourses for there is nothing in this World that he either hopes for or fears He does many things that other people do but not the same way and therefore he 's upon the Reserve with the Multitude for he takes no pleasure at all in their acquaintance He does not willingly remember Injuries and where they cannot be avoided bears them without any complaints or submissions There are not many that he commends nor many that he would be commended by but his care is nevertheless to do things that are worthy of Commendation No man has him at his beck but his Friend or his Superiour He wonders at nothing and the reason is he meets not with any thing which appears to him either Great or New In case of Accidents he is safe within himself and so the event of things never troubles him In his motion spirit and stile he is grave slow steady and composed He that has but little to do may do it at leisure and there is no place for much earnestness where a man is content within himself CHAP. XXX Of Patience The Occasions and Effects of it The Signs of it An Exhortation to it with Instructions how to behave our selves in Adversity The necessity of Perseverance I. PAtience is a Vertue that enables us to bear Adversity with Equality of mind but because there are several sorts of Adversities there are likewise several Names given to Patience answerable to the variety of evils which it is to be exercised upon Patience properly so called is the gift of bearing Injuries without perturbation and with courage When it relates to the loss of Goods and Fortune it is called AEquanimity And that which keeps up the heart in the delays and disappointments of some expected Good we call Longanimity But the Vertue which fortifies us to all other purposes and supports us in all Afflictions and Calamities Foreign or Domestick Publick or Private is known by the name of Constancy the Vertue of all others that we have most occasion for It is not for nothing that the Life of man is called a Warfare considering how we are beset with Adversaries and what troops of mischiefs break in daily upon us Not a moment passes without an Assault without a Combat and if we had no Enemies abroad we should yet find work enough to do with those in our own bosoms We breed and we harbour Enemies within our selves that crucifie and torment us We come weeping into the World and so we live in it and so we leave it It is the first thing we learn and we can find tears when we are capable of nothing else We have heard of divers that never laugh'd but not of any man yet that never wept It concerns us therefore to arm our selves with Patience without which we can neither be resolute nor perfect No man knows the value of it till he reads it that is to say till he falls into
their Master to Morrow If we would secure them and make them our own we must bestow them Nor is it so much a Bounty as a Purchase the parting with them For he that gives to the poor lends to the Lord and for the temporal advantages of Money Land Houses and the like secures himself of a blessed Eternity in Exchange Money is never of so much value in the Hord as when it is communicated and thrown among the poor III. Where the expence is moderate we call it Liberality where it is high and splendid Magnificence which arise both of them from the same principle in the mind But as to the World the one shews it self in small things and the other in great A man may be Liberal out of a small Fortune but to be Magnificent there must be Opulency and Plenty for Magnificence lies properly in the glory of the work If a man should sell a Jewel and give the product of it to Charitable uses this man is rather said to be Liberal then Magnificent But if he should bestow the value of that Jewel upon the building of a Church a Chappel or any other splendid and publick Structure he is then said to be Magnificent Under this Head are comprehended all works of great expence which relate to Divine Worship common Utility publick Exercises and Entertainments In things of this quality there must be a proportion kept betwixt the Charge and the Estate For where a man Borrows to Build and runs himself in Debt for the Reputation of a great Name such a work is not to pass for a Magnificence but a Folly He is the only Liberal and Magnificent person who takes from himself whatsoever he bestows or expends upon others CHAP. XXVIII Of Fortitude The Duties of it A man of Resolution does contemn death I. SUch is the softness and the Infirmity of Humane Nature that if it were not for this Vertue of Fortitude we should all of us most shamefully abandon our Stations and never so much as dare to look Danger in the face It is commonly divided into Active and Passive the one emboldning us to encounter all difficulties and the other enabling us to support them It is not the part of a man of true courage rashly to throw himself into unnecessary hazards but generously to bear up against Misfortune when it comes He does not pray for terrible encounters but he laughs at them when others are dejected he holds up his head and keeps his legs when others are at their length upon the ground It is not Dishonour Repulse Exile Oppression no not Prisons Tortures nor even Death it self that can startle him He has a greatness of mind that sets him above all Passions Distempers and Calamities whatsoever He is not to be wrought upon to do an ill thing by all the fair and foul means imaginable Let there be never so many Rubs in his way he presses forward still acquits himself of duty and goes thorow with his work in despight of all Impediments He stands upright under any burthen whatsoever and scorns to go before when Power Terrour and Violence shall have done their worst upon him His Vertue carries him through all dangers and what he suffers by the way he matters not so he comes at last to his journeys end II. As men at Sea in fair weather are still fitting and providing for a storm so should we in Good Fortune be still providing and fortifying our selves against the injuries of Bad. And this is to be done by putting the case at worst before-hand and trying our selves upon the supposition as if we were upon the real experiment My Children are all dead The Vessel 's lost I am Banished Wounded Tormented Diseas'd Calumniated Disgraced Well! and what does all this now amount to more than what I have foreseen and contemned before Our Joys and our Tears are allotted us from Eternity and what variety soever there may appear in the Circumstances and Accidents of our lives all comes to this in the up-shot such as we are our selves such are the things we have received Transitory and Mortal Now what cause is here of displeasure or complaint if when we have lost all that belongs to us we are yet our selves whole and entire Life it self is a Debt and when God calls for it in is it not better to make a voluntary payment than to be forced to 't Epicurus is of opinion that a Wise man may be happy upon the Wrack and take pleasure even in Phalarus his Bull. This is a bold word and yet no more than we find verified in the constancy of divers of our Martyrs who have died at the Stake with so much chearfulness as if they had felt nothing at all of the Torment To him that truly loves God all Pains are turned into Comforts III. The thing which of all others most staggers our Resolution is Death and I do not at all wonder at the difficulty of bringing the mind to a contempt of Life considering that short of Heaven it is of all comforts incomparably the greatest Blessing And yet it is not either for a Wise man or for a Christian to reckon Death in the number of Evils which is it self the end of Evils and the beginning of Life everlasting Why should any man be afraid to die that is to live again Or why should he be afraid to die that is sure to die In matters that are doubtful we may be allowed our hopes and fears But Certainties are only to be expected and none but Mad-men will struggle with invincible Necessity Children and stark Fools we see have little or no apprehension of Death and shall not our Reason then carry us as far as their Folly Death is one Condition of Life and he that has entred into the Obligation must submit to the Condition IV. Nature has been so kind as to allow us the use and benefit of all her Creatures for a certain season when the time is out let us contentedly depart and according to the course of Providence let one Generation make room for another Where is the Wise man that if it were offered him at the last gasp to live his life over again and to run through all the smother of his Mothers Belly the crudity and folly of his Infancy the Terrors of his Childhood the hazards of his Youth the cares of his Riper state and the laborious irksomeness of Old Age. Where is the Wise-man I say that would accept of life again upon these terms Let us therefore consider whether we are going and what we leave behind us If we were in despair of a better Life we might then be pardoned the dread we have of the end of this The truth of it is we have mispent our time in Vanity and Sin without laying up any thing in this World to give us a hopeful prospect of the next We should not otherwise stand trembling upon the brink of Eternity if it were not for
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
of doing it that avails us IV. Our days are upon the wing Time flies away and there is no recalling of what 's past Our life depends upon the Future and is still looking forward and we consume it in mere Preparation till Old Age and Death it self over-take us unprovided for it It is in our Lives as upon the way in good Company The time passes away in Chat and Discourse and we are at the end of our Journey before we are aware For sleeping or waking we still keep on our pace and pass insensibly to our last end even before we think on 't What is it then that we trifle for why do we linger and dally Time must be laid hold on immediately or it is gone for ever The value of a day nay of an hour is inestimable and the loss of it irreparable If a man comes to enter upon our Estates or there falls out any dispute about a Land-mark we must presently to Law and Arms. But our time and our life is open for any man to take that pleases so Prodigal are we in the only case where we may be honestly covetous We are not to compute Life by the number of Years but by the well employing of them and let the oldest man alive discount for the time he has spent in Sleep Luxury Quarrels Visits Lazy sauntrings up and down in doing just nothing at all or at best nothing to the purpose without so much as minding what he did and he shall find that at the end of a hundred years he dies a Child We are apt enough to lament the loss of our Time-past and yet we lose more still in the Lamentation Why do we not rather improve the present while we have it to prevent a late Repentance why do we lose this instant which is our own and pretend to dispose of the Future which is out of our power In effect Life is but a moment and delay is absolute loss He that puts off to day comes too late to morrow V. It is to Almighty God that we are to direct all our Thoughts Words and Deeds to the exclusion of any other Object applying our selves wholly to his blessed will He that takes God for his Guide shall be sure never to miss his way Nor shall he miscarry in any of his affairs who directs all to Gods glory and lives as in his holy presence Neither is it possible for any man to avoid his All-seeing eye which reaches not only to our Words and Actions but pries into the Thoughts of our Hearts And He 's in a great mistake that when the Door is bolted and the Curtains drawn reckons himself to be alone for there is no place so dark or so retired as to exclude the Omni-presence of God in whom we Live Move and have our Being Whether we Eat or Drink Walk or Discourse our thoughts are to be always upon him we are to do our utmost to tender our selves worthy of the favour of his Countenance and not to do those things in the sight of an All-seeing God which even before a Temporal Judge we would be ashamed of Every man should live as if there were only God and himself in the World and chearfully imbrace the lot which Providence hath set out for him whether Prosperity or Adversity We are to seek God and whether we find him by this or that way it matters not provided that we find him at last CHAP. XX. Of the good of Solitude Ill Company to be avoided The Vices of the World and what they are Vertue the study of a Proficient How to know when we have attained it 1. IT is a great Argument of a clear and well composed Mind when a man is at Unity with himself for he approaches in some degree to the Felicity of God himself who in himself is blessed for evermore Neither can he be said properly ever to be alone that is never separated from Christ. If so it be that we cannot hold our Tongues we may talk to our felves but let us be sure then that we talk to honest men If you would know now what a man should say to himself why truly the same things that he is used to say to others of his Neighbours Let him speak ill of himself to himself let him call himself to an account for all his sins and punish himself for whatsoever he finds amiss and he 'll never want matter to work upon Let him retire and give himself leisure for Contemplation but let him then conceal his very Retirement He that makes Proclamation of his Solitude retires only to be more publick which is a kind of slothful Ambition Now there must be a Retirement of the Mind too as well as of the Body to make it Beneficial and Comfortable We must withdraw our selves from all vain Employments and not only from Company but from all things too which do not concern us we must not admit so much as any Creature no nor the very Image or Idea of any creature into our thoughts we must blot out of our minds all the toys and fooleries of this World and in the most secret recess of our Souls address our selves to God alone In this Privacy of mind in this Oblivion of all idle and impertinent things we shall gain peace of Heart true Tranquillity and Repose Let this be our retreat then and this our business For we shall certainly find God there where the Creature is abandon'd II. It is rarely seen that any man is good himself who keeps ill Company For there is nothing so destructive of good Manners as to Herd with the Multitude who do commonly leave a man worse than they found him It is not for a tender and unsettled mind to resist the force of ill examples that break in upon a man with a kind of Authority and Credit for men are apt to run over to the stronger side The man of the Gusto gains upon us by degrees and takes us by the Palate A rich Neighbour strikes us with Envy or Avarice and many a man has been undone by an ill example Our very Parents our Companions our Servants draw us some way or other into mischiefs The whole World is full of snares and hazzards and we are no sooner out of our Mothers belly but we are encompast with dangers as if we were dropt into the Quarters of an Enemy There is not any man living hardly that does not either recommend some Wickedness to us or imprint it upon us or at least infect us with some evil disposition before we are aware O the delicious sweetness of those blessed hours that a man spends in his Private Family or Study apart from the noise and business of the People How calm How gentle not so much as a Cloud or a Breath of Wind to disturb the Serenity of his Mind But by and by some body calls him out away he goes gets more Company makes up a Club and never fails of