us to remove both Heaven and Earth in quest of our repose if both of them faile us in the end so that we be not able to find it and if the Earth remain to us it serveth for a tomb to our hopes aswell as to our selves 18. We must of necessity work in the Lords Vineyard if at the end of the day we would receive our wages all other employments are unprofitable as well as our sorrow for the mispending of time seeing the want thereof renders us incapable to repaire our losses 19 Whatsoever Actions you do here below all the recompense that the World can give you for them cannot enrich you and if you do not take your aime beyond Time all the houres thereof are fatall to you seeing every moment may sound your retreat but such a retreat as hath no returne 20. Undervalue all things here below seeing all that you set your eye upon changeth countenance with you and let your apprehension be continually filled with this truth that only the good which we do in this life is the sole consolation which remains unto us at our death 21. Know then that Good hath this property it replenisheth with joy the heart of him who exerciseth himself in the practice thereof and although a man should never expect any other reward yet the good it self is alwaies our Glory our Happiness and our Prize 22. Our Actions are only rendered considerable by their Object and End and although the event of them be happy yet if their Object be not just and lawful both shame and loss are inseparable companions to their success 23. It is not enough not to do evill we do it alwayes when we cease from doing of good We must diligently worke out our own salvation without the intermission of one moment for that one moment may prove most fatal to us 24. Consider that in this World every man liveth as he pleaseth and although the manner of living and dying be quite different all must undergo the same judgement for an Eternity 25. If you desire to establish your repose firmly lay the foundation thereof upon your Salvation which ought to be the only scope of all your actions else they are to no purpose Suppose you were eminent in Honour and Riches this is as much as to enjoy a temperate Aire in the Country wherein you are but seeing you are alwayes upon your journey the change of the Climate will breed an alteration in the countenance of your Fortune and in the end you shall be only happy in remembring that you have been so 26. Consider that the vertuous actions of our life are as so many pictures of our good fortunes whereof the object being alwaies present renders us still happy So that the honest and vertuous man hath this advantage that he surviveth himself before his death seeing he enjoyeth the felicity of his life past by the pleasant remembrance thereof which abideth with him CHAP. II. That in this Life we can find no true ease but in peace of Conscience 1. YOu may well looke for Ease here below but you must give it to your self before you can find it it must be a piece of work of your own making seeing you cannot obtain it but only by the force of your own Industry 2. Suppose that Messengers bring you glad news every day and that your affairs are regulated by your wishes yet you cannot deny but that the remorse of Conscience hindereth your mind from enjoying that rest which it desireth 3. Consider that all sins carry their torment along with them and that God punisheth them in the Thought aswell as in the Will and that with a continual punishment seeing the remembrance of them is both the Torment and Executioner 4. The Sinner never taketh his Pastime with delight because the justice of God pursueth him alwayes to punish him without intermission and mingleth so many thorns among his Roses that the sighs of his heart do often belie the cheerfulness of his countenance 5. Imagine the greatness of the disturbance of a Malefactor fain would he flee from his punishment but the thoughts of his crimes do torment him incessantly so it is with the Sinner as God is every where so the Sinner feeleth his justice in every place which keepeth his soul upon the rack by the remembrance of his sin 6. Think not to find any delight yea in your very pleasures having your soul contaminated with the staines of your crimes God is pleased to change the nature of your contentments and to turne the subject of your consolation into that of your torment 7. Let the wicked man withhold no delightful thing from his Senses and let Voluptuousness be their nursing-mother her breasts are alwayes filled with bitterness to seed them seeing that by chastisements from above they find an unsavoury taste in the most delicious dishes 8. Trust not to the testimony of wicked men for God layeth his hand upon them to such an extremity as to make them insensible of his correction and as this stupidity is a marke of their reprobation so it witnesseth before hand the Eternity of the torments to which they are destined 9. Innocency carrieth alwayes Heaven with it and it is never found in any soul without communicating unto it the sweetness of that Repose which doth properly belong unto it it being the effect and Innocency the cause 10. Hell also followeth Sin unseparably so that Sin causeth its own torments in bringing them forth by reason of the necessity of justice which doth alwayes punish it 11. Know for a truth that the repose of the Conscience bringeth forth peace to the Soul and as both these together make up a Heaven upon Earth so there is no other Hell but that which consists in the privation of them 12. As often as you make a divorce from your Conscience you proclaime warr against your self and it is a warr wherein no Truce is to be looked for seeing justice gives none 13. Study to employ well the precious moments of your dayes if you would not die a Death which will admit no return to life again unless it be to make you the eternal object of the wrath of an angry God 14. O how unhappy is he at the hour of Death who hath mispent the time of his Life because as his sorrow for this fault is in vain so he feeleth himself instantly strucken with an evill both sudden and incurable 16. That God hath a love towards his creatures doth manifestly appear by the trouble they are in when he withdraweth his presence from them for they can find no rest but in him alone 17. There is no pleasure that can satisfy our mind or fill our heart because it is the property of our Envy to be irregular and from the satiety thereof there ariseth alwayes a new appetite 18. All that you do without consulting the Oracle of Heaven passeth for an improfitable labour whereof the pain abideth although the work
it the same Eternity shall be the measure of your torments 16. It is not our part to make out own destiny unless it be for our salvation or destruction seeing every man hath liberty to do what he can for his own salvation or damnation the events of our life are in the hands of Him who hath numbred our dayes We must undergo with submission the laws which he imposeth upon us 17. He is most unhappy who wisheth alwayes for the good he hath not and is never contented with that he hath The Wise-man is never in quest of his repose because he finds it within himself 18. Although a man be considered in regard of his Condition yet that doth not-render him considerable Suppose his name make a noise and his greatness a splendor yet the noise is dissipated and the splendor vanisheth unless his vertue preserve the memory of the one and the beauty of the other 19. All men do complain of their fortune notwithstanding they have cause to be contented therewith If God suffers you to enjoy riches are you not sati fy'd and if it be his will to withhold them you have no ground of discontent provided he give you patience a Poor contented is far more happy than a Rich disquieted 20. Never cast your eyes upon other mens goods lest Envy give you a salfe possession making you Proprietary of them without enjoying content your self with what God is pleased to bestow upon you how can you pretend to new favours from his Bounty if his Justice have cause to upbraid you with unthankfulness for that which he hath donal ready 21. Consider that the felicity of this life consisteth not in passing it without trouble but rather in passing it without offence so that the troubles of our life pass away with it but the torments of our sins are everlasting 22. What mattereth it in the Runing of our Race whether it be at high noon-day or in the evening I mean with magnificence or without pomp All consisteth in this to run happily to the end we may obtain the Crown 23. The Favorites of Fortune may well rejoyce in the light of the Sun as they walk in their favour upon Ice but the same Star that beholds them continually makes the Ice melt away suddenly whence it comes to pass that they vanish in an instant leaving us nothing but the memory of their mifery with that of their name 24. Suffer not you self to be tempted with Ambition the good thereof is to come and the trouble of it is present It gives nothing but unprofitable desires and vain hopes It argues great weakness to lose the Repose we enjoy in expectation of a greater 25. Do not take much heed to the roughness of the path of your life that part of it which is past will trouble you no more and that which is before may become fairer and more pleasant by walking on in a continuall chearfulness All consists in your skilful entring the gate of death of all the moments of life the last is only to be feared 26. The Wise-man findeth his Repose every where all times are his season and all places his abode he waxeth old with contentment because his old age makes him draw near his grave whence after he is sown in rottenness he is to arise in glory 27. This should be a great comfort to us to know that we breath continually under the protection of Providence seeing that a haire cannot fall from our head without the appointment thereof in all our distresses this ought to be our consolation as well as our remedy CHAP. VII That he that knoweth how to live well is the most learned man in the World 1. IF it be true that the object of Knowledge is Truth then know that there is nothing more true than this that we are born to worke out our own salvation and that we are to be rewarded according to our works 2. The most learned man in the world knoweth nothing if he be ignorant of the means to be saved and seeing Time and Nature can teach us only to die we must seek for other School-masters who can teach us to be born again out of our own ashes to enjoy that immortality which we hope for 3. Put the case you were a great Astrologer and by the rules of this Scienc 〈◊〉 could foresee your good or bad 〈…〉 fore-sight were unprofitable to you because during the course of your lise you have nothing to do but to shun the misery of your damnation to be esteemed happy 4. It is not enough to be a good Divine to comprehend according to the capacity of your understanding the mysteries of the Trinity Faith and submission are the Principles of true Divinity it is better to believe then dispute 5. I grant that Philosophy may inlighten your mind in the knowledge of the wonders of Nature but you must ascribe the glory of all to the Creator and by meanes of these pleasant streams re-ascend to their scource 6. Logicks may teach you the Art to put Arguments in forme but you must alwayes come to the conclusion of this last that being born to die you must die to revive 7. The science of true Physick consists only in this to find out soveraign remedies against the feaver of our passions because if we die of this disease our loss is irrecoverable for all Eternity 8. Suppose you were a great Lawyer then do reason to your self do it to all the World the only practice of this Law of Nature doth briefly comprehend the whole science of the Institutions 9. What doth it availe to be learned in Languages is it not sufficient if a man can speak the language of Reason where works are necessary words are needless 10. There are many who are curious to learn by Cards and Maps to know the extent of the Earth but never reflect upon this truth that if one little point doth there represent a whole City in what space can they remarke that of their grave 11. True Morals do only consist in living without reproach to die without sorrow and the means to compass this is to consider the end of our actions having alwayes Honour for our object and duty for our guide 12. Not that Sciences are to be contemned the study of them is as commendable as necessary but it is a saâ—â— thing for a man to imploy the wholâ— time of his life in the diligent search of their Truths without making profit of this that he who knoweth how to obey the Commandments of God is the most learned man in the World 13. O how learned he is in all Sciences that knoweth how to love God! and which may satisfy us in this it is the Will alone that can render us learned without standing in need of any other Master 14. Wonder not if the Spirit of God saith that The feare of the Lord is the beginning of Wisedom seeing the Love of him ought to be both the progress
incurable disease should not feel his Pulse sometimes You perceive your self dying every day how is it possible that you cannot lift up your head often to see what it is a clock by your Dyall 15. If you enjoy a Life without thinking of it you deserve not to live The Wise-man giveth an account to himself before he gives it to others and as he is born to die and dyeth every houre so every moment he thinks of that Necessity whereof the laws cannot be violated 16. O how hard it is for a man to learn to live after he hath lived a long time the evil habits and customes he hath contracted do so fortify themselves against reason that as long as they preside in his Councel the voice of Rule is useless 17. Let not Time surprise you study your life betimes and though it be still sliding away yet the profit of your study remains he that hath a desire to be learned is already such 18. Never draw vanity from any thing you know seeing that Knowledg how great soever it be is as vain as you unless your Salvation be the object thereof It is far better to be skilfull in tilling the Earth without pretending to any more then so much of it as may make us a grave then to walk sumptuously on it with magnisicent or naments without making reflection that we are formed of the dust thereof 19. I esteem to body learned but them who walk continually in the way of their duty for since that that is the Wise mans guide we have forgotten all that it could teach us if we do not keep it company 20. This is not all to begin to know your self you must perfect your Studies in the School of this Knowledg If you be learned to day you shall yet be more learned to morrow and you shall aver at the end of your time that you have employed it to good purpose because after it is past it still remains in the advantage you have made thereby 21. Make you a solitude in the midst of your Palaces to entertain your self in secret mark out a withdrawing-room for your self to enjoy your own company in quiet It is one of the most profitable pleasures of Life to know how it passeth to the end we may not sorrow for it when it is past 22. In fine let every man do for himself I have learned these Precepts which I lay before you and in this I wish my example had out-stript my Pen to teach you by Practice what I have endeavoured to perswade you by Discourse CHAP. X. That we ought to derive our Nobility from our selves as well as from our Ancestors 1. IF you are not Noble of your self as well as by Descent draw no advantage from your Nobility vertue alone gaineth estimation as Vice causeth contempt 2. What doth it profit you that the Name you bear is recorded in History if yours darken the lustre thereof Muddy streams make us lose the belief of the clearness of their spring 3. Let your brave Actions be your noble Ancestors and forget your ancient Nobility to enable your self anew There are no Crowns so rich as those of our own making 4. We ought to be asham'd when our Predecessors are prais'd that we cannot have a share in the praises they receive seeing they make us blush for not having deserved them 5. Set your self on work about the History of your own life that it may serve for an ornament to the History of the Age and let not your Ancestors have any other advantage of you but to have gone before you in the path of Glory following their footsteps to fill their traces 6. It is not enough for a man to be Noble by Birth and Condition he must be so by his way of living and must take notice of his own manners to correct them rather than of his Nobility to prove it 7. Neither the splendor of your Name nor the greatness of your House are sufficient titles of Nobility you must produce some that are newer it is too great a trouble to enquire how your Ancestors have lived it is enough to know how you live because your life should be the best marke of your Nobility 8. It will be inquired at the hour of death if you have lived like a Christian rather then like a Gentleman And though you cause the Titles of your Nobility to be engraven upon your Tomb your actions alone will follow you beyond it 9. A Noble man ought to live nobly both for himself and for others and seeing he is elevated above the rank of the vulgar all his actions must be extraordinary to the end that they may serve as lights to them that are below him 10. There are some that take great pains about their Pedigree to prove the antiquity of their Race as if they could challenge any thing from the reputation of their Ancestors They may well call themselves Heirs of their Goods but the succession of their Glory is of such nature that they cannot enjoy it unless they deserve it 11. Although you were descended of the Race of Kings if your actions be not answerable to your Birth a man may lawfully question the Nobility of your Original and if you prove the Antiquity thereof by your Titles these are false witnesses for your life doth belye them 12. If you be born Great do Great things but though you labor in Time take your aim in Eternity the Earth is the Grave of all that it produceth 13. If you be of a condition not very eminent raise your self above it by your vertue and render your self considerable of your self An excellent Picture carrieth its luste with it 14. Although Nature hath made you Noble yet draw the confirmation of your Nobility from Vertue for that onely can justifie it and live always for the time to come to the end that the memory of what is past may be delectable to you Time cannot surprise us when it is well employed 15. Know that true Nobility consists in doing no action unworthy of it You may well fill History with the Fame of your Exploits but the generous thoughts of your heart must be answerable to the glorious actions of your life and you must be at agreement with your self by the straight Alliance of your Vertue with your Glory 16. It is far better to be Noble in Minde than by Birth It is seldom enquired quired of what condition our Fathers were but every Body is curious to know what Trade we drive not because they pretend to any interest therein but the World being a Stage where every Man actoth his part all the Spectators are our Judges 17. How many do we see take pains to obtain Patents of Nobility as if the Title could bestow the Merit thereof They had rather exempt their Wealth from Taxes than their Life from Reproaches without considering the necessity to which they are reduced to forsake that Wealth which they would gladly preserve
condemned themselves seeing they render themselves guilty a-new by believing that they are not guilty yea they are far more guilty then those that are punished 22. The just man is commonly afflicted and he is very happy in this World that knoweth how to improve his sufferings a life crowned with Roses produceth alwayes a Death filled with Thorns 23. It is a great Comfort to look for none here below in all the crosses that happen unto us because if Patience cannot receive the final recompence from any other then Heaven it is to be beleeved that this recompence is bestowed upon us for no other end but to crown our Patience 24. Do not shun the approaches of afflicted persons God looks upon them continually as the objects of his compassion rather than of his Justice and beleeve it it is very lamentable not to improve aright the frowns and severities of Fortune seeing the last day of a voluptuous life is far more terrible than all the dayes that went before it have been pleasant and delightsome 25. I do not much wonder that some holy persons would choose either to suffer or die It is impossible to love a crucified God without partaking of his sufferings and as sorrow is the object of this love so the heart which is filled therewith doth sigh for joy amidst the greatest crosses 26. There is no man more miserable then he that is born and dyeth Fortunes darling because when death seizeth him unawares he knoweth at the end of the day that his light hath served him for no other use but to find the way to Hell 27. A great Calm is alwayes held suspect by the wise Pilot he complains of that good-lucke because the excess of a Calm is an infallible presage of the short continuance thereof 28. Light disgraces fortify the mind and as they keep it in a continuall Alarum by the feare of a greater mishap so the mind by a prudent foresight puts it self in a condition to shun it thus our first wound shelters us from many others which might tend to our hurt 29. How pleasant is it to do that promptly and handsomely which we must do of necessity The Cross is our portion he that will not beare the burthen thereof in Time prepareth his own punishment to Eternity 30. Do not refuse the Cup that God presenteth to you seeing he hath quenched his thirst with the bitterness of that whereof he makes you taste but a little is it not an excess of bounty to make a tryall first of all the sorrows that you can be able to suffer to mitigate the violence of them 31. When God afflicteth you by the death of any of your nearest Relations he comforts you at the same instant by a new adver tisment of the necessity of your departure seeing they are gone to their mansion place but one dayes journey before you 32. If you have lost your Wife that buried half waits for the other to be joyn'd with it and seeing that union is certain and infallible the moment which perfects it ought to be continually present with you although it be to come 33. The loss of any temporal Good ought not to afflict you if so be that of Grace abide with you An innocent person afflicted is never miserable because he ever findeth his consolation in Gods Will who hath so decreed it 34. All the miseries and all the happiness that can befall us are in Gods hands the first is the correction of his Justice the second the favour of his Goodness but seeing both these proceed from him alone the one obligeth us to silence out of respect the other to thankfulness through acknowledgement 35. Christian Wisdom consisteth in this to will that which God willeth not out of necessity but rather out of a submission that prevents it to the end that this necessity may find us alwayes disposed to undergo the laws thereof how hard soever they be 36. He that is jealous of the happiness of others increaseth his own miseries by his envy which is both criminal and unprofitable and in wishing an imaginary good he feeleth a reall evill 37. I do not much wonder if a Soul totally resigned to the will of God be under covert from the stormes of Fortune seeing the calme which it enjoyeth draweth the continuance thereof from him who hath deminion over Time 38. All our disquiet proceedeth only from our contempt of Providences Orders for if we did really beleeve this truth that all that happeneth unto us cometh from Providence our very afflictions would yeeld us comfort seeing their bitterness would be changed into sweetness CHAP. IV. That true glory doth only consist in living vertuously 1. ALthough you should ransack the whole Earth for Laurels there would nothing remain to you in the end but the ashes and although all the people thereof were your Subjects yet the small compass of your Tombe would limit the greatness of this Empire 2. The same stairs which serve for ascending serve also for descending All Thrones have their steps The last step of our elevation marketh alwayes the first step of our fall 3. Be not dazled at the splendor of Fortune's honours her inconstancy doth infallibly presage that the day of your prosperity shall not passe without a storm and althoug it be at the declining the last moment thereof may be fatall to you 4. All the honours which we receive here on Earth are of the same nature with the praises bestowed on them the latter are made of wind and the former are nothing but smoak the one passeth over our head the other striketh the eare in passing by 5. I do not much wonder that Glory hath nothing else to give but Laurels and Palmes the Crowns made of these last as long as the head that weareth them the one is withered in the Sun the other groweth white by the scorching of Time and both at last are reduced to powder 6. How many triumphs have you seen and how many crowned victorious but those faire days are past and the memory of those famous Conquerours passeth also untill at last the History of them by the length of Time becomes a fable 7. Suppose that Posterity should preserve the remembrance both of your name and exploits yet the Time ought to be limited and of what extent soever the limits thereof be they are alwayes very short seeing they can be measured 8. Wonder not that the Romans have acquired a false Glory they never had a love for the true Glory they followed Vertue without being willing to know it and as they were contented to do noble actions out of vanity so the vanity abideth with them their reputation being nothing but wind 9. He is base and low-minded who encloseth his ambition and hopes within the Circle of his life seeing the Tombe is the Centre thereof We must seek for a Glory that is far beyond Time and that hath no dependance from it which may fill the emptiness of our
and end thereof They who can feare and love him have past all their studies 15. How many do we see that follow the World for to know it as if the knowledge thereof were very difficult if you would study it to purpose you must do it in shunning it because the frequenting it is contagious 16. Learn nothing in this World but to despise it the Science of the Contempt thereof is the most profitable of all Sciences A Traveller should think of nothing but his journey to follow the straight way without staying at those places where he passeth 17. Consider that the World is a School where men learn all sorts of Sciences but Vanity being their Teacher maketh so bad Schollars that they perish together with their Learning 18. The greatest Doctors are in a confusion at the houre of Death with all their Sciences if they have been still ignorant of the Art of Living well what doth it availe them to have employed all their time in the reading of good books if their names be blotted out of the Book of Life 19. Be your own Master and be instructed rather by the example of your actions than by the Precept of others a habitude to good serves us for a lesson to keep us in our duty as an object alwayes present which doth powerfully move our understanding 20. It is dangerous to be very learned unless a man have the spirit of Humility because the light of Nature so dazleth our eyes with its splendor when we approach too neer that we become for the most part idolaters of those objects we admire and our idolatry prepareth our punishment in being the cause of our crime 21. Seeing that no man hath ever been able to find happiness in Life I wonder why they seek it not in Death Truly the Wise-man hath good cause to possess our minds with thoughts thereof seeing these alone can render it as pleasant as profitable to us 22. Think not that the reading of good Bookes can make you learned Practice must needs follow Speculation and besides it is not enough to instruct others unless your Actions go before your Precepts 23. The study of Meditation is very profitable for your advancement in Piety if so be you draw Conclusions from all the Arguments you make For to have nothing but some fine reflections without drawing any profit from them is to be engaged in a pleasant way that hath no issue 24. He that renders himself capable of his Office and Calling is not ignorant of any thing he ought to know for his Salvation and as this alone ought to be the object and end of his thoughts and actions so I think him happy if he imploy all his time in this study 25. It is hard to know the vanity of Sciences so long as we live and seeing the knowledge thereof at death is as unprofitable as the sorrow for having mispent our time shun the detriment that may ensue thereupon by the forewarning I give you thereof 26. We know nothing for the most part but those things which we should not learn we may well fill our understanding with the knowledge of Good and Evil but the only Idea of the one remains with us whereas the other is our constant practice 27. If you know not how to live learn at least to die and although the Science of living and that of dying are often confounded together yet the study of them is quite different many lessons may be learned in the Science of living but in that of dying one lesson is sufficient 28. Frequent no other School but that wherein you may learn the Art of working out your own Salvation because without this Science all others are to no purpose 29. The study of a mans self makes alwayes good Scholars and he that studies to know himself may be said to be truly learned CHAP. VIII That Moderation in Riches is more to be desired then Excess because it is more profitable 1. COvet neither to be Great nor Rich a Moderation in this is to be wished as the Excess is to be feared and although we must give an account of Poverty as well as of Riches This is often miscounted but That is alwayes receivable 2. Suppose Rich men have a thousand faire dayes in their life how many foul nights have they which they hide from us They that see the Roses of their garden know not how many Thorns they have in their soul 3. If you be reduced to win your living win it in effect in stead of losing it this life lasts but one day you must labour to purchase another which is eternal 4. If God hath given you Riches beg for grace to make a good use of them because of the use of them depends the acquiring of true Treasures 5. Be not too sollicitous in purchasing of Riches by unlawful means lest the torment of this crime abide with you you acquire Goods in suffering much Evil and God permits the one to be perishing for your first punishment and the other to be eternal for your finall torment 6. We reap no advantage by goods ill acquired and God is not only pleased to make us witnesses of the loss of them but also maketh himself Judge of the purchase of them to punish us and avenge himself 7. Ask nothing of God but what is necessary for Life and seeing it is transitory gather Riches only to make your journey If you have Children enrich them by your good Example rather than by other mens goods the straight path of life never leads to the Hospital 8. There are few Rich men happy they make a God of their treasure and this false God forsakes them in returning to the true one who punisheth eternally for their idolatry 9. The Rich man hath no greater enemies then his Treasures because they are the objects of a continual temptation to taste the pleasures of the world and seeing in this he thinketh no desires unprofitable in that power wherein he is he renders himself miserable by being too happy 10. I never saw a Rich man content their greed increaseth according to the measure of their Riches and they never consider that living and dying in disquiet they begin their Hell in this World never to end it in the other 11. If you could be able to moderate your Ambition you would find that Repose which all the World seeketh after He who doth limit his desires with the injoyment of that Good which he hath finds himself securely sheltered from all sort of evills except those that cannot be shun'd 12. They that imploy both their cares and pains to heap up Riches are much astonished when time faileth for enjoying of them They sow for the most part for unknown Heirs who make their harvest without having any Right in their succession 13. Not to be poor is to be very rich wish only for what is necessary despise what is unprofitable and be afraid of abundance as of a torrent of
and to give an account of that Life whereof they have contemned the reputation 18. If your Name be not known by your Condition make it known by your Exemplary Life Vertue is a Balm whereof the sweet Odor is spread every where 19. We have no cause to call Nature Step-mother what inequality soever we finde betwixt the Noblemen and the Peasants since that by Birth and Death we have the same destiny And if there appear a great difference in their Life yet know that the different ways which they keep do meet at the Grave 20. If you draw Vanity from the outward qualities of the Body Time will make you know your Folly every day because it destroyeth the ground thereof every moment In ruining the subject that causeth it CHAP. XI That we ought to be dis-engaged from all things to the end That we may live without disquiet and die without sorrow 1. CAll not your self the Owner of the Goods you possess every moment reneweth unto you the favor of the use of them We have nothing that is our own but miseries and unhappiness 2. If your heart be fastned on any Object consider the perishing nature of it and seeing you cannot love it but as a transitory thing justifie your love by the necessity of its ruine 3. When we love any thing passionately we expose our selves anew to the view of Fortune which can wound us in as many parts as we are divided 4. The Covetous man whose heart is in his Treasures feels it pluckt out as often as they are diminished without considering that as streams return to their source so this Piece of Earth wherewith he is intrusted must be re-joyned to its whole 5. The Ambitious man who renders himself Imaginary Possessor of all the goods he wisheth believeth that he is robbed of them when he is prevented in acquiring them This lets us see that as we live in our Passions so we feel our selves dying with the causes of their Birth 6. All that you would love love it in God to the end that your Love may produce your Repose rather than your Trouble All the Affections which we contract in this World do nothing else but breed and die seeing every moment may be the first and last of their continuance 7. What an ingenious thing it is for a man to torment himself in being willing to die for every object he loveth Is it not enough to give up his heart to one love that is allowable and lawful without dividing it amongst a thousand other Passions to resent as many different torments 8. The Chains wherewith we are tyed here below are easie to be made and hard to be broken And if death alone restore us to liberty yet we lose it in recovering it seeing that commonly we carry the guilty remembrance of our pleasant Bondage to the Grave with us 9. A mans love towards himself is to be excused when his Salvation is the object thereof he is permitted to love himself in a lawful way yea with excess too using extraordinary endeavors to testifie the violence of that Love by the contempt of all other 10. Happy is that man who is altogether his own that he may give himself wholly to God Unhappy is he that after he hath given his heart to the World seeth himself constrained to leave it with the World not having so much power as to take it back 11. The Wisemans Love is never blinde because Reason which is nothing else but Light produceth it Whence it comes to pass that he loveth with pleasure drawing his delights from the Object of his Affections which are as harmless as himself 12. Every Body loveth Liberty yet every Body is engaged They that have no Master become Slaves to their own Passions and in this shameful Bondage they render themselves unworthy of compassion because they have no compassion on themselves 13. Seeing that Christian Perfection consists in the contempt of all things and in the dis-engagement from our Selves we must be our own to the end that we may give our selves Unless our hearts be emptied they shall never be filled with God 14. Every man goeth about his own business and we do always forget the most important which is that of our Salvation All others are unprofitable at the end of our days work seeing an account will not be required of them no not so much as of their success 15. I know very well that all our desires do divide our heart and it is so possessed with a continual longing after their object that it liveth out of its self for anothers sake But though it be divided during life it must needs be united in it self at last to die all alone for its self onely 16. Do not wait till Age draw you from the World but preventing Necessity by Reason triumph over your self before Time become your Conqueror 17. Consider that your Habits and Customs are as so many Bonds which strengthen themselves continually and seeing Nature doth much contribute thereunto all endeavors at last are too weak to break them without the help of Grace 18. O what a contentment it is to a man to be free to die and to be wholly his own at the hour of death The Objects of our Passions are as so many Chains which fasten us to the World when we are upon the point of departing from it We must bid them adieu betimes that we may make our retreat without sorrow 19. It is very hard for us to hinder our selves from being surprised by Time in those Affections that we contract here below because as the hour of our departure is uncertain and the hope that dieth after us deceiveth us too so we do not commonly forsee our mishap but when it is unavoidable 20. Dis-engage your self from your Children and after you have put them under the Protection of Providence it is enough to shew them the way wherein they should walk to work out their own salvation by going before them your self 21. Be not tied with your Dignities these are the Liveries of Fortune which she giveth and taketh away at her pleasure Content your self in that you deserve them seeing you must give an account of the use of them 22. Let not your heart finde any place in your Palaces to lodge its Affections there least the Chains thereof be too strong Do not establish your dwelling there all the steps of your walks are numbred and in going under the covert of the shady Allies in your Gardens you draw nearer your Grave 23. Every Man loveth his Repose and no body takes pains to acquire it It is not enough to be rich in this World and to taste of a thousand pleasures therein because these riches remain in the World and the pleasures pass away leaving us nothing but a troublesome remembrance and an unprofitable sorrow 24. It is not enough to live at Liberty we must die so and what tye soever we have here below the failing of
the heart is that of the Soul because the will of this followeth the thoughts of the other 25. If you be addicted to the World quit this bad Master betimes and restore you to your self that you may offer your self totally to God All streams return to their Fountain all Beams are joyned to the Body of their Light You must render your Soul to its Creator in the Innocency of Baptism and in the Freedom of your Cradle CHAP. XII That the Good we do in this World is of greater value than the Goods we possess in it 1. THink not that you are Rich according to the worth of the Goods you possess but rather according to the measure of the Good which you do Your Treasures remain with your Heirs but your Works follow you Those are Strangers to your Soul but these do properly belong to it 2. The Inventory of your Goods serve onely for a memory of the Accompt you have to make both of the Purchase and the Usage of them So that when you die you shall know that you have taken pains onely for others seeing they are to reap the fruit of your labors and also of the torments appointed for you 3. He is truly miserable who hath his Coffers filled with Money and his Soul stained with the guilt of the purchase thereof Suppose your Riches did level the path of your life to render it more pleasant and you cease not to go on in your journey but when you are at the end of your course you shall be afraid of him whom you shall finde there after you have forgotten him to whom you should rather have betaken your self 4. Every body taketh pains for this Life as though it were immortal and no body thinks on Death which we carry in our bosome Whence it comes to pass that after we have spent our time in gathering of Riches a stranger enjoyeth them for our first punishment and Hell waiteth for us for our final torment 5. To what purpose do you put out your Money to Usury to assure your self of this Life seeing that by Grace you wait continually for the Life to come to prolong it The Fire of Covetousness devoureth you in the behalf of a Life which is nothing but the smoak thereof since that like smoak it is dissipated by the blast of our sighs 6. You keep an exact account of your Revenues and Disbursements without considering that you have nothing which is to be valued but the time you have to live and because that is uncertain and Death infallible you must make good the use and possession of a Good which you forsake for ever 7. What pleasure can you take in walking abroad upon your Territories if at every step you walk upon your Grave You take all your Walks in a Circle whereof your Grave is the Centre 8. You enjoy indeed a great satisfaction in having many Houses of Pleasure there to pass the different seasons of the year but the year passeth and your pleasures too and from season to season your last approacheth wherein you must give an account of the Fruits which all these seasons have yielded you 9. It is a sad pleasure for a man to contemplate himself in his greatness as in a Looking-Glass because though this Looking-Glass did flatter us yet it cannot represent us but in a continual motion seeing our life hath no stay and what delight can we have in a way how pleasant soever it be if it end at the Grave 10. How astonished may a Man be at the reading of his Testament when he heareth the Inventory of the Goods he hath purchased but hath no body to represent to him the Good he hath done Yet he forsaketh Those eternally and to all Eternity he can pretend to nothing but the fruits of These Judge of his astonishment by this thought 11. Do not reckon Greatness and Riches in the number of the Felicities of this Life they are either the Goods of Nature or Fortune whereof the use is much more dangerous than the possession seems pleasant He is Great before God who is willingly Small before Men. 12. Consider that the Goods which the World yieldeth are false but the Miserie 's true And if when you die you be rich onely in pieces of Land that Earth will remain to you both for your Grave and for your share 13. You cannot enrich your Soul but with Eternal Goods seeing those that are perishing are not for its use You cannot heap up Treasures in your Soul unless Heaven be the Fountain of them 14. It is a great ease to our Minde that we have onely purchased Goods to do Good withal and that we can be able to distribute that before we die which we would give after death For by making it pass through strange hands we run the hazard of diminishing our Charity although we enjoy the advantage thereof 15. Although we should not keep an Accompt of the good Deeds which we do yet it is lawful to preserve the remembrance of them so that the Memory being filled with a habit so commendable this Object always present powerfully moveth the Will whereon depends our future concernment 16. He that doth much Good gathereth much Goods A good life filleth the House with Riches in filling it with gladness A voluntary or patient Poverty may enrich us with Real Treasures 17. Be not disquieted for the meanness of your Estate what is Necessary is sufficient to the Wiseman Abundance never produceth Repose but Mediocrity is able to give it 18. He is free indeed who willeth always that which God willeth But since that we are blinde in our Liberty not knowing to what we shall direct our determinations we preserve our Freedom in putting it into the hands of him who gave it us to make a good use thereof seeing He is the Object and the End of that Usage 19. Covet no more riches than God bestows on you or what comes of the sweat of your Labors And though your Children have no more know that the Seed thereof is so fruitful that it increaseth continually and is never diminished 20. If you knew how great a pleasure it were to do good you would contract so powerful habits of it that it were impossible to break them But if you be so unhappy as to doubt of it let this disadvantage yield you some profit because experience may make you happy CHAP. XIII If we would leave the World chearfully we must dis-engage our selves from it ere we leave it 1. STudy to know the World that you may learn to contemn it seeing the contempt thereof proceeds from the knowledge we have of it No man ever knew it and loved it and they that tie themselves to follow it are wilfully blind who settle their chief happiness here below 2. If Examples are able to instruct you you have no more to do but to cast your eyes on every side to look on the miserable People the World hath made and is
us 8. Because at death vows are to no purpose we ought to make and accomplish them during Life the occasion of well-doing is not alwayes prefent Though the seasons be ordered as well as the Days and Nights yet it is not so with Life because the moments thereof succeed one to another without having so much as one assured 9. The meer necessity of dying doth perswade Wisemen to work out their own Salvation while it is day without standing in need of any other Clock to mark the hours of their work 10. Wise men do never sorrow for their Life past because they live only to die And though the time to come be not theirs yet they dispose of it before hand to their own advantage in the resolution they are alwayes to imploy it well 11. Life hath nothing that is its own but death all the Goods which it injoyeth are imaginary because they subsist only in the Fancy And seeing that subsistence depends of Time and Fortune if This take away from us the use of it That can limit the continuance thereof 12. He is happy upon the account of Justice who seeth himself die in doing of his duty the Race of this Life how painful soever it be becometh pleasant when we run it happily 13. To live but for one day is to live a whole Age provided we spend that day to good purpose A thousand years of Life are reckoned only by the last moment which doth finish it because that alone must Crown all the former 14. There is nothing so dreadful at Death as the remembrance of a long Life because as we must give an account of all our days past seeing they are present with God either to justify or condemn them so the doubt of our happiness or misery keeps our Souls on the Rack 15. We cannot go but once from Time to Eternity it is a journey that hath no returning and seeing that all Wise men prepare themselves to make it as soon as they are capable of reason he must needs be quite deprived of reason who is surprised at the hour of retreat 16. As the Pilgrim doth accomplish his vow when he puts himself on the way to make his Pilgrimage so we begin to go about our Mission as soon as we are born in the Path which we hold it is enough that Reason be our Lantern and Duty our Guide to keep us from going astray without measuring the paces of our Race 17. Although we do but pass away here below yet every man may work out his own Salvation here in passing All consists in the imploying well the Time allowed us without being solicitous for more or less a good life is alwayes long though it should last but for one moment 18. Endeavour every day to dosome good work to the end you may injoy what is past as you do what is present The Wise man never searcheth in vain for his Repose is in his Memory 19. Seeing that the Way which we are to hold in our Life is marked out let us go on cheerfully and consider that the more painful it be it is the safer provided that Patience be our Guide 20. Know that Death is the reward of the just and the punishment of the Wicked because Those when they die may lawfully hope for the Crown of their labours but These for the chastisement of their crime CHAP. XV. That the Wise man waiteth for Death without either wishing or fearing it 1. HE that wisheth for Death hath cause to fear it because the guilt of his desire prepareth his punishment as we are born here below by a secret Order of Providence so this alone can sound our retreat and of all the miseries which can befall us Desperation is the greatest 2. We should never fear the Evils which we cannot avoid because Fear is a new Evill far more painfull than that which we are to incurre and if in these encounters Nature overcome Reason we ought to implore the help of Grace because it triumpheth alwayes 3. Death frights none but the Wicked not but that the Godly do fear it but their Hope being stronger than their Fear the one is diminished by the growth of the other 4. Wise Christians do never dispute with Providence they undergo the laws thereof without repining and how rigorous soever they be seeing there is more glory in suffering than in complaining they beg for Constancy in their distresses rather than for Comfort 5. They that have a love to Life know not what they love For if it be a Good the imaginary propriety and uncertain usage thereof make us sensibly know the contempt we ought to have of it 6. A good Life is always long how short soever it be and seeing the greatest Heroes reckon their years by their Heroick acts the wise Christian ought to keep an account of his age by the Good he doth 7. Although we be born here below unwitting to us we have liberty to live here as we please but seeing that we must give an account of our Life we ought to be good husbands of Time for it conducts us to Eternity 8. Life may be justly compared to a Dream because we live in a continual dotage taking the false Good for the reall and the way of Vice for the path of Vertue 9. Know that the preparation to Death doth mitigate the fear thereof as the continuall thoughts of it taketh away the horrour and as Experience cannot chuse but be profitable to you so the profit you shall receive by it will far surpass the pains you shall take for it 10. If you would forsake Life without sorrow enjoy it without being tyed to it we should never think but of finishing our journey so much the rather because we cannot stay by the way 11. This Interval of dayes and nights whereof our Life is composed lets us see by the Image of Sleep that it is so confounded with Death that it is but one and the same thing 12. Nature causeth us to be born like unto Posts in this World where every man carrieth the sealed Letter of his Destiny directing to Death and seeing Time leadeth us thither if we do not go it will pull us This obligeth us to follow our Fate with that submission which becometh a creature 13. Seeing we do not live but to die and that we do not die but to live again let us drive the Trade of the Vertuous man because he alone can find at the end of his Course that Eternity which he waits for 14. He that liveth only to live doth deprive himself of Hope which is the sole Good of Life What would become of us in the miseries wherein we are if we did not pretend to Eternal happiness seeing our Souls can never die 15. Life is not otherwise considerable than by the good use we make of it though you should live a whole Age abounding with Riches and Happiness if the last moment do not justify all the former you may be reckoned in the number of the most miserable men in the World 16. Every body wisheth to live long not considering that a long life is a long receit of Time bestowed on us seeing that we must give an account of the imployment of our dayes The felicity of our Life depends of the happiness of our Death 17. Consider that every Age seeth die all that it hath seen born and that it draweth along with it all that hath appeared like it in the World without hope of returning because the years whereof it is composed are never twice counted 18. As soon as a man hath attained to the years of Reason he liveth long enough if he live but one day provided that one day be well spent The rest of the Time which is allowed us turneth to our reproach rather than our advantage if we do not spend it to good purpose 19. When we wish for Death we manifest our Cowardise more than our Courage because this fails us through want of resolution to endure the memory of what is past the trouble of what is present and the fear of what is to come whereof the only Hope of Eternity can sufficiently instruct us 20. Know that the Life of Great Men is a path strewed with Roses whereof the Thorns are at the end For after they have smelled the sweet odour of Those they must needs feel the sting of These 21. There is none but God and Vertue that can prolong the Life of Man God in adding to it that which is to come and Vertue in recalling what is past by the satisfaction we injoy in having spent it well 22. He that loveth Life in his miseries to suffer them constantly hath cause to fear Death because in suffering new torments it taketh away from him the means to acquire new Crowns 23. Live only to die if you would live without reproach he that thinks on that which is to come doth not sorrow for what is past and enjoyeth what is present without disquiet FINIS