Tongues What it is to rule the Tongue is to weigh and consider what we are about to speak and to restrain our selves from uttering that which upon consideration we find is not fit to be made known And be we never so passionately earnest to ease our Minds yet we must chuse rather to offer the greatest violence to our Passions than give our selves leave to speak that which sober Consideration and sound Christianity do not allow of Both which do principally charge us to speak nothing when we are urged to speak much or to speak gently and wisely when our Passions would move us to speak at random THEREFORE we must bridle our Tongues especially from meddling with these five things 1. Vanity 2. Swearing and Cursing 3. Lying 4. Flattery 5. Reproach and Scoffing For by these Evils most of the mischief that is in the World is promoted He who babbles that which is vain and trivial is altogether useless and He who speaks that which is false is very destructive at least to himself He who Flatters abuses his Friends with false Countenances and feigned Speeches He who Reproaches wounds his Neighbour and violates the great Duties incumbent on us Justice and Charity He that swears profanes God which is a certain sign of a vain and light Spirit that considers little and cannot distinguish Things TO the Question Why we ought to bridle our Tongues I shall answer in two Instances Want of consideration the cause of speaking foolishly and rashly First BY shewing the Evils that accompany an unbridled Tongue 2. BY shewing the rare Effects of a well-governed Conversation NOW if a Man doth not consider what He is to say in some measure he speaks he knows not what how great a Folly is it to offer that to the judgment of others whereof a Man hath made no judgment himself to speak Words and expect the Hearer should put Sense into them though the Speaker intended none Whereas weighty and deep Sense lies low and deep in the mind is not easily and readily drawn out Wise Sayings and Sage Counsels do not dwell upon the Tip of the Tongue they do not edg and fringe our Lips they do not gush out like pent-Waters but spring gently and easily drop by drop So the heaviest Bodies lie nearest the Centre Gold and Silver are in the hidden Mines of the Earth while dirt and mire cover its Face So the Treasures of the Sea sink to the bottom while Foam swims aloft like unto which are rash und hasty Words that knock at every Ear that importune every Man that ask and answer every Question They are the Scum of an empty Mind the very froth of an unsetled and uncomposed Spirit WHEN therefore I see a Man swell with Pride and Scorn with Envy and Wrath saying This Man hath no Religion and the other knows nothing of the Power of Godliness This is a Formalist and That an Hypocrite this is Ignorant and the other meerly Moral I can no more think him to be a good Christian than I can believe Scorn to be Piety Bitterness to be Love or Fury to be Patience WHEN I see a Man haunt Atheistical Company hear him Rioting in Wine when vain Discourse fills his Mouth and Trifles wag his Tongue as puffs of Wind shake the leaf of the Asp when uncleanness flows out of his Belly into his Mouth I must needs think that his Heart is full of these Fornications which have debauch'd his Tongue and that all these Evils are painted tot he life in his impure Fancy which hedescribes in his Discourse Men will be judged of according to their words Wherefore let a Man speak as He would be thought to be For whatever slight Thoughts any man hath of his Words others will pass Sentence on him according to them and the less he considers them the more they will be considered by others and that to his shame and to the disgrace of that Religion which He doth profess MOREOVER an unbridled Tongue disturbs the World fills it with Confusion and darkens all with Smoak and no wonder for it sets all things on fire and no wonder at that neither being its self set on fire of Hell and as a spark will kindle a great Fire so a word hath been often the occasion of many Quarrels and of Deaths in the World For Words are the wings of evil Reports and evil Reports are the Arrows of evil Tongues and wicked Words feather those Arrows they carry an ill Tale through a whole Country and propagate Mischief as the Sun doth Light swiftly and on every side they publish it in the Streets or at the Table and whisper it in the Closet so every place is infected with Calumnies evil Surmises and bitter Censures Scornful Speeches the rise of most differences Look but into any Neighbourhood and how many Feuds shall you find between Brother and Brother How few Families shall you find not infected with this Breath that are not filled with Suspicions that are not exasperated with Contests and Contradictions Then if you enquire into the reason of these inordinate Heats and unchristian Distempers you will find they began thus this Neighbour spoke contemptibly of the other and He returned the Scorn again then mutual Scorns beget mutual Grudges and God knows where those Grudges will end For He that draws the Sword must as we use to say throw away the Scabbard So He that speaks a rash Word little knows the offence He may give what jarrs he may kindle and how far or how long they may be propagated For commonly men entail their Quarrels upon their Children and following Generations inherit the the Animosities of their Ancestors and Children study to Revenge their Parents sufferings Hence come endless Suits at Law and hence proceed many bloody Duels For how many have lost their Estates to satisfie a Passion How many have rather chosen to die upon the point of a Sword that have the pain of a sharp Reproof So great miseries doth Evil-speaking produce in the World besides the confusion it creates in a man 's own Soul for it makes the same shakings within as it does without Now there can no greater Evil befal a man in the judgment of the Holy and Wise than to have his mind the Seat of a War than to have Wrath Malice Fear and Revenge clashing one against another in his own Heart For every man 's own Spirit should be a Sanctuary or a place of Rest to himself after the hurries that he meets with in the World and in the government of its Affairs a man should always have God and a peaceable Mind to retreat to for this is the security of wise and good Men that the disturbances which are without them do not reach their thoughts looking outward when they see nothing but Disorder and hear nothing but Clamour within they find peace and joy and light even the Light of God's Countenance and of a clear Conscience But
The Principles of Religion the best and most beneficial he shall reap any benefit from Vice let him rather with an impartial Reason unbiassed either with Lust or Passion enquire into the Principles and Duties of Virtue and he will easily discover them to be most reasonable and pleasant to love and practise them to be his highest Privilege as well as Interest to neglect or defame them the most stupid Folly which he cannot do till be can prove a base and selfish Spirit to be more Noble and Generous than an universal Love and Charity Pride and Luxury to be more amiable than Sweetness and Ingenuity Revenge and Impatience more honorable than Discretion and Civility Excess and Debauchery more healthful than Temperance and Sobriety to be enslaved to Lusts and Passions more manly than to live by the Rules of Reason and Prudence Malice and Injustice to be more graceful and becoming a Gentile Behavior than Kindness and Benignity the Horrors of an amazed Spirit to be fuller of Pleasure and Happiness than that peace and calmness of Mind which springs from the Reflections of an exact Conscience But if a Man cannot believe that the Idea of God is a Fancy that the Immortality of the Soul is a Fable then to what a degree of madness doth he Act who will venture the Rage of an Almighty Vengeance and the Ruin of an Immortal Soul for the sake of a Vice It is true the Rich Man in the Gospel did applaud himself in his foresight when he had filled his Store-Houses with Provision for many years Ease and Voluptuousness But no sooner was he surprised with the news of death than all his hopes were dasht into pieces with what Agony did the miserable Man hear his fatal Doom how did he quake and shiver when he found himself in another World beset with Devils and damned Ghosts Such is the Wisdom of every vicious Man he congratulate himself for one of the shrewd and notable Persons swells with conceits of his own cunning and sagacity as if all besides himself were weak People misled by the Cheats and Impostures of Priests But is this World all that the Wretch can enjoy hath he no prospect of any Being hereafter no expectations but what shall be interr'd with his Carcase If it be so then indeed this might a little excuse the silliness of his Choice But when there is no other state so certain and unalterable as that of everlasting Happiness and Misery which awaited good and evil doers let him think what a Sot he is to forgo these hopes for the sake of any Vice whatsoever for nothing can be more evident than that human Nature is so framed as not to be kept within due bounds without Laws which Laws must be insignificant without the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments but Temporal ones cannot be sufficient for this End therefore there is a necessity that there should be another future state of Happiness and Misery whereas if Temporal Prosperity did infallibly attend all good Actions this would be a Diminution to Virtue it self Men would do good by a kind of natural Necessity which abates just so much from the Virtue of their Actions as it does from the Liberty of them How then shall we reconcile these Contradictions that Men should believe that there is a State hereafter of endless pain to punish the Wicked and of endless felicity to reward the Righteous yet be so careless to avoid the one and to get the other that they should think a constant and habitual Obedience to the Rules of Virtue indispensibly necessary to Salvation yet live in known and wilful Impieties indulg themselves in gross and confessed Wickedness some wallowing in Lust and Wantonness others in Wine and Drunkenness some gratifying their Pride and Ambition others their Malice and Envy some sacrificing to their Filth and Luxury others to their Avarice and Covetousness some given to all kinds of Excess others to all kinds of Religion How can these Men look into their own minds without the deepest horror and despair 6. The nature of true Repentance For Vice can never be blotted out but by a timely Repentance such a Repentance as will bring forth all the Fruits of Virtue For he who thinks to purifie himself from his Sin without acquitting it is as wise as He who laps about a gangrened Member without any purpose of healing it But no Vice can be pardon'd till it is mortified He who prays against it but yet commits it directly contradicts his own Petition all he gains by it is that he is Self-condemned and he may as possibly wish himself into life while he cuts his own Throat as pray his Soul into Heaven whilst his Manners are unreformed And He who goes on in Vice upon the hope of an After-Repentance makes himself uncapable of God's Mercy by turning his Grace into Wantonness whereas from the Terms of Christ's Gospel a Man may as well expect to Repent when he is dead as when he is dying and he may as soon move Divine Compassion by the gnashing of his Teeth in the next World as by his last groans in this But the Goodness of God will not suffer it self to be mocked there is nothing more manifest in the Scripture than the absolute necessity of a virtuous Life here in order to an happy One hereafter It concerns us therefore to beware of all manner of Evil and we ought to be the more cautions because the Snares thereof are laid so craftily for 7. Evil is deceitful 1. Evil doth often assume another name to cover its native Vgliness though it doth always retain the same venomous and base Nature because it would not be known by its own proper Title and Character it doth impudently intrude and adopt it self into the Family of some Virtue as if it did resemble them and things that an alike do often cozen unwary Judges as for instance base Compliance with vitious and extravagant Company passeth for good Fellowship and Civil Conversation wanton and scurrilous Language is looked upon as Wit and true Breeding when Men pinch and are covetous this is called good Husbandry Thus Vice presents it self in such colors as may best please the diverse Humors of Men sometimes it suggesteth to them Pleasure sometimes Profit these are its most catching and therefore the most Fatal Temptations these are the baits which cover the Hook and they take with all Men that are not of a steady and resolved Virtue 8. Evil the most slavish thing 2. Evil by all its Arts would persuade us that it is a Privilege which we may challenge and which we may do in the use of the Liberty that God hath given us but we are grosly imposed upon by these Insinuations for it is not Power to be able to do that which is not fit to be done neither is it Liberty but Slavery and that the most unsufferable to have power to do Evil or to serve any Lust yet
superadded to the reason of our Minds is of strength sufficient to subdue all the Temptations to evil if the Creation below us by natural instinct doth those things that are regular shall not these higher Principles do the like always preserve us from known evil and determine us to that which is morally good This is the course of things in Nature every Habit begun is greatly weakened by a forbearance of Acts for every thing must be kept up in the way it was produced a Disposition is first wrought by some Acts and if Act be not continued upon Act the Disposition will fail for things that are not brought to a State of Perfection will go back again if they be not maintained in the same way that they were produced Wherefore it will be worth the while to enquire what our most holy Religion aims at and after what manner it doth affect the Person in whom it is lodged Now Religion makes us live up to our highest Faculties and teaches us to practise such Virtues as become rational Beings who bear the Image of the Immortal God and are exalted above the Inferior Creation prompts us to scorn all Actions that are base unhansom or unworthy our State and Relation in which we stand to our Creator forbids us to do any thing that will make us like Beasts or that would sink us into a lower order by Sensuality and Carnal-mindedness or that would transform us into the likeness of Devils by Pride Presumption and Self conceit makes us God-like in Wisdom Righteousness Goodness Charity Compassion in forgiving Injuries pardoning Enemies and in doing hurt to none but good to all as we have power and opportunity advises us to follow the conduct of true and sincere Reason tames the Extravagancy of our Passions and regulates the Exorbitances of the Will permits us the pleasures of our Bodies so far as they may give no disturbance to the Mind produces a sweet and gracious Temper of Soul calm in it self and loving to Mankind begets in us freedom of Spirit and banishes groundless Fears foolish Imaginations and dastardly Thoughts teaches us to have right Conceptions of God that he doth transact all things with Mankind as a loving Father with his Children creates in us a rational Satisfaction and the joy of a good Conscience advances the Soul to its just Sovereignty over inferior Appetites which would disable it for all good and vertuous Acts and render us weak foolish and unfit for any thing that is generous or noble strengthens our Reason against the Onsets of the World Flesh and Devil which is effected chiefly by stifling all manner of Intemperance for it is this that frustrates the Work of Religion either by stupifying or imaging the Spirits or by putting them into irregular Motions 16. An Exhortation to the Practice of Religion Now therefore let us consider whether or no this Religion doth govern our Lives which we must learn not by our acquaintance with Systems and Models of Divinity but by our keeping its Commandments For unless Christ be inwardly formed in our Hearts the Notions of Religion can save us no more than Arts and Sciences whilst they lye only in Books and Papers without us can make us learned For Christ Jesus did not undergo a reproachful Life and Death merely to bring in a Notion into the World without the changing mending and reforming it so that Men might still be as wicked as they were before and as much under the Power of the Prince of Darkness Indeed Christ came to expiate and attone for our Sins but the end of this was that we might forsake all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts 'T is true there be some that dishearten us in this spiritual Warfare and bring an ill Report upon that Land which we are to conquer telling of nothing but strange Giants the Sons of Anak that we shall never be able to subdue others would suggest that it is enough for us if we be but once in a state of Grace we need not take so great pains to travel any farther or that Christ hath done all for us already without us and nothing need more to be done within us Hearken not to them I beseech you but hear what Caleb and Joshua say Let us go up at once and possess it for we are able to overcome them the hugest Armies of Lusts not by our own Strength but by the Power of the Lord of Hosts hear also the wholsom Words of S. Peter Give all diligence to add to your Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledg to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Kindness and to brotherly Kindness Charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ For Holiness hath something of God in it and therefore it must needs be a victorious and triumphant thing And as the Devils are always active to encourage Evil so the heavenly Host of blessed Angels are as busie in promoting that which is good for we cannot imagin but that the Kingdom of Light should be as true to its own Interest and as vigilant for the enlarging it self as the Kingdom of Darkness But then by Holiness is not meant a mere Performance of the outward Duties of Religion but an inward Soul and Principle of divine Life that enliveneth the dead Carcast of all our outward Devotions For this is the vulgar Error of Mankind they have dreadful Apprehensions of Fire and Brimstone whilst they feed in their Hearts a true and living Fire that is the Hell of Lusts which miserably scorches their Souls and they are not concerned at it they do not perceive how Hell steals upon them whilst they live here And as for Heaven they gaze abroad for it as for some great and high Preferment that must come from without and never look for the beginnings of it to arise within in their own Minds Whereas nothing without us can make us either happy or miserable nothing can either defile or hurt us but what goeth out from us I shall now shut up all with these two Considerations to persuade you farther to the Love of Virtue From the desire we all have after Truth which is not held up by wrangling Disputes and syllogistical Reasonings but by the Purity of our Hearts and Lives neither would it fail of overcoming the World did not the Sensuality of our Dispositions and the Darkness of our false Hearts stop its passage And from the Desires we have of a true Reformation which must be begun in our own Hearts and Lives for all outward Forms and Models thereof are of little worth without the inward Amendment of our own Souls For the baser Metals are not changed by their being cast into a good Mold or by being made up in an elegant Figure neither will adulterate Silver pass when the Touch-stone tryes it neither can we
it by a fruitless Anxiety but will make the best of his Condition by a discreet management of himself and his Actions NOW Aristotle that great Master of Ethicks in his inquisition after the Properties of Moral Virtue first falls upon the consideration of Good what it is and defines it to be That which all our Desires aim at and indeed what can satisfie our Desires but that which is good for even evil things when they are sought after appear unto us under the shew of good Whence comes that common distinction of Bonum apparens verum Bonum Bonum sensui Bonum rationi From this general description of what is good he comes in particular to consider of Bonum Homini And seeing there are many things which are indeed profitable and good for Man he makes yet a more particular Enquiry whether there be not some one thing wherein every Man places the End of all his Desires 'T IS true that every Man proposeth to himself somewhat which if he could once arrive at he would think himself a happy Person The Philosophers divided in their Opinions about the Chiefest Good One seeketh Pleasure and Ease as Aristippus and the Cyrenaicks did a second would have Indolence or a freedom from all Trouble which the Epicureans wished for another perhaps prefers a sort of Wisdom without Sense like that of the Stoicks One fixes his Mind upon Wealth and Abundance another upon Honor and State and a third shall pursue with all his might some particular Course of Life as a Trade or any way of Business which if he could bring to any perfection he supposes he should have his Desires fully answered A multitude of Fancies there are of this kind almost as many as there are Complexions amongst Men wherein Mankind have been used to lodge their final Good or the utmost scope of their Wishes It will not therefore be amiss to enquire what this is and whether it be possible to find that matter out which would be adequate to all our Desires And First IT may well be doubted since no Man was ever yet known to possess on Earth that thing which could fully satisfie him Secondly IF we suppose any Man to have had it yet the very Anxiety and Fear of losing it would abate much of the Pleasure he might take in the Enjoyment of it Thirdly THE unavoidable expectation of Death were enough to draw off all our Inclinations after this World since that after Death Nature affords us no Prospect or Certainty of any thing wherein we may place our last Ease and Contentment So that the enquiry What it is which would finally content us is likely to prove no other than that vain phantastical Labour which many Men to their utter ruine have taken in pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone NOTWITHSTANDING all this we must find out something which we may truly call our final Good For that restless Desire after it which is generally in all Men cannot be to no purpose since God and Nature never made any thing in vain neither is it consistent with his Justice or Goodness to put any Creature upon a continual Rack the contrary to which were unavoidably true if under the Sun there were nothing which might answer this universal Appetite How Men have been mistaken about their chiefest good BEFORE we affirm any thing concerning it we must first determine what it is not For the Errors of Men have been so many that we need be sure of what we do lest we run into the same Mistakes The principal Cheat of all which hath misled most is Pleasure by which I do not mean any gross and carnal Pleasure of which Men are naturally ashamed as being very fickle and soon at an end which will not suit with our last Hopes that are eternal For the Content received in Meats and Drinks and the Consequences thereof Iust and Wantonness are so short lived so full of Satiety and Sickness that even Epicurus declared the smallest Diet was the best and indeed he that is resolved to subdue his Body must be sure to cut off all unnecessary Convoys of Meats and Drinks and the Seige cannot last long But as for that other more refin'd Pleasure which consists in the Satisfaction of the Mind and in the constant Approbation of Virtue this comes near the point but fails of it as being a Concomitant of it but not the Thing it self Secondly Riches cannot be the end of our Desires MANY have chosen Riches and Abundance of all things for the End of their Desires but this will not hold because the perpetual Care of preserving them or the endless Fear of losing them will not suffer them to bring any Happiness to us which ought to be without Care of keeping and without Fear of losing Thirdly Our Happiness cannot be found in Honours THE more polite and elegant sort of Men place their Felicity in Honours but neither is it here to be found for Honour is not in him that bears but in him that affords it as those are honour'd who discharge the greatest weight of their Princes Affairs and we often see that those Men which to day were most honour'd and to morrow upon defiance of those that honour'd them prove most contemptible even for this reason because Honor est in Honorante non in Honorato But our last and true Happiness must be found in our selves and not in other Men. Happiness is not found in the increase of Knowledg Fourthly SOME have thought themselves happy only for their great Skill in Letters which they have gotten with unwearied pains the Authority of Aristotle hath driven them upon this Conceit who according to his nice way of handling all things hath divided Knowledg into contemplative and practical whereas Knowledg is but the outward dress and trimming as it were of a Man and may be found in the most unhappy and cannot therefore be true Felicity Nor in the Idea of Good as Plato fancied THERE are but two things remaining in which some Men place their Happiness the first is the Idea of Good a Fancy of Plato's for he conceiving that there were in God certain Exemplaria or Patterns of all things in full perfection taught that in the Contemplation of these our final Good consisted Some Doctrines of this kind have been delivered in our Schools what else do the Scholastick Writers mean by their saying that our last Happiness must be had in the visual Sight of God But this must be after our Death when we shall behold and knoâ— all things according as they are in their most perfect State But the Happiness we now enquire for must be such as may be enjoy'd in this Life For it is altogether uncertain whether any such Idea be or no and if there be it doth not appear which way the Contemplation of it hath an influence upon our Manners So that these Ideas are not unlike King Ptolomie's Man in Lucian who
nothing neither is it an Habit because he may be born with Courage it must then be a power of the Soul placed chiefly in the sensitive Appetite because it depends much upon the Heats of Blood and is common to all Creatures A Courage may be sometimes Mechanical But Tully tells us Fortitudo est viri propria virtus it most properly belongs to and becomes a Man best wherefore by the Greeks it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Courage to convince you how much it is purely Mechanical may proceed in some measure from the temper of Air may be form'd by Discipline and acquired by Use or infused by Opinion But that which is more natural and so more National in some Countries than in others seems to arise from the heat or strength of Spirits about the Heart which may a great deal depend upon the measure and the substance of the Food Men are used to This made a Physician once say He would make any Man a Coward with six weeks Dieting For this Reason the English having their Bellies full of Beef have been esteemed most fit for any bold and desperate Action This also may be a reason why the Gentry in all places of the World are braver than the Peasantry whose Hearts are depressed not only by Slavery but short and heartless Food the effect of their poverty This is a Cause why the Yeomanry of England are generally Stouter than in other Countries because by the Constitution of the Kingdom they live easier as to Rents and Taxes by the plenty thereof they fare better than those of their Rank in any other Nation Their Chief and indeed constant Food being of Flesh And among all Creatures both Birds and Beasts we shall still find those that feed upon Flesh to be the fierce and the bold and on the contrary the fearful and faint-hearted to feed upon Grass and upon Plants Thus the veins of Courage seem to run like veins of Good Earth in a Country And some People are so far from having a firm and constant Valour in them that I can compare them to nothing better than the Scare-Crows Children make of straw wherewith they stuff empty Cloaths they look like Men but they have no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no true fortitude in them Secondly THE Actions of this Virtue are most splendid and great therefore they were always ascribed to the Demy-gods by the Ancients and Moses attributes Fortitude to God himself when he saith Jehovah is a God of War and commonly stileth him the Lord of Hosts Now all Virtues are to be defined by those Objects about which they are conversant Fortitude defined and by the Actions which they perform By which Rule we may define Fortitude to be that Virtue which teacheth us to moderate our Fears and our Confidence at what time and place to encounter Dangers and Difficulties when and where to decline and avoid them especially if there be any fear or hazard of Death according to the Doctrine of Aristotle of all things the most terrible and ghastly The Courage therefore of a valiant and wise Man is chiefly seen in running the Risque of War and all the mischiefs that follow upon it for his Countrey for his Religion for his Liberty As for all matters of less importance it is as eminent a part of Fortitude to fear Death and fly Dangers as it is to undertake and engage them The Extremes opposed to this Virtue on one hand are Rashness Fury and the like on the other side are opposite timorousness and want of Spirit When he describes the Object of this Virtue Aristotle mistakes himself many ways in overvaluing some things as Life and Liberty which are of no price in comparison with the fear of God or the Care of Religion which he either did not regard or knew nothing of it As for Life the Stoicks have delivered better Precepts concerning it when they tell us non est magna res vivere and consequently non est magna res mori tho in regard of Death so great a provision is to be made against it as they believed so many Circumstances of Insensibility and hardiness of Mind are urged and all its Forces are mustered together that they seem to have consented with Aristotle in making Death to be the most dreadful thing imaginable FOR if common Honesty and Integrity be valued as it ought to be Honesty and Integrity the most valuable things the meanest part of it is more precious than all the possessions of this World and will much overballance the Torments of Death and rather than we should suffer the least part of our Integrity to fall to the ground we ought to venture upon all Perils whatsoever And it is worth our observing that there is no passion in the mind of Man so weak but it masters the fear of Death Revenge triumphs over it Love slights it Honour aspires after it Grief flies to it Nay pity the tenderest of them all provoked many of Otho's Followers to die in compassion to their Emperour who had slain himself and Seneca adds mori velle non tantum Fortis aut miser sed etiam fastidiosus potest A Man would die tho he were neither Valiant nor miserable only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over But then it is easiest to leave this World when we have such expectations of a happier State as the Christian Faith gives us they who are strangers to these hopes fear Death as Children are afraid to go in the dark and as that natural Fear in Children is increased with Tales so is the other with the Conceits of philosophers Secondly THE Peripatetick extols Liberty as the Object of Fortitude This hath been very much cryed up by the Ethnick Wisemen and likewise by mistake among some Christians such as the Gnosticks in the Apostles times who were so far from being Valiant in the maintenance of their Faith that they pleaded their Christian Liberty on the behalf of their cowardly Revolts from it in the time of Persecution And some Errours of another kind about Liberty have been the cause of Wars and Murders of Bloudshed and Rebellions as much as any other thing whatsoever Saint Paul who certainly understood the Nature and the price of Liberty much better than Aristotle left us this Rule Art Thou called a Slave for so I rather render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 care not for it that thing which Men contend for so hotly He doth not think it worth regarding so far was the Apostle from esteeming it at that rate as that under pretence thereof Wars might be raised Robberies and all manner of Villanies committed and all to preserve that which no Man ever knew what is is and no Man ever yet had it For if by this word we mean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the licentious power of doing what we list it is neither possible for Men living in Society to have it neither
before he is fully possess'd of the End he drives at his Prudence must be concluded to de defective BUT put these three all together and in whomsoever they are found I may affirm that he is a Person well qualified with Prudence either for this or the other World FOR as the prudent Man for this World is ever busie in contriving the most probable Ways of gaining the most precious things of it his Head is ever at work his thoughts are watchful and intent his whole mind is in this very matter to promote his Fortune and to settle his Interest so the prudent Man in the Exercises of Virtue casts off all sloth and negligence The behaviour of a prudent Man in Religion spends his hours in Meditation upon the transitory State of the best Things here and the certainty of Death and Judgment so that He is constantly employed in stating his Accounts for this great Day and in examining himself how he is prepared for it As the prudent Man for this World who resolves to be Rich considers that He must then be very industrious in his Calling and very frugal in his Expences that He must deny his Ease and his Appetites and exactly keep his Accounts For He who indulges his Belly and his sleep takes not the right way to encrease his Estate And as He who hath an Ambition to be highly honoured or prefer'd will take care to offend no Body but demean himself Civilly will put up and conceal many Affronts will do all acts of Courtesie and beneficence that He can As another whose Genius leads him to search for Knowledg knows the directest way to it is sedulous Study to peruse good Books frequent the best Company and to render all useful to himself by sober Contemplation So the prudent Man in Virtue aims at the Enjoyment of God's Favour and Eternal Life with him therefore He applies himself heartily to the fittest Means for this End which is to be holy and to do good to serve God faithfully and to make use of all Opportunities of redeeming his time therefore thinking much of Heaven and hoping to land himself safely there He will never steer his Course by a false Compass by imagining that he is in the right way when he is of such a Party when He can dispute hotly for this and that Opinion or when He spends all his Zeal upon those things that perish in the using and never go beyond this present State As the prudent Man for this World doth not content himself with chusing proper Means to the Ends he follows but when he is satisfied that the Means he hath chosen are fit and suitable he is never discouraged or baffled out of them by any difficulties whatsoever For instance No hardship disheartens the Man who designs to get Riches He slights all the Labours and Cares in his Way because he is stedfastly bent upon the acquisition of his Desires And as another Man who is strongly inclined to become Eminent in all sorts of Learning and to understand all Matters that have been before him knows well that his Candle must never go out that by pains and watchings he must contract pale Looks and a sickly Body yet he is not cast down by any of these considerations So the prudent Man in the business of Virtue is sure that if he doth good and lives well A virtuous and prudent Man values not Reproaches he shall be happy therefore he values not the Reproaches of bad men nor the Afflictions that are to be endured For he will never be beaten off from his intended purpose by any such or greater discouragements As a Wise Man for this World looks upon it as a notorious Mark of Folly for a Man to run upon any thing at all Adventures as He is wary and suspicious so that he will not trust his Fortune in every Bodies hands nor take the Counsel of a Man whom he thinks not to be Honest or that he imagins will impose upon him So the prudent Person for the cause of Virtue builds his Faith and Hope for a better World with as much care and caution therefore He is not apt to be misled by every Impostor but contemns those Mountebanks in Religion A Religious prudent man is not easily misled who by fair Stories and specious Gulleries wheedle men out of their Sense and Reason This he doth because He is as careful of his Religion and as watchful against Cheats as the cunning man for this World is wont to be for advancing his secular Ends and Interests For which purpose he will watch the proper Season of doing any thing and will never let it slip So the prudent Man in the Warfare of Virtue lays hold of all opportunities for the benefit of his Soul He makes use of the present time and considers if his Work be not done now it will never be done at all So far the Parallel goes between a prudent Man for this World and for Virtue But here we cannot but bewail the ill State of things that Men should strive to be more discreet in the little Affairs of this Life than they are in matters of much more importance to them the unreasonableness of which will appear in these four particulars First it is manifest The unreasonableness of being more prudent for this world than for virtue that a good Man hath a nobler End to pursue than the Men of this World can pretend to for how low a design is it how unworthy a rational Being to heap up Wealth when he knows not how soon he may be taken away from it or that waste away and leave him With an ambitious Person it is just so he hath laboured all his days to become Great and Honorable when he hath effected it his Name is only toss'd too and frô by the envy of the World but supposing that Riches could be durable or that Honor were a certain thing yet the Possessions of this Earth in their most flourishing condition are not to be compared with the enjoyments of a virtuous Man which are chiefly to have peace with God and with his own mind Now if a Virtuous Man hath a greater and more desirable End of his Actions it is very unreasonable that he should be outdone in prudence or care in the working out his Salvation Secondly As a virtuous Man hath the best end so the means that he hath to it are much more certain than all the methods of the World are For Solomon hath assured us that here the Race is not always to the swift nor the Battel to the strong one in all likelihood would think that the swiftest should winn the Race and the strongest the Battel yet the wisest Man and the best Judge of the true valuation of all things below hath determined quite otherwise the best humane means tho never so well fitted to their ends do often miscarry for after a Man hath run the utmost dangers and hath