kingdome of God within the soule Blessed and holy is he that hath it and to him is next in happinesse and holinesse he that sincerely endeavoreth to get it and to that end yeelds to God the raines of his affections brings his will under Gods will and humbly invites him to fixe his dwelling beare rule within his breast It is the end that I aim at in this worke And I beseech the God of peace so to blesse and honour it as to make it an instrument to work His peace in the souls of his servants beginning at my soule To that work every Christian ought to put his hand as he loveth God and himselfe To which wee are the more induced and in a manner compelled by the contrariety of the Time While the storme of warre or intestine dissensions is raging in all parts of the world not leaving one safe corner for peace the wise Christian must take sanctuary in that inward peace that peace of God which though it passe all understanding yet will dwell in the understanding and the affections of those that faithfully seek it and keep both hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God through Jesus Christ Get once God within you you have a shelter at home against all injuryes abroad as he that in a tempestuous raine flyes into a Church and in Gods house finds peace and safety whilst the whole aire abroad is enflamed with lightnings and roaring with thunder and the land floods are hurling down houses drowning sheep and shepheards and destroying the long hopes of the Husbandmans labour For the faithfull soul is Gods Temple which he graceth by his presence and blesseth with his peace not suffering it to be removed though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea This peace at home in which our duty and our happinesse are concentred is an inviting subject for a diligent contemplation Let us examine wherein consisteth the true peace of the soul and contentment of mind and how wee must keepe peace with God with our selves with our neighbours in adversity in prosperity and in all the occurrences of life CHAP. II. Of the Peace of Man in his integrity and the losse of that peace by sinne THe fundamentall rule of great reformations is to bring things to their beginning By that rule that wee may know the true peace of God and how wee may get it wee must cast back our sight upon the beginning how God gave it to man and how he lost it soone after And here wee must use that which the Spirit sayd unto the Churches Rev. 2.5 Remember whence thou art fallen and repent Man newly created after Gods likenes was in perfect peace with him for God making an image of himselfe would not have made it dissenting from him and peace is a prime lineament of Gods Image That first human soule recently breathed out of Gods mouth followed with delight the fresh and pure traces of his divine production and man finding in himselfe the likness of his Creator tooke a great joy and glory to compare that copy with the original That moving image of God did imitate his actions as doth the image of our body in a glasse And whereas in the worke of regeneration St Paul saith that the new man is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him and that he is created after God in righteousnes and true holines it followes that the first man was created such since wee learne that such must be the renewing of man to be created againe after the image of God These lively expresses of the image of God knowledge righteousnes and holines could not be in that first man without an entire peace and consonance with his Creator And having peace with God he had it also with himselfe His desires were not at variance with his fears nor his knowledge with his actions His thoughts belyed not his words His cupidity did not draw against his conscience his conscience layd no accusation against him From that good intelligence with God and with himselfe he could not but reape a great content in his mind that content also being a lineament of the image of God to whom as holines so happines is natural and essential For that contentment of mind he got no smal contribution from the beauty and plenty of Nature smiling upon him and the willing submission of all animals flocking about him as loving subjects meeting to wellcome their new Soveraign For his peace with God kept all creatures in peace and obedience under him Abroad the clemency of the aire and the pleasantnes of a garden of Gods planting delighted him And at home his familiarity and free accesse to his Maker filled him with joy and confidence And his original righteousnes if he could have kept it would have perpetuated that blessed peace unto him for peace is the most proper effect of righteousnesse as it is exprest by Isatah The work of righteousnesse shal be peace and the effect of righteousnesse quietness assurance for ever Isa 32.17 Truly God forbidding him to eat of that excepted fruit upon paine of death did intimate that as long as he kept in obedience death could take no hold of him nor any of the appurtenances of death for such are all the infirmities of the body all the griefes of the mind and all the crosses of this life Ezekiel in the eighteenth Chapter is copious upon this demonstration that life is inseperable from righteousness and mortality from sinne This last was justified by wofull experience for man going from his righteousnesse forfeited his life and his peace And presently a dark cloud of confusion and misery troubled his golden serenity The voyce of God which was the joy of man suddenly became his terrour Gods presence which was his life became so formidable to him that it went for a currant truth Judg. 13.22 Wee shall surely dye because wee have seene God Man being fallen off from God most part of the creatures fell off from him and that rebellion continued ever since Those that have sense and motion openly deny to yeeld subjection unto him flee away from him when he will come neere them or flye upon him with open hostility And to get service from them he must tame them young before they be able to resist him Other Creatures destitute of sense yet seeme sensible enough to let him know that they yeeld to him a forced service Neither can the earth be wonne to doe any good for him but by great labour and long expectation Diseases enter into his body with the meate that he eateth and the aire that he breatheth Stormes beat upon him Summers scorch him Winters chill him Foxes have holes and birds of the aire have nests their garments are natural warme in winter light in summer To man onely Nature gives not where to lay his head nor so much as a skinne capable to abide his
wee beare to God is the love that he beares to us wee must before all things study to conceive as well as wee may of the great love of God to us-ward Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that wee should be called the sonnes of God 1 John 3.1 This is the principall point of his love where all other testimonies of his love doe beginne and where they end Without this none can say that he is beloved of God For to be the work of Gods hands and maintained by his providence is common to all creatures and to be made after Gods image and by his liberality to enjoy the plenty and service of nature is common to all men good and evill But because creatures without reason and men without goodnesse beare no love to God it cannot properly be said that God loveth them though he be their maker and preserver Love being the bond of perfectnesse Col. 3. Gods love would not be the bond of perfectnesse if he loved those things that never return him love For that love may be a bond the two ends must meet knit together now these two ends knit when a creature beloved of God beares a reciprocal love to him For thereby not onely the man that feareth God joyneth with him but the whole nature also and all the creatures are re-joyned with their principle and Origine And whereas some creatures cannot others will not love God the true child of God because he gets some utility out of them all yea of those that are Gods enemies loveth him and gives him thanks for and in the name of all and so by this meanes love proveth a true bond of perfectnesse which proceeding from God and knitting with God againe embraceth and holds fast together the whole creation and brings it back to its Creator A consideration which cannot but bring a singular content and a great peace to the soule Being perswaded of the love of God to us whereby we are called the sonnes of God we looke upon all creatures as the goods of our fathers house prepared for us And though others which are none of Gods children enjoy them also yet they are for us since the wicked are for the good either to exercise their vertue by tryals or even to serve and sustaine them For as the angry waves roaring and foaming about the ship where Christ was with his disciples yet were bearing the ship likewise the enemyes of God and his Church while they are beating and storming against it beare it up in spite of their hearts The agitations of the great sea of the world make Gods children more sensible of the great love which the Father hath bestowed upon them to have given them his beloved sonne to be in the ship with them to keep them safe in the storm and the dangers that overwhelme others are helps for good unto them that love God All the deliverances that God sends them all the blessings that God powreth upon them they take them as productions of the fatherly love of God who hath adopted them in his Sonne They taste that love in the enjoyment of present goods they breath that love in the enjoyment of future eternall goods they rest upon that love when they sleepe they leane upon that love when they walk they find that love in all the occurrences of their life with what face soever the various accidents of the world looke upon them they see through them the evident love of God being certaine that nothing happens to them but is directed by the good hand of their loving Father These pleasant rivers of the love of God conduct our meditation up the streame to the great Source that love which passeth knowledge that mysterious deepe love which the Angels desire to looke into whereby of his enemyes that wee were he hath made us his children giving for us even to death his owne precious Sonne entitling us by him to his eternal glory and giving us the earnest of it by his good Spirit crying in our hearts Abba Father O incomprehensible love which hath undergone overcome death to give us life and that he might have from us an immortal love That immortal love ought to be the effect of this meditation So that having conceived to our power how much God loves us wee may also to our power apply our heart to love him acknowledging that all our heart all our soule and all our understanding is yet too little to returne him love for his love It it true that this is a debt from which we can never be acquitted and wee owe it even after wee have payd it But as this debt must be payd continually the continual payment yeelds a continual satisfaction to him that payeth it oweth it still For whereas pecuniary debts make the heart sad this debt of love makes it glad when our duty meetes with our inclination and when wee most desire to dok that which wee are most obliged to doe Besides this debt is of that nature that when wee pay it wee make together an acquisition for although the love began by God he takes it upon him to repay us the love that we pay him Ps 91.14 Because he hath set his love upon me saith the Lord therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath knowne my name Pro. 8.17 I love them that love me and they that seeke me early shall finde me But love is due to God not onely for the love that he hath done us and for the good that wee hope from him but for the good that is in him and because he that is the soveraigne beauty and goodnes must be beloved in the chiefest highest manner All that is beautifull and good in Nature the glory of the celestial bodies the fertility of the earth the shady greene of trees the fragrancy of flowers the variety and utility of animals the rational inventive vivacity of intellectual natures the admirable order of the Universe both in disposition and conduct All these are so many productions of the great bottomlesse depth of beauty bounty power and excellency and who so wisely considereth them presently conceiveth that the Authour is possest of an infinite perfection onely worthy to be beloved for his owne sake and that all the good and beautifull things that he hath done must be beloved onely in relation to him and for his sake To which if you adde two other points of which Nature cannot sufficiently informe us and wherein the Word of God supplies the deficiency of Natures teaching which are the justice and the mercy of God towards sinners O who would not love that infinite love and excellency though he had no interest of his owne in it But how can we barely consider Gods excellency in it selfe with an abstraction of our interest Certainly the consideration of our concernment will go along though unsent for with the contemplation of Gods supreme
tottering standing especially in a croud where all justle against him to make him fall A Crowne loads a Kings head and covers it not but le ts in on all sides the arrowes that are shot against it There is no need of deep Philosophy to be free from the desire of it and of all places of great respect and great busines One needs but know them and love himselfe All great dignities are great miseries It must needs be that there is some fatality for the subsistence of the general that sets-on men to thrust blindly forward for high dignities Otherwise men being all voluptuous lovers of themselvs would not take so much labour as to climb up with hands and feet unto their misfortune A wise man will love his own rest better then to crowd for dignities choosing rather to sit upon lower steps and to owe his tranquillity to his obscurity He will esteeme no honour or great imployment worth losing the liberty of meditation and the holy and heavenly conversation with God for who would come from heaven to be toyling in the earth As valleys have lesse wind and more heat of the Sunne then mountaines so the low condition hath lesse agitation then the high and the rayes of the Snune of righteousnesse will commonly shine upon it more graciously and powerfully Nobility of extraction being nothing in nature the same is true also of meane blood both consist in Opinion and yet not in opinion of the persons concerned but of others which to any wiseman must be of very smal consideration In any condition one may have natural nobility consisting in a meeke and magnanimous disposition apt to the knowledge of great things and so well seasoned with vertue By that description how many ignoble persons will be found among the Noble by extraction and how many noble among persons of meane descent God deliver us from Gentlemen of the savage kinde that make nobility to consist in barbarousnesse idlenesse and contempt of divine and humane lawes and from ignobleupstarts who to approve themselves Gentlemen strive to outdoe them that are so in pride and licentiousnesse But there is a nobility infinitely above the best natural nobility I bring not the Cvil within this comparison it is nothing but fortune and Opinion That high transcendent nobility is but to be the child of God by Jesus Christ and heire of his Kingdome The titles of that nobility are from all eternity and will be to all eternity and by it a man riseth so high as to become partaker of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 saith St. Peter Who so hath the patents of that nobility and makes himselfe sure of them by a lively faith working by love is neither puft up nor beaten downe with his temporal condition He will look with contempt upon the vulgar contentions about the first place much like the emulation of horses striving who should go the formest of a company And truly it is a quality of good horses not of good men A man honoured with spiritual nobility if he have temporal nobility besides must keep his degree but esteeme it too low to glory in it And if he have not that worldly advantage he will be content with the heavenly knowing that being one of Gods children he cannot be further ennobled As we that live upon Earth find it very great and see the Sunne very little although it be a hundred and threescore times greater then the Earth Likewise to men altogether earthy the honours of the earth seeme very great and the heavenly nobility but a small thing But if from the Orbe of the Sun the Earth may be seene as it is very likely no doubt but it appeares a very small thing as lesser then most of the visible Starres Worldly honours appeare lesser yet to him that hath the true sence of his heavenly nobility and lookes upon Earth as it were from Heaven The time draweth nigh that will make Kings and Beggers alike in the dust CHAP. XI Of Dishonour REal dishonour is within and consisteth in viciousnesse and indignity of the person for by it a man is separate from God the scource of honour out of whom there is nothing but dishonour and misery But the dishonour which we are here to consider is out of the person and consisteth in the Opinion of others These two sorts of dishonour do not meet alwayes for many that are vicious and infamous before God are honoured of men even because they are vicious and others that are good honoured with Gods love are blamed and dishonored of men even because they are good So erroneous and fantasticall is the judgement of the multitude We have already found that therenowne and praise that men give is but winde that is enough to judge that the blame and infamy which they give is of the same substance It is such an imaginary evill that it is almost impossible to find out in what subject it subsisteth It is not in him that is blamed for what is that to him that is in the grave or to him that is alive and knowes it not or careth not for it It is not also in him that blameth for it proceeds indeed from him but subsisteth not in him else he that blameth another for a murther should be a murtherer himselfe If then the blame subsist neither in the blamed nor in the blamer where shall wee finde its subsistence betweene both It may be conceived that it subsisteth in the blamed person because it sticks so fast many times to him and penetrates so deep that it kills him with sorrow Yea but to speak properly and truly it is not the blame that doth the harme but the imagination of the blamed prevented with an erronious Opinion which makes a man fansy an evil where there is none and do to himselfe that harme which none could have done him but himselfe And is not that voluntary paine which is not felt unlesse a man have a minde to feele it God give me never greater evills then those that cannot hurt me unlesse I will be hurt and have need to begge my consent and my hand to give me the blow A wise man will despise not onely that imaginary evil but even the remedy For what need of a plaister where there is no sore When his friends come to him to comfort him because that some have spoken ill of him he will desire then to apply the remedy where the disease is even to the rashnes of the judgement of those weake persons and to the intemperance of their tongue And will think that their applying a balsome of consolations to his heart for a sicknesse in his neighbours braines no lesse strange and extravagant then if they would warme his bed because his horse hath a cold This is indeed the right reasoning when the thing is considered in its proper and bare nature but because the world being prepossest with a wrong opinion of a worthy man may be perswaded to
with covetuousnesse desire of superfluities but keepe within the bounds of nature and necessity Where there is a compleat vertue there is neither fortitude nor temperance Therefore these are not in God who is the original vertue He hath no need of fortitude for he hath no danger to overcome and no use of temperance for he hath no affection that need to be restrained whence it followes that man also when he is once brought to his perfection of vertue which is his full union with God shall have neither fortitude nor temperance as having no evill to oppose and no â—upidity to represse Justice is the onely vertue that outliveth the body and lives eternally with God not that justice establisht in the Polities of the world for in heaven there is neither selling nor contracting which are the subjects of communicative justice And as for the distributive which hath two offices to recompence vertue to punish vice humane justice exerciseth but the last recompence is accounted an act of grace and is rare Whereas Gods justice regardeth so much more reward then punishment as a thousand is more then three or foure as it is exprest in the precept against Idolatry Exod 20.5 and 6. That justice of good Christians which outliveth temporall life is the uprightnesse of their will which in the passage of the soul to the high seat of perfection will be wonderfully mended and sublimated While the spirit liveth in the flesh though the will were never disturbed from its uprightnesse by the tumult of passions yet it could not be raised to a degree of uprightnesse above the proportion of the illumination of of the understanding Now the understanding is obscured in this world with a mist of errour receiving but some few rayes of the Sun of righteousnesse through a cloud I like very well the setting forth of a faire and compleat notion of Vertue filling the soul with joy which is not a chimera and a fiction for every good soul must once be really brought to that perfection in his finall union with God who is the soveraigne good of man the originall perfection and vertue in substance But I wish together that while we set before the eyes of men a high character of a wise vertuous man compleat happy in himselfe we put them in mind of the fickly condition of mans soul as long as she dwels in the flesh that none be deceived with those Idea's of imaginary perfection which Pagan Philosophers ascribe to the wise man living according to nature To the Christian onely it becomes well to describe vertue in a perfect character 2 Pet. 1.4 partaker of the divine nature and though it be above his pitch yet to aspire to it for he knowes whom he hath beleeved and where he may get a perfection exceeding abundantly above all that he askes or thinkes according to the power that worketh in him Ephes 3.20 yea so farre as to be filled with all the fullnesse of God But in the mouth of Philosophers that expect no perfection but from their own nature nor a longer duration of their vertue then of their natural life and of such men there are more in the world then one would think those high expressions of the greatnesse and happinesse of a vertuous man are illegitimate unsuitable and unbecoming for either these characters are true and then they were not made for them or they are productions of a wild and phantasticall pride Seneca describing his wise man saith that he cannot be shaken with any thing and that he marcheth equal with God Alas poore little man Do but discharge a pistol at his eares though charged with powder only you shall see that stout champion which marcheth equal with God mightily shaken and discomposed in his march There needs but the sting of a tarantola to make him skip and dance put his vertue out of tune and turne all his Philosophy upside downe Another was saying virtute mea me involvo I wrap my selfe about with my vertue as if it had bin an armour cannon-proofe and thunderbolt proofe Though it had bin so and impenetrable to temptation besides yet it is not impenetrable to death for these disciples of nature onely pretend not to extend the life of their vertue beyond the life of nature To what purpose all those bravado's for a mortal vertue that the wiseman is alwayes free alwayes rich alwayes happy that he wants nothing because he hath himselfe that he is King of the universe and Master of fortune that in all conditions he is safe stedfast and content and finally that he is alwayes in health but when he hath got a cold as Horace jestingly addeth This is stretching man beyond man That wiseman after al that flourish is a calamitous creature weak needy unstable subject to erre to sinne to suffer and in the end to dye Certainly if among all the Philosophical vertues humility and faith be wanting they serve but to puffe up a man and make him burst and perish Let us before all things humble ourselves before God who is the onely wise and righteous mistrusting ourselves and putting our trust in him Then let us seeke wisedome in his wisedome and to frame our spirit upon it let us implore the assistance of his Spirit After that moral vertues will become easy to learne and pleasant to practise They shall obtaine a good reward in heaven and in earth work their own recompence CHAP. XX. Of the World and Life HAving lookt within and about us and beheld the course of the World in its parts let us now behold it in the great Which may be done two wayes Either in the outward scene of mens actions or in the inward motions of Gods providence that are visible to us in some part In both these respects the World is incomprehensible in the former for its great variety and confusion in the latter for its infinite deepenesse The outward face of the world is a stage of wickednesse vanity and misery Wickednesse is universall for although in Policies there be some face of order and justice without which no society can subsist Yet if one looke to the reality of the actions and intentions of men the two great trades of the World are fraud and oppression There is a general maxime which every man denyeth and every man in a manner practiseth That wisedome consisteth in thriving by other mens harmes Publique and private contracts bonds sureties and hostages are fences against that generall inclination and yet many times are imployed to execute it All securities both by strength and law are grounded upon that Opinion that none abstaines to do harme but he that wants power In the best composed States governed with most integrity particular interesse beares the sway howsoever publique good be pretended Wherefore that is the best forme of State where the more good the Soveraine Magistrate doth to the publique the more he advanceth his owne private interess Rapine is the
resolution of mutual forbearance Above all things wee must remember that wee are all guilty before God and stand in need of mercy and unlesse wee forgive them that trespasse against us wee pray against ourselves and aske our condemnation every time that wee say the Lords Prayer The meditation of death will conduce much to lay downe hatred To wish one dead is among the vulgar an expression of the greatest hatred If then wee may be satisfied with the death of our enemies we may be sure that all our enemies shal die but wee must be sure also that they may expect of us the like satisfaction The worst wee can doe the one to the other is to bring us to the end which Nature leads us unto As while two little fishes are fighting for a flye the Pyke comes that devoures them both while wee quarrell about small things death is coming which will swallow him that is in the right and him that is in the wrong the victor and the vanquished Looke upon the broyles of the age of our fathers What is become of the long and opiniatre quarrel of the Leagve in which all Christendome was involved death hath decided it It hath cooled the * Titles that the Leagvers assumed Ardent and the Zealous It hath stopt the full careere of hatred assisted with valournd power It will do the like to the quarrels of our dayes Let us not be so hot in our dissensions Death will quench our heat within a few dayes and send us to pleade our causes before our great judge It will goe ill with us if wee appeare in that judgement before wee have made peace with our judge by a true repentance and faith which without charity with our neighbours cannot subsist Why should our hatred be long since our life is short The same consideration will serve to temper the hatred of iniquity which for the most part is a pretence whereby wee cozen ourselves and others to palliate personall hatred If we take Gods cause sincerely in hand we must conforme ourselves to his will and wisedome expecting till he send his messenger which is death to attache the wicked before his judgement Psal 37.8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath Fret not thy selfe in any wise to do evill for evill doers shall be cut off 10. Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be If we hate wickednesse we may be sure that God hates it more yet and he will punish it but in his owne time to satisfie his justice not our fashion Certainly if we hated iniquity in good earnest we would hate it in ourselves Though our enemies be wicked we must love them for Gods sake and because we also are subject to the like infirmities we must love them for our sakes CHAP. XIII Of Envy HEre is one more of the Daughters of Pride and therefore a grandchild of Ignorance and Selfe love She is much like Hatred her elder Sister In this they differ that Hatred is bent against the evill and Envy against the good But to shew herselfe descended from Ignorance she mistakes the false goods for the true For no man will envy the Christian vertues of his neighbours nor the riches of his minde but the goods of fortune which often deserve rather to be called evils Let a man grow in learning holinesse let him be a Saint upon earth let him have Seraphicall raptures no man will envy him for it but let him once get favour at Court let his degree and his rents be augmented presently the arrowes of envy will be shot at him on all sides Indeed great Oratours great Warriours and men eminent in civill prudence are much envied by idle droanes but if you looke to the ground of that envy it is not the vertue and capacity of those brave men that begets it but the fame and credit which they get thereby Think not that Satan envieth God because he is good wise if he did he would endeavour to be so He envieth God because he is Almighty and because he is worshiped by men and Angels whereas himselfe would have all power in heaven and earth and every knee to bow unto him It is not vertue but the reward of vertue that moveth envy If it were in an envious mans power to distribute all the wealth spirituall and temporall which is among men he would not dispute to his enemies the possession of all the vertues but he would keepe to himselfe all the rewards This is the cause of that disposition When an envious man seeth others enjoy wealth he feareth there will not be enough left for him But as for Vertue he is sure that the plenty of it with others will not hinder his owne possession of the like So he doth not envy it For nothing moveth envy but such things as have moved cupidity before Cupidity is for light glittering stuffe and envy keepes pace with cupidity Vertue is a substance too dark and solid for their turne Learne we then to store ourselves with those goods which provoke no envy and which we may possesse no body being the poorer by our riches Envy is a great enemy to tranquillity of the suol It is the rottenness of the bones saith Solomon Prov. 14.30 which is a pregnant character of a passing malignant and corroding passion It hath two unnaturall effects The one that an envious man is afflicted with the prosperity of others the other that he punisheth himselfe The first effect is particular to Envy and herein it doth not enter commons with any other Passion The envious man is sick because his neighbour is well He groweth leane because another growes fat he thinkes that he loseth all that another gets and makes of his neighbours prosperity his adversity He is directly opposite to Christian sympathy and the commandement of the Apostle Rom. 12.15 Rejoyce with them that rejoyce and weepe with them that weepe for he is weeping with them that rejoyce and rejoycing with them that weepe Whereas the Apostle saith that Charity is not envious 1. Cor. 13.4 wee may invert the termes and say that Enuy is not charitable yea of all vices it is most incompatible with charity Envious men are the onely kind of men to whom without forme of justice without breach of charity wee may doe harme since to doe them harme wee need but doe good to their neighbours But it is needlesse to doe harme to an envious man or wish him more harme then he doth to himselfe vexing his mind and drying up his body by a continuall and just punishment This is wisely exprest in the CXII Psalme where after the promise made to the just that his righteousnes endureth for ever and his horne shall be exalted with honoùr the text addeth The wicked shall see it and be grieved he shall gnash with his teeth the desire of the wicked shall perish And it is very probable that in the outward darknes where there is weeping and
will be but dissimulation and though it get us peace abroad it will not give us peace within My little children saith St. John let us not love in word neither in tongue but indeed and in truth 1. Ioh. 3.18 Then he addeth that hereby wee know that wee are of the truth and assure our hearts before God A text shewing that charity to our neighbours fills the minde with saith peace and assurance a doctrine justified by the experience of meek and charitable soules The same charity that unites us with Christ as our head unites us also with our neighbours as his members or at least as his creatures that beare his image In the one or the other of these relations we must love all men for Gods sake and render to them all possible duties of humanity To the practice of these duties we are more especially called by the necessity of our neighbours and by their vertue Necessity affords us a perpetual occasion of charity Matth. 26.11 For ye have the poore alwayes with you saith the Lord Jesus Others that are not poore in estate are poore in counsel or health or friends or comfort Let every body give of that he hath to him that hath not and he sheweth charity to the rich if he doe him good expecting no reward Workes of charity doe good both to him that is relieved and to him that relieveth But he that doeth good gets more reliefe by it then he to whom it is done for it is a thing more happy to give then to receive Act. 20.35 saith St Paul after Christ first because of the good treasure which is layd up thereby for the future Pro. 11.25 The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himselfe Giving charitably is casting a seed bringing an everlasting harvest It is sending up sweete vapours to heaven which are thickened there into a raine of blessings to showre downe upon the head of the charitable person To which we may joine the great and present content accrewing to the soule in the very act of giving for good workes give a ready pay to the doers This made Solomon to say The merciful man doeth good to his owne soul Prov. 11.17 for the workes of mercy give a great joy to the doer And he that gives his bread to the poore is more satisfied with it then he that eates it It is a divine felicity to doe good to many for it is the greatest imitation of God who gives to all and is never weary of doing good Herein onely dignities and riches are good that they enable a willing mind to doe much good As the necessity of our neighbours invites us to charity so doth their Vertue which is the better invitation The first sort of Charity which regards more the need then the worth of the person is humanity and mercy that which regardeth Vertue is friendship or at least a beginning of it Friendship to deserve fully that name must be reciprocall the parties loving one another dearely because they deserve it and because they see the graces of God each in the other Friendship that regards profit and pleasure deserveth not that name since it is neither for the love of God nor for the love of the person that such a Friendship is contracted but out of selfe-love Friendship cemented by Vertue and riveted by likeness in inclinations manners and opininions is the sweetest of all human things For besides counsell and mutuall help and the delight of enterchanging thoughts and discharging cares in the bosome one of another the union of affections and the assurance to be beloved of the beloved person is a content not to be exprest there is something heavenly in that harmony It is a little imitation of the union between the persons of the Trinity which make themselves happy by their mutuall love There is nothing neither in heaven nor in earth that giveth content but friendship Nothing is pleasant without it And if I were asked what is the greatest of all joyes I would say that it is to love and to be loved againe and know it But it must be acknowledged that this perfection and felicity is more in Idea then in reality among men and we must go higher then human Society to find it For whereas it is hard to find a vertuous man in the world it is harder to find two And it is harder yet to make these two meet in opinions in inclinations in interesses in place of habitation and in the like course of life for the want of one of these particulars hinders the knitting of the bond of friendship or makes it shortlived or abates the comfort of it The description which Pagan Philosophy forgeeth of perfect friendship is a fair imagination of an impossible thing They require two friends or three at the most but such as were never found endowed with perfect vertue That for that vertue these persons love one another without any other obligation or collaterall respect That these perfect soules be so plunged and blended one within another that they can not owne themselves singled and asunder That they be but one soul dwelling in severall bodyes That a friend give himselfe so absolutely to his friend that he live no more but for him yea in him and that his goods as himselfe be his friends whose interesses he wholly seekes not his owne I wonder that among Christian Philosophers none hath hitherto observed for any thing I know what it was that bred that Idea of friendship so high and remote from the nature of things in the fancy of Pagan Philosophers which yet placed vertue and felicity in living according to Nature why they have so universally adored that chimera which is found no where among men like the Athenians that had set up an Altar to the unknowne God This is then the origine and ground of that high imagination of those Pagans They had found by searching the nature of man that nothing can make him happy but love And that for a beatificall love a man hath need of an object all good all wise and all perfect so perfectly united with him yea so totally that both passe the one into the other and make a mutuall free and absolute gift of themselves But the poore men did not know that object of transcendent goodness onely worthy to be loved with all the heart and soul and if some of them acknowledged God to be the Soveraine good they beleeved not that he could have such a communication with man that both might enterchange a mutuall gift of their owne selves so that man should dwell in God and God in man Thinking not then that there might be a contract of friendship betweene God and man and seeing that it is friendship that must make man happy they forged that Idea of friendship betweene man man of which the condition of man is not capable requiring for that friendship that which indeed is requisite
for felicity but together is impossible to nature For so farre they say true that for a perfect love the soul of a friend must passe into his friends soul But that being improperly and hyperbolically ascribed to love betwen men is true and reall in the friendship between God and man sanctified especially when he is glorified For God graceth man so much as to make him his friend and to call him so I have called you my friends saith Christ to his Disciples Joh. 15.15 And in that friendship there is such a strict union between God and the soul that thereby the soul is refunded into her original being The spirit of God gets into mans spirit and the spirit of man poures it selfe into Gods spirit as the river falls into the Sea and the Sea floweth into the river Their wills become one their interesses one the glory of God and the salvation of man become the same thing Man seeking above all things to glorifie God glorifyeth himselfe and is advanced by debasing himselfe out of his love to God till finally seeing God and being seene of him 2. Cor. 3.18 he is changed into the same image and made partaker of the divine nature 2. Pet. 1.4 When the Pagans from their contemplations upon friendship passe to examples they shew how remote their imaginations are from the nature of things and that their characters of friendship are fitter to be lookt on than copied out For none of these paires of friends which Antiquity extolls is come neere those compleat Ideas which they fancy Most of them that would strive to expresse them in their practice have made themselves miserable and their friendship a bondage Also among the vertuous examples of friendship they set forth vicious presidents as that of Blosius who being convented before the Senate about the sedition of Tiberius Gracchus whose intimate friend he was and asked what he would have done for him answered that he would have done any thing at his request And what sayd the Judges if he would have requested thee to set the Temples on fire wouldst thou have done it I know replyed he that Gracchus would never have had such a will but if he had desired it of me I would have done it I am scandalized to see that answere commended by Christian writers Montagne and Carron Let them comment upon it as much as they please it is certaine that such a deference to a friend's will is the highest homage that the creature can make unto the Creatour whose will is the onely rule of righteousnesse If any preferre his friends will before the observation of that Soveraine will his amity is enmity against God and becomes a plot and a conspiracy to offend him These old characters of perfect friendship perswade some to imitate them but commonly they are young men that know neither how to choose what they ought to love nor how to love what they have chosen and they that choose a friend with most judgement and preserve him with most care soone find that human nature though inricht with grace affords neither the perfect objects nor the firme bond nor the solid content of Friendship Yet since we live in the world we must make friends in it and leaving heroique characters to romances content ourselves with such as the earth beares and neighbourhood presents chusing them such as have at least piety honesty and ingenuity matching ourselves with our equalls or rather a little above us then under preserving their love by respect and good offices and conversing with them with a cheerfull and innocent facility But seeing that a great affection is a great servitude filling the minde with care and feare he that loveth his owne tranquillity will take heed how he engageth himselfe in a friendship whose value doth not recompense the interesse he takes in it and will not suffer his affection for any person to grow to the losse of his liberty and peace of mind It is a great folly for one to make himselfe miserable out of too much good nature and to lose the sweetness of friendship by a perpetuall carefulnesse and allarum Good things become evill to us when we love them beyond measure There is but one friendship where we may love without any measure where the greatnesse of the affection brings rest serenity to the soul It is the friendship with God the only Good perfect and worthy of all our love who being so great yet is able to contract friendship with us that are so little If we have the grace to entertaine that friendship which fills the soul with joy and goodnesse we shall easily be comforted about the rarity and weakeness yea and the losse of humane friendships CHAP. III. Of Gratefulnesse I Have observed two duties of charity which contribute much to the Rest and content of the soul The one is to relieve them that need it the other to love them whose vertue deserves it These two duties require the company of another which is To be gratefull to them of whom we have received some benefit For speaking now to generous soules I may observe that nothing lyeth more heavy upon their heart then this reproach of their own mind that they have not sufficiently shewed their gratefulness unto their benefactor Our first benefactor is God for to him we owe all even what we owe to men We owe him all that we have and all that we are our being and our wellbeing To him then we must do homage for all and our life being well sustained by a continuall influence of his love must also be a continuall course of thankfulnesse That duty we must tend with our words with our thoughts with our actions and more with our affections But because the creature cannot properly give any thing to the Creatour because all is his who gives all and receiveth of none but himselfe our gratefullness to God must be shewed to them whom he hath imployed to do us good We must beginne by paying debts If a friend hath opened his purse to us in our need or hath helped us with his commodities of which he makes profit expecting our conveniency to pay for them It is not only a theft to be slack to satisfie it is ungratefulnes which is farre worse for the plaine theefe abuseth not the goodnes of his friend but the ungrateful man renders evil for good and defraudeth his friend because he had pitty on him One may doe greater and more profitable kindnesses then lending of money Yet there is none where ungratefulnes is more sensible because of the love that every one beares to his money and the trust that is reposed upon it as the staffe of life Wherefore conscience and generosity must sollicite the debtour to pay and be stronger then bonds and compulsions of law to bring him to his duty St Paul enjoines us to owe nothing to no man but to love one another A text full of Philosophie For there are some debts
he must looke for errour impertinency in al sorts of acquaintance let him put every one upon the discourse of those things that he understands best so shall he doe a kindnes to the company for every one loveth to speak of that wherein he is expert he shall benefit himselfe fetching from every one the best that is in him Let him also fit his minde for all kinds of buzinesses thinking none too great when they are not above his capacity for those affaires that have more dignity have not alwayes more difficulty And on the other side thinking no buzines too low when it is necessary or when it gives him occasion to doe good But in general let him charge himselfe with as few buzinesses as he can I meane those buzinesses that engage a mans minde in the tumult of the world without which he may find buzines enough to keepe him selfe well imployed Want of preferment is better than want of peace Let him avoyd those imployments that give vexation and yet draw envy where a man must continually stand upon his guard imbark himselfe in factions and live in perpetuall emulation and contention The man to whom God keepes the blessing of a quiet life shall bee kept by him from that glittering rack and golden fetters but the man whom he will aflict shall be given over to be tossed betweene the competition of others and his owne ambition David shewes us how great is Gods goodnesse which he hath layd up for them that fear him namely that he wil hide them in the secret of his presence from the pride of man he will keepe them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues Psal 31.19.20 But what there are some spirits that love noise and live by Contradiction and when old factions are worne out hatch new ones sowing quarrels that they may be sticklers and in such sort arbitrating differences as to make them immortall that so they may never want business To such men no worse imprecation can be made then that they may alwayes have the business which they love for as they serve the father of discord they are like to share in his reward But those are worthy of his compassion whose serene religious soules capable and desirous of high contemplation are aspiring towards the God of peace but are distracted with contentious businesses and prest down with worldly imployment though perhaps too high for their condition yet too low for mind which measuring the height of things by their distance from heaven finds the great Offices of the State very low because they are deeper in the earth and further from heaven then other Offices of an obscurer note Who would not pitty a great person that hath scarce time to eate and sleepe that must have a light brought to his bed to make dispatches before day and when he goeth to the Court hath much adoe to get out of his yard through the crowd of suitors and in that clogge of businesses what time hath he to examine the state of his conscience and labour to advance his union with God Where is any gaine able to countervaile that loss But there are more persons undone for want of businesses when they have not the capacity to find themselves worke of some utility especially when the love and feare of God have not taken root in their hearts For there being in the soul three Offices or audits the first for contemplation the second for passion and the third for action when a mans mind is unfit for contemplation wants action he giveth himself wholly unto passion Then a man tickleth himselfe with evill desires and vaine hopes gnawes his heart with envy and spite and torments himselfe with impatience these vices being bred and fed by idlenesse Such men having nothing to do devise evill or uselesse businesses going up and downe all day long like swallowes that flye round not knowing for what walking from one end of the Town to the other to visit one that will not be at home when they aske for him or is put to his shift to be rid of their company Of that kind are most of those that thrust one another in the street as buzy as if they had three Chancery suites to solicit then returne home late weary and sweating having found the invention to tire themselves and do nothing In effect an idle life is more painfull and wearisome then an active and negotious life It makes one sad troublesome and vicious He that doth nothing cannot but do evill as grounds left untilled will bring thistles But he that hath an ordinary employment of some utility to the publique hath no leasure to attend vaine and evill actions nor to be sad By doing good he contenteth his conscience and maintaines the serenity of his mind so that he embrace no more then he can hold They that will doe too much good do it ill and do harme to themselves It is a preposterous diligence when it brings vexation to a mansselfe Rich old men should do wisely to give over busy imployments of the world vvhich require a whole man to give themselves wholly to the office of man as he is a man and a Christian If they be speculative judicious and experienced men they may do more good to the world in their retirement then in the crowd of businesses They that lead an active life ought not to give but lend onely their mind to the businesses of the world A wise man will follow his worldly occasions with diligence and industry but he will not transubstantiate himselfe into them In our busiest imployments let us retire often within to enjoy God and ourselves labouring chiefly to preserve his favour and our peace Without these all labour is superfluous or evill and gaine becomes damage CHAP. VII Of Moderation in Conversation IT is a most necessary provision for any man that will lead a peaceable life in this age and these regions torne with diversity of parties Mens minds being so generally exulcerated that in casuall meetings either they cast a suspicious eye upon their Contreymen because they know them not or abhorre them because they know them Here then there is need of a meek compliant industrious and universall mind retired within himselfe and healed of that epidemicall itch of light-brained men to declare all their opinions and inclinations and quarrell with all that are otherwise disposed It is an old and usefull observation that God hath given us two eares and one mouth to teach us that we ought to heare more then speake To which it may be added that we have no eare-lids to keep our eares from hearing and often must heare against our will but our mouth shuts naturally and we may keep our tongue from speaking unlesse by our intemperance we lose that priviledge of nature God indeed hath not given us a tongue to hold our peace But that we may use it so that our neighbours may receive good by it and
resolution not a tender body that needs carefull tending These are the general precepts to preserv health To mend it when it is impaired Physicians must be consulted and remedies used About which two rules must be observed Let it be betimes before sicknes have taken roote Let it be seldome for too many remedies are worse then the disease I presuppose that Physique and Physicians shall be used as it is prescribed by the Sonne of Sirac Ecclus. 38.1 for necessity not for wantonnes The chiefe use of that art is to prevent diseases Every one ought to have enough of it to know his owne body and keepe off the indispositions to which he feeles himselfe obnoxious not to weare out his body with drugs without great necessity But there are certaine simple and eazy helpes that prevent great inconveniencies when they are used betimes And what wiseman would not keepe himselfe from grievous sicknesses if the use of a little sauge or juniper berries will doe it What remedy soever be used for prevention of sicknesses take it for certaine that they are better prevented by abstinence from unwholesome things then by the use of wholesome Let the body be well clad for commodity not shew neither curiously affecting the mode nor opposing it with a fantastical singularity Let all that we weare be comely and handsome not to please other mens eyes but our owne He that is slovenly in his attire thereby groweth sad and dejected ere he be aware Why should one make himselfe contemptible to the world and displeasing to himselfe by a wilfull lazy neglect of his person Let there be order and suitablenes in our stuffe and furniture though never so coorse Let not any thing want its proper place though never so little Confusion is offensive to the minde but order gives a secret delight Let our dwelling be lightsome if possible in a free aire and neere a garden Gardening is an innocent delight it was the trade of man in the state of Innocence With these if one may have a sufficient revenue an honest employment little buzines sortable company and especially the conversation of good bookes with whom a man may converse as little and as much as he pleaseth he needs little more as for the exteriour to enjoy all the content that this world can afford Of the pastimes of the Nobility and Gentry those should be preferred that bring a publique utility as hunting the wilde boare and the wolfe where the countrey is annoyed with them and in England the fox and the badger It is double content to a generous and well given nature when he doeth good for his pleasure The military pastimes of young Gentlemen in France and Italy are usefull and pleasant and by them they are fashioned and fitted to serve their countrey Games of hazard discompose the minde extraordinarily They accustume it to be hanging upon the future and depending on fortune to which every wiseman will give as little power over him as he can They do also provoke passion and cause great agitations in the soule for things of nothing All that point blank contrary to the worke of piety and Philosophy Games that consist in dexterity of body or minde are preferable to those that are committed to blind chance Chesse will sharpen the wit but buzy it overmuch and toyle the spirits instead of recreating them which is the proper use of play Of all gaming the lesse the better And when it disordereth the passion the least is too much He that ventureth much money at play ventureth not with it the tranquillity of his mind a thousand times more precious but makes a certaine losse of it whatsoever become of the money That bold venturing comes not out of contempt of the goods of this world as gamesters would have us to beleeve but out of an unsatiable greedinesse to gaine much in short time Wherefore to them that have little money and to great lovers of it great losses at play are very smarting and yet the gaine is more hurtfull then the losse for it enflameth covetousnes and sets the heart upon a wicked labour to grow rich by the ruine of others which afterwards is practised in the more serious commerces of Society Thereby also the fountaine of charity is drained and so the streames of charitable deeds Bestowing money in play is not the way to make friends with that unrighteous Mammon that receive a man into eternal habitations but enemies to turne him out of his temporal habitation It is the way to lose both earth and heaven When you have an undoubted right to a considerable summe of money and the present possession what a mad part is it to call it in question whether it must be yours or anothers and decide the question with three dice And what ungratefulnes to the great giver of all goods gifts to play those goods away which are afforded to us by his liberality and acquired for us by the sweate and hard labour of many poore families Though then the parties at play be consenting to that strange way of acquisition that consent doth not make it lawfull neither of them being the owner those goods which he calls his but the keeper and steward who must give account of his stewardship to his Master Whether we winne or lose considerable summes at play we commit robbery for if we rob not our adversary we rob our family and ourselves and God Herein worse then that ill Servant that hid his talent in the ground for the gamester if he be a loser hath made away the talent intrusted unto him by God And though he be a gainer yet he hath made himselfe incapable to give a good account of his talent to his Lord since he hath put it to an unrighteous banke Eloquence is a pleasant and profitable pastime both to read and compose For while it delights the mind it doth polish sweeten and heighten it It is then most delightfull when it serveth to cloath good matter and when the chiefe ornament is good sense And it fals out happily that the eloquentest books of antiquity are also the best and they that have the wisest reason express it with most elegancy The same is true of the late Authors Poetry delighteth much So one take little of it at once for it is lushious meat too much of it brings wearinesse and loathing It is more delightfull to read then to compose herein like musique which delights the hearers more then the Musicians As then it is better to heare a Set of violins then to make one in it it is better to heare Poets then to augment their number I had rather that others should make me sport then I them I need not be curious in the search of the severall devices of men to passe their time the task of the wise being not to seeke them but to use them well when they meet in his way and more yet to learne to live contented without them What we want of
is that peace of God which passeth all understanding and keeps our hearts and minds through Jesus Christ It is a transfiguration of the devout soul for an earnest of her glorification It is the betrothing of the Spouse with Christ and the contract before the marriage After that all the Empires of the world all the treasures of Kings and all the delights of their Court deserve not to be lookt on or to be named If that divine Embrace could continue it would change a man into the image of God from glory to glory and he should be rapt up in a fiery charet like Eliah To enjoy that holy Embrace and make it continue as long as the soul in the flesh is capable of it We must use holy meditations prayers and good workes These strengthen those two armes of the soul faith and love to embrace God and hold him fast doing us that good office which Aaron and Hur did to Moses for they hold up the hands of the soul and keep them elevated to heaven And seeing that God who dwelleth in the highest heavens dwelleth also in the humblest soules let us indeavour to put on the ornament of a meek quiet spirit which in the sight of God is of great price 1 Pet. 3.4 It is a great incouragement to study tranquillity of minde that while we labour for our chiefe utility which is to have a meek and quiet spirit we become of great price before God and therefore of great price to ourselves How can it be otherwise since by that ornament of a meeke and quiet spirit we put on the neerest likenesse of God of which the creature can be susceptible For then the God of peace abiding in us makes his cleare image to shine in the smooth mirrout of our tranquill soul as the Sunnes face in a calme water Being thus blest with the peace of God we shall also be strong with his power and among the stormes and wrackes of this world we shall be as safe as the Apostles in the tempest having Christ with them in the ship It is not possible that we should perish as long as we have with us and within us the Saviour of the world and the Prince of life The universall commotions and hideous destructions of our time prepare us to the last and greatest of all 2 Pet. 3.10 when the heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the workes that are therein shall be burnt up In that great fall of the old building of Nature the godly man shall stand safe quiet and upright among the ruines All will quake all will sinke but his unmoved heart which stands firme trusting in the Lord. Psal 112.7 Mountaines and rocks will be throwne downe in his sight The foundations of the world will crack under him Heaven and Earth hasting to their dissolution will fall to pieces about his eares but the foundation of the faithfull remaines stedfast He cannot be shaken with the world for he was not grounded upon it He will say with Davids confidence Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth my flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy One to see corruption Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore A Table of the Books and Chapters of this Treatise THE FIRST BOOK Of Peace with God Chap. 1. Of the Peace of the Soule pag. 1. Chap. 2. Of the Peace of Man with God in his integrity and of the losse of that peace by sinne pag. 6. Chap. 3. Of the Reconciliation of Man with God through Jesus Christ pag. 16. Chap. 4. Generall meanes to preserve that peace with God and first to serve God purely and diligently pag. 25. Chap. 5. Of the love of God pag. 35. Chap. 6. Of Faith pag. 45. Chap. 7. Of Hope pag. 49. Chap. 8. Of the duty of praising God pag. 53. Chap. 9. Of good Conscience pag. 59. Chap. 10. Of the exercise of good works pag. 66. Chap. 11. Of redressing our selves often by repentance pag. 72. SECOND BOOK Of Mans peace with himselfe by rectifying his Opinions Chap. 1. Designe of this Booke and the next pag. 77. Chap. 2. Of right Opinion pag. 80. Chap. 3. Of Riches pag. 87. Chap. 4. Honour Nobility Greatnesse pag. 92. Chap. 5. Glory Renowne Praise pag. 98. Chap. 6. Of the goods of the Body Beauty Strength Health pag. 104. Chap. 7. Of bodily pleasure and ease pag. 110. Chap. 8. Of the evils opposite to the forenamed goods pag. 116. Chap. 9. Of Poverty pag. 121. Chap. 10. Of low condition pag. 130. Chap. 11. Of dishonour pag. 134. Chap. 12. Of the evills of the body unhansomenesse weakenesse sicknesse paine pag. 136. Chap. 13. Of Exile pag. 142. Chap. 14. Of Prison pag. 144. Chap. 15. Husband Wife Childen Kinred Friends Their price their losse pag. 147. Chap. 16. Of Death pag. 155. Chap. 17. Of the Interiours of Man pag. 163. Chap. 18. Of the ornaments acquisite of the understanding pag. 177. Chap. 19. Of the acquisite ornaments of the will pag. 188. Chap. 20. Of the World and Life pag. 195. THIRD BOOK Of the Peace of Man with himselfe by governing his Passions Chap. 1. That the right Government of Passions depends of right Opinion pag. 205. Chap. 2. Entry into the discourse of Passions pag. 211 Chap. 3. Of Love pag. 214. Chap. 4. Of Desire pag. 231. Chap. 5. Of desire of Wealth and Honour pag. 237. Chap. 6. Of desire of Pleasure pag. 243. Chap. 7. Of Sadnesse pag. 248. Chap. 8. Of Joy pag. 257. Chap. 9. Of Pride pag. 265. Chap. 10. Of Obstinacy pag. 273. Chap. 11. Of Wrath pag. 278. Chap. 12. Of Aversion Hatred and Reuenge p. 289 Chap. 13. Of Envy pag. 298. Chap. 14. Of Jealousie pag. 305. Chap. 15. Of Hope pag. 309. Chap. 16. Of Feare pag. 313. Chap. 17. Of Confidence and Despaire pag. 319. Chap. 18. Of Pitty pag. 323. Chap. 19. Of Shamefacednesse pag. 327. FOURTH BOOK Of Vertue and the exercise of in Prosperity and Adversity Chap. 1. Of the Vertuous temper requisite for the peace and contentment of mind pag. 331. Chap. 2. Of Vertue in Prosperity pag. 344. Chap. 3. Of Vertue in Adversity pag. 357. FIFTH BOOK Of Peace in Society Chap. 1. Of Concord with all men and of meeknesse pag. 375. Chap. 2. Of brotherly Charity and of friendship pag. 387. Chap. 3. Of Gratefulnesse pag. 395. Chap. 4. Of Satisfaction of Injuries pag. 399. Chap. 5. Of Simplicity and Dexterity in Society pag. 402. Chap. 6. To have little company and few businesses pag. 412. Chap. 7. Of moderation in conversation pag. 421. SIXTH BOOK Some singular Counsels for the Peace and contentment of minde Chap. 1. To content our selves with our condition pag. 431. Chap. 2. Not to depend of the Future pag. 436. Chap. 3. To retire within our selfe pag. 443. Chap. 4. To avoyd Idlenesse pag. 448. Chap. 5. To avoid curiosity in divine matters pag. 451. Chap. 6. Of the care of the body and other little contentment of life pag. 458. Chap. 7. Conclusion Returne to the great principle of the peace and contentment of mind which is to stick to God pag. 468. FINIS