Reck'ning how his Talent of Authority has been employ'd and what Good he has done with his Jurisdiction What poor Orphans he has righted what Widows Causes he has pleaded what injur'd Innocence he has protected what Vertuous Persons he has incouraged with Rewards what vile Offenders he has discountenanced and punish't what Great mens oppressions he has resisted what Rising Mutinies and Rebellions He has indeavoured to repress For a man's Honour and Authority his Power and Greatness as well as Wealth are things of which he must give Accompt Thô for a King to be accomptable to any Tribunal upon Earth implies indeed a Contradiction yet Kings Themselves do stand accomptable to God even for their high Privilege of unaccomptableness to Men. And therefore the Greater any man is he is to humble himself the more and then as it follows in the Text he will find favour of the Lord. This is the use we are to make of the Third Qualification of our Inquirer and These especially are the Reasons inducing to it But now the Case in my Text is one of the strangest we ever heard of For would we not think it exceeding strange if the chief Magistrate of a City forgetting the Mace that is born before him should run to meet the poorest Cottager and throw himself down upon his Knees too and lifting up his trembling Hands should intreat him so humbly as to call him Master and so earnestly intreat him as to call him Good Master 'T is true that Christ was no Cottager because according to his Manhood He was very much poorer as having not where to lay his Head Yet the Man in my Text who had Great Possessions and was a Ruler in the pride and glory of his Youth too did thus come running after Christ and kneeled down to him thô in the Form of a Servant and call'd him Master thô born of Mary Spouse to Ioseph the Carpenter As if through That Veil of the Carpenter's Son he had had an Eye of Faith to see The Wisdom of the Father The Son of That Almighty Architect who indeed was The Builder of All the World Heb. 11. 10. This Jewish Convert without a Name hath somewhat more strange and more remarkable in his Conversion than The Iailour of Philippi who was but frighted into his wits and sought for Salvation in that Fright only and rather in the negative than positive sense of that word For That which He sought directly was a Deliverance out of his Dangers Not an Inheritance of Aeternity but only an Escape from the Wrath to come So that the Quaerist we are upon is more Didactical than the former as affording us many more and more Noble Lessons Three whereof we have had already And Three if well minded are enough for One Lecture as if slighted they are too many And therefore the Prospect of Life Aeternal which is a very great Deep enough to exercise the freshest and the most vigorous of our Thoughts is the fitter to be reserved for another Opportunity THE Excellent Nature OF THE INQUIRY MARK X. 17. And when he was gone forth into the way there came one Running and kneeled to him and asked him Good Master what shall I do that I may Inherit Aeternal Life § 1. HAving done with the Person who here Inquires and dismiss't the Three Lessons arising thence together with the Reasons on which those Lessons were chiefly Grounded I am in order to proceed to the second General observation The excellent Nature of his Inquiry which was not carnal and temporal but wholly spiritual and eternal He did not ask as an ordinary Youth what he should do that he might compass the greatest measure of Sensuality nor as an ordinary Worldling or man of Wealth what he should do that he might purchase the greatest Treasure of Gold and Silver nor as an ordinary Ruler what he should do that he might climb to the highest Honour upon Earth But casting These Things as it were behind his Back or treading them down under his Feet he was intent upon Inquiring as no ordinary Christian even before Christianity had got its Name what he should do to get an interest and share in Heaven How much soever he did abound in the things that are seen which are temporal He wholly directed his Ambition to the things that are not seen which are Eternal As the faster he ran to salute his Master by so much the better he was in Breath so the Lower he kneeled down he lifted his Thoughts so much the Higher Being mounted on the wings of an holy Zeal His Soul had now taken a nobler Flight than to Pearch upon any thing on this side Heaven As if he had lost the consideration of all his Secular Concernments such as Houses and Lands Goods and good Name Wife and Children if he had any and other things here below All the subject of his Inquiry was what he should do that he might be sav'd not only saved in the negative but in the positive sense of that word Not only so as to be rescued from a Bottomless Lake of Fire and Brimstone But also so as to be drown'd or swallowed up in a Boundless Ocean of Bliss and Glory Nothing would satisfie him but Life and no other Life than one Eternal Good Master what shall I do that I may Inherit Eternal Life § 2. From him therefore let us learn how to regulate our Ambitions and where to fasten our wild Desires We ought to tread upon the Glories of such a World as This is which besides that 't is a perishing and fading World is also the Instrument of Satan whereby to betray us to our Destruction and level the Gaspings of our Souls at Things Invisible and Future Things expressed to us in Scripture by a City having Foundations Heb. 11. 10. and by a Kingdom which cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. and here in this Text by Aeternal Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was St. Paul's Precept to his Colossians Set and settle your affections on things above And that for this Reason because your Christ is there sitting at the right hand of God Set them not upon the Earth For Iesus Christ is not here but is long since Risen as the Angel once said to his weak Disciples And if we are risen together with Christ let 's make it appear that we are Risen by our seeking those things that are above Since we were born out of due time to injoy the wish of St. Austin by seeing our Saviour in the Flesh let us look for him where he is and at least behold him in the Spirit Since I say we were not living when Christ was Conversant upon Earth Let us redeem the whole Time by a Ghostly Conversation with Christ in Heaven He who desires in Curiosity to see the Pope or the King of Spain and all the Rarities to be met with throughout their Countries will inquire as he is going which is the ready way thither and
doing of what he commands as for the suffering of what he inflicts Thy will be done not only upon us but by us too Let it be done here on Earth with the same Alacrity as in Heaven Let it be done by thy Children with as much Impartiality as by thy Servants Let it be done by us Men as unconstrainedly as by Angels If thou wilt have us to buy Salvation let us not choose our own Price If thou wilt have us to work it out let us not choose our own Task If thou wilt have us to do it presently let us not choose our own Time Give us Resignedness of Spirits and with That what thou pleasest Be thy Injunctions never so hard or thy Cross never so heavy be it the giving up our Livelyhoods or be it the parting with our Lives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy will be done 'T is true we may pray with our Blessed Saviour Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from us But then we must pray with our Saviour too Nevertheless not our will but thy will be done I remember Herodian reports of Alexander the Cousin German to Pseud Antonine He was so perfectly at the Devotion of his Mother Mammaea as to obey her in those things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which he was most of all displeased Not disobeying her even in those in which Disobedience had been a Duty And 't was Pythagoras his Theology not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Iamblicus but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hierocles not only not to repine at God's oeconomy but with all gentleness to embrace it Nor only to observe and to do his will even then when it thwarted theirs but to accommodate and conform their will to His. I am sorry I must say what yet I must that were Pythagoras his Metempsychosis now to be verified in Himself and He again to teach Philosophy in these our days I know not which were the more probable either for us to be the better for his Christian-like Principles or for Him to be the worse for our Heathen-Practice And because Reason by many Auditors is more attended to than Scripture let me bespeak you in the Person not so much of a Christian as of a Philsopher Is there any thing in the World I do not say more impious but more unpolitick than for a Lump of Infirmities to enter the Lists with the Almighty or for a thing of a Span long to resist Immensity Our Disobedience to such a Master will be found aequally ridiculous whether we hope to thrive in it by Opposition or Avoidance For dare we stand against Him who is Omnipotent Or can we fly from Him that 's every where Do we live in fear of Them that can hurt the Body and are we undaunted only at Him who can kill the Soul Iacob could not wrestle with him though he did it for a Blessing without the Disjoynting of his Thigh and shall we struggle for a Curse even at the price of a Damnation If Ausonius could say of the Roman Emperour That 't was not safe scribling against a Man who had the Power to proscribe And Phavorinus of Hadrian That 't was not good to dispute with such a Person as had the command of thirty Legions Then with a greater force of reason Is it not Wisdom as well as Duty to yield obedience unto a Master who is infinitely Great as well as Good and has the power to compel as well as the sweetness to invite and that not only our Obedience but our Assent too We count it prudence in other things to make a vertue of Necessity And being convinc'd we are unable to prevail against our Master why do we not strive to be unwilling and at least make a vertue of so much weakness If we duly contemplate Inferiour Nature we shall find but too much reason even to aemulate and strive with the things below us Which yet in this respect at least are so much higher than our selves by how much the more they are conformable to the Blessed Will and Pleasure of him that made them Not only the Beasts which have no Understanding but the Elements which have no Sense do silently preach to the Christian World at once Obedience and Self-denial For what more contrary to Nature than for the Earth to give Rain or what are the Clouds more unwilling to than they are to rain Earth And yet Obedience to their Maker is a thing so natural as that they obey him against their Nature What is the Sun more averse to than either going back or standing still And yet in obedience to God's Command He did not only stand still in Gibeon but withal went back upon the Dial of Ahaz Hereupon it will be useful thus to reason within our selves Are God's Drudges so inclinable to his Commands and shall we his Darlings be so averse They are only obliged to their Creator for being made Our Obligation is far greater by our being made men and greater yet by our being remade We are not only the Work but the Breath of God saith Tertullian Nay farther yet whereas he spake only for Them for Us he died And if they are so thankful for being the work of his Hands shall not we be much more for being the price of his Blood yes sure As 't is our privilege above them to have a Saviour and a will so our obedience must be more and it must be more willing It must not only be Universal for so is Theirs but also free and unconstrain'd As other Creatures are obedient because they cannot resist so ought we because we will not We must not obey him only in fear because he is a great Iudge but because he is a Saviour we must take Pleasure in our Obedience We ought to look upon his Praecepts with as kind eyes as on his Promises and the employment of such a Master should as much incourage us as our pay We ought to think the Day lost which is not spent in his Service and execute his Precepts with so much readiness as wishing at least we could prevent them We should not only be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only ready with the Praescriptions but Freewill-Offerings of our Obedience It being a Gallantry of Devotion and most worthy of a Christian to be most of all afraid of offending Him not whom we find a meer Master very inclinable to punish But whom we find a good Master most apt to pardon Let us hasten to him therefore preaching to us from the Mount and let us give him our Attention in the spirit of the two Emblemes of the Law and the Prophets which had the honour to attend him upon Mount Tabor Undergoing his meanest Offices in the humility of a Moses and with the greatest earnestness performing them in the zeal of an Elias Let us render him every Faculty both of our Souls and of our Bodies our
For when he was transfigur'd upon Mount Tabor a bright Cloud overshadow'd him and behold a voice out of the Cloud This is my beloved Son Hunc Audite Hear Him Matth. 17. 15. It is the Top of that Wisdom which we are capable of on Earth to sit with Mary at his Feet and to hear his Word Luke 10. 39 42. Fifthly if we inquire for the only true way which leadeth unto life and to life Eternal He alone is the Way the Truth and the Life John 14. 6. Are we affrighted at the Law He alone hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3. 13. In a word He is the true Noah's Ark whereby to escape the Inundations of Sin and Hell He hath broken the Ice and made way for us that we may enter into the Gate Micah 2. 13. He is our Ionathan after the Spirit who first hath scaled in his Person the heavenly Mountain that we the Bearers of his Armour may follow after 1 Sam. 14. 1. The Ministration of his Word is the Spiritual Chariot by which he carries us with himself into the outward Court of the Temple and thence at last within the Veil into the Sanctum Sanctorum He alone is the Gate both of Grace and Salvation None can go unto the Father unless by Him John 14. 6. He alone is the Iacob's Ladder whose Top reacheth into the Heavens that is to say the True 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which as by a Bridge or Isthmus Heaven and Earth are tyed together Angels and Men pass to and fro Angels to Men and Men to Angels By Him hath the Father reconciled all things unto Himself Coloss. 1. 20. He it is that invites us when we are weary and heavy laden to come unto him for a Refreshment Matth. 11 28. From Him the Spirit and the Bride say Come And let him that heareth say Come And let him that is athirst Come And whosoever will let him come and take freely of the water of life Rev. 22. 17. All which being consider'd we thus may Argue within our selves If the great Queen of Shebah did choose to take so long a Iourney as from Shebah to Ierusalem and all to hear a wise man speak Matth. 12. 42. Or if Socrates though an Heathen was such a Lover of Wisdom as to travel for his Improvement through several Countries and put himself to learn of every great Master that he could hear of with how much a greater force of reason should we travel far and near to find out the Wisdom of the Father to learn of that Good as well as Great Master who alone hath the words of Eternal Life But some perhaps may here object That the Man in the Text met with Christ in the way whilst here on Earth How shall we find him out since his Ascension into Heaven The Psalmist tells us He is in Heaven and in Hell too If we go up into Heaven he is there And if we go down into Hell he is there also But to Heaven we cannot and to Hell we dare not go To which the Answer is very obvious That if Christ is in Hell because he is every where by the necessity of his Godhead he is by consequence here on Earth too for the very same reason And that we may not say with Seneca Qui ubique nusquam that he who is every where is no where for that he is every where invisible and so as difficultly found as if he were not The Righteousness which is of Faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above Or who shall descend into the Deep that is to bring up Christ again from the Dead For Christ in his word is very nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thine Heart that is the word of Faith which we preach We need not go to Compostella or travel in Pilgrimage to other places where they pretend at least to shew us his Seamless Coat and his Cross and his Crown of Thorns We need go no farther than to his Word and his Sacraments his Ministers and his Members And having thus found him out we must not content our selves with Herod to gaze upon him in Curiosity but with Zachaeus out of Devotion Nor must we grow old in our setting out but rather hasten to him betimes and as fast as we can run too And as humbly as it is possible we must go kneeling to him and ask him Good Master what shall we do or with the Disciples upon the Sea Master Master we perish That is we perish of our selves without thy stretched out Hand to support and save us And therefore lift we up our voices with those Ten Lepers in the way Iesus Master have Mercy on us For indeed he will never have Mercy on us unless we have mercy upon our selves that is to say unless we take him upon his own most righteous Terms not only as a Iesus who came to save us but withal as a Master who does expect to be served by us And this does lead me to consider the Compellation of our Inquirer concerning which I shall discourse upon the next Opportunity Now to the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever THE Goodness of Christ AS A LEGISLATOR MARK X. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Good Master what shall I do that I may Inherit Aeternal Life § 1. HAving done with the Person who here inquires and with the excellent Nature of his Inquiry and with the only true Oracle inquired of It now remains that I proceed to the significant Compellation wherewith the Person who here inquires praepares the way to his Inquiry The Compellation as hath been said does consist of two Parts first the Subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Master next the Adjunct or Qualification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good § 2. From the first being compared with the matter of the Question that is to say with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is very obvious to draw forth this Doctrinal Proposition That the Son of God Incarnate who at present is our Advocate and will hereafter be our Iudge and who purposely came to save us from the Tyranny of our Sins is not only a Saviour to offer Promises to our Faith but also a Master to exact Obedience to his Commands We must not only believe him which is but to have him in our Brains nor must we only confess him which is but to have him in our Mouths no nor must we only love him which were it possible to be done were only to have him in our hearts But farther yet we must Obey him and do him Service which is to have him in our Hands and our Actions too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Master what shall I do § 3. A Proposition of such Importance to all that are Candidates for
under a Necessity of taking pains Conceiving it infinitely difficult for any man to live a strict and a vertuous life who is not bless'd with some Calling wherein to labour Ask't he was indeed by Xenophon and other Friends why of so many great Offers he would not accept at least of some if not in his own yet in his Childrens consideration But still He answer'd If they live as they ought they cannot want Blessings and if they live otherwise I cannot wish that they may have them If they are dutiful to their God they will find him an indulgent and loving Father And if they rebel against their Maker what have I to do with them Now consider how these Heathens who liv'd before Christ had more of Christian Self-denyal than most of Them that come after They were many of them plac'd upon exceeding high Mountains shew'd the Kingdoms of the Earth and the glory of them Yea though they were proffer'd those Injoyments and strongly tempted to accept them yet so great was their courage they did not yield Men who if they are not fit for our imitation are fit to shame us at least for our imitating no more of the Life of Christ. Who as it were in opposition to this Temptation of the Devil drawn from the Kingdoms of the Earth and the Glory of them made choice of Poverty and Despisedness for his external Qualifications For though by reason of his Divinity he could not possibly be obnoxious to the unworthiness of Sin yet by reason of his Humanity he was capable of suffering the most unworthy Solicitations And even those Solicitations disturb'd his Ease although they had not the power to hurt his Safety Something therefore there was in it for our Edification That when it pleased the God of Heaven to take upon him our Nature who had it in his own choice both of whom he would be born and in what Quality he would live He did not choose the greatest but rather the meanest and the most abject of all Conditions Now whoever he is that chooseth be he wise or foolish ever chooseth what is Best either really or in shew either best in it self or best to his imagina tion From whence it follows that our Saviour being the Wisdom of the Father as God the Son could not choose but choose wisely and what was really the best when he made choice to be so meanly both born and bred As for his Birth sure a Carpenter's Spouse was a very mean Parent The Stable of an Inn was an exceeding mean Place wherein an Oxe and an Ass were as mean Attendants And then for his Breeding It was in Galilee yea in Nazareth the meanest part of all Palestine In the House of Goodman Ioseph one of the meanest men of Nazareth And in the way of a Carpenter as mean a Trade as could well be chosen Our Saviour shall not choose for us if he chooses no better for Himself will the men of this World be apt to say We would choose had we our choice to be born of Princes to be bred in stately Palaces and brought up at Court None should be greater if we could help it nor any richer than our selves We would choose the very Things wherewith the Devil here tempted Christ All the Kingdoms of the Earth and the Glory of them Would not be so poorly spirited as to refuse a frank offer for want of a little Complaisance an act of Worship and Veneration A Beast indeed will rest contented when his Belly is full and looks no higher when he is Empty than to That which grows up from the Ground he treads on But Man is made of another Metal and He is scarce fit to live who has no Ambition but sits him down like a Beast completely satisfied with a sufficience Conscience and Contentment are fit for persecuted Churchmen or well-bred Quakers or else for men whose Wits are lost in their Studies and whose overmuch Learning has made them as mad as any Paul a Man who talks of Contentment in All Conditions and would have us look no farther as to the Goods of this World than Food and Rayment Is it not Pity that such as These should be the Reasonings of the Followers and Friends of Christ who followed the things which They eschew and eschewed those things which They contend for His choice I say was to be poorer and more despised than other men And because being a Man he was to be of some Calling he pitch'd on That that was lyable to least Temptations and so was registred at Nazareth not in the Quality of a Freeholder but of an Handicraft-Man He was but Faber Lignarius a Wooden Smith Had he been a Freeholder he had had though not a Kingdom yet a small Pittance of this World He might have trod his own Ground and have breath'd his own Air and have eaten his own Bread without depending upon the Charity of any other man's hands or on the Labour of his own But he was on the contrary so poor and destitute that he had neither Food nor Rayment but what he earn'd or had given him or got by Miracle As long as from his Twelfth to his Thirtieth year of Age diverse Fathers are of opinion that he wrought for his Living in his Father in Law 's Shop Nor is there any Church-Writer who gives another Accompt of him And from thence until his Death he obtain'd his Bread either by Teaching as a Prophet or doing good as a Physician Both gratuitously and freely although by some he was rewarded Now that our Saviour's way of choosing may have some Influence upon ours and this our second Consideration may be as useful as it is long § 18. Let us consider in the Third place how God and Satan are two Competitors for our choice Satan tempts us to joyn with Him in his Attempts against God God solicits us on the contrary to side with Him against Satan Satan tempts us to Rebellion with the Things that are seen which are but Temporal God solicits us to Obedience with the Things that are not seen which are Eternal Satan's Proposals are to the Flesh God's especially to the Spirit Satan takes us up to an exceeding high Mountain and discovers to us from thence all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the Glory of them God on the other side takes us up to Mount Sion or at least takes us down to the Valley of Achor and discovers to us from thence the Kingdom of Heaven and Glory of it and saith to us in effect as the Devil to Christ All This will I give you if falling down ye will worship me Now it remains that we consider to which Proposal of the two our Affections and Appetites have the most reason to incline Let 's put them Both into the Scales and then choose That that shall weigh the heaviest As for the Things of this present World the best we can say of them is This They all
to do through the hatred we use to have of any Error which we oppose the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Basil calls it I therefore say I must acknowledge and I do it without Regret that what an old Author has said of Phidias may be truly enough apply'd to every wise and good man in a Moral sense If Phidias wanted Ivory out of which to make a Statue he could make one of Brass If Marble were wanting he could make one of Wood. If the best Wood were wanting he could make one of the worst And still how course soever his Materials happen'd to be the Statue should be as good as the Stuff would bear Just so a wise and good man will make the best use he can of any Condition he can be in All his wants will be with Comfort All his Advancements with Humility All his Injoyments with Moderation He will equally stand affected to Death and Honour neither of which is to be courted thô they are Both to be indured when laid upon him unsought without impatience But yet as Phidias could work the better the fitter Materials were allow'd him and some were fitter for his purpose than others were so a wise and good man is able to make a better use of one Condition than of another and therefore ought to choose That which he can manage with the most ease to the best Advantage Now what Condition That is hath been sufficiently imply'd in the four Reasons going before of God's severe Prohibition Seek them not and may yet more expresly be made out to us in That which follows For § 9. If all Secular Greatness is less conducible to a man's Happiness or his Contentment here on Earth and carries with it more Impediments in the Narrow way to Heaven which our Lord and his Apostles affirm expresly than That other State of life which is low and little It cannot but follow on the contrary for Contrariorum contraria est ratio that the inferiour State of life is much the Best and the most Retired the most desirable Condition Indeed 't is pity that Superfluities should enlarge a man's Appetite yet so they do Pity 't is that a man's Avarice should ever be widened by his Possessions yet so it is And therefore the Scythians did very fitly thus expostulate with the Great Emperour who conquer'd all he ever fought with except Himself Quid tibi divitiis opus est quae Te cogunt esurire What hast Thou to do with Meat which does but serve to increase thy hunger or what need hast Thou of Riches which make thee still the more needy for they observ'd the more he had the more he wanted what he had not And the degrees of a man's Want do by very sound Ethicks define his Poverty We know 't is customary for Parents to make and leave if they can a great Provision for their Children or for their Nephews if they have none And still the greater Estate they leave them the better they think they have done their Duty because they take it for a thing granted that men are as Happy as they are Rich. But when we reflect upon the Character and the Choice of those men who either were sick of great Plenty and therefore left it as a Disease or were afraid of its Infection and therefore refused the Offers of it 't is plain Experience and Practice and the Best mens Examples as well as Reason yes and abundance of Scripture too will make us quite of another mind For though Contentment cannot arise from any Proportion of Estate be it great or little because it grows to us from within and not from any thing without us yet I conceive a mean Estate does most contribute to its Attainment and with the men who have but Little the Greatest Contentments are seen to dwell The reason of which is very evident For 't is easy to have a little and to be below Envy whilst 't is absolutely impossible to be above it And therefore That of Claudian has apparent Truth in it Est ubi despectus nimius juvat There is a Time when a man prospers by being slighted When a man's Poverty is his Protection when too much contempt secures his liberty and his life 'T is ever best because safest because least troublesom least perillous least invidious Not to be Great Again Ad manum est quod satis est As 't is easy to have a little so a little is sufficient for Food and Rayment and St. Paul infers strongly that Food and Rayment are enough the upshot of all we can want or pray for and 't is enough that breeds Happiness because Contentment meeting with a Mind that is fitted for it And a man's Mind is sooner fitted to find enough in a Little than to meet with it in great Abundance For Sudatur ad Supervacua says the Roman Philosopher what is more than just enough begins to have somewhat of Excess and All excess is superfluous which for that very reason will cost us sweat if not the Sweat of the Brow yet the Anxiety of the Brain not only in the Solicitude how to get or to improve but in that easier Concernment How to manage and to praeserve it In each of which Cases Sudatur ad Supervacua The meaner man even in This is so much happier than the greater by how much 't is better not to have than to lose Abundance which sooner or later the Great man must and the Mean man cannot Still the Greater any one is the more he is obnoxious to Chance and Fortune by which 't is better not to be favour'd than forsaken at last And therefore the Baleares of whom we read in Diodorus did so reflect upon the Misery which Geryon's great Treasures betray'd him to for he had never else been visited and kill'd by Hercules that they durst not have Plenty for fear of Thieves for fear of providing for their Enemies as Geryon did Which comparing with That of David He heapeth up Riches and cannot tell who shall gather them and with the Counsel of Christ himself Take no thought for the Morrow and lay not up Treasure upon Earth Matth. 6. I do the less think it strange thô strange enough that Maximus Tyrius and other Antients admir'd the Wisdom of Diogenes in that he made it his choice to be as unfurnished as an Angel as free from all Earthly Goods as the Spirits of Heaven For they consider'd within Themselves that to have Riches and Honours as well as Children is to give Hostages to Fortune And that 't is here as in an Army the greater the Bulk the more it is expos'd to Wounds and Slaughter § 10. But thô the Saying of Epicurus is most evidently true Honesta res est Paupertas laeta that he who does not only bear but injoy his Poverty is not only an happy but an honourable man and in this respect a rich one that what he has not