they should not bear to have it so much as recommended or mentioned but prefer Slavery and Dependance before living upon their own Stock getting above Fortune and making themselves easy and Masters at all times and places and upon all Accidents alike May we not most justly cry out with Tiberius more justly indeed than He did O Wretches born to be Slaves How absurd is it that we who are such Patrons and Sticklers for Liberty in the Case of our Bodies Estates and all other Properties should not bear to have our Mind free which after all is the only Free-born thing that belongs to any of us We seek and employ conveniences fetch'd from all parts of the World count no expence too great for the Health the Service the Ornament of the Body but grudge every thing for the improvement and enriching of the Mind In short We are so partial as to take all possible pains that the Body may be at large while the Soul is fettered and coop'd up in Prison The other Branch of this Liberty in which the Will is concerned is of yet greater value in which the Wills is concerned is of yet greater value Liberty of the Will and ought to be more endeavour'd after by a Wise Man as indeed it is more serviceable to him than the former Now here I think it necessary to admonish my Reader that the Matter under our present Consideration is not that Faculty and Privilege of Human Nature which Philosophers and Divines commonly stile Free-Will nor shall we treat of it in the same Method with Them But my meaning is That a Wise Man ought to preserve his own Ease and Quiet to keep his Will and Affections free and disengaged and to lay them out upon very few objects and those such as may justify his Choice For indeed the things that deserve our Choice and challenge our Affections if nicely examined will be found but very few But this is not all For even Those that deserve them best will not justify our Vehemence and Eagerness and immoderate Fondness of them And here I find my self under some necessity of encountring two very popular and plausible Opinions The One is That which teaches us to be always forward to serve other people to lay aside all thoughts of one's self for the sake of our Neighbours and especially when the Publick Good is concerned pretends that no private Interest ought to come in Competition with it And the Other prompts us to espouse such Matters with all possible Zeal and to the very utmost of our power He that declines the Former is accused of wanting Good nature and a publick Spirit and He that is remiss in the Latter is suspected of Coldness and Indifference want of Generosity and the Zeal that is required of a Good Man and in short reputed incapable of making a Friend Now whatever there may really be at the bottom of these Opinions yet it is plain the World have overloaded the Foundation and built such Notions upon it as exceed all Reason and Measure and nothing can be more Romantick and Extravagant than what we sind delivered upon these Occasions For our Governors who feel the Advantage of them oftentimes infuse Principles into us not according to the true merits of the Cause but in proportion as they perceive they may prove serviceable and beneficial And it frequently falls out that those Opinions which are in themselves most reasonable and true are not most convenient to be generally entertained And besides this Observing how natural the Love of our Selves and our own private Advantage is and what Partialities and unreasonable Excesses it is apt to carry us into they thought it necessary to divert and draw us off as far from This as possibly and so took the Common Course of bending the Crooked Stick the Contrary way that it might at last stand strait by being forced toward the other Extreme 1 These Opinions when misunderstood and misapplied which is commonly the Fate of most Opinions when they fall into the hands of a Multitude occasion great Injustice and Disorder many Difficulties and grievous Mischiefs As we may plainly observe in those persons that snap at every bait of this kind let themselves out to hire as it were and devote all their Time and Pains to the service of other people These men do not only suffer themselves to be managed and taken absolute Possession of by their Friends but they thrust themselves forward of their own accord and will have an Oar in every Boat It is indifferent to Them whether the Matter concerns them or not whether it be of greater consequence or of none at all still they Interess themselves in all alike for indeed they often do it merely to keep themselves in Motion and Employment It stirs their Spirits put their Soul into a pleasing sort of Agitation and thus * In Negotio sunt negotij causà they are busy purely because they love to be so They cannot bear the having nothing to do nor can they confine their Thoughts to their own Affairs but either do not see or carelesly overlook them and so seek Employment abroad and meddle and turn undertakers in things that are foreign and distant as if they had nothing at all to do at home no concerns that are essential and necessary to be followed no personal no domestick Cares that lye upon their hands such as ought to be first dispatched and which if duly attended to would leave no room for Sloth nor leisure so great as should prove a Temptation to us to turn Managers for other people that we may keep our selves in Action Many of these persons are good husbands of their purse and careful not to part with a Penny of Money but upon valuable considerations but they are unreasonably prodigal of their Soul their Life squander away their Time and their Pains their Affections and their Will most profusely and unaccountably dedicate Themselves and all their Powers to any occasions that calls for their Assistance And yet when all is done These are the valuable Treasures of which we ought to be exceeding choice and sparing and in such Instances it is chiefly that Frugality and good Management are commendable But alas the Persons we speak of are so far from this that they glory in their Extravagance act all with such Violence and Passion that they are lost to Reason and common Sense and never think they do enough till they have engaged as deep as is possible and given up their Persons and their Wits both to the Cause they espouse Great Men make their Advantage of such Tempers as these Men that will be eager and angry and expose nay lose their lives upon pretences of Friendship and Punctilio's of Honour and Respect are special Tools for Their purpose And they are not wanting to countenance and caress them throw out large Promises and use a thousand little Stratagems to draw them in and six them to their
Progress toward Virtue as to quit all other Vices yet there is but very little Hope or Appearance of its ever renouncing it self It pushes Men to Brave and Illustrious Actions I confess it and the Benefit of these Actions to the Publick is unspeakable but though Others may reap the Fruit and be the better for such Actions yet it will not follow that the Person who does them is one whit the Better for them These may be the Effect of Passion and not of Virtue or Principles and if they be so this Excuse is vain For at present it is not the Profit but the Intrinsick Goodness of such Exploits that we are inquiring into I know indeed this Passion shelters it self under that very excellent Maxime That We are not born for our selves alone but for the General Good of Mankind But how good a Sanctuary this is the Methods made Use of for rising in the World and Mens Behaviour after their Promotions and Successes must shew And These if they be nicely observ'd will give us Cause to suspect that the Men who talk at this Rate speak against their own Consciences and that private Interest is at least an equal if not a stronger Motive to the Generality of Mankind than the Good of others Men look nearer Home in all they do and That how large soever the Pretensions to it may be for we cannot wonder that Men should pretend at least to One of the best and most valuable Qualities in the World yet a truly Publick Spirit is very rarely to be found See Advice and Remedies against this Passion in particular Book III. Chap. 42. CHAP. XXI Of Avarice and the Passions opposite to it BY Avarice is to be understood an inordinate Love What it is and vehement Desire of Riches Tho' indeed it is not only the Love and Fondness for them that deserve this Name but all Sort of over-curious Niceness and sollicitous Concern about Riches will bear it very justly even the Care of distributing them and Liberality it self if it take up too much of our Time and Pains in ordering and making it exact In short All manner of Anxious Thought with Relation to Riches savours strongly of this Passion for they ought to be entertain'd and used with a becoming Negligence and to be looked upon as they really are not worth any earnest Attention of the Mind nor a sit Object of our Care and Trouble The vehement Desire of Riches and the mighty Pleasure of Possessing them is merely Fantastical a Creature of our own Imagination and hath no Being no Foundation in Nature at all 'T is a Canker or Gangrene in the Soul that spreads and mortifies and with its Venom corrodes and quite consumes all Our Natural Affections and fills us with noxious and virulent Humours in their stead No sooner hath This taken up its Dwelling in our Hearts but immediately all those Tendernesses and kind Concerns are banished thence which either Nature inspires or Virtue recommends and improves in us All the Duties and Regards we owe to our Relations to our Friends nay to our very Selves are no longer of any Consideration with us All the World when set in competition with Interest and Profit goes for Nothing and at last we come to that pass as even to over-look and despise our own Persons our Ease our Health our Bodies our Souls All are sacrificed to this Darling this adored Wealth and as the Proverb expresses it We sell the Horse to get the Provender Avarice is a mean sordid Passion the Temper The Folly and Misery of it or rather the Disease of Fools and Earth-Worms who esteem Riches as the Supreme Good and most exquisite Attainment Humane Nature is capable of and dread Poverty as the Last of Evils who cannot content themselves with a bare Competency or such Provisions as are necessary for their Subsistence which indeed are so small that very few want them They measure their Riches by the Bags and Weights of Bankers and Goldsmiths whereas Nature teaches us to make a different Judgment and directs us to the Standard of our own just Occasions Now is not this the very Extremity of Folly to fall down and worship That which Nature hath taught us to despise by casting it under our Feet and hiding it in the Bowels and dark Caverns of the Earth as a thing not fit for publick view but to be trampled and trod upon as a just Object of our Neglect and an Intimation of its own Worthlessness There it was Originally and there it had remained to all Eternity had not the Vices of Mankind ransack'd those dark Cells and with great Difficulty and Violence drawn it up And great their Reward of such Industry hath been For what have they gain'd by it but the Ground of Insinite Controversies and Quarrels and Blood-shed and Rapine a Fatal Instrument of devouring and destroying one another * In lucem propter quae pugnaremus excutimus non erubescim us summa apud nos haberi quae fuerunt ima Terrarum We take unspeakable Pains to fetch up that above Ground says one which when we have it serves us only to fight for Nay we are not out of Countenance to have those very Things in highest Esteem which God and Nature had made lowest and thought the deepest Mines of the Earth a Place Good enough for Nature indeed seems in some Measure to have given sure Presages how Miserable those Men should be who are in Love with Gold by the manner of its Growth and the Quality of the Soil that produces it For as That Ground where the Veins of this Metal are found is Unprofitable for other Uses and neither Grass nor Plants nor any other Thing of Value and Service to Mankind will grow there it is in this Respect a most lively Emblem of the Minds of Men which are enamour'd with it They being in like manner the most sordid and abject and abandoned Wretches cursed and condemned to Barrenness void of all Honour lost to all Virue and no kind of thing that is Good in it self or Beneficial to the World is to be obtained or expected from them What a horrible Degradation is this and how do we lessen and disparage our selves when we give up that Dominion and Liberty to which we were born by becoming Servants and Slaves to the very meanest of our Subjects * Apud Sapientem Divitiae sunt in Servitute apud Stultum in Imperio For Riches as is most truly observ'd are the Wise Man's Servants and the Fool 's Masters And in Truth the Covetous Man cannot be so properly said to possess Wealth as That may be said to possess Him He hath it indeed but he hath it in such a Sense only as he hath a Fever or some violent Disease which hath got an absolute Mastery over him and preys upon his Vitals and all his Faculties How extravagant is it to dote upon That which neither hath any Goodness of
Law of Moses Deut. xxi which ordered the stubborn and Rebellious Son to be stoned upon the Complaint of the Parents without requiring any farther Proof of the Charge than their single Deposition and provided the Presence and Concurrence of the Magistrate not so much for Examination and Tryal of the Cause as to prevent the Privacy and Passion which might attend Domestick Punishments and so to render the thing more publick and the Vengeance more exemplary and full of Terrour to others And thus even according to the Mosaick Institution the Paternal Authority was more arbitrary and extensive than it came to be since the Time of the Roman Emperours But if we descend a little Lower and observe its Decrease under Constantine the Great then under Theodosius and at last under Justinian we shall find it almost totally extinct Hence it came to pass that Children took upon them to decline and peremptorily deny Obedience to their Parents to refuse them a Part in their Possessions nay not to allow them so much as convenient Maintenance and Relief in their Necessities Hence they had considence to enter Actions against them and implead them in Courts of Judicature and an indecent a most scandalous Thing in truth it is to observe how frequent such Suits have been Some have been so wicked or so mistaken as to excuse Themselves from Duty upon pretence of Religion and dedicate That to God which their Parents had a Right to as we find Our Blessed Saviour reproaches the Jews for doing Matt. xv and the manner he mentions it in shews plainly that this impious kind of Devotion was a Practice customary among them before his Time Since that some have acted after their Examples even in the Profession of Christianity and many have held it lawful to kill a Father in one's own Defence or in case he became a Publick Enemy to the State But sure if such Relations deserve Death it ought to be inflicted by some other Hand and heretofore it was receiv'd as a general Maxim and admits of scarce any Exception * Nullum tantum scelus admitti potest à patre quod parricidio sit vindicandum nullum scelus rationem habet That no Wickedness could be committed by a Father the Heinousness whereof would justifie Parricide to kill a Father is wicked and no Wickedness can be reasonable Now the Generality of the World doe not seem duly sensible of how mischievous Consequence to Mankind this Abatement and Abolition of the Paternal Authority hath prov'd The Governments under which it was kept up and vigorously exerted have flourish'd and contain'd their Subjects in strict Duty If upon any Occasion it had been found by Experience too sharp and exorbitant prudent Care might have been taken to regulate and bring it under convenient Restraints But utterly to disannul and destroy it is by no means agreeable to Decency or Virtue and least of all to the Advantage of the Publick For when once the Reins are let loose and Countenance is given to Disobedience in private Families it quickly grows to a general Spirit of Faction and Disorder and Ungovernable Insolence and the casting off the Yoke of the Natural Parents is a bold and dangerous Step toward Rebellion against the Civil The Effect whereof hath been abundantly seen in the many Inconveniences which Governments have suffer'd upon the Relaxation or utter Rescinding of this Authority whereby in the Event they only clipt their own Wings and encourag'd Enemies and Insurrections against Themselves as was said just now The Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Children will be treated of Book III. Chap. 14. CHAP. XLVIII Of Lords and their Slaves Masters and Servants THE making use of Slaves and the Power of Lords or Masters over them The use of Slaves universal but unnatural tho' it hath been a thing receiv'd and practis'd in all Places and all Ages of the World excepting that it was considerably abated for about Four Hundred Years but now it hath since revived and obtain'd again Yet I cannot forbear looking upon it as a Monstrous Custom and highly reproachful to Humane Nature Since Brutes have nothing of this Kind among Them nor do They either compel their Fellows by Violence and Fraud or voluntarily submit themselves to Captivity This seems rather then to have been dispens'd with than approv'd by the Law of Moses But even this Indulgence accommodated to the Necessities of that People and the Hardness of their Hearts was not so rigorous as the Practice of other Places for neither was the Power so absolute nor the Slavery perpetual but the One confin'd to Rules and the Other terminated with the Seventh or Sabbatical Year Christianity finding the Usage Universal did not see fit to break in upon this Constitution but left its Proselytes at liberty in this Particular as it did in a Permission of serving and dwelling under Heathen and Idolatrous Princes and Masters For This and many other Things could not be abolish'd and set aside at once but by giving some little Discountenance to them Time hath worn them off gently and by degrees Slaves may be distinguished into Four several Kinds Several sorts of Slavery 1. Such as are Natural or born of Parents in that Condition 2. Such as are Slaves upon Force made so by Conquest and the Rights of War 3. Adjudged Slaves such as are made and awarded to be such either by way of Punishment for some Crime or for the Satisfaction of some Debt which gives the Creditors a Right to their Persons and of employing them to their own Benefit and Service This Slavery was limited among the Jews only to a certain Season Seven Years at the most the Sabbatical Year put an End to it all but in other Countries it continu'd till the Debt was discharged 4. Voluntary Slaves or such as are of their own making as Those who throw Dice for it or who sell their Liberty for a Summ of Money as it hath been the Custom to do in Germany Tacit. de mor. Ger. and is still in some Parts even of the Christian World or else such as freely surrender up Themselves to the Service of another and devote their Persons to perpetual Slavery And thus we read in the Law the Antient Jews did Exod xxi Deut. xv whose Ears were appointed to be bored with an Awl to the Door of the House in token of perpetual Servitude and that they rather chose this Condition of Life than to go free when it was in their Power This last sort of voluntary and chosen Captivity is I confess to Me the most asTonishing of all the rest and tho' all manner of Slavery seems to be an Incroachment and Violence upon Nature yet sure no Kind of it can be so unnatural as that which a Man covets and brings upon Himself That Thing which makes Men Slaves upon Constraint is Avarice The Cause of it and that which makes Men choose to be Slaves is
Parts The Preventing Ill Habits and Cultivating Good Ones The Former is the more Necessary and Requires the more diligent Attention of the Two And This is a Business which ought to be begun very early indeed a Man can hardly set about it too soon For Vicious Dispositions grow into Habits apace so that the Corruption of Nature is sure to be beforehand with us and if these Things be not stifled in the Birth it is very difficult Dealing with them afterwards I suppose I need not say that this Endeavour ought to be Universal and bend it self against all Vice without Exception But some there are which I shall mention and recommend the subduing of more especially because they are more incident to that Condition of Life and therefore more formidable than the rest The First is Lying A pitiful poor-spirited Vice the Character of Slaves and Cowards the most ungenteel Quality that can be and certain Indication of a base degenerate and timorous Soul but more particularly sit to be caution'd against in this Place because harsh Methods and rigorous Severities in the Education of Children very often fright them into it at first and lay the seeds of Fear and Falshood for their whole Lives The Second is an Aukward Bashfulness which puts them upon hiding their Faces hanging down their Heads blushing and looking out of Countenance when they are spoken to makes them incapable of bearing any sort of Correction or the least angry Word without being disordered and put quite out of Humor A great deal of This is owing to the Natural Weakness and Tenderness of their Minds but this Infirmity must be corrected by Study and Application by learning them to bear Admonition and Rebukes using them to see Company and fortifying them with a becoming Assurance and Presence of Mind Thirdly All Affectation and Singularity in their Dress their Mean their Gate their Gestures their Speech and every other Part of Behaviour Making their Deportment and Conversation Masculine and free easie and unconstrained For Affectation is a sure Sign of Vanity an inordinate Desire of recommending themselves by doing somewhat particular and out of the common Road and is extremely Nauseous and Offensive to all Companies it displeases even where it labours to oblige and casts a Blemish upon our best Actions and kindest Intentions * Licet sapere sine pompâ sine invidià A Man may be Wise without Ostentation and should labour to be so without giving Prejudice or Offence But especially They must check and utterly banish all Anger and Peevishness and Spight and Obstinacy And in order hereunto It will be a good Rule to settle a Resolution never to gratifie Children when they are froward nor give them any thing they cry and are outragious for To make them sensible betimes that these Arts will never do them service and are therefore unprofitable as well as unbecoming Another necessary Course to this purpose will be never to flatter or wheedle or caress them in their querulous Humours for Fondness and Indulgence which is blameable at all times is of most dangerous consequence at such times as these This absolutely ruines them to all Intents and Purposes incourages them to be Passionate and Sullen if they have not what they ask for and renders them at length Obstinate and Headstrong Intractable and Insolent For * Nihil magisreddet Iracundos quam Educatio mollis blanda Nothing disposes Men more to extravagant Passion and Resentment than the being humour'd and cocker'd in their Infancy and the greatest part of those Fretful Exceptious and Self-conceited Qualities which render Conversation so difficult and so full of Cavils as we find it are owing most certainly to a Failure in this part of Education The Niceness and Tenderness they have been us'd with in their Infancy and the Unreasonable Compliances with their Passions then have absolutely broke their Tempers and make them Whimsical and Jealous Furious and domineering all their Life-long They expect because Mothers and Nurses have done it to my young Master and Miss that all the World shou'd submit to their Humours when they come to be Men and Women But it is not sufficient to clear the Soil of Weeds and Bryars except you sow it with good Seed and therefore at the same time you root out Ill Habits Care must be taken to implant Good ones The first and most important part whereof is to Infuse into them and take care they be throughly season'd with a becoming Reverence and awful Fear of God learning them to tremble at his infinite and incomprehensible Majesty to admire and adore the Perfection of his Holiness to take his Name into their Mouths but very seldom and when they do to mention it with Gravity and great Respect to discourse of his Power his Wisdom his Eternal Essence his Will his Word and his Works not indifferently and upon every Occasion but with such Seriousness and Submission such Modesty and Humility and at Seasons so proper that all the World may perceive we have due Dread and a constant Awe of that Being which we take care to treat so very respectfully Not to use themselves to dispute upon Religion or call the Mysteries of it in into Question but resign their Understandings to the Oracles of God and be content to believe the Scriptures in such a Sense as the truly Catholick Church hath embrac'd and commanded to be taught and receiv'd In the Second Place The Spirit of Children shou'd be strengthen'd and confirm'd by Ingenuity and Frankness of Temper Openness and Easiness of Conversation Candor and Integrity and especially they shou'd be fix'd in the Fitness and the Necessity of Virtue and so made resolute and zealous in Justice and Goodness deaf and inflexible to every thing which is Vicious and Dishonourable Thus the Youth must by degrees be brought to embrace and stick to Virtue upon a true and solid Principle for its Own sake and real Excellence and exact Congruity to the Dictates of uncorrupt Reason and not be induc'd meerly by the force of Fear or Interest or some other Consideration so slavish and mercenary that it cannot deserve a Name so noble as Virtue These Two Directions are principally for a Man 's private use and centre in his own proper Benefit The Third regards other People and hath a more immediate tendency to fit him for and render him easie and agreeable in Company And to this purpose you must use all means possible for the Sweetning his Temper teach him the Rules of Civility and Complaisance and shew him the Deference that ought to be paid to all Qualities let him know how to make himself acceptable how far it is fit to accommodate himself to other People's Humours and submit to their Manner Alcibiades's peculiar Excellence was said to lie in this obliging Easiness of Humour And Aristippus was a Man of perfect Address so far from Moroseness or suffering the Study of Philosophy to sowre him that
is a great deal of good as well as hurt in the thing For thus much may undoubtedly be alledged in its behalf that it is of very great advantage to the State since as the World now goes the generous and publick spirited Actions are most of them owing to it This pushes Men on to hazardous Attempts and thus we find it hath ever done for even among the Ancients it is not to be supposed that all their so much celebrated Heroes were acted by a truly Philosophical Spirit There were indeed your Socrates and Phocion and Aristides and Epaminondas your Cato's and Scipio's who seem to have been Charmed by the bright Ideas of Virtue without any the least mixture of additional and mercenary Considerations but then there were a great many more who were manifestly moved by other Springs such as Themistocles and Alexander and Caesar who courted Fame and were led on by the prospect of Greatness and Renown And though it be very true that the Gallant Exploits of such Persons when nicely examined and considered with regard to their proper Motives and the principles their Authors went upon be not strictly speaking the product of Virtue but of Ambition only yet still they must be acknowledged of general use and benefit and the consequences of them to the publick in all respects the very same as if the inducements had been the most refined and perfect that Humane nature is in any Case capable of Now besides the force of this Consideration to commend it the Philosophers have allowed it to be excusable at least upon two occasions the one is when the Actions it excites Men to are profitable and good but not in a degree of perfection eminent enough to pretend to the title of Virtuous because they lie in common to all Mankind and the good or ill dispositions of our minds incapacitate no person from excelling in them Of this kind particularly are Arts and Sciences Humane Inventions Military Courage and all manner of Industry in general The other is when we find it necessary to preserve the favour and good Opinion of some person upon whom our interest depends for though it be a standing rule in Philosophy never to make the Opinion of others the measure of our Behaviour yet there is this reserve and allowed Exception that we may govern our selves upon such principles to avoid the inconveniences which either the want or Contempt of other Men's approbation may happen to involve us in But indeed for a Man to practice Virtue merely upon this account and aim at Honour and Reputation as if this were the proper wages and recompence of doing well is not only a very vain and erroneous but a most dangerous and destructive principle This were a horrible disparagement indeed that Virtue should be rendered so precarious as to derive all its value from hence and to engage our Affections upon no better Considerations than what are drawn from the judgment of the World Every body must needs discern the courseness of this Alloy and that such payment ought not to pass upon us Virtue certainly is not yet so debased as to go a begging and desiring testimonials for a subsistance This reward is much below her seeking and therefore we should so fix our minds with true and noble Ideas of her and settle our affections so firmly upon the thing it self that this accidental lustre of the honours attending her may not dazle the Eyes of Reason but leave us still the Discretion to make a difference between receiving these as acknowledgments due for our good Actions and propounding them to our minds as the end and adequate Reward of them So shall we be established upon a true bottom and proceed upon resolutions sincere and immovable such as will stand like so many Barriers about the Soul and guard it against the vain assaults of vanity and Ambition and every mean and selfish inducement A Man should be thoroughly perswaded of the sufficiency and self-satisfaction of Virtue that it asks no Nobler a Theatre to represent its excellency in than one 's own Gonscience this is spectator and audience enough and if this applaud the Action the matter is not great who discommends it The higher the Sun is above the Horizon the less shadow it casts and the more Sublime any Man's Virtue is the less affectation of Honour and Fame it is attended with Nor is the similitude improper if we consider the nature of the thing For Glory is in earnest a very shadow it follows those that flie from it and runs away from those that pursue it We should always remember who sent us hither and what we are doing That Life is a Play where the parts are infinitely various but no Man chooses what he will act he acquits himself well who studies the humour of the part assigned him and performs it agreeably to its Character or as Epictetus says upon another occasion that we live in this World as People sit at an Entertainment where every well mannered Man will be content to feed upon that Dish which the Master of the Feast helps him to without reaching over the Table and scrambling and snatching from other People's Plates If then a Preferment or some Office of Honour and Trust be offered to us if we are capable of discharging it let us accept it gladly but modestly too and let us do the duty of it faithfully and sincerely assuring our selves that God hath set us our Post and that by committing to us a publick Trust he expects we should stand Centry and be continually upon the Guard that by our vigilant care those who are committed to our charge may sleep securely And for all this Laborious Attendance let us propose no other Recompence or Commendation than that only of our own Consciences and the sweet satisfactions of doing what becomes us or if others do as without question they will see and approve our Good works let us desire that the Testimony of our having done well may be graven in the Hearts of our Countrey rather than published by Statues and pompous Frontispieces and long flattering Inscriptions In a word let this be a Principle with us that the Fruit of noble generous Actions cannot possibly be lost that the glory of having done them is an ample Compensation And that when Virtue descends to go out of her self and look abroad for a Reward she undervalues her own worth and must take up with things beneath her To despise Greatness and expose the vanity of setting our Hearts upon it is no such mighty matter He that loves himself and can make any tolerable Judgment of Happiness will be content with a moderate and easie Fortune the Stations that are at the top of Mankind as they excell in Dignity so they exceed in Harms and Difficulty and Trouble and those that are at the very bottom tormented with Poverty and anxious uncertainties of Subsistence are equally to be declined Here is too much Business or too