friend or a foe a superior or an inferior then the way of doing it is to be lookt upon for some do offend others out of ignorance and without malice or design Thirdly the condition the offender is in is to be taken notice of whether he be drunken or sober in a fit of anger or in cold blood for all these do either aggravate or extenuate the offence then the fashion of the Countrey one is in ought to be the judge of the thing for in one Countrey that is accounted an injury which shall not be so in another as pledging ones health or not pledging of him spilling the salt upon the table or wresting of a word spoken with no bad intent and such things which in one Country will pass for trifles and in others for affronts but Sapiens dominabitur astris a prudent man will often dissipate those bad influences and the ill dispositions of some mans temper a civil and a courteous carriage can for a time change another mans nature and as it were force him out of his mad humor I have known men come into company with an intent to quarrel whose mind was soon altered by such a behaviour this winneth tameth and disarmeth a man shames him because it seems to reprove him for the rudeness injustice and unhandsomness of his carriage to one who is so civil and so well deserves of him After all this observe that if a man hath done you an injury and desires pardon assuring he hath not done it out of any ill intent this is a sufficient ground of forgiveness Now 't is no shame rather praise-worthy for me to own a fault when I have committed it and to ask pardon when I have offended another whereof the contrary is obstinacy and aggravation to the fault yet some will still examine the nature of the offence and whether it be publick or private for accordingly they will desire satisfaction But much is depending upon the nature of the party offended if he be gentle or hasty Of those who are offended some take exceptions at nothing and others at every thing these are two extreams to be avoided one must resent affronts done to him yet is not to flie out upon every toy or trifle insensibility of these is an effect of stupidity and a sign of a low soul of a poor and fainting spirit and of a heartless man condemned by Aristotle and truly as the world goes he who will suffer one injury upon the back of another will be accounted a pusillanimous creature fitter to live in Woods and Wildernesses than in the society of mankind and he must be resolved every day to suffer new insults and I would not have this to be mis-named and taken for a virtue which deprives man of the qualities of his nature and makes him like a stock or a stone with calling it constancy or otherwise but in good truth can we attribute the virtue of patience to a picture because it answers not to injurious words spoken against it shall we say that Moles are stout and strong to resist the heat of the Sun or the coldness of the weather because they neither pant nor quake at it no because being under ground they are no ways exposed to these things but to call cowardliness prudence is certainly to give a wrong name to a thing May be some will say 't is a Divine Precept to bear injuries which I confess when 't is for conscience sake and for the cause and glory of God or upon the account of Religion and this too must be from those who have power and authority over me but for me when I go upon the street to suffer one to take my Sword and my Cloaths or when I am a travelling to let Highway-men to take my purse when I am able to defend it and to suffer my self to be beaten when I can help it what am I then a prudent man or a coward this would set all earthly things in a confusion and destroy all manner of propriety right and justice and if a man will take away my estate my life and reputation which I cannot subsist without and which I value above all must I sit still be an idle spectator and suffer it no the laws and customs of every Nation have provided against this certainly no rational person will condemn this resentment only will advise me to use honest and lawful means to get satisfaction and herein I agree with them By a contrary way to this one who suffers for impiety or blasphemy might call himself a Martyr when it is known how non supplicium sed causa facit martyrium 't is the cause and not the torment which makes one to be a martyr indeed Then after this Parents ought to suffer the disobedience and abuse of Children Princes the rebellion of Subjects Officers of Soldiers Seneca who hath given so excellent Rules how to subdue anger and master all irascible passions yet confesses in several places of his works that to forgive wicked men is to wrong those who are honest and that he who is so indulgent to private faults doth propagate vices to posterity wherefore one had much reason to complain in the days of Nerva who fell into the other extremes of his predecessor this having been too cruel and the other being too indulgent and remiss that indeed it was an evil to have an Emperor under whom 't was not lawful to do any thing but the license of doing every thing one had a mind to without censure amd punishment was a worse thing If Magistrates must punish wrongs I conceive private men in some degree may be allowed to resent injuries received from their equals and inferiors indeed it is prudence to be silent where there is no remedy or when this is like to prove as bad or worse than the disease upon such a case one will do well to forbear But I believe all rational men agree in this provided the resentment be kept within bounds for the case and difficulty is about getting satisfaction when we have good and warrantable means one is bound to make use of them for it is not fit a man should be judge or executioner in his own case and as long as there are laws to see us righted it is our duty to appeal to them for that which is called Duels or challenge into the field is now forbidden by all civilized Nations though formerly it was allowed by Princes who were witnesses and judges of these single combats Nâ—w great penalties being laid upon such wayes men use to make encounters of it and to put a cheat upon the law they would make it pass for being done in hot blood and things are so shuffled that it is hardly known who is the aggressor every one saying he only drew in his own defence if one sends or makes a challenge to another he will receive this answer Sir I dare not answer you because Duels are
many disputes and vain contentions which since the year 1130. or thereabouts have troubled the wit and quiet of men The way of teaching Youth in Schools is so well known and so common that it were in vain for me to speak any thing of it besides that every one follows the method he thinks best and it is natural for men to stand out in their opinion yet I must say that with some the ordinary method will not do but ways ought to be found out sutable to the young mans genius Sometimes Conversation will be more effectual than reading and learning by heart though by all means these must be used the young man is to help for the School-master cannot infuse it therefore the Scholar must take pains however I say there are some methods easier and better than others When I speak of Conversation and Reading I do not oppose but distinguish one from the other and I would have discourse used sometimes by way of diversion When a Scholar is not in a humour or disposed to learn one thing then he must be put upon another or instead of making him learn with reading one should teach him with telling or take some other way to cheat him as it were into learning But this is better done by a Preceptor in a House than by a Master in a publick School He who at once hath but one or two to mind can better take his time and hath more leisure to study his or their temper and accordingly order or alter his method but he who hath many to look to hath generally one common way which every one coming into his School is to submit to and certainly this cannot be alike fit for every Scholar I love to hear a young man asking the reasons of the rules and precepts given him by his Tutor It is recorded of Cato that as soon as he had received any document from his he enquired after the cause of it this is necessary for if things be committed only to memory this may happen to fail or else sometime they will be like a Bird that whistles the tunes he heard often so that put them out of their tune they are gone and silent or if the words of the things learned are changed or out of place though the sense remaineth they are at a loss like those who when they begin to Dance can do 't only in the same Room where they are used to do 't or if they go about it in another end of the Chamber then presently they are out The same it is of some School-boys who if in the least they are put out of their ways will hardly say any thing to the purpose or speak three words together of good sense or if they do it will be by a meer accident Thus we read of a Parre in Rome which in the days of Augustus was as many more taught to salute the Emperor with his Ave Imperator which he said one day as Augustus was going by who answered I heard many such salutations after which the Bird said Oleum operam perdidi I lost my time and my pains whereof the Emperor took such notice that he caused the Master of the Parret to be called to him and gave him some tokens of his Liberality Now the Master never intended to teach him these last words but as the Bird was dull and did not learn well often he complained he had lost his time and his pains in teaching of him which the Parret remembring at that time it came in as well as could be And indeed some of these creatures take notice of words sometimes more than men do imagine and can remember words which they heard but once One day in one of the chief Courts of Europe upon a discourse about Parrets made by a Lady who exceedingly commended her own the Queen desired to see it and it was sent for and as soon as the Cage was set down in the presence of the Court in the language of the Country where this was he said Let evil take the sluts who are the cause I am all wet The truth was it rained when it was brought through the streets and the Footman that carried it spoke the same words which the Parret did well remember I doubt in Schools are too many such Parrets who superficially know something but are not acquainted with the grounds and causes thereof Wherefore to get Youth the more willing to learn I would endeavour to make them sensible of the great and many advantages which come by Learning whereof the first is the informing of the judgment and enlightning of the understanding which to understand the better one must know there is a faculty of the soul called intellect which is a door and inlet into the soul for whatsoever objects senses do convey into the soul they of necessity must pass by this whose office is to hear and to judge after examination In the first part it is called passive and in the second active This intellect is as the eye of the soul whereby she discerns true from false which is its proper object as good from evil is the object of the will yet as this last doth determinate her self according to the last dictate of the former the notions of good and evil do necessarily fall under its serious consideration for the intellect is as a judgment-seat at whose bar stand all propositions about things suggested to the soul whether or not to be done chosen or rejected to the end that after reasons pro and con represented it may pass a sentence and take a final resolution Hence it is that often we see men so slow staggering and unresolved by reason of scruples remaining in their mind which till they be cleared and difficulties removed they will come to no conclusion so that comparing inconveniencies with advantages and finding them of an equal weight the predominant passion doth often intervene to make the scales cast on one side so that a timerous man will not dare to undertake a thing for fear of dangers but a bold man will venture through with this consideration Audaces fortuna juvat timidosque repellit But this intellect hath its darkness and ignorance it is naturally blind because of Adam's fall for as promises to Adam were not for him alone but also were extended upon all mankind so threatnings concerned all his posterity he was not as a private man but a publick person representative of all mankind as therefore through his disobedience he not only lost his supernatural priviledges as holiness righteousness the image of God and innocency so all his natural gifts and faculties were thereby corrupted and this depravation hath reached all his successors no wonder therefore if the intellect of every young man is still involved in that blindness which is also much increased by the suggestions of Satan and other inward corruptions the Devil ever goes about to beguile it disguising as much as he is able
to speak at all than to speak amiss To the nine Muses Nima Pompilius added one he named Tacita or silent to shew that though all Sciences were in one without silence they would prove useless Indeed as it is a great wisdom to hide his passions and discover those of other men so it is to speak little and hear much for whilst fools have their heart upon the tongue wise men keep their tongue in the heart These know how to keep a secret which they are trusted with and which to them is a sacred thing but the others are uncapable of it Herein I am not so unjust as to advise one to leave off speaking only I wish him to order his words and observe what he is to say and to take his time for there is a time to speak and a time to be silent specially about certain matters The advantage of silence is clear he who speaks empties himself but he who hears fills himself Let his words be also true that is for what he knows for to tell a lie is one thing and to lie is another one may tell a lie thinking it to be a truth when he hath been mis-informed but to lie implies an intention to deceive the hearer This distinction was well observed by Nigidius as related by Aulus Gellius An honest man takes care not to be a lyar and the prudent man not to tell a lye An honest or as Solomon saith A righteous man hateth lying The credit of a man is the truth of his words without it he is accounted base and unworthy not fit to keep company with honest men when he is known to be a lyar he is not believed though he speaks the truth Our Saviour would not suffer the Devils to confess him to be the Son of God for fear this truth should be suspected coming out of their mouth â—o that when a man is come to that I account him lost in his reputation having thereby declared himself the true son of the Devil who is a lyar from the beginning therefore whensoever a man speaks let him say the truth though he be not always bound to declare it nor the whole truth which often 't is prudence to conceal Charitably one must not tell the Vices of others specially of Parents Patrum pudenda non detegamus saith a Doctor as did Ham A Son must not say his Father is a Drunkard though it be true but still I say let all sorts of lyes be avoided whether it be jucundum officiosum or perniciosum pleasant profitable or hurtful for if one uses himself to any of these he will easily pass to the practise of the rest It is a trouble to lye and requires much of memory it is easier to frame within us a real image of that which is than a false idol of what is not so truth can well be expressed without art or affectation but a lye stands in need of both Above all let a man in his discourses avoid that horrid and unprofitable sin of Swearing all other Vices have something of profit or pleasure to plead for but this hath no such pretences only a wicked mind and a desperate custom But will not God be avenged on those who call him to be a witness to a lye with taking his name in vain and forswearing themselves He is called not only to be a witness to what is agreed upon but also to be avenger of the perjury when it is committed His name is called in to help one man to cheat another an affront which he will not forgive Let Zedechiaâ— the two of the ten who broke their word to Annibal and Vladislaus be witnesses of it and let an Heathen a Regulus shame and condemn such ones Let also a Gentleman avoid speaking ill or well of himself no great danger of the first but much of the last and when there is a necessary occasion for 't let him do it modestly and sparingly They who take a pleasure to speak of their exploits and to be trumpets of their own praises are laught at in company and at last are a burthen to those whom they converse with but alas who can make an exact enumeration of the defects creeping into the matter of mans conversation some trouble the head of those whose company they keep with news of what passes in their Street and Parish others make the ears ring with the miseries of the times and sufferings of people some talk of nothing but of the weather others of War and in a Chamber they take Towns overthrow Armies and decide of the fortune of Kings others can speak of nothing but of mirth eating drinking or of cloaths a la mode others of their Travels Books Horses of Building Hunting Hawking Coursing and of thousands of such things those who constantly are talking of one thing and never but of that thing are the plague and persecutors of reasonable persons I would have a man able to discourse upon all these but in due time and place As there is no man infallible so none ought to be too positive peremptory or obstinate in his opinions I must not forget to warn our Gentleman to compose his body so as to commit no absurdity in his posture no more than in his discourse When he is in company he must forbear talking to himself muttering between his lips often â—pitting nodding with his head pointing the finger leaning on his elbow crossing of his legs sudden and frequent turning of the eyes looking awry shutting his eyes or looking upon the ground when he speaks instead of modestly casting them upon the person he speaks to frowning making mouths and faces a perpetual motion and disquietness of the body and generally he ought to forbear any thing which is sign of lightness threatning anger or of an inward fretting or disturbance So when he walks in or out of the room let him handsomely carry his body avoiding every unbecoming gesture and that lofty walking of some who seem to have a mind to make the ground tremble under them the best way is ever the most natural which is no ways to be forced or counterfeit except as it falls out with some it be ridiculous or hath a particular reason for it as the office or profession of some men that requires a greater gravity which yet must not be affected nor with ostentation Hitherto I shewed how a young Gentleman may learn good now I must teach him how to avoid evil this is the whole of man to do good and flie from evil Phyâ—icians do reduce their whole art to the practice of these two words tene abstine so there are things which a Traveller must follow and others which he must abstain from I have advised him to go into good company now my work is to dissuade him from keeping that which is bad many a one hath been undone by bad company and evil counsel which attend one another for though a wicked man be
co-essential in nature co-eternal in time and co-equal or together equal in power these persons are distinguished not divided amongst them is an order without confusion the nature is spiritual and consequently immaterial and uncorruptible simple without any composition whether metaphysical of substance and accident physical of matter and form or moral of act and power It is infinite eternal unchangeable and independent Now this God is known to us in his Nature Attributes whether incommunicable such as we named just now or communicable as are his Justice Goodness Mercy and Wisdom whereof he is pleased to impart some drops to his creatures and in his works which his word doth inform us of either explicitly or by clear and necessary consequence Now therefore that there is a God in whom we live move and have our being wâ—o is a rewarder of all men according to their deeds who having made the world formed man after his image and that man through his disobedience infidelity and pride fell from that estate of innocency and integrity wherein he was created which not only brought guilt upon him and all mankind but also punishment and misery consisting in death of afflictions natural spiritual and eternal insomuch that thereby we are all fallen into temporal and become guilty of everlasting pains and damnation out of which we cannot be delivered by any strength wisdom or capacity of ours thâ—refore God out of his wonderful and infinite mercy promised a Saviour from time to time renewed the promises sealed and confirmed them by several types figures who would come in the fulness of times to satisfie his Justice appease his Wrath make a full expiation for our sins and reconcile us to God This Saviour was to represent our person put himself in our place and suffer the pains and torments we had deserved Because humane nature had offended he was to be a man otherwise it had not consisted with the justice of God to punish that nature which had not sinned and as farther it was necessary he should be a man to die so he was to be a God to conquer and overcome death In three words the substance of it is that there is one God and that through the fall of Adam we had been all damned if God had not given us a Saviour The knowledge of these things is necessary to salvation and except we believe it we cannot be saved now all this is clearly and intelligiby expressed in Scripture so that any ordinary capacity may easily be brought to understand it and this we call necessary to be known as to the substance Under the Old Testament to know and believe this was sufficient to salvation for their Faith was extended upon a Messias to come and not upon one already come so that till the time of the Declaration who this Saviour was the object of their Faith was an Individuum Vagum and they were in the dark who that particular person should be Wherefore Iohn the Baptist confesses his ignorance in this point when he saith As for me I knew him not but he that sent me to baptize with water said c. Hence it is that he sent two of his Disciples to ask him Art thou he that should come or do we look for another He knew him by the Spirit 's descending and remaining upon him This was the characteristical note But now there is a second thing necessary to salvation to be known by all who lived since the coming in the flesh of our Saviour and under the Gospel and this is necessary as to the declaration namely that the Saviour promised prophesied of and typified is that particular person Jesus Christ both God and man Son of the Virgin Mary born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod and when by the command of Caesar Augustus the world was to be taxed In a word the same that was Conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried and who did and suffered all things mentioned in the Gospel and in few words contained in the Apostolical Creed This same we ought to believe to be our only Saviour and Redeemer whom we ought to rely upon and put our trust in apply him to us by Faith and except we know and believe this there is no hope of salvation for us as Scripture doth fully and clearly declare so that this Principle may be infused into the meanest capacity Si Christum discis nihil est si caetera nescis Si Christum nescis nihil est si caetera discis But in the third place there are some things contained in Scriptures concerning which the Spirit of God hath not been pleased clearly to reveal his mind to us As revealed things belong to men so secret things belong to God which we must not pry into nor presume beyond what is written Prophecies are certainly dark till they become a History for to understand them before they are fulfilled one must be endued with a Prophetical Spirit Besides Prophecies there are other Points attended with many difficulties which Doctors themselves labour and study very hard to understand Such are the ways and manners of things That things are is a matter of fact and after God hath said in his word they are so it admits of no difficulty out of this Principle That God is the God of Truth but the manner of things is that which breeds scruples the word being either silent or dark about it As for instance that there is one God in Nature and three Persons Scripture doth clearly set it forth in several places and if this truth be obscure in one Text some other place of Scripture will clear it it being proper to Scripture to explain it self by it self yet how this Unity and Trinity can consist together though learned men be able to apprehend yet mean persons and low capacities are not capable of it so is the mystery of Incarnation how the second Person who hath Divine Nature can assume Humane Nature and yet the Father and Holy Ghost who have both Divine Nature should not be Incarnated and again how both Natures can be united in one Person and the idiomes and proprieties of every Nature should not be united but every Nature should retain her own attributes without mixture or confusion yet this we know to be true but cannot dive into the manner how this is done There are also other things as the day when the great judgment shall be and where it is to be and what places Heaven and Hell shall be in which arise from vanity and unnecessary Curiosity Other questions there are which men ought not to dispute too much about because they are somewhat problematical and good and learned men do differ in their opinion concerning them as may be this Whether there will be degrees of Glory and whether this world shall be changed as to the substance or only in the accidents all which
a man into his Grave If men in drink could see their faces their looks their reeling and staggering postures hear their stammerings and non-sensical discourses they would be ashamed so to abuse themselves and the creatures which God hath given them to be used with sobriety and thanksgiving Why should they be prostituted to the passion and inordinate lust of those who as St. Paul saith make the whole work of Creation sigh and groan and expose it to that bondage out of which it shall at last be delivered Drunkenness is the cause of most or all mischiefs hence come quarrels blows wounds bruises and often death Who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath contentions babling wounds without cause redness of eyes they that tarry long at the wine c. This Vice is commonly the fomenter of Luxury for Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus it is as the bait to it and what wood is to the fire that same drunkenness and gluttony are to Luxury therefore one said well Tollas ligna foco si vis extinguere flammas Si veneris motus otia vina dapes Horace having said of Hercules Multa tulit fecitque puer sudavit alsit addeth the Verse immediattly following Abstinuit venere vino He abstained from women and wine as of two great enemies to virtuous men It is said of one who one day being asked which of these three sins he thought to be the least Drunkenness Murther of a Father or Incest answered Drunkenness which he being given to one night he went home drunk went in and lay with his Mother whilst she was asleep and then killed his Father for censuring of him Whether or not this was true it matters not much but this is a certain truth how a drunken man is capable of doing or suffering any possible mischief It is a wonder if a man given to this Vice be good in any relation he is apt to kill to steal to commit Adultery to play his Estate away he is unfit for any employment He who cannot rule himself is not able to govern others nor to manage any affair whether publick or private for he cannot keep a secret whether his own or another manâ— in vino veritas when he is known to be given to drink others will play upon him in that way and pump out what he hath in his heart History both ancient and modern affords us examples of great and important designs which miscarried through this which although it be every where a vile vice yet 't is more dangerous abroad than at home for where a man is known others will bear with him when he is in such fits and not much heed what he saith or doth but in Foreign parts strangers will not suffer the extravagancies which men commit when they are in this condition but will chastise them for 't St. Paul saith they who are drunken are drunken in the night because darkness hides the vice and frees them from the shame but these seem to brave all the world committing it in the sight of the Sun and go abroad only as it were to let other Nations see how vicious they are which is a great dishonour to themselves and disparagement to the Nation they are of for others will be apt to think there is many such others in their Country wherefore as they tender the credit of their Nation the honor of their Family and their own reputation if they pretend to any let them avoid drunkenness whereby their life is every day in danger and jeopardy and if they will be drunk let them be so at home and not do that wrong to sober persons of their own Nation whom thus they cause to be thought to be such as they are being all Country-men if they have not the fear of God before their eyes who excludeth drunkards from the Kingdom of Heaven let them tremble at the dangers which every day hang over their heads they are loth to break good fellowship but matter not to venture their soul life health reputation and estate they will drink say they but a glass of Wine with a friend then the glass is followed with another and this with a bottle and many more so that the Verse will be true Pinta traht pintam sequitur mox altera pinta Et sic post pintas nascitur ebrietas Amongst the several laws made by Lycurgus there was none against drunkenness which he being asked the reason of answered that Vice is attended with its punishments shame head-aches distempers c. The company of dishonest Women is also to be avoided which is the more dangerous because the desire of it is so natural yet one must strive against Lust which when it hath conceived it bringeth forth sin Adam could say the Wife which thou hast given me made me eat the Fruit of the forbidden Tree This hath been a stumbling block to many a good and great man David had a sore fall in the case of Bersheba and Women turned away Solomon's heart from following his God He who in his Book of Proverbs had given so excellent lessons against this sin saying Wisdom will deliver one from a strange woman whose end is bitter as wormwood she is called an evil woman by whose means a man is brought to a piece of bread she leads one to death and destruction and many such places This caused the destruction of the Trojan Empire which once was so flourishing For this the Tarquins were expelled out of Rome and by the accident of Virginia the Decemvirs were turned out And if King Rodrigo of Castille had not ravished the honour of Count Iuliano's Daughter this Count had not brought into Spain the Saracens to be avenged of that injury Solomon saith jealousie is the rage of a man who will not spare in the day of vengeance Sampson and Hercules perished by these means which made a Poet to say Quis Samsone fuit quis fortior Hercule constat Foemineis ambos succubuisse thoris Spaniards say well Guerra Caca y amores Por un placer mil dolores War Hunting Love give bad morrows For one pleasure a thousand sorrows Without going so far back to find in ancient Histories examples of damages befallen great States through an inordinate love for Women there is a modern one very remarkable which hath caused an unspeakable prejudice to the Spanish Monarchy Philip II. fell passionately in love with Anna Mendozza a beautiful Widow of Ruygomez de Sylva formerly a Minister and great Favorite of that King and made confident of this passion his Secretary of State Antonio Perez who instead of serving his Master spoke for himself and had his desire which could not be done so secretly but that Escovedo Secretary to Don Iuan of Austria and newly arrived out of Flanders heard of it and acquainted the King therewith with a design thereby to undo Perez who in the Council opposed Don Iuan's concerns Whereupon the King
to mortifie Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus if one be noble I will respect that bare quality of his and nothing else but if he nobly born and vertuous he shall receive my whole respect esteem and admiration it were better for a vicious idle man to be born amongst the commonalty and of obscure Parents than amongst the Nobility for then he would not have so great influences upon others so much to answer for and his vices amidst the crowd of people would not be so much taken notice of instead that his quality makes them more conspicuous and therewith do a greater mischief In a word whosoever grows proud on this or other accounts will find the truth of a Proverb in an outlandish tongue which I render in English He who flies higher than he should Can be brought lower than he would I will add that they who are noble indeed do consider they came into the world and shall go out of it like others for in this nature hath made no difference it being the lot of all that are born to die and therefore instead of growing proud of their extraction they look upon themselves as lights set over others to have influences give them good examples and to be as much above them in virtue as they are in nobleness of birth and as they are so high by it that they see no lawful means to ascend higher they take another way wherein they succeed which is to raise themselves by humility the higher their extraction is the lower they humble themselves and this virtue which in men of a low degree may be an effect of necessity is in them a voluntary action To see poor people humble is no great matter but to see illustrious persons practise humility is worth the praises and admiration of all This is the secret and the way to be honorable and great they who are otherwise minded let them remember what said a great a rich and as glorious a King as ever was Solomon more than once in his Book of Ecclesiastes saith Vanity of vanities all is vanity and a gnawing worm vexation of spirit I speak to Christians who ought to consider the vanity and inconstancy of honors by the experience of all ages which afford us so many examples of revolutions and the higher the fall the more dangerous it is all sublunary things being subject to change alteration and decay One who is to day a beggar sometimes can the next day be potent and mighty Kings themselves are too often tumbled down from their Throne which if Princes are subject to what must Subjects look for let them be never so potent To have honor is not in our power neither doth it depend upon us they who bestow it upon us when we do not deserve will sometimes deny it to us when we are worthy of it or out of a groundless suspicion deprive us thereof after we enjoyed it for a time and oftentimes we owe honor to favor or fancy more than to merit High charges the Diadem and Kingship it self are heavy burthens subject to inconstancy and revolutions therefore saith Maximilian an Emperor if one knew well how difficult it is to rule and how many thorns are fastened to a Royal Crown if he see it on the ground he would not vouchsafe to take it up And suppose we could have a quiet possession of all these honors and dignities and they should not forsake us yet at last we must leave them all they cannot follow us farther than the Grave Crowns Scepters and Thrones at last come to break and split at deaths feet and between Scepters and Ploughs she makes no difference This the Poet knew when he said Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres Let one seriously and with attention look into himself and though he be never so highly born he will find sufficient grounds of humility Notice may be taken of some good French lines on this subject they run thus Qui bien se mire bien se void Qui bien se void bien se conoit Qui bien se conoit peâ— se prise Qui pen se prise sage est Qui sage est s'immortalize Et se rend un homme parfait In a word the sense of them is this he who looks well into himself will know himself well then he will not much value himself wherein he will prove to be a wise and a perfect man Thus it must be the care of a Governor to beat out of a young man's heart that pride and behaviour which ariseth from the consideration of his noble birth And as he must not boast of his Honor and Extraction so I would not have him to brag of his Riches for the same evil flatterers will say to him What need you to stand upon small charges you are a person born to a great estate you must live highly and according to it which is only said to engage him to profuseneâ—s but first the question is not what estate he is born to but what his Father who hath the Estate in his hand is pleased to allow him who is not to undo his other Children to humor this in his debauchedness and prodigality When a Governor saith to him your Father allows but so much therefore according to the arm the sleeve and so you must forbear such and such occasions of spending yet the Governor may represent to the Father that this allowance ought to be competent to bear his necessary charges and those which are fit and convenient for his necessary improvement however he cannot positively say how much a year will serve there being accidental expences and it being uncertain how expensive the young man will be yet the Father is to decide how high and how low he will have him to live It is fit and decent for one to live somewhat sutably to his quality but still I say the mind and pleasure of Parents who have the purse must be the rule of it as for necessary expences they ought to be allowed unnecessary ones except one hath some credit thereby and if they rise high may very well be spared for a small matter a young Gentleman must receive no distast or discouragement yet he is to keep within bounds for to be every day at it would prove a trouble and a burthen I will say farther that a man doth not travel to spend as an end of his journey but as means which he cannot travel without and therefore let a man be of great quality or heir apparent to a great estate if in a Foreign Countrey he spends on all hands and not upon good accounts he will be laught at and become ridiculous it is no good argument to say because they are Noblemen or Gentlemen therefore they must lavish and be profuse for nobleness and gentility are not to be known by vanity and extravagant expences but by virtue and honorable actions and that which
to punishments and that wonderful patience amidst violent pains and torments for the cause of God I know some others have undergone great pains but not in that degree of constancy or else did not so chearfully run to death which when they saw unavoidable they did bear it the more patiently and for certain of all Religions the Christian more than any is for suffering yet excludes not action so much as affirmeth a great Statesman for it hath virtues active and passive which to exercise all or in part a Traveller meets with occasions at one time or other I think I have said enough to my purpose of moral virtues which can hardly be acquired without many precepts much time and experience though the principles of it may more easily be inculcated and if a Governor can but make his Gentleman wise and prudent he gives him thereby the Grounds Principles and seeds of all moral virtues without which they are no virtues these being the life and spirit of them all and though these two seem to be but one expressed in two different words which for the most part are joyned together wisdom and prudence yet they do much differ for the first consisteth in election when of two things it doth chuse the best and the last in foresight for they are prudent who foresee and prevent dangers Farther wisdom is an intellectual habit of the soul but prudence is an actual one the propriety of that is to know of this to operate We know in three wayes and do operate in two the three are Understanding Science and Wisdom the two are Prudence and Art the subject of the contemplation of those are necessary certain and unchangeable things and consequently infallible for ever they conclude the same because he who understands not well is said to want understanding he who doth not well know a thing cannot be said to have the Science thereof but the subject of the operation of prudence and art are not so well regulated for that often meets with passions rising against reason which it makes use of and must act according to several circumstances which of necessity do alter her ways and method Art indeed doth not light upon so much difficulty in its operation nor opposition to her working because use and custom have prescribed what it must do besides that it hath a sure end with means to arrive thereunto Nevertheless as it must have an organ to work by it hath much ado to fit it for his purpose and make it serve his turn Wisdom is a thing hard to be found Diogenes with a Lanthorn at noon was seeking for a wiseman amidst the wisest Nation that was at that time this indeed gives the weight to and tries the intellectual faculties of the soul as prudence doth to her operation ordering our actions and bringing them under her rules it gives form to moral Vertues which are not single acts but habits and therefore difficult to be acquired so that he who will have young men attain to 't ought betime to put them upon giving precepts allowing time and experience till they be contracted When once they are formed they produce admirable effects for fidelity and truth of word and promise Regulus is a known and extraordinary example who had leave from the Carthaginians to go to Rome to advise the Senate to make an exchange of Prisoners on both sides yet contrary to his particular interest and the expectation of his enemies he dissuaded them from it which being done he went back and suffered the cruel death prepared for him namely to be put up in a Tun full of long and sharp nails and thus rowled to death this is an heroical virtue Of which in another kind we have an example in Fabricius who being sent to Pyrrhus that King in two ways attempted against his probity First knowing him to be poor he offered him great sums of money which he refused afterwards he thought to have frighted him with a sudden bringing of an Elephant upon him but he turning towards the King and smiling said Sir yesterday I was not tempted with your Gold nor to day frighted with your Elephant Of such Roman and Heroical Virtues History doth afford us many examples youth amongst them being framed to it with precepts and examples of Parents and by the care of a good Education in which case they are said to have sucked Virtue with the Milk It is related in the life of a worthy Outlandish Gentleman that after his dispute with Cardinal du Perron in the presence of Henry IV his Son said My Father hath been sacrificed to the Pope This coming to the King's ear he was very angry at it whereupon one to excuse it said what a child of sixteen years old hath said is not to be taken notice of the King replied One of sixteen of du Plessis breeding is as much as thirty of another Let this be said by the by to shew how a good Education hath great influences to make a young man knowing and virtuous Virtue is above all things under God and his Grace Marmore quid melius jaspis quid jaspide virtus Quid virtute Deus quid Deitate nihil Virtue is indeed a precious jewel which they that can attain to are very happy Moral virtues are millions of times more scarce than vices but heroical ones are certainly the scarcest of all very extraordinary proper to few rare men to a Hercules Cyrus Alexander c. whose way was Parcere subjectis debellure superbos a rare courage and valour and an extraordinary generosity have been some of the virtues of Heroes Virtue is not of one act but of many Now if there be so few heroical actions in the world how much fewer must be the virtues It is not enough to have a fine Wit a good Understanding Reason strong well regulated Passions a good Nature great Parts and a Soul capacious of great and heroical things occasions of exercising these virtues must concur with those dispositions and capacity be put to many great tryals or else no heroical virtue no advantage but what accidents may happen to afford unto a man once or twice in his life time so that it must be concluded that few in the world are capable of transcendent actions or else want occasions to set them forth yet this should be no discouragement to those who would infuse a desire of it into youth for though it be not easie to come to 't yet it is not impossible as it hath been in some it may be in others therefore nothing is to be neglected This like seed in the ground ripeneth and cometh to maturity Hear what a Heroe AEneas saith to his Son Disce puor virtutem ex me verumque laborem Fortunam ex aliis Tu facito mox cum matura adoleverit aetas Sis memor Et Pater AEneas avunculus excitet hector This may be an argument to excite youth to virtue to commend