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A25447
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Religio clerici
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T. A.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing A32; ESTC R200747
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38,573
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248
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I have observed that our Adversaries raise much of their pertness and audacity to despise and abuse us from a certain sheepish dejection of spirit that possesses many Thus we our selves by a base and dastardly Cowardise antedate our own contempt and poorly fancying our selves always liable and open to affront like suspicious easie Slaves we by this means become of our Enemies party and invite and anticipate the approaching Despight by letting our Countenances fall and seeming little in our own Eyes This is exactly to make a gap for every insolent pragmatical Ass to tread over Instances of this kinde I have not seldom seen in some mean-spirited poor Divines whose little Souls ebbe and flow with the changes of Fortune and who want a true sense of the Excellency and Noble worth of their high Calling servilely valuing themselves by the false measures of this silly unreasonable degenerate Age. I finde that a man in this case hath just as much respect as he gives himself and a manly Confidence and well-bred Assurance here is not at all inconsistent with Christian Meekness and Humility But alas We have too many creep into the Priesthood and steal into the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Christian Tabernacle young and raw hardly yet Masters of common Philosophy but in fruitless Theory nor are they arrived to the proficiency of the poor Stoicks in opposing a stedfast Courage and Equality of Soul to the rude shock of Contempt and Poverty How then shall they retain Breath and Patience sufficient to run through those several rugged stages of Self denial and Mortification which the proud and insolent dealing of this world requires and the Doctrine of Jesus proposes Contempt Poverty and Death that dreadful Triumvirate of mundane Terrours which the courageous Reason of the old Philosophers cou'd baffle is too hard for the Reason and Faith too of many fresh-water Souldiers in our Church-Militant 'T is possible 't is true for a wise man by a steady course of manly conduct to escape Contempt but the approaches of Poverty are often unavoidable and the rudeness of its attendants almost insufferable This state and condition especially if successive to late Wealth and Honour is the best Test and Touchstone of true worth and Magnanimity Hic animus opus hic pectore firmo Virg. Aeneid l. 6. 'T is an easie matter when full of Riches and Honour to fancy we have all Vertues and the fawning world shall avouch it too Omnis enim res Divitiis parent quas qui construxerit ille Claerus erit fortis justus sapiens c. Horat. serm lib. 2. Satyr 3. Yet I fear not one of five hundred that rowls in wealth and affluence hath well Conned the hard Lesson which the honest Stoicks taught in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But granting we have arrived to some proficiency in the Abstinential Vertues we must not therefore conclude our selves truely approved till we have tried our Strength and Patience to the quick in the sharp exercises of Versues other branch the Tolerantial part the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also or till with St. Paul we can truely say I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need Philip. 4. 12. With what Assuming Gravity and Magisterial A we have I heard rich and great men censure and expose small miscarriages and weaknesses in poor and mean Persons when at that very time the Reprover himself hath been guilty of the same Crime and greater too with some little Alteration of the guise only nay and the advantage shall be so dexterously managed on his side as to make it Vertue and accomplishment Vos ô Trojugenae vobis ignoscitis quae Turpia Cerdoni Volesos Brutósque decebunt Juven Sat. 8. And thus the rich and honourable have not only all Vertues of course in the Vogue of the world but they fancie themselves very devout and religious too at least if their odde kinde of Faith can make them so for they pray most commonly without doubting especially when they say Give us this day our daily bread knowing their Barns to be full and forgive us c. as we forgive them that trespass against us when they finde that no man dares affront them But to harbour no anxious sollicitude for the morrow nor in extreme and helpless Poverty to entertain any peevish distrust of Divine Providence but to have a chearful Faith and reliance on Mat. 46. my Heavenly Father this is Religion And freely and frequently to forgive my Lives aggressour or the malicious disturber of my peace without any the least reserve of Revenge or Rancour this is Christianity I have been too much intimate in vain youth with the most familiar Pleasures of humane Nature and yet by sudden and frequent Intermixtures as well acquainted with the Troubles and Crosses of this fickle and unconstant world But I thank my God when Fortune hath made the most Vexatious Doubles she could never run me to a loss nor hath she made one wrinckle of Sorrow or Fear the more in my face when she hath turned her own into a thousand frightful Grimaces I declare ingenuously that my Soul hath ever kept a steady Poise if not enclin'd to the impatience of Prosperity and the most stunning Accidents never benum'd my presence of minde so far but that I have perfectly reassured my self softned the most piquant Passion and smoothed the roughest disorder of thought by an hours Retreat and Meditation saying with old Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3. 18. Or to the same purpose with the wise Stoick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epict. To end all this in my very worst Calamities I always concluded that there was need of the greatest Courage for then to despond is to be on my Enemies side and by my faint resistance to double the force of the Assault but to despair is Frensie and poorly to yield the stakes before the Game is up For what an extreme Madness is it to be frighted with the advantages on the contrary side supposing ten thousand to one against me Why pray may not that one still happen No man is undone till he thinks himself so Ita est vita hominum quasi cum ludas tesseris si id quod maximè opus est jactu non cadit id quod cecidit fortè arte ut corrigas Terent. There is no doubt but the chiefest if not only designe of our Priestly Ministry is that which our blessed Saviour by most passionate inculcations urged to Peter Joh. 21. 17. To feed God's sheep And to this end the frequency of the Word and Sacramental Duties of Prayer also often publick without ceasing private is of indispensable Necessity 'T is we more especially that are to make Prayers and Supplications for all men for Kings and for those who are in Authority 'T is we 1 Ti. 2. 2 that must make