any good to our fouls, it hath made more than fufficient recompence for all the temporal affliction. He that threw a itone at a dog, and hit his cruel ftep-mother, faid, That although he intended it otherwise, yet the ftone was not quite loft and if we fail in the first defign, if we bring it home to another equally to content us, or more to profit us, then we have put our conditions paft the power of chance; and this was called in the old Greek Comedy, a being revenged on Fortune by becoming Philofophers, and turning the chance into Reafon or Religion: for fo a wife man fhall over rule his ftars, and have a greater influence upon his own content than all the conftellations and planers of the firmament. 2. Never compare thy condition with thofe above thee; but to fecure thy content, look upon those thoufands with whom thou wouldest not for any interest change thy fortune and condition. A Soldier must not think himself unprofperous, it he be not fuccefsful as the Son of Philip, or cannot grafp a fortune as big as the Roman Empire. Be content that thou art not lef fened as was Pyrrhus; or if thou beeft, that thou art not routed like Craffus: and when that comes to thee; it is a great profperity that thou art not cag'd and made a fpectacle like Bajazet, or thy eyes were not pull'd out like Zedekiah's, or that thou wert not flay'd alive like Valentinian. If thou admireft the greatnefs of Xerzes, look alfo on thofe that digged the mountain Atho, or whofe ears and notes were cut off, becaufe the Hellefpont carried away the bridge. It is a fine thing (thou thinkeft) to be carried on men's fhoulders: but give God thanks that thou art not forced to carry a rich fool upon thy fhoulders, as thofe poor men do whom thou beholdeft. There are but a few Kings in mankind, but many thousands who are very miferable, if compared to thee. However, it is a huge folly rather to grieve for the good of others, than to rejoyce for that good which God hath given us of our own. And yet there is no wife or good man that would change perfons or conditions intirely with any man in the world. It may be he would have one man's wealth added Sect. 6. 111 added to himself, or the power of a fecond, or the learning of a third; but ftill he would receive thefe into his own perfon, because he loves that best, and therefore esteems it beft, and therefore over-values all that which he is, before all that which any other man in the world can be. Would any man be Dives to have his Wealth, or Judas for his Office, or Saul for his Kingdom, or Abfalom for his Bounty, or Achitophel for his Policy? It is likely he would wifh all these, and yet he would be the fame perfon ftill. For every man hath defires of his own, and objects juft fitted to them, without which he cannot be, unless he were not himself. And let every man that loves himfelt fo well as to love himself before all the world, confider if he have not fomething for which in the whole he values himself far more than he can value any man elfe. There is therefore no reason to take the finest feathers from all the winged nation to deck that bird that thinks already fhe is more valuable than any the inhabitants of the the air. Either change all or none. Ceafe to love your felf beft, or be content with that portion of being and bleffing for which you love your felf fo well. 3. It conduces much to our content, if we pafs by those things which happen to our trouble, and confider that which is pleafing and profperous, that by the representation of the better, the worse may be blotted out: and at the worft you have enough to keep you alive, and to keep up and to improve your hopes of Heaven. If I be overthrown in my fuit at law, yet my houfe is left me ftill and my land; or I have a vertuous wife, or hopeful children, or kind friends, or good hopes. If I have loft one child, it may be I have two or three ftill left me. Or elfe reckon the bleffings which already you have received, and therefore be pleafed in the change and variety of affairs to receive evil from the hand of God as well as good. Antipater of Tarfus ufed this art to fupport his forrows on his death-bed, and reckoned the good things of his paft life, not forgetting to recount it as a bleffing, an છે an argument that La fperanza è il pande poveri. God took care of him, that he had a profperous journey from Cilicia to Athens. Or else please thy felf with hopes of a future: for we were born with this fadnef's upon us; and it was a change that brought Δεν γεωργὸς εἰς νέωτα πλέτΘ. us into it, and a change may bring us out again. Harvest will come, and then every farmer is rich, at least for a month or two. It may be thou art entred into the cloud which will bring a gentle fhower to refresh thy forrows. Now fuppofe thy felf in as great a sadness as ever did load thy fpirit, wouldst thou not bear it chearfully and nobly, if thou wert fure that within a certain space fome ftrange excellent fortune would relieve thee, and enrich thee, and recompence thee fo as to overflow all thy hopes and thy defires and capacities? Now then, when a fadnefs lies heavy upon thee, remember that thou art a Chriftian defigned to the inheritance of Jefus; and what doft thou think concerning thy great fortune, thy lot and portion of eternity? Doft thou think thou fhalt be faved or damned? Indeed if thou thinkeft thou shalt perish, I cannot blame thee to be fad, fad till thy heart ftrings crack: but then why art thou troubled at the lofs of thy money? What should a damned man do with money, which in fo great a iadnels it is impoffible for him to enjoy Did ever any man upon the rack afflict himself because he had received a cross anfwer from his mistress? or call for the particulars of a purchafe upon the gallows? If thou doft really believe thou shalt be damned, I do not fay it will cure the fadnels of thy poverty, but it will fwallow it up. *But if thou believeft thou fhalt be faved, confider how great is that joy, how infinite is that hange, how unfpeakable is the glory, how excellent is the recompence for all the fufferings in the World, if they were all laden upon the fpirit; So that let thy condition be what it will, it thou confidereft thy own prefent condition, and compareft it to thy future poffibility, thou canst not feel the prefent fmart of a crofs fortune to any great degree, either because thou halt a far bigger forrow, or a tar bigger joy. Here thou art but a Itranger travelling to thy country, where the glories of a Kingdom are prepared for thee; it is therefore a huge folly to be much afflicted, because thou haft a lefs convenient Inn to lodge in by the way. and But thefe arts of looking backwards and forwards are more than enough to fupport the fpirit of a Chriftian: there is no man but hath bleffings enough in prefent poffeffion to outweigh the evils of a great afAiction. Tell the joynts of thy body, and do not accuse the univerfal providence for a lame Leg, or the want of a Finger, when all the reft is perfect, and you have a noble Soul, a particle of Divinity, the image of God himself: and by the want of a Finger you may the better know how to estimate the remaining parts, and to account for every degree of the furviving bleffings. Ariftippus, in a great fuit at Law, loft a Farm, and, to a Gentleman, who in civility pitied and deplored his lofs, he answered, I have two Farms left ftill, and that is more than I have loft more than you have by one. If you mifs an Of fice for which you stood Candidate, then, befides that you are quit of the cares and the envy of it, you ftill have all thofe excellencies which rendred you capable to receive it, and they are better than the beft Office in the Common-wealth. If your Eftate be leffened, you need the lefs to care who governs the Province, whether he be rude or gentle. I am croffed in my journey, and yet I'lcaped Robbers; and I confider, that if I had been fet upon by Villains, I would have redeemed that evil by this which I now fuffer, and have counted it a deliverance: or if I did fall into the hands of Thieves, yet they did not steal my Land. Or I am fallen into the hands of Publicans and Sequeftrators, and they have taken all from me: What now? let me look about me. They have left me the Sun and Moon, Fire and Water, a loving Wife, and many Friends to pity me, and fome to relieve me, and I can ftill difcourfe; and, unlets I lift, they have not taken I Sect. 6. taken away my merry countenance, and my cheatful fpirit, and a good confcience: they still have left me the providence of God, and all the promises of the Gospel, and my Religion, and my hopes of Heaven, and my charity to them too: and ftill I fleep and digeft, I eat and drink, I read and meditate, I can walk in my neighbour's pleasant fields, and fee the varieties of natural beauties, and delight in all that in which God delights, that is, in vertue and wisdom, in the whole creation, and in God himself. And he that hath fo many caufes of joy, and fo great, is very much in love with forrow and peevifhness, who lofes all thefe pleasures, and chufes to fit down upon his little handful of thorns. Such a perfon were fit to bear Nero company in his funeral forrow for the lofs of one of Poppea's hairs, or help to mourn for Lesbia's Sparrow: and because he loves it, he deferves to ftarve in the midft of plenty, and to want comfort while he is encircled with bleffings. 4. Enjoy the present whatsoever it be, and be not follicitous for the future: for if you take your foot Quid fit futurum cras fuge quærere, & from the prefent standing, and thrust it forward toward to morrow's event, you are in a restlefs condition, it is like refufing to quench your present thirst by fearing you fhall want drink the next day. Ifit be well to day, it is madness to make the prefent miferable, by fearing it may be ill to morrow; when your belly is full of to day's dinner, to fear you fhall want the next day's fupper: for it may be you fhall not; and then to what purpofe was this day's affliction? But Prudens futuri temporis exitum if to morrow you shall want, your forrow will come time enough, tho' you do not haften it: let your trouble tarry till its own day comes. But if it chance to be ill to day, do not encrease it by the care of tomorrow. Enjoy the bleffings of this day, if God fends them, and the evils of it bear patiently and fweet Fas trepidet: quod adeft memento ly: |