Works of Joseph Hall, Section 24
SECT. XXIV.
ANd this reſolution which we call for,2. Rule for our actions. muſt not onelyonly exclude manifeſtly euill actions, but alſo doubting and ſuſpenſion of minde in actions ſuſpected, and queſtionable; wherein the iudgement muſt euer giuegive confident determination one way. For this Tranquillitie conſiſteth in a ſteadineſſe of the minde: and how can that veſſell which is beaten vponupon, by contrary waues and winds (and tottereth to either part) be ſaid to keepe a ſteadie courſe? Reſolution is the onelyonly mother of ſecuritie. For inſtance: I ſee, that Vſury which was wont to be condemned for no better than a Legall theft, hath now obtained (with many) the reputation of an honeſt Trade; and is both vſed by many, and by ſome defended. It is pittie that a bad practice ſhould finde any learned or religious Patron. The ſumme of my patrimony lieth dead by me, ſealed vp in the bagge of my Father: my thriftier friends aduiſe mee to this eaſie and ſure improuement. Their counſell and my gaine preuaile; my yeerely ſummes come in with no coſt but of time, wax, parchment: my eſtate likes it well, better than my conſcience; which tells me ſtill, he doubts, my trade is too eaſie to be honeſt: Yet I continue my illiberall courſe not without ſome ſcruple and contradiction: ſo as my feare of offence hinders the ioy of my profit, and the pleaſure of my gaine, hartens me againſt the feare of iniuſtice; I would be rich with eaſe; and yet I would not be vncharitable, I would not bee vniuſt. All the while I liue in vnquiet doubts, and diſtraction: Others are not ſo much entangled in my bonds, as I in my owne. At laſt, that I may be both iuſt and quiet, I conclude to referre this caſe wholly to the ſentence of my inward Iudge, the Conſcience: the Aduocates Gaine and Iuſtice plead on either part at this barre with doubtfull ſucceſſe. Gaine informes the Iudge of a new and nice diſtinction, of toothleſſe, and biting Intereſt, and brings preſidents of particular caſes of Vſury ſo farre from any breach of charitie or iuſtice, that both parts therein confeſſe themſelues aduantaged. Iuſtice pleads euen the moſt toothleſſe vſury to hauehave ſharpe gums, and findes in the moſt harmeleſſe and profitable practice of it, an inſenſible wrong to the common body; beſides the infinite wracks of priuate eſtates. The weake Iudge ſuſpends in ſuch probable allegations, and demurreth; as being ouercome of both, and of neither part: and leaues me yet no whit more quiet, no whit leſſe vncertaine. I ſuſpend my practice accordingly; being ſure it is good not to doe, what I am not ſure is good to be done: and now Gaine ſollicits me as much as Iuſtice did before. Betwixt both I liue troubleſomely: nor euer ſhall doe other, till (in a reſolute deteſtation) I hauehave whipped this euill Merchant out of the Temple of my heart. This rigour is my peace. Before, I could not be well, either full or faſting. Vncertaintie is much paine, euen in a more tolerable action. Neither is it (I thinke) eaſie to determine, whether it be worſe to doe a lawfull act with doubting, or an euill with reſolution: ſince that which in it ſelfe is good, is made euill to me by my doubt: and what is in nature euill, is in this one point not euill to me, that I doe it vponupon a verdict of a Conſcience: ſo now my iudgement offends in not following the truth: I offend not in that I follow my iudgment: Wherein if the moſt wiſe God had left vsus to roue onelyonly according to the aime of our owne coniectures, it ſhould hauehave beene leſſe faulty to be Scepticks in our actions, and either not to iudge at all, or to iudge amiſſe: but now that hee hath giuen vsus a perfect rule of eternall equitie, and truth, whereby to direct the ſentences of our iudgement; that vncertaintie which alloweth no p…ce to vsus, will affoord vsus no excuſe before the tribunall of Heauen: wherefore, then onelyonly is the heart quiet, when our actions are grounded vponupon iudgement, and our iudgement vponupon truth.