Of Peace and Contentment of Mind, Book 2 · Chapter 12 – Chapter 14
CHAP. XII. Of the evills of the body, Unhandſomneſſe, Weakneſſe, Sickneſſe, and Paine.
OUr judgement being ſatisfyed that the good of the body, beauty, ſtrength health and pleaſure are none of the great goods, we ought alſo to bee perſwaded that their contraries are none of the great evills. And if our very bodies muſt not be accounted ours becauſe we cannot diſpoſe of them at our pleaſure, and becauſe by the undermining of age they ſinke, and ſlip away continually from themſelves; the commodities and incommodities of theſe fraile tenements at will, where our ſoules are harboured for a few daies as ought not to diſquiet us matters of any importance.
To beginne at Unhandſomneſſe; if a woman be unhandſome (for that ſexe is eſpecially ſenſible of that diſgrace) let her ſtay but a while; age will bring all the beauties to her row, within few yeares, and death after; That laſt day draweth neere, which will make faire and foule alike, ſtrong and weake, ſick and ſound; them that are tormented with dolour, and them that torment themſelves with voluptuouſneſſe and curioſity. Whoſoever is much grieved with thoſe incommodities never apprehended aright the frailty of the oppoſite commodities. We muſt not be vexed for the want of things, which by their nature decay and periſh very houre.
There are few incommodities but have a mixture of commodities, which a wiſe lover of his owne tranquillity will pick and convert to his advantage. The unhandſome woman ſhall not be admired, but in recompence ſhe ſhall not be tempted nor importuned as a prey by luſt and inſolence. She hath with her a perpetual exhorter to humility, piety, and all vertue, and to recompence the want of beauty with goodneſſe. Seldome is unhandſomneſſe reproached to women, but to them that aggravate with malice & envy their diſgraces of nature. Beauty cannot be acquired, but goodneſſe may. Yet among them that want beauty, ſome are ſo wiſe and ſo good that they become handſome. They are commonly more happy in marriage then great beauties; for they give leſſe jealouſy to their husbands, and ſtudy more to content them.
Perſons of weak conſtitution are leſſe obnoxious to acute ſickneſſes, which many times will kil ſtrong bodyes in three or foure dayes. They are leſſe tainted with that ſtupid pride, which commonly attends great ſtrength of body. Finding themſelves inferiour to others in excerciſes of ſtrength, they apply themſelves to exerciſes of wit, to which commonly they are more apt. As weezels have more mettle and nimbleneſſe then Oxen; there is often more induſtry and quickneſſe of wit in little weak men, then in men of of large and brawny limbs; for the predominancy of blood and phlegme which makes the body large, is the duller temper for wit; whereas choler and melancholy which by their contractive quality limit the ſtretching of growth to a leſſer extent, ſerve alſo, the one to ſharpen the wit, the other to give ſolidity to the judgement. Weakeneſſe reads to a man a continual Lecture of prudence and compliance; for being not able to carry on his deſignes with a high hand, dexterity onelyonly will ſerve his turne.
Alſo that want of ſtrength teacheth him to make God his ſtrength, ſticking faſt to him by faith and a good conſcience. That way the weakeſt become too ſtrong for all the world. When I am weake then I a… ſtrong ſaith St. Paul. 2 Cor. 12.10.
Of this, Gods children have a bleſſed experience in ſickneſſe, whereby God makes their body weake to make their faith ſtrong, and their ſoules, by the dolours and lingring decay of their bodies, ſuſceptible of many ſalutary leſſons, for which health and eaſe have no eares.
Sickneſſe and paine are evill in their nature, but they are good by accident, when God is pleaſed to turne evills into remedies, to bring a man to repentance and make him looke up to the hand that ſtriketh. They are puniſhments to ſin and wayes to death, but to the faithful ſoul they become inſtruments of grace and conveighances to glory. Many of them that beleeved in the Lord Jeſus while he converſed among men were brought to it by bodily ſickneſſes, And he when he healed a ſick perſon, often would ſay, Thy ſins are forgiven thee.
To give an impartial judgement of their quality and meaſure, one muſt rather beleeve what he feeles then the cryes and compaſſion of them that love him, and have intereſt in his preſervation. They ſay, that a man is very ſick when he feeles not his ſickneſſe. Yet he hath ſo much good time, till he feele it, If the paine be ſharp, it is ſhort; If it be little it is tolerable; If the evill be curable, be patient, good Cure will heale it, If the evill be incurable, be patient death will heale it. No evill is ſuperlative when one is certaine to come out of it; By life or by death there muſt be an end of thy ſickneſſe.
All the remedies that Pagan Philoſophy giveth in extremities, come to this, that patience is a remedy to evills that have none. But here Chriſtian Philoſophy openeth the treaſure of divine comforts, which to make the faithfull man patient in tribulation, make him joyfull in hope, & ſhew him the crown ready for him at the end of the combat. In the combat he is ſtrengthened by faith; and the comforter whom Chriſt promiſt to his diſciples, powerfully aſſiſteth him in his laſt agony; Or if his triall be prolonged, he tels him, as Paul buffeted by a meſſenger of Satan 2 Cor. 12.9. my grace is ſufficient for thee, for my ſtrength is made perfect in weakneſſe.
By that grace, ſickneſſe beates downe pride, quencheth luſt, weaneth the heart from the love of the world, makes the ſoule hungry and thirſty after righteouſneſſe. Theodoricus Archbiſhop of Collen with great wiſdome exhorted the Emperour Sigiſmond, to have the will in health to live holily, as he ſaid when he was tormented with the gravel and gowte. Sickneſſes give to a godly man a ſenſe of his frailty: when wee feel theſe houes of mud, our bodies, drooping towards the ground their originall, then doe we ſigh for that building of God, that houſe not made with hands, eternall in the heavens. 2 Cor. 5.1, Therefore labour and heavy load make us ſeek to him that ſaith, come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy loaden, and I will give you reſt. Matth. 11.28. Thus evil doth good to them that are good, and helps evil men to turne good. In ſickneſſe and dolours Gods children find the peace of the ſoule and contentment of mind.
CHAP. XIII. Of Exile.
TO ſpeake of exile after dolour, is an abrupt paſſage from ſenſible evils to imaginary. The world is the natural and general countrey of al men: To be exiled is but to be ſent from one Province of our Countrey to another. That other Province, where one is exiled is the Countrey of them that are borne there, and of them alſo that live there exiled, if there they get accomodation. That particular Province which a nation calls their Countrey, is a place of exile to them that are borne in it, if they doe not know it; as to Oedipus, exiled from the place where he was bred, to the place where he was borne. Children brought from nurſe to the mothers houſe wil cry, taking it for a place of exile. It is a childiſh weakneſſe in a man to thinke him-ſelfe loſt when he is in a place where he never was before. Every where wee have the ſame nature, the ſame heaven, men of the ſame kind. Reaſonable creatures ſhould be aſhamed to be ſurmounted by unreaſonable, in that eaſineſſe to ſhift Countreies. Swallowes hatch about our houſes, are baniſht from our Climat by the approach of winter, and they make no difficulty to goe ſeeke another beyond al the lands and Seas of Europe: but men wil cry when they are driven from their chimney corner, having the choice of al places of the world which is ſo large. Yet that advantage we have over birds and beaſts, that al Countries are not alike to them, but al Countries are alike unto vertue, and to us if we have it; for that treaſure no enemy can hinder us to carry along with us.
We may indeed be exiled into an ill Countrey, but that Countrey is never the worſe for not being our Countrey. All lands are in equal diſtance from heaven, the Countrey of gods children. God is as ſoon found in the land of our exile, as in that of our birth and ſooner too; for God is neer thoſe that are deſtitute, and preſerveth the ſtranger, Pſal. 146.9. Are you baniſht by a Tyrant? Thinke how many perſons are exiled from their countrey and deareſt relations by their covetouſneſſe, which is the worſt tyranny, ranging the unknown ſeas of a new world for many years; ſome to fetch cucineel and pearles from burning climats, others to get ſables and hermines from the ſnows under the Pole. Some are baniſht by others, ſome bythem-ſelves. Nothing is ſtrange to a man when his wil goeth along with it; we need but to encline our wil where neceſſity calls us. Impatience in exile is want of a right apprehenſion of the condition of gods children in the world. Heaven is their countrey. Life is their Pilgrimage. They are ſtrangers even in the place of their birth, yea in their very bodys: Whileſt we are at home in the body, we are ſtrangers from the Lord, ſaith Paul. 2 Cor. 5.6. Being then ſtrangers in al places of the world, one place muſt not ſeeme to us more ſtrange then another. Wee are never out of our way, as long as we are going to God.
CHAP. XIV. Of Priſon
PRiſon is the grave of the living. There men are buried before their death: Liberty is the priviledge of nature, without which life is a continual death. And it were better to have noe life then not to enjoy it. All beaſts enjoy liberty, ſome few excepted that have loſt it by being too much acquainted with us.
But as there is need of iron cages to keepe lyons, there is need in the world of priſons and captivity to keepe in men that wil not be ruled by reaſon & equity. And though many be impriſoned wrongfully, if they have the grace to look up to God, the diſpoſer of their condition, they will acknowledge, that God is wiſe to uſe them ſo, and that licentious humour hath need of reſtraint.
Or if they need it not they have leſſe need to afflict themſelves: A well compoſed ſpirit is free in the cloſeſt Priſon; bonds and fetters cannot reſtraine his liberty. The worſt fetters are covetouſneſſe, ambition, luſt, appetite of revenge, wherewith many that ſeeme free are kept in bondage. Who ſo can ſhake them off is at liberty, though he were in a dungeon. Such was St. Pauls freedom in a chaine. 2 Tim. 2.9. I ſuffer trouble (ſaid he) as an evill doer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. The grace of God alſo cannot be bound, and many times God makes uſe of the bonds of the body to ſet the ſoule free. A man is very hard tyed to the world, if he cannot be untied from it by a long impriſonment.
Priſon will bee leſſe tedious to him that remembreth that it is his natural condition. That he was nine moneths Priſoner in his Mothers wombe. That after his death he ſhall be made cloſe Priſoner under ground; And that as long as he liveth he is loaden like a ſnaile with his owne Priſon, which he carrieth about ſlowly, and with great incommodity; a clog put by our wiſe Maſter to the ſwiftneſſe and quick turnes of our ſpirit which is alwayes in action. Think how faſt our thoughts go, which in a moment travell from one end of the world to the other, and how high our deſignes will riſe, whoſe wings we are conſtrained to clip and abruptly to pull down our ſoaring minde, to look to the neceſſities of our craving body, and then acknowledge that our body is a very Priſon, confining the ſpirit, which is the Man. The impriſonment of that body is no great addition to its captivity. It is but putting one boxe within another.
And if we looke about us, how much captivity do me meet with in ſociety! Is not ceremony a ſlavery which is multiplyed and diverſifyed at every meeting? Are not honours golden fetters, and buſineſſes Iron fetters? Do not publique factions enſlave particular intereſſes, and ſpread nets for the conſcience? Many times that captivity is avoided by that of the Counter and the Fleet. To many their priſon hath been a Sanctuary, and a ſtrong hold againſt the dangers of a turbulent and deſtructive time.
No dungeon is ſo cloſe as to keep the faithfull ſoul from riſing to God. They that are forbidden the ſight of their friends, may converſe with God at any time, which is a great liberty: And the Lord Jeſus who recommends that worke of mercy to viſit the priſoners, himſelfe doth carefully practiſe it, comforting by his Spirit his diſciples to whom the aſſiſtance of men is denyed, and ſhewing them heaven open when they are lockt and bolted. In effect it is the body, not man, that is impriſoned. The Jalour may keepe out a priſoners friends from him, but he cannot ſhut out comfort and tranquillity from his ſoul.