Meditations and Vows Divine and Moral, Part 32 – Part 94
32
In all other things we are led by profit; but in the maine matter of all, wee shew our selues vtterly vnthriftie; & whiles wee are wise in making good markets in these base commodities, wee shewe our selues foolish in the great match of our soules. God and the world come both to one shop, and make profers for our soules. The world like a frank chapman, sayes, All these wil I giuegive thee, shewing vsus his bagges, and promotions, and thrusting them into our hands. God offers a crowne of glorie, which yet he tels vsus wee must giuegive him day to performe, and hauehave nothing in present, but our hope, and some small earnest of the bargaine. Though we know there is no cōparison betwixt these two in value; finding these earthly things vaine, and vnable to giuegive any contentment; and those other of inualuable worth and benefite: Yet wee had rather take these in hande, than trust GOD on his word for the future; While yet in the same kinde we chuse rather to take some rich Lordships in reuersion, after the long expectation of three liues expired, than a present summe much vnderunder foote: As contrarily, when God & the world are sellers, and we come to the Mart, The worlde offers fine painted wares, but will not part with thē vnderunder the price of our torment: God proclaimes, Come yee that want, buy for nought. Now we thriftie men, that trie all shops for the cheapest penniworth, refuse GOD, profering his precious cōmodities for nothing & pay an hard price for that which is worse than nothing, painefull. Surely, wee are wise for any thing but our soules: and not so wise for the body as foolish for them. O Lord, thy paiment is sure, and who knowes how present? Take the soule that thou hast both made, and bought: And let mee rather giuegive my life for thy fauour, than take the offers of the world for nothing.
33
There was neuer age that more bragged of knowledge, and yet neuer any that had lesse soundnesse. Hee that knowes not God, knoweth nothing; and he that loues not God, knowes him not: For hee is so sweete, and infinitely full of delight, that whoeuer knowes him, cannot chuse but affect him. The little louelove of God then argues the great ignorance euen of those that professe knowledge. I will nor suffer my affections to run before my knowledge: for then I shall louelove fashionably onelyonly, because I heare God is worthy of louelove, and so bee subiect to relapses: But I wil euer lay knowledge as the groūd of my louelove. So, as I grow in diuine knowledge, I shal still profit in an heauenly zeale.
34
Those that trauell in long pilgrimages to the holy Land, what a number of weary pases they measure? what a number of hard lodgings, and knowen daungers they passe? and at last when they are come within view of their iourneys end, what a large tribute pay they at the Pisan Castel, to the Turkes? And when they are come thither, what see they but the bare Sepulchre wherein their Sauiour lay? and the earth that hee trode vponupon, to the increase of a carnall deuotion? What labour should I willingly vndertake in my iourney to the true Land of promise, the celestiall Ierusalem; where I shall see and enioy my Sauiour himselfe? What tribute of paine or death should I refuse to pay for my enterance, not into his Sepulchre, but his palace of glory; and that not to looke vponupon, but to possesse it.
35
Those that are all in exhortation, no whit in doctrine, are like to them that snuffe the candle, but powre not in oyle. Againe, those that are all in doctrine, nothing in exhortation, drowne the wike in oyle, but light it not; making it fit for vse, if it had fire put to it; but as it is, rather capable of good, than profitable in present: Doctrine, without exhortation, makes men all braine, no heart. Exhortatiō, without doctrine, makes the heart full, leaues the braine emptie. Both together make a man: One makes a man wise; the other good. One serues that wee may know our duetie, the other that wee may perfourme it. I will labour in both: but I know not in whether more. Men cannot practise, vnlesse they know; and they know in vaine, if they practise not. There be two things in eueryevery good worke; Honour and profite. The later God bestowes vponupon vsus, the former hee keepes to himselfe. The profit of our workes redoūdeth not to God. My wel-doing extendeth not to thee. The honour of our work may not be allowed vsus. My glory I will not giuegive to another. I wil not abridge God of his part, that he may not bereaue me of mine.
37
The proud man hath no God; the enuious man hath no neighbor; the angry man hath not himselfe. What can that man hauehave, that wants himselfe? What is a man better, if he hauehave himself, want all others? What is hee the neerer, if hee hauehave himselfe, and others, and yet want God? What good is it then to bee a man, if hee bee either wrathfull, proud, or enuious?
38
Man that was once the soueraigne Lord of all creatures, whō they seruiceablie attended at all turnes; is now sent to the very basest of al creatures to learn good qualities, Goe to the Pismire, &c. And sees ye most contēptible creatures preferr'd before him: The asse knoweth his owner; wherein we, like the miserable heire of some great Peer, whose house is decayed through the treason of our progenitors, heare and see what Honours and Lordships we should hauehave had; but nowe finde our selues below many of the vulgar: wee hauehave not so much cause of exaltation, that we are men, and not beasts; as we hauehave of humiliation, in thinking how much wee were once better then we are; and that nowe in many dueties we are men inferiour to beastes: so as those whome wee contemne, if they had our reason, might more iustly contemne vsus; and as they are, may teach vsus by their example, and do condemne vsus by their practise.
39
The idle man is the diuels cushion, on which hee taketh his free ease: who as hee is vncapable of any good, so he is fitly disposed for all euill motions. The standing water soone stinketh; wheras the current euer keeps cleere and cleanly: conueying down all noysom matter that might infect it, by the force of his streame. If I doe but little good to others by my endeuours, yet this is great good to mee, that by my labour I keepe my selfe from hurt.
40
There can bee no neerer coniunction in nature, than is betwixt the bodie and the soule; yet these two are of so contrary dispositiō, that as it fals out in an ill matched man and wife, those seruants which the one likes best, are most dispraised of the other; so heere, one still takes part against the other in their choice: What benefites the one, is the hurt of the other. The glutting of the body pines the soule; and the soule thriues best when the bodie is pinched. Who can wonder, that there is such faction amongst others, that sees so much in his very selfe? True wisdom is to take, not with the stronger, as the fashion of the world is, but with the better: following herein, not vsurped power, but iustice. It is not hard to discerne, whose the right is; whether the seruaunt should rule or the mistresse. I will labour to make & keepe the peace, by giuing each part his owne indifferently: but if more be affected with an ambitious contention, I will rather beate Hagar out of doors, than shee shall ouer-rule her mistresse.
41
I see iron first heated red hote in the fire, and after beaten and hardened with colde water. Thus will I deale with an offending friend: first heat him with deserued praise of his vertue, and then beat vponupon him, and coole him with reprehension: so good nurses when their children are fallen, first take them vp and speake them faire, chide them afterwards: Gentle speach is a good preparatiue for rigor; He shall see that I louelove him, by my approbation; and that I louelove not his faults, by my reproofe. If hee louelove himselfe, hee will louelove those that mislike his vices; and if he louelove not himselfe, it matters not whether he louelove me.
42
The liker we are to God, which is the best & only good, the better & happier we must needes be. All sins make vsus vnlike him, as being contrary to his perfect holinesse: but some shew more direct contrariety: such is enuy; For, whereas God bringeth good out of euill; the enuious man fetcheth euill out of good: wherin also his sin proues a kind of punishment; for wheras to good men euen euil things work together to their good; contrarily, to the enuious, good things work togither to their euil. The euil, in any man, though neuer so prosperous, I will not enuy, but pity: The good graces, I will not repine at, but holily emulate; reioycing that they are so good: but grieuing that I am no better.
43
The couetous man is like a Spider, as in this that he doth nothing but lay his nets to catch eueryevery flie, gaping onelyonly for a bootie of gaine; so yet more, in that whiles hee makes nets for these flies, he consumeth his owne bowels: so that which is his life is his death. If there bee any creature miserable, it is hee; and yet he is least to bee pitied, because hee makes himselfe miserable; such as hee is I will account him; and will therefore sweepe downe his webs and hate his poyson.
44
In heauen there is all life, and no dying; in hell is all death and no life; In earth there is both liuing and dying; which, as it is betwixt both, so it prepares for both. So that hee which here below dies to sin, doth after liue in heauen; and contrarily hee that liues in sinne vpō earth dies in hell afterwards. What if I hauehave no part of ioy here below, but still succession of afflictions? The wicked hauehave no part in heauen, and yet they enioy the earth with pleasure: I would not change portions with them. I reioyce, that seeing I cannot hauehave both, yet I hauehave the better. O Lord, let me passe both my deaths here vponupon earth. I care not how I liue or die, so I may hauehave nothing but life to looke for in another world.
45
The conceipt of proprietie hardens a man against many inconueniences, and addeth much to our pleasure: The mother abides many vnquiet nights, many painfull throwes, and vnpleasant sauors of her child, vponupon this thought, It is my own. The indulgent father magnifies that in his own sonne, which he would scarce like in a stranger. The want of this to God-ward makes vsus so subiect to discontentment, & cooleth our delight in him, because we think of him aloofe, as one in whō we are not interessed: If wee could thinke, It is my God that cheereth mee with his presence, and blessings, while I prosper; that afflicteth mee in louelove, whē I am deiected; my Sauiour is at Gods right hand: my Angels stand in his presence, It could not be but Gods fauour would bee sweeter, his chastisements more easie, his benefits more effectuall. I am not my own, while God is not mine: and while he is mine, since I do possesse him, I wil enioy him.
46
Nature is of her owne inclination froward, importunately longing after that which is denied her; and scornefull of what she may hauehave. If it were appointed that we should liue alwaies vponupon earth, how extreamly would wee exclaime of wearinesse, and wish rather that wee were not? Now it is appointed we shal liue here but a while, and then giuegive roome to our successors, each one affects a kind of eternity vponupon earth. I will labour to tame this peeuish and fullen humor of nature, & will like that best that must be.
47
All true earthly pleasure forsooke man when he forsooke his creator; what honest and holy delight he before tooke in the duetifull seruices of the obsequious creatures; in the contemplation of that admirable varietie, and strangenes of their properties; in seeing their sweete accordance with each other, and all with himselfe? Nowe most of our pleasure is to set one creature together by the eares with another; sporting our selues onelyonly with that deformitie, which was bred through our owne fault. Yea, there hauehave been, that hauehave delighted to see one man spill anothers blood vponupon the sand; and hauehave shouted for ioy at the sight of that slaughter, which hath fallen out vponupon no other quarell but the pleasure of the beholders: I doubt not but as wee solace our selues in the discorde of the inferiour creatures; so the euill spirits sporte themselues in our dissensions. There are better qualities of the creature, which we passe ouer without pleasure. In recreations I vvill choose those which are of best example and best vse; seeking those by which I may not onelyonly bee the merryer, but the better.
48
There is no want for which a man may not find a remedy in himself. Doe I want riches? Hee that desires but little, cannot want much. Doe I want friends? If I louelove God enough, & my selfe but enough, it matters not. Do I want health? If I want it but a little, & recouer. I shall esteeme it the more, because I wanted. If I be long sicke and vnrecouerably, I shal be the fitter and willinger to die; & my paine is so much lesse sharpe, by how much more it lingreth. Doe I want maintenance? A little and course will content nature. Let my minde bee no more ambitious then my backe and belly. I can hardly complaine of too little. Doe I want sleepe? I am going whither there is no vse of sleepe: where all rest, and sleepe not. Doe I want childrē? Many that hauehave them, wish they wanted: It is better to be childlesse, than crossed with their miscariage. Doe I want learning? Hee hath none, that sayth he hath enough. The next way to get more, is to finde thou wantest. There is remedie for all wants in our selues, sauing onelyonly for want of grace: and that a man cannot so much as see and complaine that hee wants, but from aboue.
49
EueryEvery vertuous action (like the Sunne eclipsed) hath a double shadowe; according to the diuers aspects of the beholders: One of glory, the other of enuie. Glorie followes vponupon good deserts; Enuie vponupon glorie. Hee that is enuyed may thinke himselfe well: for hee that enuies him, thinkes him more then well: I know no vice in another wherof a man may make so good and comfortable vse to himselfe. There would bee no shadowe, if there were no light.
50
In meddling with the faultes of friendes, I hauehave obserued many wrongfull courses; what for feare, or selfe-louelove, or indiscretiō: some I hauehave seen, like vnmerciful and couetous Chirurgians, keepe the wound rawe, which they might hauehave seasonably remedied, for their own gaine: Others that hauehave layd healing plaisters to skin it aloft, when there hath beene more neede of corasiues to eat out the dead flesh within: Others, that hauehave galled and drawen when there hath beene nothing but solid flesh, that hath wanted onelyonly filling vp. Others that hauehave healed the fore, but left an vnsightly scarre of discredite behind them: He that would do good this waye must hauehave fidelitie, courage, discretion, patience. Fidelity, not to beare with; courage, to reprooue them; discretion, to reprooue them well; patience, to abide the leasure of amendement; making much of good beginnings, and putting vp many repulses, bearing with many weakenesses; still hoping; still soliciting; as knowing that those who hauehave beene long vsed to fetters cannot but halt a while, whē they are taken off.
51
God hath made al the worlde, and yet what a little part of it is his? Diuide the worlde into foure parts; but one, and the least containeth all that is worthy the name of Christendome? The rest ouer-whelmed with Turcisme, and Paganisme: And of this least part, the greater halfe yet holding aright concerning God and their Sauiour in some common principles, ouerthrow the trueth in their conclusions; and so leaue the lesser part of the least part for God. Yet lower; of those that hold aright concerning Christ, how fewe are there, that doe otherwise then fashionably professe him? And of those that doe seriously professe him, howe fewe are there that in their liues deny him not, liuing worthy of so glorious a calling? Wherein I doe not pitie God, who wil hauehave glory euen of those that are not his: I pitie miserable men that do reiect their Creator and Redeemer, and themselues in him. And I enuie Satā, that he ruleth so large. Since God hath so few, I will bee more thankefull that hee hath vouchsafed mee one of his; and be the more zealous of glorifying him, because wee hauehave but a few fellowes.
52
As those that hauehave tasted of some delicate dish, finde other plaine dishes but vnpleasant; so it fareth with those which hauehave once tasted of heauenly things, they cannot but cōtemne the best worldly pleasures: As therefore some daintie guest knowing there is so pleasant fare to come, I will reserue my appetite for it, and not suffer my selfe cloyed with the course diet of the world.
53
I finde many places where God hath vsed the hand of good Angels for the punishmēt of the wicked; but neuer could yet find one wherein he employed; an euill Angel in any direct good to his children. Indirect I finde many, if not all, through the power of him that brings light out of darkenesse, and turnes their euill to our good: In this choice GOD would and must be imitated. From an euill spirit I dare not receiue ought, if neuer so good; I will receiue as little as I may from a wicked man. If he were as perfectly euill as the other, I durst receiue nothing; I had rather hunger then wilfully dippe my hand in a wicked mans dish.
54
We are ready to condemne others for that which is as eminently faulty in our selues. If one blinde man rush vponupon another in the way; either complaines of others blindnesse, neither of his owne. I hauehave heard those which hauehave had most corrupt lungs cōplayne of the vnsauory breath of others. The reason is because the minde casteth altogether outward, and reflecteth not into it selfe. Yet it is more shamefull to be either ignorant of, or fauorable to our own imperfections. I will censure others vices fearefully, my own cōfidently, because I know thē; and those I know not I will suspect.
55
Hee is a very humble man that thinks not himselfe better then some others; and hee is very meane, whome some others doe not account better than themselues: so that vessell that seemed very small vponupon the maine, seemes a tall ship vponupon the Thames. As there are many better for estate then my selfe; so there are some worse; and if I were yet worse, yet would there be some lower: and if I were so low that I accounted my selfe the worst of all; yet some would accoūt thēselues in worse case. A mans opiniō is in others; his being is in himselfe. Let me know my self, let others ghesse at me. Let others either enuie or pitie mee. I care not so long as I enioy my selfe.
56
He can neuer wonder enough at Gods workemanship, that knowes not the frame of the world: for he can neuer els cōceiue of the hugenes, & strange proportion of the creatures. And he that knowes this can neuer wonder more, at any thing else. I will learne to knowe, that I may admire; and by that little I knowe, I will more wonder at that I know not.
57
There is nothing he lowe, but toyling, grieuing, wishing, hoping, seuring; and wearinesse in all these. What fooles are wee to bee besotted with the louelove of our own trouble, and to hate our liberty and rest. The louelove of misery is much worse than miserie it selfe. We must first pray that God would make vsus wise, before wee can wish hee would make vsus happy.
58
If a man referre all things to himselfe, nothing seemes enough: If all things to GOD, any measure wil content him of earthly things; but in grace hee is infatiable: worldlings serue themselues altogether in GOD, making Religion but to serue their turns as a colour of their ambition, and couetousnes: The Christian seeks GOD onelyonly in seeking himselfe, vsing all other things but as subordinately to him; not caring whether himselfe win or lose, so that God may win glory in both. I will not suffer mine eyes and mind to be boūded with these visible things; but will looke through all these matters, at GOD which is the vtmost scope of them: Accounting them onelyonly as a through-fare to passe by, not as an habitation to rest in.
59
He is wealthy enough that wanteth not: He is great enough that is his owne master: He is happy enough, that liues to dye well. Other things I will not care for; nor too much for these, saue onelyonly for the last which alone can admit of no immoderation.
60
A man of extraordinary parts makes himselfe by strange and singular behauiour more admired; which if a man of but common faculty doe imitate, hee makes himselfe ridiculous: for that which is construed as naturall to the one, is descried to be affected in the other. And there is nothing forced by affectation can be comely. I wil euer striue to go in the common rode: so while I am not notable, I shall not bee notorious.
61
Gold is the best metall, & for the puritie not subiect to rust, as all others; and yet the best gold hath somedrosse. I esteeme not that man that hath no faults; I like him well that hath but a fewe, and those not great.
62
Many a man marres a good estate, for want of skill to proportion his carriage answerably to his abilitie. A little sayle to a large vessell riddes no way, though the winde bee faire; A large sayle to a little Barke drownes it; A topsaile to a ship of meane burden in a rough weather is daungerous; A lowe fayle in an easie gale yeelds little aduantage: This disproportion causeth some to liue miserably in a good estate; and some to make a good estate miserable. I will first knowe what I may doe for safety, and then I will trie what I can doe for speede.
63
The rich man hath many friends; although in truth riches hauehave thē, and not the man: As the Asse, that carried the Egyptian Goddesse, had many bowed knees, yet not to the beast, but to the burden. For, separate the riches from the person, and thou shalt see friendship leaue the man, & follow that which was euer her obiect: while he may command, and can either giuegive, or control, he hath attendance, and profer of louelove at all hāds; but which of these da…es acknowledge him, when he is going to prison for debt? Then these Waspes, that made such musick about this Gallypot, shew plainely that they came onelyonly for the hony that was in it. This is the misery of the wealthie, that they cannot knowe their friendes: Whereas those that louelove the poore man, louelove him for himselfe. Hee that would chuse a true friēd, must search out one that is neither couetous nor ambitious; for such a one loues but himself in thee. And if it be rare to finde any not infected with these qualities, the best is to entertaine all, and trust few.
64
That which the French Prouerbe hath of sicknesses, is true of all e…ls, that they come on horsbacke, and go away on foot: We hauehave oft seen a sudden fal, or one meales surfet hath stuck by many to their graues: wheras pleasures come like oxen, slowe and heauily; and goe away like posthorses, vponupon the spurre. Sorowes, because they are lingering guests, I will entertaine but moderately; knowing that the more they are made of, the longer they will continue: And for pleasures, because they stay not, and doe but call to drinke at my doore, I will vse them as passengers, with sleight respect. He is his owne best friend, that makes least of both of them.
65
It is indeed more commendable to giuegive good example, than to take it; yet imitation, how-euer in ciuil matters it be condemned of seruilitie, in Christiā practise hath his due praise; and though it be more naturall for beginners at their first imitation, that cannot swim without bladders; yet the best proficient shal see euer some higher steps of those that hauehave gone to heauen before him, worthy of his tracing: wherin much caution must be had, that wee follow good men, and in good: Good men, for if wee propoūd imperfect patternes to our selues, wee shall be constrained first to vnlearne those ill habits we hauehave got by their imitation, before we can be capable of good: so besides the losse of labor, we are further off from our end: In good; for, that a man should be so wedded to any mans person that he can make no separation from his infirmities, is both absurdly seruile and vnchristian. He therefore that would follow well, must knowe to distinguish well, betwixt good men & euill, betwixt good men and better, betwixt good qualities and infirmities. Why hath God giuen me educatiō not in a desert alone, but in the cōpany of good & vertuous men; but that by ye sight of their good cariage I should better my owne? Why should we hauehave interest in the vices of men and not in their vertues? And although precepts be surer, yet a good mans action is according to precept, yea, is a precept it self. The Psalmist compares the law of God to a lanterne; good exāple beares it. It is safe folowing him that carries the light. If he walke without the light, hee shall walke without me.
66
As there is one cōmon end to all good men, saluatiō; and one author of it, Christ: So there is but one way to it, dooing well, and suffering euill. Doing wel (me thinks) is like the Zodiack in the heauen, the hie-way of the Sun, through which it dayly passeth; suffering euill is like the Eclipticke line that goes through the midst of it. The rule of doing well, the law of God, is vniforme and eternall; and the copies of suffering euill in all times agree with the originall; No man can either doe well, or suffer ill without an example: Are we sawen in pieces? so was Esay; Are we headed? so Iohn Baptist; Crucified? so Peter; Throwen to wild beasts? so Daniel; Into the fornace? so the three children; Stoned? so Steuen; Banished? so the beloued disciple; Burnt? so millions of Martyrs; Defamed and flandered? what good man euer was not? It were easie to bee endlesse both in torments and sufferers: whereof each hath begunne to other, all to vsus. I may not hope to speede better than the best Christians; I cannot feare to fare worse. It is no matter which way I goe, so I come to heauen.
67
There is nothing beside life of this nature, that it is diminished by addition: EueryEvery moment wee liue longer then other, and each moment that we liue longer is so much takē out of our life. It increaseth and diminisheth onelyonly by minutes; and therefore is not perceiued: The shorter steppes it taketh, the more slily it passeth. Time shall not so steale vponupon me that I shall not discerne it, and catch it by the fore-lockes; nor so steale from me, that it shall carry with it no witnesse of his passage in my proficiencie.
68
The prodigall man, while hee spendeth, is magnified; when hee is spent is pitied: and that is all his recompence for his lauisht Patrimonie. The couetous man is grudged while he liues, and his death is reioyced at: for, when he endes, his riches begin to bee goods. Hee that wisely keepes the meane betweene both, liueth wel, and heares well; neither repined at by the needie, nor pittied by greater men. I would so manage these worldly commodities, as accounting them mine to dispose, others to partake of.
69
A good name (if any earthly thing) is worth seeking, worth striuing for; yet to affect a bare name, when we deserue either ill, or nothing, is but a proud hypocrisie: And to be puffed vp with the wrongful estimation of others mis-taking our worth, is an idle and ridiculous pride. Thou art well spoken of vponupon no desert: what then? Thou hast deceiued thy neighbours, they one another; & al of thē hauehave deceiued thee: for thou madest thē thinke of thee otherwise than thou art; and they hauehave made thee think of thy selfe as thou art accounted: The deceit came frō thee the shame will ende in thee. I will account no wrong greater, than for a man to esteeme and report mee aboue that I am; not reioycing in that I am wel thought of, but in that I am such as I am esteemed.
70
It was a speach worthy, the commendation, & frequent remembrāce of so diuine a Bishop as Augustine, which is reported of an aged father in his time, who when his friendes comforted him on his sicke bed, and told him, they hoped he shuld recouer, answered; If I shall not die at all, well: but if euer, why not now? Surely, it is folly what we must doe to do vnwillingly. I wil neuer thinke my soule in good case, so long as I am loth to thinke of dying; and will make this my comfort; Not, I shall yet liue longer, but I shall yet do more good.
71
Excesses are neuer alone: Commonly those that hauehave excellēt parts, hauehave some extreamly vicious qualities: great wits hauehave great errors; & great estates hauehave great cares: whereas mediocrity of gifts or of estate, hath vsually but easie inconneniences: Else the excellent would not knowe themselues, and the meane would bee too much deiected. Now those whom we admire for their saculties, wee pity for their infirmities; and those which finde themselues but of the ordinary pitch, ioy that as their vertues so their vices are not eminent. So the highest hauehave a blemished glory, and the meane are contentedly secure. I wil magnifie the highest, but affect the meane.
72
The body is the case, or sheath of the minde: yet as naturally it hideth it; so it doth also many times discouer it: For although the forehead, eyes, and frame of the countenance doe some times belie the disposition of the heart, yet most cōmonly they giuegive true general verdicts. An angry mans browes are bent together, & his eyes sparkle with rage, which when he is well pleased, looke smooth & chearefully. Enuy hath one look; desire another; sorow yet another; contentment, a fourth, different from all the rest. To shewe no passion is too Stoical, to shew all is impotent; to shew other than we feel, hypocriticall. The face & gesture do but write, and make commentaries vponupon the heart. I wil first endeuor so to frame and order that, as not to entertaine any passion, but what I need not care to hauehave layed open to the worlde: and therefore will first see that the Text be good; then that the glosse bee true; and lastly that it be sparing. To what ende hath God so walled in the heart, if I should let eueryevery mans eyes into it by my countenance?
73
There is no publique actiō which the world is not ready to scan; there is no action so priuate, which the euil spirits are not witnesses of: I wil endeuor so to liue, a… knowing that I am euer in the eyes of mine enemies.
74
When we our selues, and all other vices are old, then couetousnes alone is yong, and at his best age. This vice loues to dwell in an olde ruinous cotage: Yet that age can hauehave no such honest colour for niggardlines & insatiable desire. A young man might plead the vncertainty of his estate & doubt of his future need; but an old man sees his set period before him. Since this humor is so necessarily annexed to this age, I will turne it the right way, and nourish it in my self. The older I growe, the more couetous I wil be; but of the riches, not of the world that I am leauing, but of the world I am entring into. It is good coueting what I may hauehave, and cannot leaue behind me.
75
There is a mutuall hatred betwixt a Christian, and the world: for on the one side, the louelove of the worlde is enmitie with God; and Gods children cannot but take their fathers part. On the other, The world hates you because it hated mee first. But the hatred of the good man to the wicked is not so extream, as that wherewith hee is hated. For the Christian hates euer with commiseration and louelove of that good hee sees in the worst; knowing that the essence of the very diuels is good & that the lewdest man hath some excellēt parts of nature, or common graces of the Spirit of God, which hee warily singleth out in his affection. But the wicked man hates him for goodnes, and therefore findes nothing in himselfe to moderate his detestation. There can be no better Musicke in my eare, than the discord of the wicked. If he like me. I am afraid he spies some qualitie in me like to his own; If hee sawe nothing but goodnes, he could not louelove me, and be bad himselfe. It was a iust doubt of Phocion, who when the people praised him, asked, What euill hauehave I done? I will striue to deserue ill of none: but not deseruing ill, it shall not grieue mee to heare ill of those that are euil. I knowe no greater argumēt of goodnes, than the hatred of a wicked man.
76
A man that comes hungry to his meale, feedes heartily on the meate set before him, not regarding the metal, or form of the platter, wherein it is serued; who afterwards whē his stomack is satisfied, begins to play with the dish, or to read sentēces on his trēcher. Those auditors which can find nothing to doe, but note elegant words & phrases, or rhetorical colours, or perhaps an il grace of gesture in a pithie and materiall speach, argue themselues full ere they came to the feast: and therefore goe away with a little pleasure, no profit. In hearing others, my onelyonly intention shall be to feede my minde with solide matter: if my eare can get ought by the way, I will not grudge it, but I will not intend it.
77
The ioy of a Christian in these worldly things is limited, and euer awed with feare of excesse, but recompensed abundantly with his spirituall mirth: wheras the worldling giues the reignes to his minde, and powres himselfe out into pleasure, fearing only that he shall not ioy enough. He that is but halfe a Christian, liues most miserably; for he neither enioyeth God, nor the world. Not God, because hee hath not grace enogh to make him his own: Not the world, because hee hath some taste of grace; enough to shew him the vanitie and sinne of his pleasures. So the sound Christiā hath his heauen aboue, the worldling here below; the vnsetled Christian no where.
78
Good deeds are very fruitfull; & not so much of their nature, as of Gods blessing multipliable: We thinke ten in the hundred extreame and biting vsury; God giues vsus more then an hundred for tenne: Yea, aboue the increase of the grain which wee commend most for multiplication. For out of one good action of ours, God produceth a thousand; the haruest whereof is perpetuall: Euen the faithfull actions of the olde Patriarkes, the constant suffrings of ancient Martyrs liue still, and still doe good to all successions of ages by their example. For publique actions of vertue, besides that they are presently confortable to the doers, are also exemplary to others: & as they are more beneficiall to others, so are more crowned in vsus. If good deedes were vtterly barren & incommodious, I would seeke after them for the cōscience of their own goodness: how much more shall I now bee incouraged to performe them, for that they are so profitable both to my selfe, and to others, and to mee in others? My principall care shall be, that while my soule liues in glory in heauen, my good actions may liue vponupon earth; and that they may be put into the bank and multiplie, while my body lies in the graue and consumeth.
79
A Christian for the sweete fruit he beares to God and men, is compared to the noblest of all plants, the Vine. Now as the most generous Vine if it bee not pruned, runs out into many superfluous stemmes, & growes at last weake & fruitlesse: so doeth the best man if he be not cut short of his desires, and pruned with afflictions. If it be painefull to bleede, it is worse to wither. Let me be pruned that I may grow, rather thā cut vp to burne.
80
Those, that do but superficially taste of diuine knowledge, finde little sweetnesse in it; and are ready for the vnpleasant rellish to abhorre it: whereas if they would diue deepe into this sea, they should finde fresh water neere to the bottome: That it sauors not well at the first, is the fault not of it, but of the distempered palate that tastes it. Good metals & minerals are not found close vnderunder the skinne of the earth, but below in the bowels of it: No good Miner casts away his mattocke because he findes a veine of tough clay, or a shelfe of stone; but still delueth lower, & passing through many changes of soile, at last comes to his rich treasure. Wee are too soone discouraged in our spirituall gaines. I will still perseuere to seeke; hardening my selfe against all difficulty. There is comfort euen in seeking, hope; & ther is ioy in hoping, good successe; & in that successe, is happines.
81
He that hath any experiēce in spiritual matters, knowes that Satan is euer more violēt at the last; then raging most furiously, whē he knowes hee shall rage but a while. Hence of the persecutions of the first Church, the tenth and last vnderunder Dioclesian, and Maximinian, and those other fiue tyrants was the bloodiest Hence this age is the most dissolute, because neerest the conclusion. And as this is his course in the vniuersall assaults of the whole Church: so it is the same in his conflicts with eueryevery Christian soule. Like a subtil orator hee reserues his strongest force til the shutting vp: And therefore miserable is the follie of those men who deferre their repentance till then; when their onset shall be most sharpe, and they through paine of body, and perplexednesse of minde, shall bee least able to resist. Those that hauehave long furnisht themselues with spirituall munition, find worke enough in this extreame brunt of tentation; how then should the carelesse man, that with the helpe of al opportunities could not find grace to repent, hope to atchieue it at the last gaspe, against greater force, with lesse means, more distraction, no leasure? Wise princes vse to prepare tenne yeeres before, for a field of one day: I will eueryevery day lay vp somewhat for my last. If I win that skirmish, I hauehave enough. The first & second blow begins the battel, but the last onelyonly wins it.
82
I obserue three seasons wherein a wise man differs not from a foole; In his infancie, in sleepe, and in silence: For in the two former wee are all fooles, and in silence all are wise. In the two former yet, there may bee concealment of folly; but the tongue is a blabbe: there cannot bee any kinde of folly, either simple, or wicked, in the heart, but the tongue will bewray it. Hee cannot bee wise that speakes much, or without sense, or out of season: nor hee knowen for a foole that sayes nothing. It is a great miscrie to bee a foole: but this is yet greater, that a man cannot bee a foole, but hee must shew it. It were well for such a one, if he could be taught to keep close his foolishnesse: but then there should be no fools. I hauehave heard some which hauehave scorned the opinion of folly in themselues, for a speach wherein they hauehave hoped to shew most wit censured of follie, by him that hath thought himselfe wiser: and another, hearing his sentence againe, hath condemned him for want of wit in censuring. Surely he is not a foole that hath vnwise thoughts, but he that vtters them. Euen concealed folly is wisedom; and sometimes wisedom vttered is folly. While others care how to speak, my care shall be how to hold my peace.
83
A worke is then onelyonly good and acceptable, when the action, meaning, and maner are all good: For, to doe good with an ill meaning (as Iudas saluted Christ to betray him) is so much more sinfull, by how much the action is better; which being good in the kind is abused to an ill purpose: To doe ill in a good meaning (as Vzza in staying the Arke) is so much amisse, that the good intention cannot beare out the vnlawfull acte: which although it may seeme some excuse, why it should not be so ill, yet is no warrant to iustifie it. To meane well, and doe a good action, in an ill manner (as the Pharisee made a good prayer, but arrogantly) is so offensiue, that the ill manner depraueth both the other. So a thing may bee euill vponupon one circumstance, it cannot be good but vponupon all. In what euer busines I go about, I wil inquire What I doe for the substance, Howe for the manner, Why for the intention: For the two first I will consult with God, for the last with my owne heart.
84
I can do nothing without a million of witnesses: The conscience is as a thousand witnesses; and GOD is as a thousand consciences. I wil therefore so deale with men, as knowing that God sees mee; and so with God, as if the world sawe mee; so with my selfe, and both of them, as knowing that my conscience seeth me: and so with them all, as knowing I am alwayes ouerlooked by my accuser, by my iudge.
85
Earthly inheritances are diuided oft times with much inequalitie: The priuiledge of primogeniture stretcheth larger in many places now, than it did among the auncient Iewes. The younger many times serues the elder; and while the eldest aboundeth, all the later issue is pinched. In heauen it is not so: All the sonnes of God are heires, none vnderlings; and not heires vnderunder wardship, and hope, but inheritors; and not inheritors of any little pittance of land, but of a kingdome; Nor of an earthly kingdome, subiect to danger of losse, or alteration, but one glorious and euerlasting. It shall content mee here, that hauing right to all things, yet I hauehave possession of nothing but sorrowe. Since I shall hauehave possession aboue, of all that, whereto I hauehave right belowe, I will serue willingly, that I may reigne; serue for a while, that I may reigne for euer.
86
Euen the best things ill vsed become euils; and contrarily, the worst things vsed wel prooue good: A good tongue, vsed to deceit; a good wit, vsed to defend error; a strong arme, to murder; authoritie, to oppresse; a good profession, to dissemble; are all euil: Yea, Gods owne worde is the sworde of the spirit; which if it kill not our vices, killes our soules. Contrariwise (as poysons are vsed to wholesom medicine) afflictions and sinnes, by a good vse, prooue so gainefull, as nothing more. Wordes are as they are taken: and things are as they are vsed. There are euen cursed blessings: O Lord, rather giuegive mee no fanours, than not grace to vse them. If I want them, thou requirest not what thou doest not giuegive; but if I hauehave them, and want their vse; thy merciemercy prooues my iudgement.
86
Man is the best of al these inferiour creatures; yet liues in more sorow and discontentment, then the worst of them: whiles that reason wherin he excels them, and by which hee might make aduantage of his life, hee abuses to a susspicious distrust. How many hast thou found of the foules of the ayre, lying dead in thy way for want of prouision? They eate, and rest, and sing, and want nothing. Man, which hath better meanes to liue comfortably, toyleth, and careth, & wanteth; whom yet his reason alone might teach, that hee which careth for these lower creatures made onelyonly for man, will much more prouide for man, to whose vse they were made. There is an holy carelesnesse, free from idlenesse, free from distrust. In these earthly things, I will so depend on my maker, that my trust in him may not exclude my labour; and yet so labour (vponupon my confidence on him) as my indeuour may be voide of perplexitie.
87
The precepts, & practise of those with whō we liue, auaile much on either part. For a man not to bee ill where hee hath no prouocations to euill, is lesse commendable; but for a man to liue continently in Asia (as hee sayd) where he sees nothing but allurements to vncleannesse; for Lot to bee a good man in the midst of Sodom; to be abstemious in Germany, & in Italy chaste; this is truly praise-worthy. To sequester our selues from the cōpany of the world, that we may depart from their vices, proceedes from a base and distrusting minde: as if wee would so force goodnes vponupon our selues, that therfore only we would bee good, because wee cannot bee ill. But for a man so to bee personally, and locally in the throng of the worlde, as to withdrawe his affections from it, to vse it, and yet to contemne it at once, to compell it to his seruice without any infection, becomes well the noble courage of a Christian. The worlde shall bee mine, I will not be his; and yet so mine, that his euill shall be still his owne.
88
He that liues in God, cannot bee wearie of his life, because hee euer findes both somewhat to doe, and somewhat to solace himselfe with; cannot bee ouerloath to part with it, because hee shall enter into a neerer life and societie with that God in whom he delighteth: Whereas hee that liues without him, liues many times vncōfortably here, because partly he knows not any cause of ioy in himselfe; and partly hee findes not any worthy employment to while himselfe withall; Dyes miserably, because hee either knowes not whither hee goes, or knowes hee goes to torment. There is no true life, but the life of faith. O Lord let mee liue out of the world with thee (if thou wilt) but let mee not liue in the worlde without thee.
89
Sinne is both euill in it selfe, and the effect of a former euill, and the cause of sinne following; a cause of punishment, and lastly a punishment it selfe. It is damnable iniquitie in man, to multiplie one sinne vponupon another; but to punish one sinne by another, in GOD is a iudgemēt both most iust, and most feareful: So as all the storehouse of God hath not a greater vengeance: with other punishmēts the body smarteth, the soule with this. I care not how God offends mee with punishments, so he punish me not with offending him.
90
I hauehave seene some afflict their bodies with wilfull famine, and scourges of their owne making; God spares me that labour; For hee whips mee daylie with the scourge of a weake bodie; and sometimes with ill tongues. Hee holds mee short many times of the feeling of his cōfortable presence, which is in trueth so much more miserable an hunger then that of the bodie, by how much the soule is more tender, and the foode denied more excellent. He is my father; infinitely wise to proportion out my correction according to my estate; and infinitely louing in fitting mee with a due measure. Hee is a presumptuous childe that will make choyce of his owne rodde. Let mee learn to make a right vse of his corrections, and I shall not neede to correct my selfe. And if it should please GOD to remit his hand a little; I will gouerne my body, as a master, not as a tyrant.
91
If God had not sayd, Blessed are those that hunger; I know not what could keep weake Christians from sinking in despaire: Many times all I can doe, is to finde and complaine that I want him; and wish to recouer him: Now this is my stay, that hee in merciemercy esteemes vsus not onelyonly by hauing, but by desiring also; and after a sort accounts vsus to hauehave that which we want, and desire to hauehave: and my soule assuming, tels me I doe vnfainedly wish him, and long after that grace I misse. Let mee desire still more, and I knowe I shall not desire alwayes. There was neuer soule miscaried with lōging after grace. O blessed hunger that endes alwaies in fulnesse. I am sory that I can but hunger; and yet I would not bee full; for the blessing is promised to the hungry: GiueGive me more, Lord, but so as I may hunger more. Let mee hunger more, & I knowe I shall be satisfied.
92
There is more in the Christian than thou seeest. For hee is both an entire bodie of himselfe, and hee is a limme of another more excellent; euen that glorious mysticall bodie of his Sauiour; to whom hee is so vnited, that the actions of either are reciprocally referred to each other. For, on the one side, the Christian liues in Christ, dyes in Christ, in Christ fulfils the Law, possesseth heauē: on the other, Christ is persecuted by Paul in his members, and is persecuted in Paul afterwards by others: hee suffers in vsus, he liues in vsus, he workes in and by vsus: So thou canst not do either good or harme to a Christian, but thou doest it to his redeemer; to whom he is inuisiblie vnited. Thou seest him as a man, and therefore worthy of fauour for humanities sake: Thou seest him not as a Christian, worthy of honor for his secret and yet true vnion with his Sauiour. I will louelove eueryevery Christian, for that I see; honour him, for that I shall see.
93
Hell it selfe is scarce a more obscure dungeon in comparison of the earth, than earth is in respect of heauen. Heere, the most see nothing, and the best see little: Heere, halfe our life is night; and our verie day is darkenesse, in respect of GOD. The true light of the worlde, and the Father of lights dwelleth aboue: There is the light of knowledge to informe vsus, and the light of ioy to comfort vsus; without all change of darkenesse. There was neuer any captiue loued his dungeon, and complained when hee must be brought out to light, & liberty: Whence then is this naturall madnesse in vsus men, that wee delight so much in this vncleane, noysome, darke and comfortlesse prison of earth? and thinke not of our release to that lightsome and glorious Paradise aboue vsus, without griefe and repining? Wee are sure that wee are not perfectly well heere: If wee could bee as sure, that wee should bee better aboue, wee would not feare changing. Certainly our sense tells vsus, wee hauehave some pleasure heere; and wee hauehave not faith to assure vsus of more pleasure aboue, and hence wee settle our selues to the present, with neglect of the future, though infinitely more excellent: The heart followes the eyes: and vnknowen good is vncared for; O Lord, doe thou breake through this darkenesse of ignorance, and faithlesnesse, wherewith I am compassed. Let me but see my heauen, and I knowe I shall desire it.
94
To bee caried away with an affectation of fame is so vaine, and absurd, that I wonder it can bee incident to any wise man: For what a mole-hill of earth is it, to which his name can extend, when it is furthest carried by the wings of report? And how short a while doth it continue where it is once spread? Time (the deuourer of his owne broode) consumes both vsus and our memories; not brasse, nor marble, can beare age. How many flattering Poets hauehave promised immortalitie of name to their Princes, who now together are buried long since in forgetfulnesse. Those names and actions, that are once on the file of Heauen, are past the daunger of defacing: I will not care whether I bee knowen, or remembred, or forgotten amongst men, if my name and good actions may liue with God in the records of Eternitie.