and walking openly in the sight of the whole World make it the witness of your life although it be the judge thereof the approbation of the World is necessary here below for the establishment of your repose 12. Do not desire to appear an Honest man unless you be truly such your hypocrisy will stain your reputation with a new blemish which can never be blotted out you may endeavour to hide it but in vaine for He who inlighters the darkest corners of your heart will manifest the wickedness thereof by a publick vengeance 13. The wise Christian hath no other Looking glass then that of his Conscience seeing it is such a one as cannot flatter it represents him such as he ought to be who should next to his own satisfaction labour to please all men 14. Let your behaviour be adorned with such Integrity as may purchase credit to your words and esteem to your actions to the end that prepossessing the minds of men to your own advantage you may find friends in all places and admirers at all times 15. Consider that every one is Master of his own Honour and Salvation seeing the one and the other do depend of us and because uprightness is the foundation of both we may enjoy with it the repose which it gives us in expectation of that which it maketh us hope for 16. You may well project a thousand designes and execute them too and that happily by your ordinary tricks and subtilties but I declare unto you in Gods name that his just Providence shall cause your misery to rise out of their success and shall draw your disquiet from that very repose whereof as you believed you had laid the solid grounds 17. He that deceiveth others first deceiveth himself and it is bad policy to establish a commerce whereof our ruin is the object and our damnation the end 18. The deceitful man is quickly known and immediately cryed down and this discredit breeding contempt and contempt hatred he doth but breath in an Aire infected with reproaches cast justly upon him 19. The Vertuous man makes himself known and beloved both at once and without any other charm then that of Vertue he subdueth to himself all hearts that are worthy of his Conquest 20. Let Honour regulate your interest to the end that your only interest may be to preserve your Honour and believe it to live without reproach is the only paradise here below 21. Be not proud of those advantages Nature hath bestowed on you they are goods whereof in passing by you have but the use Vertue alone is a glorious succession which taketh its aime beyond Time 22. Carry your heart upon your lips that from the Concord of your words and actions you may draw a Harmony which may charme all the World There is nothing sweeter to a man than to survive himself in making the memory of his life past to be honorable before his death 23. Be alwayes jealous of your Honour and carefull of your Salvation and seeing the Honour of the World is nothing but a Chimaera seek for your Reputation in Vertue because Vertue alone can make your Reputation Eternal CHAP. VI. That in what condition soever we be we ought therein to seek for our Repose and Salvation 1. EVery man is the Work-man of of his own Repose in this World and Christian Morals being the study of all Wisemen make them at last so expert in learning to obey the laws that Providence imposeth upon them that they pass their life without disquiet and wait for death without fear 2. When you are tyed in that condition which hath been the object of your choice let your dutie be the only Compass that regulates your actions to the end that you may live without reproach and die without sorrow 3. Consider not the morall vertues which you practice upon the account of acquiring the esteem of the World it is a deceitful Fame which will perish with you you must live like a Christian if you desire to die like a Christian 4. Labour to settle your self in that Condition whereunto you are called according to the rules of Conscience as well as those of Honour and do not confound the one with the other the Glory of God and the Honour of the World have their Objects quite different 5. Consider that every man carrieth his Heaven or his Hell about with him according to the good or bad imploying of his life and seeing Life hath no returning you do continually work either your own Salvation or Destruction 6. Why do you disquiet your self in that bondage to which you are reduced seeing the chains thereof cannot be broken your disquiet makes new bonds to enthral you the more because it augments the grief without shortning the terme thereof 7. If God hath called you to a solitary life make it your Heaven lest it be your first Hell there is no chain so harsh which Time and Necessity will not sweeten as well as Reason or Death 8. He is very happy in his misfortune that doth support it patiently Constancy is continually at work in making the Crown of our sufferings and the Science of suffering without repining is one of the greatest perfections of a Christian life 9. He that consults with submission the Oracle of Heaven before he make choice of his condition on earth a never in disquiet although he find himself engaged because since that Providence hath made the bonds of it it makes the bondage thereof so pleasant that he hath greater occasion of thankfulness then of complaint 10. When a man is inlightned only with the light of humane Prudence he cannot go far without stumbling he must make use of another Lantern the light whereof is never extinguished and he must alwayes look up to Heaven to the end that he may not go astray here on Earth 11. Think not to find the Repose of your condition in the success of your affairs that is too weak a foundation to build upon for seeing that they change countenance every houre they can make you unhappy every moment 12. It is not enough to be at ease in your condition this Ease is ill grounded unless your Conscience give it you and he that is acquainted with the imploying of your time is as skilfull as your self in knowing the happiness and miseries of your life 13. There are few that will say they are happy although they have cause to be so because being over-swayed by their ambition which is alwayes unsatiable they must needs be always disquieted 14. They may call themselves truly happy who desires no other fortune but what God is pleased to send them And being disposed to receive Good and Evill with an equal cheerfulness considering the hand whence they are sent Time that changeth always never changeth to them 15. In what condition soever you be consider that from all Eternity God hath designed out that place for you and if you doe not discharge it instead of possessing
it the same Eternity shall be the measure of your torments 16. It is not our part to make out own destiny unless it be for our salvation or destruction seeing every man hath liberty to do what he can for his own salvation or damnation the events of our life are in the hands of Him who hath numbred our dayes We must undergo with submission the laws which he imposeth upon us 17. He is most unhappy who wisheth alwayes for the good he hath not and is never contented with that he hath The Wise-man is never in quest of his repose because he finds it within himself 18. Although a man be considered in regard of his Condition yet that doth not-render him considerable Suppose his name make a noise and his greatness a splendor yet the noise is dissipated and the splendor vanisheth unless his vertue preserve the memory of the one and the beauty of the other 19. All men do complain of their fortune notwithstanding they have cause to be contented therewith If God suffers you to enjoy riches are you not sati fy'd and if it be his will to withhold them you have no ground of discontent provided he give you patience a Poor contented is far more happy than a Rich disquieted 20. Never cast your eyes upon other mens goods lest Envy give you a salfe possession making you Proprietary of them without enjoying content your self with what God is pleased to bestow upon you how can you pretend to new favours from his Bounty if his Justice have cause to upbraid you with unthankfulness for that which he hath donal ready 21. Consider that the felicity of this life consisteth not in passing it without trouble but rather in passing it without offence so that the troubles of our life pass away with it but the torments of our sins are everlasting 22. What mattereth it in the Runing of our Race whether it be at high noon-day or in the evening I mean with magnificence or without pomp All consisteth in this to run happily to the end we may obtain the Crown 23. The Favorites of Fortune may well rejoyce in the light of the Sun as they walk in their favour upon Ice but the same Star that beholds them continually makes the Ice melt away suddenly whence it comes to pass that they vanish in an instant leaving us nothing but the memory of their mifery with that of their name 24. Suffer not you self to be tempted with Ambition the good thereof is to come and the trouble of it is present It gives nothing but unprofitable desires and vain hopes It argues great weakness to lose the Repose we enjoy in expectation of a greater 25. Do not take much heed to the roughness of the path of your life that part of it which is past will trouble you no more and that which is before may become fairer and more pleasant by walking on in a continuall chearfulness All consists in your skilful entring the gate of death of all the moments of life the last is only to be feared 26. The Wise-man findeth his Repose every where all times are his season and all places his abode he waxeth old with contentment because his old age makes him draw near his grave whence after he is sown in rottenness he is to arise in glory 27. This should be a great comfort to us to know that we breath continually under the protection of Providence seeing that a haire cannot fall from our head without the appointment thereof in all our distresses this ought to be our consolation as well as our remedy CHAP. VII That he that knoweth how to live well is the most learned man in the World 1. IF it be true that the object of Knowledge is Truth then know that there is nothing more true than this that we are born to worke out our own salvation and that we are to be rewarded according to our works 2. The most learned man in the world knoweth nothing if he be ignorant of the means to be saved and seeing Time and Nature can teach us only to die we must seek for other School-masters who can teach us to be born again out of our own ashes to enjoy that immortality which we hope for 3. Put the case you were a great Astrologer and by the rules of this Scienc 〈◊〉 could foresee your good or bad 〈…〉 fore-sight were unprofitable to you because during the course of your lise you have nothing to do but to shun the misery of your damnation to be esteemed happy 4. It is not enough to be a good Divine to comprehend according to the capacity of your understanding the mysteries of the Trinity Faith and submission are the Principles of true Divinity it is better to believe then dispute 5. I grant that Philosophy may inlighten your mind in the knowledge of the wonders of Nature but you must ascribe the glory of all to the Creator and by meanes of these pleasant streams re-ascend to their scource 6. Logicks may teach you the Art to put Arguments in forme but you must alwayes come to the conclusion of this last that being born to die you must die to revive 7. The science of true Physick consists only in this to find out soveraign remedies against the feaver of our passions because if we die of this disease our loss is irrecoverable for all Eternity 8. Suppose you were a great Lawyer then do reason to your self do it to all the World the only practice of this Law of Nature doth briefly comprehend the whole science of the Institutions 9. What doth it availe to be learned in Languages is it not sufficient if a man can speak the language of Reason where works are necessary words are needless 10. There are many who are curious to learn by Cards and Maps to know the extent of the Earth but never reflect upon this truth that if one little point doth there represent a whole City in what space can they remarke that of their grave 11. True Morals do only consist in living without reproach to die without sorrow and the means to compass this is to consider the end of our actions having alwayes Honour for our object and duty for our guide 12. Not that Sciences are to be contemned the study of them is as commendable as necessary but it is a saâ—â— thing for a man to imploy the wholâ— time of his life in the diligent search of their Truths without making profit of this that he who knoweth how to obey the Commandments of God is the most learned man in the World 13. O how learned he is in all Sciences that knoweth how to love God! and which may satisfy us in this it is the Will alone that can render us learned without standing in need of any other Master 14. Wonder not if the Spirit of God saith that The feare of the Lord is the beginning of Wisedom seeing the Love of him ought to be both the progress
incurable disease should not feel his Pulse sometimes You perceive your self dying every day how is it possible that you cannot lift up your head often to see what it is a clock by your Dyall 15. If you enjoy a Life without thinking of it you deserve not to live The Wise-man giveth an account to himself before he gives it to others and as he is born to die and dyeth every houre so every moment he thinks of that Necessity whereof the laws cannot be violated 16. O how hard it is for a man to learn to live after he hath lived a long time the evil habits and customes he hath contracted do so fortify themselves against reason that as long as they preside in his Councel the voice of Rule is useless 17. Let not Time surprise you study your life betimes and though it be still sliding away yet the profit of your study remains he that hath a desire to be learned is already such 18. Never draw vanity from any thing you know seeing that Knowledg how great soever it be is as vain as you unless your Salvation be the object thereof It is far better to be skilfull in tilling the Earth without pretending to any more then so much of it as may make us a grave then to walk sumptuously on it with magnisicent or naments without making reflection that we are formed of the dust thereof 19. I esteem to body learned but them who walk continually in the way of their duty for since that that is the Wise mans guide we have forgotten all that it could teach us if we do not keep it company 20. This is not all to begin to know your self you must perfect your Studies in the School of this Knowledg If you be learned to day you shall yet be more learned to morrow and you shall aver at the end of your time that you have employed it to good purpose because after it is past it still remains in the advantage you have made thereby 21. Make you a solitude in the midst of your Palaces to entertain your self in secret mark out a withdrawing-room for your self to enjoy your own company in quiet It is one of the most profitable pleasures of Life to know how it passeth to the end we may not sorrow for it when it is past 22. In fine let every man do for himself I have learned these Precepts which I lay before you and in this I wish my example had out-stript my Pen to teach you by Practice what I have endeavoured to perswade you by Discourse CHAP. X. That we ought to derive our Nobility from our selves as well as from our Ancestors 1. IF you are not Noble of your self as well as by Descent draw no advantage from your Nobility vertue alone gaineth estimation as Vice causeth contempt 2. What doth it profit you that the Name you bear is recorded in History if yours darken the lustre thereof Muddy streams make us lose the belief of the clearness of their spring 3. Let your brave Actions be your noble Ancestors and forget your ancient Nobility to enable your self anew There are no Crowns so rich as those of our own making 4. We ought to be asham'd when our Predecessors are prais'd that we cannot have a share in the praises they receive seeing they make us blush for not having deserved them 5. Set your self on work about the History of your own life that it may serve for an ornament to the History of the Age and let not your Ancestors have any other advantage of you but to have gone before you in the path of Glory following their footsteps to fill their traces 6. It is not enough for a man to be Noble by Birth and Condition he must be so by his way of living and must take notice of his own manners to correct them rather than of his Nobility to prove it 7. Neither the splendor of your Name nor the greatness of your House are sufficient titles of Nobility you must produce some that are newer it is too great a trouble to enquire how your Ancestors have lived it is enough to know how you live because your life should be the best marke of your Nobility 8. It will be inquired at the hour of death if you have lived like a Christian rather then like a Gentleman And though you cause the Titles of your Nobility to be engraven upon your Tomb your actions alone will follow you beyond it 9. A Noble man ought to live nobly both for himself and for others and seeing he is elevated above the rank of the vulgar all his actions must be extraordinary to the end that they may serve as lights to them that are below him 10. There are some that take great pains about their Pedigree to prove the antiquity of their Race as if they could challenge any thing from the reputation of their Ancestors They may well call themselves Heirs of their Goods but the succession of their Glory is of such nature that they cannot enjoy it unless they deserve it 11. Although you were descended of the Race of Kings if your actions be not answerable to your Birth a man may lawfully question the Nobility of your Original and if you prove the Antiquity thereof by your Titles these are false witnesses for your life doth belye them 12. If you be born Great do Great things but though you labor in Time take your aim in Eternity the Earth is the Grave of all that it produceth 13. If you be of a condition not very eminent raise your self above it by your vertue and render your self considerable of your self An excellent Picture carrieth its luste with it 14. Although Nature hath made you Noble yet draw the confirmation of your Nobility from Vertue for that onely can justifie it and live always for the time to come to the end that the memory of what is past may be delectable to you Time cannot surprise us when it is well employed 15. Know that true Nobility consists in doing no action unworthy of it You may well fill History with the Fame of your Exploits but the generous thoughts of your heart must be answerable to the glorious actions of your life and you must be at agreement with your self by the straight Alliance of your Vertue with your Glory 16. It is far better to be Noble in Minde than by Birth It is seldom enquired quired of what condition our Fathers were but every Body is curious to know what Trade we drive not because they pretend to any interest therein but the World being a Stage where every Man actoth his part all the Spectators are our Judges 17. How many do we see take pains to obtain Patents of Nobility as if the Title could bestow the Merit thereof They had rather exempt their Wealth from Taxes than their Life from Reproaches without considering the necessity to which they are reduced to forsake that Wealth which they would gladly preserve
and to give an account of that Life whereof they have contemned the reputation 18. If your Name be not known by your Condition make it known by your Exemplary Life Vertue is a Balm whereof the sweet Odor is spread every where 19. We have no cause to call Nature Step-mother what inequality soever we finde betwixt the Noblemen and the Peasants since that by Birth and Death we have the same destiny And if there appear a great difference in their Life yet know that the different ways which they keep do meet at the Grave 20. If you draw Vanity from the outward qualities of the Body Time will make you know your Folly every day because it destroyeth the ground thereof every moment In ruining the subject that causeth it CHAP. XI That we ought to be dis-engaged from all things to the end That we may live without disquiet and die without sorrow 1. CAll not your self the Owner of the Goods you possess every moment reneweth unto you the favor of the use of them We have nothing that is our own but miseries and unhappiness 2. If your heart be fastned on any Object consider the perishing nature of it and seeing you cannot love it but as a transitory thing justifie your love by the necessity of its ruine 3. When we love any thing passionately we expose our selves anew to the view of Fortune which can wound us in as many parts as we are divided 4. The Covetous man whose heart is in his Treasures feels it pluckt out as often as they are diminished without considering that as streams return to their source so this Piece of Earth wherewith he is intrusted must be re-joyned to its whole 5. The Ambitious man who renders himself Imaginary Possessor of all the goods he wisheth believeth that he is robbed of them when he is prevented in acquiring them This lets us see that as we live in our Passions so we feel our selves dying with the causes of their Birth 6. All that you would love love it in God to the end that your Love may produce your Repose rather than your Trouble All the Affections which we contract in this World do nothing else but breed and die seeing every moment may be the first and last of their continuance 7. What an ingenious thing it is for a man to torment himself in being willing to die for every object he loveth Is it not enough to give up his heart to one love that is allowable and lawful without dividing it amongst a thousand other Passions to resent as many different torments 8. The Chains wherewith we are tyed here below are easie to be made and hard to be broken And if death alone restore us to liberty yet we lose it in recovering it seeing that commonly we carry the guilty remembrance of our pleasant Bondage to the Grave with us 9. A mans love towards himself is to be excused when his Salvation is the object thereof he is permitted to love himself in a lawful way yea with excess too using extraordinary endeavors to testifie the violence of that Love by the contempt of all other 10. Happy is that man who is altogether his own that he may give himself wholly to God Unhappy is he that after he hath given his heart to the World seeth himself constrained to leave it with the World not having so much power as to take it back 11. The Wisemans Love is never blinde because Reason which is nothing else but Light produceth it Whence it comes to pass that he loveth with pleasure drawing his delights from the Object of his Affections which are as harmless as himself 12. Every Body loveth Liberty yet every Body is engaged They that have no Master become Slaves to their own Passions and in this shameful Bondage they render themselves unworthy of compassion because they have no compassion on themselves 13. Seeing that Christian Perfection consists in the contempt of all things and in the dis-engagement from our Selves we must be our own to the end that we may give our selves Unless our hearts be emptied they shall never be filled with God 14. Every man goeth about his own business and we do always forget the most important which is that of our Salvation All others are unprofitable at the end of our days work seeing an account will not be required of them no not so much as of their success 15. I know very well that all our desires do divide our heart and it is so possessed with a continual longing after their object that it liveth out of its self for anothers sake But though it be divided during life it must needs be united in it self at last to die all alone for its self onely 16. Do not wait till Age draw you from the World but preventing Necessity by Reason triumph over your self before Time become your Conqueror 17. Consider that your Habits and Customs are as so many Bonds which strengthen themselves continually and seeing Nature doth much contribute thereunto all endeavors at last are too weak to break them without the help of Grace 18. O what a contentment it is to a man to be free to die and to be wholly his own at the hour of death The Objects of our Passions are as so many Chains which fasten us to the World when we are upon the point of departing from it We must bid them adieu betimes that we may make our retreat without sorrow 19. It is very hard for us to hinder our selves from being surprised by Time in those Affections that we contract here below because as the hour of our departure is uncertain and the hope that dieth after us deceiveth us too so we do not commonly forsee our mishap but when it is unavoidable 20. Dis-engage your self from your Children and after you have put them under the Protection of Providence it is enough to shew them the way wherein they should walk to work out their own salvation by going before them your self 21. Be not tied with your Dignities these are the Liveries of Fortune which she giveth and taketh away at her pleasure Content your self in that you deserve them seeing you must give an account of the use of them 22. Let not your heart finde any place in your Palaces to lodge its Affections there least the Chains thereof be too strong Do not establish your dwelling there all the steps of your walks are numbred and in going under the covert of the shady Allies in your Gardens you draw nearer your Grave 23. Every Man loveth his Repose and no body takes pains to acquire it It is not enough to be rich in this World and to taste of a thousand pleasures therein because these riches remain in the World and the pleasures pass away leaving us nothing but a troublesome remembrance and an unprofitable sorrow 24. It is not enough to live at Liberty we must die so and what tye soever we have here below the failing of
the heart is that of the Soul because the will of this followeth the thoughts of the other 25. If you be addicted to the World quit this bad Master betimes and restore you to your self that you may offer your self totally to God All streams return to their Fountain all Beams are joyned to the Body of their Light You must render your Soul to its Creator in the Innocency of Baptism and in the Freedom of your Cradle CHAP. XII That the Good we do in this World is of greater value than the Goods we possess in it 1. THink not that you are Rich according to the worth of the Goods you possess but rather according to the measure of the Good which you do Your Treasures remain with your Heirs but your Works follow you Those are Strangers to your Soul but these do properly belong to it 2. The Inventory of your Goods serve onely for a memory of the Accompt you have to make both of the Purchase and the Usage of them So that when you die you shall know that you have taken pains onely for others seeing they are to reap the fruit of your labors and also of the torments appointed for you 3. He is truly miserable who hath his Coffers filled with Money and his Soul stained with the guilt of the purchase thereof Suppose your Riches did level the path of your life to render it more pleasant and you cease not to go on in your journey but when you are at the end of your course you shall be afraid of him whom you shall finde there after you have forgotten him to whom you should rather have betaken your self 4. Every body taketh pains for this Life as though it were immortal and no body thinks on Death which we carry in our bosome Whence it comes to pass that after we have spent our time in gathering of Riches a stranger enjoyeth them for our first punishment and Hell waiteth for us for our final torment 5. To what purpose do you put out your Money to Usury to assure your self of this Life seeing that by Grace you wait continually for the Life to come to prolong it The Fire of Covetousness devoureth you in the behalf of a Life which is nothing but the smoak thereof since that like smoak it is dissipated by the blast of our sighs 6. You keep an exact account of your Revenues and Disbursements without considering that you have nothing which is to be valued but the time you have to live and because that is uncertain and Death infallible you must make good the use and possession of a Good which you forsake for ever 7. What pleasure can you take in walking abroad upon your Territories if at every step you walk upon your Grave You take all your Walks in a Circle whereof your Grave is the Centre 8. You enjoy indeed a great satisfaction in having many Houses of Pleasure there to pass the different seasons of the year but the year passeth and your pleasures too and from season to season your last approacheth wherein you must give an account of the Fruits which all these seasons have yielded you 9. It is a sad pleasure for a man to contemplate himself in his greatness as in a Looking-Glass because though this Looking-Glass did flatter us yet it cannot represent us but in a continual motion seeing our life hath no stay and what delight can we have in a way how pleasant soever it be if it end at the Grave 10. How astonished may a Man be at the reading of his Testament when he heareth the Inventory of the Goods he hath purchased but hath no body to represent to him the Good he hath done Yet he forsaketh Those eternally and to all Eternity he can pretend to nothing but the fruits of These Judge of his astonishment by this thought 11. Do not reckon Greatness and Riches in the number of the Felicities of this Life they are either the Goods of Nature or Fortune whereof the use is much more dangerous than the possession seems pleasant He is Great before God who is willingly Small before Men. 12. Consider that the Goods which the World yieldeth are false but the Miserie 's true And if when you die you be rich onely in pieces of Land that Earth will remain to you both for your Grave and for your share 13. You cannot enrich your Soul but with Eternal Goods seeing those that are perishing are not for its use You cannot heap up Treasures in your Soul unless Heaven be the Fountain of them 14. It is a great ease to our Minde that we have onely purchased Goods to do Good withal and that we can be able to distribute that before we die which we would give after death For by making it pass through strange hands we run the hazard of diminishing our Charity although we enjoy the advantage thereof 15. Although we should not keep an Accompt of the good Deeds which we do yet it is lawful to preserve the remembrance of them so that the Memory being filled with a habit so commendable this Object always present powerfully moveth the Will whereon depends our future concernment 16. He that doth much Good gathereth much Goods A good life filleth the House with Riches in filling it with gladness A voluntary or patient Poverty may enrich us with Real Treasures 17. Be not disquieted for the meanness of your Estate what is Necessary is sufficient to the Wiseman Abundance never produceth Repose but Mediocrity is able to give it 18. He is free indeed who willeth always that which God willeth But since that we are blinde in our Liberty not knowing to what we shall direct our determinations we preserve our Freedom in putting it into the hands of him who gave it us to make a good use thereof seeing He is the Object and the End of that Usage 19. Covet no more riches than God bestows on you or what comes of the sweat of your Labors And though your Children have no more know that the Seed thereof is so fruitful that it increaseth continually and is never diminished 20. If you knew how great a pleasure it were to do good you would contract so powerful habits of it that it were impossible to break them But if you be so unhappy as to doubt of it let this disadvantage yield you some profit because experience may make you happy CHAP. XIII If we would leave the World chearfully we must dis-engage our selves from it ere we leave it 1. STudy to know the World that you may learn to contemn it seeing the contempt thereof proceeds from the knowledge we have of it No man ever knew it and loved it and they that tie themselves to follow it are wilfully blind who settle their chief happiness here below 2. If Examples are able to instruct you you have no more to do but to cast your eyes on every side to look on the miserable People the World hath made and is