hearts that are alwayes disquieted in their expectation 10. All the World doth breath after nothing so much as Glory and no body taketh pains to acquire the true Glory the contempt of worldly honours is most safe a man cannot deserve them but in shunning them 11. Purity of Conscience is the fountain of true Glory and it is in vain for wicked men to run after the Crowns thereof God for their sakes changeth the nature of these Crowns seeing they cover them with infamy instead of adorning them with honour 12. In this World every man is the Artist of his own Glory but to the end that this work may be the better effected he must be for a long time Vertues Apprentice seeing she alone is able to make him Master 13. True Glory is the effect of a vertuous life and good works are so many glorious actions Care not for the verdict which the World may pass on them your own judgement ought to give you the first approbation of them and your conscience the last crown 14. It is not enough to live honorably the Morals of Jesus Christ are far different from those of the World for these teach us the love of our selves but our Saviour the contempt and because Example is more powerful then Precept he doth perswade us to it by his own Practice 15. We may well seek for Glory in Combats but we can only find it in the victory we obtain over our Passions Suppose you could gain Battels take Cities and conquer Kingdoms and Provinces yet you must triumph over your self if you would beare the title of a true Worthie 16. The World hath her Persons of honour but I doe pitie them with all their Glory they adorn themselves with many specious Titles and they forget that of Miserable which doth properly belong unto them they muster up all their qualities and remember not that of their perishing nature which blemisheth all the rest 17. If you desire to acquire true Glory let the Glory of God be your object The World hath nothing to give but false honours and if you would be of the number of true Heroes let your ambition extend only to the conquest of Heaven all those that have busied themselves in conquering the Earth have been constrain'd at their death to content themselves with seven foot 18. After that the Rival of Cesar had made his conquest there could hardly be found so much room as to write upon his grave Here lies Pompey This sheweth that the vanity of the Glory of the greatest men is altogether nothing 19. True Glory hath no original in nature the fountain thereof cometh from above and as Eternity is the object of it Eternity ought to serve also for the reward thereof 20. Covet no other quality but that of an Honest man seeing that alone is able to accomplish your Glory he that liveth well liveth gloriously the quiet of his Conscience is the honour of his life as well as the happiness thereof 21. It will not be asked at the houre of death if the honors you have received have been great but rather if the works you have done have been good True Glory lyes in the contempt of the Glory of the World 22. As all things created returne to their Original the World seeth all that Glory die which it bred and if you draw not from Heaven those thoughts of that Honour which you profess you shall ere long be ashamed to survive it seeing you shall be a witness of the ruine thereof 23. The contempt we ought to have of the honors of this life is never known but at the houre of death but seeing that knowledg is unprofitable we must then prevent it by doing that to day which we would have done to morrow 24. Time surpriseth the wisest men although it be alwayes present you may well heare a Clock or carry a Watch in your pocket but it is to no purpose seeing you do not profit by he counsell they give you which is that Time passeth away as well as the Glory we have acquired in it CHAP. V. That Integrity and upright dealing only maketh a vertuous man 1. WHether you be rich or great or happy all these qualities can make no impression capable to gain Reputation Integrity only can give that and without this title of honour a man is nothing but a meer shadow 2. You are very glad to purchase with money the most eminent dignities and Offices But after examination of your Conscience if you find your self incapable to discharge them you do but expose your self in publick view upon an Altar there to serve for the sacrifice 3. Men of Integrity are the true Heroes of their Age because they have their souls filled with true Glory and seeing it is impossible for a man to live with honour unless he live without reproach labour therefore in all your actions to make your duty here below your first object and last reward 4. What doth it availe you to possess large Offices and to receive great Honours if being incapable of the one you render your self unworthy of the other your Office gains respect whereas your person deserves contempt as if your Livery were more to be esteemed than your self 5. Suppose your were served in State and had your Ushers marching before you c. Yet all the honor or disgrace that encompasseth you do proceed from your good or bad reputation and whatsoever pompe doth accompany you your way of living produceth either your esteem or contempt 6. A Righteous man carrieth his ranke about with him all his words and actions are stirred up by an honest boldness and that is it that draweth respect and esteem by a secret vertue whereof the first cause is never known seeing it is above nature 7. The first enquiry that is made after your manners serves instead of a Judge of your life This doth oblige you to give proof of your vertues betimes that the esteem of your person may take the deeper impression because publick Fame renders it self the soveraign Umpire of your reputation 8. The respects that are rendered to a man of a corrupt life do cover him rather with infamy then glory so that when he challengeth respect in regard of his Authority he receiveth nothing but forced acknowledgements which do shamefully reproach his soveraignty yea upon the very Throne of his Empire 9. Seeing vertuous actions are valued according to the reputation of him who performs them they must needs be built on a solid foundation lest they be attributed to chance and Fortune have all the glory Every one in this world is worth so much as he maketh himself to be worth 10. It is Uprightness and Integrity alone that doth distinguish us from one another all other qualities are strangers to us seeing they follow us but to the grave but this alone can exempt us from it 11. Frame unto your self certain wages of Honour which can be filled by no other but your self
be ended seeing the grief thereof is continual and the reward imaginary 19. Do not lull your self asleep in the success of your wicked designes the justice of God is so much the more rigorous as it appeareth slow and if you do not prevent it by correcting your self first you shall never be able to shun it 20. Learn to admire the mercy of God that giveth your heart leave every moment to justify it self before him seeing the least of the sighs thereof can expiate the crimes of it 21. Establish unto your self a way of living wherein Honour may be your object and Reason your guide and be not slack in your duty this is the only means to find repose in the troubles of the World and to enjoy a calme amidst the storm whereby we are continually agitated 22. Every body loveth life and yet no body learns to live all the world dyeth and yet there is none that knoweth rightly how to dy This Science ought to be the only study of the Wiseman seeing it alone can sufficiently instruct us in the Art of working out our own Salvation 23. A Soul deprived of Grace is alwayes in Alarum being continually disturbed with the horrour of the crimes it hath committed and it may be said truly of it that it is a blind thing walking along the brink of a precipice 24. Imagine the disquiet of a sick-man in the heat of a continual Feaver He hath no rest night nor day feeling himself by little and little consumed by a secret fire which burneth him without being perceived devoureth him without being known and at last reduceth him to ashes without giving the least moment of intermission to his painful burnings 25. This poor afflicted man is the true picture of a guilty Soul which seeing it self buried in a body tormented with a continual agony feels it self already burning in apprehension in those Eternal Fires which are destined for the punishment thereof No wonder if his disquiet be great seeing every moment may be the last of his life and the first of the just vengeance of an angry God CHAP. III. That we ought to draw our consolation against the miseries which befall us from the consideration of the Original whence they are derived 1. COmplain not of the Crosses which are inflicted by the Divine Majesty they are presents sent from Heaven your patience will shortly make you know the value of them 2. Complaints are unseemly in the mouth of a Malefactor if you can do no other thing but provoke God do not augment the number of your offences in murmuring against his justice 3. You must know that God doth commonly afflict his Elect in strowing under their feet those Roses wherewith his head was crowned therefore seeing he hath been a sharer in them his Elect can have no part in his glory but by right of that succession 4. What cause have you to complain of the justice of God seeing his very rigours are the effects of his compassion he punisheth you in this World to the end that he may shew mercy to you in the next in his vengeance he constraineth you to admire his Bounty 5. In all your afflictions let Reason prevent Time in comforting you and be indebted to none but your self for the healing of your pain seeing you may find the remedy in your submissive Spirit 6. He that complains of the evill that he suffers must needs have forgotten the evil he hath done if he doth remember it his complaint passeth for a new crime greater then any that went before 7. As often as Heaven punisheth you do reason to justice in suffering without murmuring the chast sement which it inflicteth upon you silence and Submission do alwayes appease the wrath of God 8. There is no greater misery then to complain of those miseries that happen unto you because in murmuring against Justice which punisheth you you constrain it to augment the force thereof and to fall more heavily upon you by reason of this last crime which you commit 9. A heart filled with God doth never sigh but for joy amidst the greatest afflictions so that seeing he loveth much more then he suffereth the excess of his love doth so vehemently moderate that of his pain that by little and little he loseth the feeling thereof 10 Consider that you are the cause of your own afflictions to the end that punishing your self by the sorrow which you ought to have for them this sorrow may be your first comfort 11. How unhappy are the favorites of Fortune to follow the blind in their blindness suppose she should lead them a pleasant way yet that is no other then the way to their grave where they shall find the thorns of all those Roses which they have trampled upon 12. In all your calamities look up to the hand that smites you before you complain of the stroke it hath given you God doth never punish us in Time but to make us afraid of his vengeance in Eternity 13. The Time of afflictions is of short continuance in respect of that Eternity of glory which is to succeed it the evill of our sufferings soon passeth away but the good of our constancy ought never to have an end 14. Generous spirits have alwayes carried a respect and reverence toward the unfortunate knowing that they are sick persons who should at least be comforted if they cannot be cured 15. Never refuse comfort to an afflicted person to the end that God may repay it you when you stand in need of it As all the evils are punished in this world so is all the good recompensed 16. Flee not from the unfortunate seeing that to morrow you may be of their number but render to them what you would expect from others if you were in their condition The afflicted have no enemies seeing their misery maketh truce with all those who have proclaimed war against them 17. If it be true that the Object hath influence upon the Power or Faculty there is no afflicted person which may not receive abundance of consolation in the apprehension of a crucified Saviour never was any frustrated that came to him in sincerity 18. Be not weary in suffering as the Rose fadeth the prickles thereof become blunt it is not a small comfort to you in your crosses that you can reckon the houres thereof Those evils that must needs take an end are never of long continuance 19. O how happy a thing it is to grow old in affliction He that dyeth upon the Cross carrieth his death so far into the second Life which he hopeth for that he feeleth himself reviving according to the measure that he feeleth himself dying 20. The livery of the unfortunate is the livery of the Predestinate and it may be truly said that their silent constancy is continually working at those Crowns which are appointed to be the reward of their labours 21. They that rejoyce at the miseries of others prepare their own punishment after they have
condemned themselves seeing they render themselves guilty a-new by believing that they are not guilty yea they are far more guilty then those that are punished 22. The just man is commonly afflicted and he is very happy in this World that knoweth how to improve his sufferings a life crowned with Roses produceth alwayes a Death filled with Thorns 23. It is a great Comfort to look for none here below in all the crosses that happen unto us because if Patience cannot receive the final recompence from any other then Heaven it is to be beleeved that this recompence is bestowed upon us for no other end but to crown our Patience 24. Do not shun the approaches of afflicted persons God looks upon them continually as the objects of his compassion rather than of his Justice and beleeve it it is very lamentable not to improve aright the frowns and severities of Fortune seeing the last day of a voluptuous life is far more terrible than all the dayes that went before it have been pleasant and delightsome 25. I do not much wonder that some holy persons would choose either to suffer or die It is impossible to love a crucified God without partaking of his sufferings and as sorrow is the object of this love so the heart which is filled therewith doth sigh for joy amidst the greatest crosses 26. There is no man more miserable then he that is born and dyeth Fortunes darling because when death seizeth him unawares he knoweth at the end of the day that his light hath served him for no other use but to find the way to Hell 27. A great Calm is alwayes held suspect by the wise Pilot he complains of that good-lucke because the excess of a Calm is an infallible presage of the short continuance thereof 28. Light disgraces fortify the mind and as they keep it in a continuall Alarum by the feare of a greater mishap so the mind by a prudent foresight puts it self in a condition to shun it thus our first wound shelters us from many others which might tend to our hurt 29. How pleasant is it to do that promptly and handsomely which we must do of necessity The Cross is our portion he that will not beare the burthen thereof in Time prepareth his own punishment to Eternity 30. Do not refuse the Cup that God presenteth to you seeing he hath quenched his thirst with the bitterness of that whereof he makes you taste but a little is it not an excess of bounty to make a tryall first of all the sorrows that you can be able to suffer to mitigate the violence of them 31. When God afflicteth you by the death of any of your nearest Relations he comforts you at the same instant by a new adver tisment of the necessity of your departure seeing they are gone to their mansion place but one dayes journey before you 32. If you have lost your Wife that buried half waits for the other to be joyn'd with it and seeing that union is certain and infallible the moment which perfects it ought to be continually present with you although it be to come 33. The loss of any temporal Good ought not to afflict you if so be that of Grace abide with you An innocent person afflicted is never miserable because he ever findeth his consolation in Gods Will who hath so decreed it 34. All the miseries and all the happiness that can befall us are in Gods hands the first is the correction of his Justice the second the favour of his Goodness but seeing both these proceed from him alone the one obligeth us to silence out of respect the other to thankfulness through acknowledgement 35. Christian Wisdom consisteth in this to will that which God willeth not out of necessity but rather out of a submission that prevents it to the end that this necessity may find us alwayes disposed to undergo the laws thereof how hard soever they be 36. He that is jealous of the happiness of others increaseth his own miseries by his envy which is both criminal and unprofitable and in wishing an imaginary good he feeleth a reall evill 37. I do not much wonder if a Soul totally resigned to the will of God be under covert from the stormes of Fortune seeing the calme which it enjoyeth draweth the continuance thereof from him who hath deminion over Time 38. All our disquiet proceedeth only from our contempt of Providences Orders for if we did really beleeve this truth that all that happeneth unto us cometh from Providence our very afflictions would yeeld us comfort seeing their bitterness would be changed into sweetness CHAP. IV. That true glory doth only consist in living vertuously 1. ALthough you should ransack the whole Earth for Laurels there would nothing remain to you in the end but the ashes and although all the people thereof were your Subjects yet the small compass of your Tombe would limit the greatness of this Empire 2. The same stairs which serve for ascending serve also for descending All Thrones have their steps The last step of our elevation marketh alwayes the first step of our fall 3. Be not dazled at the splendor of Fortune's honours her inconstancy doth infallibly presage that the day of your prosperity shall not passe without a storm and althoug it be at the declining the last moment thereof may be fatall to you 4. All the honours which we receive here on Earth are of the same nature with the praises bestowed on them the latter are made of wind and the former are nothing but smoak the one passeth over our head the other striketh the eare in passing by 5. I do not much wonder that Glory hath nothing else to give but Laurels and Palmes the Crowns made of these last as long as the head that weareth them the one is withered in the Sun the other groweth white by the scorching of Time and both at last are reduced to powder 6. How many triumphs have you seen and how many crowned victorious but those faire days are past and the memory of those famous Conquerours passeth also untill at last the History of them by the length of Time becomes a fable 7. Suppose that Posterity should preserve the remembrance both of your name and exploits yet the Time ought to be limited and of what extent soever the limits thereof be they are alwayes very short seeing they can be measured 8. Wonder not that the Romans have acquired a false Glory they never had a love for the true Glory they followed Vertue without being willing to know it and as they were contented to do noble actions out of vanity so the vanity abideth with them their reputation being nothing but wind 9. He is base and low-minded who encloseth his ambition and hopes within the Circle of his life seeing the Tombe is the Centre thereof We must seek for a Glory that is far beyond Time and that hath no dependance from it which may fill the emptiness of our
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