our hearts The hands as Ant. Guevara observes do work the seet do walk the tongue speaks but it is the heart only that weeps The eyes are but the spunges of the heart through which its affections are drained and dried up An afflicted heart hath neither hands to labour nor feet to walk nor can it find a tongue to speak but tears are all that it hath to tell you what it wants And therefore we ought to reserve these for some greater thing then our dead friends which our heart ought much to be affected withall As our Saviour said to the women of Jerusalem when he was going to the most cruel sufferings so might our friends say to us when they are a dying Weep not for us but weep for your selves if you be dead while you are alive Mourn more then you do if you have not yet mourned for your sins and amended them But if you have then rejoyce in the favour of God and bless him for his Son Jesus who is better to thee then ten Sons or all thy friends which thou lamentest Are our sins dead as well as our friends have we buried them in the grave of our Lord are we risen again to an heavenly life let us go then to God and pray to him and praise him and this will give us ease But if we be troubled for sin then sure we shall not add another sin by immoderate sorrow and forgetfulness of Gods goodness If it be sin we hate then mourning complaints and discontents must all be hated Would you indispose your self to pray to praise God and meditate in his sacred Word Would you render your self unfit to receive the Sacrament of his most blessed body and blood If not then mourn but so much as will not hinder any of these and you have leave to mourn as much as you please Stop but here and there is no man will lay any restraints upon you But then how short your mourning must be you will soon guess and the Sun must not go down upon your grief no more then it must upon your wrath But if you take no great care whether you disturb your souls or no then you have most reason to mourn for that carelesness and neglect Go then and bewail your unkindness to God your unthankfulness for his mercies and unbelief of his Gospel for you can never take your hearts in a better time then when they are so sad and inclined to be sorrowful Tell them that now they are very well disposed for a necessary business and bid them look if there be not something else to bewail that is more considerable Ask thy self hast thou not deserved this and ten times more Wilt thou add another sin when thou shouldst cease all sins Hast thou not been careless of seeking God Hast thou not foolishly wasted thy precious time and art thou not troubled at all for that Yea art thou now impatient as if God dealt hardly with thee and wilt thou spend more time badly when thou art taught by the death of thy friend how short it is It is most incongruous thus to bewail the death of a child or acquaintance when thou art like to die thy self both body and soul And when thou hast mourned for thy sins thou wilt be taught thereby how little thou oughtest to mourn for thy losses For even our tears for sin must not be immoderate and therefore much less must we dare to let them flow in abundance for our losses So you know the great Apostle commands the Corinthians to comfort him that had been guilty of a great sin and receive him again into the Church now that he repented lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow 2 Corinth 2.7 I wish all those who are ready to destroy themselves with grief would seriously confider this that we may not over-load our hearts with grief for our sins themselves which are the causes of all other sorrows We cannot please the Devil better then by discontent He would fain oppress every good man with some passion or other let us take heed how we joyn with him against our selves If we have left his service that is enough to provoke him If we have bid defiance to his pleasures this doth incense him and we must expect that he will endeavour to overcome us with griefs The Devil is mad against all good men and therefore let all those who have irritated him against them beware how they now prove cowards and execute his vengeance for him with their own hands Let us take heed as Photius excellently expresseth it lest we be good at stirring up and provoking the envy and rage of our adversary but naught at resisting and overcoming him by patience and perseverance to the end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if we must needs weep for the loss of something here let it be for the afflictions of the people of God Let us mourn to see the Church sit like a widdow in her black garments Let it pitty us to see the blood of Gods servants shed like water upon the ground If our own sins do not trouble us let us weep to see the wickedness of the world and let our eyes run down with tears to think that men do not keep Gods Law Some such channel we should cut for our tears and not let them spend themselves on this fashion about our own personal troubles This is a method both to stop our tears and likewise to make them useful to us while they run It is a way to ease us of our present grief and of all others also We shall exchange that sorrow that would have troubled us for a great deal of joy and comfort Whereas our worldly grief would have left the heart sad this will leave it light and merry Believe throughly that the Lord Jesus lives III. The life of our Lord Jesus gives us the greatest comfort against death and so thou maist both expect a resurrection from the dead and likewise hope for comfort from him when thou art left sad and desolate The Body it self doth not die any more then corn doth which dies that it may live and spring up again with large gain and advantage Are we loth to throw the corn into the ground and do we not patiently expect till the harvest comes Why should we then bury our friends with so many tears seeing they are but laid in the womb of their mother again that by the power of God they may have a better birth The Heathen could say much to comfort themselves but they knew not this comfort for indeed they were rather contented then comforted Those that did think themselves most wise and judged that they had the best supports did only dream that the soul might take another body and shift its place at several times But we know that there will be a time when even our scattered ashes will fly into one anothers embraces again and a new life
either doth he willingly grieve us or send such things upon us that should molest us but he loves to have all his children in peace And Thirdly Believe fully that he hath the greatest mind to give that which will remedy the greatest cause of troubles and that is his Divine Grace and Holy Spirit Sin is that which makes all our sores so angry The Spirit of the most High is that which will enable us to mortifie it and this Spirit we may have as readily from him as a peice of bread from the hands of our dearest parent Go on couragiously therefore and be confident seeing there is nothing that God is more desirous to bestow then that which will cure us of all our griefs Of these I shall say no more and of the rest nothing at all least I should weary my other Readers though not You who have given me abundant testimony that I can do nothing to displease you and thereby laid a perpetual engagement upon me to be The most affectionate of those that love and serve you Symon Patrick From your house at Batersea October 4. 1659. Reader It was intended that the summ of this Discourse should have been given at the head of every Chapter But that being by an oversight neglected it is here presented to thee AN Intrduction shewing that all mens desires are seeking for quiet In the Gospel only it is to be found Christ bequeathed it is a Legacy to his Disciples The design of this Treatise Cap. 1. Two Reasons against trouble drawn from Christs promises and Gods providence Cap. 2. Three other Reasons which shew that we may be good whatsoever comes and we may turn it into good and if we do not it will be a double evil Cap. 3. Some other reasons from the kindness that may be intended us in every thing from the nature of the world and the nature of vertue Cap. 4. Where we must lay our foundation of settlement and how it must be laid Cap. 5. Two rules directing unto peace by understanding and doing and distinguishing of our duty Cap 6. Two Rules more concerning the choise of means and carelesness about events Cap. 7. The knowledge of four selves together with consideration of the necessary consequents of every thing are two other remedies against trouble Cap. 8. It is of great import to consider well what we enjoy and we should cast that in the Ballance against our wants which is the substance of one rule more Cap 9. Two Considerations more one of the wants of others another of the uncertainty of our own enjoyments Cap. 10. Three Directions more shewing how we should shut the world out of our selves and avoid self-flattery and take heed of rash anger at our own selves Cap. 11. Humility and self-annihilation knowledge and judgement simplicity and purity constancy and fixedness in one thing are four excellent means to keep us from trouble Cap. 12. A Caution and the Conclusion shewing that these things suppose the practice of some more general rules and that we must not have these truths to get when we have need of them The Contents of the second Discourse Sect. 1. IT shows the need of a Consolatory Discourse against the loss of our friends Sect. 2. The purpose of it is to show that we may grant nature leave to ease it self by moderate tears and two Advices are given to keep us from making an ill use of this grant Sect. 3. It shows rather what might be said then what is said in this present Treatise for moderating our sorrows But yet those examples which we have from others may move us to follow their rules and so a brief touch is made upon them Sect. 4. It teaches to consider what death is First Common Secondly Necessary Thirdly Good And if we thought more of it we should not be unwilling to part neither doth the manner of parting make any considerable difference Sect. 5. It contains comforts against the loss of Children Parents Consorts Friends upon a due consideration what every one of them is Sect. 6. It directs how to quiet our selves by comparing our selves both with our selves and with others and there are five wayes of comparison insisted on Sect. 7. Several reasons are given against immoderate sorrow which are comprised in 14. Questions which we should make to our selves The reason and spirit of them you may see in the Margin at the beginning of every particular Sect. 8 Some other things are proposed for the perfect cure of the soul The first of which is deadness to the world and the casting out false opinions The second is the changing of our sorrow into another kind The third is the Life of our Lord Jesus Sect. 9. The Conclusion It contains an advice to those that are in love with sorrow And an advice for the reaping profit by this book And a brief recapitulation of the chief matters in it ERRATA PAge 1. l. 10. r. the mind p 4. l. 3. r. it brings p. 6. l. 18. r have admitted p. 25. l. 19. r. thou hast left p. 32. l. 13. r. his arms p. 51. l. 6. r. other mens trouble p 59. Marg. r. non optet p. 81. Marg. l. 3. r. 2 Cor. 4.17 18. p. 98. Marg. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 119. l. 25. r. die then as p. 158. l. penult r. here are ten p. 175. l. 10. dele then p. 188. l. 17. r. well call THE HEARTS EASE OR A Remedy against TROUBLE JOHN 14.1 Let not your hearts be troubled IT is not either fineness of Wit or abundance of Wealth or any such like inward or outward ornament that makes the difference between men and renders the one better then the other but the firmness of good Principles the settledness of the spirit and the quiet of mind To the obtaining of which all the old Philosophers many hundreds of years before our Saviour did wisely summon all their forces all whose lessons when they are summed up amount only to this to teach a man how to be contented Socrates was upon this score accounted the best amongst them because though he understood but a little of the frame of nature yet he well understood himself and perceived that he was not the wisest man that could read rare things in the Stars and could follow the paths of the Sun and trace all the heavenly bodies in the course which they run but he that could tell how not to be troubled either for the want of that knowledge or for any other thing Christianity hath not a new design in hand but more rare and excellent instruments to effect the old What Heathens could speak of it enables us to do And still it is as true as ever it was That nothing betters a mans condition but that which rids him of all his griefs and eases him of his troubles So a great Divine among the Ancients observes Macarius Homil. 5 That Christians are not distinguished from others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
act prudently and discreetly it supposes that we are not dispirited and will likewise secure us from so being And if the doing as well as we can and as wisely as we are are able will satisfie us before hand and make timorousness unreasonable then so will it satisfie us afterward in cross events and not let us trouble our selves with a fruitless repentance Eccles 32.19 The Councel of the son of Syrach is excellently good Do nothing without advice and when thou hast once done repent not For I believe most men may say the same which that person did who had so many strange changes in his life Quod si non consuevissem non poenitere ullius rei quam voluntariè effecerim etiam quae malè cessisset prorsus viâ—issem insaelix Cardan If I had not used not to repent of any thing I had voluntarily done even of that which fell out ill I had lived altogether miserable Do thy best therefore and then leave the success to God CAP. VII COnsider thy own sufficiency and undertake no more then is fitting for thee If we did live by this rule and hot strain beyond our ability we should be kept from trouble in our employments * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian l. 2. c. 6. As one may was a saying of Socrates and a sentence of great import Let every one know what he can do and let him not meddle with matters too high for him and so he may quiet himself as David tells us by his experience Psal 131.1 2. Let our desires be according to our power and let that also be the measure of our actions and then we shall not implicate and intangle our selves in things beyond our reach The Pye must not think to sing as well as the Nightingale nor the Parrot to talk like a man every one is not made to govern States to distribute Justice to resolve great doubts c. Some men must be content to govern their Families and themselves to understand plain truths and practise them leaving the rest to men of greater depth and learning So Siracides directs Eccles 3.21 Seek not out things that are too hard for thee neither search the things that are above thy strength that which is commanded thee think upon with reverence for it is not needful to see the things that are secret What he saith in that one instance may be said in all other Take not upon thee a Calling that is above thy wisdom and strength and spirit for when thou seest thou canst not do those things which by thy place and office thou art engaged unto it will be a matter of infinite vexation and endless distraction to thy mind It is of singular use here for every man to observe his own Genius and disposition and to follow that being contented to be ignorant of and unable for other things that are without his capacity It is enough for such a little creature as a man to be good for one thing and so we may stand in need of one another If he will venture upon things without his compass at his own peril and trouble it must be and that were the less matter if it would not hazard other troubles also Ver. 25. Without eyes thou shalt want light faith that wise man in the forementioned Chapter and what wonder is it if thou dost If men weary themselves in vain when they have no apthess to such things it is but natural and may be amended by the old rule Know thy self Eccles 37.27 28. My son saith Siracides prove thy soul in thy life and see what is evil for it and give not that unto it For all things are not profitable for all men neither hath every soul pleasure in every thing And as an appendix to this rule give me leave to add this Imploy thy self in as few things as thou canst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. M. Anton. l. 4. 24. undertake not much business This is the royal Philosophers rule Do but a little if thou wouldst have much quiet Peace arises not only from good imployment but also from little mind alwayes needful things and let the rest alone Therefore when we are going to do any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let us say Is not this in the number of needless things but then as he adds have a care not only to out off impertinent and unnecessary actions but thoughts and imaginations also Our Saviour seems to say the same in the Gospel of St. Luk. 10.41 Luke Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things Flies disquiet us not by their strength but by their number and so do great affairs not vex so much as a number of businesses of little value But if we must be imployed in many let us not make too much haste to have done for we shall but incumber our selves and let us dispatch them in due order one after another or else we shall do none well to our own content Consider the consequent of every action and of every thing and either chuse all its appendant troubles and inconveniences or else let it alone There is nothing in the world but it is as a Lilly among the Thorns every Rose hath its prickles about it and there is nothing so desirable but it hath some associates we could wish separate from its company The best thing in the world hath its faults and therefore if we would have peace let us consider alwayes the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Epictetus speaks the things that follow or accompany every action and every condition and either let us not chuse the thing it self or else receive all its retinue together with it By this means we shall save our selves the trouble of repentance for a foolish choise and we shall not be put to the unwise mans complaint Non putaram I never dreamt of this I imagined not there had been all these unpleasing things mixed with what I desired Who should have thought of this but thy self How like an Ideot dost thou look in thy own thoughts when thou art thus surprized How ridiculous doth it appear for a man to fit down and cry like a child If I had known thus much I would never have made such a venture I would not have medled with this calling or business if I had thought there would have been so much trouble in it Thou shouldst have thought of this before and then have made this choise Honour must be chosen Gum suo onere with its suiters and followers and publique appearances c. And so marriage must be chosen with all its cares the diligence of pleasing another the loss or undutifulness of children c. and so every office with its incumbrances and difficulties Yea the service of God as well as service of men must be chosen in the same manner Luk 14.28 29. We must in all our choises take all or none or else be miserable And
passions our joy our sorrow and a thousand other things can bring us to our graves Why then should it be lamented as if it were some wonder at which all the world should be astonished Men fill the air with sighs they beat the Heavens with their groans they clothe themselves with darkness and they pour out floods as in a tempest Why what is the matter Is the Sun faln from its Orb are all the lights of Heaven extinguished are they carrying out the worlds funeral What is it then that causes this moan A friend is dead There is one man less in the world then there was O wonderful what a prodigy is this One that was born to die is dead It had been a wonder indeed if he had not dyed Then we might have filled the earth with noifes Then there had been some cause for a tumult But now it is rather a wonder that men should make such a stir at an ordinary and common thing then that a thing so common should happen unto them One would rather look to see no tears then no death and we might more easily excuse their not weeping at all then we can these doleful lamentations Is it not necessary that our friends should dye Death is necessary yea it is so necessary that it is a thing past and cannot be recalled when men weep most for it If you can bring them back again with your tears if there be any hopes that with the noise you make they should revive to comfort you then you have leave to weep as much as you please Is there any Elijah or Elisha that can stretch forth themselves upon them and recover them to their warmth Is there any Paul or Peter or such great men that can raise them from the dead Go then and intreat them for to pitty you Beat your breasts tear your hair break your sleep with sorrow macerate your selves with fasting that they may take some compassion upon you But if all this pains be lost never put your selves unto it but say Why should I have my labour for my pains And did not all those men die again that they raised Were they made immortal here upon the earth what good would it do you to have them called to life again if they must again dye How would you be able to part with them then if not now What an uncomfortable life would you lead out of fear every day to fall into the same sadness How desolate would you be even in their company unless you learnt not to be troubled nor distracted And if that must be learnt then let us learn it now when it is as necessary as it would be then Do you take it ill that the Apple rots and your trees decay and your clothes grow bare and that any thing in this world is according to its nature Why then do you bewail that men die which is as natural to them as it is to be born Would you have God make the world anew for your sakes will you not be contented unless he make a mortal thing immortal Is it not sufficient that you know it must dye and that he gave it to you that it may be returned to him again Did he ever promise you how long you should have it may he not call for his own when he thinks good do not other men pay this debt to nature as well as you Seeing then it is both a common and a necessary debt do not repine as if you did only pay it He is an unworthy debtor that returns what is lent with a reproach to his creditor And therefore give it up chearfully perhaps he may intrust you with something better 2 Sam. 12. While David saw that his child was alive he earnestly besought of God that it might not die but when once it had given up the ghost he anoints his head and puts on other garments because he knew God was not bound to work a miracle though he might be inclined to shew mercy While there was life there was some hope of mercy but when it was dead there was no hope of a miracle And yet there is one thing that may be pertinently observed in that story of David which exceedingly argues our folly Though God had said by a Prophet that his child should die yet he earnestly beg'd that it might live Men are not so earnest for that which they may be assured God will do if it concern their souls as they are for that which they have all reason to fear he will not do if it concern their bodies Men would have him recal his word and alter his decrees in temporal matters but they little mind the obtaining of his promises and the fulfilling of his Word in spiritual concernments They would have life as long as they please which they know he will not bestow but they seek not for contentment which they may be assured he hath a mind to give They would have him willing to let them enjoy their friends alwayes which cannot be but they feek not to him that they may be willing to part with them though they must part with them and he would make them willing For shame let us not continue in this kind of folly Death is not only necessary but good to be angry at things necessary which we cannot avoid and to neglect those necessaries which we cannot want And since death is such a common thing and so easie to be met with that every thing in the world may bring it to us let us further consider that it cannot be very hurtful in it self for all such things are more unufal and rare God is not so unkind unto the world as to let the most noxious and poysonous things grow everywhere in the greatest plenty Things of that nature they are but thinly scattered through the world they lie hid and dare not commonly appear Since death therefore is in every thing since it lurks not for us like a Serpent in the grass but the smallest thing in this world may strike us with it let us verily perswade our selves that there is no such great harm in it as we imagine especially considering that there is another life I am sure that some as wise as we that mourn so much have thought that death was the best thing that befals the sons of men And if we do not think so it is because we think not of death it self Plutarch ad Apollor It is a common story which Pindar was first Author of how that Agamedes and Trophonius having built the Temple of Apollo asked a reward of that God for their service He promised that after seven dayes he would pay them well for their pains at the end of which they both dyed in the midst of a sleep This the world believed was a lesson to them that God could do men no greater favour then to take them out of the miseries of life Not long after this Pindar himself
could that one have mourned more for you all then every one of you do for him If you will weep weep only your part and do not weep as if there was none else to weep but your selves If a man that was not acquainted with the world should see ten or twenty or perhaps a greater number sitting in a room and miserably bemoaning of themselves would he not ask what Town was burnt or what family was dead that caused so many mourners How much then would he be astonished when he heard the Answer that you had lost a friend a child or some one of your other relations What are there so many tears due would he think from every one of these for one must so many be ready to die for the death of one can there be no comfort found among so many of you against the death of one single person Me thinks you should all of you together weep no more for the death of one then that one would have wept for you if you had been dead altogether Look therefore upon one another and say You are still left behind and I am left and here are twenty more of our friends alive how is it then that we are discontented as if we had not lost one but every one of us had lost one If there had been but one of us left what could he have done more then what every one of us doth could he shed more tears for the loss of us all could he make himself more sad then we now are Either let us say that one and ten are equal or let us not shed as many tears for one as we would for ten much less ten times as many tears as there would be for ten For but one would weep for ten and here ten that weep for one Divide your grief then and let every one bear a part but not the whole for that is as if you had none to bear it with you V. Ask thy self Or if we have not God is still ours who rules the world and not we Who is it that governs the world Is it the will of God or thy will that thou prayest may be done Shall not he that made a thing have leave to dispose of it as he thinks good By what law is it that he shall not do what he pleases with his own Must we have our wills in all things and must not he have his will also must not he be pleased as well as we If we think it so reasonable to have what we will then it is more reasonable that he should have what he wills Now if our will and his will cannot stand together which shall bend and submit themselves to the other Is not his will most wise If he had considered better would he have done otherwise could we have told him what would be most fit for us If we had been of his Counsel should not this friend have been taken away Doth he will things because he will Perhaps there is no reason at all for our wills and we are in love with a thing we know not why shall we think that he is so in like manner Or if we have any reasons are not his better We would have the life of a child that he may be a comfort unto us God will have us to part with him that he may be our only comfort We should chuse his life that he might enjoy the things that we have got But God thinks fit that he should die that we may put our estates to better uses whereby we are assured he may be more glorified Or perhaps we desire our children may live for Gods glory sake that they may honour and serve him in the world but cannot he tell what is best for his own glory is he so careless of that as to take away the things without which he cannot be served Let us then cease our complaints unless we would have him to let us govern the World But he was taken away will some say before his time else I should be content I shall answer this as Photius doth Epist 234. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let me hear no such word I beseech you a word too bold to be spoken and more bold to be thought Before the time do you say Then why was he not thought to come before the time when he came out of his mothers womb There is no reason for it but this that it was the will and pleasure of God that he should be born at such a time And must God appoint the time of his birth and we set the time of his death Did the Workman give him a being in good time and take him to himself not knowing the fittest time From a drop he made him to become a lump of flesh He formed the flesh into parts he brought him into the light and he kept him in his infancy and childhood Was any of these out of due time why then only should it be out of season when he translated him to another life Let us do therefore as David did who prayed and wept as long as he could hope the decree of God was not absolute concerning his childs death but when he saw that it was irreversible he comforted himself Let us alway say as Job doth The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the Name of the Lord. And let this be further considered to the enforcing of this truth that if the will of the Lord must be born then it must be done And his will is that we should take all things patiently yea cheerfully from his hands And therefore if we mourn immoderately what do we but only add sin unto our pain As there is a time to laugh so there is a time to weep but there is no more time to weep superfluously then there is to laugh idly and profusely Both in the one and in the other we must be wholly subject to the will of God But that will of God as I said is very wise in every thing and therefore he intends to make us laugh by this mourning and by every sad thing that doth befall us to make our hearts glad He alwayes gives something better then he takes away if we would but seek after it and oft-times he takes one thing away that we may seek after the better But alas our blindness is so great that we value not that which brings us profit unless it be sweet to our tast We let our passion judge and not our reason and therefore we think there is no good in a bitter cup and no danger in a pleasant draught We lament and mourn when we ought to think our selves great gainers and we rejoyce and leap when perhaps a cross of the greatest burden hath befaln us Let us stay a while therefore and expect the end of things before we mourn And let us but desire to be cured rather then pleased to have our souls amended rather then our fancy
is well to consider their inconstancy and that our happiness is in something better It was a good rule which Pythagoras gave to all his Scholars and is the same that I would have you learn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do not walk in the high way i. e. Do not follow the common opinions be not led by vulgar and popular apprehensions Rectifie the ordinary conceits which you have carelesly entertained of things and judge of them as they are in themselves and not as they are reputed of If we would do thus then that which is the cause of our sorrow would be the cause of our tranquillity because nothing hath left us but that which we knew would not stay with us We mourn now because things are so inconstant but then we should not mourn because we knew them to be inconstant If we could make it good that any of these things are ours then I might avouch it that they would never have left us But if they were not ours why are we offended that God doth what he will with his own And besides shall we who are so inconstant oblige all things besides our selves to constancy shall we whose desires are so restless and uncertain expect that all things but only we should be stable and quiet No let us look into our selves and we shall find so much difficulty to settle them that we shall not wonder that other things are unsetled And again if things be so mutable why should we not think as I have already said that they will one day change to what we would have them But suppose they should what are we the better If our opinion be not turned too we shall be as much afraid to lose them again seeing they are so unconstant as now we are desirous to have them by the benefit of their inconstancy We must therefore alter our esteem of things now else we shall only change our trouble but not be rid of it when things are changed Adeo nihil est miserum nisi cum putes c. So certain it is that nothing is miserable but when we think it is so and that nothing will make us happy unless we think that we are happy And we had better think so now then stay to be taught this lesson by the dear experience of a great many troubles Let thine estate be never so prosperous yet if thine heart be unmortified thou wilt never be the nearer but rather the further off from settlement For they that have the greatest abundance are the soonest disturbed by every trifle because they are not used to have any thing go contrary to their humour But if thou wilt take any comfort from the unconstancy of things let it be this That if thou thinkest thy self therefore unfortunate because those things are gone that were joyful then thou mayst think thy self happy enough seeing the things that are unpleasant are going away also And think I beseech you once more and be of this opinion That there is nothing better in this world to thee then thy self As long therefore as thou hast thy self why shouldst thou be troubled especially if thou thy self thinkest never the worse of thy self because thou art poor and destitute of friends For these take away nothing of thy self nor can any thing in the world deprive thee of thy self And as Boethius well saith This is the condition of humane nature that it then only excels all things here when it knows it self But when it doth not it is below the very Beasts For it is natural for them to be ignorant but for a man it is the basest vice especially when he is ignorant of himself There was a Fable among the heathens which wise men understood to contain in it great Philosophy In the midst of this sad discourse it will please you perhaps if I relate it and it will please you a great deal more for to learn and live by it After Jupiter had made the world he thought that men would not be restrained from sin without rewards and punishments and so he made two great barrels the one full of good things the other full of bad to be sent down among men as there was occasion Pandora being very desirous to know what was in these barrels did one day broach them and all the good things flew out towards heaven and all the bad towards hell Hope only and Fear remained in the bottom of these Casks the former in that of Evil things and the latter in that of Good When this was done Jupiter threw down these empty Tubs to the earth and all mortals ran at the rareness of the sight to see what they could find in them Some looked into the one and some into the other and though both of them were empty yet they thought verily that the one was full of good and the other full of evil And ever since it came to pass that here below we have nothing but a fancy or conceit of Good mixed with fear and jealousie and a meer conceit of evil with some hope in the compound of it The Moral of it is this I hat the things of this world are but seeming Goods and seeming evils They are our own opinions that trouble us with the shadow of evil and that flatter us on the other side with a fair shew of Good All real Good is in heaven and all real misery is in hell If we go to heaven we are wâ—ll enough whatsoever we loose if we fall into sin and so into hell we cannot be well though we should enjoy all the world Let us turn our minds then toward these heavenly things which they did but dream of in the dark ages of the world Let us heartily believe the Gospel which hath brought to light eternal life And then we shall think our selves happy enough if we lose not those things and perhaps the death of our friends and such like crossâ—s befall us that we may not lose them When the dayes of mourning do come II. Our tears should be kept for that which is the cause of death and all our tears Turn thy sorrow for thy friend into sorrow for thy sins Remember that thy tears may be due to some other thing and the cure of that will cure all thy other griefs If thou art not a Christian then it is thy duty to mourn neither for one thing nor other but only to bewail thy self Let the dead bury their dead as our Saviour said do thou presently follow after thy Lord with tears Take no care of funerals think of no earthly thing but only how thou mayâ—st be a Christian And if thou art so thâ—n thou oughtest to rejoyce that thy sins are pardoned and that thou hast not the greatâ—st cause of griâ—f and this joy sure will swallow up all thy sorrows There is scarce any thing so considerable in our bodies that is seen as our tears for they are the most notable expressions of what is in