[128]Lege Gassendi Oration, inaugural, in Institut. Astronom.[129]Christianus est homo dicens et faciens ingrata diabolo; et ornans gloriam Dei, autoris vitæ et satis suæ. Bucholtzer.[130]Of prayer I have spoken afterward. Tom. 2, &c.[131]Turpissimum est philosopho secus docere quam vivit. Paul Scaliger. p. 728.[132]Nam ilia quæ de regno cœlorum commemoranter à nobis, deque præsentium rerum contemptu, vel non capiunt, vel non facile sibi persuadent cum sermo factis evertitur. Acosta, lib. iv. c. 18. p. 418.[133]I pass not this by as a small matter, to be passed by also by the reader. For I take the love of God kindled by faith in Christ, with the full denial of our carnal selves, to be the sum of all religion. But because I would not injure so great a duty by saying but a little of it; and therefore desire the reader, who studieth for practice, and needeth such helps, to peruse the mentioned books of "Self-denial," and "Crucifying the world."[134]Of the sin against the Holy Ghost, I have written a special treatise in my "Unreasonableness of Infidelity."[135]Since the writing of this, I have published the same more at large in my "Reasons of the Christian Religion," and in my "Life of Faith."[136]Of presumption and false hope, enough is said in the "Saints' Rest," and here about temptation, hope, and other heads afterward.[137]I must profess that the nature and wonderful difference of the godly and ungodly, and their conversation in the world, are perpetual, visible evidences in my eyes, of the truth of the holy Scriptures.1. That there should be so universal and implacable a hatred against the godly in the common sort of unrenewed men, in all ages and nations of the earth, when these men deserve so well of them, and do them no wrong; is a visible proof of Adam's fall, and the need of a Saviour and a Sanctifier.2. That all those who are seriously christians, should be so far renewed, and recovered from the common corruption, as their heavenly minds and lives, and their wonderful difference from other men showeth, this is a visible proof that christianity is of God.3. That God doth so plainly show a particular special providence in the converting and confirming souls, by differencing grace, and work on the soul, as the sanctified feel, doth show that indeed the work is his.4. That God doth so plainly grant many of his servants' prayers, by special providences, doth prove his owning them and his promises.5. That God suffereth his servants in all times and places ordinarily to suffer so much for his love and service, from the world and flesh, doth show that there is a judgment, and rewards and punishments hereafter. Or else our highest duty would be our greatest loss; and then how should his government of men be just?6. That the renewed nature (which maketh men better, and therefore is of God) doth wholly look at the life to come, and lead us to it, and live upon it, this showeth that such a life there is; or else this would be delusory and vain, and goodness itself would be a deceit.7. When it is undeniable thatde facto esse, the world is not governed without the hopes and fears of another life; almost all nations among the heathens believing it, (and showing, by their very worshipping their dead heroes as gods, that they believed that their souls did live,) and even the wicked generally being restrained by those hopes and fears in themselves. And also that,de posse, it is not possible the world should be governed agreeably to man's rational nature, without the hopes and fears of another life; but men would be worse than beasts, and all villanies would be the allowed practice of the world. (As every man may feel in himself what he were like to be and do, if he had no such restraint.) And there being no doctrine or life comparable to christianity, in their tendency to the life to come. All these are visible standing evidences, assisted so much by common sense and reason, and still apparent to all, that they leave infidelity without excuse; and are ever at hand to help our faith, and resist temptations to unbelief.8. And if the world had not a beginning according to the Scriptures, 1. We should have found monuments of antiquity above six thousand years old. 2. Arts and sciences would have come to more perfection, and printing, guns, &c. not have been of so late invention. 3. And so much of America and other parts of the world would not have been yet uninhabited, unplanted, or undiscovered.Of atheism I have spoken before in the Introduction; and nature so clearly revealeth a God, that I take it as almost needless to say much of it to sober men.[138]Neque enim potest Deus qui summa veritas et bonitas est, humanum genus, prolem suam decipere. Marsil. Ficin. de. Rel. Chris. c. 1.[139]Pietas fundamentum est omnium virtutum. Cic. pro Plan.[140]Zenophon reporteth Cyrus as saying, If all my familiars were endued with piety to God, they would do less evil to one another, and to me. Lib. viii.[141]Pietate adversus Deos sublatâ, fides etiam, et societas humani generis, et una excellentissima virtus justitia, tollatur necesse est. Cic. de Nat. Deo. 4.[142]See my book called "A Saint or a Brute."[143]Exod. vii. 13, 14; 2 Kings xvii. 14; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13; Neh. ix. 16, 17, 29; Isa. lxiii. 17; Dan. v. 20; Mark vi. 52; viii. 17; iii. 5; John xii. 40; Acts xix. 9; Prov. xxviii. 14; xxix. 1; Matt. xix. 8; Mark xvi. 14; Rom. ii. 5.[144]Non tamen ideo beatus est, quia patienter miser est. August de Civit. l. 14. c. 25.[145]Lento gradu ad vindictam sui divina procedit ira: tarditatemque supplicii gravitate compensat. Valerius Max. de Dionys. 1. 1. c. 2.[146]Feriemini, moriemini, sentietis: an cæci autem an videntes, id in vestra manu est. Optate igitur bene mori (quod ipsum nisi bene vixeritis frustra est). Optate, inquam, nitimini, et quod in vobis est facile: reliquum illi committite; qui vos in hanc vitam ultro non vocatos intulit; egressuris, non nisi vocatus et rogatus manum dabit. Non mori autem nolite optare. Petrarch. Dial. 107. 1. 2.[147]Multi Christum osculantur; pauci amant: aliud est φιλειν, aliud καταφιλειν. Abr. Bucholtzer in Scultet. cur. p. 15. Dicunt Stoici sapientes esse sinceros, observateque et cavere sollicite nequid de se melius quam sit commendare putemus fuco seu arte aliqua mala occultante, et bona quæ insunt apparere faciente, ac circumcidere vocis omnem ficionem. Laert. in Zenone. Philosophia res adeo difficilis est, ut tam vel simulare magna sit pars philosophiæ. Paul Scalig. It was one of the Roman laws of the 12 Tables, "Impius ne audeto placere donis iram Deorum." "Let no ungodly person dare to go about to appease the displeasure of the gods by gifts:" viz. He must appease them first by reformation. Bona conscientia prodire vult et conspici; ipsas nequitia tenebras timet. Senec.[148]When Petrarch, in vita sua, speaketh of others extolling his eloquence, he addeth his own neglect of it, Ego modo bene vixissem, qualiter dixissem parvi facerem. Ventosa gloria est, de solo verborum splendore famam quærere. Conscientiam potius quam famam attende. Falli sæpe poterit fama: conscientia nunquam. Senec.[149]Sic vivendum est, quasi in conspectu vivamus: Sic cogitandum, tanquam aliquis pectus intimum prospicere possit. Senec. Rem dicam, ex qua mores æstimes nostras: vix quempiam invenies, qui possit aperto ostio vivere: janitores conscientia nostra—supposuit: sic vivimus ut deprehendi sit subito aspici. Senec. Ep. 96.[150]It is a pitiful cure of the Indians' idolatry, which the honest Jesuit Acosta (as the rest) prescribeth, lib. 5. c. 11. p. 483. "But you must especially take care, that saving rites be introduced instead of hurtful ones, and ceremonies be obliterated by ceremonies. Let the priests persuade the novices, that holy water, images, rosaries, grains, and torches, and the rest which the church alloweth and useth, are very fit for them; and let them extol them with many praises in their popular sermons, that instead of the old superstition they may be used to new and religious signs." This is to quench the fire with oil.[151]It is one of Thales' sayings, in Laert. Q. Quomodo optime ac justissime vivemus? Resp. Si quæ in aliis reprehendimus ipsi non faciamus. To judge of ourselves as we judge of others, is the way of the sincere.[152]Cato, homo virtuti simillimus qui nunquam recte fecit, ut facere videretur, sed quia aliter facere non poterat; cuique id solum visum est rationem habere, quod haberet justitiam. Velleius Patercul. 1. 2.[153]Jam in ecclesiis ista quæruntur, et omissa Apostolicorum simplicitate et puritate verborum, quasi ad Athenæum et ad auditoria convenitur ut plausus circumstantium suscitentur, ut oratio rhetoricæ artis fucata mendacio quasi quædam meretricula procedat in publicum, non tam eruditura populos, quam favorem populi quæsitura. Hieron. in Præf. 1. 3. in Galat.[154]Permanent tepidi, ignavi, negligentes, vani, leves, voluptuosi, delicati; commoda corpores superflua sectantur, suum compendium in omnibus quærunt, ubicunque honorem et existimationem nominis sui integra servare possunt: intus propriæ voluntati pertinaciter addicti, irresignati, minime abnegati, superbi, curiosi, et contumaces sunt in omnibus, licet externe coram hominibus bene morati videantur. In tentationibus impatientes, amari, procaces, iracundi, tristes, aliis molesti, verbis tamen ingenioque scioli,—In prosperis nimium elati et hilares: in adversis, nimium turbati sunt et pusillanimes: aliorum temerarii sunt judices: aliorum vitia accuratissime perscrutari, de aliorum defectibus frequenter garrire, ac gloriari egregium putant. Ex istis et similibus operibus facillime cognosci poterunt: nam moribus gestibusque suis seu sorex quispiam suopte semet indicio produnt. Thauler. flor. p. 65, 56.[155]Quid prodest recondere se et oculos hominum auresque vitare? Bona conscientia turbam advocat; mala autem in solitudine anxia et sollicita est. Si honesta sunt quæ facis, omnes sciant: si turpia, quid refert neminem scire, cum tu scias: O te miserum si contemnis hunc testem. Sen. Ep. 96. Matt. xxiii. 13-15, 23, 25, 27, 29.[156]Matt. xxiii. 8; Eph. iv. 2-5; Luke x. 42; Matt. vi. 33; 2 Pet. i. 10; John vi. 27.[157]1 Tim. ii. 5; James iv. 12; Hos. x. 2.[158]1 Cor. i. 13; Gal. iv. 8; 1 Cor. viii. 5; Phil. iii. 18.[159]The causes of superstition (and so of hypocrisy) are, pleasing and sensual rites and ceremonies, excess of outward and pharisaical holiness, over-great reverence of traditions, which cannot but load the church, the stratagems of prelates for their own ambition and lucre, the savouring too much good intentions, which openeth a gate to conceits and novelties. Lord Bacon's Essays. As P. Callimachus Exper. describeth Attila, that he was a devourer of flesh and wine, &c. and yet Religione persuasionibusque de diis à gente sua susceptis, usque ad superstitionem addictus. Calli. p. (mihi) 339.[160]Psal. lxxviii. 37; 2 Cor. vii. 11.[161]1 John i. 6; ii. 3-5, 15; iv. 6-8, 20; v. 3; Matt. x. 37.[162]The similitude of superstition to religion maketh it the more deformed: and as wholesome meat corrupteth into little worms, so good forms and orders corrupt into a number of petty observances. Lord Bacon's Essay of Superstition.[163]Non quam multis placeas, sed qualibus stude. Martin. Dumiens. de Morib.[164]Luke xiv. 26, 27.[165]Magna animi sublimitate carpentes se atque objurgantes Socrates contemnebat. Laert. in Socrat.[166]When Chrysippus was asked why he exercised not himself with the most, he answered, If I should do as the most do, I should be no philosopher. Laert. in Chrysip. Adulationi fœdum crimen servitutis malignitati falsa species libertatis inest. Tacitus, lib. 17. Secure conscience first, Qua semel amissa, postea nullus eris.[167]Rom. xiv.; xv. 1-3.[168]Gal. v. 10; 1 Cor. v.[169]Quicquid de te probabiliter fingi potest, ne fingatur ante devita. Hieron. ad Nepot. Non solum veritas in hac parte sed etiam opinio studiose quærenda est, ut te hypocritam agere interdum minime pœniteat, said one harshly enough to Acosta, ut lib. 4. c. 17. p. 413.[170]1 Pet. iv. 12, 13, &c.; 1 Cor. iv. 12, 13; Acts xxii. 22; xxiv. 5, 6; Matt. v. 10-12.[171]Psal. xxx. 5; lxiii. 3; 2 Cor. v. 9; Rom. viii. 33, 34.[172]Matt. x.; John xv.; Matt. xxvii.; Heb. xii. 1-3; 1 Pet. ii. 21-23.[173]We must go further than Seneca, who said, Male de me loquuntur, sed mali; moverer si de me Mar. Cato, si Lælius sapiens, si duo Scipiones ista loquerentur: nunc malis displicere, laudari est.[174]See Dr. Boys' Postil. p. 42, 43. Marlorat. in 1 Cor. iv. 3.[175]The open daylight of truth doth not show the masks, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world, half so stately and gallant as candlelight doth. Lord Bacon's Essay of Truth. Why lies are loved.[176]Offendet te superbus contemptu; dives contumelia, petulans injuria, lividus malignitate: pugnax contentione, ventosus et mendax vanitate: non feres a suspicioso timeri, a pertinace vinci, a delicato fastidiri. Senec. de Ira, l. 3. c. 8.[177]Unus mihi pro populo est, et populus pro uno. Sen. Ep. 7. ex Democr. Satis sunt mihi pauci, satis est unus; satis est nullus. Senec. Epist. 7. Socrates was condemned by the votes of more against him of his judges than those that absolved him; and they would not suffer Plato to speak for him. His sentence was, Jura violat Socrates, quos ex majorum instituto suscepit civitas, deos esse negans, alia vero nova dæmonia inducens. Laert. in Socrat.[178]Quæ ego scio populus non probat: quæ probat populus ego nescio. Sen. Epi. 29. Imperitia in omnibus majori ex parte dominatur, et multitudo verborum. Cleobulus in Laert.[179]Inter hæc quid agant quibus loquendi à Christo officium mandatur? Deo displicent, si taceant; hominibus si loquantur. Salvian. ad Eccles. Cath. 1. 4.[180]Even for the greatness of your services, you may perish, by the suspicion and envy of those great ones whom you served: as is proved by the case of Saul and David, Belisarius, Narses, Bonifacius, the two sons of Huniades imprisoned, and one slain, and multitudes such like.[181]Persium non curo legere: Lælium Decimum volo: ut Lucilius.[182]I may add that you have guilty consciences to please. And the guilty are, as Seneca speaks, like one that hath an ulcer, that at first is hurt with every touch, and at last even with the suspicion of a touch. Tutum aliqua res in mala conscientia præstat, nulla securum. Putat enim etiamsi non deprehenditur, se posse deprehendi; et inter somnos movetur, et quoties alicujus scelus loquitur, de suo cogitat. Sen. Epis. 106. Prima et maxima peccantium pœna est peccasse.—Hæc et secundæ pœnæ premunt et sequuntur, timere semper et expavescere et securitate diffidere. Epis. 97. Tyranno amici quoque sæpe suspecti sunt. Tu ergo, si tyrannidem tuto tenere cupis, atque in ea constabiliri, civitatis principes tolle, sive illi amici, sive inimici videantur. Thrasybulus in Epist. Periand. in Laertio. Plerorumque ingenium est, ut errata aliorum vel minima perscrutentur, benefacta vero vel in propatulo posita prætereant; sicut vultures corpora viva et sana non sentiunt, morticina vero et cadavera tametsi longe remota odore persequuntur. Galiadus in Arcan. Jesuit, p. 55.[183]When the divines of Heidelberg appointed Pitiscus to write his Irenicon, his very writing for peace, and to persuade the reformed from apologies and disputes, did give occasion of renewed stirs to the Saxons and Swedish divines, to tell men that they could have no peace with us. Scultet. Curric. p. 46.[184]They that saw Stephen's face as it had been the face of an angel, and heard him tell them that he saw heaven opened, yet stoned him to death as a blasphemer. Acts vi. 15; vii. 55-60.[185]Socrates primus de vitæ ratione disseruit, ac primus philosophorum damnatus moritur. Laert. in Socrat. p. 92. Multa prius de immortalitate animarum ac præclara dissertus. Ibid.[186]Fama liberrima principum judex. Seneca in Consolat. ad Martiam.[187]Aristides having got the surname of Just, was hated by the Athenians, who decreed to banish him: and every one that voted against him being to write down his name, a clown that could not write came to Aristides to desire him to write down Aristides' name. He asked him whether he knew Aristides; and the man answered, No; but he would vote against him because his name was Just. Aristides concealed himself, fulfilled the man's desire, and wrote his own name in the roll and gave it him: so easily did he bear it to be condemned of the world for being just. Plutarch in Aristide. It was not only Socrates that was thus used, saith Laertius, Nam Homerum velut insanientem drachmis quinquaginta mulctarunt, Tyrtæumque mentis impotem dixerunt, &c.—"Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" Matt. xxiii.[188]Vis esse in mundo? Contemni et temnere disce. Abr. Bucholtzer.[189]Socrates dicenti cuidam, Nonne tibi ille maledicit? Non, inquit, mihi enim ista non adsunt.[190]Dicebat expedire, ut sese ex industria comicis exponeret: nam si ea dixerint quæ in nobis corrigenda sint, emendabunt: sin alias, nihil ad nos.[191]Dicenti Alcibiadi, non esse tolerabilem Xantippen adeo morosam: Atqui, ait, ego ita hisce jampridem assuetus sum, ac si sonum trochearum audiam—et mihi post Xantippes usum, reliquorum mortalium facilis toleratio est. Laert. in Socr.[192]Hoc habeo fere refugii et præsidii in meis ærumnis: sermones cum Deo, cum amicis veris, et cum mutis magistris. Bucholtzer.[193]Nemo altorum sensu miser est sed suo: et ideo non, possunt cujusquam falso judicio esse miseri, qui sunt vere suâ conscientiâ beati. Salvian. de Gubern. 1. 1.[194]Philosophi libertas molesta est omnibus. P. Scalig. multo magis fidelis pastoris.[195]Non est idoneus philosophiæ discipulus, qui stultum pudorum non possit contemnere Id. ibid. p. 728.[196]Of this subject read the preface to my book "Of Self-denial," and chap. 41. to chap. 51.[197]Duplex est humilitas: una lucida solum et non fervida: quæ ex ratione potius quam ex charitate exercetur.—Altera quæ lucida fervidaque simul est, ex charitate magis quam ex ratione exercetur; non tamen citra rationem.—Humilitas enim (ut et reliquæ virtutes) opus est voluntatis. Nam sicut virtutes per rationem cognoscimus, ita per dilectionem nobis sapiunt. Thauler. flor. c. 7, p. 103, 104.[198]See Plutarch Tract. How a man may praise himself without incurring blame? He that is blamed and suffereth reproach for well-doing, is justifiable if he praise himself, &c. p. 304.[199]Siquid agere instituis, lente progredere: in eo autem quod elegeris, firmiter persiste. Bass in Laert.[200]Pertinacior tamen erat (Chrysanthius) nec de sententia facili discedebat: inquit Eunapius humilitatem ejus laudans.[201]Bullingero ob eruditionem non contemnendam, morumque tam sanctitatem quam suavitatem, percharus fuit. p. 591.[202]Gen. xix. 8-10.[203]Cum humilitatis causa mentiris, si non eras peccator antequam mentiris, mentiendo efficies quod evitaras. Augustin. de Verb. A post.[204]Attila incessu adeo gestuosus et compositus, ut vel exinde superbissimi animi contraxerit infamiam. Callimach. Exper. de Attil. p. 341.[205]Quod à magnatum ac procerum congressu abstinuerit (Chrysanthius) alieniorque fuerit, non arrogantiæ aut fastui tribuendum est, quin potius rusticitas quædam aut simplicitas existimari debet in eo qui quid esset potestas ignorabat; ita vulgariter, et minime dissimulanter cum illis verba factitabat. Eunapius in Chrysost.[206]Jer. ix. 23, 24; Psal. xlix. 6; 2 Chron. xxv. 19.[207]Ut lumen lunæ in præsentia solis non apparet, pari ratione esse secundum in præsentia primi; nec meritum nostrum præsente merito Christi. Paul. Scaliger. Thess. 73, 74. de Mundo Archetyp. Epist. 1. 14.[208]Idem sonant, summe amari, et esse finem ultimum: ac proculdubio Deus summe amandus est. Unum vero finem Aristoteles declaravit esse, usum virtutis in vita sancta et integra. Hesych. Illust. in Aristot.[209]Laert. in Thal. speaketh of the oracle of Delphos adjudging the Tripos to the wisest; so it was sent to Thales, and from him to another, till it came to Solon, who sent it to the oracle; saying, None is wiser than God. So should we all send back to God the praise and glory of all that is ascribed to us.[210]Laert. saith that Pythagoras first called himself a philosopher. Nullum enim hominem, sed solum Deum esse sapientem asserit: antea σοφια dicta, quæ nunc philosophia: et qui hanc profitebantur σοφοι appellati. quicunque ad summum animis virtutem excreverunt, hos nunc honestiore vocabulo, authore Pythagora, philosophos appellamus, p. 7.[211]Quicquid boni egeris, in deos refer. Bias in Laert.[212]Men sick in mind, as witless fools, and loose persons, and unjust, and injurious, think not that they do amiss and sin, &c. Plutarch. Tract. That Maladies of the Mind are worse than those of the Body.[213]Rom. v. 12, 17-19; John iii. 3, 5, 8; Jer. xvii. 9.[214]His ergo qui loquendi arta cæteris hominibus excellere videntur, sedulo monendi sunt ut humilitate induti christiana discant non contemnere quos cognoverint morum vitia quam verborum amplius devitare, Aug. de Cat. rudib. c. 9.[215]Non potest non indoctus esse, qui se doctum credit. Hermar. Barbarus.[216]Pliny saith, In commending another you do yourself right; for he whom you commend is either superior or inferior to you; if he be inferior, if he be to be commended, then you much more; if he be superior, if he be not to be commended, then you much less. Lord Bacon, Essay 54. p. 299.[217]Clemens Alex. strom. l. 1. c. 4. Ait fideli christiano docenti vel unicum sufficere auditorem.[218]Isa. lxv. 5.[219]Matt. xi. 19; ix. 11; xv. 2, 3.[220]See 1 Tim. iii. 6; vi. 4. A cunning flatterer will follow the arch-flatterer which is a man's self. And wherein a man thinketh best of himself, therein the flatterer will uphold him most. But if he be an impudent flatterer, he will entitle him by force to that which he is conscious that he is most defective in. Lord Bacon, Essay 52.[221]Hesich. Illust. saith of Arcesilaus, In communicandis facultatibus ac deferendis beneficiis supra quam dici potest promptus atque facilis fuit: alienissimus a captanda gloriola a beneficio, quod latere maluerat: invisens Ctesibium ægrotantem, quum videret illum in egestate esse, clam cervicali supposuit crumeunam nummariam, qua ille inventa, Arcesilai inquit, hicce ludus est.[222]Psal. x. 2, 4; lxxiii. 6; xxxvi. 11; Eccl. x. 7.[223]Rom. xii. 19, 20; Matt. v. 39; Col. iii. 13; 1 Thess. v. 14; 2 Pet. ii. 20.[224]Jam. iii. 5; Psal. xlix. 6; x. 3; 2 Cor. x. 15.[225]Inter benedicti signa humilitatis (in regula) est, ut pauca verba etiam rationalia loquatur, non clamosa voce: taciturnitas usque ad interrogationem: sed hæc semper intelligenda sunt, salvo amore veritatis, et animarum.[226]2 Cor. xi. 9; 1 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8.[227]Humilitas est, 1. Necessaria: subdere se majori, et non præferre se æquali. 2. Abundans: subdere se æquali, nec preferre se minori: 3. Perfecta: subdere se minori.—Gloss. sup. Matt. iii. Humilitatis septem gradus secundum Anselmum sunt. 1. Opinione: (1.) Se contemptibilem cognoscere. (2.) Hoc non dolere. 2. Manifestatione: (1.) Hoc confiteri: (2.) Hoc persuadere. (3.) Patienter sustinere hæc dici. 3. Voluntate: (1.) Pati contemptibiliter se tractari. (2.) Hoc idem amare. Anselm. lib. de similit.[228]Anaxagoras (in Laert. p. 87.) Cum vidisset mausoli sepulchrum: monumentum, inquit, pretiosum et lapidibus ornatum, divitiarum imago.[229]Æneas Sylvius in Boem. c. 65, speaking of the boasting of the monk Capistrinus, saith, Superaverat seculi pompas, calcaverat avaritiam, libidinem subegerat, gloriam contemnere non potuit: nemo est tam sanctus qui dulcedine gloriæ non capiatur. Facilius regna viri excellentes, quam gloriam contemnunt. Inter omnia vitia tu semper es prima, semper es ultima: nam omne peccatum te accedente committitur, et te recedente dimittitur. Innocent. de Contemp. Mundi. l. 2. c. 31.[230]Jam. iv. 6; 1 Pet. v. 5; Isa. lvii. 15; Prov. xvi. 19; xxix. 23.[231]Vainglorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of flatterers, and the slaves of their own pride. Lord Bacon, Essay 54.[232]Matt. ix. 24; v. 40.[233]John xv. 20; Phil. ii. 7-10.[234]1 Cor. iv. 12-15; Acts xxiv. 5.[235]See my "Treatise of Self-ignorance."[236]Fama est fictilibus cœnasse Agathoclea regem,Atque abacum Samio sæpe onerasse luto.Fercula gemmatis cum poneret aurea vasis,Et misceret opes pauperiemque simul,Querenti causam respondit: Rex ego qui sumSicaniæ, figulo sum genitore satus.Fortunam reverentur habe, quicunque repenteDives ab exili progredire loco.Auson. li. Epigram.[237]Isa. iii.[238]Rom. iii. 19, 20, 23, 27; iv. 2; Cor. i. 29; Eph. ii. 9.[239]Luke xxii. 26; Mark x. 44; ix. 35, 36; 2 Tim. ii. 24.[240]1 Pet. v. 6; Lam. iii. 29; ii. 19; Amos iii. 8; 1 Pet. v. 5; Jam. iv. 6; Dan. v. 22; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27.[241]See an excellent Tract. de Divitiis, ascribed to Sixt. 3. in Bibl. Pat. (though accused of Pelagianism.)[242]Phil. iii. 7-9; Jam. i. 10; Phil. iv. 11; 1 Tim. vi. 8; Prov. xxiii. 4, "Labour not to be rich."[243]Luke xiv. 26, 33.[244]Matt. vi. 19-21, 33; John vi. 27; Luke xii. 19, 20; xviii. 22, 23.[245]Ephes. v. 5; Col. iii. 5; James iv. 4.[246]Rom. xiii. 14; Matt. vi. 19; 1 Tim. iii. 8; Phil. iii. 19; Ezek. xxxiii. 31; Jer. ix. 23.[247]Job i. 21.[248]1 Tim. vi. 17, 18; Mal. iii. 8, 9; Judg. vii. 21.[249]Duæ res maxime homines ad maleficium impellunt, luxuries et avaritia. Cic. 1. ad Heren. Corrupti sunt depravatique mores admiratione divitiarum. Idem. 2. Offic. Nihil est tam sanctum quod non violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit. Cicero 2. in Verrem. When Alexander sent Phocion a hundred talents, he asked, Why he rather sent it to him than all the rest of the Athenians? He answered, Because he took him to be the only honest man in Athens: whereupon Phocion returned it to him again, entreating him to give him leave to be honest still.[250]It was one of Chilon's sayings, Lapideis cotibus aurum examinari: auro autem bonorum malorumque hominum mentem cujusmodi sit comprobari: i. e. As the touchstone trieth gold, so gold trieth men's minds, whether they be good or bad. Laertius in Chil. p. 43.[251]Luke xviii. 11-13; Matt. vi. 16, 18.[252]Luke xii. 48; xvi. 9, 10; Matt. xxv.; 2 Cor. viii. 14, 15.[253]Nullius rei eget qui virtutum dives est: quarum indigentia vere miseros, ac proinde misericordiæ egentissimos facit. Petrarch. Dial. 44. li. 2.[254]Diis maxime propinquus qui minimis egeat. Socrat. in Laert.[255]1 Cor. vii. 31.[256]Remember Gehazi, Achan, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, Demetrius, Demas. Jer. vi. 13; viii. 10. Maxime vituperanda est avaritia senilis. Quid enim absurdius quam quo minus vitæ restat, eo plus viatici quærere? Cicero in Cat. Maj.[257]Prov. xi. 4, "Riches profit not in the day of wrath."[258]Jer. xvii. 11; Jam. v. 1-3.[259]Chilon in Laert. p. 43. Damnum potius quam turpe lucrum eligendum; nam id semel tantum dolori esse, hoc semper.[260]Socrates dixit, Opes et nobilitates, non solum nihil in se habere honestatis, verum et omne malum ex eis oboriri. Laert in Socrat.[261]Prov. iii. 14; 1 Tim. vi. 5, 6.[262]Lege Petrarchæ lepidam historiam de avaro filio et liberali patre. Dial. 13. li. 2.[263]Saith Plutarch, de tranquillit. anim. Alexander wept because he was not lord of the world; when Crates, having but a wallet and a threadbare cloak, spent his whole life in mirth and joy, as if it had been a continual festival holiday.[264]Psal. xxxvii. 16; Prov. xvi. 8.[265]Chrysostom saith, his enemies charged him with many crimes, but never with covetousness or wantonness. And so it was with Christ and his enemies.[266]Et sicut in patria Deus est speculum in quo relucent creaturæ; sic è converso in via, creaturæ sunt speculum quo creator videtur. Paul. Scaliger in Ep. Cath. 1. 14. Thess. 123. p. 689.[267]Even Dionysius the tyrant was bountiful to philosophers. To Plato he gave above fourscore talents, Laert. in Platone, and much to Aristippus and many more, and he offered much to many philosophers that refused it. And so did Crœsus.[268]Matt. x. 30; Luke xii. 7.[269]Look upon the face of the calamitous world, and inquire into the causes of all the oppressions, rapines, cruelties, and inhumanity which have made men so like to devils: look into the corrupted, lacerated churches, and inquire into the cause of their contentions, divisions, usurpations, malignity, and cruelty against each other: and you will find that pride and worldliness are the causes of all. When men of a proud and worldly mind have by fraud, and friendship, and simony usurped the pastorship of the churches, according to their minds and ends, they turn it into a malignant domination, and the carnal, worldly part of the church, is the great enemy and persecutor of the spiritual part; and the fleshly hypocrite, as Cain against Abel, is filled with envy against the serious believer, even out of the bitter displeasure of his mind, that his deceitful sacrifice is less respected. What covetousness hath done to the advancement of the pretended holy catholic church of Rome, I will give you now, but in the words of an abbot and chronicler of their own, Abbas Urspergens. Chron. p. 321. Vix remansit aliquis episcopatus, sive dignitas ecclesiastica, vel etiam parochialis ecclesia, quæ non fierit litigiosa, et Romam deduceretur ipsa causa, sed non manu vacua. Gaude mater nostra Roma, quoniam aperiuntur cataractæ thesaurorum in terra, ut ad te confluant rivi et aggeres nummorum in magna copia. Lætare super iniquitate filiorum hominum; quoniam in recompensationem tantorum malorum, datur tibi pretium. Jocundare super adjutrice tua discordia; quid erupit de puteo infernalis abyssi, ut accumulentur tibi multa pecuniarum præmia. Habes quod semper sitisti; decanta Canticum, quia per malitiam hominum non per tuam religionem, orbem vicisti. Ad te trahit homines, non ipsorum devotio, aut pura conscientia, sed scelerum multiplicium perpetratio, et litium decisio, pretio comparata.Fortun. Galindas speaking of pope Paul the fifth, his love to the Jesuits for helping him to money, saith, Adeo præstat acquirendarum pecuniarum quam animarum studiosum et peritum esse, apud illos, qui cum animarum Christi sanguine redemptarum, in se curam receperint, vel quid anima sit nesciunt, vel non pluris animam hominis quam piscis faciunt: quod credo suum officium Piscatum quendam esse aliquando per strepitum inaudierint: quibus propterea gratior fuerit, qui animam auri cum Paracelso, quam animam Saxoniæ Electoris invenisse nuntiet. Arcan. Soci. Jesu, p. 46.Lege ibid. instruct. secret. de Jesuitarum praxi.Et Joh. Sarisbur. lib. vii. c. 21. de Monach. Potentiores et ditiores favore vel mercede recepta facilius (absolutione) exonerant, et peccatis alienis humeros supponentes, jubent abire in tunicas et vestes pullas, quicquid illi se commisisse deplorant—Si eis obloqueris, religionis inimicus, et veritatis diceris impugnator.[270]Matt. vi. 24; xiii. 22; Luke xvi. 13, 14; xiv. 33; xviii. 22, 23; Matt. vi. 19-21; 1 Tim. vi. 6-8; 1 John ii. 15; Prov. xxviii. 9; xviii. 8; James iv. 3; Prov. xxviii. 20, "He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent."[271]Jam. v. 1-5; 1 John iii. 17.[272]2 Tim. iv. 10.[273]1 Tim. vi. 17-19.[274]Christ's sheep-mark is plainest on the sheep that are shorn. When the fleece groweth long the mark wears out.[275]Pecunia apud eum nunquam mansisse probatur, nisi forte tali hora offeratur, quando sol diei explicans cursum, nocturnis tenebris daret locum. Victor. Ut. de Eugen. Episc. Cath. Plato compareth our life to a game at tables. We may wish for a good throw, but whatever it be, we must play it as well as we can. Plutarch. de Tranquil. Anim.[276]Socrates, Sæpe cum eorum quæ publice vendebantur multitudinem intueretur, secum ista volvebat, Quam multis ipse non egeo? Laert. in Socr. Pecuniam perdidisti? Bene, si te illa non perdidit: quod jam multis possessoribus suis fecit. Gaude tibi ablatum unde infici posses, teque illæsum inter pericula transivisse. Petrarch. 1. ii. dial. 13.[277]Si organum inhabitanti animo sufficiens fuerit, satis est virium. Corpus namque propter animi servitium fecisse naturam, nemo tam corporis servus est, qui nesciat. Id si proprio munere fungitur, quid accusas, seu quid amplius requiras? Petrarch, li. ii. dial. 2. Veres corporis sunt vires carceris, ut Petrarch, li. i. dial. 5. What mean you to make your prison so strong? said Pluto to one that over-pampered his flesh. Mars. Ficin. in Vita Plat.[278]He is a good christian, that remotely and ultimately referreth all the creatures unto God, and eateth, and drinketh, &c. more to fit him for God's service, than to please the flesh. But it is much more than this which the creature was appointed for; even for a present communication of the sense of the goodness of God unto the heart. As the musician that toucheth but the keys of his harpsichord or organ, causeth that sweet, harmonious sound, which we hear from the strings that are touched within; so God ordained the order, beauty, sweetness, &c. of the creature, to touch the sense with such a pleasure, as should suddenly touch the inward sense with an answerable delight in God, who is the giver of the life of every creature. But, alas! where is the christian that doth thus eat and drink, and thus take pleasure in all his mercies? When contrarily our hearts are commonly so diverted from God by the creature, that so much delight as we find in it, so much we lose of our delight in God, yea, of our regard and remembrance of him.[279]Yet it is true which Petrarch saith, li. 2. dial. 3. Valetudo infirma, Comes injucunda est, sed fidelis, quæ te crebro vellicet, iter signet, et conditionis admoneat: Optimum in periculis monitor fidus. Et li. 1. dial. 3. Multis periculosa et pestilens sanitas est, qui tutius ægrotassent. Nusquam pejus quam in sano corpore, æger animus habitat. Et dial. 4. Quamvis mala, quamvis pessima ægritudo videatur, optabile malum tamen, quod mali remedium sit majoris.[280]See the directions how to spend every day, part ii. chap. 17.[281]Ex ipsâ vitâ discedimus, tanquam ex hospitio, non tanquam ex domo: commorandi enim nobis natura diversorium non habitandi domum dedit. Cic. in Cat. Maj.[282]See my book called "Now or Never"[283]Mors iis terribilis est, quorum cum vita omnia extinguuntur. Cicero. Parad. 1.[284]See the many aggravations of sinful delay in my "Directions for Sound Conversion."[285]Numb. ix. 2, 3, 7, 13; Exod. xiii. 10.[286]Deut. xxviii. 12; Jer. v. 24; xxxiii. 20.[287]Hag. i. 2, 4.[288]1 Sam. xiii. 8, 9.[289]Psal. lxx. 5; Lev. xxvi. 4; Jer. v. 24.[290]Acts vi. 5; Matt. vii. 17; Luke vi. 45; Matt. xii. 34.[291]1 Cor. x. 31; Zech. xiv. 20, 21; Rom. vi. 19, 22; Luke i. 75; 1 Tim. v. 5; iv. 5; 2 Tim. ii. 21.[292]Phil. iii. 11-14.[293]Nosti mores mulierum: Dum moliuntur, dum comuntur, annus est. Terent.[294]Nihil mihi magis quam pompa displicet: non solum quia mala, et humilitati contraria, sed quia difficilis, et quieti adversa est. Petrarch. in Vita Sua.[295]Nimia omnia nimium exhibent negotium.[296]Abundance of little things that have all their conveniences have all their inconveniences also, and take up our time, and so would shut out greater things, if they be not cast aside themselves, and would become great sins by such a consumption of our time, Luke x. 42.[297]Convivia, quæ dicuntur (cum sint commessationes modestiæ et bonis moribus inimicæ) semper mihi displicuerunt; laboriosum, et inutile ratus vocare et vocari, &c. Idem.[298]Laertius saith of Solon, that Thespim tragœdias agere et docere prohibuit, inutilem eas falsiloquentiam vocans.[299]1 Pet. iv. 3.[300]Eph. ii. 2.[301]Sicut ignis in aqua durare non potest, ita neque turpis cogitatio in Dei amante: quoniam omnis qui Dei amator est, etiam laboris amans est: cæterum labor voluntarius, naturaliter voluptati inimicus existit. Marcus Erem.[302]See the directions for prayer, hearing, reading, and the sacrament. Part ii.[303]See in my tract on Heb. xi. 1, called "The Life of Faith."[304]See my book of the Mischiefs of Self-ignorance.[305]Thus evil may be made the object and occasion of good: it is good to meditate on evil to hate it, and avoid it. Keep acquaintance with conscience, and read over its books, and it will furnish your thoughts with humbling matter.[306]Psal. cv. 22; See Psal. civ. cv. cvi. cvii. cxxii. cxxiv. cxxxv. cxxxvi. cxlv. cxlvii. cxlviii. cxlix.[307]Phil. ii. 13; 2 Cor. iii. 5; xii. 9.[308]Of this see the fourth part of my "Saints' Rest" more fully.[309]Gal. vi. 10; 2 Thess. iii.[310]See Dr. Hammond on the place, and on 1 Tim. v. and on Tit. ii.[311]Petrarch speaking of his intimacy and esteem with kings and princes, addeth, Multos tamen eorum quos valde amabam effugi: tantus mihi fuit insitus amor libertatis; ut cujus vel nomen ipsum libertati, vel illi esse contrarium videretur, omni studio declinarem. In Vita Sua.[312]Read more after, part iii. against despair.[313]Stoici dicunt sapientem nunquam sanitate mentis excidere: incidere tamen aliquando in imaginationes absurdas propter atræ bilis redundantiam, sive ob delirationem non quidem deviatione rationis, verum ex imbecillitate naturæ. Laert. in Zenone.[314]Col. ii. 18-23.[315]John iii. 16; 1 John v. 10-12; Rev. xxii. 17; John v. 40.[316]Acts xxvi. 18; Eph. i. 18, 19; Col. i. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 9; Rom. viii. 7; 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15.[317]Nos autem nec subito cœpimus philosophari, nec mediocrem a primo tempore ætatis in eo studio operam curamque consumpsimus, et cum minime videbamur tum maxime philosophabamur. Cicero de Nat. Deor. page 5.[318]Primum contemplativæ sapientiæ rudimentum est meditari, condiscere, et loquitari dedicere. Paul. Scalig. Thes. p. 730.[319]Since the writing of this, I have begun a Methodis Theologiæ.[320]Read well Vincentius Lirinensis.[321]Sana consultatio est ex eruditia; multarumque rerum peritia et experientia. Plato in Laert.[322]Cum opiniones tam variæ sint et inter se dissidentes, alterum fieri potest, ut earum nulla, alterum certe non potest, ut plus una vera fit. Cicero de Nat. Deor. page 5.
[128]Lege Gassendi Oration, inaugural, in Institut. Astronom.
[129]Christianus est homo dicens et faciens ingrata diabolo; et ornans gloriam Dei, autoris vitæ et satis suæ. Bucholtzer.
[130]Of prayer I have spoken afterward. Tom. 2, &c.
[131]Turpissimum est philosopho secus docere quam vivit. Paul Scaliger. p. 728.
[132]Nam ilia quæ de regno cœlorum commemoranter à nobis, deque præsentium rerum contemptu, vel non capiunt, vel non facile sibi persuadent cum sermo factis evertitur. Acosta, lib. iv. c. 18. p. 418.
[133]I pass not this by as a small matter, to be passed by also by the reader. For I take the love of God kindled by faith in Christ, with the full denial of our carnal selves, to be the sum of all religion. But because I would not injure so great a duty by saying but a little of it; and therefore desire the reader, who studieth for practice, and needeth such helps, to peruse the mentioned books of "Self-denial," and "Crucifying the world."
[134]Of the sin against the Holy Ghost, I have written a special treatise in my "Unreasonableness of Infidelity."
[135]Since the writing of this, I have published the same more at large in my "Reasons of the Christian Religion," and in my "Life of Faith."
[136]Of presumption and false hope, enough is said in the "Saints' Rest," and here about temptation, hope, and other heads afterward.
[137]I must profess that the nature and wonderful difference of the godly and ungodly, and their conversation in the world, are perpetual, visible evidences in my eyes, of the truth of the holy Scriptures.
1. That there should be so universal and implacable a hatred against the godly in the common sort of unrenewed men, in all ages and nations of the earth, when these men deserve so well of them, and do them no wrong; is a visible proof of Adam's fall, and the need of a Saviour and a Sanctifier.
2. That all those who are seriously christians, should be so far renewed, and recovered from the common corruption, as their heavenly minds and lives, and their wonderful difference from other men showeth, this is a visible proof that christianity is of God.
3. That God doth so plainly show a particular special providence in the converting and confirming souls, by differencing grace, and work on the soul, as the sanctified feel, doth show that indeed the work is his.
4. That God doth so plainly grant many of his servants' prayers, by special providences, doth prove his owning them and his promises.
5. That God suffereth his servants in all times and places ordinarily to suffer so much for his love and service, from the world and flesh, doth show that there is a judgment, and rewards and punishments hereafter. Or else our highest duty would be our greatest loss; and then how should his government of men be just?
6. That the renewed nature (which maketh men better, and therefore is of God) doth wholly look at the life to come, and lead us to it, and live upon it, this showeth that such a life there is; or else this would be delusory and vain, and goodness itself would be a deceit.
7. When it is undeniable thatde facto esse, the world is not governed without the hopes and fears of another life; almost all nations among the heathens believing it, (and showing, by their very worshipping their dead heroes as gods, that they believed that their souls did live,) and even the wicked generally being restrained by those hopes and fears in themselves. And also that,de posse, it is not possible the world should be governed agreeably to man's rational nature, without the hopes and fears of another life; but men would be worse than beasts, and all villanies would be the allowed practice of the world. (As every man may feel in himself what he were like to be and do, if he had no such restraint.) And there being no doctrine or life comparable to christianity, in their tendency to the life to come. All these are visible standing evidences, assisted so much by common sense and reason, and still apparent to all, that they leave infidelity without excuse; and are ever at hand to help our faith, and resist temptations to unbelief.
8. And if the world had not a beginning according to the Scriptures, 1. We should have found monuments of antiquity above six thousand years old. 2. Arts and sciences would have come to more perfection, and printing, guns, &c. not have been of so late invention. 3. And so much of America and other parts of the world would not have been yet uninhabited, unplanted, or undiscovered.
Of atheism I have spoken before in the Introduction; and nature so clearly revealeth a God, that I take it as almost needless to say much of it to sober men.
[138]Neque enim potest Deus qui summa veritas et bonitas est, humanum genus, prolem suam decipere. Marsil. Ficin. de. Rel. Chris. c. 1.
[139]Pietas fundamentum est omnium virtutum. Cic. pro Plan.
[140]Zenophon reporteth Cyrus as saying, If all my familiars were endued with piety to God, they would do less evil to one another, and to me. Lib. viii.
[141]Pietate adversus Deos sublatâ, fides etiam, et societas humani generis, et una excellentissima virtus justitia, tollatur necesse est. Cic. de Nat. Deo. 4.
[142]See my book called "A Saint or a Brute."
[143]Exod. vii. 13, 14; 2 Kings xvii. 14; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13; Neh. ix. 16, 17, 29; Isa. lxiii. 17; Dan. v. 20; Mark vi. 52; viii. 17; iii. 5; John xii. 40; Acts xix. 9; Prov. xxviii. 14; xxix. 1; Matt. xix. 8; Mark xvi. 14; Rom. ii. 5.
[144]Non tamen ideo beatus est, quia patienter miser est. August de Civit. l. 14. c. 25.
[145]Lento gradu ad vindictam sui divina procedit ira: tarditatemque supplicii gravitate compensat. Valerius Max. de Dionys. 1. 1. c. 2.
[146]Feriemini, moriemini, sentietis: an cæci autem an videntes, id in vestra manu est. Optate igitur bene mori (quod ipsum nisi bene vixeritis frustra est). Optate, inquam, nitimini, et quod in vobis est facile: reliquum illi committite; qui vos in hanc vitam ultro non vocatos intulit; egressuris, non nisi vocatus et rogatus manum dabit. Non mori autem nolite optare. Petrarch. Dial. 107. 1. 2.
[147]Multi Christum osculantur; pauci amant: aliud est φιλειν, aliud καταφιλειν. Abr. Bucholtzer in Scultet. cur. p. 15. Dicunt Stoici sapientes esse sinceros, observateque et cavere sollicite nequid de se melius quam sit commendare putemus fuco seu arte aliqua mala occultante, et bona quæ insunt apparere faciente, ac circumcidere vocis omnem ficionem. Laert. in Zenone. Philosophia res adeo difficilis est, ut tam vel simulare magna sit pars philosophiæ. Paul Scalig. It was one of the Roman laws of the 12 Tables, "Impius ne audeto placere donis iram Deorum." "Let no ungodly person dare to go about to appease the displeasure of the gods by gifts:" viz. He must appease them first by reformation. Bona conscientia prodire vult et conspici; ipsas nequitia tenebras timet. Senec.
[148]When Petrarch, in vita sua, speaketh of others extolling his eloquence, he addeth his own neglect of it, Ego modo bene vixissem, qualiter dixissem parvi facerem. Ventosa gloria est, de solo verborum splendore famam quærere. Conscientiam potius quam famam attende. Falli sæpe poterit fama: conscientia nunquam. Senec.
[149]Sic vivendum est, quasi in conspectu vivamus: Sic cogitandum, tanquam aliquis pectus intimum prospicere possit. Senec. Rem dicam, ex qua mores æstimes nostras: vix quempiam invenies, qui possit aperto ostio vivere: janitores conscientia nostra—supposuit: sic vivimus ut deprehendi sit subito aspici. Senec. Ep. 96.
[150]It is a pitiful cure of the Indians' idolatry, which the honest Jesuit Acosta (as the rest) prescribeth, lib. 5. c. 11. p. 483. "But you must especially take care, that saving rites be introduced instead of hurtful ones, and ceremonies be obliterated by ceremonies. Let the priests persuade the novices, that holy water, images, rosaries, grains, and torches, and the rest which the church alloweth and useth, are very fit for them; and let them extol them with many praises in their popular sermons, that instead of the old superstition they may be used to new and religious signs." This is to quench the fire with oil.
[151]It is one of Thales' sayings, in Laert. Q. Quomodo optime ac justissime vivemus? Resp. Si quæ in aliis reprehendimus ipsi non faciamus. To judge of ourselves as we judge of others, is the way of the sincere.
[152]Cato, homo virtuti simillimus qui nunquam recte fecit, ut facere videretur, sed quia aliter facere non poterat; cuique id solum visum est rationem habere, quod haberet justitiam. Velleius Patercul. 1. 2.
[153]Jam in ecclesiis ista quæruntur, et omissa Apostolicorum simplicitate et puritate verborum, quasi ad Athenæum et ad auditoria convenitur ut plausus circumstantium suscitentur, ut oratio rhetoricæ artis fucata mendacio quasi quædam meretricula procedat in publicum, non tam eruditura populos, quam favorem populi quæsitura. Hieron. in Præf. 1. 3. in Galat.
[154]Permanent tepidi, ignavi, negligentes, vani, leves, voluptuosi, delicati; commoda corpores superflua sectantur, suum compendium in omnibus quærunt, ubicunque honorem et existimationem nominis sui integra servare possunt: intus propriæ voluntati pertinaciter addicti, irresignati, minime abnegati, superbi, curiosi, et contumaces sunt in omnibus, licet externe coram hominibus bene morati videantur. In tentationibus impatientes, amari, procaces, iracundi, tristes, aliis molesti, verbis tamen ingenioque scioli,—In prosperis nimium elati et hilares: in adversis, nimium turbati sunt et pusillanimes: aliorum temerarii sunt judices: aliorum vitia accuratissime perscrutari, de aliorum defectibus frequenter garrire, ac gloriari egregium putant. Ex istis et similibus operibus facillime cognosci poterunt: nam moribus gestibusque suis seu sorex quispiam suopte semet indicio produnt. Thauler. flor. p. 65, 56.
[155]Quid prodest recondere se et oculos hominum auresque vitare? Bona conscientia turbam advocat; mala autem in solitudine anxia et sollicita est. Si honesta sunt quæ facis, omnes sciant: si turpia, quid refert neminem scire, cum tu scias: O te miserum si contemnis hunc testem. Sen. Ep. 96. Matt. xxiii. 13-15, 23, 25, 27, 29.
[156]Matt. xxiii. 8; Eph. iv. 2-5; Luke x. 42; Matt. vi. 33; 2 Pet. i. 10; John vi. 27.
[157]1 Tim. ii. 5; James iv. 12; Hos. x. 2.
[158]1 Cor. i. 13; Gal. iv. 8; 1 Cor. viii. 5; Phil. iii. 18.
[159]The causes of superstition (and so of hypocrisy) are, pleasing and sensual rites and ceremonies, excess of outward and pharisaical holiness, over-great reverence of traditions, which cannot but load the church, the stratagems of prelates for their own ambition and lucre, the savouring too much good intentions, which openeth a gate to conceits and novelties. Lord Bacon's Essays. As P. Callimachus Exper. describeth Attila, that he was a devourer of flesh and wine, &c. and yet Religione persuasionibusque de diis à gente sua susceptis, usque ad superstitionem addictus. Calli. p. (mihi) 339.
[160]Psal. lxxviii. 37; 2 Cor. vii. 11.
[161]1 John i. 6; ii. 3-5, 15; iv. 6-8, 20; v. 3; Matt. x. 37.
[162]The similitude of superstition to religion maketh it the more deformed: and as wholesome meat corrupteth into little worms, so good forms and orders corrupt into a number of petty observances. Lord Bacon's Essay of Superstition.
[163]Non quam multis placeas, sed qualibus stude. Martin. Dumiens. de Morib.
[164]Luke xiv. 26, 27.
[165]Magna animi sublimitate carpentes se atque objurgantes Socrates contemnebat. Laert. in Socrat.
[166]When Chrysippus was asked why he exercised not himself with the most, he answered, If I should do as the most do, I should be no philosopher. Laert. in Chrysip. Adulationi fœdum crimen servitutis malignitati falsa species libertatis inest. Tacitus, lib. 17. Secure conscience first, Qua semel amissa, postea nullus eris.
[167]Rom. xiv.; xv. 1-3.
[168]Gal. v. 10; 1 Cor. v.
[169]Quicquid de te probabiliter fingi potest, ne fingatur ante devita. Hieron. ad Nepot. Non solum veritas in hac parte sed etiam opinio studiose quærenda est, ut te hypocritam agere interdum minime pœniteat, said one harshly enough to Acosta, ut lib. 4. c. 17. p. 413.
[170]1 Pet. iv. 12, 13, &c.; 1 Cor. iv. 12, 13; Acts xxii. 22; xxiv. 5, 6; Matt. v. 10-12.
[171]Psal. xxx. 5; lxiii. 3; 2 Cor. v. 9; Rom. viii. 33, 34.
[172]Matt. x.; John xv.; Matt. xxvii.; Heb. xii. 1-3; 1 Pet. ii. 21-23.
[173]We must go further than Seneca, who said, Male de me loquuntur, sed mali; moverer si de me Mar. Cato, si Lælius sapiens, si duo Scipiones ista loquerentur: nunc malis displicere, laudari est.
[174]See Dr. Boys' Postil. p. 42, 43. Marlorat. in 1 Cor. iv. 3.
[175]The open daylight of truth doth not show the masks, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world, half so stately and gallant as candlelight doth. Lord Bacon's Essay of Truth. Why lies are loved.
[176]Offendet te superbus contemptu; dives contumelia, petulans injuria, lividus malignitate: pugnax contentione, ventosus et mendax vanitate: non feres a suspicioso timeri, a pertinace vinci, a delicato fastidiri. Senec. de Ira, l. 3. c. 8.
[177]Unus mihi pro populo est, et populus pro uno. Sen. Ep. 7. ex Democr. Satis sunt mihi pauci, satis est unus; satis est nullus. Senec. Epist. 7. Socrates was condemned by the votes of more against him of his judges than those that absolved him; and they would not suffer Plato to speak for him. His sentence was, Jura violat Socrates, quos ex majorum instituto suscepit civitas, deos esse negans, alia vero nova dæmonia inducens. Laert. in Socrat.
[178]Quæ ego scio populus non probat: quæ probat populus ego nescio. Sen. Epi. 29. Imperitia in omnibus majori ex parte dominatur, et multitudo verborum. Cleobulus in Laert.
[179]Inter hæc quid agant quibus loquendi à Christo officium mandatur? Deo displicent, si taceant; hominibus si loquantur. Salvian. ad Eccles. Cath. 1. 4.
[180]Even for the greatness of your services, you may perish, by the suspicion and envy of those great ones whom you served: as is proved by the case of Saul and David, Belisarius, Narses, Bonifacius, the two sons of Huniades imprisoned, and one slain, and multitudes such like.
[181]Persium non curo legere: Lælium Decimum volo: ut Lucilius.
[182]I may add that you have guilty consciences to please. And the guilty are, as Seneca speaks, like one that hath an ulcer, that at first is hurt with every touch, and at last even with the suspicion of a touch. Tutum aliqua res in mala conscientia præstat, nulla securum. Putat enim etiamsi non deprehenditur, se posse deprehendi; et inter somnos movetur, et quoties alicujus scelus loquitur, de suo cogitat. Sen. Epis. 106. Prima et maxima peccantium pœna est peccasse.—Hæc et secundæ pœnæ premunt et sequuntur, timere semper et expavescere et securitate diffidere. Epis. 97. Tyranno amici quoque sæpe suspecti sunt. Tu ergo, si tyrannidem tuto tenere cupis, atque in ea constabiliri, civitatis principes tolle, sive illi amici, sive inimici videantur. Thrasybulus in Epist. Periand. in Laertio. Plerorumque ingenium est, ut errata aliorum vel minima perscrutentur, benefacta vero vel in propatulo posita prætereant; sicut vultures corpora viva et sana non sentiunt, morticina vero et cadavera tametsi longe remota odore persequuntur. Galiadus in Arcan. Jesuit, p. 55.
[183]When the divines of Heidelberg appointed Pitiscus to write his Irenicon, his very writing for peace, and to persuade the reformed from apologies and disputes, did give occasion of renewed stirs to the Saxons and Swedish divines, to tell men that they could have no peace with us. Scultet. Curric. p. 46.
[184]They that saw Stephen's face as it had been the face of an angel, and heard him tell them that he saw heaven opened, yet stoned him to death as a blasphemer. Acts vi. 15; vii. 55-60.
[185]Socrates primus de vitæ ratione disseruit, ac primus philosophorum damnatus moritur. Laert. in Socrat. p. 92. Multa prius de immortalitate animarum ac præclara dissertus. Ibid.
[186]Fama liberrima principum judex. Seneca in Consolat. ad Martiam.
[187]Aristides having got the surname of Just, was hated by the Athenians, who decreed to banish him: and every one that voted against him being to write down his name, a clown that could not write came to Aristides to desire him to write down Aristides' name. He asked him whether he knew Aristides; and the man answered, No; but he would vote against him because his name was Just. Aristides concealed himself, fulfilled the man's desire, and wrote his own name in the roll and gave it him: so easily did he bear it to be condemned of the world for being just. Plutarch in Aristide. It was not only Socrates that was thus used, saith Laertius, Nam Homerum velut insanientem drachmis quinquaginta mulctarunt, Tyrtæumque mentis impotem dixerunt, &c.—"Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" Matt. xxiii.
[188]Vis esse in mundo? Contemni et temnere disce. Abr. Bucholtzer.
[189]Socrates dicenti cuidam, Nonne tibi ille maledicit? Non, inquit, mihi enim ista non adsunt.
[190]Dicebat expedire, ut sese ex industria comicis exponeret: nam si ea dixerint quæ in nobis corrigenda sint, emendabunt: sin alias, nihil ad nos.
[191]Dicenti Alcibiadi, non esse tolerabilem Xantippen adeo morosam: Atqui, ait, ego ita hisce jampridem assuetus sum, ac si sonum trochearum audiam—et mihi post Xantippes usum, reliquorum mortalium facilis toleratio est. Laert. in Socr.
[192]Hoc habeo fere refugii et præsidii in meis ærumnis: sermones cum Deo, cum amicis veris, et cum mutis magistris. Bucholtzer.
[193]Nemo altorum sensu miser est sed suo: et ideo non, possunt cujusquam falso judicio esse miseri, qui sunt vere suâ conscientiâ beati. Salvian. de Gubern. 1. 1.
[194]Philosophi libertas molesta est omnibus. P. Scalig. multo magis fidelis pastoris.
[195]Non est idoneus philosophiæ discipulus, qui stultum pudorum non possit contemnere Id. ibid. p. 728.
[196]Of this subject read the preface to my book "Of Self-denial," and chap. 41. to chap. 51.
[197]Duplex est humilitas: una lucida solum et non fervida: quæ ex ratione potius quam ex charitate exercetur.—Altera quæ lucida fervidaque simul est, ex charitate magis quam ex ratione exercetur; non tamen citra rationem.—Humilitas enim (ut et reliquæ virtutes) opus est voluntatis. Nam sicut virtutes per rationem cognoscimus, ita per dilectionem nobis sapiunt. Thauler. flor. c. 7, p. 103, 104.
[198]See Plutarch Tract. How a man may praise himself without incurring blame? He that is blamed and suffereth reproach for well-doing, is justifiable if he praise himself, &c. p. 304.
[199]Siquid agere instituis, lente progredere: in eo autem quod elegeris, firmiter persiste. Bass in Laert.
[200]Pertinacior tamen erat (Chrysanthius) nec de sententia facili discedebat: inquit Eunapius humilitatem ejus laudans.
[201]Bullingero ob eruditionem non contemnendam, morumque tam sanctitatem quam suavitatem, percharus fuit. p. 591.
[202]Gen. xix. 8-10.
[203]Cum humilitatis causa mentiris, si non eras peccator antequam mentiris, mentiendo efficies quod evitaras. Augustin. de Verb. A post.
[204]Attila incessu adeo gestuosus et compositus, ut vel exinde superbissimi animi contraxerit infamiam. Callimach. Exper. de Attil. p. 341.
[205]Quod à magnatum ac procerum congressu abstinuerit (Chrysanthius) alieniorque fuerit, non arrogantiæ aut fastui tribuendum est, quin potius rusticitas quædam aut simplicitas existimari debet in eo qui quid esset potestas ignorabat; ita vulgariter, et minime dissimulanter cum illis verba factitabat. Eunapius in Chrysost.
[206]Jer. ix. 23, 24; Psal. xlix. 6; 2 Chron. xxv. 19.
[207]Ut lumen lunæ in præsentia solis non apparet, pari ratione esse secundum in præsentia primi; nec meritum nostrum præsente merito Christi. Paul. Scaliger. Thess. 73, 74. de Mundo Archetyp. Epist. 1. 14.
[208]Idem sonant, summe amari, et esse finem ultimum: ac proculdubio Deus summe amandus est. Unum vero finem Aristoteles declaravit esse, usum virtutis in vita sancta et integra. Hesych. Illust. in Aristot.
[209]Laert. in Thal. speaketh of the oracle of Delphos adjudging the Tripos to the wisest; so it was sent to Thales, and from him to another, till it came to Solon, who sent it to the oracle; saying, None is wiser than God. So should we all send back to God the praise and glory of all that is ascribed to us.
[210]Laert. saith that Pythagoras first called himself a philosopher. Nullum enim hominem, sed solum Deum esse sapientem asserit: antea σοφια dicta, quæ nunc philosophia: et qui hanc profitebantur σοφοι appellati. quicunque ad summum animis virtutem excreverunt, hos nunc honestiore vocabulo, authore Pythagora, philosophos appellamus, p. 7.
[211]Quicquid boni egeris, in deos refer. Bias in Laert.
[212]Men sick in mind, as witless fools, and loose persons, and unjust, and injurious, think not that they do amiss and sin, &c. Plutarch. Tract. That Maladies of the Mind are worse than those of the Body.
[213]Rom. v. 12, 17-19; John iii. 3, 5, 8; Jer. xvii. 9.
[214]His ergo qui loquendi arta cæteris hominibus excellere videntur, sedulo monendi sunt ut humilitate induti christiana discant non contemnere quos cognoverint morum vitia quam verborum amplius devitare, Aug. de Cat. rudib. c. 9.
[215]Non potest non indoctus esse, qui se doctum credit. Hermar. Barbarus.
[216]Pliny saith, In commending another you do yourself right; for he whom you commend is either superior or inferior to you; if he be inferior, if he be to be commended, then you much more; if he be superior, if he be not to be commended, then you much less. Lord Bacon, Essay 54. p. 299.
[217]Clemens Alex. strom. l. 1. c. 4. Ait fideli christiano docenti vel unicum sufficere auditorem.
[218]Isa. lxv. 5.
[219]Matt. xi. 19; ix. 11; xv. 2, 3.
[220]See 1 Tim. iii. 6; vi. 4. A cunning flatterer will follow the arch-flatterer which is a man's self. And wherein a man thinketh best of himself, therein the flatterer will uphold him most. But if he be an impudent flatterer, he will entitle him by force to that which he is conscious that he is most defective in. Lord Bacon, Essay 52.
[221]Hesich. Illust. saith of Arcesilaus, In communicandis facultatibus ac deferendis beneficiis supra quam dici potest promptus atque facilis fuit: alienissimus a captanda gloriola a beneficio, quod latere maluerat: invisens Ctesibium ægrotantem, quum videret illum in egestate esse, clam cervicali supposuit crumeunam nummariam, qua ille inventa, Arcesilai inquit, hicce ludus est.
[222]Psal. x. 2, 4; lxxiii. 6; xxxvi. 11; Eccl. x. 7.
[223]Rom. xii. 19, 20; Matt. v. 39; Col. iii. 13; 1 Thess. v. 14; 2 Pet. ii. 20.
[224]Jam. iii. 5; Psal. xlix. 6; x. 3; 2 Cor. x. 15.
[225]Inter benedicti signa humilitatis (in regula) est, ut pauca verba etiam rationalia loquatur, non clamosa voce: taciturnitas usque ad interrogationem: sed hæc semper intelligenda sunt, salvo amore veritatis, et animarum.
[226]2 Cor. xi. 9; 1 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8.
[227]Humilitas est, 1. Necessaria: subdere se majori, et non præferre se æquali. 2. Abundans: subdere se æquali, nec preferre se minori: 3. Perfecta: subdere se minori.—Gloss. sup. Matt. iii. Humilitatis septem gradus secundum Anselmum sunt. 1. Opinione: (1.) Se contemptibilem cognoscere. (2.) Hoc non dolere. 2. Manifestatione: (1.) Hoc confiteri: (2.) Hoc persuadere. (3.) Patienter sustinere hæc dici. 3. Voluntate: (1.) Pati contemptibiliter se tractari. (2.) Hoc idem amare. Anselm. lib. de similit.
[228]Anaxagoras (in Laert. p. 87.) Cum vidisset mausoli sepulchrum: monumentum, inquit, pretiosum et lapidibus ornatum, divitiarum imago.
[229]Æneas Sylvius in Boem. c. 65, speaking of the boasting of the monk Capistrinus, saith, Superaverat seculi pompas, calcaverat avaritiam, libidinem subegerat, gloriam contemnere non potuit: nemo est tam sanctus qui dulcedine gloriæ non capiatur. Facilius regna viri excellentes, quam gloriam contemnunt. Inter omnia vitia tu semper es prima, semper es ultima: nam omne peccatum te accedente committitur, et te recedente dimittitur. Innocent. de Contemp. Mundi. l. 2. c. 31.
[230]Jam. iv. 6; 1 Pet. v. 5; Isa. lvii. 15; Prov. xvi. 19; xxix. 23.
[231]Vainglorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of flatterers, and the slaves of their own pride. Lord Bacon, Essay 54.
[232]Matt. ix. 24; v. 40.
[233]John xv. 20; Phil. ii. 7-10.
[234]1 Cor. iv. 12-15; Acts xxiv. 5.
[235]See my "Treatise of Self-ignorance."
[236]
Fama est fictilibus cœnasse Agathoclea regem,Atque abacum Samio sæpe onerasse luto.Fercula gemmatis cum poneret aurea vasis,Et misceret opes pauperiemque simul,Querenti causam respondit: Rex ego qui sumSicaniæ, figulo sum genitore satus.Fortunam reverentur habe, quicunque repenteDives ab exili progredire loco.Auson. li. Epigram.
Fama est fictilibus cœnasse Agathoclea regem,Atque abacum Samio sæpe onerasse luto.Fercula gemmatis cum poneret aurea vasis,Et misceret opes pauperiemque simul,
Querenti causam respondit: Rex ego qui sumSicaniæ, figulo sum genitore satus.Fortunam reverentur habe, quicunque repenteDives ab exili progredire loco.Auson. li. Epigram.
[237]Isa. iii.
[238]Rom. iii. 19, 20, 23, 27; iv. 2; Cor. i. 29; Eph. ii. 9.
[239]Luke xxii. 26; Mark x. 44; ix. 35, 36; 2 Tim. ii. 24.
[240]1 Pet. v. 6; Lam. iii. 29; ii. 19; Amos iii. 8; 1 Pet. v. 5; Jam. iv. 6; Dan. v. 22; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27.
[241]See an excellent Tract. de Divitiis, ascribed to Sixt. 3. in Bibl. Pat. (though accused of Pelagianism.)
[242]Phil. iii. 7-9; Jam. i. 10; Phil. iv. 11; 1 Tim. vi. 8; Prov. xxiii. 4, "Labour not to be rich."
[243]Luke xiv. 26, 33.
[244]Matt. vi. 19-21, 33; John vi. 27; Luke xii. 19, 20; xviii. 22, 23.
[245]Ephes. v. 5; Col. iii. 5; James iv. 4.
[246]Rom. xiii. 14; Matt. vi. 19; 1 Tim. iii. 8; Phil. iii. 19; Ezek. xxxiii. 31; Jer. ix. 23.
[247]Job i. 21.
[248]1 Tim. vi. 17, 18; Mal. iii. 8, 9; Judg. vii. 21.
[249]Duæ res maxime homines ad maleficium impellunt, luxuries et avaritia. Cic. 1. ad Heren. Corrupti sunt depravatique mores admiratione divitiarum. Idem. 2. Offic. Nihil est tam sanctum quod non violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit. Cicero 2. in Verrem. When Alexander sent Phocion a hundred talents, he asked, Why he rather sent it to him than all the rest of the Athenians? He answered, Because he took him to be the only honest man in Athens: whereupon Phocion returned it to him again, entreating him to give him leave to be honest still.
[250]It was one of Chilon's sayings, Lapideis cotibus aurum examinari: auro autem bonorum malorumque hominum mentem cujusmodi sit comprobari: i. e. As the touchstone trieth gold, so gold trieth men's minds, whether they be good or bad. Laertius in Chil. p. 43.
[251]Luke xviii. 11-13; Matt. vi. 16, 18.
[252]Luke xii. 48; xvi. 9, 10; Matt. xxv.; 2 Cor. viii. 14, 15.
[253]Nullius rei eget qui virtutum dives est: quarum indigentia vere miseros, ac proinde misericordiæ egentissimos facit. Petrarch. Dial. 44. li. 2.
[254]Diis maxime propinquus qui minimis egeat. Socrat. in Laert.
[255]1 Cor. vii. 31.
[256]Remember Gehazi, Achan, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, Demetrius, Demas. Jer. vi. 13; viii. 10. Maxime vituperanda est avaritia senilis. Quid enim absurdius quam quo minus vitæ restat, eo plus viatici quærere? Cicero in Cat. Maj.
[257]Prov. xi. 4, "Riches profit not in the day of wrath."
[258]Jer. xvii. 11; Jam. v. 1-3.
[259]Chilon in Laert. p. 43. Damnum potius quam turpe lucrum eligendum; nam id semel tantum dolori esse, hoc semper.
[260]Socrates dixit, Opes et nobilitates, non solum nihil in se habere honestatis, verum et omne malum ex eis oboriri. Laert in Socrat.
[261]Prov. iii. 14; 1 Tim. vi. 5, 6.
[262]Lege Petrarchæ lepidam historiam de avaro filio et liberali patre. Dial. 13. li. 2.
[263]Saith Plutarch, de tranquillit. anim. Alexander wept because he was not lord of the world; when Crates, having but a wallet and a threadbare cloak, spent his whole life in mirth and joy, as if it had been a continual festival holiday.
[264]Psal. xxxvii. 16; Prov. xvi. 8.
[265]Chrysostom saith, his enemies charged him with many crimes, but never with covetousness or wantonness. And so it was with Christ and his enemies.
[266]Et sicut in patria Deus est speculum in quo relucent creaturæ; sic è converso in via, creaturæ sunt speculum quo creator videtur. Paul. Scaliger in Ep. Cath. 1. 14. Thess. 123. p. 689.
[267]Even Dionysius the tyrant was bountiful to philosophers. To Plato he gave above fourscore talents, Laert. in Platone, and much to Aristippus and many more, and he offered much to many philosophers that refused it. And so did Crœsus.
[268]Matt. x. 30; Luke xii. 7.
[269]Look upon the face of the calamitous world, and inquire into the causes of all the oppressions, rapines, cruelties, and inhumanity which have made men so like to devils: look into the corrupted, lacerated churches, and inquire into the cause of their contentions, divisions, usurpations, malignity, and cruelty against each other: and you will find that pride and worldliness are the causes of all. When men of a proud and worldly mind have by fraud, and friendship, and simony usurped the pastorship of the churches, according to their minds and ends, they turn it into a malignant domination, and the carnal, worldly part of the church, is the great enemy and persecutor of the spiritual part; and the fleshly hypocrite, as Cain against Abel, is filled with envy against the serious believer, even out of the bitter displeasure of his mind, that his deceitful sacrifice is less respected. What covetousness hath done to the advancement of the pretended holy catholic church of Rome, I will give you now, but in the words of an abbot and chronicler of their own, Abbas Urspergens. Chron. p. 321. Vix remansit aliquis episcopatus, sive dignitas ecclesiastica, vel etiam parochialis ecclesia, quæ non fierit litigiosa, et Romam deduceretur ipsa causa, sed non manu vacua. Gaude mater nostra Roma, quoniam aperiuntur cataractæ thesaurorum in terra, ut ad te confluant rivi et aggeres nummorum in magna copia. Lætare super iniquitate filiorum hominum; quoniam in recompensationem tantorum malorum, datur tibi pretium. Jocundare super adjutrice tua discordia; quid erupit de puteo infernalis abyssi, ut accumulentur tibi multa pecuniarum præmia. Habes quod semper sitisti; decanta Canticum, quia per malitiam hominum non per tuam religionem, orbem vicisti. Ad te trahit homines, non ipsorum devotio, aut pura conscientia, sed scelerum multiplicium perpetratio, et litium decisio, pretio comparata.
Fortun. Galindas speaking of pope Paul the fifth, his love to the Jesuits for helping him to money, saith, Adeo præstat acquirendarum pecuniarum quam animarum studiosum et peritum esse, apud illos, qui cum animarum Christi sanguine redemptarum, in se curam receperint, vel quid anima sit nesciunt, vel non pluris animam hominis quam piscis faciunt: quod credo suum officium Piscatum quendam esse aliquando per strepitum inaudierint: quibus propterea gratior fuerit, qui animam auri cum Paracelso, quam animam Saxoniæ Electoris invenisse nuntiet. Arcan. Soci. Jesu, p. 46.
Lege ibid. instruct. secret. de Jesuitarum praxi.
Et Joh. Sarisbur. lib. vii. c. 21. de Monach. Potentiores et ditiores favore vel mercede recepta facilius (absolutione) exonerant, et peccatis alienis humeros supponentes, jubent abire in tunicas et vestes pullas, quicquid illi se commisisse deplorant—Si eis obloqueris, religionis inimicus, et veritatis diceris impugnator.
[270]Matt. vi. 24; xiii. 22; Luke xvi. 13, 14; xiv. 33; xviii. 22, 23; Matt. vi. 19-21; 1 Tim. vi. 6-8; 1 John ii. 15; Prov. xxviii. 9; xviii. 8; James iv. 3; Prov. xxviii. 20, "He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent."
[271]Jam. v. 1-5; 1 John iii. 17.
[272]2 Tim. iv. 10.
[273]1 Tim. vi. 17-19.
[274]Christ's sheep-mark is plainest on the sheep that are shorn. When the fleece groweth long the mark wears out.
[275]Pecunia apud eum nunquam mansisse probatur, nisi forte tali hora offeratur, quando sol diei explicans cursum, nocturnis tenebris daret locum. Victor. Ut. de Eugen. Episc. Cath. Plato compareth our life to a game at tables. We may wish for a good throw, but whatever it be, we must play it as well as we can. Plutarch. de Tranquil. Anim.
[276]Socrates, Sæpe cum eorum quæ publice vendebantur multitudinem intueretur, secum ista volvebat, Quam multis ipse non egeo? Laert. in Socr. Pecuniam perdidisti? Bene, si te illa non perdidit: quod jam multis possessoribus suis fecit. Gaude tibi ablatum unde infici posses, teque illæsum inter pericula transivisse. Petrarch. 1. ii. dial. 13.
[277]Si organum inhabitanti animo sufficiens fuerit, satis est virium. Corpus namque propter animi servitium fecisse naturam, nemo tam corporis servus est, qui nesciat. Id si proprio munere fungitur, quid accusas, seu quid amplius requiras? Petrarch, li. ii. dial. 2. Veres corporis sunt vires carceris, ut Petrarch, li. i. dial. 5. What mean you to make your prison so strong? said Pluto to one that over-pampered his flesh. Mars. Ficin. in Vita Plat.
[278]He is a good christian, that remotely and ultimately referreth all the creatures unto God, and eateth, and drinketh, &c. more to fit him for God's service, than to please the flesh. But it is much more than this which the creature was appointed for; even for a present communication of the sense of the goodness of God unto the heart. As the musician that toucheth but the keys of his harpsichord or organ, causeth that sweet, harmonious sound, which we hear from the strings that are touched within; so God ordained the order, beauty, sweetness, &c. of the creature, to touch the sense with such a pleasure, as should suddenly touch the inward sense with an answerable delight in God, who is the giver of the life of every creature. But, alas! where is the christian that doth thus eat and drink, and thus take pleasure in all his mercies? When contrarily our hearts are commonly so diverted from God by the creature, that so much delight as we find in it, so much we lose of our delight in God, yea, of our regard and remembrance of him.
[279]Yet it is true which Petrarch saith, li. 2. dial. 3. Valetudo infirma, Comes injucunda est, sed fidelis, quæ te crebro vellicet, iter signet, et conditionis admoneat: Optimum in periculis monitor fidus. Et li. 1. dial. 3. Multis periculosa et pestilens sanitas est, qui tutius ægrotassent. Nusquam pejus quam in sano corpore, æger animus habitat. Et dial. 4. Quamvis mala, quamvis pessima ægritudo videatur, optabile malum tamen, quod mali remedium sit majoris.
[280]See the directions how to spend every day, part ii. chap. 17.
[281]Ex ipsâ vitâ discedimus, tanquam ex hospitio, non tanquam ex domo: commorandi enim nobis natura diversorium non habitandi domum dedit. Cic. in Cat. Maj.
[282]See my book called "Now or Never"
[283]Mors iis terribilis est, quorum cum vita omnia extinguuntur. Cicero. Parad. 1.
[284]See the many aggravations of sinful delay in my "Directions for Sound Conversion."
[285]Numb. ix. 2, 3, 7, 13; Exod. xiii. 10.
[286]Deut. xxviii. 12; Jer. v. 24; xxxiii. 20.
[287]Hag. i. 2, 4.
[288]1 Sam. xiii. 8, 9.
[289]Psal. lxx. 5; Lev. xxvi. 4; Jer. v. 24.
[290]Acts vi. 5; Matt. vii. 17; Luke vi. 45; Matt. xii. 34.
[291]1 Cor. x. 31; Zech. xiv. 20, 21; Rom. vi. 19, 22; Luke i. 75; 1 Tim. v. 5; iv. 5; 2 Tim. ii. 21.
[292]Phil. iii. 11-14.
[293]Nosti mores mulierum: Dum moliuntur, dum comuntur, annus est. Terent.
[294]Nihil mihi magis quam pompa displicet: non solum quia mala, et humilitati contraria, sed quia difficilis, et quieti adversa est. Petrarch. in Vita Sua.
[295]Nimia omnia nimium exhibent negotium.
[296]Abundance of little things that have all their conveniences have all their inconveniences also, and take up our time, and so would shut out greater things, if they be not cast aside themselves, and would become great sins by such a consumption of our time, Luke x. 42.
[297]Convivia, quæ dicuntur (cum sint commessationes modestiæ et bonis moribus inimicæ) semper mihi displicuerunt; laboriosum, et inutile ratus vocare et vocari, &c. Idem.
[298]Laertius saith of Solon, that Thespim tragœdias agere et docere prohibuit, inutilem eas falsiloquentiam vocans.
[299]1 Pet. iv. 3.
[300]Eph. ii. 2.
[301]Sicut ignis in aqua durare non potest, ita neque turpis cogitatio in Dei amante: quoniam omnis qui Dei amator est, etiam laboris amans est: cæterum labor voluntarius, naturaliter voluptati inimicus existit. Marcus Erem.
[302]See the directions for prayer, hearing, reading, and the sacrament. Part ii.
[303]See in my tract on Heb. xi. 1, called "The Life of Faith."
[304]See my book of the Mischiefs of Self-ignorance.
[305]Thus evil may be made the object and occasion of good: it is good to meditate on evil to hate it, and avoid it. Keep acquaintance with conscience, and read over its books, and it will furnish your thoughts with humbling matter.
[306]Psal. cv. 22; See Psal. civ. cv. cvi. cvii. cxxii. cxxiv. cxxxv. cxxxvi. cxlv. cxlvii. cxlviii. cxlix.
[307]Phil. ii. 13; 2 Cor. iii. 5; xii. 9.
[308]Of this see the fourth part of my "Saints' Rest" more fully.
[309]Gal. vi. 10; 2 Thess. iii.
[310]See Dr. Hammond on the place, and on 1 Tim. v. and on Tit. ii.
[311]Petrarch speaking of his intimacy and esteem with kings and princes, addeth, Multos tamen eorum quos valde amabam effugi: tantus mihi fuit insitus amor libertatis; ut cujus vel nomen ipsum libertati, vel illi esse contrarium videretur, omni studio declinarem. In Vita Sua.
[312]Read more after, part iii. against despair.
[313]Stoici dicunt sapientem nunquam sanitate mentis excidere: incidere tamen aliquando in imaginationes absurdas propter atræ bilis redundantiam, sive ob delirationem non quidem deviatione rationis, verum ex imbecillitate naturæ. Laert. in Zenone.
[314]Col. ii. 18-23.
[315]John iii. 16; 1 John v. 10-12; Rev. xxii. 17; John v. 40.
[316]Acts xxvi. 18; Eph. i. 18, 19; Col. i. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 9; Rom. viii. 7; 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15.
[317]Nos autem nec subito cœpimus philosophari, nec mediocrem a primo tempore ætatis in eo studio operam curamque consumpsimus, et cum minime videbamur tum maxime philosophabamur. Cicero de Nat. Deor. page 5.
[318]Primum contemplativæ sapientiæ rudimentum est meditari, condiscere, et loquitari dedicere. Paul. Scalig. Thes. p. 730.
[319]Since the writing of this, I have begun a Methodis Theologiæ.
[320]Read well Vincentius Lirinensis.
[321]Sana consultatio est ex eruditia; multarumque rerum peritia et experientia. Plato in Laert.
[322]Cum opiniones tam variæ sint et inter se dissidentes, alterum fieri potest, ut earum nulla, alterum certe non potest, ut plus una vera fit. Cicero de Nat. Deor. page 5.