ftlCantr1-bÍng 'o` ait9S rtEberuptiQ>it< 331 . that hisGovernmentwas managed with infiniteWifdom. Chap 17 Other Providences were vail'd and myflerious, and the LtU fight of thofe that we're clear fhould have induc'd them to believe the Jullice and Wifdom of thofe they could not comprehend. As Socrates having reada Book Yid Diog. ofHeraclit, ,a great Philofopher but ftudioufly obfcure, Laert. and his Judgment being demanded concerning it,reply- ed, That what he underhond was very rational, and he thought what. he did not underhand was fo. But they didnot wifely confider things. The prefent fenfe of troubles tempted them, either Tuíiy hi nf' f to deny Providence or accufe it. Every day fomeun- the g p2 ÿ°f happy wretchor other reproacht their Gods for thedif guando neque afters he fuffered. Now theend of Philofophy was top qú °Stu ca" íti(íïmecolu- redrefs thefeevils, to make an afflicted to beacontented ¡Ili, neque ho- hate. ThePhilofophers fpeak much of the Power of times quos ego P 1? fervivi, Temper their Precepts toehablifh the Soul in the inflabilityof nobis a Tai: worldly things, to put it into an impregnable fortrefs, 4 E leer adt. by its fituationabove the moll terrible accidents. They or. boated in a Poetical bravery,oftheir Victories over For tune,that they defpifed its flattery ina calm,and its fury . in a florm, and in everyplace erect Trophies to Vertue triumphing over it. Thefe aregreat words and found high, but are empty of fubfiance and reality. Upon tryal we fhall find that all their Armour though polifhed and fhining,yet is not of proofagainfl ¡harp Afflictions. The Arguments they ufed for comfort are taken, Pate neceffe eft I . From neceífity ; that we are born to Sufferings c, Icm ata. the Laws ofhumanity, which are unchangeable, fub- jest us to them. But this confederation is not only in- effectual to caufe true Contentment, but produces the contrary effect : as the ffrength of Egypt is defcribed to be like a reed that will pierce the hand inftead offop- porting it. Thus Solonextremely lamenting the death ofhisSons and being ask't why he fhed fo many barren V v 2 tears
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