Cent. Ill. .Meditations and f!owes. A· above;and as the worO: doe.beO:ead him,tho~gh again Cl: their w_ills;fo he again doth voluntarily good to them.To doe ev>ll for ev1l,as Io.b to Abmr ,1~ a ~nfull weakndfc: To doe good for good,as Ah•fi""" to Morde&•i,>s bur naturall Ju(hce' To doe eviil for oood as Iud,u to ChriO:,is unrhankfulnc(fe and villanie:Ooly to do good for cv>l, aor~s with ChriO:ianprofdlion. And what greater work of friend!hip, th~n to~oe g~d( Ifmen wil not he my friends in love,! wdl p:rforce make them my fr~eods ma good u[e oftheir hatred.! will be their friend, thatare mine,and would not b•· 9 . 1\11 remporall things are troublefome.For ifwe have good things,it is a troub:c to forgoe them;and when we fee they muO: be parted from,either we wi!h they had nor b<en [o good,or that we never had enjoyed them. Y ca,ic is more trouble to lofe them, B then it was before joy to po(fe(fe them. Ifconcranly, we have evill things,their Very prefence is troubk[ome;and O:iiJ,we wi!h that they were good, or char we were difburdcnedofthem.Sogood things are trouhlefome in event, ~vill chings in their ufe. They in chc furure,thefc in the prefent:they, becat•fc they !hall come to an end, thefe becaufe theydoecontinue.Tell me,tby wife,orthy childe liesdyiog,andnow makes up a loving anddutifulllife, with a kiode and loving patrure ; whether hadft thou rather for thy own pm,!he had bin fo good,or worfe~ would it havecoO: thee fo many hearrv fighes and cearcs, if !he hJd been perverfe and difobedienr 1 Yet if in her life rime f put thee to this choice,thou think ell it no choice at all, in fuch inequalitie. It is more torment (fayeO: thou) to live one unquiet moneth, then it is pleafure to live an age in love. Or ifthy life be yet dearer: Thou haft lived eo gray haires, not ha!lned c with care,bucbred with late fucceffion ofyccrs.Thy tJble was ever covered with va. riety ofdi!hes: Thy bJck foftly and richly clad :Thou never gave!! denyall to either skin or O:omake:Thou ever favoured Cl: thy f<:lfc;and health,thee.Now death is at thy thre!hold, •nd unpmially knockes at thy dore , doO: thou not wi!h thou hadO: lived with cru{h, and been clothed with rags l Would Cl: not thou have given a better welcome to death, ifhe had found thee lying upon apallet ofO:raw , and fupping ofWJter-gruell;afcer many painfull nights,and many fides changed in vain ~ Yet this beggerly eO:ate thou deceO:eO: in health,and pittieO: in others,as truly mifcrable.The fum is;A begger wifheth he might be aMonarchwhile he lives; and the great Potentate wifheth he had lived a beggerwhen he comes to die:and , ifbeggerie be to have nothing,he !hall be fo in death, though he wi!hed itnot. Nothing therefore but ctemitie D can make a man truly happy; as nothing cJn mJke perfcllmif<ry but eternity:for as temporal! good things al!liC< us in their ending, fo temporail forrowes afford us joy in the hope oftheir end.What folly is this in us to feek tor our trouble, to neglect our happine(fe(I can be but wdl1and this that I was well,fiJall one day be grievous. No. thing fhlll pleafe me,but thatonce I !hall be happy for ever. 10 The eld~ft ofour fore-fath_ers lived notfo much as a day to God,to whomathouf~nd yeerus as nomore; we hve bu~ as an hourco the day of our fore-fJthers, for if ~me hundred a~d fixty were b~t thm day, o~r fourfcore is but as the twelfth part of lt: and yet ofthiS o~r hounye hve fcarce a mmucetoGod.For,takc away all that time that IS confu~cd m fieepmg, dreffing, fe.eding, talking, fporting1ofthat little time E there can r_emamnot much more then no~hmg:yet the moO:.feek paO:imes to haO:en it. Thofe wht_ch ~eek to mend the plceofT>me,fpurre a running horfe.I had more need to redeemlt wuh double care and labour,tbeo to feek how to fell it for nothing. 11 Each day is a new life,and an abridgementof the who!<.I willfo live,as iflcoun· tcd everyday my firft,and my la (I: JS if! began to live buttben, and !hou\d live no more lfterwards. 12 It was noi in VJi~,that the aac~ntfounders oflanguages ufed the fame word inmany tongues,toHgmfie both Honour and Charge;mcaning theroin eo teach us the infe. pa~a~le connexton of t~efe two. For there fcarce ever was aoy chargewithout lome opmtoo ofhonour: netther ever was there honour without a charge; which two E3 as
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=