1· Rnkforour a[uont, Hea"Peh upon Earth. not enough Chri!lians. We have reli~:ion enough to mifiike pleafur~, not enough A to overcome them.But ifwe be once conquerours over ourfclves,and have devoted our [elves wholly to God,there can be nothing but heavenly mirth in the foule.Loe here, ye Philofophcrs, the true Muficke ofHeaven,which the good heart continually heareth, and anfwers it ip the jull meafures of joy. Others may talke of mirth, as a thing rhey have heardof, or vainly fanci_ed ; onely the Chri!lian feeles it; and in cornparifon thereof fcorneth the 1dle, nbaldllh, and fcurnlous mmh of the prophane. SEcT. XXIV. ANd this refolution whic!l we call for, mu£1 not oniJI exclude manifenty evil B aCtions, but alfo doubung and fufpeofion ofmmd m athons fufpetled, :md queftionable; wherein the judgement mu£1 ever give confident dctermioa. tion one way.For this TrAIIq•ili11 confi!leth in a !leddindfe ofthe mind:and bow can that vdfell whichis beaten upon,by contrary waves and winds(and totteretl1 to either part)be faid to kecpe a fteady coutfe ~ Refolution is the only mother off<euriry. For in!lance:I fee, that Ufurywhich was wont to be condemned for no better then a Legall theft,hath now obtained(with many)the reputation ofan honeft Trade; and is both ufed by many, and by fome defended. It is pittie that a bad pradice lhould find any learned or religiousPatron.The fumme ofmy patrimony liethd<ad by me,feeled up in the bag ofmy Father: my thriftier friends advifeme to this eafie and fureimprovemenr;Their counfdl and my gaine prevaile;my yeerely fummes come in with no co£1 but oftime,wax,parchment:my e!late lik~ it wdl;better then my confcience; C which tells me !lill, he doubts, my trade is too eafie to behoneft: Yet I continue my illiberal! courfe not withour fome fcruple andcontraditlion:fo as my feare ofoffence hinders the joy ofmy profit, and the pleafure ofmy gaine heartens me again£1 the feare bfinju!licc; I would be rich with cafe; and yet I would not be uncharitable, I would not be unju£1. All the while I live in unquiet doubts, and dillradion: O<hers arenotfo mucllcntJngled in my bonds, as !inmy owne. Atlall, that I may be both jnft and quiet, !conclude to referre this cafe wholy to the fentence ofmy inward Judge, the ca.(eimu.-theAdvocates G•int and jujlice pleadon either partat this barre with doubtfull fucccffc. G•int informes the Judge ofa new and nice dillindion, of toothldfe, and biting Interdt, nnd brings prefidents ofparticulat cafes ofUfury fo farre lrom any breach ofcharity or juflicc, that both parts therein confdfe themfdvcs advanraged.I•Jiict pleads even the mon toothies ufury to have lharpgum m~, D and finds in the mo£1 harmleffe and profitable praCiife ofir,an infenlible wrong to rh• common body; befides the infinite wracks of private e!lates. The weake Judge fufpends infuch probable allegations,and demurreth;as being overcomeofboth,and ofneither parr:and leav<s me yet no whit more quiet,no whit leffe uncerraine. I fu{. pend my pradife accordingly; being fure it is good not to doe, what I am not fure is good to be done: and now G4intfolicits me as much as iufliu did before. Betwixt both I live troublefomely : nor ever lhall doe other, till (in a refolure dere!lation) I have whipped this evill Merchant out oftheTempieofmy heart. This rigour is my peace; Before, I could not be well, either full or fa!ling; uncertainty is much paine, even in a more tolerable adion. Neither is it (!think) ealie to determine, whether it bee worfe to doe a lawfull aCI with doubtin~, or an evill with refolution: lince that which in it felfe is good,is made evill to mee by my doubt:and what is in nature evil~ E is in this one point not evill to me, that I doe it upon a verdid ofa Confciencc: fo now my judgement offtnds in not following the truth : I offend not in that I follow my judgement:Wherein ifthe moll wife God had left us to rove only according to the aime ofour owne conjedure5, it lhould have been leffe faulty to be Sctpticlm in our a6lions, and either not to judge at all, orto judgeamiffe: but now that he hath given us a perfed rule ofeternall equity,and truth,whereby to dired the fenrences of our judgement; that uncertainty whichallowetb no peace to us,will afford us no excufe
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