Make not the Consequences of Vertue the Ends thereof: be not beneficent for a Name or Cymbal of Applause, nor exact and punctual in Commerce, for the Advantages of Trust and Credit which attend the Reputation of just and true Dealing; for such Rewards, tho' unsought for, plain Vertue will bring with her, whom all Men honour, tho' they pursue not. To have other bye Ends in good Actions, sowers laudable Performances, which must have deeper Roots, Motions, and Instigations, to give them the Stamp of Vertues.
Tho' human Infirmity may betray thy heedless Days into the popular Ways of Extravagancy, yet let not thine own Depravity, or the Torrent of vicious Times, carry thee into desperate Enormities in Opinions, Manners, or Actions: if thou hast dip’d thy Foot in the River, yet venture not over Rubicon; run not into Extremities from whence there is no Regression, nor be ever so closely shut up within the Holds of Vice and Iniquity, as not to find some Escape by a Postern of Resipiscency.
Owe not thy Humility unto Humiliation by Adversity, but look humbly down in that State when others look upward upon thee: be patient in the Age of Pride and Days of Will and Impatiency, when Men live but by Intervals of Reason, under the Sovereignty of Humor and Passion, when ’tis in the Power of every one to transform thee out of thy self, and put thee into the short Madness. If you cannot imitate Job, yet come not short of Socrates,[315] and those patient Pagans, who tir’d the Tongues of their Enemies while they perceiv’d they spet their Malice at brazen Walls and Statues.
Let Age, not Envy, draw Wrinkles on thy Cheeks: be content to be envied, but envy not. Emulation may be plausible, and Indignation allowable; but admit no Treaty with that Passion which no Circumstance can make good. A Displacency at the Good of others, because they enjoy it, altho' we do not want it, is an absurd Depravity, sticking fast unto human Nature from its primitive Corruption; which he that can well subdue, were a Christian of the first Magnitude, and for ought I know, may have one Foot already in Heaven.
While thou so hotly disclaim'st the Devil, be not guilty of Diabolism; fall not into one Name with that unclean Spirit, nor act his Nature whom thou so much abhorrest; that is, to accuse, calumniate, backbite, whisper, detract, or sinistrously interpret others; degenerous Depravities and narrow-minded Vices, not only below S. Paul’s noble Christian, but Aristotle’s[316] true Gentleman. Trust not with some, that the Epistle of S. James is Apocryphal, and so read with less Fear that Stabbing Truth, that in company with this Vice thy Religion is in vain. Moses broke the Tables without breaking of the Law; but where Charity is broke the Law it self is shatter’d, which cannot be whole without Love, that is the fulfilling of it. Look humbly upon thy Vertues, and tho' thou art rich in some, yet think thy self poor and naked, without that crowning Grace, which thinketh no Evil, which envieth not, which beareth, believeth, hopeth, endureth all things. With these sure Graces, while busie Tongues are crying out for a Drop of cold Water, Mutes may be in Happiness, and sing the Trisagium[317] in Heaven.
Let not the Sun in Capricorn go down upon thy Wrath, but Write thy Wrongs in Water: draw the Curtain of Night upon Injuries; shut them up in the Tower of Oblivion,[318] and let them be as tho' they had not been. Forgive thine Enemies totally, and without any Reserve of Hope, that however, God will revenge thee.
Be substantially great in thy self, and more than thou appearest unto others; and let the World be deceived in thee, as they are in the Lights of Heaven. Hang early Plummets upon the Heels of Pride, and let Ambition have but an Epicyche or narrow Circuit in thee. Measure not thy self by thy Morning Shadow, but by the Extent of thy Grave; and reckon thy self above the Earth by the Line thou must be contented with under it. Spread not into boundless Expansions either to Designs or Desires. Think not that Mankind liveth but for a few, and that the rest are born but to serve the Ambition of those, who make but Flies of Men, and Wildernesses of whole Nations. Swell not into Actions which embroil and confound the Earth; but be one of those violent ones which force the Kingdom of Heaven.[319] If thou must needs reign, be Zeno, King, and enjoy that Empire which every Man gives himself. Certainly, the iterated Injunctions of Christ unto Humility, Meekness, Patience, and that despised Train of Vertues, cannot but make pathetical Impressions upon those who have well consider’d the Affairs of all Ages, wherein Pride, Ambition, and Vain glory, have led up the worst of Actions, and whereunto Confusion, Tragedies, and Acts denying all Religion, do owe their Originals.
Rest not in an Ovation,[320] but a Triumph over thy Passions; chain up the unruly Legion of thy Breast; behold thy Trophies within thee, not without thee: Lead thine own Captivity captive, and be Cæsar unto thy self.