and furnish the Figure. What Solid Satisfaction is there in a vaft Revenue, in a Train of Domesticks, in Services of Plate, and regaling the Palate? What Satisfaction is there in all this Bulk, and Glitter, if the Man's Confcience, or his Covetousness, disturbs him? If he languifhes after an impracticable Addition, or is teaz'd with Apprehenfions of Misfortune? These Attendants keep Sollici tude awake, and flat the Relifh of En joyment. And when this is the Cafe, the happy Mortal is little better than a Slave well drefs'd, punifh'd in State, and laid in Chains of Gold.

Some People are rather overloaden, than furnish'd with Riches; perfectly master'd by their Money, and as it were Villains regardant to their own Estates. They have nothing to fpare for their Dependants, no Bounty for Friendship, no Charity for Indigence and Diftrefs: Their Treasure lyes hoarded, or circulates at home; and fometimes their Family and Perfon are held to fhort Allowance. And thus they feem to keep their Money rather from other People, than for themselves.

In a Word, let's go a little higher in the Contemplation: And here you'll perceive that even Princes have not their G 2 Grandeur

Grandeur without Abatement. The Magnificence of their Courts are not always Entertaining Amusements: Difquiets will fometimes crowd thro' all this Equipage and Appearance. The Attendance of their Guards,and the Force of their Armies, are no fufficient Defence against Alarms and uneafy Thinking. If they prove arbitrary and tyrannical, they are afraid of their own Strength:They are anxious left that Sovereign Power which makes them dreadful to their Subjects, should recoil in a Revolt, and be turn'd against themfelves. Thus this fublime Station proves often flippery; the Monarch is flatter'd by his Circumftances to be more easily betray'd, faluted for a Stab, and rais'd to an Eminence to make the Fall the heavier. Thus the Reverse of Fortune ftrikes hard upon Crown'd Heads; the Cloud breaks in a Tempeft; and their Calamities are proportion'd to their Condition.

1

Of

Of Patience from Saint Cypriandoo

PA

!

De Bono

Atience being my Subject at pres fent, dearly Beloved, whence can I Cyprian. take my rife better, than by obferving to Patiensia. you, that without fome Degrees of this Vertue, yon can neither learn nor im prove by the Difcourfe. Bura Hint may be enough for this purpofe. I muft confefs, I know no Inftance of Duty within the compaís of the Chriftian Religion, that has more Serviceableness and Luftre in't than that I am now upon. Even the Pagan Philofophers make pretenfions to this good Quality: But fince they are underfurnish'd to pronounce upon the Queftion; fince the Wisdom of 1 Cor. iii this World is Foolishness with God; their 9. Patience must be counterfeit too. Indeed where there is no good Rule to direct, Practice must ramble and mifcarry of courfe. The Behaviour of thefe Philofophers is fufficient to prove the Charge, and ftrike them out of all Claim to the Character of Wisdom: For a Wife Man is unpretending, gentle, and fmoothtemper'd; but thefe Sages are neither one nor t'other: They are paffionate and haughty, and too much pleas'd with themfelves, to pleafe God Almighty.

"

Patience

Patience can never dwell with so much Confidence and Conceit, and where Pride and Oftentation looks fo open and undifguis'd. But as for us Chriftians, who are to be great in Practice more than * Talk, rather to Live, than dress like Ad mirers of Wisdom, and value the Consciousness above the Commendation of a good Action; let us who profefs the Worship of the True God, govern our Conduct by His Laws, and manage by that Patience fo ftrongly recommended and enjoin'd.

This Vertue is of High Defcent, 'tis exercis'dr Above, and lyes in common between Mortals and the Deity. Thus the Dignity of this Original bespeaks its Excellency: But then 'tis no Incommunicable Attribute: God has put it in our power to produce fomething of the fame kind, done us the honour to approach His Nature, and refemble His Perfections: And have we no ambition to be like the Sovereign Being? If God is our Lord and Father, we should answer the Duty of both Relations. Servants thould be obedient, and Sons hold up to their Defcent. Now how far the Patience of God reaches, we may learn in fome measure, by the Affronts from the Pagan Religion. Men fet up rival Dei

ties,

I

ties, are licentious in their Solemnities, and run after Scandalous Objects of Worship And yet God fuffers this Re volt; His Goodness is not tir'd with all this Provocation; His Bounty is continued, and His Bleffings difpenced, without Diftinction. The Day dawns, and the Sun fhines upon Good and Bad: Every body has an equal fhare in thefe Liberalities of Providence: A wicked Wretch finds his Account in a Shower of Rain, no less than his Honeft Neigbour: Knaves and Men of Probity, Atheifts and Saints, People that thank God for what they have, and thofe who never think of Him, fare much alike in these matters. The Seafons come up, the Winds blow, the Rivers continue their courfe, the Trees afford their Verdure, and the Fruits ripen, for the Worst as well as the Beft. And notwithstanding all this Ingratitude and Contempt, God, as it were, moderates His Anger and reftrains His Refentment. And tho' Revenge is always in His Power, He chufes Clemency and Forbearance, and merci fully waits for the Recollection of Sin ners. He has folemaly declar'd He bas no Pleasure in the Death of the Wicked, but xxixii.11. that he turn from his Way and Live. Thus upon this Motive the Prophet Joel ex- Joel ii.

horts

Ezek.