much reason to be displeased upon this account, or to SERM. reckon thy condition very difaftrous.

XXXIX.

Gr. ii. 30.

But friends, will fome men say, have been unkind, have been ungrateful, have been fickle and false, have neglected, have deferted, have betrayed me; It was not an enemy Píal. lv. 12. that reproached me, then I could have borne it, &c. this is indeed commonly moft grievous; yet being scanned will not render a man's condition fo lamentable: for, fuch Jam fibi misbehaviour of friends is more their calamity than ours: pœnas dedit qui peccathe lofs of bad friends is no damage, but an advantage; it vit. Sen. de is but the lofs of a mifchief, and a trouble: the fewer we come to have of fuch, the more time we fave, the lefs trouble we meet with, the greater fecurity we enjoy. The kindness we have fhewed, the obligations we have put on fuch, are not quite loft, they will bring the reward due to humanity and fidelity; it will yield fatisfaction to us, that, however, we have been kind and faithful to them. The fidelity of remaining true friends may fatisfy us: however if all other friendships fhould fail, there is one remains, worth millions of other friends, who can never prove unfaithful, or inconftant, who never will be unmindful of us, or deficient in kindness toward us.

The death of friends doth, it may be, opprefs thee with Vid. Sen. forrow. Ep. 63.

But canft thou lofe thy best friend? canft thou lose the prefence, the converfation, the protection, the advice, the fuccour of God? is he not immortal? is he not immutable? is he not infeparable from thee? canft thou be deftitute of friends, whilft he ftands by thee? Is it not an affront, an heinous indignity to him, to behave thyself, as if thy happiness, thy welfare, thy comfort had dependence on any other but him? is it not a great fault to be unwill- Vid. Greg. ing to part with any thing, when he calleth for it?

Neither is it a lofs of thy friend, but a feparation for a fmall time: he is only parted from thee as taking a little journey, or going for a small time to reposed: within

ὁ Οὐ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν ὁ πάντα ἄριστος ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνήν, ἀλλὰ καθεύδει ὕπνον τοῦ συνήθους μακρότερον. Theod. Εp. 68.

Αποδημίαν τοίνυν παρακαλῶ μακρὰν τὴν τελευτὴν, &c. Theod. Ep. 14.

Naz. Ep.

202.

SERM. a while we shall be sure to meet again, and joyfully to XXXIX. congratulate, if we are fit, in a better place, and more happy ftate; præmifimus, non amifimus; we have fent him thither before, not quite loft him from use.

Vid. Sen.
Ep. 63.

Thy friend, if he be a good man, (and in fuch friendfhips only we can have true fatisfaction,) is himself in no bad condition, and doth not want thee; thou canst not therefore reasonably grieve for him; and to grieve only for thyfelf is perverfe selfishness and fondness f.

But thou haft loft a great comfort of thy life, and advantage to thy affairs here; is it truly fo? is it indeed an irreparable loss, even fecluding the confideration of God, whofe friendship repaireth all poffible lofs? What is it, I pray, that was pleafant, convenient, or useful to thee in thy friend, which may not in good measure be supplied here? was it a sense of hearty good-will, was it a sweet freedom of converfation, was it found advice or kind affiftance in thy affairs? and mayft thou not find thofe left, which are alike able and willing to minister those benefits? may not the fame means, which knit him to thee, conciliate others alfo to be thy friends? He did not alone surely poffefs all the good-nature, all the fidelity, all the wisdom in the world, nor hath carried them all away with him: other friends therefore thou mayft find to fupply his room: all good men will be ready, if thou art good, to be thy friends; they will heartily love thee; they will be ready to cheer thee with their sweet and wholefome fociety, to yield thee their best counsel and help upon any occafion is it not therefore a fond and unaccountable affection to a kind of personality, rather than want of a real convenience, that difturbeth thee?

In fine, the fame reasons, which in any other lofs may

e Cur doles fi periiffe non credis? cur impatienter feras fubdu&um interim quem credis reverfurum? profectio eft quam putas mortem. Tert. de Pat, 9. Sen. Ep. 63.

f Impatientia in ejusmodi et spei noftræ male ominatur, & fidem prævaricatur, &c. Tert. ibid.

Ποῦ τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης ἀγαθὸν, ἑαυτῷ τὰ ῥᾴω διδόντα τῷ πλησίον ἀπονέμειν τὰ προσαντέστερα ; Νaz. Οr. 19.

comfort us, fhould do it also in this: neither a friend nor SERM. any other good thing we can enjoy under any fecurity of XXXIX. not foon lofing it; our welfare is not annexed to one man no more than to any other inferior thing: this is the condition of all good things here to be tranfient and feparable from us; and accordingly we fhould be affected toward them.

Fragile fractum eft, mortale mortuum eft.

But farther, it perhaps difpleaseth us, that the course of the world doth not go right, or according to our mind; that juftice is not well difpenfed, that virtue is under hatches, that worth is not confidered, that industry is not rewarded, that innocence and modefty are trampled upon; that favour, partiality, corruption, flattery, craft, impudence do carry all before them; devouring all the encou ragements due to honest industry: this may be observed, but why should it displease? art thou guilty of contributing to this? then mend; if not, then bear; efpecially seeing thou canst not help it; for fo it hath always been, and ever will be in the world, that things never have gone there as the wifeft judge, or the beft men defire: there have never been good men enough to sway the world; nor will the few good men that are, be fo active in promoting public good, as bad are in driving on their private defigns. Doth not this courfe of things neceffarily fpring from the nature of men, which therefore we should no more be vexed at, than for that a serpent hath poison, or that a wasp hath a fting? we cannot wonder at it, why then should we be ftrangely affected by it? could any man ever have been pleased, if this were a sufficient cause of difpleasure? However the world goes, we may yet make a tolerable fhift; God is engaged competently to provide for us; that fhould fatisfy us. God obferveth these things no lefs than we, and he can eafily hinder them, yet he thinketh good to fuffer them; and shall not we do fo likewife? There is in fine appointed a judgment hereafter, when all these things fhall be redreffed and fet straight; when justice and virtue shall triumph, when integrity and industry shall find their due recompenfe: it is

SERM. but a moment to that time, and till then we may reft XXXIX. fatisfied.

Thus if we do furvey and rightly state things, which cause discontent, and seem to render our condition hard and fad, we shall find, that not from the things, but from ourselves all the mischief proceeds: we by our imagination give to the lighteft things a weight, and fwell the fmalleft things into a vaft bulk; we fancy them very frightful and doleful, then we tremble and grieve at them. Mere names (the names of poverty, of disgrace, of defeat) do fcare us, without confulting reafon, and confidering how little terrible the things are themselves. We follow filly prejudices, judging that highly good, which the vulgar admireth; that very evil, which the weakeft fort of men are wont to complain of: hence fo commonly doth our case seem grievous. But in truth there is no condition fo bad, but if we manage it well and wifely, if we bend our mind to comply with it, if we moderate our paffions about the accidents thereof, if we vigilantly embrace and enjoy the advantages thereof, may not be eafily fupportable, yea prove very comfortable to us: it is our fond conceits, our froward humours, our perverse behaviours, which do create the trouble, which feemeth adherent to any condition, and embittereth every state; which from any flight occafion doth create vexation, and turneth every event into disaster.

2. As there is no condition here perfectly and purely good 5, (not deficient in fome conveniences, not blended with fome troubles,) fo there is none fo thoroughly bad, that it hath not fomewhat convenient and comfortable therein; feldom or never all good things do forfake a man at once, or all mifchiefs together affail him; fomewhat ufually abideth, which, well improved or wifely enjoyed, may fatisfy a man, yea render his eftate comparable to theirs, who to vulgar eyes appear to be in the belt condition there is in every condition fomewhat of good

:

ufque adeo nulla eft fincera voluptas Solicitique aliquid lætis intervenit. Ovid.

compenfating for its evils, and reducing it to a balance SERM. with other more plaufible states h. We are, fuppofe again, XXXIX. in poverty, (that inftance I propound usually, as the most ordinary ground of difcontent;) but have we therewith good health? then most rich men may envy us, and reafonably we should not exchange our state with many crazy princes: have we therewith our liberty? that is an ineftimable good, which oftentimes the greatest men have wanted, and would have purchased with heaps of gold: have we therein a quiet mind, and a free ufe of our time? it is that, which wifest men have prized above any wealth, and which the chief men of the world would be glad to taste of: have we a clear reputation? we have then the best good that any wealth can yield, we have more than many can obtain in the moft fplendid fortune: have we any friends sticking to us? that is more than the richest perfons can affure themselves of, to whom it is near impoffible to diftinguish the friends of their perfon from the flatterers of their fortune; it is a privilege and folace, which princes are hardly capable to arrive at : have we a bare competency, fufficient to maintain our life? we there- Prov. xxvii. by keep our appetites in better compass, and our faculties 7. in greater vigour; we thence better relish all things; we in confequence thereof avoid the burdens, the diseases, the vices of floth and luxury: have we farther (as, if we are not very bad, we fhall in this cafe affuredly have, humanity difpofing all men thereto) the compaflion of men? is not this fomewhat better than that envy, that ill-will, that obloquy, which usually do attend wealth and profperity? Why then, if our poor ftate hath so manifold conveniences, do we so much diftafte it? why do we so dwell and pore on the fmall inconveniences we feel under it, overlooking or flighting the benefits we may enjoy thereby? This indeed ordinarily is our folly and infirmity, that the want of any little thing, which we fancy or

b Affuefcendum conditioni suæ ; et quam minimum de illa querendum, et quicquid habet circa fe commodi apprehendendum eft: nihil tam acerbum eft, ex quo non æquus animus folatium inveniat. Sen. de Trang. An. cap. 10.