loss of a game? Didst thou refer the business to God's disposal and arbitrement? if not, thou deservedst to be crossed, and rather confess thy fault, than complain of thy fortune: if thou didst so, then be consistent with thyself, and acquiesce in his determination in fine, what is thy loss, is it of thy care and pain? would it have been much better, that thou hadst been careless or idle? but hast thou not in lieu of them got some wisdom and experience? hast thou not (if thy attempt was reasonable and worthy) exercised thy wit, thy courage, thy industry? hast thou not (by thy defeat) got an opportunity to express equanimity and patience? if thou so improvest thy disappointment, thou art a gainer by thy loss, thou dost more than conquer' by thy defeat: however, since the gain, the credit, the preferment thou didst aim at, and hast missed, are things in themselves of no great value, and such as thou mayest well live without, as other good men have done, thou canst not have much reason to be displeased on this account, or to reckon thy condition very disastrous.

But friends, will some men say, have been unkind, have been ungrateful, have been fickle and false, have neglected, have deserted, have betrayed me; It was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it,' &c. this is indeed commonly most grievous; yet being scanned will not render a man's condition so lamentable; for such misbehavior of friends is more their calamity than ours: the loss of bad friends is no damage, but an advantage; it is but the loss of a mischief and a trouble: the fewer we come to have of such, more time we save, the less trouble we meet with, the greater security we enjoy. The kindness we have showed, the obligations we have put on such, are not quite lost, they will bring the reward due to humanity and fidelity; it will yield satisfaction to us, that however we have been kind and faithful to them. The fidelity of remaining true friends may satisfy us: however if all other friendships should fail, there is one remains, worth millions of other friends, who can never prove unfaithful or inconstant, who never will be unmindful of us, or deficient in kindness towards us.

The death of friends doth, it may be, oppress thee with

sorrow.

But canst thou lose thy best friend? canst thou lose the presence, the conversation, the protection, the advice, the succor of God? is he not immortal? is he not immutable? is he not inseparable from thee? canst thou be destitute of friends, whilst he stands 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 unwilling to part with any thing, when he calleth for it?

Neither is it loss of thy friend, but a separation for a small time he is only parted from thee as taking a little journey, or going for a small time to repose: within a while we shall be sure to meet again, and joyfully to congratulate, if we are fit, in a better place, and more happy state; pramisimus, non amisimus ; we have sent him thither before, not quite lost him from us.

Thy friend, if he be a good man, (and in such friendships only we can have true satisfaction,) is himself in no bad condition, and doth not want thee; thou canst not therefore reasonably grieve for him; and to grieve only for thyself is perverse selfishness and fondness.

But thou hast lost a great comfort of thy life, and advantage to thy affairs here; is it truly so? is it indeed an irreparable loss, even secluding the consideration of God, whose friendship repaireth all possible loss? What is it, I pray, that was pleasant, 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 conversation, was it sound advice or kind assistance in thy affairs? and mayest thou not find those left, which are alike able and willing to minister those benefits? may not the same means, which knit him to thee, conciliate others also to be thy friends? He did not alone surely possess 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 mayest find to supply 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 wholesome society, to yield thee their best counsel and help on any occasion: is it not

therefore a fond and unaccountable affection to a kind of personality, rather than want of a real convenience, that disturbeth thee?

In fine, the same reasons, which in any other loss may comfort us, should do it also in this: neither a friend nor any other good thing we can enjoy under any security of not soon losing 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 transient and separable from us; and accordingly we should be affected toward them.

Fragile fractum est, mortale mortuum est.

But farther, it perhaps displeaseth us that the course of the world doth not go right, or according to our mind; that justice is not well dispensed, that virtue is under hatches, that worth is not considered, that industry is not rewarded, that innocence and modesty are trampled on; that favor, partiality, corruption, flattery, craft, impudence do carry all before them; devouring all the encouragements 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; especially seeing thou canst not help it; for so it hath always been, and ever will be in the world, that things never have gone there as the wisest judge, or the best men desire: there have never been good men enough to sway the world; nor will the few good men that are, be so active in promoting public good, as bad are in driving on their private designs. Doth not this course of things necessarily spring 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 sting? we cannot wonder at it, why then should we be strangely affected by it? could any man ever have been pleased, if this were a sufficient cause of displeasure? However the world goes, we may yet make a tolerable shift; God is engaged competently to provide for us; that should satisfy us. God observeth these things no less than we, and he can easily hinder them, yet he thinketh good to suffer them; and shall not we do so likewise? There is in fine appointed a judgment hereafter, when all these things

BAR.

VOL. III.

C

shall be redressed and set straight; when justice and virtue shall triumph, when integrity and industry shall find their due recompense it is but a moment to that time, and till then we may rest satisfied.

Thus if we do survey and rightly state things, which cause discontent, and seem to render our condition hard and sad, we shall find that not from the things, but from ourselves all the mischief proceeds: we by our imagination give to the lightest things a weight, and swell the smallest things into a vast 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 scare us, without consulting reason, and considering how little terrible the things are themselves. We follow silly prejudices, judging that highly good, which the vulgar admireth; that very evil, which the weakest sort of men are wont to complain of: hence so commonly doth our case seem grievous. But in truth there is no condition so bad, but if we manage it well and wisely, if we bend our mind to comply with it, if we moderate our passions about the accidents thereof, if we vigilantly embrace and enjoy the advantages thereof, may not be easily supportable, yea prove very comfortable to us: it is our fond conceits, our froward humors, our perverse behaviors, which do create the trouble, which seemeth adherent to any condition, and embittereth every state; which from any slight occasion doth create vexation, and turneth every event into disaster.

2. As there is no condition here perfectly and purely good, (not deficient in some conveniences, not blended with some troubles,) so there is none so thoroughly bad, that it hath not somewhat convenient and comfortable therein; seldom or never all good things do forsake a man at once, or all mischiefs together assail him; somewhat usually abideth, which, well improved or wisely enjoyed, may satisfy a man, yea render his estate comparable to theirs, who to vulgar eyes appear to be in the best condition: there is in every condition somewhat of good compensating for its evils, and reducing it to a balance with other more plausible states. We are, suppose again, in poverty, (that instance I propound usually, as the most ordinary ground of discontent ;) but have we therewith good

health? then most rich men may envy us, and reasonably we should not exchange our state with many crazy princes: have we therewith our liberty? that is an inestimable 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 use of our time? it is that, which wisest 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 most splendid fortune: have we any friends sticking to us? that is more than the richest persons can assure themselves of, to whom it is near impossible to distinguish the friends of their person from the flatterers of their fortune; it is a privilege and solace, which princes are hardly capable to arrive at have we a bare competency, sufficient to maintain our life? we thereby keep our appetites in better compass, and our faculties in greater vigor; we thence better relish all things; we in consequence thereof avoid the burdens, the diseases, the vices of sloth and luxury have we farther (as, if we are not very bad, we shall in this case assuredly have, humanity disposing all men thereto) the compassion of men? is not this somewhat better than that envy, that ill-will, that obloquy, which usually do attend wealth and prosperity? Why then, if our poor state hath so manifold conveniences, do we so much distaste it? why do we so dwell and pore on the small inconveniences we feel under it, overlooking or slighting 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 affect, doth hinder us from satisfaction in all other things: one dead fly' causeth all our ointment to stink;' the possession of a kingdom will not keep us from being 'heavy and displeased,' as Ahab was, if we cannot acquire a small vineyard near us; on that one thing our head runs continually, our heart is wholly set, we can think on, we can taste nothing else; the want of that, notwithstanding all our affluence, doth pinch us; our dainties thence do prove insipid, our splendors appear dim, every thing but that is a toy unto us: so capriciously and unaccountably prone are we to discontent.

3. Is our condition, let me ask again, so extremely bad, that