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poral Sword is to be drawn, with great circumspection, in Cases of Religion; so it is a thing monftrous, to put it into the hands of the Common People. Let that be left unto the Anabaptists, and other Furies. It was great Blafphemy, when the Devil faid, I will afcend, and be like the Higheft; but it is greater Blasphemy to personate God, and bring him in saying; I will defcend, and be like the Prince of Darkness. And what is it better, to make the cause of Religion to descend, to the cruel and execrable Actions of Murdering Princes, Butchery of People, and Subverfion of States and Governments? Surely, this is to bring Down the Holy Ghost, instead of the Likeness of a Dove, in the shape of a Vulture, or Raven: And to set, out of the Bark of a Christian Church, a Flag of a Bark of Pirates, and Assassins. Therefore it is most necessary, that the Church by Doctrine and Decree; Princes by their Sword; and all Learnings, both Christian and Moral, as by their Mercury Rod; do damn and send to Hell, for ever, thofe Facts and Opinions, tending to the Support of the fame; as hath been already in good part done. Surely in Counsels concerning Religion, that Counsel of the Apostle would be prefixed; Ira Hominis non implet Jufticiam Dei. And it was a notable Observation, of a wife Father, and no less ingenuously confefled; That thofe, which held and perfuaded, pressure of Confciences, were commonly interested therein themfelves, for their own ends.

IV. Of Revenge.

EVENGE is a kind of Wild Juftice; which the more Man's Nature runs to, the more ought Law to weed it out. For as for the first Wrong, it doth but offend the Law; but the Revenge of that wrong putteth the Law out of Office. Certainly, in taking Revenge, a Man is but even with his Enemy; but in paffing it over, he is fuperior: For it is a Prince's Part to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, faith, It is the Glory of a Man to pass by an Offence. That which is paft, is gone and irrevocable; And wife Men have enough to do with things present and to come. Therefore, they do but trifle with themselves, that labour in paft matters. There is no Man doth a wrong, for the wrong's fake; but thereby to purchase himself Profit, or Pleasure, or Honour, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a Man, for loving himself better than me? And if any Man should do wrong, merely out of ill nature; why? Yet it is but like the Thorn, or Briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most tolerable Sort of Revenge, is for those Wrongs which there is no Law to remedy: But then, let a man take heed, the Revenge be fuch as there is no Law to punish: Else, a Man's Enemy is still beforehand; and it is two for one. Some, when

they take Revenge, are defirous the Party should know whence it cometh; This is the more generous: For the Delight feemeth to be, not so much in doing the Hurt, as in making the Party repent. But bafe and crafty Cowards are like the Arrow that flyeth in the Dark. Cofmus Duke of Florence, had a desperate Saying, against Perfidious or Neglecting Friends, as if thofe Wrongs were unpardonable: You shall read (faith he) that we are commanded to forgive our Enemies; but you never read, that we are commanded to forgive our Friends. But yet the Spirit of Job was in a better tune; Shall we (faith he) take Good at God's Hands, and not be content to take Evil alfo? And fo of Friends in a proportion. This is certain, that a Man that ftudieth Revenge keeps his own Wounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do well. Public Revenges are, for the most part, fortunate: as that for the Death of Cæfar; for the Death of Pertinax; for the Death of Henry the Third of France; and many more. But in private Revenges it is not fo. Nay rather, Vindictive Perfons live the Life of Witches; who as they are mischievous, so end they unfortunate.

v. Of Adverfity.

T was a high Speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), That the good Things, which belong to Profperity,

are to be wifhed; but the good Things, that belong to Adverfity, are to be admired. Bona Rerum Secundarum optabilia, Adverfarum mirabilia. Certainly, if Miracles be the command over Nature, they appear most in Adversity. It is yet a higher Speech of his, than the other, (much too high for a Heathen): It is true Greatness, to have in one the Frailty of a Man, and the Security of a God. Verè magnum habere Fragilitatem Hominis, Securitatem Dei. This would have done better in Poefy, where Tranfcendencies are more allowed. And the Poets, indeed, have been bufy with it: For it is, in effect, the thing which is figured in that strange Fiction of the Ancient Poets, which seemeth not to be without Mystery; nay, and to have fome approach to the State of a Chriftian : That Hercules, when he went to unbind Prometheus, (by whom Human Nature is represented) failed the length of the great Ocean, in an Earthen Pot, or Pitcher: lively defcribing Christian Refolution, that faileth, in the frail Bark of the Flesh, through the Waves of the World. But to speak in a Mean. The Virtue of Profperity is Temperance; the Virtue of Adverfity is Fortitude; which in Morals is the more Heroical Virtue.

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Profperity is the Bleffing of the Old Teftament; Adverfity is the Bleffing of the New; which carrieth the greater Benediction, and the clearer Revelation of God's Favour. Yet, even in the old Teftament, if you liften to David's Harp, you fhall hear as many hearfe-like Airs, as Carols: And the Pencil of the Holy Ghoft hath laboured more, in defcribing the Afflictions of Job, than the Felicities of Solomon. Profperity is not without many Fears and Diftaftes; and Adverfity is not without Comforts and Hopes. We fee in Needleworks and Embroideries, it is more pleafing to have a lively Work, upon a Sad and Solemn Ground, than to have a dark and melancholy Work, upon a lightfome Ground: Judge, therefore, of the Pleafure of the Heart, by the Pleasure of the Eye. Certainly, Virtue is like precious Odours, moft fragrant when they are incenfed, or crufhed. For Profperity doth beft discover Vice; but Adverfity doth beft difcover Virtue.

VI. Of Simulation and Dif-
fimulation.

ISSIMULATION is but a faint kind of Policy, or Wisdom; for it afketh a ftrong Wit, and a strong Heart, to know when to tell Truth, and to do it: Therefore it is the weaker Sort of Politicians, that are the great Diffemblers.

Tacitus faith, Livia forted well with the Arts of

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