The advantages of living retired.

selves that we may live happily without them. How many of those things, which reason formerly told us were superfluous and inimical, do we now find to be so by experience! But we are misled by the counterfeit of good on the one hand, and the suspicion of evil on the other. Not that riches are an efficient cause of mischief; but they are a precedent cause, by way of irritation and attraction. For they have so near a resemblance of good, that most people take them to be good. Nay, virtue itself is also a precedent cause of evil; as many are envied for their wisdom, or for their justice. Which does not arise from the thing itself, but from the irreprovable power of virtue, that forces all men to admire and to love it. That is not good, that is more advantageous to us, but that which is only so.

THE BLESSINGS OF A VIRTUOUS RETIREMENT.

THERE is no opportunity escapes me, of inquiring where you are, what you do, and what company you keep: and I am well enough pleased that I can hear nothing concerning you, for it shews that you live retired. Not but that I durst trust you with the wide world too, but, however, it is not easy, such a general conversation: nor is it absolutely safe neither; for, though it should not corrupt you, it would yet hinder you. Now, wheresoever you are, know, that I am with you, and you are so to live, as if I both heard and saw Your letters are really blessings to me, and the sense of your improvements relieves me, even under the consideration of my own decay. Remember, that as I am old, so are you mortal. Be true to yourself, and

you.

We should apply ourselves to wisdom.

examine yourself, whether you be of the same mind today that you were yesterday; for that is a sign of perfect wisdom. And yet give me leave to tell you, that though change of mind be a token of imperfection; it is the business of my age to unwill one day, that which I willed another. And let me recommend it to your practice too, in many cases; for the abatement of our appetites, and of our errors, is the best entertainment of mankind. It is for young men to gather knowledge, and for old men to use it: and assure yourself, that no man gives a fairer account of his time, than he that makes it his daily study to make himself better. If you be in health, and think it worth the while to become the master of yourself, it is my desire, and my advice, that you apply yourself to wisdom with your whole heart: and judge of your improvement, not by what you speak, or by what you write, but by the firmness of your mind, and the government of your passions. What extremities have some men endured in sieges, even for the ambition and interest of other people! and, shall not a man venture the crossing of an intemperate lust, for the conquest of himself? You do very well to betake yourself to a private life, and better yet, in keeping of that privacy private. For, otherwise, your retreat would look like ostentation: the greatest actions of our lives are those that we do in a recess from business; besides, that there are some governments and employments, that a man would not have any thing to do withal. And then it is to be considered, that public offices and commissions are commonly bought with our money; whereas the great blessing of leisure and privacy cost us nothing. Contemplation is undoubtedly the best enter

BB

How we come to the knowledge of virtue.

tainment of peace, and only a shorter cut to heaven itself: over and above that, business makes us troublesome to others and unquiet to ourselves; for the end of one appetite, or design, is the beginning of another. To say nothing of the expense of time in vexatious attendances, and the danger of competitors. Such a man, perhaps, has more friends at court than I have, a larger train, a fairer estate, more profitable offices, and more illustrious titles. But, what do I care to be overcome by men, in some cases, so long as fortune is overcome by me in all? These considerations should have been earlier, for it is too late, in the article of death, to project the happiness of life. And yet there is no age better adapted to virtue, than that which comes by many experiments and long sufferings to the knowledge of it; for our lusts are then weak, and our judgment strong, and wisdom is the effect of time.

Some are of opinion that we come to the knowledge of virtue by chance, (which were an indignity). Others by observation, and comparing matters of fact one with another; the understanding, by a kind of analogy, approving this, or that, for good and honest. These are

two points, which others make wholly different; but the Stoics only divide them. Some will have every thing to be good that is beneficial to us; as money, wine, and so lower, to the meanest things we use. And they reckon that to be honest, where there is a reasonable discharge of a common duty: as reverence to a parent, tenderness to a friend, the exposing of ourselves for our country, and the regulating of our lives according to moderation and prudence. The Stoics reckon them to be two, but so as to make those two yet out of one.

A distinction betwixt good and honest.

They will have nothing to be good but what is honest; nor any thing to be honest but that which is good; so that, in some sort, they are mixed and inseparable. There are some things that are neither good nor bad, as war, embassy, jurisdiction; but these, in the laudable administration of them, do, of doubtful become good, which good is only a consequent upon honesty; but honesty is good in itself, and the other flows from it. There are some actions that seem to us matter of benignity, humanity, generosity, resolution, which we are apt to admire as perfect, and yet, upon farther examination, we find that great vices were concealed under the resemblance of eminent virtues. Glorious actions are the images of virtue, but yet many things seem to be good, that are evil; and evil, that are good; and the skill is to distinguish betwixt things that are so much alike in show, and so disagreeing in effect. We are led to the understanding of virtue by the congruity we find in such and such actions to nature and right reason, by the order, grace, and constancy of them, and by a certain majesty and greatness, that surpasses all other things. From hence proceeds a happy life, to which nothing comes amiss; but, on the contrary, every thing succeeds to our very wish. There is no wrangling with fortune, no being out of humour for accidents; whatsoever befalls me in my lot, and whether in appearance it be good or bad, it is God's pleasure, and it is my duty to bear it. When a man has once gotten a habit of virtue, all his actions are equal; he is constantly one and the same man, and he does well, not only upon counsel, but out of custom too.. Shall I tell you now, in a word, the

The sum of human duty.

sum of human duty? patience, where we are to suffer; and prudence in things we do. It is a frequent complaint in the world, that the things we enjoy are but few, transitory, and uncertain; so ungrateful a construction do we make of the divine bounty. Hence it is, that we are neither willing to die, nor contented to live; betwixt the fear of the one, and the detestation of the other. Hence it is that we are perpetually shifting of counsels, and still craving of more; because that which we call felicity is not able to fill us. And what is the reason, but that we are not yet come to that immense and insuperable good, which leaves us nothing farther to desire? In that blessed estate we feel no want, we are abundantly pleased with what we have, and what we have not, we do not regard; so that every thing is great, because it is sufficient. If we quit this hold, there will be no place for the offices of faith and piety; in the discharge whereof we must both suffer many things that the world calls evil, and part with many things which are commonly accounted good. True joy is everlasting, pleasures are false and fugitive. It is a great encouragement to well-doing that when we are once in the possession of virtue, it is our own for ever. While I speak this to you, I prescribe to myself; what I write, I read; and reduce all my meditations to the ordering of my own manners. There is nothing so mean and ordinary, but it is illustrated by virtue; and externals are no more use to it than the light of a candle to the glory of the sun.

It is often objected to me, that I advise people to quit the world, to retire, and content themselves with a good conscience. But, what becomes of your precepts then,