Three tractates by Jos. Hall, D.D. and B.N.

SECT. II.

The contrariety of estates where∣in Contentation is to be exer∣cised.

THe nature of man is ex∣treamly querulous; wee

know not what we would have, and when we have it, we know not how to like it: we would be happy, yet we would not dye; we would live long, yet wee would not bee old; wee would be kept in order, yet we would not be chastised with af∣fliction; we are loath to work, yet are weary of doing nothing; we have no list to stir, yet finde long sitting painfull; we have * 1.1 no minde to leave our bed, yet finde it a kinde of sicknesse to lie long; we would marry, but would not bee troubled with houshold cares; when once we are maried, we wish we had kept single; If therefore grace have so mastered nature in us, as to render us content with what e∣ver condition, we have attain'd to no smal measure of perfection Which way soever the winde blowes, the skilfull Mariner knows how to turn his sailes to meet it; the contrariety of

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estates to which wee lie open here, gives us different occasi∣ons for the exercise of Contenta∣tion: I cannot blame their choice who desire a middle estate be∣twixt want and abundance, and to be free from those inconve∣niences which attend both ex∣treames: Wise Solomon was * 1.2 of this diet; Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed mee with the food of my meet al∣lowance; Lo, he that had all, desired rather to have but e∣nough: and if any estate can af∣ford contentment in this life, surely this is it, in the judge∣ment and experience of the wi∣sest Heathen. But forasmuch as * 1.3 this equall poise is hardly attain∣able by any man, & is more pro∣per for our wishes, and specula∣tion, then for our hopes, true wisdom must teach us so to com∣pose our selves that we may be fit to entertain the discontent∣ments, & dangers of those exces∣ses,

and effects, which we cannot but meet with in the course of our mortall life: And surely we shall finde that both extreams are enemies to this good tem∣per of the soul: prosperity may discompose us, as well as an ad∣verse condition; The Sunshine may be as troublesome to the Traveller as the winde or rain; neither know I whether is more hard to manage of the two; a de∣jected estate, or a prosperous; whether we may be more in∣commodated with a resty horse, or with a tired one: Let us be∣gin with that which nature is wont to think most difficult; that contrary to the practice of learners, we may try to take out the hardest lesson first. Let us therefore learne in the first place how to want.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Si sedeas requies est magna la∣boris; Si multum sedeas, la∣bor est. Tert. Car.
• * 1.2

  Pro. 30. 8.
• * 1.3

  Senec. de Tranquil.