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

SECT. IX.

Consideration of the worse condi∣tion of others.

IN the third place, it will be requisite for us to cast our eyes upon the vvorse condition of others, perhaps better deser∣ving then our selves; for if we shall vvhine and complain of that weight, which others do run away chearfully withall, the fault vvill appear to be not in the heavinesse of the load, but in the weaknesse of the bearer: If I bee discontented vvith a mean dwelling, another man lives merrily in a low thatched Cottage; If I dislike my plain fare, the four captive children * 1.1 feed fair and fat vvith pulse and water: If I be plundred of my rich suits, I see a more chearfull heart under a russet Coat, then great Princes have under purple

Robes: If I doe gently languish upon my sick bed, I see others patient under the torments of the Colick, or Stone, or Stran∣gury: If I be clapt up within four wals, I hear Petronius pro∣fesse, he had rather be in prison with Cato, then at liberty with Caesar: I hear Paul and Silas sing like Nightingales in their cages: Am I sad, because I am childlesse? I hear many a pa∣rent wish himself so: Am I ba∣nished from my home? I meet with many of vvhom the vvorld * 1.2 vvas not vvorthy, vvandring a∣bout in Sheeps-skins, in Goat∣skins, in deserts, and in moun∣tains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth: What am I that I should speed better then the mi∣serablest of these patients? What had they done, that they should fare worse then I? If I have little, others have lesse; If I feel pain, some others, torture; If their sufferings be just, my for∣bearances

are mercifull; my pro∣visions, to theirs, liberall: It is no ill counsell therefore, and not a little conducing to a content∣ed want, that great persons should sometimes step aside in∣to the homely Cottages of the poor, and see their mean stuffe, course fare, hard lodgings, worthlesse utensils, miserable shifts; and to compare it with their own delicate and nauseat∣ing superfluities: Our great and learned King Alfred was the bet∣ter all his life after, for his hid∣den retirednesse in a poor Neat∣heards Cabbin, where he was sheltred, and sometimes also chidden by that homely Dame: Neither vvas it an ill vvish of that vvise man, that all great Princes might first have had some little taste, what it is to want, that so their own experi∣ence might render them more sensible of the complaints of o∣thers.

Man, though he be absolute in himself, and stand upon his own bottom, yet is he not a little wrought upon by examples, and comparisons with others; for in them he sees what he is, or may be, since no events are so confined to some speciall sub∣jects, as that they may not bee incident to other men.

Merits are a poor plea for any mans exemption, whiles our sin∣full infirmities lay us all open to the rod of divine Justice: and if these dispensations be meerly out of favour, why doe I rather grudge at a lesser misery, then blesse God for my freedome from a greater judgement? Those therefore that suffer more then I, have cause of more humbling, and I that suffer lesse then they, have cause of more thankfulnesse; even mitigations of punishment are new mercies, so as others torments doe no other then

heighten my obligations; Let me not therefore repine to be favourably miserable.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Dan. 1. 12, 13.
• * 1.2

  Heb. 11. 13