Page:A Discourse of Constancy in Two Books Chiefly containing Consolations Against Publick Evils.pdf/207

186 they scourge these instead of the Man: So doth this Father of ours, who in every of his chastisements overpasses us, and touches onely upon our Bodies, our Lands, our Goods, and our outward Enjoyments. This Chastisement serves us also for a bridle, which he opportunely casts over us, when he sees we are about to offend. As Physitians do sometimes advisedly breath a vein, not because we are sick, but that we may not be; so by these Calamities God doth withdraw from us some such things, as would otherwise become incentives and fewel to our Vices. For he who gave a being to all things doth well understand their Natures; nor doth he judge of their Diseases, by the Complexion and Pulse; but by the Heart and Reins. Doth he see the Genius of the Hetrurians to be over-haughty and raised? He rules them by a Prince: The Helvetians Rh