Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/337

 Rh sure to complain of the Administrations of Providence, Charge it with Mismatching Fortune, and Merit, and misapplying Rewards and Punishments : He'l often see Ill People furnish'd with Materials for Pleasure, and Regaled with the Relish of it : And good Men harrass'd and deprest, and meeting with nothing but Misfortune. To go on : He that's afraid of Pain, or Affliction; will be afraid of something that will always be in the World; but to be thus uneasie at the Appointments of Providence, is a failure in Reverence, and Respect. On the other hand ; He that's violent in the pursuit of Pleasure, won't stick to turn Villain for the Purchase : And is not this plainly, an Ungracious , and an Ungodly Humour ? To set the Matter Right, where the Allowance of God is equally clear ; as it is with Regard to Prosperity, and Adversity : For had he not approved both these Conditions, He would never have made them: I say where the Good Liking of Heaven is equally clear, Ours ought to be so too : Because we ought to follow the Guidance of Nature, and the Sense of the Deity. That Man therefore that does not Comply with Providence in the same Indifference of Notion, with respect to Pleasure, Rh