The right way to shake off a viper. An essay, upon a case too…

I meet with a notable Passage among the Axiomate Philosophiae Christianae, written by Christopher Besoldus above an Hundred Years ago; Axioms whereof every one is more valuable then an Ingot of Gold. Says he; They who take an Antidote, won't swell upon the bite of a Viper, provided the Antidote be good. We pretend that we have taken Humility and Mansuetude for our Antidote; if when we are bitten by maledicent People, we swell, and are in a feverish rage upon it, our Antidote was not good. Signum id est Humilitatem nostram, & Mansuetudinem esse fucatam. If there were no other Argument for your long suffering, methinks the loss of Time that unavoidably attends ⟨p. 23⟩our Prosecution of every Calumny, were enough to affright us from it. You have but a little Time to live; you have lost a great deal of Time already: You have abundance of Work to do for God in your own Heart and Life, and Family; perhaps, you have work to do for the Churches of the Lord; the Devil would feign make this Work lie by; he throws Calumnies in your way, to divert you from your Work. Instead of serving the Lord and his People in the most significant Methods, your Time is to go this way: To fend and prove, and at last gain this weighty Point; Such a vain Man has said something he should not have said. A weighty Point! Certainly, Discretion shall preserve thee, Understanding shall keep thee from this Folly. You had better say to the most of Calumnies; I can't spare the Time for you: Say, I am doing a great Work; why should the Work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?

I meet with a notable Passage among the Axiomate Philosophiae Christianae, written by Christopher Besoldus above an Hundred Years ago; Axioms whereof every one is more valuable then an Ingot of Gold. Says he; They who take an Antidote, won't swell upon the bite of a Viper, provided the Antidote be good. We pretend that we have taken Humility and Mansuetude for our Antidote; if when we are bitten by maledicent People, we swell, and are in a feverish rage upon it, our Antidote was not good. Signum id est Humilitatem nostram, & Mansuetudinem esse fucatam. If there were no other Argument for your long suffering, methinks the loss of Time that unavoidably attends ⟨p. 23⟩our Prosecution of every Calumny, were enough to afright us from it. You have but a little Time to live; you have lost a great deal of Time already: You have abundance of Work to do for God in your own Heart and Life, and Family; perhaps, you have work to do for the Churches of the Lord; the Devil would feign make this Work lie by; he throws Calumnies in your way, to divert you from your Work. Instead of serving the Lord and his People in the most significant Methods, your Time is to go this way: To fend and prove, and at last gain this weighty Point; Such a vain Man has said something he should not have said. A weighty Point! Certainly, Discretion shall preserve thee, Understanding shall keep thee from this Folly. You had better say to the most of Calumnies; I can't spare the Time for you: Say, I am doing a great Work; why should the Work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?