N01810:93
The right way to shake off a viper. An essay, upon a case too…
The right way to shake off a viper. An essay, upon a case too commonly calling for consideration; what shall good men do, when they are evil spoken of? : With a preface of Dr. Increase Mather,
Boston: printed by S. Kneeland for S. Gerrish, 1720
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Secondly, 'Tis a Passage which I have somewhere else met withal, Tho' I have done good Offices for all Men whatsoever, as they have come in my way, yet a great part of them, whom I have distinguished by doing of something peculiar for them, have afterwards treated me most ungratefully, and abominably; have proved Prodigies of Ingratitude. Indeed, it is no rare thing, for Great Services, to be worse rewarded than Great Injuries; They that were lately your Dependents, will be shortly your Defamers. It is a Maxim of Seneca unmasked; Men bear a secret Hatred unto those who have most obliged them. Make your self a Scaffold for another to rise by; when he is up, he will kick you down if he can. The Prophecy is fulfilled in Private as well as Public Instances; Men shall be unthankful. The French Protestants must for this very cause be destroyed by their Tyrant, because they brought him to the Throne, and made him able to Destroy them. Sir, If you meet with such usage too, let it not at all dishearten you from doing unto Eight, those good Offices which you have done already to Seven: But learn to do Good for its own sake; do it, hoping for nothing again.
Secondly, 'Tis a Passage which I have somewhere else met withal, Tho' I have done good Offices for all Men whatsoever, as they have come in my way, yet a great part of them, whom I have distinguished by doing of something peculiar for them, have afterwards treated me most ungratefully, and abominably; have proved Prodigies of Ingratitude. Indeed, it is no rare thing, for Great Services, to be worse rewarded than Great Injuries; They that were lately your Dependents, will be shortly your Defamers. It is a Maxim of Seneca unmasked; Men bear a secret Hatred unto those who have most obliged them. Make your self a Scaffold for another to rise by; when he is up, he will kick you down if he can. The Prophecy is fulfill'd in Private as well as Publick Instances; Men shall be unthankful. The French Protestants must for this very cause be destroyed by their Tyrant, because they brought him to the Throne, and made him able to Destroy them. Sir, If you meet with such usage too, let it not at all dishearten you from doing unto Eight, those good Offices which you have done already to Seven: But learn to do Good for its own sake; do it, hoping for nothing again.