[ 20 ]
[1] Let Gout my Hands and Feet distress,
Or Palsy make me Motionless;
Let my whole Body start in Tumours,
And all my Blood be turn'd to Humours;
Grant me but Life, and I'm contented,
And on the Rack shall ne're repent it.
I am willing (says he) to be impaled [2] or crucified if you please, so you will but let me live through it. Without doubt 'tis worth his while to rest on his Wounds, and be strain'd on a Gibbet, only to keep his Punishment alive; which 'tis the best of his Case to dispatch as soon as may be! And lastly by this Notion; whosoever denies himself for his Pleasure, and suffers to gratify a Vitious Passion may be called a Man of Fortitude. But we say, 'tis the [3] Cause and not the Punishment, that makes the Martyr. And thus 'tis not the What, but the Why of a Mans suffering ; which gives him the Credit on't : The Virtue turns chiefly upon the Reason, not upon the Pain : He only is the brave Man, that mortifies upon Principle; [4] that chuses rather to suffer than misbehave himself; and runs through all Discouragements upon the score of Conscience and Honour. But how can that Man suffer upon these Grounds, who lays it down
