as a carpenter would or a shoemaker, if meeting in either
of their shops with some shavings, or small remnants
of their work, thou shouldest blame them for it.
And yet those men, it is not for want of a place where to
throw them that they keep them in their shops for a while:
but the nature of the universe hath no such out-place;
but herein doth consist the wonder of her art and skill,
that she having once circumscribed herself within some certain
bounds and limits, whatsoever is within her that seems
either corrupted, or old, or unprofitable, she can change it
into herself, and of these very things can make new things;
so that she needeth not to seek elsewhere out of herself either
for a new supply of matter and substance, or for a place where
to throw out whatsoever is irrecoverably putrid and corrupt.
Thus she, as for place, so for matter and art, is herself
sufficient unto herself. XLIX. Not to be slack and negligent;
or loose, and wanton in thy actions; nor contentious,
and troublesome in thy conversation; nor to rove and wander in thy
fancies and imaginations. Not basely to contract thy soul;
nor boisterously to sally out with it, or furiously to launch
out as it were, nor ever to want employment.

L. 'They kill me, they cut- my flesh; they persecute my person
with curses.' What then? May not thy mind for all this
continue pure, prudent, temperate, just? As a fountain of sweet
and clear water, though she be cursed by some stander by,
yet do her springs nevertheless still run as sweet and clear
as before; yea though either dirt or dung be thrown in,
yet is it no sooner thrown, than dispersed, and she cleared.
She cannot be dyed or infected by it. What then must I do, that I