'They kill me, they cut my flesh, they curse me.' So what? Can't your mind stay pure, wise, calm, and just through all of this? Think of a clear spring. Someone curses it, but the water keeps running sweet and clean. Even if dirt gets thrown in, it washes away quickly and the spring clears. It can't be stained or infected. So how do I keep an overflowing fountain inside myself, not just a stagnant well? Keep working at it. Keep building true freedom with kindness, simplicity, and humility.
'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 may have within myself an overflowing fountain, and not a well? Beget thyself by continual pains and endeavours to true liberty with charity, and true simplicity and modesty.