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           Title: Holy Living
      Creator(s): Taylor, Jeremy (1613-1667)
   CCEL Subjects: All; Classic; Christian Life
      LC Call no: PR3729
     LC Subjects:

                  English literature

                  17th and 18th centuries (1640-1770)
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THE

RULE AND EXERCISES

OF

                                  HOLY LIVING:

IN WHICH ARE DESCRIBED THE

MEANS AND INSTRUMENTS OF OBTAINING EVERY VIRTUE
AND THE REMEDIES AGAINST EVERY VICE,
AND CONSIDERATIONS
SERVING TO THE RESISTING ALL TEMPTATIONS

TOGETHER WITH

PRAYERS

CONTAINING

THE WHOLE DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN,

AND THE PARTS OF DEVOTION FITTED TO ALL OCCASIONS, AND

FURNISHED FOR ALL NECESSITIES.

BY JEREMY TAYLOR, D.D.

  Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles the First, and some time
  Lord Bishop of Down and Connor.
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WITH LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, BY DR. CROLY.
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PHILADELPHIA:
J. W. BRADLEY, 48 N. FOURTH STREET.
1860.
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A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BISHOP TAYLOR.

   It is a matter of high importance in all days, and especially in days
   of popular anxiety like our own, to keep before us the examples of
   minds distinguished in the former trials of our country. No theory of
   virtue is equal in value to its practice embodied in a wise, pure, and
   manly understanding. History, the biography of nations, is too vast,
   abstract, and simple, for the guidance of the individual. Its events,
   like the stars in their courses, large and luminous, moving at a height
   above the reach of man, and influenced by powers and impulses which
   perplex his science, may excite the wonder or instruct the wisdom of
   the philosopher, but the school of mankind is man. To discover the
   source alike of his energies and errors, we must have before our eyes
   the mechanism of the human frame.

   The world is but a perpetual recurrence. The scenes of the great
   theater shift continually, but the same characters move across the
   stage. The story of the drama may be more sullen, or more splendid, but
   while Providence is the guide, and man the agent, the moral will be
   unchanged. It is thus a subject of more than curiosity, to determine
   how generous and lofty spirits have acted in the emergencies of other
   times; with what magnanimity they sustained misfortune, or with what
   vigour they repelled injustice; with what purity they withstood
   temptation, or with what piety they submitted their wrongs to the hand
   of Heave. If, in days like ours, the wider knowledge of human right,
   itself only the offspring of the wider knowledge of religion, renders
   persecution less perilous, yet temptation will always exist. The
   distinctions of the world will always be at the service of the world.
   There has been in every age a Babylon, and men have had the alternative
   of worshipping its golden idol, or paying the penalty of their faith in
   obscurity and exclusion. It is then that the man who is not resolved to
   degrade himself, should solicit new strength in the communion of those
   who have fought the good fight and have gained the crown; that the
   patriot should study the shape and countenance of public virtue, as in
   a gallery of the illustrious dead, and feel the littleness of all fame
   that gravitates to faction; that, above all, the Christian, surrounding
   himself with their recollections, and shutting out, as with the
   curtains of the sanctuary, the heated passions and petulant caprices of
   the time, should imbibe new energies of immortality. It is by such uses
   that the renown of genius, patriotism, and sanctity becomes a splendid
   realization; that the suffering of the past revives as the lesson of
   present wisdom; that the living eye catches light from beyond the
   grave, and the forms catches light from beyond the grave, and the forms
   of the saint and martyr stand before us, like Moses and Elias in the
   mount, in their glory, telling at once of the brief suffering and the
   imperishable reward.

   Jeremy, afterwards Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore in Ireland, was
   born in Trinity parish, Cambridge, the third son of Nathaniel and Mary
   Taylor, and baptized, August 15, 1613. Like many others destined for
   future eminence, he owed nothing to birth, for his father was a barber.
   But his genius could dispense with the honors of ancestry; and the man
   who could at once instruct the wise by his learning, and delight the
   elegant by his fancy, required but little extrinsic aid for fame. Yet
   even his father's trade, connected as it then was with the rude
   practice of surgery, was less humble than at present; and his family
   had once possessed a small estate in Gloucestershire, himself being the
   direct descendant of the memorable Dr. Rowland Taylor, chaplain to
   Archbishop Cranmer, and martyred in the third year of Mary of bloody
   memory, on Aldham Common, in his parish of Hadleigh, in the county of
   Suffolk.

   The rector of Hadleigh was a man of acquirements sufficient to have
   moved the envy of the ignorant, and of principles obnoxious to the
   bigots of his day; but Gardner, his persecutor, is said to have had the
   additional motive, of coveting the family estate at Frampton, on which
   that rapacious minister laid his hands, like another Ahab; like his
   Jewish prototype, to perish before he could enjoy the possession. The
   family were thus reduced to sudden poverty, and retained in poverty by
   adopting, what was not uncommon among the families of the persecuted, a
   turn for puritanism. This could earn but little favour from the
   vigorous government of Elizabeth, which had suffered too much from
   Popish turbulence to look without alarm on religious disputes of any
   kind; and still less from the loose government of James, in which
   alternate superstitions seemed to take the lead in the royal mind,
   everything was patronized but truth, and every art of government was
   practiced but manliness and honour.

   In his thirteenth year, August 18, 1626, the future bishop was sent to
   Caius College, Cambridge, as a sizer, or "poor scholar;" an order of
   free students analogous to the "lay-brothers" of the Romish convents.
   The duties of this class were, literally, to serve the higher rank of
   students, at least in all the public ministrations of the college. The
   feelings of our later age revolt from this employment of men running
   the common race of learning. But it should be remembered, that in the
   time of Taylor, the division of ranks in general society was at once
   more distinct and less painful; that this education was the only one
   attainable by the poor; and that, in the precarious property and narrow
   funds of the colleges, there was the stronger ground for insisting on
   the natural maxim, that those who cannot pay in money must pay in kind.

   At Cambridge it cannot be discovered that Taylor succeeded in any of
   the more public objects of scholarship, increase of rank or increase of
   income. The dignities and emoluments of the University were then, as
   now, devoted to proficiency in the severer sciences. And we can be as
   little surprised that the poetic richness of his mind should have
   sought other means of distinctions, than we can regret that his future
   eloquence and various literature were not involved at their birth in
   the robe of the mathematician. Accident first brought his peculiar
   faculties into notice. A fellow-student, Risdon, having been appointed
   lecturer in St. Paul's Cathedral, employed Taylor as his substitute
   during a temporary absence. The youth of the new preacher, for he was
   then but twenty years old, [1] his happiness of expression and fervour
   of piety, pleased the people. His rising fame reached the ears of Laud,
   then newly translated from London to the see of Canterbury the
   archbishop sent for him, objected only to his youth, a fault which
   Taylor, in the quaint humour of the age, prayed his grace to forgive,
   as, if he lived, he would amend it; and took him under his protection.

   The archbishop of Canterbury must always be a man of eminent influence;
   his peerage, his patronage, and his revenue, place in his hands the
   largest share of practical power that belongs to any individual beneath
   the throne. If the lord chancellor seem to rival him in extent of
   patronage, he falls altogether short of him in the chief point of
   possession -- its continuance. Royal will or legislative caprice may
   disrobe the great law functionary in a moment, while nothing but the
   power which kings and subjects alike must obey, can deprive the great
   prelate of his income or his authority. Laud in the archiepiscopal
   chair, was the most powerful man in England. A vigorous mind, amply
   furnished with learning, a daring temperament, and a personal passion
   for control, were the qualities with which he undertook the guidance of
   the distracted state. But "the times were out of joint," and his lofty,
   bold, and headstrong spirit was the last that could have set them
   straight. In other days he might have attained secure eminence. In the
   early struggles of the reformation, his intrepidity and knowledge might
   have made him a second Luther. In the generation that followed the
   civil war, his munificence would have raised the fallen church, as his
   love of order would have restored her subordination, and his courage
   asserted her privileges. Hypocrisy has few darker stains than the blood
   of Laud. His age, his literature, and his fidelity, would have rescued
   him from all hands but those of men struggling to seize on power by
   trampling on religion. Faction, which sacrificed his life, exhibited
   its last malignity in tarnishing his tomb. But time does justice to
   all; and like the false inscription on the Greek watch-tower, the
   common operation of years have swept away the libel, and shown the
   truth graven on the imperishable material within.

   Taylor, by the archbishop's advice, removed to Oxford, where his
   patron, as chancellor and visitor, had obvious means of rendering him
   service. He was admitted Master of Arts in University College, and
   finally, notwithstanding the resistance of Sheldon, warden of All
   Souls, (afterwards archbishop of Canterbury,) he succeeded to a
   fellowship, lapsed to the visitor in January 1636. Preferment now
   followed him. In March 1638, he was presented by Juxon, Bishop of
   London, to the rectory of Uppingham in Rutlandshire, having been
   already appointed chaplain to Laud. On the 5th of November, 1638, he
   preached his first memorable sermon, that on the gunpowder-plot, before
   the University. On the 27th of May, 1639, being then in his 26th year,
   he married at Uppingham, Phoebe Langsdale, of whom little more is
   known, that that her brother was a physician practicing at
   Gainsborough. By her he had three sons, of whom one died in infancy;
   the other two grew up to manhood.

   Taylor was now to be called into scenes, which, if they deeply tried
   the constancy of all men, gave larger space for the labours of ability
   and virtue. In 1642, he joined the king at Oxford, and signalized
   himself by his treatise of "Episcopacy Asserted," a publication
   commended by his majesty's command. For this he obtained, by the royal
   mandate, the degree of Doctor of Divinity. But, for this, the Puritans,
   neither slow to discover, nor careless to punish, their enemies,
   sequestered his living. Taylor, however, found a protector in
   Christopher Hatton, afterwards Lord Hatton, of Kirby, who had been his
   neighbour at Uppingham; an individual in high confidence with the king,
   by whom he had been appointed comptroller of the household, but who
   derived still higher honour from his protection of Taylor, and his
   suggestion of the "Monasticon" to the learned Dugdale. Loyalty was now
   dangerous, but Taylor remained with the king, frequently preaching
   before the court at Oxford, and attending the royal marches as
   chaplain. The affairs of Charles had already become unfortunate, and
   his chaplain soon felt his share in national calamity. He was taken
   prisoner in the defeat of the royalists at Cardigan, February 1744. His
   dedication of the "Liberty of Prophesying" alludes to this event in his
   characteristic style: --

   "In the great storm which dashed the vessel of the church in pieces, I
   had been cast on the coast of Wales, and in a little boat thought to
   have enjoyed that rest and quietness, which in England, in a far
   greater, I could not hope for. Here I cast anchor, and thinking to ride
   safely, the storm followed me with so impetuous a violence, that it
   broke a cable, and I lost my anchor. And here again I was exposed to
   the mercy of the sea, and the gentleness of an element which could
   neither distinguish things or persons; and but that He, who stilleth
   the raging of the sea and the noise of his waves, and the madness of
   the people, had provided a plank for me, I had been lost to all the
   opportunities of content or study. But I know not whether I have been
   more preserved by the courtesies of my friends or the gentleness and
   mercy of a noble enemy." Adding in the Greek, the passage from St.
   Paul's shipwreck, -- "For the barbarous people showed us no little
   kindness; for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because
   of the present rain, and because of the cold." [2]

   Yet such was force of his diligence, or the ardour of his devotion,
   that even imprisonment could not render him idle. In this year of
   trouble he published at Oxford, an edition of the Psalter, and a
   "Defence of the Liturgy." But the effect of the times was visible in
   his anonymous publication of the former, and his sheltering the
   "Defence" under the name of his protector, Hatton. There was still one
   melancholy meeting to take place, which must have deeply tried the
   spirit of a man loyal on principle. The royal cause was now extinct,
   the unhappy king was in the hands of his enemies; and, whether as an
   additional source of bitterness, or in the contemptuous display of
   mercy to the undone, the usurping government permitted the royal
   chaplains to visit him in his prison. Charles, foreseeing his fate,
   gave them parting tokens of his regard, and among the rest gave Taylor
   his watch, and a few rubies which had studded the ebony case of his
   Bible.

   Taylor was now utterly destitute; if he can be called so, who has
   learning, contentment, and character. His living was seized, his person
   liable to daily danger; and the crowd, who instinctively follow change,
   could feel but little sympathy for the faith that clung to a fallen
   throne. Yet he contrived to live, and to support his family. Joining
   with Nicholson, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, and Wyatt, afterwards
   Prebendary of Lincoln, he commenced a school at Lanhangel, in Wales,
   which produced some profit, and even obtained some distinction. But a
   still stronger evidence of the faculty of abstracting his mind from the
   sense of surrounding troubles, one of the rarest evidences of vigor, is
   to be found in the composition of his most distinguished work, "The
   Liberty of Prophesying," at this period. The epistle dedicatory to
   Hatton, touchingly enumerates the disadvantages of his book, as written
   in adversity and want, without library or leisure. He had no
   auxiliaries but his memory and his Bible. Yet with a mind like his,
   could he have wanted much more.

   Taylor's first wife had died in the year 1642. After six years of
   widowhood he married again, probably in 1648. This wife had her share
   in the history of the time. She was said to be a daughter of Charles,
   during that earlier period of his life when the profligate Buckingham
   acted as his father's favorite, and his own example. She was a
   beautiful girl, strongly resembling the king in temper and countenance,
   was brought up in mysterious privacy in Glamorgan, and was provided for
   by the estate of Mandiman, in the country of Carmarthen. But the times
   were fatal to all regular possessions, and whatever solace he might
   have found in the society of his young and lovely wife, he appears to
   have derived little increase of income from her fortune.

   But Taylor was still further to be tried. When the men of our age,
   whether in religion or politics, talk of grievances; they should turn
   to the times when the popular will had cleared away all obstacles, and
   for the fruit of its blood rebellion had the discovery, that religious
   independence finds its natural result in the tyranny of a sect, and
   republican freedom in the tyranny of the sword. In those days merit was
   distinguished only by a more conspicuous share of the general
   suffering; and Taylor's learning, meekness, and purity naturally became
   offenses, where hypocrisy was virtue. In 1654, he had republished his
   "Catechism for Children" in a larger shape, and entitled it the "Golden
   Grove," in compliment to the Earl of Carbery, whose neighbouring estate
   bore that name. The preface, though intended simply to conciliate the
   Protector in favour of the fallen Church, yet contained expressions
   which were conceived by the quick jealousies of the day, to convey
   insult to the influential clergy. The hand of power was then as rapid
   as its eye was keen, and Taylor was thrown into prison. From this he
   was soon released; but again, in the same year, he was seized, and
   placed in custody in Chepstow Castle. In neither case does his
   confinement seem to have been of peculiar severity. In the latter, he
   writes to a friend, "I now have that liberty, that I can receive my
   letters, and send any; for the gentlemen in whose custody I am, as they
   are careful of their charges, so are civil to my person." It is
   probable that his wife's fortune assisted largely in his liberation, if
   not in the civility of his jailers. It will be acknowledged, to the
   honour of the national manners, that the civil war of England exhibited
   but few instances of ferocity. The kindlier feelings of peaceful life
   were not altogether trampled out by the violence of the conflict, and
   strong as might be the indignation of outraged loyalty on one side, and
   heated as might be the fanaticism of the other, the combatants had not
   altogether forgotten that their antagonists were human beings.

   Yet, perhaps, even this terrible crisis was not without its value. The
   thunderstorm clears the atmosphere. The agony of the parental disease
   has often taught temperance to the children. The Revolution of 1648
   beginning in war and ending in tyranny, may have inspired the wisdom by
   which the Revolution of 1688 began in peace and ended in the
   establishment of the throne. Still, if the experience was useful, it
   must not be forgotten by us and by our children, that the price was
   tremendous. Man should be content with easier knowledge. We may well
   shrink from securing the fertility of the harvest by steeping the seed
   in blood. Of all the instruments of change, civil commotion is the
   least manageable by the hand of man: once let loose, it is alike beyond
   resistance and beyond control; we might as well attempt to turn the
   lightnings into a weapon, or direct the invisible arrows of the
   pestilence. The gallantry of the English nobles and gentlemen, the
   solemn intrepidity of their adversaries, the chivalric spirit of
   Charles, and the soaring ambition of Cromwell, have robed the civil war
   with the splendours of romance; but the eye that looks beneath that
   robe sees only the wounds of a dying people. If war, with all the
   glories of foreign triumph, is but a dreadful necessity; what must be
   its evil, when it breaks up civilized life at home; when it visits the
   land, not in the echo of the remote thunders, but in the earthquake
   that convulses the soil under its feet? What must be the national loss,
   when every man who falls is a subject lost to the sovereign and a son
   lost to the country; when every drop of blood shed in the conflict is
   drawn from the national veins; when the scaffold completes the massacre
   of the field, and when both are but a more sweeping parricide?

   And the results are as delusive as the price is bitter. Until we can
   gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles, we shall never find
   rebellion the parent of liberty. That fair form is not to be born of
   the fierce, intoxicated, and adulterous union of Democracy with
   Ambition. If the experiment was ever made with all its advantages, it
   was in the supremacy of Cromwell. No man of his age possessed nobler
   qualities for distinction; no man of any age was more fitted for the
   throne of a great kingdom. Unshaken courage, unequaled sagacity, and
   inexhaustible resource, threw a light round him, that dazzled the eye
   of England, and from his throne spread its lusters to his country. The
   royalist cause melted away before him as he rose. The habitual jealousy
   of the continent bowed down before his established splendour. For
   England he extorted from Europe the homage due to unrivaled success in
   diplomacy and war. For himself, he extorted for usurpation the honours
   due to right, and compelled the old monarchies to acknowledge the
   illustrious upstart as one of the family of kings.

   Yet, such is the inevitable evil of all rebellion, that this great
   leader, who, on a legitimate throne might have been as magnanimous as
   he was brave, was forced to stoop to the arts of the tyrant. A
   sovereign by nature, he was a despot by necessity. The great rebel was
   compelled to study the temperament of all the rebels beneath him. Where
   the power was given by felons, the first man in England could be only
   the first jailer. No man was taught more keenly that usurpation must
   never sleep. At the height of his supremacy, he felt himself watched by
   a faction, whose cunning and virulence he still dreaded, though he had
   first duped their craftiness, and then broken their power. Cromwell,
   with one hand defending himself from the dagger of the fanatic, and
   with the other struggling to retain the scepter from the grasp of the
   loyalist, was driven into tyranny; and the nation soon discovered, by
   bitter experience, that it had only exchanged complaints for
   sufferings, gradual freedom for remorseless authority, and the light
   and negligent curb of an ancient monarchy, for the heavy and galling
   harness of an iron despotism.

   This cycle has been run in every period, and in every variety of
   national character -- in the brilliant levity of Greece, in the stern
   ambition of Rome, in the fiery passions of France; and it will be run
   again, in the first nation which, proclaiming violence as the
   instrument of right, summons the populace to advance the liberties of
   the people, and erects the demagogue into the high-priest of the
   profaned constitution.

   That a scholar, a divine, and a man of peace, like Taylor, should have
   been twice imprisoned under the protectorate, is among the deepest
   evidences of the general state of coercion.

   But in those periods of distress, he seems to have always found
   especial friends. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" is a high
   promise; often performed to the servants of the truth, under
   circumstances which must have greatly augmented their confidence, and
   cheered their trials. Taylor, though now apparently reduced to the most
   serious difficulties, stripped of his professional means, unable to
   pursue his school, and not merely under the suspicion, but in the
   hands, of vigilant and angry power, found a new patron in Vaughan, Earl
   of Carbery.

   Vaughan was a man of talent and distinction; who had held high offices,
   and held them with a successive increase to his character. Having
   served with honour in the wars of Ireland, for which he received the
   knighthood of the Bath, he had subsequently taken up arms for Charles,
   in the civil war, and borne the chief royalist command in South Wales.
   His services were too important to be forgotten by even the negligent
   gratitude of Charles II; and at the Revolution, when so many of the
   noble cavaliers were left to pine in discontent, Vaughan received the
   title of Lord Vaughan of Emlyn. Even in the ruin of the royalist cause,
   either fear of his talent, or respect for his integrity had procured
   him milder terms than usual from the parliament. He was permitted to
   compound for his estates; And the relief which was thus given to this
   loyal and able nobleman furnished him with the means of liberality to
   Taylor, and probably to many other adherents of the fallen cause. Lord
   Vaughan's second wife had a poetic reputation. She was Alice, the
   eleventh daughter of John Egerton, first Earl of Bridgwater, memorable
   as the Lady in Comus. Milton's verses might have embalmed the
   remembrance of inferior birth and beauty; the Lady in Comus is
   immortal.

   Though the churches were closed against the clergy of the Church,
   divine service was sustained, wherever it was possible; and under the
   roof and in the immediate neighbourhood of this great family, Taylor
   delivered his yearly course of sermons. During the entire period he was
   the reverse of idle; his zeal never suffered him to adopt the easy
   excuses of indolence, or to find in distress a ground for the
   abandonment of duty. He now wrote his "Apology for set Forms of Liturgy
   against the pretence of the Spirit," which was shortly followed by one
   of his most distinguished works, the "Life of Christ." During the three
   following years, his labours were chiefly, his Sermon, and his "Holy
   Living and Dying;" the latter, a volume which originated in the desire,
   as it was written for the use of the first Lady Carbery, and dedicated
   by him to her husband after her death.

   Another of those friends whose services were of peculiar value during
   this period, was the well-known and estimable John Evelyn. Evelyn had
   accidentally heard him preach in the city in 1654, and it is easy to
   conceive that Taylor's sincerity and eloquence could not be heard with
   neglect by a man like Evelyn. How casual admiration was heightened into
   habitual friendship we have now no means of knowing; but it appears
   that, shortly after, Evelyn paid him a visit, "to confer with him about
   spiritual matters." Evelyn's nature was liberal, his means were opulent
   for the time, and Taylor undoubtedly enjoyed the advantages of both,
   during a period in which his personal resources had utterly failed him.
   In 1656, he visited London, and dined with Evelyn at his seat, Sayes
   Court. He there enjoyed, at least, the feast of reason, for the company
   were Berkeley, Boyle, and Wilking, all three eminent in their day for
   scientific ardour. Of this meeting, and still more, of the comforts and
   enjoyments of his accomplished friend, he speaks with natural pleasure
   in a letter of which the following is a fragment: --

   "To John Evelyn, Esq.

   "Honored and dear Sir,

   "I hope your servant brought my apology with him, and that I am already
   excused in your thoughts, that I did not return an answer yesterday to
   your friendly letter. Sir, I did believe myself so very much bound to
   you, for your so kind, so friendly reception of me in your Tusculanum,
   that I had some little wonder upon me, when I saw you making excuses
   that it was no better. Sir, I came to see you and your lady, and am
   highly pleased that I did so, and found all your circumstances to be a
   heap and union of blessings.

   "I am pleased indeed at the order of all your outward things, and look
   upon you not only as a person, by way of thankfulness to God for his
   mercies and goodness to you, specially obliged to a great measure of
   piety; but also as one who being freed in great degrees from secular
   cares and impediments, can wholly intend what you so passionately
   desire, the service of God. But, now I am considering yours, and
   enumerating my own pleasures, I cannot but add that though I could not
   choose but be delighted by seeing all about you, yet my delices
   (delights) were really in seeing you severe and unconcerned in these
   things, and now in finding your affections wholly a stranger to them."

   Taylor had found another friend in Mr. Thurland, afterwards Sir Edward,
   and one of the barons of the Exchequer. This eminent lawyer was also
   the author of a work on Prayer, and either from congenial studies or
   personal respect, he was induced to offer Taylor an asylum in London.
   He mentions this offer in a letter to Evelyn.

   "Truly, sir, I do continue in my desire to settle about London, and am
   only hindered by my res an gusta domi, but hope in God's goodness, that
   he will create to me such advantages as may make it possible, and when
   I am there, I shall expect the daily issues of the Divine Providence to
   make all things else well. Because I am much persuaded that by my abode
   in your voisinage (neighbourhood) of London, I may receive advantages
   of society and books, to enable me better to serve God and the interest
   of souls. I have no other design in it, and I hope God will second it
   with his blessing. Sir, I desire you to present my thanks and service
   to Mr. Thurland; his society were argument enough to make me desire a
   dwelling there abouts, but his other kindnesses will also make it
   possible." The letter proceeds to say, that in acknowledgement of
   Thurland's liberality he will send him his new work "On the Doctrine of
   Original Sin;" and concludes with a touch of melancholy and
   resignation. "Sir, -- I am in some little disorder by reason of the
   death of a little child of mine, a boy that lately made us very glad.
   But now he rejoices in his little orb while we think, and sigh, and
   long to be as safe as he is."

   One of the evils of reputation now assailed him. The man who obtains
   popularity, will have imitators; and he is fortunate, whose imitators
   neither degrade his style nor disgrace his character. In this year a
   small volume appeared, entitled a frivolous dissertation on the arts of
   female beauty; a work unworthy of Taylor's dignity, alike in its
   subject and its performance. Yet it was evidently the publisher's
   intent to impress the idea that it proceeded from his pen. The
   frontis-piece, a female figure with the sun on her breast, was taken
   from one of his known works. The peculiarities of his language, and
   even his use of italics, were adopted; and though the preface
   attributed the work "chiefly to a lady," yet the crowd of classic
   quotations which filled its pages, strongly contradicted, and were
   probably intended to contradict, the declaration. The haste of
   criticism, or perhaps the bitterness of party, charged this trivial
   work on Taylor; but Bishop Heber, his latest and best biographer, has
   indignantly defended his memory. The language of the treatise wants all
   the higher characteristics of a pen to which eloquence was familiar;
   its sentiments are opposed to his recorded opinions; and thus failing
   in the lineaments of vigorous expression and moral dignity which
   belonged to all the offspring of his mind, who can doubt its
   illegitimacy?

   In 1662, the artifice was pushed still further, and an edition appeared
   with J.T. D.D., his known initials, on its title page. But the
   dexterity of fabricators in those days was more daring, and even more
   disingenuous, than in our own. The knavery of pirating names was
   common, and Taylor only underwent the penalty of having made a
   reputation which was a passport to popular applause.

   Taylor's tenderness of heart was sadly tried in the loss of children.
   Distressing us this must be to any man, it must have been doubly so to
   one who could write thus glowingly on the domestic affections. In his
   treatise entitled the "Marriage Ring," he thus speaks, in the quaint
   yet poetic language of his time.

   "Nothing can sweeten felicity but love. No man can tell, but he that
   loves his children, how many delicious accents make a man's heart dance
   in the pretty conversation of those dear pledges. Their childishness,
   their stammering, their little anger, their innocence, their
   imperfections, their necessities, are so many emanations of joy and
   comfort to him that delights in their persons and society. But he who
   loves not his wife and children feeds a lioness at home, and broods
   over a nest of sorrows, and blessing itself cannot make him happy. So
   that all the commandments of God, enjoining a man to love his wife, are
   nothing but so many necessities and capacities of joy. She that is
   loved is safe, and he that loves is joyful. Love is an union of all
   things excellent. It contains in it proportion and satisfaction, and
   rest and confidence, and I wish that this were so much proceeded in,
   that the heathens themselves could not go beyond us in this virtue, and
   its proper and appendant happiness. Tiberius Gracchus chose to die for
   the safety of his wife, and yet methinks to a Christian to do so should
   be no hard thing, for many servants will die for their masters, and
   many gentlemen for their friend, but the examples are not so many of
   those that are ready to die for their nearest relations. And yet some
   there have been. -- Baptiste Fregosa tells of a Neapolitan, that gave
   himself as slave to the Moors that he might follow his wife, and this
   is a greater thing than to die."

   During this period, he kept up his correspondence with Evelyn, and
   between those two amiable yet grave men, the topics were naturally of a
   grave and lofty nature. It appears that Evelyn desired to have some
   difficulties resolved, relative to the state of the soul after death.
   Taylor answers him with a curious mixture of metaphysics and morality,
   the worthless learning of the schoolmen, alternately clouding and
   clearing away before the vigour of an intelligent mind:-- "But, sir,
   that which you check at, is the immortality of the soul; that is, its
   being, in the interval before the day of judgment, which you conceive
   is not agreeable to the Apostles Creed, or current of Scriptures,
   assigning as you suppose the felicity of Christians to the
   resurrection. Before I speak to the thing, I must note this, that the
   parts which you oppose to each other may both be true, for the soul may
   be immortal, and yet not beatified till the resurrection. For to be,
   and not to be happy or miserable, are not necessary consequences to
   each other. For the soul may be alive, and yet not feel; as it may be
   alive, and not understand. So is our soul when we are fast asleep, and
   so Nebuchadnezzar's soul when he had his lycanthropy. The Socinians
   that say the soul sleeps, do not suppose that she is mortal, but that
   for want of her instrument she cannot do any act of life. The soul
   returns to God, and that in no sense is death, and I think the death of
   the soul cannot be defined, and there is no death to spirits but
   annihilation."

   He then adverts to the felicity of Christians after the day of
   judgment; and, in illustration of the soul's existence, quotes the
   fable of Licetus, "his lamps, whose flame had stood still fifteen
   hundred years in Tully's wife's vault." He proceeds to say, that "as
   the element of fire, and the celestial globes of fire, eat nothing, but
   live on themselves, so can the soul when it is divested of its relative
   (the body.)" Such was the philosophy of his day, borrowed from the
   Greeks, and laughed at by the moderns.

   But when he relies on his own understanding his remarks become of more
   value. In answer to the allowable question -- why St. Paul, preaching
   Jesus and the resurrection, said nothing of the intermediate existence
   of the souls; he answers, that the resurrection of the body included
   and supposed that. And, secondly, "that if it had not, yet what need
   had he to preach that to them, which in Athens was believed by almost
   all their schools; for, besides that the immortality of the soul was
   believed by the philosophers of Egypt, India, and Chaldea, it was
   acknowledged by all the leading philosophers of Greece." To this,
   however, he adds the remarkably insecure argument, in which, as he
   expresses it, "St. Paul, speaking of his rapture into heaven, purposely
   and by design twice says, "whether in body or out of the body I know
   not;" by which Taylor observes, "he plainly says, that it was no ways
   unlikely, that his rapture was out of the body, and therefore it is
   very agreeable to the nature of the soul, to operate in separation from
   the body."

   It is striking, to find a man of his sagacity, falling into the common
   error of commentators on this remarkable passage; and not less striking
   to find him followed in it by Bishop Heber; who remarks, that "from
   that text alone, the probability is, that the apostle himself took the
   separate existence of the soul for granted, and believed it extremely
   possible for a man to be and think, and even to acquire new ideas,
   without the existence of the body."

   Reluctant as we may be, to reject an argument which supports the great
   and consoling truth of the "intermediate state," it must be
   acknowledged, that this interpretation is altogether unsustained by the
   text. Nothing can be clearer, that that St. Paul is not speaking of
   himself, but of another. He distinctly states, that he will glory, not
   in the visions and revelations made to himself, but in those made to an
   individual, in whose Divine visitations he might rejoice with safety
   and propriety. While, as to himself, if he were to glory in anything,
   it should be in his infirmities; which is obviously equivalent to not
   glorying at all.

   Having thus fully established the distinction he proceeds to speak of
   this highly-favoured individual, as one whom he knew fourteen years
   before, though whether he were now dead or living, he could not say; or
   as the text expresses it, "whether in the body I cannot tell, or
   whether out of the body I cannot tell; God knoweth. [3] The phrase "out
   of the body," being the common Scripture phrase for death; and as such
   used by St. Paul himself, when he desires to be "absent from the body,
   and present with the Lord." Under the usual interpretation the whole
   passage is a mass of perplexity.

   Yet in the midst of those important studies, this estimable man was not
   to escape the prying and persecuting spirit of the time. His printer,
   Royston, had prefixed to his "Collections of Offices" an engraving of
   our Lord in prayer. The representations, which printers had been so
   long in the habit of prefixing to their volumes, were regarded as
   idolatrous by the new-born conscience of the age. The scruple had even
   gone to the extent of an act for punishing those formidable
   transgressions by fine and imprisonment. Taylor was not a man likely to
   provoke authority, for the mere indulgence of opposition; and it could
   scarcely be supposed that he felt inclined to pay more homage to Popery
   than to government. But those were the days for which zealots had
   cavilled and rebels had fought; and the triumph of both had alike
   issued in the direct overthrow of their principles. It is enough to say
   of this period and its law, that Taylor was committed to a prison for a
   third time.

   His place of confinement was the Tower; whether as implying an offence
   more nearly touching on high-treason, or from the crowded state of the
   other prisons in this era of successful freedom! How long he might have
   been destined by the mercy of his accusers to remain there, is not now
   to be known; for the same friendship which had never failed him, again
   interposed. Evelyn exerted himself to represent his innocence to the
   ruling powers. Cromwell, who persecuted only from policy, while others
   persecuted from zeal, was probably not disinclined to let such a
   prisoner go free: Evelyn's entreaty, that his learned and pious friend
   might be allowed to explain his conduct, was accordingly listed to;
   and, after an incarceration of two months, he regained his liberty.

   But the experiment of clemency under the protectorate was not to be
   safety hazarded again; and Taylor's friends now consulted how to
   withdraw him altogether from the vigilant eyes that watched his career
   in England. While he remained in London he would have boldly continued
   to officiate, and administer the sacraments, in the private meetings of
   his people. But Episcopacy had been extinguished, and the angry
   strength of government was bent on crushing the remnants of the church.
   Edward, Earl of Conway, the proprietor of large estates near Lisburn in
   Ireland, now proposed to Evelyn that his friend should remove there to
   take a lectureship then at the earl's disposal.

   Taylor was strongly disinclined to leave England, even though his steps
   there were in the lion's den. After thanking Evelyn for his unwearied
   kindness, he told his thoughts freely of this unpalatable change. "I
   like not," says his letter, "the condition of being a lecturer under
   the disposal of another. Sir, the stipend is so inconsiderable, that it
   will not pay the charge of removing myself and family. It is wholly
   arbitrary, for the triers may overthrow it, or the vicar may forbid it,
   or the subscribers may die, or grow weary, or be absent. I beseech you,
   sir, pay my thanks to your friend who had so much kindness for me as to
   intend my benefit." He seems here to have had a correct idea of the
   "voluntary principle;" but his reluctance was overcome, probably by the
   remonstrances of his friends, who knew more of his danger, and feared
   more for him than he feared for himself. He accordingly set out,
   furnished with letters to the leading persons of Ireland, the lord
   chancellor, the chief baron, the general in command, and even with a
   letter from Cromwell himself, under his signet. In Ireland he divided
   his residence between Lisburn and the neighbourhood of Portmore, a
   princely mansion built by Inigo Jones, and belonging to the Conway
   family. Here he found at once seclusion and safety. The surrounding
   country is romantic: the great lake of Lough Neah washed the park of
   Portmore; and in its sylvan and lonely islets, he is said to have
   frequently indulged his love of nature and solitude. Here, too, he
   proceeded with renewed vigour in the great work, which he had founded
   as the pillar of his fame, and it was to the shelter of Portmore that
   the age owed the completion of the "Ductor Dubitantium." Yet his
   shelter was not altogether secure, for even there he was denounced by
   an informer, to the Irish privy council, as a dangerous character; the
   chief pungency of the crime being, that he had used the sign of the
   cross in private baptism. For such treasons men were thrown into
   dungeons in the days of our ancestors! Taylor was ordered up to Dublin,
   in the depth of winter. The result of his journey was a severe illness,
   which however probably saved him from the greater severity of
   persecution.

   But his trials were at last to approach their end. To publish his great
   work, and to renew his intercourse with his friends, he travelled
   onwards to London. The times were anxious, the great usurper was dead,
   the army had resumed its old power of disposing of the state, and all
   eyes were turned on its general. Monk, tardy and cold, yet artificial
   and dexterous, still kept the nation in suspense. At this critical
   period, some of the bolder loyalists came forward, and drew up a
   declaration of confidence in the general. Taylor, who regarded both
   life and death only as the means of zealously serving the truth, was
   among the first to sign this momentous paper. The confidence thus given
   to Monk was the signal for the restoration of the monarchy.

   If Charles was yet to disappoint the national hopes, no sovereign was
   ever welcomed with more sincere rejoicing. All men were weary of the
   past. The misery of revolution had been fully felt: the unspeakable
   wretchedness of living at the caprice of a popular assembly, had
   penetrated into every cottage; even the sullen tyranny of the
   protectorate had been felt as a relief from the restless vexations of
   popular rule; and so deep was the disgust earned by republicanism, that
   the nation, in a moment of confidence, as rash as their disgust was
   sincere, threw themselves, and their liberties together, at the foot of
   the young king.

   In the general re-establishment of the church, Taylor could not be
   disregarded without palpable injustice. His piety, learning, and
   sufferings had been equally conspicuous. He was well known to many
   powerful men round the throne. Whether his having married the natural
   sister of the king contributed to his advancement, is not ascertained;
   though if Charles desired to remove her from his immediate presence, it
   might have contributed to his location at a distance from court. On the
   6th of August, 1660, Taylor was appointed to the bishopric of Down and
   Conner in Ireland; and soon after elected vice-chancellor of the
   university of Dublin.

   He had at length found a situation worthy of his activity and of his
   feelings. His first attention was directed to the affairs of the
   university. His knowledge of mankind told him that education was the
   great instrument of civil order and religious truth; and his well-won
   experience had proved that universities alone can dispense education
   without hazard to the state, and sustain the stream of national
   religion without sullying its purity. He found the revenues of the
   university dilapidated, and the lands in many instances given away. So
   great were the disorders introduced under the Commonwealth, that none
   of the existing scholars or fellows had legal titles, all having been
   introduced by irregular election, or forced on the electors by the
   government. Taylor took upon himself the labour of revising the
   statutes of Bishop Bedel, and establishing others required by the new
   circumstances of the university.

   In this sense, he may be regarded as a second founder of that noble
   Institution, which, under Providence, has been the great source and
   sustainer of Protestantism and freedom in the sister country -- not
   destitute of those displays which make national fame; sending out, from
   time to time, those magnificent minds, her Burkes and Grattans, which
   belong not to provinces, but empires, and come periodically to
   reinforce the intellect of mankind; but, in all periods, by the vigour
   and exactness of her learning, and the manliness and purity of her
   principles, transmitting knowledge, loyalty, and religion, into the
   bosom of the land: -- a great luminary, on which, for centuries, has
   depended all the moral sunshine of Ireland; sending out, from time to
   time, flashes and emanations, of a lustre that breaks through all her
   clouds; and even in her gloomiest hours, shooting its influence through
   the soil, kindling every latent seed that is yet to vegetate into
   national virtue, and preparing the more perfect day.


   "Aggredere, o magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores;

   Cara Deum soboles!"

   The Bishop's merits were to be still further honoured. During the
   Commonwealth, Ireland had been almost wholly denuded of its
   Episcopalian clergy. By the exertions of the Duke of Ormond they now
   began to be restored. On the 27th of January, 1661, two archbishops and
   ten bishops were consecrated in the cathedral of St. Patrick, in
   Dublin, by Bramhall, the primate. And in the next month the Bishop of
   Down was called to the Irish privy council, and shortly afterwards
   appointed to the administration of the small adjoining diocese of
   Dromore. But if sudden authority has often been a dangerous trial to
   unsettled virtue, it only exhibited more largely the dignity and mercy
   of his mind. The Irish massacre of 1641, had thrown vast tracts of
   country into the hands of government. The civil war had next perverted
   might into rapine, and the Commonwealth had finally consolidated rapine
   into law. In Ireland all the elements of order had been confounded. It
   was now the difficult task of the legitimate government to bring
   society into form once more. The question of the confiscated estates
   might have offered a snare to an orator ambitious of influence, or to a
   man of influence eager for possession. But Taylor's language on this
   subject was worthy of his principles. With equal force and simplicity,
   he thus addressed his fellow legislators: --

   "You cannot obey God, unless you do justice, for this also is better
   than sacrifice, said Solomon. For Christ, who is the sun of
   righteousness, is a sun and shield to them that do righteously.

   "You are to give sentence in the causes of half a nation; and he had
   needs be a wise and good man who divides the inheritance among
   brethren, that he may not be abused by contrary pretences, nor biassed
   by the interest of friends, nor transported with the unjust thoughts
   even of a just revenge, nor allured by the opportunities of spoil, nor
   blinded by gold, which puts out the eyes of wise men, nor cozened by
   pretended zeal. For justice ought to be the simplest thing in the
   world, and to be measured by nothing but truth, and by laws, and by the
   decrees of princes."

   The passage which follows is worthy of being recorded among the first
   maxims of national justice in troubled times.

   "But whatever you do, let not the pretence of a different religion make
   you think it lawful to oppress any man in his just rights; for not
   opinions, but laws, and doing as we would be done to, are the measures
   of justice. And though justice does alike to all men, Jew and
   Christian, Lutheran and Calvinist; yet, to do right to them that are of
   another opinion, is the way to win them. But if you, for conscience
   sake, do them wrong, they will hate both you and your religion."

   He concludes with a fine enunciation of his noble principle: -- "You
   must be as just as the law, and you must be as merciful as your
   religion. And you have no way to tie those together, but to follow the
   pattern in the mount -- do as God does, who in judgment remembers
   mercy."

   This pious and learned man was now approaching his close. It is among
   the mysterious dispensations of Providence, that some of the
   purest-minded of men have been the most subjected to personal
   afflictions. Yet while this world is to be regarded only as a school of
   the human spirit, and the Deity holds in his hand boundless
   compensation for all suffering, it is only the work of reason, to be
   convinced that the deeper affliction has been laid on for purposes
   essential to the richer reward.

   At an early period of life, Taylor had lost all his sons but two. And
   now, when affluence and rank seemed sent to brighten the remainder of
   his anxious and ardent days, those two died, both by premature deaths,
   -- His elder son, a captain of horse in the king's service, in a duel
   with a brother officer, who also fell; and his second son, of a
   consumption, in the house of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, to whom he
   was private secretary. Grief for the former of those losses, hung
   heavily upon the father's heart; and though the death of his second son
   occurred in England, but on the day before the commencement of his own
   final illness in Ireland, the knowledge of his disease, and of its
   almost inevitable consummation, may have added bitterness to the blow.
   On the 3rd of August 1667, the Bishop was seized with a fever, which,
   acting on an enfeebled frame and a depressed mind, made such progress,
   that within ten days he breathed his last, in the 55th year of his age,
   and tenth of his episcopacy; -- thenceforth to live among the glorious
   concourse, whom change can touch no more.


   "Quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita mancbat,

   Quique pii vates,

   Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes

   Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo."

   His wife survived him for many years. He left three daughters, the
   eldest of whom died unmarried, the second married Dr. Marsh, afterwards
   Archbishop of Dublin, and the third married a Mr. Harrison, a man of
   fortune, and member of parliament for the borough of Lisburn.

   Taylor's personal appearance is said to have been highly favourable;
   his figure, above the middle size, strong and well formed, his eye
   large and dark, his nose aquiline, his countenance open, and we may
   fairly presume, intelligent; and his hair, in early life, in the
   fashion of his age, redundant, and flowing in curls. If he had not been
   a cleric, he would have made a handsome cavalier. But the only original
   portrait known to be in existence, is that in All-soul's College, taken
   when those youthful graces had disappeared; and where his resigned yet
   melancholy look shows that he had gone through many afflictions.

   Of the more important topic, his last hours, too little is known. The
   manner in which such a man receives the final summons, the clearness of
   his views when the passions are no more, the strength of his faith when
   the world sinks from the eye, are inquires which all would make, who
   desire to have their convictions enforced, or their hopes animated; who
   would be enlightened by the wisdom of the intelligent, or invigorated
   by the fortitude of the holy. But, of those hours no detail seems to
   have been preserved; and we must be content with such conjecture as we
   can form from his life. Yet, who can doubt that the death of this man
   of virtue was consistent with his career? that he whose existence was a
   long display of Christian courage, was calm in the presence of the last
   enemy? that he who had faced the dungeon, and would have faced the
   scaffold, without a fear, must have shown, on his pillow, in what peace
   a Christian can die?

   The conditions of the church, during the life of Bishop Taylor, forms
   one of the most remarkable features of its history. The persecution
   under Mary had driven many of the clergy to seek refuge in foreign
   countries. Calvin's learning, zeal, and eloquence had made him the
   great surviving leader of the Reformation, in the eyes of a large
   portion of the continental church. Some of the clergy, on their return,
   had brought with them his doctrines. Calvin, equally stern and sincere,
   had evidently thought that he approached the nearer to the truth of the
   gospel, the further he receded from the principles of Rome. Especially
   disgusted with the haughtiness of the Romish hierarchy, he had at
   length conceived that independence of the civil government was
   essential to the purity of the church. The tempest was now gathering
   which was to fall upon the Establishment.

   Presbyterianism, founded in Geneva in 1541, first appeared in England
   in 1572. The remembrance of the Papal domination and the terror of its
   return, made the new doctrines popular. The Protestant exiles,
   returning from the Continent, reinforced the zeal of their countrymen.
   A new impulse was to be added from the North. Scotland, on the death of
   Elizabeth, in 1503, had given a king to England. The disputes between
   the monarch and the people had already involved the Scottish Episcopacy
   in odium. Presbyterianism, recruited from the multitude, was too
   powerful for Episcopacy, deserted by the throne; and after a century of
   various struggles, it was declared the Established Church of Scotland.
   The junction of the civil governments brought with it the religious
   controversy; and the flame, exhausted in the confines of the North,
   blazed into new violence among the vast, various, and inflammable
   materials of the public mind of England.

   The British constitution, slowly gathered out of the wrecks of Saxon
   privilege, had been, for a century, gradually forming into freedom. But
   the structure was still harsh, irregular, and threatening. Modeled by
   the hands of powerful subjects, more anxious for the increase of
   personal power, than for the extension of public right; it bore the
   characters of the baronial architecture -- bold, but rude; magnificent,
   but frowning -- the palace combined with the dungeon. Other and nobler
   times, were at once the fortress into the temple; and, throwing open
   its gates alike to all, summon the multitude to bow down before altars,
   where true liberty stood robed in the broadest rays of true religion.

   The power of the crown, in the earlier period of that memorable
   century, had, by habit, assumed something of the power of a Divinity;
   and its first restraints were regarded by the sovereign less an
   innovation than sacrilege. But England was marked for a high destiny,
   incompatible with a return to arbitrary rule. She was to be the head of
   Protestantism to Europe; and for this purpose she was to be the great
   example of a free government to mankind. The form of her church was
   still of clay, but the proportions were noble; and life, from the most
   illustrious of all sources, was already shooting through its frame. If,
   like our great ancestor, it was soon to fall upon evil days, and be
   disinherited of its original birth-right, it was appointed to a
   triumphant recovery; that recovery itself, we will believe, only an
   emblem of days of larger dominion, and more unclouded splendour.

   The prosperity of England under Elizabeth, the overthrow of the Spanish
   invasion, the new growth of commerce, and the native manliness of the
   public heart, all animated by the evidence of the public strength, had
   prepared her for the future ascent to all the heights of civil freedom.
   If her elevation was still to be slow, stormy, and exposed to
   vicissitude, it was still to proceed. The accession of James,
   well-meaning but harsh, a pedant in statesmanship, and a monk in
   religion, wasting the royal treasure on foreign policies, and creating
   controversies at home, at once relaxed the royal influence, and
   stimulated religious inquiry. The accession of Charles only hastened
   the catastrophe. His spirit, at once chivalric and gentle - fatal to
   him in both aspects, by giving him the loftiest conception of his
   rights, and suggesting the feeblest means of sustaining them -- marked
   him as the victim of a time of change. The death of that unhappy
   sovereign is still written in the darkest page of national guilt. It
   should also be written in the most disastrous page of national
   misfortune. Regicide, as the dissolution of the highest bond of
   society, seems to be visited in all lands by the especial wrath of
   heaven. No event in the national annals ever gave so instant a check to
   the advance of freedom, -- The stream that flowed from the scaffold of
   the king, instantly made its path impassable.

   Even from the hour when hostility was first turned from the crown to
   the wearer of the crown, and it was resolved to baptize the Republic in
   royal blood, calamity fell broad and heavy upon the land. Liberty,
   misunderstood by some, and abused by others, and religion, equally
   misunderstood and equally abused, were forced into a profane alliance
   against the people. The Establishment, the most ancient and noble
   rampart of the monarchy, was first to be seized. Too powerful to be
   stormed, it was undermined; and the result was true to the calculation.
   With it went down the monarchy. The heads of both perished on the same
   scaffold Laud only preceeded Charles to the grave.

   But the fall of the Church left a chasm in the state which was not to
   be filled. Civil faction attempted it, and failed. Religious faction
   attempted it, and failed. The liberty, property, and blood of the
   people were thrown in, but the gulf was still widening. The
   Commonwealth was flung in, the Protectorship followed: at length the
   nation returned to its earlier wisdom; replaced the Establishment on
   its old foundations; and stopped the progress of public ruin.

   The history of this interregnum is only the history of rival factions,
   various in their features, but filled with the same spirit, taking
   different means to power but all alike hazardous to public security;
   and, whether they stole their fires from above or from below, whether
   enthusiasts or intriguers, each risking alike the conflagration of the
   roof under which they professed to administer to the good of the
   people.

   The Establishment had perished; but it was only to leave room for the
   struggle of the sects. Independentism was the new competitor. It had
   arisen from the schism of the Brownists, who flourished in the
   preceding century. After existing for a period in Holland, it was
   brought into England in 1616, by Henry Jacobs, a Puritan. Its principle
   was, spiritual association with mutual independence of its churches. At
   the commencement of the great rebellion, some of the Independent
   ministers returning from the Continent, and taking their seats in the
   assembly of divines, had begun to form congregations. Against this
   measure Presbyterianism, then in possession of power, strongly
   remonstrated. The Independents as strongly complained, that the
   Presbyterians, standing in the place of the ancient Establishment, had,
   with its power, adopted more than its persecution, that it denied a
   middle way between rigid uniformity and utter confusion; and that
   though, in its own case, declaiming against the use of the civil sword,
   it had unhesitatingly used force to settle the consciences of others.

   Presbyterianism was now to feel the ascendancy of its rival. The
   contest remains as one proof, among the thousand, of the feebleness of
   premature power. If the Establishment perishes, rooted as it was in the
   soil for centuries, endeared to the national memory by the generations
   which had sat under its shade, and forming a central and venerable
   object from whatever spot the eye looked upon the constitution; what
   could be the security of the new church, the tree without a root,
   planted in the midst of tempests, and in a soil beaten into dust by the
   trampling of the civil war? It still had the whole force of the state
   in its hands. It constituted nearly the whole parliament, and it
   possessed a vast nominal majority among the people. But the
   Independents more than compensated for their minority in numbers, by
   the vigour of their zeal, by the impression on the popular feelings,
   and by that determination to be masters, which, in itself, is
   equivalent to mastery; and in those signs they conquered.

   No period of British history presents at once so strong a display of
   the madness of man, and of the indefatigable protection of Providence.
   Republicanism had torn down the monarchy. Schism had dismantled the
   Church. England stood on the verge of the grave; and the factions which
   dug it, delayed the blow that would have cast her in, only till the
   sword or the axe decided which was to have the robbing of the dead.

   The true peril of all popular revolutions is, that having no defined
   object, they have no natural termination. Springing from a desire of
   universal possession, they an have no limit but universal change. The
   man who will go farthest, necessarily becomes the leader. Renovation is
   soon abandoned for rapine, justice for revenge, right for licence;
   until the land is swept bare. The fancied oppressions of the rich
   become the pretest for levelling the whole community, and the attempt
   to retaliate popular wrongs upon the higher classes ends in the anarchy
   of the land. It is an evidence of the Divine mercy that, hitherto, the
   process has never been suffered to exhibit itself in that last stage of
   political ruin. The sharp remedy of the soldier has been introduced, at
   once to punish the national excesses, and to check the national
   undoing. In the English and French revolutions the violence of popular
   passion has thus been restrained by the despotism of the sword. -- The
   lunatic, on whom argument and experience would be alike thrown away;
   whose additional power would generate only additional evil to himself;
   and whose frenzy would be inflamed by success, has been coerced by the
   bitter restorative of the lash and the chain. Democracy in England
   would have raged, till the country was a waste, if the selfishness and
   sternness of Cromwell had not been sent forth, to crush the madness of
   the time. Democracy in France would have filled the country with a
   moral pestilence, which after destroying its own population, would have
   spread the contagion resistlessly, perhaps, through every nation of the
   earth, if the fierce ambition and iron tyranny of Napoleon had not
   first checked, and then turned the current of the disease into domestic
   slavery and foreign domination. Both were tyrants, and both criminals
   of the darkest stain; but both were the true overthrowers of the
   democratic principle and to both, England and France alike owed the
   cessation of public ruin, and the final restoration of monarchy. --
   Like the volcanoes of the great Southern Ocean, even the thunders among
   which they rose, and the convulsions that made their birth felt along
   the sullen and stormy expanse of nations, were proofs that there was
   solid ground rising for the foot of man; that the capricious and
   disturbed element through which they shot up was to have new barriers
   set to its career; and that, wild and fiery as they towered before the
   eye of man, they were to be the commencement of a new era of settlement
   and security.

   Cromwell had found himself suspected, at an early period, by the
   Presbyterian government. The Independents required a leader, and he
   required a party. The terms were speedily made; and the great
   republican, uniting in himself all the qualities essential to the time
   -- appealing to the multitude by the lure of popular power; to the
   fanatical, by raptures borrowed from their own enthusiasm; to the
   soldiery, by the display of signal valour in the field; and to the
   ambitious, by that inexhaustible sagacity and undeviating success which
   promised his adherents every object that ambition could desire; saw
   supremacy at his feet. His appointment as lieutenant, under Fairfax,
   one of the capital oversights of the parliament; threw the parliament
   itself into his power. The calamitous battle of Naseby extinguished the
   royal cause. The fatality which entrusted the royal person to the
   Scottish Commissioners; the perfidy with which they repaid that trust
   by betraying it to the parliament, all played the game of his
   sovereignty. Presbyterianism, at the height of power, was next to be
   taught by him how near success may be to subversion. The Independents
   were masters of the army; the army seized the unfortunate monarch; a
   weak legislature tried him; a mockery of popular opinion sanctioned the
   crime; and the forms of justice, the national character, and the spirit
   of religion, were alike betrayed by a faction purchasing power with the
   fall of their king. But all those crimes only levelled the path before
   the great usurper. Even the blood of Charles only tracked the way for
   Cromwell to a throne.

   In those references to a period of public shame, there can be no wish
   to involve religious minds in the general charge of treason. The men
   who dipped their hands in regicide were the actual antagonists of all
   religion. Conscience, first used as a mask, was speedily abandoned: the
   atrocities of the rebellion were committed, not by religionists but
   revolutionists. Among the Independent ministers of London, it is
   recorded that but two, Goodwin and Peters, consented to the king's
   death.

   The destruction of the establishment had been the virtual destruction
   of the monarchy. The legislature, reduced to eighty members, proceeded
   to fix in principle the misdemeanours which they had already committed
   in practice. They voted the throne dangerous, and the House of Lords
   useless to a state. A new oath was imposed, by which was named the
   Engagement, was levelled by the Independents against the Presbyterians;
   the latter having now fallen from power, and revenging themselves by
   calling the government an usurpation.

   But Cromwell's experience had taught him the hazard of suffering
   religion to be made a political instrument, or of giving the fallen
   party the strength that is to be found in the outcry against
   persecution. By an act introduced at his especial suggestion, the whole
   body of penalties against religious opinions were swept away. A general
   toleration was declared, with the large exception, however, of Papists
   and Episcopalians; the one, as irreconcilable with all Protestantism,
   and the other, as repelling the Protestantism of the day. Cromwell thus
   paid the fallen church the involuntary compliment of providing that he
   believed its allegiance to be above his purchase. Its principles had
   already resisted his power. Yet nothing shows his faculties for
   government more clearly than the moderation with which he bore the
   acknowledged disgust of the sectaries. The "Engagement," had produced
   much irritation. Baxter, with many of the leading Presbyterian
   ministers, inveighed against the oath. But the Independents now forming
   the government, and themselves governed by Cromwell, bore the insult
   calmly, and turned it to account, by filling up the vacant livings with
   Independent ministers. The press was not neglected, and the great
   Milton was employed to write down the recusants. The powers of the law
   were brought into action, and all who refused "the Engagement," of the
   age of eighteen, were prohibited from sueing in the law courts: while
   all ministers attacking the oath from their pulpits, were deprived of
   their benefices for the time. But while he was thus rigid to all who
   exhibited determined resistance, he gave full opportunity of repentance
   to all the wavering. Presbyterianism was still too powerful to be
   lightly offended; and the national church was declared to be
   Presbyterian in doctrine, discipline, and worship. An attempt was even
   made to raise all livings to a hundred pounds a year. But the
   liberality of rebellion is seldom justice, and those livings were to be
   augmented by the confiscation of the lands of the bishops, deans, and
   chapters, with, however, the addition of the first-fruits and tenths.
   Though fallen even the church was not to be wholly forgotten. With
   republican generosity it was to be propitiated out of its own plunder,
   and small salaries were allotted to the bishops and the chief clergy of
   the cathedrals. Still, it is the history of all usurpations, that their
   practice essentially falsifies their professions. The liberty of
   speaking and writing had been among the most urgent demands of the
   republicans. The complaint had answered its purpose; and the press had
   broken down the monarchy. The champion was now itself to be in chains.
   The royalist and Presbyterian writers were declared to have abused the
   rights of discussion. The House of Commons took those rights under its
   charge, and the press was thenceforth the tool of power.

   But the crisis of popular usurpation was at hand. The expedition of
   Charles the Second to recover his crown, once more brought Cromwell's
   military talents before the eyes of men. The defeat of the king at
   Worcester, with his flight into France, left the sovereignty open to
   the first bold hand; and who could compete with the general who had
   delivered the partizans of the rebellion from the imminent dread of
   royal vengeance? His new popularity with the troops first awoke the
   government to a sense of their peril. To enfeeble the man whom they now
   felt to be their great antagonist, they proposed to disband a part of
   his army. The act would have been followed by the seizure of its
   general. But, when the game lies between the indolence of many and the
   decision of one, between the possession of authority and the
   preservation of life, it speedily comes to an issue. The single
   vigorous competitor carries the day against the slow activity and
   mingled motives of the crowd. Cromwell's prompt and contemptuous
   overthrow of the parliament is among the most remarkable, yet the most
   natural events of the time.

   Still his sagacity as a religious reformer characterized even his
   triumph. The fear of rousing again the decayed enthusiasm of the
   sectaries was the perpetual guide of his administration. All England,
   in all its shapes of opinion, was already powerless before his
   acknowledged supremacy. The cavaliers were weary of defeat, and
   disgusted with the flight of Charles. The Presbyterians were rendered
   submissive at once by the strong hand of government, and by possession.
   The Independents were the natural adherents of Cromwell. That burlesque
   of a legislature, the Barebones' Parliament, had resigned their
   functions, from the combined sense of inadequacy and public ridicule.
   Yet with all the elements of resistance thus at his feet, his first
   work, as sovereign, was to popularize his religious polity. In the
   council of officers it was again proposed, that all religious penalties
   should be formally extinguished; that a regular provision should be
   made for the officiating ministers, and that a general toleration
   should be the law of the land; with the old exceptions of Popery and
   Prelacy. Presbyterianism was still treated with the customary respect,
   and was once more recognized as the established religion.

   Yet those were restless, and must have been unhappy times. We are not
   driven for this conclusion to the constant privations and frequent
   imprisonments of the most meritorious of the English clergy. It
   follows, from the necessity of the case, from the mutual irritations of
   the leading religionists, from the utter uncertainty of a religious
   code, dependent on the will of a capricious council, and from the
   boundless jealousies, suspicions, and bitternesses inseparable from a
   state of perpetual religious struggle. All men's minds were turned on
   political power; to some as an object of enjoyment, to others as a
   means of protection. It is impossible to doubt that religion must thus
   have rapidly tended to decay. In the hands of the politicians, a mere
   instrument, it must have soon fallen into scorn among the higher and
   more reckless ranks of public men. In the hands of the populace,
   alternately a stimulant and a victim of popular turbulence, it must
   have been as rapidly degraded by ignorance, as it was deformed by
   fanaticism. A wise government can give no greater boon than religious
   rest to a people.

   But Cromwell, who never slumbered over the signs of the times, watched
   Presbyterianism with the keenness of personal fear. To sustain his
   popularity he adopted the Independent worship, and exhibited the most
   singular raptures of their most conspicuous leaders. He further
   established a commission of thirty-eight, "Tryers," to select
   candidates for the ministry; and for the purpose of countervailing the
   influence of the Presbyterians, appointed several Baptists and
   Independents to the commission. The selection was charged with
   degrading the ministry by a crowd of pastors, remarkable for nothing
   but the meanness of their condition and the narrowness of their
   knowledge. Yet the choice was hostile to Presbyterianism, and the
   commission thus answered all the purposes for which it was designed.

   The inevitable result of all those changes was at last felt in the
   growing unfitness of the parochial clergy for their office. The
   habitual remedy was a commission. A board of lay commissioners was
   appointed to examine into the learning and conduct of the clergy in
   general.

   Yet even in this period of suffering, the policy of the government
   afforded a comparative shelter to the church.Usher, Brownrigg, Pearson,
   and Hall, were overlooked in their use of the liturgy; though it had
   been declared by the lay-commissioners a ground of deprivation. The
   "Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy" also originated about this
   period; Hall, afterwards Bishop of Chester, preaching the inauguration
   sermon at St. Paul's; and even taking as his subject the budding of
   Aaron's rod, in bold allusion to a regular priesthood.

   In this republicanism of religion the evils of schism were at length
   felt so strongly, that an attempt was made, under the influence of
   Usher and Baxter, to combine the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and
   Independents in a general association, only retaining such principles
   as were alike acknowledged by the three. But this attempt, generous in
   its conception, but incompatible with the feelings of the times, was
   soon abandoned. The Lord Protector adopted the plan, but, powerful as
   he was, and anxious to extinguish the religious disputes, which were
   still the objects of his chief alarm, he found that it was easier to
   subdue armies than controversialists.

   Yet all his projects had the stamp of grandeur. If his political
   triumphs were won more for himself than for his country, he desired to
   make his religious successes the common property of Europe.
   Establishing himself as the champion of Protestantism, and England as
   its supreme seat, he had conceived the plan of a great Protestant
   commonwealth, consisting of representatives from the Protestantism of
   every nation of the Continent, capable of guiding all its impulses,
   securing all its rights, and demanding retribution for all its
   injuries. But this design, a nobler one than the boasted confederation
   of Henry the Fourth, was not to be realized by a man harassed by
   domestic enemies, perplexed by craving partizanship, and now gradually
   sinking under bodily decay.

   The closing days of his daring and brilliant existence are too well
   known to be more than touched on here. Of all cares, the cares of a
   throne must be the most exhausting: for what are the anxieties of
   humbler life, to his who feels the responsibilities of empire? Or, if
   hope is the great stimulant of life, what hope can be his who has
   already attained the highest point of human elevation? Or, if the fear
   of change is the great penalty of possession, what must be the
   restlessness of the usurper's pillow? The dread of assassination was
   the form in which decay seized on the vigorous mind of Cromwell. The
   man who had habitually defied danger, whose whole life was hazard;
   prompt in all the difficulties of council; daring, and even desperate,
   in all the emergencies of the field; was seen sunk into timidity within
   the walls of his palace, and in the midst of his guards. Worn out with
   those distractions he died, September 3, 1658, leaving a mighty moral
   to unlicensed ambition, in an unhappy prosperity and a clouded fame.
   Even the circumstances of his death exhibited that singular mixture of
   good and ill, honour and shame, which characterized his life. The day
   which he had always regarded as the most fortunate of his career, the
   double anniversary of the victories of Dunbar and Worcester, was his
   last; but he died in the midst of a tempest so violent as to be long
   recorded in the popular memory, as a peculiar evidence of Divine
   judgment on his crimes. He was buried with royal state at Westminster;
   but was thus buried, only to be disinterred, his body removed to the
   place of common execution at Tyburn; and there, after being suspended
   in its coffin till sunset, flung into a hole at the foot of the
   scaffold. A signal instance of the brevity of national applause, but a
   mean revenge on the conqueror of two kings of England!

   In contemplating the rebellion, as a great political experiment, it
   presents every aspect of failure. If in the earliest ages of the
   struggle it obtained some important privileges from the throne, it
   destroyed their value by the violence of their seizure. The king soon
   learned to suspect the moderation of men who made concession the ground
   of demand, and argued conciliation into an evidence of infirmity.
   Self-defence compels all to resist, when the assault is palpably made
   not for right but for possession. Charles, it is true, was unfitted for
   the time: even the qualities that place his name with honour among the
   records of personal merit, were adverse to his success, as the master
   of a beleaguered throne. His high spirit was too easily roused by the
   insults by the insults of meaner men; his known intrepidity was too
   quick in scorning the low-born subtleties of the fanatics and
   conspirators who had pledged themselves to his ruin; and his alternate
   contempt of all advice, and deference to ill advisers, deprived him of
   that character of decision, which, in times of civil tumult, is the one
   essential to victory.

   But if the king erred through the defects of his nature, the people
   erred still more by the rashness of their passions. Their triumph
   terminated in the extinction of all liberty: their crimes against a
   king were punished by the sternness of a despot; and nothing but that
   fortune which cut off their usurper in the vigour of life, and left his
   boldness and intelligence to be succeeded by a feeble and timid
   offspring, could have saved England from a dynasty of chains.

   The Rebellion, regarded as a great experiment for liberty of
   conscience, was equally unsuccessful. Without liberty of conscience no
   true faith can exist. But the freedom established by the rebellion was
   a licence of mutual injury. The privilege which placed every novelty,
   extravagance, and fantasy of popular religion on a rank with all that
   was consecrated by experience, sustained by learning, and founded on
   the exercise of the mature understanding; overthrew at a blow all the
   natural barriers between wisdom and error. The sudden influx of
   political aspirants into the sects made even their virtues dangerous to
   the community, and their thirst of power exposed the state to all the
   hazards of faction, inflamed by all the fantasies of zeal.

   The natural result of a licence inconsistent with the public
   tranquility, was a licence inconsistent with the soberness of
   Scripture. Sects started up, whose claim to popularity was their
   eagerness for all that was new, and their scorn of all that was
   established. Among the most remarkable of those were the Levellers, a
   name now limited to political conspirators, but then distinguishing a
   tribe of enthusiasts, who had arrived at the unaccountable conclusion,
   that among Christians all property and all power should be in common.
   -- A doctrine, which, in our present social state, by extinguishing all
   the fruits of individual industry, would obviously extinguish all the
   stimulants to labour, substitute force for law, and end by pauperizing
   the community.

   Another sect, the Fifth-monarchy men, are more memorable; from their
   having given a clearer proof of the powers of fanaticism to disturb the
   public peace. Pronouncing that all earthly authority was on the eve of
   being abolished by the predicted kingdom of Christ, they formed a plan
   to destroy Cromwell, and proclaim the returning Messiah as king.
   Unfurling a banner, with the lion couchant as its emblem, and inscribed
   with the words "Who shall rouse him up," a party of those lunatics,
   headed by one of their preachers, sallied from their place of worship
   to commence the grand revolution. They were instantly defeated, and the
   tumult and the sect suppressed together.

   But if such sects were the prominent effects of the general dislocation
   of religious authority, more serious evils arose from its agency on the
   national mind at the Restoration. As the violence of the politicians
   had finally disgusted the nation with liberty, the extravagance of the
   enthusiasts had tended to shake the popular respect for religion. As
   the one threw the Constitution at the foot of the king, the other
   hazarded even the decencies of the Establishment. Forms had been
   perverted, they were now ridiculed; all religion was declared
   hypocrisy, and all unbelief took the name of candour. The morals of the
   king, learned in the loosest court of the Continent, became the
   standard of manners: the stage conveyed the licentiousness of the court
   of the multitude; and the infidelity of the higher ranks completed the
   picture of a degenerate age. England was, for fifty years, the center
   of intellectual evil to Europe: the especial land of the infidel, who,
   in the insolence and vanity of his heart, assumed to himself the
   haughty title of the Freethinker.

   But she had a signal source of recovery within. Her established Church,
   long stripped of its branches, and iron-bound, like the tree in
   Nebuchadnezzar's vision, had deeply felt the injuries of the rebellion.
   But it was soon to spread a nobler shade than ever. Its literature
   again became conspicuous; to break down the infidel was its first work:
   a succession of forcible treatises on the evidences, the spirit, and
   the value of Christianity rapidly achieved this great service. The
   names of Butler, Waterland, Warburton, Sherlock, and a crowd of other
   churchmen; with Lardner, Leland, and their followers among the
   dissenters, are still eminent as the defenders of religion. The deluge
   of revolt and impurity which had overspread the land, at length dried
   away; and the Church of England, like the patriarchal family descending
   from the ark, renewed the compact with its supreme Preserver. It saw,
   and sees still, the soil requiring many a long period of labour, and
   many a high interposition of Providence, before the traces of the day
   of evil shall be wholly obliterated. But it saw the bow in the cloud;
   and it received in its renewed strength the practical pledge, that the
   succession of the seasons of truth and knowledge should not be
   interrupted again. It now sees, in the sudden and vigorous activity of
   its servants a home, and the new and magnificent planting of Episcopacy
   in the East and West, the approaching realization of the promise of
   increase and replenishing of the earth; and now, with a faith only
   refreshed by the lapse of ages, looks beyond the troubles of the time,
   in sacred confidence, that while it retains its fidelity to the great
   Covenant of Protestantism, the day of subversion shall return no more.

   G.C.
   London

   March, 1838
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1] He had taken the degree of Master of Arts, when ordained, about
   1633.

   [2] Acts, xxviii. 2.

   [3] St. Paul confirms this view in the subsequent verses, (7, etc.) He
   there again declares that he will not glory of himself, or of the
   divine discoveries to him; and that, (7,) directly to prohibit the
   temptation to personal vanity, in thus glorying, the actual revelations
   made to him were followed by a thorn in the flesh, to keep him humble,
   though of the individual mentioned before (2,) he glories with
   impunity.
     __________________________________________________________________

                                  HOLY LIVING

CHAPTER I

CONSIDERATION OF THE GENERAL INSTRUMENTS AND MEANS SERVING A HOLY LIFE, BY WAY
OF INTRODUCTION.

   It is necessary that every man should consider, that since God hath
   given him an excellent nature, wisdom, and choice, an understanding
   soul, and an immortal spirit; having made him lord over the beasts, and
   but a little lower than the angels; he hath also appointed for him a
   work and a service great enough to employ those abilities, and hath
   also designed him to a state of life after this, to which he can only
   arrive by that service and obedience. And therefore, as every man is
   wholly God's own portion by the title of creation, so all our labours
   and care, all our powers and faculties, must be wholly employed in the
   service of God, and even all the days of our life; that this life being
   ended, we may live with him for ever.

   Neither is it sufficient that we think of the service of God as a work
   of the least necessity, or of small employment, but that it be done by
   us as God intended it; that it be done with prevailing ingredient; and
   the ministers of religion are so scattered, that they cannot unite to
   stop the inundation, and from chairs or pulpits, from their synods or
   tribunals, chastise the infidelity of the willingly seduced multitude;
   and that those few good people who have no other plot in their religion
   but to serve God and save their souls, do want such assistances of
   ghostly counsel as may serve their emergent needs, and assist their
   endeavours in the acquist of virtues, and relieve their dangers when
   they are tempted to sin and death; -- I thought I had reasons enough
   inviting me to draw into one body those advices which the several
   necessities of many men must use at some time or other, and many of
   them daily: that by a collection of holy precepts they might less feel
   the want of personal and attending guides, and that the rules for
   conduct of souls might be committed to a book which they might always
   have; since they could not always have a prophet at their needs, nor be
   suffered to go up to the house of the Lord to inquire of the appointed
   oracles.

   I know, my Lord, that there are some interested persons who add scorn
   to the afflictions of the Church of England; and because she is
   afflicted by men, call her "forsaken of the Lord;" and because her
   solemn assemblies are scattered, think that the religion is lost, and
   the church divorced from God, supposing Christ (who was a man of
   sorrows) to be angry with his spouse when she is like him, (for that is
   the true state of the error,) and that he who promised his Spirit to
   assist his servants in their troubles will, because they are in
   trouble, take away the Comforter from them; who cannot be a comforter,
   but while he cures our sadnesses, and relieves our sorrows, and turns
   our persecutions into joys, and crowns, and sceptres. But, concerning
   the present state of the Church of England, I consider, that because we
   now want the blessings of external communion in many degrees, and the
   circumstances of a prosperous and unafflicted people, we are to take
   estimate of ourselves with single judgments, and every man is to give
   sentence concerning the state of his own soul by the precepts and rules
   of our Lawgiver, not by the after-decrees and usages of the church;
   that is, by the essential parts of religion, rather than by the
   uncertain significations of any exterior adherences; for, though it be
   uncertain when a man is the member of a church whether he be a member
   to Christ or no, because in the church's net there are fishes good and
   bad; yet we may be sure that, if we be members of Christ we are of a
   church to all purposes of spiritual religion and salvation; and, in
   order to this, give me leave to speak this great truth: --

   That man does certainly belong to God, who, 1. I believe, and is
   baptized into all the articles of the Christian faith, and studies to
   improve his knowledge in the matters of God, so as may best make him to
   live a holy life. 2. He that, in obedience to Christ, worships God
   diligently, frequently, and constantly, with natural religion; that is,
   of prayer, praises, and thanksgiving. 3. He that takes all
   opportunities to remember Christ's death by a frequent sacrament, (as
   it can be had,) or else by inward acts of understanding, will, and
   memory (which is the spiritual communion,) supplies the want of the
   external rite. 4. He that lives chastely; 5. And is merciful; 6. And
   despises the world, using it as a man, but never suffering it to rifle
   a duty; 7. And is just in his dealing, and diligent in his calling. 8.
   He that is humble in his spirit; 9. And obedient to government; 10. And
   content in his fortune and employment. 11. He that does his duty
   because he loves God; 12. And especially if, after all this, he be
   afflicted, and patient, or prepared to suffer affliction for the cause
   of God: the man that hath these twelve signs of grace and
   predestination, does as certainly belong to God, and is his son, as
   surely as he is his creature.

   And if my brethren in persecution and in the bonds of the Lord Jesus
   can truly show these marks, they shall not need be troubled that others
   can show a prosperous outside, great revenues, public assemblies,
   uninterrupted successions of bishops, prevailing armies, or any arm of
   flesh, or less certain circumstance. These are the marks of the Lord
   Jesus, and the characters of a Christian: this is a good religion; and
   these things God's grace hath put into our powers, and God's laws have
   made to be our duty, and the nature of men and the needs of
   commonwealths have made to be necessary. The other accidents and pomps
   of a church are things without our power, and are not in our choice:
   they are good to be used when they may be had, and they help to
   illustrate or advantage it; but if any of them constitute a church in
   the being of a society and a government, yet they are not of its
   constitutions, as it is Christian and hopes to be saved.

   And now the case is so with us that we are reduced to that religion
   which no man can forbid, which we can keep in the midst of a
   persecution; by which the martyrs, in the days of our fathers, went to
   heaven; that by which we can be servants of God, and receive the Spirit
   of Christ, and make use of his comforts, and live in his love, and in
   charity with all men: and they that do so cannot perish.

   My Lord, I have now described some general lines and features of that
   religion which I have more particularly set down in the following
   pages; in which I have neither served nor disserved the interests of
   any party of Christians, as they are divided by uncharitable names from
   the rest of their brethren; and no man will have reason to be angry
   with me for refusing to mingle in his unnecessary or vicious quarrels;
   especially while I study to do him good by conducting him in the narrow
   way to heaven, without intricating him in the labyrinths and wild
   turnings of questions and uncertain talkings. I have told what men
   ought to do, and by what means they may be assisted; and in most cases
   I have also told them why; and yet with as much quickness as I could
   think necessary to establish a rule, and not to engage in homily or
   discourse. In the use of which rules, although they are plain, useful,
   and fitted for the best and worst understandings, and for the needs of
   all men, yet I shall desire the reader to proceed with the following
   advices.

   1. They that will with profit make use of the proper instruments of
   virtue, must so live as if they were always under the physician's hand.
   For the counsels of religion are not to be applied to the distempers of
   the soul as men used to take hellobore; but they must dwell together
   with the spirit of a man, and be twisted about his understanding for
   ever: they must be used like nourishment, that is, by a daily care and
   meditation; not like a single medicine, and upon the actual pressure of
   a present necessity: for counsels and wise discourses, applied to an
   actual distemper, at the best are but like strong smells to an
   epileptic person; sometimes they may raise him, but they never cure
   him. The following rules, if they be made familiar to our natures and
   the thoughts of every day, may make virtue and religion become easy and
   habitual; but when the temptation is present, and hath already seized
   upon some portions of our consent, we are not so apt to be counselled,
   and we find no gust or relish in the precept: the lessons are the same,
   but the instrument is unstrung, or out of tune.

   2. In using the instruments of virtue we must be curious to distinguish
   instruments from duties, and prudent advices from necessary
   injunctions; and if by any other means the duty can be secured, let
   there be no scruples stirred concerning any other helps, only if they
   can, in that case, strengthen and secure the duty, or help towards
   perseverance, let them serve in that station in which they can be
   placed. For there are some persons in whom the Spirit of God hath
   breathed so bright a flame of love, that they do all their acts of
   virtue by perfect choice and without objection, and their zeal is
   warmer than that it will be allayed by temptation; and to such persons
   mortification by philosophical instruments, as fasting, sackcloth, and
   other rudenesses to the body, is wholly useless; it is always a more
   uncertain means to acquire any virtue, or secure any duty; and if love
   hath filled all the corners of our soul, it alone is able to do all the
   work of God.

   3. Be not nice in stating the obligations of religion; but where the
   duty is necessary, and the means very reasonable in itself, dispute not
   too busily whether, in all circumstances, it can fit thy particular;
   but "super totam materiam," upon the whole make use of it. For it is a
   good sign of a great religion, and no imprudence, when we have
   sufficiently considered the substance of affairs then to be easy,
   humble, obedient, apt, and credulous in the circumstances, which are
   appointed to us in particular by our spiritual guides, or, in general,
   by all wise men in cases not unlike. He that gives alms does best not
   always to consider the minutes and strict measures of his ability, but
   to give freely, incuriously, and abundantly. A man must not weigh
   grains in the accounts of his repentance; but for a great sin have a
   great sorrow, and a great severity; and in this take the ordinary
   advices, though, it may be, a less rigour might not be insufficient;
   arithmetical measures, especially of our own proportioning, are but
   arguments of want of love, and of forwardness in religion; or else are
   instruments of scruple, and then become dangerous. Use the rule
   heartily and enough, and there will be no harm in thy error if any
   should happen.

   4. If thou intendest heartily to serve God, and avoid sin in any one
   instance, refuse not the hardest and most severe advice that is
   prescribed in order to it, though possibly it be a stranger to thee;
   for whatever it be, custom will make it easy.

   5. When many instruments for the obtaining any virtue, or restraining
   any vice, are propounded, observe which of them fits thy person or the
   circumstances of thy need, and use it rather that the other; that by
   this means thou mayest be engaged to watch and use spiritual arts and
   observation about thy soul. Concerning the managing of which, as the
   interest is greater, so the necessities are more, and the cases more
   intricate, and the accidents and dangers greater and more importunate;
   and there is greater skill required than in the securing an estate, or
   restoring health to an infirm body. I wish all men in the world did
   heartily believe so much of this as is true; it would very much help to
   do the work of God.

   Thus, my Lord, I have made bold by your hand to reach out this little
   scroll of cautions to all those, who, by seeing your honoured names set
   before my book, shall, by the fairness of such a frontispiece, be
   invited to look into it. I must confess it cannot but look like a
   design in me, to borrow your name and beg your patronage to my book,
   that, if there be no other worth in it, yet at least it may have the
   splendour and warmth of a burning glass, which, borrowing a flame from
   the eye of Heaven, shines and burns by the rays of the sun its patron.
   I will not quit myself from the suspicion, for I cannot pretend it to
   be a present either of itself fit to be offered to such a personage, or
   any part of a just return; but I humbly desire you would own it for an
   acknowledgement of those great endearments and noblest usages you have
   passed upon me; but so men in their religion give a piece of gum, or
   the fat of a cheap lamb, in sacrifice to Him that gives them all that
   they have or need; and unless He, who was pleased to employ your
   Lordship as a great minister of his providence, in making a promise of
   his good to me, the meanest of his servants, "that he will never leave
   me nor forsake me," shall enable me, by greater services of religion,
   to pay my great debt to your honour, I must still increase my score;
   since i shall now spend as much in my needs of pardon for this
   boldness, as in the reception of those favours, by which I stand
   accountable to your Lordship in all the bands of service and gratitude;
   though I am, in the deepest sense of duty and affection,

   My most honoured Lord,

   Your Honour's most obliged,

   And most humble servant,

   JEREMY TAYLOR

   TO THE

   RIGHT HON. AND TRULY NOBLE

   RICHARD LORD VAUGHAN,

   EARL OF CARBERY,

   KNIGHT OF THE HONOURABLE ORDER OF THE BATH

   ___________________________

   My Lord,

   I have lived to see religion painted upon banners, and thrust out of
   churches; and the temple turned into a tabernacle, and that tabernacle
   made ambulatory, and covered with skins of beasts and torn curtains;
   and God to be worshipped, not as he is "the Father of our Lord Jesus,"
   (an afflicted Prince, the King of sufferings,) nor as the "God of
   Peace," (which two appellatives God newly took upon him in the New
   Testament, and glories in for ever,) but he is owned now rather as "the
   Lord of Hosts," which title he was preached by the Prince of Peace. But
   when religion puts puts on armour, and God is not acknowledged by his
   New Testament titles, religion may have in it the power of the sword,
   but not the power of godliness; and we may complain of this to God, and
   amongst them that are afflicted, but we have no remedy but what we must
   expect from the fellowship of Christ's sufferings and the returns of
   the God of peace. In the meantime, and now that religion pretends to
   stranger actions upon the new principles; and men are apt to prefer a
   prosperous error before an afflicted truth; and some will think they
   are religious enough, if their worshippings have in them the great
   earnestness and passion, with much zeal and desire; that we refuse no
   labour; that we bestow upon it much time; that we use the best guides,
   and arrive at the end of glory by all the ways of grace, of prudence,
   and religion.

   And, indeed, if we consider how much of our lives is taken up by the
   needs of nature; how many years are wholly spent, before we come to any
   use of reason; how many years more before that reason is useful to us
   to any great purposes, how imperfect our discourse is made by our evil
   education, false principles, ill company, bad examples, and want of
   experience; how many parts of our wisest and best years are spent in
   eating and sleeping, in necessary businesses and unnecessary vanities,
   in worldly civilities and less useful circumstances, in the learning
   arts and sciences, languages, or trades; that little portion of hours
   that is left for the practices of piety and religious walking with God,
   is so short and trifling, that, were not the goodness of God infinitely
   great, it might seem unreasonable or impossible for us to expect of him
   eternal joys in heaven, even after the well spending those few minutes
   which are left for God and God's service, after we have served
   ourselves and our own occasions.

   And yet it is considerable, that the fruit which comes from the many
   days of recreation and vanity is very little; and, although we scatter
   much yet we gather up but little profit; but from the few hours we
   spend in prayer and the exercises of a pious life, the return is great
   and profitable; and what we sow in the minutes and spare portions of a
   few years, grows up to crowns and sceptres in a happy and a glorious
   eternity.

   1. Therefore although it cannot be enjoined, that the greatest part of
   our time be spent in the direct actions of devotion and religion, yet
   it will become, not only a duty, but also a great providence, to lay
   aside, for the services of God and the businesses of the Spirit, as
   much as we can; because God rewards our minutes with long and eternal
   happiness; and the greater portion of our time we give to God, the more
   we treasure up for ourselves; and "No man is a better merchant that be
   that lays out his time upon God, and his money upon the poor."

   2. Only it becomes us to remember, and to adore God's goodness for it,
   that God hath not only permitted us to serve the necessities of our
   nature, but hath made them to become parts of our duty; that if we, by
   directing these actions to the glory of God, intend them as instruments
   to continue our persons in his service, he, by adopting them into
   religion, may turn our nature into grace and accept our natural actions
   as actions of religion. God is pleased to esteem it for a part of his
   service, [4] if we eat or drink; so it be done temperately, and as may
   best preserve our health, that our health may enable our services
   toward him: and there is no one minute of our lives (after we are come
   to the use of reason) but we are or may be doing the work of God, even
   then when we most of all serve ourselves.

   3. To which if we add, that in these and all other actions of our lives
   we always stand before God, acting, and speaking, and thinking in his
   practice, and that it matters not that our conscience is sealed with
   secrecy, since it lies open to God; it will concern us to behave
   ourselves carefully, as in the presence of our Judge.

   These three considerations rightly managed, and applied to the several
   parts and instances of our lives, will be like Elisha stretched upon
   the child, apt to put life and quickness into every part of it, and to
   make us live the life of grace, and to do the work of God.

   I shall, therefore, by way of introduction, reduce these three to
   practice, and show how every Christian may improve all and each of
   these to the advantage of piety, in the whole course of his life; that
   if he please to bear but one of them upon his spirit, he may feel the
   benefit, like an universal instrument, helpful in all spiritual and
   temporal actions.
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION I
     __________________________________________________________________

  The first general instrument of Holy Living, Care of our Time.

   He that is choice of his time will also be choice of his company, and
   choice of his actions; lest the first engage him in vanity and loss;
   and the latter, by being criminal, be a throwing his time and himself
   away, and a going back in the accounts of eternity.

   God hath given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this
   short time eternity depends: but so, that for every hour of our life
   (after we are persons capable of laws, and know good from evil) we must
   give account to the great Judge of men and angels. And this is it which
   our blessed Saviour told us, that we must account for every idle word;
   not meaning that every word which is not designed to edification, or is
   less prudent, shall be reckoned for a sin; but that the time which we
   spend in our idle talking and unprofitable discoursings; that time
   which might and ought to have been employed to spiritual and useful
   purposes -- that is to be accounted for.

   For we must remember that we have a great work to do, many enemies to
   conquer, many evils to prevent, much danger to run through, many
   difficulties to be mastered, many necessities to serve, and much good
   to do; many children to provide for, or many friends to support, or
   many poor to relieve, or many diseases to cure; besides the needs of
   nature and of relation, our private and our public cares, and duties of
   the world, which necessity and the providence of God have adopted into
   the family of religion.

   And that we need not fear this instrument to be a snare to us, or that
   the duty must end in scruple, vexation, and eternal fears, we must
   remember, that the life of every man may be so ordered (and indeed
   must) that it may be a perpetual serving of God: the greatest trouble
   and most busy trade and worldly encumbrances, when they are necessary,
   or charitable, or profitable in order to any of those ends which we are
   bound to serve, whether public or private, being a doing of God's work.
   For God provides the good things of the world to serve the needs of
   nature, by the labours of the ploughman the skill and pains of the
   artisan, and the dangers and traffic of the merchant: these men are, in
   their callings, the ministers of the Divine Providence, and the
   stewards of the creation, and servants of a great family of God, the
   world, in the employment of procuring necessities for food and
   clothing, ornament, and physic. In their proportions also, a king and a
   priest and a prophet, a judge and an advocate, doing the works of their
   employment according to their proper rules, are doing the work of God;
   because they serve those necessities which God hath made, and yet made
   no provisions for them, but by their ministry. So that no man can
   complain that his calling takes him off from religion; his calling
   itself, and his very worldly employment in honest trades and offices,
   is a serving of God; and, if it be moderately pursued and according to
   the rules of Christian prudence, will leave void spaces enough for
   prayers and retirements of a more spiritual religion.

   God has given every man work enough to do, that there shall be no room
   for idleness; and yet hath so ordered the world, that there shall be
   space for devotion. He that hath the fewest businesses of the world is
   called upon to spend more time in the dressing of the soil; and he that
   hath the most affairs may so order them that they shall be a service of
   God; whilst at certain periods, they are blessed with prayers and
   actions of religion, and all day long are hallowed by a holy intention.

   However, so long as idleness is quite shut out from our lives, all the
   sins of wantonness, softness, and effeminacy, are prevented and there
   is but little room left for temptation; and, therefore, to a busy man
   temptation is fain to climb up together with his business, and sins
   creep upon him only by accidents and occasions; whereas, to an idle
   person they come in a full body, and with open violence and the
   impudence of a restless importunity.

   Idleness is called the sin of Sodom and her daughters,' [5] and indeed
   is "the burial of a living man;" an idle person being so useless to any
   purpose of God and man, that he is like one that is dead, unconcerned
   in the changes and necessities of the world; and he only lives to spend
   his time, and to eat the fruits of the earth; like a vermin or a wolf,
   when their time comes they die and perish, and in the meantime do no
   good; they neither plough nor carry burdens; all that they do is either
   unprofitable or mischievous.

   Idleness is the greatest prodigality in the world; it throws away that
   which is invaluable in respect of its present use, and irreparable when
   it is past, being to be recovered by no power of art or nature. But the
   way to secure and improve our time we may practise in the following
   rules.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [5] Ezek. xvi. 49.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for employing our Time.

   1. In the morning, when you awake, accustom yourself to think first
   upon God, or something in order to his service; and at night, also let
   him close thine eyes: and let your sleep be necessary and healthful,
   not idle and expensive of time beyond the needs and conveniences of
   nature; and sometimes be curious to see the preparation which the sun
   makes, when he is coming forth from his chambers of the east.

   2. Let every man that hath a calling be diligent in pursuance of its
   employment, so as not lightly or without reasonable occasion to neglect
   it in any of those times which are usually, and by the custom of
   prudent persons and good husbands, employed in it.

   3. Let all the intervals or void spaces of time be employed in prayers,
   reading, meditating, works of nature, recreation, charity, friendliness
   and neighbourhood, and means of spiritual and corporal health; ever
   remembering so to work in our calling, as not to neglect the work of
   our high calling; but to begin and end the day with God, with such
   forms of devotion as shall be proper to our necessities.

   4. The resting days of Christians, and festivals of the church, must in
   no sense be days of idleness; for it is better to plough upon holy days
   than to do nothing, or to do viciously: but let them be spent in the
   works of the day, that is, of religion and charity, according to the
   rules appointed. [6]

   5. Avoid the company of drunkards and busybodies, and all such as are
   apt to talk much to little purpose; for no man can be provident of his
   time that is not prudent in the choice of his company; and if one of
   the speakers be vain, tedious, and trifling, he that hears, and he that
   answers in the discourse, are equal losers of their time.

   6. Never talk with any man, or undertake any trifling employment,
   merely to pass the time away; [7] for every day well spent may become a
   "day of salvation," and time rightly employed is an "acceptable time."
   And remember, that the time thou triflest away was given thee to repent
   in, to pray for pardon of sins, to work out thy salvation, to do the
   work of grace, to lay up against the day of judgment a treasure of good
   works, that thy time may be crowned with eternity.

   7. In the midst of the works of thy calling, often retire to God [8] in
   short prayers and ejaculations; and those may make up the want of those
   larger portions of time, which, it may be, thou desirest for devotion,
   and in which thou thinkest other persons have advantage of thee; for so
   thou reconcilest the outward work and thy inward calling, the church
   and the commonwealth, the employment of the body and the interest of
   thy soul: for be sure, that God is present at thy breathings and hearty
   sighings of prayer, as soon as at the longer offices of less busied
   persons; and thy time is as truly sanctified by a trade, and devout
   though short prayers, as by the longer offices of those whose time is
   not filled up with labour and useful business.

   8. Let your employment be such as may become a reasonable person; and
   not be a business fit for children or distracted people, but fit for
   your age and understanding. For a man may be very idly busy, and take
   great pains to so little purpose, that, in his labours and expense of
   time, he shall serve no end but of folly and vanity. There are some
   trades that wholly serve the ends of idle persons and fools, and such
   as are fit to be seized upon by the severity of laws and banished from
   under the sun; and there are some people who are busy; but it is, as
   Domitian was, in catching flies.

   9. Let your employment befitted to your person and calling. Some there
   are that employ their time in affairs infinitely below the dignity of
   their person; and being called by God or by the republic to help to
   bear great burdens, and to judge a people, do enfeeble their
   understanding and disable their persons by sordid and brutish business.
   Thus Nero went up and down Greece, and challenged the fiddlers at their
   trade. Eropus, a Macedonian king, made lanterns. Harcatius, the king of
   Parthia, was a mole-catcher; and Biantes, the Lydian, filed needles. He
   that is appointed to minister to holy things must not suffer secular
   affairs and sordid arts to eat up great portions of his employment: a
   clergyman must not keep a tavern, nor a judge be an innkeeper; and it
   was a great idleness in Theophylact, the patriarch of C.P. to spend his
   time in the stable of horses, when he should have been in his study, or
   in the pulpit, or saying his holy offices. Such employments are the
   diseases of labour, and the rust of time which it contracts, not by
   lying still, but by dirty employment.

   10. Let your employment be such as becomes a Christian; that is, in no
   sense mingled with sin: for he that takes pains to serve the ends of
   covetousness, or ministers to another's lust, or keeps a shop of
   impurities or intemperance, is idle in the worst sense; for every hour
   so spent runs him backward, and must be spent again in the remaining
   and shorter part of his life, and spent better.

   11. Persons of great quality, and of no trade, are to be most prudent
   and curious in their employment and traffic of time. They are miserable
   if their education hath been so loose and undisciplined as to leave
   them unfurnished of skill to spend their time: but most miserable are
   they, if such misgovernment and unskilfulness make them fall into
   vicious and baser company, and drive on their time by the sad minutes
   and periods of sin and death. They that are learned know the worth of
   time, and the manner how well to improve a day; and they are to prepare
   themselves for such purposes, in which they may be most useful in order
   to arts or arms, to counsel in public, or government in their country;
   but for others of them, that are unlearned, let them choose good
   company, such as may not tempt them to a vice, or join with them in
   any; but that may supply their defects by counsel and discourse, by way
   of conduct and conversation. Let them learn easy and youthful things,
   read history and the laws of the land, learn the customs of their
   country, the condition of their own estate, profitable and charitable
   contrivances of it; let them study prudently to govern their families,
   learn the burdens of their tenants, the necessities of their
   neighbours, and in their proportion supply them, and reconcile their
   enmities, and prevent their lawsuits, or quickly end them; and in this
   glut of leisure and disemployment, let them set apart greater portions
   of their time for religion and the necessities of their souls.

   12. Let the women of noble birth and great fortunes do the same things
   in their proportions and capacities; nurse their children, look to the
   affairs of the house, visit poor cottages, and relieve their
   necessities; be courteous to the neighborhood, learn in silence of
   their husbands or their spiritual guides, read good books, pray often
   and speak little, and "learn to do good works for necessary uses;" for
   by that phrase St. Paul expresses the obligation of Christian women to
   good housewifery, and charitable provisions for their family and
   neighbourhood.

   13. Let all persons of all conditions avoid all delicacy and niceness
   in their clothing or diet, because such softness engages them upon
   great mispendings of their time, while they dress and comb out all
   their opportunities of their morning devotion, and half the day's
   severity, and sleep out the care and provision of their souls.

   14. Let every one of every condition avoid curiosity, and all inquiry
   into things that concern them not. For all business in things that
   concern us not, is an employing our time to no good of ours, and
   therefore not in order to a happy eternity. In this account our
   neighbours' necessities are not to be reckoned: for they concern us, as
   one member is concerned in the grief of another: but going from house
   to house, tattlers and busybodies, which are the canker and rust of
   idleness, as idleness is the rust of time, are reproved by the apostle
   in severe language, and forbidden in order to this exercise.

   15. As much as may be, cut off all impertinent and useless employments
   of your life unnecessary and fantastic visits, long waitings upon great
   personages, where neither duty, nor necessity, not charity, obliges us;
   all vain meetings, all laborious trifles, and whatsoever spends much
   time to no real, civil, religious, or charitable purpose.

   16. Let not your recreations be lavish spenders of your time; but
   choose such which are healthful, short, transient, recreative, and apt
   to refresh you; but at no hand dwell upon them, or make them your great
   employment: for he that spends his time in sports, and calls it
   recreation, is like him whose garment is all made of fringes, and his
   meat nothing but sauces; they are healthless, chargeable, and useless.
   And therefore avoid such games, which require much time or long
   attendance; or which are apt to steal thy affections from more severe
   employments. For to whatsoever thou hast given thy affections, thou
   wilt not grudge to give thy time. Natural necessity and the example of
   St. John, who recreated himself with sporting with a tame partridge,
   [9] teach us, that it is lawful to relax and unbend our bow, but not to
   suffer it to be unready or unstrung.

   17. Set apart some portions of every day for more solemn devotion and
   religious employment, which be severe in observing: and if variety of
   employment, or prudent affairs, or civil society, press upon you, yet
   so order thy rule, that the necessary parts of it be not omitted; and
   though just occasions may make our prayers shorter, yet let nothing but
   a violent, sudden, and impatient necessity, make thee, upon any one
   day, wholly to omit thy morning and evening devotions; which if you be
   forced to make very short, you may supply and lengthen with
   ejaculations and short retirements in the day-time, in the midst of
   your employment or of your company.

   18. Do not the work of God negligently' [10] and idly: let not thy
   heart be upon the world when thy hand is lift up in prayer; and be sure
   to prefer an action of religion, in its place and proper season, before
   all worldly pleasure, letting secular things, that may be dispensed
   with in themselves, in these circumstances wait upon the other; not
   like the patriarch, who ran from the alter in St. Sophia to his stable,
   in all his pontificals, and in the midst of his office, to see a colt
   newly fallen from his beloved and much-valued mare Phorbante. More
   prudent and severe was that of Sir Thomas More, who, being sent for by
   the king when he was at his prayers in public, returned answer, he
   would attend him when he had first performed his service to the King of
   kings. And it did honour to Rusticus, [11] that, when letters from
   Caesar were given to him, he refused to open them till the philosopher
   had done his lecture. In honouring God and doing his work, put forth
   all thy strength; for of that time only thou mayest be most confident
   that it is gained, which is prudently and zealously spent in God's
   service.

   19. When the clock strikes, or however else you shall measure the day,
   it is good to say a short ejaculation every hour, that the parts and
   returns of devotion may be the measure of your time; and do so also in
   all the breaches of thy sleep; that those spaces, which have in them no
   direct business of the world, may be filled with religion.

   20. If, by thus doing, you have not secured your time by an early and
   fore-handed care, yet be sure by a timely diligence to redeem the time;
   that is, to be pious and religious in such instances in which formerly
   you have sinned, and to bestow your time especially upon such graces,
   the contrary whereof you have formerly practised, doing actions of
   chastity and temperance with as great a zeal and earnestness as you did
   once act your uncleanness; and then, by all arts, to watch against your
   present and future dangers, from day to day securing your standing:
   this is properly to redeem your time, that is, to buy your security of
   it at the rate of any labour and honest acts.

   21. Let him that is most busied set apart some solemn time every year,
   [12] in which, for the time, quitting all worldly business, he may
   attend wholly to fasting and prayer, and the dressing of his soul by
   confessions, meditations, and attendances upon God; that he may make up
   his accounts, renew his vows, make amends for his carelessness, and
   retire back again, from whence levity and the vanities of the world, or
   the opportunity of temptations, or the distraction of secular affairs,
   have carried him.

   22. In this we shall be much assisted, and we shall find the work more
   easy, if, before we sleep, every night [13] we examine the actions of
   the past day with a particular scrutiny, if there have been any
   accident extraordinary; as long discourse, a feast, much business, a
   variety of company. If nothing but common hath happened, the less
   examination will suffice; only let us take care that we sleep not
   without such a recollection of the actions of the day, as may represent
   any thing that is remarkable and great, either to be the matter of
   sorrow or thanksgiving: for other things a general care is
   proportionable.

   23. Let all these things be done prudently and moderately, not with
   scruple and vexation. For these are good advantages, but the
   particulars are not Divine commandments; and therefore are to be used
   as shall be found expedient to every one's condition. For provided that
   our duty be secured, for the degrees and for the instruments every man
   is permitted to himself and the conduct of such who shall be appointed
   to him. He is happy that can secure every hour to a sober or a pious
   employment: but the duty consists not scrupulously in minutes and half
   hours, but in greater portions of time; provided that no minute be
   employed in sin, and the great portions of our time be spent in sober
   employment, and all the appointed days, and some portions of every day,
   be allowed for religion. In all the lesser parts of time, we are left
   to our own elections and prudent management, and to the consideration
   of the great degrees and differences of glory that are laid up in
   heaven for us, according to the degrees of our care, and piety, and
   diligence.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [6] See chap. iv. sect. 6.

   [7] S. Bern. de Triplici Custodia.

   [8] Laudatur Augustus Caesar apud Lucanum, -- media inter praelia
   semper Stellarum coelique plagis, superisque vacabat. -- x. 186.

   [9] Cassian, Bellat. 24. c. xxi.

   [10] Plutarch. de Curiosit. c. x.

   [11] Jer. xiviii. 10.

   [12] phd dn autots euokiglomtes, ots eusrtom, euprepdpdserm deu apogiam
   eisaei pheromtai. -- Procop. 2 Vandal.

   [13] 1 Cor. vii. 5.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Benefits of this Exercise.

   This exercise, besides that it hath influence upon our whole lives, it
   hath a special efficacy for the preventing of, 1. beggarly sins, that
   is, those sins which idleness and beggary usually betray men to; such
   as are lying, flattery, stealing, and dissimulation. 2. It is a proper
   antidote against carnal sins, and such as proceed from fulness of bread
   and emptiness of employment. 3. It is a great instrument of preventing
   the smallest sins and irregularities of our life, which usually creep
   upon idle, disemployed, and curious persons. 4. It not only teaches us
   to avoid evil, but engages us upon doing good, as the proper business
   of all our days. 5. It prepares us so against sudden changes that we
   shall not easily be surprised at the sudden coming of the day of the
   Lord: for he that is curious of his time will not easily be unready and
   unfurnished.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION II.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The second general instrument of Holy Living, Purity of Intention.

   That we should intend and design God's glory in every action we do,
   whether it be natural or chosen, is expressed by St. Paul, [14]
   "Whether ye eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. Which rule, when
   we observe, every action of nature becomes religious, and every meal is
   an act of worship, and shall have its reward in its proportion, as well
   as an act of prayer. Blessed be that grace and goodness of God, which,
   out of infinite desire to glorify and save mankind, would make the very
   works of nature capable of becoming acts of virtue, that all our
   life-time we may do him service.

   This grace is so excellent that it sanctifies the most common action of
   our life; and yet so necessary that, without it, the very best actions
   of our devotion are imperfect and vicious. For he that prays out of
   custom, or gives alms for praise, or fasts to be accounted religious,
   is but a pharisee hypocrite in his fast. But a holy end sanctifies all
   these and all other actions, which can be made holy, and gives
   distinction to them, and procures acceptance.

   For, as to know the end distinguishes a man from a beast, so to choose
   a good end distinguishes him from an evil man. Hezekiah repeated his
   good deeds upon his sick-bed, and obtained favour of God, but the
   pharisee was accounted insolent for doing [15] the same thing: because
   this man did it to upbraid his brother, the other to obtain a mercy of
   God. Zacharias questioned with the angel about his message, and was
   made speechless for his incredulity; but the blessed Virgin Mary
   questioned too, and was blameless; for she did it to inquire after the
   manner of the thing, but he did not believe the thing itself; he
   doubted of God's power, or the truth of the messenger; but she only of
   her own incapacity. This was it which distinguished the mourning of
   David from the exclamation of Saul; the confession of Pharaoh from that
   of Manasses; the tears of Peter from the repentance of Judas: for the
   praise is not in the deed done, but in the manner of its doing.' [16]
   If a man visits his sick friend, and watches at his pillow for
   charity's sake, and because of his old affection, we approve it; but if
   he does it in hope of legacy, he is a vulture, and only watches for the
   carcass. The same things are honest and dishonest: the manner of doing
   them, and the end of the design, makes the separation.'

   Holy intention is to the actions of a man that which the soul is to the
   body, or form to its matter, or the root to the tree, or the sun to the
   world, or the fountain to a river, or the base to a pillar: for,
   without these, the body is a dead trunk, the matter is sluggish, the
   tree is a block, the world is darkness, the river is quickly dry, the
   pillar rushes into flatness and a ruin; and the action is sinful, or
   unprofitable and vain. The poor farmer that gave a dish of cold water
   to Artaxerxes was rewarded with a golden goblet; and he that gives the
   same to a disciple in the name of a disciple, shall have a crown; but
   if he gives water in dispute, when the disciple needs wine or a
   cordial, his reward shall be to want that water to cool his tongue.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [14] 1 Cor. x. 31.

   [15] Atticus eximie si coenat, lautus, habetur; Si Rutilus, demens --

   [16] Seneca.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for our Intentions.

   1. In every action reflect upon the end; and in your undertaking it,
   consider why you do it, and why you propound to yourself for a reward,
   and to your actions as its end.

   2. Begin every action in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the
   Holy Ghost; the meaning of which is, 1, that we be careful that we do
   not the action without the permission or warrant of God; 2, that we
   design it to the glory of God, if not in the direct action, yet at
   least in its consequence; if not in the particular, yet at least in the
   whole order of things and accidents; 3, that it may be so blessed that
   what you intend for innocent and holy purposes, may not, by any chance,
   or abuse, or misunderstanding of men, be turned into evil, or made the
   occasion of sin.

   3. Let every action of concernment be begun with prayer, that God would
   not only bless the action, but sanctify your purpose; and made an
   oblation of the action to God: holy and well intended actions being the
   best oblations and presents we can make to God; and, when God is
   entitled to them, he will the rather keep the fire upon the altar
   bright and shining.

   4. In the prosecution of the action, renew and re-enkindle your purpose
   by short ejaculations to these purposes: Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
   us, but unto thy name, let all praise be given;' and consider: "Now I
   am working the work of God; I am his servant, I am in a happy
   employment, I am doing my master's business, I am not at my own
   dispose, I am using his talents, and all the gain must be his:" for
   then be sure, as the glory is his, so the reward shall be thine. If
   thou bringest his goods home with increase, he will make thee ruler
   over cities.

   5. Have a care, that, while the altar thus sends up a holy frame, thou
   dost not suffer the birds to come and carry away the sacrifice: that
   is, let not that which began well, and was intended for God's glory,
   decline and end in thy own praise, or temporal satisfaction, or a sin.
   A story, told to represent the vileness of unchastity, is well begun;
   but if thy female auditor be pleased with thy language, and begins
   rather to like thy person for thy story than to dislike the crime, be
   watchful, lest this goodly head of gold descend in silver and brass,
   and end in iron and clay, like Nebuchadnezzar's image; for from the end
   it shall have its name and reward. [17]

   6. If any accidental event, which was not first intended by thee, can
   come to pass, let it not be taken into thy purposes, not at all be made
   use of; as if, by telling a true story, you can do an ill turn to your
   enemy, by no means do it; but, when the temptation is found out, turn
   all thy enmity upon that.

   7. In every more solemn action of religion join together many good
   ends, that the consideration of them may entertain all your affections;
   and that, when any one ceases, the purity of your intention may be
   supported by another supply. He that fasts only to tame a rebellious
   body, when he is provided of a remedy either in grace or nature, may be
   tempted to leave off his fasting. But be that in his fast intends the
   mortification of every unruly appetite, and accustoming himself to bear
   the yoke of the Lord, a contempt of the pleasures of meat and drink,
   humiliation of all wilder thoughts, obedience and humility, austerity
   and charity, and the convenience and assistance to devotion, and to do
   an act of repentance; whatever happens, will have reason enough to make
   him to continue his purpose, and to sanctify it. And certain it is, the
   more good ends are designed in an action the more degrees of excellency
   the man obtains.

   8. If any temptation to spoil your purpose happens in a religious duty,
   do not presently omit the action, but rather strive to rectify your
   intention, and to mortify the temptation. St. Bernard taught us this
   rule: for when the devil, observing him to preach excellently and to do
   much benefit to his hearers, tempted him to vain-glory, hoping that the
   good man, to avoid that, would cease preaching, he gave this answer
   only, "I neither began for thee, neither for thee will I make an end."

   9. In all actions which are of long continuance, deliberation, and
   abode, let your holy and pious intention be actual; that is, that it
   be, by a special prayer or action, by a peculiar act of resignation or
   oblation, given to God; but in smaller actions a pious habitual
   intention; that is, that it be included within your general care that
   no action have an ill end; and that it be comprehended in your general
   prayers, whereby you offer yourself and all you do to God's glory.

   10. Call not every temporal end a defiling of thy intention, but only,
   1, when it contradicts any of the ends of God; or 2, when it is
   principally intended in an action of religion. For sometimes a temporal
   end is part of our duty; and such are all the actions of our calling,
   whether our employment be religious or civil. We are commanded to
   provide for our family; but if the minister of divine offices shall
   take upon him that holy calling for covetous or ambitious ends, or
   shall not design the glory of God principally and especially, he hath
   polluted his hands and his heart; and the fire of the altar is
   quenched, or it sends forth nothing but the smoke of mushrooms or
   unpleasant gums. And it is a great unworthiness to prefer the interest
   of a creature before the ends of God, the Almighty Creator.

   But because many cases may happen in which a man's heart may deceive
   him, and he may not well know what is in his own spirit; therefore, by
   these following signs, we shall best make a judgment whether our
   intentions be pure and our purposes holy.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [17] Qui turatur ut maechetur, maechus est magis quam fur.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Signs of our Purity of Intentions.

   1. It is probable our hearts [18] are right with God, and our
   intentions innocent and pious, if we set upon actions of religion or
   civil life with an affection proportionate to the quality of the work;
   that we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our
   necessity; and that in actions of religion we be zealous, active, and
   operative, so far as prudence will permit; but, in all cases, that we
   value a religious design before a temporal, when otherwise they are in
   equal order to their several ends: that is, that whatsoever is
   necessary in order to our soul's health be higher esteemed than what is
   for bodily; and the necessities, the indispensable necessities of the
   spirit, be served before the needs of nature, when they are required in
   their several circumstances; or plainer yet, when we choose any
   temporal inconvenience, rather than to commit a sin, and when we choose
   to do a duty, rather than to get gain. But he that does his recreation
   or his merchandise cheerfully, promptly, readily, and busily, and the
   works of religion slowly, flatly, and without appetite; and the spirit
   moves like Pharaoh's chariots when the wheels were off; it is a sign
   that his heart is not right with God, but it cleaves too much to the
   world.

   2. It is likely our hearts are pure and our intentions spotless, when
   we are not solicitous of the opinion and censures of men: but only that
   we do our duty, and be accepted of God. For our eyes will certainly be
   fixed there from whence we expect our reward: and if we desire that God
   should approve us, it is a sign we do his work, and expect him our
   paymaster.

   3. He that does as well in private, between God and his own soul, as in
   public, in pulpits, in theaters, and market-places, hath given himself
   a good testimony that his purposes are full of honesty, nobleness, and
   integrity. For what Helkanah said to the mother of Samuel, Am I not
   better to thee than ten sons?' is most certainly verified concerning
   God; that he, who is to be our judge, is better than ten thousand
   witnesses. But he that would have his virtue published, studies not
   virtue, but glory. "He is not just [19] that will not be just without
   praise: but he is a righteous man that does justice, when to do so is
   made infamous; and he is a wise man who is delighted with an ill name
   that is well gotten." And indeed that man hath a strange [20]
   covetousness, or folly, that is not contented with this reward, that he
   hath pleased God. And see what he gets by it. He that does good works
   [21] for praise or secular ends, sells an inestimable jewel for a
   trifle; and that which would purchase heaven for him, he parts with for
   the breath of the people; which, at best, is but air, and that not
   often wholesome.

   4. It is well, also, when we are not solicitous or troubled concerning
   the effect and event of all our actions; but that being first by prayer
   recommended to him, is left at his dispose: for then, in case the event
   be not answerable to our desires, or to the efficacy of the instrument,
   we have nothing left to rest in but the honesty of our purposes; which
   it is the more likely we have secured, by how much more we are
   indifferent concerning the success. St. James converted but eight
   persons, when he preached in Spain; and our blessed Saviour converted
   fewer than his own disciples did; and if thy labours prove
   unprosperous, if thou beset much troubled at that, it is certain thou
   didst not think thyself secure of a reward for thine intention; which
   thou mightst have done if it had been pure and just.

   5. He loves virtue for God's sake and its own that loves and honours it
   wherever it is to be seen; but he that is envious or angry at a virtue
   that is not his own, at the perfection or excellency of his neighbour,
   is not covetous of the virtue, but of its reward and reputation; and
   then his intentions are polluted. It was a great ingenuity in Moses
   that wished all the people might be prophets; but if he had designed
   his own honour, he would have prophesied alone. But he that desires
   only that the work of God and religion shall go on, is pleased with it
   whosoever is the instrument.

   6. He that despises the world, and all its appendant vanities, is the
   best judge, and the most secured of his intentions; because he is the
   farthest removed from temptation. Every degree of mortification is a
   testimony of the purity of our purposes; and in what degree we despise
   sensual pleasure, or secular honours, or worldly reputation, in the
   same degree we shall conclude our heart right to religion and spiritual
   designs.

   7. When we are not solicitous concerning the instruments and means of
   our actions, but use those means which God hath laid before us, with
   resignation, indifferency, and thankfulness, it is a good sign that we
   are rather intent upon the end of God's glory than our own conveniency,
   or temporal satisfaction. He that is indifferent whether he serve God
   in riches or in poverty, is rather a seeker of God than of himself; and
   he that will throw away a good book because it is not curiously gilded,
   is more curious to please his eye than to inform his understanding.

   8. When a temporal end consisting with a spiritual, and pretended to be
   subordinate to it, happens to fail and be defeated if we can rejoice in
   that, so God's glory may be secured, and the interests of religion, it
   is a great sign our hearts are right, and our ends prudently designed
   and ordered.

   When our intentions are thus balanced, regulated, and discerned, we may
   consider, 1. That this exercise is of so universal efficacy in the
   whole course of a holy life that it is like the soul to every holy
   action, and must be provided for in every undertaking; and is, of
   itself alone, sufficient to make all natural and indifferent actions to
   be adopted into the family of religion.

   2. That there are some actions, which are usually reckoned as parts of
   our religion, which yet, of themselves, are so relative and imperfect,
   that, without the purity of intention, they degenerate: and unless they
   be directed and proceed on to those purposes which God designed them
   to, they return into the family of common secular, or sinful actions.
   Thus, alms are for charity, fasting for temperance, prayer is for
   religion, humiliation is for humility, austerity or sufferance is in
   order to the virtue of patience; and when these actions fail of their
   several ends, or are not directed to their own purposes, alms are
   misspent, fasting is an impertinent trouble, prayer is but lip-labour,
   humiliation is but hypocisy, sufferance is but vexation; for such were
   the alms of the pharisee, the fast of Jezebel, the prayer of Judah
   reproved by the prophet Isaiah, the humiliation of Ahab, the martyrdom
   of heretics; in which nothing is given to God but the body, or the
   forms of religion; but the soul and the power of godliness is wholly
   wanting.

   3. We are to consider that no intention can sanctify an unholy or
   unlawful action. Saul, the king, disobeyed God's commandment, and
   spared the cattle of Amalek to reserve the best for sacrifice; and
   Saul, the pharisee, persecuted the church of God with a design to do
   God service; and they that killed the apostles had also good purposes,
   but they had unhallowed actions. When there be both truth in election,
   and charity in the intention; [22] when we go to God in ways of his own
   choosing or approving, then our eye is single, and our hands are clean,
   and our hearts are pure. But when a man does evil that good may come of
   it, or good to an evil purpose, that man does like him that rolls
   himself in thorns that he may sleep easily; he roasts himself in the
   fire that he may quench his thirst with his own sweat; he turns his
   face to the east that he may go to bed with the sun. I end this with
   the saying of a wise heathen: [23] "He is to be called evil that is
   good only for his own sake. Regard not how full hands you bring to God,
   but how pure. Many cease from sin out of fear alone, not out of
   innocence or love of virtue;" and they, as yet, are not to be called
   innocent but timorous.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [18] See Sect. I. of this Chapter, Rule 18.

   [19] Seneca, Ep. 113.

   [20] St. Chrys. 1. ii. de Compun. Cordis.

   [21] St. Greg. Moral. 8, cap. xxv.

   [22] St. Bern. lib. de Praecpt.

   [23] Publius Mimus
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION III

  The third general instrument of Holy Living; or the Practice of the Presence
  of God.

   That God is present in all places, that he sees every action, hears all
   discourses and understands every thought, is no strange thing to a
   Christian ear who hath been taught this doctrine, not only by right
   reason and the consent of all the wise men in the world, but also by
   God himself in holy Scripture. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and
   not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall
   not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?' Neither
   is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things
   are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.' [24]
   "For in him we live and move and have our being.' [25] God is wholly in
   every place; included in no place; not bound with cords, except those
   of love; not divided into parts, nor changeable into several shapes;
   filling heaven and earth with his present power and with his never
   absent nature. So St. Augustine [26] expresses this article. So that we
   may imagine God to be as the air and the sea, and we all enclosed in
   his circle, wrapped up in the lap of his infinite nature; or as infants
   in the wombs of their pregnant mothers: and we can no more be removed
   from the presence of God than from our own being.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Several Manners of the Divine Presence.

   The presence of God is understood by us in several manners, and to
   several purposes.

   1. God is present by his essence; which, because it is infinite, cannot
   be contained within the limits of any place; and, because he is of an
   essential purity and spiritual nature, he cannot be undervalued by
   being supposed present in the places of unnatural uncleanness; because
   as the sun, reflecting upon the mud of strands and shores, is
   unpolluted in its beams, so is God not dishonoured when we suppose him
   in every of his creatures, and in every part of every one of them; and
   is still as unmixed with any unhandsome adherence as is the soul in the
   bowels of the body.

   2. God is everywhere present by his power. [27] He rolls the orbs of
   heaven with his hands; he fixes the earth with his foot; he guides all
   the creatures with his eye, and refreshes them with his influence: he
   makes the powers of hell to shake with his terrors, and binds the
   devils with his word, and throws them out with his command, and sends
   the angels on embassies with his decrees: he hardens the joints of
   infants, and confirms the bones, when they are fashioned beneath
   secretly in the earth. he it is that assists at the numerous
   productions of fishes; and there is not one hollowness in the bottom of
   the sea, but he shows himself to be Lord of it by sustaining there the
   creatures that come to dwell in it: and in the wilderness, the bittern
   and the stork, the dragon and the satyr, the unicorn and the elk, live
   upon his provisions, and revere his power, and feel the force of his
   almightiness.

   3. God is more specially present, in some places, but the several and
   more special manifestations of himself to extraordinary purposes.
   First, by glory. Thus, his seat is in heaven, because there he sits
   encircled with all the outward demonstrations of his glory, which he is
   pleased to show to all the inhabitants of those his inward and secret
   courts. And thus they that die in the Lord, may be properly said to be
   gone to God;' with whom although they were before, yet now they enter
   into his courts, into the secret of his tabernacle, into the retinue
   and splendour of his glory. That is called walking with God, but this
   is dwelling or being with him. I desire to be dissolved and to be with
   Christ;' so said St. Paul. But this manner of Divine Presence is
   reserved for the elect people of God, and for their portion in their
   country.

   4. God is, by grace and benediction, specially present in holy places,
   [28] and in the solemn assemblies of his servants. If holy people meet
   in grots and dens of the earth when persecution or a public necessity
   disturbs the public order, circumstance, and convenience, God fails not
   to come thither to them; but God is also, by the same or a greater
   reason, present there where they meet ordinarily by order and public
   authority; there God is present ordinarily, that is, at every such
   meeting. God will go out of his way to meet his saints when themselves
   are forced out of their way of order by a sad necessity; but else,
   God's usual way is to be present in those places where his servants are
   appointed ordinarily [29] to meet. But his presence there signifies
   nothing but a readiness to hear their prayers, to bless their persons,
   to accept their offices, and to like even the circumstance of orderly
   and public meeting. For thither the prayers of consecration, the public
   authority separating it, and God's love of order, and the reasonable
   customs of religion, have in ordinary, and in a certain degree, fixed
   this manner of his presence, and he loves to have it so.

   5. God is especially present in the hearts of his people by his Holy
   Spirit; and indeed the hearts of holy men are temples in the truth of
   things, and, in type and shadow, they are heaven itself. For God reigns
   in the hearts of his servants; there is his kingdom. The power of grace
   hath subdued all his enemies: there is his power. They serve him night
   and day, and give him thanks and praise; that is his glory. This is the
   religion and worship of God in the temple. The temple itself is the
   heart of man; Christ is the high-priest, who from thence sends up the
   incense of prayers, and joins them to his own intercession, and
   presents all together to his Father; and the Holy Ghost, by his
   dwelling there, hath also consecrated it into a temple; [30] and God
   dwells in our hearts by faith and Christ by his Spirit, and the Spirit
   by his purities: so that we are also cabinets of the mysterious
   Trinity; and what is this short of heaven itself, but as infancy is
   short of manhood, and letters of words? The same state of life it is,
   but not the same age. It is heaven in a looking-glass, dark, but yet
   true, representing the beauties of the soul, and the graces of God, and
   the images of his eternal glory, by the reality of a special presence.

   6. God is especially present in the consciences of all persons, good
   and bad, by way of testimony and judgment; that is, he is there a
   remembrance to call our actions to mind, a witness to bring them to
   judgment, and a judge to acquit or to condemn. And although this manner
   of presence is, in this life, after the manner of this life, that is
   imperfect, and we forget many actions of our lives; yet the greatest
   changes of our state of grace or sin, our most considerable actions,
   are always present, like capital letters to an aged and dim eye; and,
   at the day of judgment, God shall draw aside the cloud, and manifest
   this manner of his presence more notoriously, and make it appear that
   he was an observer of our very thoughts, and that he only laid those
   things by which, because we covered with dust and negligence, were not
   then discerned. But when we are risen from our dust and imperfection
   they all appear plain and legible.

   Now the consideration of this great truth is of a very universal use in
   the whole course of the life of a Christian. All the consequents and
   effects of it are universal. He that remembers that God stands a
   witness and a judge, beholding every secresy, besides his impiety, must
   have put on impudence, if he be not much restrained in his temptation
   to sin. "For the greatest part of sin is taken away, [31] if a man have
   a witness of his conversation: and he is a great despiser of God who
   sends a boy away when he is going to commit fornication, and yet will
   dare to do it, though he knows God is present, and cannot be sent off;
   as if the eye of a little boy were more awful than the all-seeing eye
   of God. He is to be feared in public; he is to be feared in private: if
   you go forth, he spies you; if you go in, he sees you: when you light
   the candle, he observes you; when you put it out, then also God marks
   you. Be sure, that while you are in his sight, you behave yourself as
   becomes so holy a presence." But if you will sin, retire yourself
   wisely, and go where God cannot see, for nowhere else can you be safe.
   And certainly, if men would always actually consider, and really esteem
   this truth, that God is the great eye of the world, always watching
   over our actions, and an ever-open ear to hear all our words, and an
   unwearied arm ever lifted up to crush a sinner into ruin, it would be
   the readiest way in the world to make sin to cease from amongst the
   children of men, and for men to approach to the blessed estate of the
   saints in heaven, who cannot sin, for they always walk in the presence
   and behold the face of God. This instrument is to be reduced to
   practice, according to the following rules.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [27] pheos periechei tg zouledee to tag, retxogn tou tomtoz ospeg
   ouaib, outos chsixig. Resp. ad Orthod.

   [28] Mat. xviii. 20. Heb. x. 25.

   [29] 1 Kings, v. 9. Psalm cxxxviii. 1, 2.

   [30] 1 Cor. iii. 16. 2 Cor. vi. 16.

   [31] S. Aug. de verbis Dominicis. c. iii.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules of exercising this Consideration.

   1. Let this actual thought often return, that God is omnipresent,
   filling every place; and say with David, [32] "Whither shall I go from
   thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up
   into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, thou art there,"
   etc. This thought, by being frequent, will make an habitual dread and
   reverence towards God, and fear in all thy actions. For it is a great
   necessity and engagement to do unblamably when we act before the Judge,
   [33] who is infallible in his sentence, all-knowing in his information,
   severe in his anger, powerful in his providence, and intolerable in his
   wrath and indignation.

   2. In the beginning of actions of religion, make an act of adoration,
   that is, solemnly worship God, and place thyself in God's presence, and
   behold him with the eye of faith; and let thy desires actually fix on
   him as the object of thy worship, and the reason of thy hope, and the
   fountain of thy blessing. For when thou hast placed thyself before him,
   and kneelest in his presence, it is most likely all the following parts
   of thy devotion will be answerable to the wisdom of such an
   apprehension, and the glory of such a presence.

   3. Let everything you see represent to your spirit the presence, the
   excellency, and the power of God; and let your conversation with the
   creatures lead you unto the Creator; for so shall your actions be done
   more frequently, with an actual eye to God's presence, by your often
   seeing him in the glass of the creation. In the face of the sun you may
   see God's beauty; in the fire you may feel his heat warming; in the
   water, his gentleness to refresh you: he it is that comforts your
   spirit when you have taken cordials; it is the dew of heaven that makes
   your field give you bread; and the breasts of God are the bottles that
   minister drink to your necessities. This philosophy, which is obvious
   to every man's experience, is a good advantage to our piety; and, by
   this act of understanding, our wills are checked from violence and
   misdemeanour.

   4. In your retirement, make frequent colloquies, or short discoursings,
   between God and thy soul. Seven times a-day do I praise thee: and in
   the night season also I thought upon thee, while I was waking. So did
   David; and every act of complaint or thanksgiving, every act of
   rejoicing or of mourning, every petition and every return of the heart
   in these intercourses, is a going to God, an appearing in his presence,
   and a representing him present to thy spirit and to thy necessity. And
   this was long since by a spiritual person called, "a building to God a
   chapel in our heart." It reconciles Martha's employment with Mary's
   devotion, charity and religion, the necessities of our calling, and the
   employments of devotion. For thus, in the midst of the works of your
   trade, you may retire into your chapel, your heart, and converse with
   God by frequent addresses and returns.

   5. Represent and offer to God acts of love and fear, which are the
   proper effects of this apprehension, and the proper exercise of this
   consideration. For, as God is everywhere present by his power, he calls
   for reverence and godly fear; as he is present to thee in all thy
   needs, and relieves them, he deserves thy love; and since, in every
   accident of our lives, we find one or other of these apparent, and in
   most things we see both, it is a proper and proportionate return, that,
   to every such demonstration of God, we express ourselves sensible of it
   by admiring the Divine goodness, or trembling at his presence; ever
   obeying him because we love him, and ever obeying him because we fear
   to offend him. This is that which Enoch did, who thus walked with God.'

   6. Let us remember that God is in us, and that we are in him: we are
   his workmanship, let us not deface it; we are in his presence, let us
   not pollute it by unholy and impure actions. God hath also wrought all
   our works in us:' [34] and because he rejoices in his own works, if we
   defile them, and make them unpleasant to him, we walk perversely with
   God, and he will walk crookedly towards us.

   7. God is in the bowels of thy brother;' refresh them, when he needs
   it, and then you give your alms in the presence of God, and to God; and
   he feels the relief which thou providest for thy brother.

   8. God is in every place; suppose it, therefore, to be a church: and
   that decency of deportment and piety of carriage, which you are taught
   by religion, or by custom, or by civility and public manners, to use in
   churches, the same use in all places; with this difference only, that
   in churches let your deportment be religious in external forms and
   circumstances also; but there and everywhere let it be religious in
   abstaining from spiritual indecencies, and in readiness to do good
   actions, that it may not be said of us, as God once complained of his
   people, Why hath my beloved done wickedness in my house?' [35]

   9. God is in every creature: be cruel towards none, neither abuse any
   by intemperance. Remember, that the creatures and every member of thy
   own body, is one of the lesser cabinets and receptacles of God. They
   are such which God hath blessed with his presence, hallowed by his
   touch, and separated from unholy use, by making them to belong to his
   dwelling.

   10. He walks as in the presence of God that converses with him in
   frequent prayer and frequent communion; that runs to him in all his
   necessities; that asks counsel of him in all his doubtings; that opens
   all his wants to him; that weeps before him for his sins; that asks
   remedy and support for his weakness; that fears him as a judge;
   reverences him as a lord; obeys him as a father; and loves him as a
   patron.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [32] Psal. xiii. 7, 8.

   [33] Boeth. 1. v. de Consol.

   [34] Isa. xxvi. 12.

   [35] Jer. xi. 15, secun. vulg. edit.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The benefits of this Exercise.

   The benefits of this consideration and exercise being universal upon
   all the parts of piety, I shall less need to specify any particulars;
   but yet, most properly, this exercise of considering the Divine
   presence is, 1. An excellent help to prayer, producing in us reverence
   and awfulness to the Divine Majesty of God, and actual devotion in our
   offices. 2. It produces a confidence in God and fearlessness of our
   enemies, patience in trouble and hope of remedy; since God is so nigh
   in all our sad accidents, he is a disposer of the hearts of men and the
   events of things, he proportions out our trials, and supplies us with
   remedy, and, where his rod strikes us, his staff supports us. To which
   we may add this, that God, who is always with us, is especially, by
   promise, with us in tribulation, to turn the misery into a mercy, and
   that our greatest trouble may become our advantage, by entitling us to
   a new manner of the Divine presence. 3. If is apt to produce joy and
   rejoicing in God, we being more apt to delight in the partners and
   witnesses of our conversation, every degree of mutual abiding and
   conversing being a relation and an endearment: we are of the same
   household with God; he is with us in our natural actions, to preserve
   us; in our recreations, to restrain us; in our public actions, to
   applaud or reprove us; in our private, to observe us; in our sleeps, to
   watch by us; in our watchings, to refresh us; and if we walk with God
   in all his ways, as he walks with us in all ours, we shall find
   perpetual reasons to enable us to keep that rule of God, Rejoice in the
   Lord always, and again I say rejoice.' And this put me in mind of a
   saying of an old religious person, [36] "There is one way of overcoming
   our ghostly enemies; spiritual mirth, and a perpetual bearing of God in
   our minds." This effectively resists the devil, and suffers us to
   receive no hurt from him. 4. This exercise is apt also to enkindle holy
   desires of the enjoyment of God, because it produces joy when we do
   enjoy him; the same desires that a weak man hath for a defender; the
   sick man for a physician; the poor for a patron; the child for his
   father; the espoused lover for her betroths. 5. From the same fountain
   are apt to issue humility of spirit, apprehensions of our great
   distance and our great needs, our daily wants and hourly supplies,
   admiration of God's unspeakable mercies: it is the cause of great
   modesty and decency in our actions; it helps to recollection of mind,
   and restrains the scatterings and looseness of wandering thoughts; it
   establishes the heart in good purposes, and leadeth on to perseverance;
   it gains purity and perfection, (according to the saying of God to
   Abraham, walk before me and be perfect,') holy fear, and holy love, and
   indeed everything that pertains to holy living: when we see ourselves
   placed in the eye of God, who sets us on work and will reward us
   plenteously, to serve him with an eye-service is very unpleasing, for
   he also sees the heart; and the want of this consideration was declared
   to be the cause why Israel sinned so grievously, for they say, The Lord
   hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not: [37] therefore the
   land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness.' What a child
   would do in the eye of his father, and a pupil before his tutor, and a
   wife in the presence of her husband, and a servant in the sight of his
   master, let us always do the same, for we are made a spectacle to God,
   to angels, and to men; we are always in the sight and presence of the
   all-seeing and almighty God, who also is to us a father and a guardian,
   a husband and a lord.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [36] In vita S. Anthon.

   [37] Psal. x. 11. Ezek. ix. 9.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [24] Jer. xxiii. 23, 24.

   [25] Heb. iv. 13.

   [26] Acts xvii. 28.
     __________________________________________________________________

PRAYERS AND DEVOTIONS,

According to the Religion and Purposes of this foregoing Considerations.

  I.
     __________________________________________________________________

  For grace to spend our time well.

   O eternal God, who from all eternity dost behold and love thy own
   glories and perfections infinite, and hast created me to do the work of
   God after the manner of men, and to serve thee in this generation and
   according to my capacities, give me thy grace, that I may be a curious
   and prudent spender of my time, so as I may best prevent or resist all
   temptation, and be profitable to the Christian commonwealth, and, by
   discharging all my duty, may glorify thy name. Take from me all
   slothfulness, and give me a diligent and an active spirit, and wisdom
   to choose my employment; that I may do works proportionable to my
   person and to the dignity of a Christian, and may fill up all the
   spaces of my time with actions of religion and charity; that, when the
   devil assaults me, he may not find me idle; and my dearest Lord, at his
   sudden coming, may find me busy in lawful, necessary, and pious
   actions, improving my talent entrusted to me by thee, my Lord; that I
   may enter into the joy of my Lord, to partake of his eternal
   felicities, even for thy mercy's sake, and for my dearest Saviour's
   sake. Amen.

   Here follows the devotion of ordinary days, for the right employment of
   those portions of time which every day must allow for religion.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The first Prayers in the morning, as soon as we are dressed.

   Humbly and reverently compose yourself, with heart lift up to God, and
   your head bowed, and meekly kneeling upon your knees, say the Lord's
   Prayer: after which use the following collects, or as many of them as
   you shall choose.

   I. An Act of Adoration, being the song that the angels sing in heaven.

   Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come:
   [38] heaven and earth, angels and men, the air and the sea, give glory,
   and honour, and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, who liveth
   for ever and ever. [39] All the blessed spirits and souls of the
   righteous cast their crowns before the throne, and worship him that
   liveth for ever and ever. [40] Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
   glory and honour and power, for thou hast created all things, and for
   thy pleasure they are, and were created. Great and marvelous are thy
   works, O Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of
   saints. [41] Thy wisdom is infinite, thy mercies are glorious and I am
   not worthy, O Lord, to appear in thy presence, before whom the angels
   hide their faces. O holy and eternal Jesus, Lamb of God, who wert slain
   from the beginning of the world, thou hast redeemed us to God by thy
   blood out of every nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and
   priests, and we shall reign with thee for ever. Blessing, honour,
   glory, and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne, and to the
   Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen.

   II. An Act of Thanksgiving, being the song of David, for the morning.

   Sing praises unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks to him
   for a remembrance of his holiness. For his wrath endureth but the
   twinkling of an eye, and in his pleasure is life: heaviness may endure
   for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Thou, Lord, hast preserved
   me this night from the violence of the spirits of darkness, from all
   sad casualties and evil accidents, from the wrath which I have every
   day deserved; thou hast brought my soul out of hell; thou hast kept my
   life from them that go down into the pit; thou hast showed me marvelous
   great kindness, and hast blessed me for ever: the greatness of thy
   glory reacheth unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
   Therefore shall every good man sing of thy praise without ceasing. O my
   God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. Hallelujah!

   III. An Act of Oblation, or presenting ourselves to God for the day.

   Most holy and eternal God, lord and sovereign of all the creatures, I
   humbly present to thy Divine Majesty myself, my soul and body, my
   thoughts and my words, my actions and intentions, my passions and my
   sufferings, to be disposed by thee to thy glory; to be blessed by thy
   providence; to be guided by thy counsel; to be sanctified by thy
   Spirit; and afterwards that my body and soul may be received into
   glory: for nothing can perish which is under thy custody; and the enemy
   of souls cannot devour what is thy portion, nor take it out of thy
   hands. This day, O Lord, and all the days of my life, I dedicate to thy
   honour, and the actions of my calling to the uses of grace, and the
   religion of all my days to be united to the merits and intercession of
   my holy Saviour Jesus, that in him and for him I may be pardoned and
   accepted. Amen.

   IV. An Act of Repentance or Contrition.

   For as for me, I am not worthy to be called thy servant, much less am I
   worthy to be thy son; for I am the vilest of sinners and the worst of
   men; a lover of the things of the world, and a despiser of the things
   of God; proud and envious, lustful and intemperate, greedy of sin, and
   impatient of reproof; desirous to seem holy, and negligent of being so;
   transported with interest; fooled with presumption and false
   principles; disturbed with anger, with a peevish and unmortified
   spirit, and disordered by a whole body of sin and death. Lord, pardon
   all my sins for my sweetest Saviour's sake; thou, who didst die for me,
   holy Jesus, save me and deliver me; reserve not my sins to be punished
   in the day of wrath and eternal vengeance; but wash away my sins, and
   blot them out of thy remembrance, and purify my soul with the waters of
   repentance and the blood of the cross; that, for what is past, thy
   wrath may not come out against me; and, for the time to come, I may
   never provoke thee to anger or to jealousy. O just and dear God, be
   pitiful and gracious to thy servant. Amen.

   V. The Prayer or Petition.

   Bless me, gracious God, in my calling to such purposes as thou shalt
   choose for me, or employ me in: relieve me in all my sadnesses; make my
   bed in my sickness; give me patience in my sorrows, confidence in thee,
   and grace to call upon thee in all temptations. O be thou my guide in
   all my actions; my protector in all dangers; give me a healthful body,
   and a clear understanding; a sanctified and just, a charitable and
   humble, a religious and a contented spirit; let not my life be
   miserable and wretched; nor my name stained with sin and shame; nor my
   condition lifted up to a tempting and dangerous fortune: but let my
   condition be blessed, my conversation useful to my neighbours, and
   pleasing to thee; that when my body shall lie down in its bed of
   darkness, my soul may pass into the regions of light, and live with
   thee for ever, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

   VI. An Act of Intercession or Prayer for others, to be added to this or
   any other office, as our devotion or duty, or their needs, shall
   determine us.

   O God of infinite mercy, who hast compassion on all men, and relievest
   the necessities of all that call to thee for help, hear the prayers of
   thy servant, who is unworthy to ask any petition for himself, yet, in
   humility and duty, is bound to pray for others.

   For the Church.

   O let thy mercy descend upon the whole church; preserve her in truth
   and peace, in unity and safety, in all storms, and against all
   temptations and enemies; that she, offering to thy glory the
   never-ceasing sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving, may advance the
   honour of her Lord, and be filled with his Spirit, and partake of his
   glory. Amen.

   For the King.

   In mercy, remember the king; preserve his person in health and honour;
   his crown in wealth and dignity; his kingdoms in peace and plenty; the
   churches under his protection in piety and knowledge, and a strict and
   holy religion; keep him perpetually in thy fear and favour, and crown
   him with glory and immortality. Amen.

   For the Clergy.

   Remember them that minister about holy things; let them be clothed with
   righteousness, and sing with joyfulness. Amen.

   For Wife or Husband.

   Bless thy servant (my wife, or husband) with health of body and of
   spirit. O let the hand of thy blessing be upon his/her head night and
   day, and support him/her in all necessities, strengthen him/her in all
   temptations, comfort him/her in all his/her sorrows, and let him/her be
   thy servant in all changes; and make us both to dwell with thee for
   ever in thy favour, in the light of thy countenance, and in thy glory.
   Amen.

   For our Children.

   Bless my children with healthful bodies, with good understandings, with
   the graces and gifts of thy Spirit, with sweet dispositions and holy
   habits; and sanctify them throughout in their bodies, and souls, and
   spirits, and keep them unblamable to the coming of the Lord Jesus.
   Amen.

   For Friends and Benefactors.

   Be pleased, O Lord, to remember my friends, all that have prayed for
   me, and all that have done me good. (Here name such whom you would
   especially recommend.) Do thou good to them, and return all their
   kindness double into their own bosom, rewarding them with blessings,
   and sanctifying them with thy graces, and bringing them to glory.

   For our Family.

   Let all my family and kindred, my neighbours and acquaintance (here
   name what other relations you please) receive the benefit of my
   prayers, and the blessings of God, the comforts and supports of thy
   providence, and the sanctification of thy Spirit.

   For all in Misery.

   Relieve and comfort all the persecuted and afflicted; speak peace to
   troubled consciences; strengthen the weak; confirm the strong; instruct
   the ignorant; deliver the oppressed from him that spoileth him; and
   relieve the needy that hath no helper; and bring us all, by the waters
   of comfort, and in the ways of righteousness, to the kingdom of rest
   and glory, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [38] Rev. xi. 17.

   [39] Rev. v. 10, 13.

   [40] Rev. iv. 10.

   [41] Rev. xv. 3.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Another Form of Prayer for the Morning.

   In the name of the Father, and of the Son, etc. Our Father, etc.

  I.

   Most glorious and eternal God, Father of mercy, and God of all comfort,
   I worship and adore thee with the lowest humility of my soul and body,
   and give thee all thanks and praise for thy infinite and essential
   glories and perfections, and for the continual demonstration of thy
   mercies upon me, upon all mine, and upon thy holy catholic church.

  II.

   I acknowledge, dear God, that I have deserved the greatest of thy wrath
   and indignation; and that, if thou hadst dealt with me according to my
   deserving, I had now, at this instant, been desperately bewailing my
   miseries in the sorrows and horrors of a sad eternity. But thy mercy
   triumphing over thy justice and my sins, thou hast still continued to
   me life and time of repentance; thou hast opened to me the gates of
   grace and mercy, and perpetually callest upon me to enter in, and to
   walk in the paths of a holy life, that I might glorify thee, and be
   glorified of thee eternally.

  III.

   Behold, O God, for this thy great and unspeakable goodness, for the
   preservation of me this night, and for all other thy graces and
   blessings, I offer up my soul and body, all that I am, and all that I
   have, as a sacrifice to thee and thy service, humbly begging of thee to
   pardon all my sins, to defend me from all evil, to lead me into all
   good; and let my portion be amongst thy redeemed ones in the gathering
   together of the saints, in the kingdom of grace and glory.

  IV.

   Guide me, O Lord, in all the changes and varieties of the world; that
   in all things that shall happen I may have an evenness and tranquility
   of spirit; that my soul may be wholly resigned to thy divine will and
   pleasure, never murmuring at thy gentle chastisements and fatherly
   correction; never waxing proud and insolent, though I feel a torrent of
   comforts and prosperous successes.

  V.

   Fix my thoughts, my hopes, and my desires upon heaven and heavenly
   things; teach me to despise the world, to repent deeply for my sins;
   give me holy purposes of amendment and ghostly strength, and assistance
   to perform faithfully whatsoever I shall intend piously. Enrich my
   understanding with an eternal treasure of Divine Truths, that I may
   know thy will: and thou, who workest in us to will and to do of thy
   good pleasure, teach me to obey all thy commandments, to believe all
   thy revelations, and make me partaker of all thy gracious promises.

  VI.

   Teach me to watch over all my ways, that I may never be surprised by
   sudden temptations or a careless spirit, nor ever return to folly and
   vanity. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door of my
   lips, that I offend not in my tongue, neither against piety nor
   charity. Teach me to think of nothing but thee, and what is in order to
   thy glory and service: to speak nothing but of thee and thy glories;
   and to do nothing but what becomes thy servant, whom thy infinite
   mercy, by the graces of thy Holy Spirit, hath sealed up to the day of
   redemption.

  VII.

   Let all my passions and affections be so mortified and brought under
   the dominion of grace, that I may never, be deliberation and purpose,
   nor yet by levity, rashness, or inconsideration, offend thy Divine
   Majesty. make me such as thou wouldst have me to be: strengthen my
   faith, confirm my hope, and give me a daily increase of charity, that,
   this day and ever, I may serve thee according to all my opportunities
   and capacities, growing from grace to grace, till at last, by thy
   mercies, I shall receive the consummation and perfection of grace, even
   the glories of thy kingdom, in the full fruition of the face and
   excellencies of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; to whom be
   glory and praise, honour and adoration, given by all angels, and all
   men, and all creatures, now, and to all eternity. Amen.

   *To this may be added the prayer of intercession for others, whom we
   are bound to remember, which is at the end of the foregoing prayer; or
   else you may take such special prayers which follow at the end of the
   fourth chapter (for parents, for children, etc.).

   After which, conclude with this Ejaculation. Now in all tribulation and
   anguish of spirit, in all dangers of soul and body, in prosperity and
   adversity, in the hour of death and in the day of judgment, holy and
   most blessed Saviour Jesus, have mercy upon me, save me, and deliver me
   and all faithful people. Amen.

   *Between this and noon, usually are said the public prayers appointed
   by authority, to which all the clergy are obligated and other devout
   persons that have leisure, to accompany them.

   *Afternoon, or at any time of the day, when a devout person retires
   into his closet for private prayer or spiritual exercises, he may say
   the following devotions.
     __________________________________________________________________

  An Exercise to be used at any time of the day.

   In the name of the Father, and of the Son, etc. Our Father, etc. The
   Hymn, collected out of the Psalms, recounting the Excellences and
   Greatness of God.

   O be joyful in God, all ye lands; sing praises unto the honour of his
   name, make his name to be glorious. O come hither, and behold the works
   of God, how wonderful he is in his doings towards the children of men.
   He ruleth with his power for ever. [42]

   He is the Father of the fatherless, and defendeth the cause of the
   widow, even God in his holy habitation. He is the God that maketh men
   to be of one mind in a house, and bringeth the prisoners out of
   captivity; but letteth the runagates continue in scarceness. [43]

   It is the Lord that commandeth the waters; it is the glorious God that
   maketh the thunder; it is the Lord that ruleth the sea. The voice of
   the Lord is a glorious voice. [44]

   Let all the earth fear the Lord: stand in awe of him, all ye that dwell
   in the world. Thou shalt show us wonderful things in thy righteousness,
   O God of our salvation; thou that art the hope of all the ends of the
   earth, and of them that remain in the broad sea. [45]

   Glory be to the Father, etc.

   Or this:

   O Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt thee; I will praise thy name for
   thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness
   and truth. [46]

   Thou, in thy strength, settest fast the mountains, and art girded about
   with power. Thou stillest the raging of the sea, and the noise of his
   waves, and the uttermost parts of his people. [47]

   They, also, that remain in the uttermost parts of the earth shall be
   afraid at thy tokens; thou, that makest the outgoings of the morning
   and evening to praise thee.

   O Lord God of Hosts, who is like unto thee? thy truth, most mighty
   Lord, is on every side. [48] Among the gods there is none like unto
   thee: O Lord, there is none that can do as thou doest For thou art
   great, and doest wondrous things; thou art God alone. [49]

   God is very greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, and to
   be had in reverence of all men that are round about him. [50]

   Righteousness and equity are in the habitation of thy seat; mercy and
   truth shall go before thy face. Glory and worship are before him; power
   and honour are in his sanctuary. [51]

   Thou, Lord, art the thing that I long for; thou art my hope even from
   my youth. Through thee have I been holden up, ever since I was born;
   thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb; my praise shall be
   always of thee. [52]

   Glory be to the Father, etc.

   *After this may be read some portion of Holy Scripture, out of the New
   Testament, or out of the Sapiential books of the Old, viz. Proverbs,
   Ecclesiastes, etc., because these are of great use to piety and to
   civil conversation. Upon which when you have awhile meditated, humbly
   composing yourself upon your knees, say as followeth:

   Ejaculations.

   My help standeth in the name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and
   earth.

   Show the light of thy countenance upon thy servant, and I shall be
   safe. [53]

   Do well, O Lord, to them that be true of heart, and evermore mightily
   defend them. [54]

   Direct me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou are my Saviour, and my
   great master. [55]

   Keep me from sin and death eternal, and from my enemies visible and
   invisible.

   Give me grace to live a holy life, and thy favour, that I may die a
   godly and happy death.

   Lord, hear the prayer of thy servant, and give me thy Holy Spirit.

   The Prayer.

   O eternal God, merciful and gracious, vouchsafe thy favour and thy
   blessing to thy servant: let the love of thy mercies, and the dread and
   fear of thy majesty, make me careful and inquisitive to search thy
   will, and diligent to perform it, and to persevere in the practices of
   a holy life, even till the last of my days.

  II.

   Keep me, O Lord, for I am thine by creation; guide me, for I am thine
   by purchase; thou hast redeemed me by the blood of thy Son; and loved
   me with the love of a father, for I am thy child by adoption and grace:
   let thy mercy pardon my sins, thy providence secure me from the
   punishments and evils I have deserved, and thy care watch over me, that
   I may never any more offend thee: make me, in malice, to be a child;
   but in understanding, piety, and the fear of God, let me be a perfect
   man in Christ, innocent and prudent, readily furnished and instructed
   to every good work.

  III.

   Keep me, O Lord, from the destroying angel, and from the wrath of God:
   let thy anger never rise against me, but thy rod gently correct my
   follies, and guide me in thy ways, and thy staff support me in all
   sufferings and changes. Preserve me from fracture of bones, from
   noisome, infectious, and sharp sicknesses; from great violences of
   fortune and sudden surprises: keep all my senses entire till the day of
   my death, and let my death be neither sudden, untimely, nor unprovided:
   let it be after the common manner of men, having in it nothing
   extraordinary, but an extraordinary piety, and the manifestation of thy
   great and miraculous mercy.

  IV.

   Let no riches make me ever forget myself, no poverty ever make me to
   forget thee: let no hope or fear, no pleasure or pain, no accident
   without, no weakness within, hinder or discompose my duty, or turn me
   from the ways of thy commandments. O, let thy Spirit dwell with me for
   ever, and make my soul just and charitable, full of honesty, full of
   religion, resolute and constant in holy purposes, but inflexible to
   evil. Make me humble and obedient, peaceable and pious; let me never
   envy any man's goods, nor deserve to be despised myself: and if I be,
   teach me to bear it with meekness and charity.

  V.

   Give me a tender conscience; a conversation discreet and affable,
   modest and patient, liberal and obliging; a body chaste and healthful,
   competency of living according to my condition, contentedness in all
   estates, a resigned will and mortified affections; that I may be as
   thou wouldst have me, and my portion may be in the lot of the
   righteous, in the brightness of thy countenance, and the glories of
   eternity. Amen.

   Holy is our God. Holy is the Almighty. Holy is the Immortal. Holy,
   holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth, have mercy upon me.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [42] Psalm ixvi. 1, 4, 6.

   [43] Psalm xxix. 3, 4.

   [44] Psalm lxv. 5.

   [45] Psalm Ixviii. 5, 6.

   [46] Isa. xxv. 1.

   [47] Psalm 1xv. 6, 8.

   [48] Psalm 1xxxvi. 8, 9.

   [49] Psalm xcvi. 3.

   [50] Psalm cxxiv. 8.

   [51] Psalm 1xxxix. 9.

   [52] Psalm 1xxi. 5, 6.

   [53] Psalm 1xxx. 6.

   [54] Psalm cxxv. 4.

   [55] Psalm xxv. 5.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Form of Prayer for the Evening, to be said by such who have not time or
  opportunity to say the public prayers appointed for this office.

  I.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Evening Prayer.

   O eternal God, great Father of men and angels, who hast established the
   heavens and the earth in a wonderful order, making day and night to
   succeed each other; I make my humble address to thy Divine Majesty,
   begging of thee mercy and protection this night and ever. O Lord,
   pardon all my sins, my light and rash words, the vanity and impiety of
   my thoughts, my unjust and uncharitable actions, and whatsoever I have
   transgressed against thee this day, or at any time before. Behold, O
   God, my soul is troubled in the remembrance of my sins, in the frailty
   and sinfulness of my flesh, exposed to every temptation, and of itself
   not able to resist any. Lord God of mercy, I earnestly beg of thee to
   give me a great portion of thy grace, such as may be sufficient and
   effectual for the mortification of all my sins and vanities and
   disorders, that as I have formerly served my list and unworthy desires,
   so now I may give myself up wholly to thy service and the studies of a
   holy life.

  II.

   Blessed Lord, teach me frequently and sadly to remember my sins; and be
   thou pleased to remember them no more: let me never forget thy mercies,
   and do thou still remember to do me good. Teach me to walk always as in
   thy presence: ennoble my soul with great degrees of love to thee, and
   consign my spirit with great fear, religion, and veneration of thy holy
   name and laws; that it may become the great employment of my whole life
   to serve thee, to advance thy glory, to root out all the accursed
   habits of sin; that in holiness of life, in humility, in charity, in
   chastity, and all the ornaments of grace, I may be patience wait for
   the coming of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

  III.

   Teach me, O Lord, to number my days, that I may apply my heart unto
   wisdom; ever to remember my last end, that I may not dare to sin
   against thee. Let thy holy angels be ever present with me, to keep me
   in all my ways from the malice and violence of the spirits of darkness,
   from evil company, and the occasions and opportunities of evil, from
   perishing in popular judgments, from all the ways of sinful shame, from
   the hands of all mine enemies, from a sinful life, and from despair in
   the day of my death. Then, O brightest Jesus, shine gloriously upon me,
   let thy mercies and the light of thy countenance sustain me in all my
   agonies, weaknesses, and temptations. Give me opportunity of a prudent
   and spiritual guide, and of receiving the holy sacrament; and let thy
   loving spirit so guide me in the ways of peace and safety, that, with
   the testimony of a good conscience, and the sense of thy mercies and
   refreshment, I may depart this life in the unity of the church, in the
   love of God, and a certain hope of salvation through Jesus Christ our
   Lord, and most blessed Saviour. Amen.

   Our Father, etc.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Another form of Evening Prayer, which may also be used at bed-time.

   Our Father, etc.

   I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. [56]

   My help cometh of the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

   He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not
   slumber.

   Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

   The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade, upon thy right hand.

   The sun shall not smite thee by day, neither the moon by night.

   The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul.

   The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time
   forth for evermore.

   Glory be to the Father, etc.

  I.

   Visit, I beseech thee, O Lord, this habitation with thy mercy, and me
   with thy grace and salvation. Let thy holy angels pitch their tents
   round about and dwell here, that no illusion of the night may abuse me,
   the spirits of darkness may not come near to hurt me, no evil or sad
   accident oppress me; and let the eternal Spirit of the Father dwell in
   my soul and body, filling every corner of my heart with light and
   grace. Let no deed of darkness overtake me; and let thy blessing, most
   blessed God, be upon me for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

  II.

   Into thy hands, most blessed Jesus, I commend my soul and body, for
   thou hast redeemed both with thy precious blood. So bless and sanctify
   my sleep unto me that it may be temperate, holy, and safe; a
   refreshment to my wearied body, to enable it so to serve my soul, that
   both may serve thee with a never-failing duty. O, let me never sleep in
   sin or death eternal, but give me a watchful and prudent spirit, that I
   may omit no opportunity of serving thee; that whether I sleep or awake,
   live or die, I may be thy servant and thy child: that when the work of
   my life is done, I may rest in the bosom of my Lord, till by the voice
   of the archangel, the trump of God, I shall be awakened, and called to
   sit down and feast in the eternal supper of the Lamb. Grant this, O
   Lamb of God, for the honour of thy mercies, and the glory of thy name,
   O most merciful Saviour and Redeemer Jesus. Amen.

  III.

   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who hath sent his
   angels, and kept me this day from the destruction that walketh at noon,
   and the arrow that flieth by day; and hath given me his Spirit to
   restrain me from those evils to which my own weaknesses, and my evil
   habits, and my unquiet enemies, would easily betray me. Blessed and for
   ever hallowed by thy name for that never-ceasing shower of blessing, by
   which I live, and am content and blessed, and provided for in all
   necessities, and set forward in my duty and way to heaven. Blessing
   honour, glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and
   unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen.

   Holy is our God! Holy is the Almighty! Holy is the Immortal! Holy,
   holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth, have mercy upon me!
     __________________________________________________________________

   [56] Psalm cxxi. 1, etc.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Ejaculations and short Meditations to be used in the night, when we awake.

   Stand in awe and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed and
   be still. I will lay me down in peace and sleep; for thou, Lord, only
   makest me to dwell in safety. [57]

   O Father of spirits, and the God of all flesh, have mercy and pity upon
   all sick and dying Christians, and receive the souls which thou hast
   redeemed returning unto thee.

   Blessed are they that dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem, where there is
   no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory
   of God does lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. [58] And
   there shall be no night there, and they need no candle; for the Lord
   God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever. [59]

   Meditate on Jacob's wrestling with the angel all night: he thou also
   importunate with God for a blessing, and give not over till he hath
   blessed thee.

   Meditate on the angel passing over the children of Israel, and
   destroying the Egyptians for disobedience and oppression. Pray for the
   grace of obedience and charity, and for the Divine protection.

   Meditate on the angel who destroyed in a night the whole army of the
   Assyrians for fornication. Call to mind the sins of thy youth, the sins
   of thy bed; and say with David, My reins chasten me in the night
   season, and my soul refuseth comfort.' Pray for pardon and the grace of
   chastity.

   Meditate on the agonies of Christ in the garden, his sadness and
   affliction all that night; and thank and adore him for his love, that
   made him suffer so much for thee; and hate thy sins which made it
   necessary for the Son to suffer so much.

   Meditate on the last four things. 1. The certainty of death. 2. The
   terrors of the day of judgment. 3. The joys of heaven. 4. The pains of
   hell: and the eternity of both.

   Think upon all thy friends who are gone before thee; and pray that God
   would grant to thee to meet them in a joyful resurrection.

   "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; [60] in the
   which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
   shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are
   therein, shall be burnt up. Seeing, then, that all these things shall
   be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be, in all holy
   conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming
   of the day of God?"

   Lord, in mercy remember thy servant in the day of judgment.

   Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God. In thee, O Lord, have I
   trusted: let me never be confounded. Amen.

   I desire the Christian reader to observe, that all these offices or
   forms of prayer (if they should be used every day) would not spend
   above an hour and a half: but because some of them are double (and so
   but one of them to be used in one day) it is much less: and by
   affording to God one hour in twenty-four thou mayest have the comforts
   and rewards of devotion. But he that thinks this is too much, either is
   very busy in the world, or very careless of heaven. I have parted the
   prayers into smaller portions, that he may use which and how many he
   please in any one of the forms.

   Ad. Sect. 2.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [57] Psalm iv. 4, 9.

   [58] Rev. xxi. 23.

   [59] Rev. xxii. 5.

   [60] 2 Pet. iii. 10.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer for holy intention is the beginning and pursuit of any considerable
  action, as Study, Preaching, etc.

   O eternal God, who has made all things for man and man for thy glory,
   sanctify my body and soul, my thoughts, and my intentions, my words and
   actions, that whatsoever I shall think, or speak, or do, may be by me
   designed to the glorification of thy name; and by thy blessing it may
   be effective and successful in the work of God, according as it can be
   capable. Lord, turn my necessities into virtue; the works of nature
   into the works of grace, by making them orderly, regular, temperate,
   subordinate, and profitable to ends beyond their own proper efficacy:
   and let no pride or self-seeking, no covetousness or revenge, no impure
   mixture or unhandsome purposes, no little ends and low imaginations,
   pollute my spirit, and unhallow any of my words and actions; but let my
   body be a servant of my spirit, and both body and spirit servants of
   Jesus; that doing all things for thy glory here, I may be partaker of
   thy glory hereafter: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Ad. Sect. 3.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A prayer meditating and referring to the Divine presence.

   * This Prayer is especially to be used in temptation to private sin.

   O almighty God, infinite and eternal, thou fillest all things with thy
   presence; thou art everywhere by thy essence and by thy power; in
   heaven by glory, in holy places by thy grace and favour, in the hearts
   of thy servants by thy Spirit, in the consciences of all men by thy
   testimony and observation of us. Teach me to walk always as in thy
   presence, to fear thy majesty, to reverence thy wisdom and omniscience;
   that I may never dare to commit any indecency in the eye of my Lord and
   my Judge; but that I may with so much care and reverence demean myself
   that my Judge may not be my accuser but my advocate; that I, expressing
   the belief of thy presence here by careful walking, may feel the
   effects of it in the participation of eternal glory; through Jesus
   Christ. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

   [4] uphomegou tigos, pos estin esphtein artos pheots; eidikaios estn,
   ephe, kai eugoroos, kai isoe, kai egeoatos, kai kosmios, omk esti kai
   aresos tois pheois. Arrian. Epist. 1.i.c.13.
     __________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER II.

OF CHRISTIAN SOBRIETY.
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION I.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Sobriety in the general sense.

   Christian religion, in all its moral parts, in nothing else but the law
   of nature, and great reason; complying with the great necessities of
   all the world, and promoting the great profit of all relations, and
   carrying us through all accidents and variety of changes, to that end
   which God hath from eternal ages purposed for that live according to
   it, and which he hath revealed in Jesus Christ: and, according to the
   apostle's arithmetic, hath but these three parts of it; 1. Sobriety, 2.
   Justice, 3. Religion. "For the grace of God, being salvation, hath
   appeared to all men; teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly
   lusts, we should live. 1. Soberly, 2. Righteously, and, 3. Godly, in
   this present world, looking for that blessed hope and glorious
   appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The first
   contains all our deportment in our personal and private capacities, the
   fair treating of our bodies and our spirits. The second enlarges our
   duty in all relations to our neighbour. The third contains the offices
   of direct religion, and intercourse with God.

   Christian sobriety is also that duty that concerns ourselves in the
   matter of meat, and drink, and pleasures, and thoughts; and it hath
   within it the duties of 1. Temperance, 2. Chastity, 3. Humility, 4.
   Modesty, 5. Content.

   It is a using severity, denial, and frustration of our appetite, when
   it grows unreasonable in any of these instances: the necessity of which
   we shall to best purpose understand, by considering the evil
   consequences of sensuality, effeminacy, or fondness after carnal
   pleasures.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Evil Consequences of Voluptuousness or Sensuality.

   1. A longing after sensual pleasures is a dissolution of the spirit of
   a man, and makes it loose, soft, and wandering; unapt for noble, wise,
   or spiritual employments; because the principles upon which pleasure is
   chosen and pursued are sottish, weak, and unlearned, such as prefer the
   body before the soul, [61] the appetite before reason, sense before the
   spirit, the pleasures of a short abode before the pleasures of
   eternity.

   2. The nature of sensual pleasure is vain, empty, and unsatisfying,
   biggest always in expectation, and a mere vanity in the enjoying, and
   leaves a sting and thorn behind it when it goes off. Our laughing, if
   it be loud and high, commonly ends in a deep sigh; and all the
   instances of pleasure have a sting in the tail, though they carry
   beauty on the face, and sweetness on the lip.

   3. Sensual pleasure is a great abuse to the spirit of a man, being a
   kind of fascination or witchcraft, blinding the understanding and
   enslaving the will. And he that knows he is free-born, or redeemed with
   the blood of the Son of God, will not easily suffer the freedom of his
   soul to be entangled and rifled. [62]

   4. It is most contrary to the state of a Christian, whose life is a
   perpetual exercise, a wrestling and warfare, to which sensual pleasure
   disables him, by yielding to that enemy with whom he must strive if
   ever he will be crowned. [63] And this argument the apostle intimated:
   "He that striveth for masteries to temperate in all things: now they do
   it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." [64]

   5. It is by a certain consequence the greatest impediment in the world
   to martyrdom: that being a fondness, this being a cruelty to the flesh;
   to which a Christian man, arriving by degrees, must first have
   crucified the lesser affections: for he that is overcome by little
   arguments of pain, will hardly consent to lose his life with torments.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [61] Tu sia nimum vicisi potius quam animus te, est quod gaudeas. Qui
   animum vincunt, quam quos animus, semper prokiores cluent.--Triuum 2.2.
   29.

   [62] Mouou skipssu posou poleis tlu seautou praireaiu, amphrope ei
   reotu allo, re oligou autpu polpads.--Arrian, c. 2.1 i.

   [63] philees olugpia uekeasi: Dei se eutakteiu, auankotropheiu
   apechesphau peraton, germazesxat pmankem, etc. Epict. c. 29. 2.
   ed.Schw.

   [64] 1. Cor. ix. 25.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Degrees of Sobriety.

   Against this voluptuousness, sobriety is opposed in three degrees.

   1. A despite or disaffection to pleasures, or a resolving against all
   entertainment of the instances and temptations of sensuality; and it
   consists in the internal faculties of will and understanding, decreeing
   and declaring against them disapproving and disliking them, upon good
   reason and strong resolution.

   2. A tight and actual war against all the temptations and offers of
   sensual pleasure in all evil instances and degrees: and it consists in
   prayer, in fasting, in cheap diet and hard lodging, and laborious
   exercises, and avoiding occasions, and using all arts and industry of
   fortifying the spirit, and making it severe, manly, and Christian.

   3. Spiritual pleasure is the highest degree of sobriety; and in the
   same degree in which we relish and are in love with spiritual delights,
   the hidden manna, [65] with the sweetness of devotion, with the joys of
   thanksgiving, with rejoicing in the Lord, with the comforts of hope,
   with the deliciousness of charity and alms-deeds, with the sweetness of
   a good conscience, with the peace of meekness, and the felicities of a
   contented spirit; in the same degree we disrelish and loathe the husks
   of swinish lusts, and the parings of the apples of Sodom, and the taste
   of sinful pleasures is unsavoury as the drunkard's vomit.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [65] Apoc. ii. 17.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for suppressing Voluptuousness.

   The precepts and advices which are of best and of general use in the
   curing of sensuality, are these:

   1. Accustom thyself to cut off all superfluity in the provisions of thy
   life, for our desires will enlarge beyond the present possession so
   long as all the things of this world are unsatisfying: if, therefore,
   you suffer them to extend beyond the measures of necessity or moderated
   conveniency, they will still swell: but you reduce them to a little
   compass when you make nature to be your limit. We must more take care
   that our desires should cease [66] than that they should be satisfied:
   and, therefore, reducing them in narrow scantlings and small
   proportions is the best instrument to redeem their trouble, and prevent
   the dropsy, because that is next to an universal denying them: it is
   certainly a paring off from them all unreasonableness and irregularity.
   "For whatsoever covets unseemly things, and is apt to swell into an
   inconvenient bulk, is to be chastened and tempered: and such are
   sensuality, and a boy, [67] said the philosopher.

   2. Suppress your sensual desires in their first approach; [68] for then
   they are least, and thy faculties and election are stronger; but if
   they, in their weakness, prevail upon thy strengths, there will be no
   resisting them when they are increased, and thy abilities lessened.
   "You shall scarce obtain of them to end, if you suffer them to begin."

   3. Divert them with some laudable employment, and take off their edge
   by inadvertency, or a not attending to them. For, since the faculties
   of a man cannot at the same time, with any sharpness, attend to two
   objects, if you employ your spirit upon a book or a bodily labour, or
   any innocent and indifferent employment, you have no room left for the
   present trouble of a sensual temptation. For to this sense it was, that
   Alexander told the queen of Caria, that his tutor, Leonidas, had
   provided two cooks for him; [69] "Hard marches all night and a small
   dinner the next day: these tamed his youthful aptnesses to dissolution,
   so long as he ate of their provisions.

   4. Look upon pleasures, not upon that side that is next the sun, or
   where they look beauteously; that is, as they come towards you to be
   enjoyed, for then they paint and smile, and dress themselves up in
   tinsel and glass gems, and counterfeit imagery; but when thou hast
   rifled and discomposed them with enjoying their false beauties, and
   that they begin to go off, then behold them in their nakedness and
   weariness. [70] See, what a sigh and sorrow, what naked unhandsome
   proportions, and a filthy carcass they discover; and the next time they
   counterfeit, remember what you have already discovered, and be no more
   abused. And I have known some wise persons have advised to cure the
   passions and longings of their children by letting them taste of every
   thing they passionately fancied; for they should be sure to find less
   in it than they looked for, and the impatience of their being denied
   would be loosened and made slack: and when our wishes are no bigger
   than the thing deserves, and our usages of them according to our needs
   (which may be obtained by trying what they are, and what good they can
   do us,) we shall find in all pleasures so little entertainment, that
   the vanity of the possession will soon reprove the violence of the
   appetite. [71] And if this permission be in innocent instances it may
   be of good use: but Solomon tried it in all things, taking his fill of
   all pleasures, and soon grew weary of them all. The same thing we may
   do by reason which we do by experience, if either we look upon
   pleasures as we are sure they look when they go off, after their
   enjoyment; or if we will credit the experience of those men who have
   tasted them and loathed them.

   5. Often consider and contemplate the joys of heaven, that, when they
   have filled thy desires, which are the sails of the soul, thou mayst
   steer only thither, and never more look back to Sodom. And when thy
   soul dwells above, and looks down upon the pleasures of the world, they
   seem like things at distance, little and contemptible, and men running
   after the satisfaction of their sottish appetites seem foolish as
   fishes, thousands of them running after a rotten worm, that covers a
   deadly book; or, at the best, but like children with great noise
   pursuing a bubble rising from a walnut-shell, which ends sooner than
   the noise.

   6. To this the example of Christ and his apostles, of Moses, and all
   the wise men of all ages of the world, will much help; who,
   understanding how to distinguish good from evil, did choose a sad and
   melancholy way to felicity, rather than the broad, pleasant, and easy
   path to folly and misery.

   But this is but the general. Its first particular is temperance.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [66] Desideria tua parvo redime; hoe enim tantum curare debes, ut
   desinant.--Senec.

   [67] Lic. iii. Eth c. 12. p. 129. ed. Wilk.

   [68] Facilius est initia affectuum prohibere, quam impetum
   regere.--Senec. ep. 86.

   [69] muktiporiau kai oligaristian.

   [70] Nuktiporian kai oligaristan.

   [71] Voluptates abeuntes fessas et poenitentia plenas, animis nostris
   natura subjecit, quo minus cupide repetantur.--Seneca. Laete venire
   Venus, trists abire solet.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION II.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Temperance in Eating and Drinking.

   Sobriety is the bridle of the passions of desire, and temperance is the
   bit and curb of that bridle, a restraint put into a man's mouth, a
   moderate use of meat and drink, so as may best consist with our health,
   and may not hinder but help the works of the soul by its necessary
   supporting us, and ministering cheerfulness and refreshment.

   Temperance consists of the actions of the soul principally: for it is a
   grace that chooses natural means in order to proper and natural, and
   holy ends; it is exercised about eating and drinking, because they are
   necessary; but therefore it permits the use of them only as they
   minister to lawful ends; it does not eat and drink for pleasure, but
   for need, and for refreshment, which is a part or a degree of need. I
   deny not that eating and drinking may be, and in healthful bodies
   always is, with pleasure; because there is in nature no greater
   pleasure than that all the appetites which God hath made should be
   satisfied: and a man may choose a morsel that is pleasant, the less
   pleasant being rejected as being less useful, less apt to nourish, or
   more agreeing with an infirm stomach, or when the day is festival, by
   order or by private joy. In all these cases it is permitted to receive
   a more free delight, and to design it too, as the less principal: that
   is, that the chief reason why we choose the more delicious be the
   serving that end for which such refreshments and choices are permitted.
   But when delight is the only end, and rest itself, and dwells there
   long, then eating and drinking is not a serving of God, but an
   inordinate action; because it is not in the way to that end whither God
   directed it. But the choosing of a delicate before a more ordinary dish
   is to be done as other human actions are in which there are no degrees
   and precise natural limits described, but a latitude is indulged; it
   must be done moderately, prudently, and according to the accounts of
   wise, religious, and sober men: and then God, who gave us such variety
   of creatures, and our choice to use which we will, may receive glory
   from our temperate use, and thanksgiving; and we may use them
   indifferently without scruple, and a making them to become snares to
   us, either by too licentious and studied use of them, or too restrained
   and scrupulous fear of using them at all, but in such certain
   circumstances, in which no man can be sure he is not mistaken.

   But temperance is meat and drink is to be estimated by the following
   measures.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Measures of Temperance in Eating.

   1. Eat not before the time, unless necessity, or charity, or any
   intervening accident, which may make it reasonable and prudent, should
   happen. Remember, it had almost cost Jonathan his life, because he
   tasted a little honey before the sun went down, contrary to the king's
   commandment; and although a great need which he had excused him from
   the sin of gluttony, yet it is inexcusable when thou eatest before the
   usual time, and thrustest thy hand into the dish unseasonably, out of
   greediness of the pleasure, and impatience of the delay.

   2. Eat not hastily and impatiently, but with such decent and timely
   action that your eating be human act, subject to deliberation and
   choice, and that you may consider in the eating: whereas, he that eats
   hastily cannot consider particularly of the circumstances, degrees, and
   little accidents and chances, that happen in his meal; but may contract
   many little indecencies, and be suddenly surprised.

   3. Eat not delicately or nicely, that is, be not troublesome to thyself
   or others in the choice of thy meats or the delicacy of thy sauces. It
   was imputed us a sin to the sons of Israel, that they loathed manna and
   longed for flesh: the quails stunk in their nostrils, and the wrath of
   God fell upon them. And the the manner of dressing, the sons of Eli
   were noted of indiscreet curiosity: they would not have the flesh
   boiled but raw, that they might roast it with fire. Not that it was a
   sin to eat it, or desire meat roasted; but that when it was appointed
   to be boiled, they refused it: which declared an intemperate and a nice
   palate. It was lawful in all senses to comply with a weak and a nice
   stomach, but not with a nice and curious palate. When our health
   requires it, that ought to be provided for; but not so our sensuality
   and intemperate longings. Whatsoever is set before you eat it, be it
   never so delicate; and be it plain and common, so it be wholesome, and
   fit for you, it must not be refused upon curiosity: for every degree of
   that is a degree of intemperance. Happy and innocent were the ages of
   our forefathers, who ate herbs and parched corn, and drank the pure
   stream, and broke their fast with nuts and roots; [72] and when they
   were permitted flesh, ate it only dressed with hunger and fire; and the
   first sauce they had was bitter herbs, and sometimes bread dipped in
   vinegar. But in this circumstance, moderation is to be reckoned in
   proportion to the present customs, to the company, to edification, and
   the judgment of honest and wise persons, and the necessities of nature.

   4. Eat not too much: load neither thy stomach nor thy understanding. If
   thou sit at a bountiful table, be not greedy upon it, and say not there
   is much meat on it. Remember that a wicked eye is an evil thing: and
   what is created more wicked than an eye? Therefore it weepeth upon
   every occasion. Stretch not thy hand whithersoever it looketh, and
   thrust it not with him into the dish. A very little is sufficient for a
   man well nurtured, and he fetcheth not his wind short upon his bed.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [72] Felix initium, prior aetas contenia dulcibus arvis; Facileque sera
   solebat jejunia solvere glande. Boeth. lib. 1. de Consol. Arbuteos
   foetus, montanaque fraga legebant.--Ov. M. i. 104.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Signs and Effects of Temperance.

   We shall best know that we have the grace of temperance by the
   following signs, which are as so many arguments to engage us also upon
   its study and practice.

   1. A temperate man is modest: greediness is unmannerly and rude. And
   this is intimated in the advice of the son of Sirach. When thou sittest
   amongst many, reach not thy hand out first of all. Leave off first for
   manner's sake, and be not insatiable lest thou offend. 2. Temperance is
   accompanied with gravity of deportment: greediness is garish, and
   rejoices loosely at the sight of dainties. [73] 3. Sound but moderate
   sleep is its sign and its effect. Sound sleep cometh of moderate
   eating; he riseth early, and his wits are with him. 4. A spiritual joy
   and a devout prayer. 5. A suppressed and seldom anger. 6. A
   seldom-returning and a never-prevailing temptation. 8. To which add,
   that a temperate person is not curious of fancies and deliciousness. He
   thinks not much, and speaks not often of meat and drink; hath a
   healthful body and long life, unless it be hindered by some other
   accident: whereas to gluttony, the pain of watching and cholera, the
   pangs of the belly are continual company. And therefore Stratonicus
   said handsomely concerning the luxury of the Rhodians, "They built
   houses as if they were immortal; but they feasted as if they meant to
   live but a little while." And Antipater, by his reproach of the old
   glutton Demades, well expressed the baseness of this sin, saying, that
   Demades, now old, [74] and always a glutton, was like a spent
   sacrifice, nothing left of him but his belly and his tongue; all the
   man besides is gone.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [73] Cicero vocat Temperantiam ornatum vitae, in quo decorum illud et
   honestum situm est.

   [74] Plutarch. de Cupid. Divit.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Drunkenness.

   But I desire that it be observed, that because intemperance in eating
   is not so soon perceived by others as immoderate drinking, and the
   outward visible effects of it are not either so notorious or so
   ridiculous, therefore gluttony is not of so great disreptuation amongst
   men as drunkenness; yet, according to its degree, it puts on the
   greatness of the sin before God, and is most strictly to be attended
   to, lest we be surprised by our security and want of diligence, and the
   intemperance is alike criminal in both, according as the affections are
   either to the meat or drink. Gluttony is more uncharitable to the body,
   and drunkenness to the soul, or the understanding part of man; and
   therefore in Scripture is more frequently forbidden and declaimed
   against than the other: and sobriety hath by use obtained to signify
   temperance in drinking.

   Drunkenness is an immoderate affection and use of drink. That I call
   immoderate that is beside or beyond that order of good things for which
   God hath given us the use of drink. The ends are digestion of our meat,
   cheerfulness and refreshment of our spirits, or any end of health;
   beside which if we go, or at any time beyond it, it is inordinate and
   criminal -- it is the vice of drunkenness. It is forbidden by our
   blessed Saviour in these words: [75] "Take heed to yourselves, lest at
   any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness:"
   surfeiting, that is, the evil effects, the sottishness and remaining
   stupidity of habitual, or of the last night's drunkenness. For Christ
   forbids both the actual and the habitual intemperance; not only the
   effect of it, but also the affection to it; for in both there is sin.
   He that drinks but little, if that little makes him drunk, and if he
   knew beforehand his own infirmity, is guilty of surfeiting, not of
   drunkenness. [76] But he that drinks much, and is strong to bear it,
   and is not deprived of his reason violently, is guilty of the sin of
   drunkenness. It is a sin not to prevent such uncharitable effects upon
   the body and understanding, and therefore a man that loves not the
   drink is guilty of surfeiting if he does not watch to prevent the evil
   effect; and it is a sin, and the greater of the two, inordinately to
   love or to use the drink, though the surfeiting or violence do not
   follow. Good, therefore, is the counsel of the son of Sirach, Show not
   thy valiantness in wine; for wine hath destroyed many.' [77]
     __________________________________________________________________

   [75] Luke xxi. 34.

   [76] Kraipalm apo pphoteraias aut apo chdizms oino posias.--Schol. in
   Aristoph. Idem fere apud Plutarch. Vinolentia animi quandam remissiem
   et levitatem, ebrietas futilitatem significat.--Plutarch. de Garrul.

   [77] Ecclus. xxxi. 25.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Evil Consequents to Drunkenness.

   The evils and sad consequents of drunkenness (the consideration of
   which are as so many arguments to avoid the sin) are to this sense
   reckoned by the writers of holy Scripture, and other wise personages of
   the world. 1. It causeth woes and mischief, [78] wounds and sorrow, sin
   and shame; [79] it maketh bitterness of spirit, brawling and
   quarrelling; it increaseth rage and lesseneth strength; it maketh red
   eyes, and a loost and babbling tongue. 2. It particularly ministers to
   lust, and yet disables the body; so that in effect it makes man wanton
   as a satyr, and impotent as age. And Solomon, in enumerating the evils
   of this vice, adds this to the account, [80] thine eyes shall behold
   strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things: as if the
   drunkard were only desire, and then impatience, muttering and enjoying
   like an eunuch embracing a woman. 3. It besots and hinders the actions
   of the understanding, making a man brutish in his passions, and a fool
   in his reason; and differs nothing from madness but that it is
   voluntary, and so is an equal evil in nature, and a worse in manners.
   [81] 4. It takes off all the guards, and lets loose the reins of all
   those evils to which a man is by is nature or by his evil customs
   inclined, and from which he is restrained by reason and severe
   principles. Drunkenness calls off the watchmen from their towers; and
   then all the evils that can proceed from a loose heart and an untied
   tongue, and a dissolute spirit, and an unguarded unlimited will, all
   that we may put upon the accounts of drunkenness. 5. It extinguisheth
   and quenches the Spirit of God and with wine at the same time. And
   therefore St. Paul makes them exclusive of each other: [82] Be not
   drunk with wine wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.' And
   since Joseph's cup was put into Benjamin's sack, no man had a divining
   goblet. 6. It opens all the sanctuaries of nature, and discovers the
   nakedness of the soul, all its weaknesses and follies; it multiplies
   sins and discovers them; it makes a man incapable of being a private
   friend or a public counsellor. 7. It taketh a man's soul into slavery
   and imprisonment more than any vice whatever, [83] because it disarms a
   man of all his reason and his wisdom, whereby he might be cured, and
   therefore commonly it grows upon him with age; a drunkard being still
   more a fool and less a man. I need not add any sad examples, since all
   story and all ages have too many of them. Amnon was slain by his
   brother Absalom when he was warm and high with wine. Simon, the
   high-priest, and two of his sons, were slain by their brother at a
   drunken feast. Holofernes was drunk when Judith slew him; and all the
   great things that Daniel spake of Alexander [84] were drowned with a
   surfeit of one night's intemperance: and the drunkenness of Noah and
   Lot are upon record to eternal ages, that in those early instances, and
   righteous persons, and less criminal drunkenness than is that of
   Christians in this period of the world, God might show that very great
   evils are prepared to punish this vice; no less than shame, and
   slavery, and incest; the first upon Noah, the second upon one of his
   sons, and the third in the person of Lot.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [78] Prov. xxiii. 29; Ecclus. xxxi. 26.

   [79] Multa faciunt ebrii quibus sobrii erubescunt. Senec. Ep. 83, 17.

   [80] Prov. xxiii. 33.

   [81] Insaniae comes est ira, contubernalis ebrietas.--Plutarch --
   Corpus onustum Hesternis vitiis animum quoque praegravat.--Horat.
   Ebrietas est voluntaria insania.--Senec.

   [82] Ephes. v. 18.

   [83] Prov. xxxi. 4.

   [84] Alexandrum intemperantia bibendi, et ille Herculanus ac fatalis
   scyphus perdidit.--Senec. Ep. 1xxxiii. 21.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Signs of Drunkenness.

   But if it be inquired concerning the periods and distinct
   significations of this crime; and when a man is said to be drunk; to
   this I answer, that drunkenness in in the same manner to be judged as
   sickness. As every illness or violence done to health, in every part of
   its continuance, is a part or degree of sickness; so is every going off
   from our natural and common temper and our usual severity of behaviour,
   a degree of drunkenness. He is not only drunk that can drink no more;
   for few are so: but he hath sinned in a degree of drunkenness who hath
   done anything towards it beyond his proper measure. But its parts and
   periods are usually thus reckoned: 1. apish gestures; 2. much talking;
   3. immoderate laughing; 4. dullness of sense; 5. scurrility, that is,
   wanton, or jeering, or abusive language; 6. an useless understanding;
   7. stupid sleep; 8. epilepsies, or fallings and reelings, and beastly
   vomitings. The least of these, even when the tongue begins to be
   untied, is a degree of drunkenness.

   But that we may avoid the sin of intemperance in meats and drinks,
   besides the former rules of measures, these counsels also may be
   useful.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for obtaining Temperance.

   1. Be not often present at feasts, nor at all in dissolute company,
   when it may be avoided, for variety of pleasing objects steals away the
   heart of man; and company is either violent or enticing, and we are
   weak or complying, or perhaps desirous enough to be abused. But if you
   be unavoidably or indiscreetly engaged, let not mistaken civility or
   good nature engage thee either to the temptation of staying, (if thou
   understandest thy weakness,) or the sin of drinking inordinately.

   2. Be severe in your judgment concerning your proportions, and let no
   occasion make you enlarge far beyond your ordinary. For a man is
   surprised by parts; and while he thinks one glass more will not make
   him drunk, that one glass hath disabled him from well discerning his
   present condition and neighbour-danger. While men think themselves
   wise, they become fools: they think they shall taste the aconite and
   not die, or crown their heads with juice of poppy and not be drowsy;
   and if they drink off the whole vintage, still they think they can
   swallow another goblet. [85] But remember this, whenever you begin to
   consider whether you may safely take one draught more, it is then high
   time to give over. Let that be accounted a sign late enough to break
   off; for every reason to doubt is a sufficient reason to part the
   company.

   3. Come not to table but when thy need invites thee; and, if thou beest
   in health, leave something of thy appetite unfilled, something of thy
   natural heat unemployed, that it may secure thy digestion and serve
   other needs of nature or the spirit.

   4. Propound to thyself (if thou beest in a capacity) a constant rule of
   living, of eating and drinking, which, though it may not be fit to
   observe scrupulously, lest it become a snare to thy conscience, or
   endanger thy health upon every accidental violence; yet let not thy
   rule be broken often nor much, but upon great necessity and in small
   degrees.

   5. Never urge any man to eat or drink beyond his own limits and his own
   desires. He that does otherwise is drunk with his brother's surfeit,
   [86] and reels and falls with his intemperance; that is, the sin of
   drunkenness is upon both their scores, they both lie wallowing in the
   guilt.

   6. Use St. Paul's instruments of sobriety: Let us who are of the day be
   sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for an
   helmet, the hope of salvation.' Faith, hope, and charity are the best
   weapons in the world to fight against intemperance. The faith of the
   Mahometans forbids them to drink wine, and they abstain religiously, as
   the sons of Rechab; and the faith of Christ forbids drunkenness to us,
   and therefore is infinitely more powerful to suppress this vice, when
   we remember that we are Christians, and to abstain from drunkenness and
   gluttony is part of the faith and discipling of Jesus, and that with
   these vices neither our love to God nor our hopes of heaven can
   possibly consist; and, therefore, when these enter the heart the others
   go out at the mouth; for this is the devil that is cast out by fasting
   and prayer, which are the proper actions of these graces.

   7. As a pursuance of this rule, it is a good advice, that, as we begin
   and end all our times of eating with prayer and thanksgiving, so, at
   the meal, we remove and carry up our mind and spirit to the celestial
   table, often thinking of it, and often desiring it; that by enkindling
   thy desire to heavenly banquets, thou mayest be indifferent and less
   passionate for the earthly.

   8. Mingle discourses, pious, or in some sense, profitable, and in all
   senses charitable and innocent, with thy meal, as occasion is
   ministered.

   9. Let your drink so serve your meat as your meat doth your health;
   that it be apt to convey and digest it, and refresh the spirits; but
   let it never go beyond such a refreshment as may a little lighten the
   present load of a sad or troubled spirit, never to inconvenience,
   lightness, sottishness, vanity, or intemperance; and know that the
   loosing the bands of the tongue, and the very first dissolution of its
   duty, is one degree of the intemperance.

   10. In all cases be careful, that you be not brought under the power of
   such things which otherwise are lawful enough in the use. "All things
   are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any",
   said St. Paul. And to be perpetually longing, and impatiently desirous
   of anything, so that a man cannot abstain from it, is to lose a man's
   liberty, and to become a servant of meat and drink, or smoke. And I
   wish this last instance were more considered by persons who little
   suspect themselves guilty of intemperance, though their desires are
   strong and impatient, and the use of it perpetual and unreasonable to
   all purposes, but that they have made it habitual and necessary as
   intemperance itself is made to some men.

   11. Use those advices which are prescribed as instruments, to suppress
   voluptuousness, in the foregoing section.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [85] Chi ha bevuto tutto il mare, puo bere anche un trano.--Senec. Ep.
   83.

   [86] Nil interest, faveas sceleri, an illud facias.--Senec.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION III.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Chastity

   Reader, stay, and read not the advices of the following section, unless
   thou hast a chaste spirit, or desirest to be chaste, or at least art
   apt to consider whether you ought or no. For there are some spirits so
   atheistical, and some so wholly possessed with a spirit of uncleanness,
   that they turn the most prudent and chaste discourses into dirty and
   filthy apprehensions; like choleric stomachs, changing their very
   cordials and medicines into bitterness, and, in a literal sense,
   turning the grace of God into wantonness. They study cases of
   conscience in the matter of carnal sins, not to avoid, but to learn
   ways how to offend God and pollute their own spirits; and search their
   houses with a sunbeam, that they may be instructed in all the corners
   of nastiness. I have used all the care I could in the following
   periods, that I might neither be wanting to assist those that need it,
   nor yet minister any occasion of fancy or vainer thoughts to those that
   need them not. If any man will snatch the pure taper from my hand and
   hold it to the devil, he will only burn his own fingers, but shall not
   rob me of the reward of my care and good intention, since I have taken
   heed how to express the following duties, and given him caution how to
   read them.

   Chastity is that duty which was mystically intended by God in the law
   of circumcision. It is the circumcision of the heart, the cutting off
   all superfluity of naughtiness, and a suppression of all irregular
   desires in the matters of sensual or carnal pleasure. I call all
   desires irregular and sinful that are not sanctified: 1. by the holy
   institution, or by being within the protection of marriage; 2. by being
   within the order of nature; 3. by being within the moderation of
   Christian modesty. Against the first are fornication, adultery, and all
   voluntary pollutions of either sex. Against the second are all
   unnatural lusts and incestuous mixtures. Against the third is all
   immoderate use of permitted beds, concerning meats and drinks, there
   being no certain degree of frequency or intention prescribed to all
   persons; but it is to be ruled as the other actions of a man, by
   proportion to the end, by the dignity of the person in the honour and
   severity of being a Christian, and by other circumstances of which I am
   to give account.

   Chastity is that grace which forbids and restrains all these, keeping
   the body and soul pure in that state in which it is placed by God,
   whether of the single or of the married life; concerning which our duty
   is thus described by St. Paul: For this is the will of God, even your
   sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication; that every one
   of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and
   honour, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which
   know not God.' [87]

   Chastity is either abstinence or continence. Abstinence is that of
   virgins or widows; continence of married persons. Chaste marriage are
   honourable and pleasing to God; widowhood is pitiable in its
   solitariness and loss, but amiable and comely when it is adorned with
   gravity and purity, and not sullied with remembrances of the past
   license, nor with present desires of returning to a second bed. But
   virginity is a life of angels, the enamel of the soul, the huge
   advantage of religion, the great opportunity for the retirements of
   devotion; [88] and, being empty of cares it is full of prayers; being
   unmingled with the world, it is apt to converse with God; and by not
   feeling the warmth of a too forward and indulgent nature, flames out
   with holy fires till it be burning like the cherubim and the most
   ecstasied order of holy and unpolluted spirits.

   Natural virginity, of itself, is not a state more acceptable to God;
   but that which is chosen and voluntary, in order to the conveniences of
   religion and separation from worldly encumbrances, is therefore better
   than the married life, not that it is more holy, but that it is a
   freedom from cares, an opportunity to spend more time in spiritual
   employments. It is not allayed with businesses and attendances upon
   lower affairs; and if it be a chosen condition to these ends, it
   containeth in it a victory over lusts, and greater desires of religion
   and self-denial, and therefore is more excellent than the married life,
   in that degree in which it hath greater religion, and a greater
   mortification, a less satisfaction of natural desires, and a greater
   fulness of the spiritual: and just so is to expect that little coronet,
   or special reward, which God hath prepared (extraordinary and besides
   the great crown of all faithful souls) for those who have not defiled
   themselves with women, but follow the virgin Lamb for ever.' [89]

   But some married persons, even in their marriage, do better please God
   than some virgins in their state of virginity: they, by giving great
   example of conjugal affection, by preserving their faith unbroken, by
   educating children in the fear of God, by patience, and contentedness,
   and holy thoughts, and the exercise of virtues proper to that state, do
   not only please God, but do in a higher degree than those virgins whose
   piety is not answerable to their great opportunities and advantages.

   However, married persons, and widows, and virgins, are all servants of
   God, and co-heirs in the inheritance of Jesus, if they live within the
   restraints and laws of their particular estate, chastely, temperately,
   justly, and rigorously.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [87] 1 Thess. iv. 3-5.

   [88] Virginitas est, in arne corruptibili, incorruptionis perpetua
   meditatio--St. Aug. 1. de Virg. c.13.

   [89] Apoc. xiv. 4.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The evil Consequent of Uncleanness.

   The blessings and proper effects of chastity we shall best understand,
   by reckoning the evils of uncleanness and carnality.

   1. Uncleanness, of all vices, is the most shameful. The eye of the
   adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and
   disguiseth his face. In the dark they dig through houses, which they
   had marked for themselves in the day-time; they knew not the light, for
   the morning is to them as the shadow of death. He is swift as the
   waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; he beholdeth not the way
   of the vineyards.' [90] Shame is the eldest daughter of uncleanness.
   [91]

   2. The appetites of uncleanness are full of cares and trouble, and its
   fruitation is sorrow and repentance. The way of the adulterer is hedged
   with thorns; [92] full of fears and jealousies, burning desires and
   impatient waitings, tediousness of delay, and sufferance of affronts
   and amazements of discovery. [93]

   3. Most of its kinds are of that condition that they involve the ruin
   of two souls, and he that is a fornicator or adulterous steals the
   soul, as well as dishonours the body of his neighbour; and so it
   becomes like the sin of falling Lucifer, who brought a part of the
   stars with his tail from heaven.

   4. Of all carnal sins, it is that alone which the devil takes delight
   to imitate and counterfeit; communicating with witches and impure
   persons in the corporal act, but in this only.

   5. Uncleanness, with all its kinds, is a vice which hath a professed
   enmity against the body, Every sin which a man doth is without the
   body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.'
   [94]

   6. Uncleanness is hugely contrary to the spirit of government [95] by
   embasing the spirit of a man, making if effeminate, sneaking, soft, and
   foolish, without courage, without confidence. David felt this after his
   folly with Bathsheba; he fell to unkingly acts and stratagems to hide
   the crime; and he did nothing but increase it, and remained timorous
   and poor spirited, till he prayed to God once more to establish him
   with a free and a princely spirit. [96] And no superior dare strictly
   observe discipline upon his charge, if he hath let himself loose to the
   shame of incontinence.

   7.The gospel hath added two arguments against uncleanness which were
   never before used, nor, indeed, could be; since God hath given the Holy
   Spirit to them that are baptized, and rightly confirmed and entered
   into covenant with him, our bodies are made temples of the Holy Ghost,
   in which he dwells; and therefore uncleanness is sacrilege, and defiles
   a temple. It is St. Paul's argument, Know ye not that your body is the
   temple of the Holy Ghost?' [97] and He that defiles a temple him will
   God destroy. [98] Therefore glorify God in your bodies; that is, flee
   fornication. To which, for the likeness of the argument, add, that our
   bodies are members of Christ; and therefore God forbid that we should
   take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot.' So that
   uncleanness dishonours Christ, and dishonours the Holy Spirit: it is a
   sin against God, and in this sense, a sin against the Holy Ghost.

   8. The next special argument which the gospel ministers, especially
   against adultery, and for the preservation of the purity of marriage,
   is, that marriage is by Christ hallowed into a mystery, to signify the
   sacramental and mystical union of Christ and his church. [99] He,
   therefore, that breaks this knot, which the church and their mutual
   faiths have tied, and Christ hath knit up into a mystery dishonours a
   great rite of Christianity, of high, spiritual, and excellent
   signification.

   9. St. Gregory reckons uncleanness to be the parent of these monsters,
   blindness of mind, inconsideration, precipitancy, or giddiness in
   actions, self-love, hatred of God, love of the present pleasures, a
   despite or despair of the joys of religion here, and of heaven
   hereafter. Whereas, a pure mind in a chaste body is the mother of
   wisdom and deliberation, sober counsels and ingenuous actions, open
   deportment and a sweet carriage, sincere principles and unprejudicate
   understanding, love of God and self-denial, peace and confidence, holy
   prayers and spiritual comfort, and a pleasure of spirit infinitely
   greater than the sottish and beastly pleasures of unchastity. "For to
   overcome pleasure is the greatest pleasure; and no victory is greater
   than that which is gotten over our lusts and filthy inclinations."

   10. Add to all these, the public dishonesty and disreputation that all
   the nations of the world have cast upon adulterous and unhallowed
   embraces. Abimelech, to the men of Gerar, made it death to meddle with
   the wife of Isaac, and Judah condemned Thamar to be burnt for her
   adulterous conception; and God, besides the law made to put the
   adulterous person to death, did constitute a settled and constant
   miracle to discover the adultery of a suspected woman, that her bowels
   should burst with drinking the waters of jealousy. The Egyptian law was
   to cut off the nose of the adulteress, and the offending part of the
   adulterer. The Locrians put out both the adulterer's eyes. The Germans
   (as Tacitus reports) placed the adulteress amidst her kindred, naked,
   and shaved her head, and caused her husband to beat her with clubs
   through the city. The Gortynaeans crowned the man with wool, to shame
   him for his effeminacy; and the Cumani caused the woman to ride upon an
   ass, naked, and hooted at, and for ever after called her by an
   appellative of scorn, "a rider upon the ass." All nations, barbarous
   and evil, agreeing in their general design, of rooting so dishonest and
   shameful a vice from under heaven.

   The middle ages of the church were not pleased that the adulteress
   should be put to death: but in the primitive ages, the civil laws by
   which Christians were then governed gave leave to the wronged husband
   to kill his adulterous wife if he took her in the fact; but because it
   was a privilege indulged to men, rather than a direct detestation of
   the crime, a consideration of the injury rather than of the
   uncleanness, therefore it was soon altered; but yet hath caused an
   inquiry, Whether is worse, the adultery of the man or the woman?

   The resolution of which case, in order to our present affair, is thus:
   in respect of the person, the fault is greater in a man than in a
   woman, who is of a more pliant and easy spirit, and weaker
   understanding, and hath nothing to supply the unequal strengths of men,
   but the defensative of a passive nature and armour of modesty, which is
   the natural ornament of that sex. "And it is unjust that the man should
   demand chastity and severity from his wife which himself will not
   observe towards her, [100] said the good Emperor Antoninus: it is as if
   the man should persuade his wife to fight against those enemies to
   which he had yielded himself a prisoner. [101] In respect of the
   effects and evil consequents, the adultery of the woman is worse, as
   bringing bastardly into a family, and disinherisons or great injuries
   to the lawful children, and infinite violations of peace, and murders,
   and divorces, and all the effects of rage and madness. But in respect
   of the crime, and as relating to God, they are equal, intolerable, and
   damnable: and since it is no more permitted to men to have many wives
   than to women to have many husbands, and that in this respect their
   privilege is equal, their sin is so too. And this is the case of the
   question in Christianity. And the church anciently refused to admit
   such persons to the holy communion, until they had done seven years
   penances in fasting, in sackcloth, in severe inflictions and
   instruments of charity and sorrow, according to the discipline of those
   ages.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [90] Job, xxiv. 15, etc.

   [91] Atiria paxm.

   [92] Hos. ii. 6.

   [93] Appetitus fornicationis anxietas est, satietas vero
   poenitentia.--S. Hieron.

   [94] 1 Cor. vi. 18.

   [95] phxartikai ton archon.

   [96] Spiritu principali me confirma.--Psal. 1l.

   [97] 1 Cor. vi. 19.

   [98] 1 Cor. iii. 17.

   [99] Ephes. v. 32.

   [100] Apud Aug. de Adulter. Conjug-Plut. Conjug. Praecept.--Casso
   saltem delectamine amare quot potiri non licest.

   [101] Patellas luxuriae oculos, dixit Isidorus.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Acts of Chastity in general.

   The actions and proper office of the grace of chastity in general, are
   these:

   1. To resist all unchaste thoughts: at no hand entertaining pleasure in
   the unfruitful fancies and remembrances of uncleanness, although no
   definite desire or resolution be entertained.

   2. At no hand to entertain any desire, or any fantastic imaginative
   loves, though by shame, or disability, or other circumstance, they be
   restrained from act.

   3. To have a chaste eye and hand: [102] for it is all one with what
   part of the body we commit adultery: and if a man lets his eye loose
   and enjoys the lust of that, he is an adulterer. Look not upon a woman
   to lust after her. And supposing all the other members restrained, yet
   if the eye be permitted to lust, the man can no otherwise be called
   chaste than he can be called severe and mortified that sits all day
   long seeing plays and revellings, and out of greediness to fill his
   eye, neglects his belly. There are some vessels which, if you offer to
   lift by the belly or bottom, you cannot stir them, but are soon removed
   if you take them by the ears. It matters not with which of your members
   you are taken and carried off from your duty and severity.

   4. To have a heart and mind chaste and pure; that is, detesting all
   uncleanness; disliking all its motions, past actions, circumstances,
   likenesses, discourses: and this ought to be the chastity of virgins
   and widows, of old persons and eunuchs especially, and generally of all
   men, according to their several necessities.

   5. To discourse chastely and purely; [103] with great care declining
   all indecencies of language, chastening the tongue and restraining it
   with grace, as vapours of wine are restrained with a bunch of myrrh.

   6. To disapprove by an after-act all involuntary and natural
   pollutions: for, if a man delights in having suffered any natural
   pollution, and with pleasure remembers it, he chooses that which was in
   itself involuntary; and that which, being natural, was innocent,
   becoming voluntary, is made sinful.

   7. They that have performed these duties and parts of chastity will
   certainly abstain from all exterior actions of uncleanness, those
   noonday and midnight devils, those lawless and ungodly worshippings of
   shame and uncleanness, whose birth is in trouble, whose growth is in
   folly, and whose end is in shame.

   But besides these general acts of chastity which are common to all
   states of men and women, there are some few things to the severals.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [102] Time videre unde possis cadere, et noli fieri perversa
   simplicitate securus.--St. Aug.

   [103] Sp. Minucius Pontifex Posthumium monuit, ne verbis vitae
   eastimoniam non aequantibus uteretur.--Plut. de Cap. ex Inim Utilit.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Acts of Virginal Chastity.

   1. Virgins must remember, that the virginity of the body is only
   excellent in order to the purity of the soul; who therefore must
   consider, that since they are in the some measure in a condition like
   that of angels, it is their duty to spend much of their time in
   angelical employment: for in the same degree that virgins live more
   spiritually than other persons, in the same degree is their virginity a
   more excellent state. But else, it is no better than that of
   involuntary or constrained eunuchs; a misery and a trouble, or else a
   mere privation, as much without excellency as without mixture.

   2. Virgins must contend for a singular modesty; whose first part must
   be an ignorance in the distinction of sexes, or their proper
   instruments; or if they accidentally be instructed in that, it must be
   supplied with an inadvertency or neglect of all thoughts and
   remembrances of such difference; and the following parts of it must be
   pious and chaste thoughts, holy language, and modest carriage.

   3. Virgins must be retired and unpublic: for all freedom and looseness
   of society is a violence done to virginity, not in its natural, but in
   its moral capacity; that is, it loses part of its severity, strictness,
   and opportunity of advantages, by publishing that person whose work is
   religion, whose company is angels, whose thoughts must dwell in heaven,
   and separate from all mixtures of the world.

   4. Virgins have a peculiar obligation to charity: for this is the
   virginity of the soul; as purity, integrity, and separation is of the
   body: which doctrine we are taught by St. Peter: Seeing ye have
   purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto
   unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a
   pure heart, fervently.' [104] For a virgin that consecrates her body to
   God, and pollutes her spirit with rage, or impatience, or inordinate
   anger, gives him what he most hates, a most foul and defiled soul.

   5. These rules are necessary for virgins that offer that state to God,
   and mean not to enter into the state of marriage; for they that only
   wait the opportunity of a convenient change are to steer themselves by
   the general rules of chastity.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [104] 1 Pet. i. 22.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for Widows or Vidual Chastity.

   For widows, the fontanel of whose desires hath been opened by the
   former permissions of the marriage-bed, they must remember,

   1. That God hath now restrained the former license, bound up their
   eyes, and shut up their heart into a narrower compass, and hath given
   them sorrow to be a bridle to their desires. A widow must be a mourner;
   and she that is not cannot so well secure the chastity of her proper
   state.

   2. It is against public honesty to marry another man so long as she is
   with child by her former husband: and of the same fame it is, in a
   lesser proportion, to marry within the year of mourning; but anciently
   it was infamous for her to marry till by common account the body was
   dissolved into its first principle of earth.

   3. A widow must restrain her memory and her fancy, not recalling or
   recounting her former permissions and freer licenses with any present
   delight: for then she opens that slice which her husband's death and
   her own sorrow have shut up.

   4. A widow that desires her widowhood should be a state pleasing to
   God, must spend her time as devoted virgins should, in fastings and
   prayers and charity.

   5. A widow must forbid herself to sue those temporal solaces, which in
   her former estate were innocent, but now are dangerous.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for Married Persons, or Matrimonial Chastity.

   Concerning married persons, besides the keeping of their mutual faith
   and contract with each other, these particulars are useful to be
   observed: [105]

   1. Although their mutual endearments are safe within the protection of
   marriage, yet they that have wives or husbands must be as though they
   had them not; that is, they must have an affection greater to each
   other than they have to any person in the world, but not greater than
   they have to God: but that they be ready to part with all interest in
   each other's person rather than sin against God.

   2. In their permissions and license they must be sure to observe the
   order of nature, and the ends of God. "He is an ill husband that uses
   his wife as a man treats a harlot," having no other end but pleasure.
   Concerning which our best rule is, that although in this, as in eating
   and drinking, there is an appetite to be satisfied which cannot be done
   without pleasing that desire, yet, since that desire and satisfaction
   was intended by nature for other ends, they should never be separate
   from those ends, but always be joined with all or one of these ends,
   "with a desire of children, or to avoid fornication, or to lighten and
   ease the cares and sadnesses of household affairs, or to endear each
   other: "but never with a purpose, either in act or desire, to separate
   the sensuality from these ends which hallow it. Onan did separate his
   act from it proper end, and so ordered his embraces that his wife
   should not conceive, and God punished him.

   3. Married persons must keep such modesty and decency of treating each
   other, that they never force themselves into high and violent lusts,
   with arts and misbecoming devices; always remembering, that those
   mixtures are most innocent which are most simple and most natural, most
   orderly and most safe.

   4. It is a duty of matrimonial chastity to be restrained and temperate
   in the use of their lawful pleasures: concerning which, although no
   universal rule can antecedently be given to all persons, any more than
   to all bodies one proportion of meat and drink, yet married persons are
   to estimate the degree of their license according to the following
   proportions. 1. That it be moderate, so as to consist with health. 2.
   That it be so ordered as not to be too expensive of time, that precious
   opportunity of working out our salvation. 3. That when duty is
   demanded, it be always paid (so far as is in our powers and election)
   according to the foregoing measures. 4. That it be with a temperate
   affection, without violent transporting desires, or too sensual
   applications. Concerning which a man is to make judgment by proportion
   to other actions, and the severities of his religion, and the sentences
   of sober and wise persons; always remembering, that marriage is a
   provision for supply of the natural necessities of the body, not for
   the artificial and procured appetites of the mind. And it is a sad
   truth, that many married persons, thinking that the flood-gates of
   liberty are set wide open without measures or restraint, (so they sail
   in that channel,) have felt the final rewards of intemperance and lust,
   by their unlawful using of lawful permissions. Only let each of them be
   temperate, and both of them be modest. Socrates was wont to say, that
   those women to whom nature hath not been indulgent in good features and
   colours, should make it up themselves with excellent manners; and those
   who were beautiful and comely should be careful that so fair a body be
   not polluted with unhandsome usages. To which Plutarch adds, that a
   wife, if she be unhandsome, should consider how extremely ugly she
   would be if she wanted modesty: but if she be handsome, let her think
   how gracious that beauty would be if she super adds chastity.

   5. Married persons by consent are to abstain from their mutual
   entertainments at solemn times of devotion; not as a duty of itself
   necessary, but as being the most proper act of purity, which, in their
   condition, they can present to God, and being a good advantage for
   attending their preparation to the solemn duty and their demeanour in
   it. It is St. Paul's counsel, that by consent for a time they should
   abstain, that they may give themselves to fasting and prayer.' And
   though when Christians did receive the holy communion every day, it is
   certain they did not abstain but had children; yet, when the communion
   was more seldom, they did with religion abstain from the marriage-bed
   during the time of their solemn preparatory devotions, as anciently
   they did from eating and drinking, till the solemnity of the day was
   past.

   6. It were well if married persons would, in their penitential prayers,
   and in their general confessions, suspect themselves, and accordingly
   ask a general pardon for all their indecencies, and more passionate
   applications of themselves in the offices of marriage; that what is
   lawful and honourable in its kind may not be sullied with imperfect
   circumstances; or, if it be, it may be made clean again by the
   interruption and recallings of such a repentance, of which such
   uncertain parts of action are capable.

   But, because of all the dangers of a Christian, none more pressing and
   troublesome than the temptations to lust, no enemy more dangerous than
   that of the flesh, no accounts greater than what we have to reckon for
   at the audit of concupiscence, therefore it concerns all that would be
   safe from this death to arm themselves by the following rules, to
   prevent or to cure all the wounds of our flesh made by the poisoned
   arrows of lust.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [105] Nisi fundamenta stirpis jacta sint probe, Miseros necesse est
   esse deinceps posteros.--Eurip.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Remedies against Uncleanness.

   1. When a temptation of lust assaults thee, do not resist it by heaping
   up arguments against it and disputing with it; considering its offers
   and its dangers, but fly from it; [106] that is, think not at all of
   it, lay aside all consideration concerning it, and turn away from it by
   any severe and laudable thought of business. Saint Jerome very
   wittingly reproves the Gentile superstition, who pictured the
   virgin-deities armed with a shield and lance, as if chastity could not
   be defended without war and direct contention. No; this enemy is to be
   treated otherwise. If you hear it speak, though but to dispute with it,
   it ruins you; and the very arguments you go about to answer, leave a
   relish upon the tongue. A man may be burned if he goes near the fire,
   though but to quench his house; and by handling pitch, though but to
   draw it from your clothes, you defile your fingers.

   2. Avoid idleness, and fill up all the spaces of thy time with severs
   and useful employment; for lust usually creeps in at those emptinesses
   where the soul is unemployed, and the body is at ease. For no easy,
   healthful, and idle person was ever chaste, if he could be tempted. But
   of all employments bodily labour is most useful, and of greatest
   benefit for the driving away the devil.

   3. Give no entertainment to the beginnings, the first motions and
   secret whispers of the spirit of impurity: for if you totally suppress
   it, it dies; [107] if you permit the furnace to breathe its smoke and
   flame out at any vent, it will rage to the consumption of the whole.
   This cockatrice is soonest crushed in the shell; but if it grows, it
   turns to a serpent, and a dragon, and a devil.

   4. Corporal mortification, and hard usages of our body, hath, by all
   ages of the church, been accounted a good instrument, and of some
   profit against the spirit of fornication. A spare diet, and a thin
   course table, seldom refreshment, frequent fasts, not violent, and
   interrupted with returns to ordinary feeding, but constantly little,
   unpleasant, of wholesome but sparing nourishment: for by such cutting
   off the provisions of vectorial, we shall weaken the strengths of our
   enemy. To which if we add lyings upon the ground, painful postures in
   prayer, reciting our devotions with our arms extended at full length,
   like Moses praying against Amalek, or our blessed Saviour hanging upon
   his painful bed of sorrows, the cross, and (if the lust be upon us, and
   sharply tempting) by inflicting any smart to overthrow the strongest
   passion by the most violent pain, we shall find great ease for the
   present, and the resolution and apt sufferance against the future
   danger. And this was St. Paul's remedy. I bring my body under;' he used
   some rudenesses towards it. But it was a great nobleness of chastity
   which St. Jerome reports of a son of the king of Nicomedia, [108] who,
   being tempted upon flowers and a perfumed bed with a soft violence, but
   yet tied down to the temptation, and solicited with circumstances of
   Asian luxury by an impure courtesan, lest the easiness of his posture
   should abuse him, spit out his tongue into her face; to represent that
   no virtue hath cost the saints so much as this of chastity. [109]

   5. Fly from all occasions, temptations, loosenesses of company, balls
   and revellings, indecent mixtures of wanton dancings, idle talk,
   private society with strange women, starings upon a beauteous face, the
   company of women that are singers, amorous gestures, garish and wanton
   dresses, feasts and liberty, banquets and perfumes, [110] wine and
   strong drink, which are made to persecute chastity; some of these being
   the very prologues to lust, and the most innocent of them being but
   like condited or pickled mushrooms, which if carefully corrected and
   seldom tasted may be harmless, but can never do good: ever remembering,
   that it is easier to die for chastity than to live with it; and the
   hangman could not extort a consent from some persons from whom a lover
   would have entreated it. For the glory of chastity will easily overcome
   the rudeness of fear and violence; but easiness and softness and smooth
   temptations creep in, and, like the sun, make a maiden lay by her veil
   and robe, which persecution, like the northern wind, makes her hold
   fast and clap close about her.

   6. He that will secure his chastity must first cure his pride and his
   rage. For oftentimes lust is the punishment of a proud man, to tame the
   vanity of his pride by the shame and affronts of unchastity; and the
   same intemperate heat that makes anger does enkindle lust.

   7. If thou beest assaulted with an unclean spirit, trust not thyself
   alone; but run forth into company whose reverence and modesty may
   suppress, or whose society may divert thy thoughts: and a perpetual
   witness of thy conversation is of especial use against this vice, which
   evaporates in the open air like camphier, being impatient of light and
   witnesses.

   8. Use frequent and earnest prayers to the King of purities, that first
   of virgins, the eternal God, who is of an essential purity, that he
   would be pleased to reprove and cast out the unclean spirit. For beside
   the blessings of prayer by way of reward, it hath a natural virtue to
   restrain this vice: because a prayer against it is an unwillingness to
   act it; and so long as we heartily pray against it our desires are
   secured, and then this devil hath no power. This was St. Paul's other
   remedy: For this cause I besought the Lord thrice.' And there is much
   reason and much advantage in the use of this instrument; because the
   main thing that in this affair is to be secured is a man's mind. He
   that goes about to cure lust by bodily exercises alone(as St. Paul's
   phrase is) or mortifications, shall find them sometimes instrumental to
   it, and incitations of sudden desires, but always insufficient and of
   little profit: but he that hath a chaste mind shall find his body apt
   enough to take laws; and let it do its worst, it cannot make a sin, and
   in its greatest violence can but produce a little natural uneasiness,
   not so much trouble as a severe fasting-day, or a hard night's lodging
   upon boards. If a man be hungry he must eat; and if he be thirsty he
   must drink in some convenient time, or else he dies; but if the body be
   rebellious, so the mind be chaste, let it do its worst, if you resolve
   perfectly not to satisfy it, you can receive no great evil by it.
   Therefore the proper cure is by application to the spirit and
   securities of the mind, which can no way so well be secured as by
   frequent and fervent prayers, and sober resolutions, and severe
   discourses. Therefore,

   9. Hither bring in succor from consideration of the Divine presence and
   of his holy angels, mediation of death, and the passions of Christ upon
   the cross, imitation of his purities, and of the Virgin Mary, his
   unspotted and holy mother, and of such eminent saints, who, in their
   generations, were burning and shining lights, unmingled with such
   uncleannesses, which defile the soul, and who now follow the Lamb,
   withersoever he goes.

   10. These remedies are of universal efficacy, in all cases
   extraordinary and violent; but in ordinary and common, the remedy which
   God hath provided, that is, honourable marriage, [111] hath a natural
   efficacy, besides a virtue by Divine blessing, to cure the
   inconveniences which otherwise might afflict persons temperate and
   sober.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [106] Contra libidinis impetum apprehende fugam, si vis obtinere
   victoriam.--St. Aug. Nella guerra d' armr chi fuge vince.

   [107] Quisquis in primo obsitit Repulitqua amorem, tutus ac victor
   fuit: Qui blandiendo dulce nutrivit malum, Sero recusat ferre, quod
   subiit, jugum.--Senec. Hippol. 134.

   [108] In vita S. Pauli.

   [109] Benedictus in spinis se volutavit; S. Martinianus faciem et
   manus. S. Johanes, cognomento Bonus, calamos acutos inter ungues et
   carnem digitorum intrusit. S. Theoctistus in silvia more ferarum vixit,
   ne inter Arabes pollueretur.

   [110] Venus rosam amat propter fabellam, quam recitat.--Labanius.
   Venter mero awstuanus cito despumatur in libidines.--St Hieron. Il
   fuoco che non mi scalda, non voglio che mi scotti. -- numquid ego a te
   Magno prognatam deposco consule -- Velataque stola mea cum conferbuit
   ira?--Hobat. Serm 1.1. Sat 2.

   [111] Danda est opera at matrimonio devincianur, quod est tutissimum
   juventutis vinculum.--Plut. de Educ. Lib.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION IV.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Humility.

   Humility is the great ornament and jewel of Christian religion; that
   whereby it is distinguished from all the wisdom of the world; it not
   having been taught by the wise men of the Gentiles, but first put into
   a discipline, and made part of a religion, by our Lord Jesus Christ,
   who propounded himself imitable by his disciples so signally in nothing
   as in the twin sisters of meekness and humility. Learn of me, for I am
   meek and humble; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.'

   For all the world, all that we are, and all that we have, our bodies
   and our souls, our actions and our sufferings, our conditions at home,
   our accidents abroad, our many sins, and our seldom virtues, are as so
   many arguments to make our souls dwell low in the deep valleys of
   humility.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Arguments against Pride, by way of consideration.

   1. Our body is weak and impure, sending out more uncleannesses from its
   several sinks than could be endured, if they were not necessary and
   natural; and we are forced to pass that through our mouths, which as
   soon as we see upon the ground, we loathe like rottenness and vomiting.

   2. Our strength is inferior to that of many beasts, and our infirmities
   so many that we are forced to dress and tend horses and asses, that
   they may help our needs, and relieve our wants.

   3. Our beauty is in colour inferior to many flowers, and in proportion
   of parts it is no better than nothing; for even a dog hath parts as
   well proportioned and fitted to his purposes, and the designs of his
   nature, as we have; and when it is most florid and gay, three fits of
   an ague can change it into yellowness and leanness, and the hollowness
   and wrinkles of deformity.

   4. Our learning is then best when it teaches most humility; but to be
   proud of learning is the greatest ignorance in the world. For our
   learning is so long in getting, and so very imperfect, that the
   greatest clerk knows not the thousandth part of what he is ignorant;
   and knows so uncertainly what he seems to know, and knows no otherwise
   than a fool or a child even what is told him or what he guesses at,
   that except those things which concern his duty, and which God hath
   revealed to him, which also every woman knows so far as is necessary,
   the most learned man hath nothing to be proud of, unless this be a
   sufficient argument to exalt him, that he uncertainly guesses at some
   more unnecessary things than many others, who yet know all that
   concerns them, and mind other things more necessary for the needs of
   life and commonwealths.

   5. He that is proud of riches is a fool. For if he be exalted above his
   neighbours, because he hath more gold, how much inferior is he to a
   gold mine! How much is he to give place to a chain of pearl, or a knot
   of diamonds! For certainly that hath the greatest excellence from
   whence he derives all his gallantry and pre-eminence over his
   neighbours.

   6. If a man be exalted by reason of any excellence in his soul, he may
   please to remember that all souls are equal; and their differing
   operations are because their instrument is in better tune, their body
   is more healthful or better tempered; which is no more praise to him
   than it is that he was born in Italy.

   7. He that is proud of his birth is proud of the blessings of others,
   not of himself; for if his parents were more eminent in any
   circumstance than their neighbours, he is to thank God, and rejoice in
   them; but still he may be a fool, or unfortunate, or deformed; and when
   himself was born, it was indifferent to him whether his father were a
   king, or a peasant, for he knew not anything nor chose anything; and
   most commonly it is true, that he that boasts of his ancestors, who
   were the founders and raisers of a noble family, doth confess that he
   hath in himself a less virtue and a less honour, and therefore he is
   degenerated.

   8. Whatsoever other difference there is between thee and thy neighbour,
   if it be bad, it is thine own, but thou hast no reason to boast of thy
   misery and shame: if it be good thou hast received it from God; and
   then thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal
   to him, and it were a strange folly for a man to be proud of being more
   in debt than another.

   9. Remember what thou wert before thou wert begotten. Nothing. What
   wert thou in the first regions of thy dwelling, before thy birth?
   Uncleanness. What wert thou for many years after? A great sinner. What
   in all thy excellencies? A mere debtor to God, to thy parents, to the
   earth, to all the creatures. But we may, if we please, use the method
   of the Platonists, [112] who reduce all the causes and arguments for
   humility, which we can take from ourselves to these seven heads. 1. The
   spirit of a man is light and troublesome. 2. His body is brutish and
   sickly. 3. He is constant in his folly and error, and inconsistent in
   his manners and good purposes. 4. His labours are vain, intricate, and
   endless. 5. His fortune is changeable, but seldom pleasing, never
   perfect. 6. His wisdom comes not till he be ready to die, that is, till
   he be past using it. 7. His death is certain, always ready at the door,
   but never far off. Upon these or the like meditations if we dwell, or
   frequently retire to them, we shall see nothing more reasonable than to
   be humble, and nothing more foolish than to be proud.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [112] Apuleius de Dennon. Socratis.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Acts or Offices of Humility.

   The grace of humility is exercised by these following rules.

   1. Think not thyself better for anything that happens to thee from
   without. For although thou mayest, by gifts bestowed upon thee, be
   better than another, as one horse is better than another, that is of
   more use to others; yet as thou art a man, thou hast nothing to commend
   thee to thyself but that only by which thou art a man, that is, by what
   thou choosiest and refusest.

   2. Humility consists not in railing against thyself, or wearing mean
   clothes, or going softly and submissively; but in hearty and real evil
   or mean opinion of thyself. Believe thyself an unworthy person
   heartily, as thou believest thyself to be hungry, or poor, or sick,
   when thou art so.

   3. Whatsoever evil thou sayest of thyself, be content that others
   should think to be true: and if thou callest thyself fool, be not angry
   if another say so of thee. For if thou thinkest so truly, all men in
   the world desire other men to be of their opinion; and he is an
   hypocrite that accuses himself before others, with an intent not to be
   believed. But he that calls himself intemperate, foolish, lustful, and
   is angry when his neighbours call him so, is both a false and a proud
   person.

   4. Love to be concealed, and little esteemed: [113] be content to want
   praise, never being troubled when thou art slighted or undervalued; for
   thou canst not undervalue thyself, and if thou thinkest so meanly as
   there is reason, no contempt will seem unreasonable, and therefore it
   will be very tolerable. [114]

   5. Never be ashamed of thy birth, or thy parents, or thy trade, [115]
   or thy present employment, for the meanness or poverty of any of them;
   and when there is an occasion to speak of them, such an occasion as
   would invite you to speak of anything that pleases you, omit it not,
   but speak as readily and indifferently of thy meanness as of thy
   greatness. Primislaus, the first king of Bohemia, kept his
   country-shoes always by him, to remember from whence he was raised: and
   Agathocles, by the furniture of his table, confessed that from a potter
   he was raised to be the king of Sicily.

   6. Never speak anything directly tending to thy praise or glory; that
   is, with the purpose to be commended, and for no other end. If other
   ends be mingled with thy honour, as if the glory of God, or charity, or
   necessity, or anything of prudence be thy end, you are not tied to omit
   your discourse or your design, that you may avoid praise, but pursue
   your end, though praise come along in the company. Only let not praise
   be the design.

   7. When thou hast said or done anything for which thou receivest praise
   or estimation, take it indifferently, and return it to God, reflecting
   upon his as the giver of the gift, or the blesser of the action, or the
   aid of the design; and give God thanks for making thee an instrument of
   his glory, for the benefit of others.

   8. Secure a good name to thyself by living virtuously and humbly; but
   let this good name be nursed abroad, and never be brought home to look
   upon it: let others use it for their own advantage; let them speak of
   it if they please; but do not thou at all use it, but as an instrument
   to do God glory, and thy neighbour more advantage. Let thy face, like
   Moses's, shine to others, but make no looking-glasses for thyself.

   9. Take no content in praise when it is offered thee; but let thy
   rejoicing in God's gift be allayed with fear, lest this good bring thee
   to evil. Use the praise as you use your pleasure in eating and
   drinking; if it comes, make it do drudgery; let it serve other ends,
   and minister to necessities, and to caution, lest by pride you lose
   your just praise, which you have deserved, or else, by being praised
   unjustly, you receive shame into yourself with God and wise men.

   10. Use no stratagems and devices to get praise. Some use to inquire
   into the faults of their own actions or discourses, on purpose to hear
   that it was well done or spoken, and without fault; others bring the
   matter into talk, or thrust themselves into company, and intimate and
   give occasion to be thought or spoken of. These men make a bait to
   persuade themselves to swallow the hook, till by drinking the waters of
   vanity they swell and burst.

   11. Make no suppletories to thyself, when thou art disgraced or
   slighted, by pleasing thyself with supposing thou didest deserve
   praise, though they understood thee not, or enviously detracted from
   thee: neither do thou get to thyself a private theatre and flatterers,
   [116] in whose vain noises and fantastie praises thou mayest keep up
   thine own good opinion of thyself.

   12. Entertain no fancies of vanity and private whispers of this devil
   of pride, such as was that of Nebuchadnezzar: Is not this great
   Babylon, which I have built for the honour of my name, and the might of
   my majesty, and the power of my kingdom?' Some fantastic spirits will
   walk alone, and dream waking of greatness, of palaces, of excellent
   orations, full theatres, loud applauses, sudden advancement, great
   fortunes, and so will spend an hour with imaginative pleasure; all
   their employment being nothing but fumes of pride, and secret
   indefinite desires and significations of what their heart wishes. In
   this, although there is nothing of its own nature directly vicious, yet
   is either an ill mother or an ill daughter an ill sign or an ill
   effect; and therefore at no hand consisting with the safety and
   interests of humility.

   13. Suffer others to be praised in thy presence, and entertain their
   good and glory with delight; but at no hand disparage them, or lessen
   the report, or make an objection; and think not the advancement of thy
   brother is a lessening of thy worth. But this act is also to extend
   further.

   14. Be content that he should be employed, and thou laid by as
   unprofitable; his sentence approved, thine rejected; he be preferred,
   and thou fixed in a low employment.

   15. Never compare thyself with others, unless it be to advance them and
   to depress thyself. To which purpose, we must be sure, in some sense or
   other, to think ourselves the worst in every company where we come: one
   is more learned than I am, another is more prudent, a third more
   charitable, or less proud. For the humble man observes their good, and
   reflects only upon his own vileness; or considers the many evils of
   himself certainly known to himself, and the ill of others but by
   uncertain report; or he considers that the evils done by another are
   out of much infirmity or ignorance, but his own sins are against a
   clearer light, and if the other had so great helps, he would have done
   more good and less evil; or he remembers, that his old sins before his
   conversion were greater in the nature of the thing, or in certain
   circumstances, than the sins of other men. So St. Paul reckoned himself
   the chiefest of sinners, because formerly he had acted the chiefest sin
   of persecuting the church of God. But this rule is to be used with this
   caution, that though it be good always to think meanest of ourselves,
   yet it is not ever safe to speak it, because those circumstances and
   considerations which determine thy thoughts are not known to others as
   to thyself; and it may concern others that they hear thee give God
   thanks for the graces he hath given thee. But if thou preservest thy
   thoughts and opinions of thyself truly humble, you may with more safety
   give God thanks in public for that good which cannot, or ought not to
   be concealed.

   16. Be not always ready to excuse every oversight, or indiscretion, or
   ill action, but if thou beest guilty of it confess it plainly; for
   virtue scorns a lie for its cover, but to hide a sin with it is like a
   crust of leprosy drawn upon an ulcer. If thou beest not guilty (unless
   it be scandalous,) be not over-earnest to remove it, but rather use it
   as an argument to chastise all greatness of fancy and opinion in
   thyself; and accustom thyself to bear reproof patiently and
   contentedly, and the harsh words of thy enemies, as knowing that the
   anger of an enemy is a better monitor, and represents our faults, or
   admonishes us of our duty, with more heartiness than the kindness does
   or precious balms of a friend.

   17. Give God thanks for every weakness, deformity, and imperfection,
   and accept is as a favour and grace of God, and an instrument to resist
   pride, and nurse humility, ever remembering, that when God, by giving
   thee a crooked back, hath also made thy spirit stoop or less vain, thou
   art more ready to enter the narrow gate of heaven, than by being
   straight, and standing upright, and thinking highly. Thus the apostles
   rejoiced in their infirmities, not moral, but natural and accidental,
   in their being beaten and whipped like slaves, in their nakedness, and
   poverty.

   18. Upbraid no man's weakness to him to discomfort him, neither report
   it to disparage him, neither delight to remember it to lessen him, or
   to set thyself above him. Be sure never to praise thyself, or to
   dispraise any man else, unless God's glory or some holy end do hallow
   it. And it was noted to the praise of Cyrus, that, amongst his equals
   in age, [117] he would never play at any sport, or use any exercise, in
   which he knew himself more excellent than they; but in such in which he
   was unskillful he would make his challenges, lest he should shame them
   by his victory, and that himself might learn something of their skill,
   and do them civilities.

   19. Besides the foregoing parts and actions, humility teaches us to
   submit ourselves and all our faculties to God, to believe all things,
   to do all things, to suffer all things,' which his will enjoins us; to
   be content in every state or change, knowing we have deserved worse
   than the worst we feel, and, as Anytus said to Alcibiades, he hath
   taken but half when he might have taken all, to adore his goodness, to
   fear his greatness, to worship his eternal and infinite excellencies,
   and to submit ourselves to all our superiors, in all things, according
   to godliness, and to be meek and gentle in our conversation towards
   others. [118]

   Now, although, according to the nature of every grace, this begins as a
   gift, and is increased like a habit, that is, best by its own acts;
   yet, besides the former acts and offices of humility, there are certain
   other exercises and considerations, which are good helps and
   instruments for the procuring and increasing this grace, and the curing
   of pride.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [113] Ama nesciri et pro nihilo reputari.--Gerson.

   [114] I1villan nobilitado non cognosce partentado.

   [115] Chi del arte sua se vergogna, semqure vive con vergogna.

   [116] Alter alteri satis amplum theatrum sumus; satis unus,
   satismullus.--Sen.

   [117] Ama l'amico tuo con il difetto suo. In colloquiis pueri invisi
   aliis non fient, si non omnino in disputationibus victoriam sempetr
   obtinere laborent. Non tantum egregium est scire vincere, sed etiam
   posse vinci pulchrum est, ubi victoria est damnosa.--Plut. de Educ.
   Liber.

   [118] Nihil ita dignum est odio, ut eorum mores, qui compellantibus se
   difficiles, praebent.--Plut.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Means and Exercises for obtaining and increasing the Grace of Humility.

   1. Make confession of thy sins often to God; and consider what all that
   evil amounts to which you then charge upon yourself. Look not upon them
   as scattered in the course of a long life; now an intemperate anger,
   then too full a meal; now idle talking, and another time impatience;
   but unite them into one continued representation, and remember, that he
   whose life seems fair, by reason that his faults are scattered at large
   distances in the several parts of his life, yet, if all his errors and
   follies were articled against him, the man would seem vicious and
   miserable; and possibly this exercise, really applied upon thy spirit
   may be useful.

   2. Remember that we usually disparage others upon slight grounds and
   little instances, and toward them one fly is enough to spoil a whole
   box of ointment; and if a man be highly commended, we think him
   sufficiently lessened if we clap one sin or folly or infirmity into his
   account. Let us, therefore, be just to ourselves, since we are so
   severe to others, and consider that whatsoever good any one can think
   or say of us, we can tell him of hundreds of base, and unworthy, and
   foolish actions, any one of which were enough (we hope) to destroy
   another's reputation; therefore, let so many be sufficient to destroy
   our over-high thoughts of ourselves.

   3. When our neighbour is cried up by public fame and popular noises,
   that we may disparage and lessen him, we cry out that the people is a
   herd of unlearned and ignorant persons, ill judges, loud trumpets, but
   which never give certain sound; let us use the same art to humble
   ourselves, and never take delight and pleasure in public reports and
   acclamations of assemblies, and please ourselves with their judgment,
   of whom, in other the like cases, we affirm that they are mad.

   4. We change our opinion of others by their kindness or unkindness
   towards us. If he be my patron, and bounteous, he is wise, he is noble,
   his faults are but warts, his virtues are mountains; but if he proves
   unkind, or rejects our importunate suit, then he is ill-natured,
   covetous, and his free meal is called gluttony; that which before we
   called civility is now very drunkenness, and all he speaks if flat, and
   dull, and ignorant as a swine. This, indeed, is unjust towards others;
   but a good instrument if we turn the edge of it upon ourselves. We use
   ourselves ill, abusing ourselves with false principles, cheating
   ourselves with lies and pretences, stealing the choice and elections
   from our wills, placing voluntary ignorance in our understandings,
   denying the desires of the spirit, setting up a faction against every
   noble and just desire, the least of which, because we should resent up
   to reviling the injurious person, it is but reason we should at least
   not flatter ourselves with fond and too kind opinions.

   5. Every day call to mind some one of thy foulest sins, or the most
   shameful of thy disgraces, or the indiscreetest of thy actions, or
   anything that did then most trouble thee, and apply it to the present
   swelling of thy spirit and opinion, and it may help to allay it.

   6. Pray often for his grace with all humility of gesture and passion of
   desire, and in thy devotion interpose many acts of humility, by way of
   confession and address to God, and reflection upon thyself.

   7. Avoid great offices and employments, and the noises of worldly
   honour. [119] For in those states, many times so many ceremonies and
   circumstances will seem necessary, as will destroy the sobriety of thy
   thoughts. If the number of thy servants be fewer, and their observances
   less, and their reverences less solemn, possibly they will seem less
   than thy dignity; and if they be so much and so many it is likely they
   will be too big for thy spirit. And here be thou very careful, lest
   thou be abused by a pretence, that thou wouldest use thy great dignity
   as an opportunity of doing great good. For supposing it might be good
   for others, yet it is not good for thee; they may have encouragement in
   noble things from thee, and, by the same instrument, thou mayest
   thyself be tempted to pride and vanity. And certain it is, God is as
   much glorified by thy example of humility in a low or temperate
   condition, as by thy bounty in a great and dangerous.

   8. Make no reflex upon thy own humility, nor upon any other grace with
   which God hath enriched thy soul. For since God oftentimes hides from
   his saints and servants the sight of those excellent things by which,
   they shine to others (though the dark side of the lantern be toward
   themselves,) that he may secure the grace of humility, it is good that
   thou do so thyself; and if thou beholdest a grace of God in thee,
   remember to give him thanks for it, that thou mayest not boast in that
   which is none of they own; and consider how thou hast sullied it by
   handling it with dirty fingers, with thy own imperfections, and with
   mixture of anhandsome circumstances. Spiritual pride is very dangerous,
   not only by reason it spoils so many graces, by which we draw nigh unto
   the kingdom of God, but also because it so frequently creeps upon the
   spirit of holy persons. For it is no wonder for a beggar to call
   himself poor, or a drunkard to confess that he is no sober person; but
   for a holy person to be humble, for one whom all men esteem a saint to
   fear lest himself become a devil, and to observe his own danger, and to
   discern his own infirmities, and make discovery of his bad adherences,
   is as hard as for a prince to submit himself to be guided by tutors,
   and make himself subject to discipline, like the meanest of his
   servants.

   9. Often meditate upon the effects of pride on one side, and humility
   on the other. First, That pride is like a canker, and destroys the
   beauty of the fairest flowers, the most excellent gifts and graces; but
   humility crowns them all. Secondly, That pride is a great hinderance to
   the perceiving the things of God, [120] and humility is an excellent
   preparative and instrument of spiritual wisdom. Thirdly, That pride
   hinders the acceptation of our prayers, but humility pierceth the
   clouds, and will not depart till the Most High shall regard. Fourthly,
   That humility is but a speaking truth, and all pride is a lie. Fifthly,
   That humility is the most certain way to real honour, and pride is ever
   affronted or despised. Sixthly, That pride turned Lucifer into a devil,
   and humility exalteth the Son of God above every name, and placed him
   eternally at the right hand of his Father. Seventhly, That God
   resisteth the proud,' [121] professing open defiance and hostility
   against such persons, but giveth grace to the humble; grace and pardon,
   remedy and relief, against misery and oppression, content in all
   conditions, tranquillity of spirit, patience in afflictions, love
   abroad, peace at home, and utter freedom from contention, and the sin
   of censuring others, and the trouble of being censured themselves. For
   the humble man will not judge his brother for the mote in his eye,
   being more troubled at the beam in his own eye; and is patient and glad
   to be reproved, because himself hath cast the first stone at himself,
   and therefore wonders not that others are of his mind.

   10. Remember that the blessed Saviour of the world hath done more to
   prescribe, and transmit, and secure this grace than any other; [122]
   his whole life being a great continued example of humility; a vast
   descent from the glorious bosom of his Father to the womb of a poor
   maiden, to the form of a servant, to the miseries of a sinner, to a
   life of labour, to a state of poverty, to a death of malefactors, to
   the grave of death, and the intolerable calamities which we deserved;
   and it were a good design, and yet but reasonable, that we should be as
   humble, in the midst of our greatest imperfections and basest sins, as
   Christ was in the midst of his fulness of the Spirit, great wisdom,
   perfect life and most admirable virtue.

   11. Drive away all flatterers from thy company, and at no hand endure
   them, for he that endures himself so to be abused by another is not
   only a fool for entertaining the mockery, but loves to have his own
   opinion of himself to be heightened and cherished.

   12. Never change thy employment for the sudden coming of another to
   thee; but if modesty permits, or discretion, appear to him that visits
   thee the same that thou wert to God and thyself in thy privacy. But if
   thou wert walking or sleeping, or in any other innocent employment or
   retirement, snatch not up a book to seem studious, nor fall on thy
   knees to seem devout, nor alter anything to make him believe thee
   better employed than thou wert.

   13. To the same purpose it is of great use that he who would preserve
   his humility should choose some spiritual person to whom he shall
   oblige himself to discover his very thoughts and fancies, every act of
   his, and all his intercourse with others, in which there may be danger;
   that by such an openness of spirit he may expose every blast of vain
   glory, every idle thought, to be chastened and lessened by the rod of
   spiritual discipline: and he that shall find himself tied to confess
   every proud thought, every vanity of his spirit, will also perceive
   they must not dwell with him, nor find any kindness from him; and,
   besides this, the nature of pride is so shameful and unhandsome, that
   the very discovery of it is a huge mortification and means of
   suppressant it. A man would be ashamed to be told that he inquires
   after the faults of his last oration or action on purpose to be
   commended; and, therefore, when the man shall tell his spiritual guide
   the same shameful story of himself, it is very likely he will be
   humbled and heartily ashamed of it.

   14. Let every man suppose what opinion he should have of one that
   should spend his time in playing with drum-sticks and cockle-shells,
   and that should wrangle all day long with a little boy for pins, or
   should study hard and labour to cozen a child of his gauds; and who
   would run into a river, deep and dangerous, with a great burden upon
   his back, even then when he were told of the danger, and earnestly
   importuned not to do it? and let him but change the instances and the
   person, and he shall find that he hath the same reason to think as bad
   of himself, who pursues trifles with earnestness, spending mistime in
   vanity, and his labour for that which profits not; who, knowing the
   laws of God, the rewards of virtue, the cursed consequents of sin, that
   it is an evil spirit that tempts him to do it, a devil, one that hates
   him, that longs extremely to ruin him; that it is his own destruction
   that he is then working; that the pleasures of his sin are base and
   brutish, unsatisfying in the enjoyment, soon over, shameful in their
   story, bitter in the memory, painful in the effect here, and
   intolerable hereafter, and for ever; yet in despite of all this, he
   runs foolishly into his sin and his ruin, merely because he is a fool,
   and winks hard, and rushes violently like a horse into the battle, or,
   like a madman, to his death. He that can think great and good things of
   such a person, the next step may court the pack for an instrument of
   pleasure, and admire a swing for wisdom, and go for counsel to the
   prodigal and trifling grasshopper.

   After the use of these and such like instruments and considerations, if
   you would try how your soul is grown, you shall know that humility,
   like the root of a goodly tree, is thrust very far into the ground by
   these goodly fruits which appear above ground.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [119] Fabis abstine, dixit Pythagoras. Olim nam Magistratus per
   suffragia fabis lata creabantur.--Plut.

   [120] Matt. xi. 25.

   [121] James, iv. 6.

   [122] John, xiii. 15.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Signs of Humility.

   1. The humble man trusts not to his own discretion, but in matters of
   concernment relies rather upon the judgment of his friends,
   counsellors, or spiritual guides. 2. He does not pertinaciously pursue
   the choice of his own will, but in all things lets God choose for him,
   and his superiors, in those things which concern them. 3. He does not
   murmur against commands. [123] 4. He is not inquisitive into the
   reasonableness of indifferent and innocent commands, but believes their
   command to be reasonable enough in such cases to exact his obedience.
   5. He lives according to a rule, and with compliance to public customs,
   without any affectation or singularity. 6. He is meek and indifferent
   in all accidents and chances. 7. He patiently bears injuries. [124] 8.
   He is always unsatisfied in his own conduct, resolutions, and counsels.
   9. He is a great lover of good men, and a praiser of wise men, and a
   censurer of no man. 10. He is modest in his speech, and reserved in his
   laughter. 11. He fears when he hears himself commended, lest God make
   another judgment concerning his actions than men do. 12. He gives no
   part of saucy answers when he is reproved, whether justly or unjustly.
   13. He loves to sit down in private, and, if he may, be refuses the
   temptation of offices and new honours. 14. He is ingenuous, free, and
   open in his actions and discourses. 15. He mends his fault, and gives
   thanks when he is admonished. 16. He is ready to do good offices to the
   murderers of his fame, to his slanderers, backbiters, and detractors,
   as Christ washed the feet of Judas. 17. And is contented to be
   suspected of indiscretion, so before God he may really be innocent, and
   not offensive to his neighbour, nor wanting to his just and prudent
   interest.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [123] Assai commanda, chi ubbidisce al saggio.

   [124] Verum humilem patientia ostendit.--St. Hier.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION V.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Modesty.

   Modesty is the appendage of sobriety, and is to chastity, to
   temperance, and to humility, as the fringes are to a garment. It is a
   grace of God, that moderates the over-activeness and curiosity of the
   mind, and orders the passions of the body and external actions, and is
   directly opposed to curiosity, to boldness, to indecency. The practice
   of modesty consists in the following rules:
     __________________________________________________________________

  Acts and Duties of Modesty, as it is opposed to Curiosity.

   1. Inquire not into the secrets of God, but be content to learn thy
   duty according to the quality of thy person or employment; that i
   plainly, if thou beest not concerned in the conduct of others; but if
   thou beest a teacher, learn it so as may best enable thee to discharge
   thy office. God's commandments were proclaimed to all the world; but
   God's counsels are to himself and to his secret ones, when they are
   admitted within the veil.

   2. Inquire not into the things which are too hard for thee, but learn
   modestly to know thy infirmities and abilities; and raise not thy mind
   up to inquire into mysteries of state, or the secrets of government, or
   difficulties theological, if thy employment really be, or thy
   understanding be judged to be, of a lower rank.

   3. Let us not inquire into the affairs of others that concern us not,
   but be busied within ourselves and our own spheres; ever remembering
   that to pry into the actions or interests of other men not under our
   charge, may minister to pride, to tyranny, to uncharitableness, to
   trouble, but can never consist with modesty, unless where duty or the
   mere intentions of charity and relation do warrant it.

   4. Never listen at the doors or windows: [125] for, besides that it
   contains in it danger and a snare, it is also an invading thy
   neighbour's privacy, and a laying that open which he therefore
   enclosed, that it might not be open. Never ask what he carried covered
   s o curiously; for it is enough that it is covered curiously. Hither
   also is reducible that we never open letters without public authority,
   or reasonably presumed leave, or great necessity, or charity.

   Every man hath in his own life sins enough, in his own mind trouble
   enough, in his own fortune evils enough, and in performance of his
   offices failings more than enough, to entertain his own inquiry; so
   that curiosity after the affairs of others cannot be without envy, and
   an evil mind. What is it to me, if my neighbour's grandfather were a
   Syrian, or his grandmother illegitimate; or that another is indebted
   five thousand pounds, or whether his wife be expensive? But commonly
   curious persons, or (as the apostle's phrase is) busybodies,' are not
   solicitous or inquisitive into the beauty and order of a well-governed
   family, or after the virtues of an excellent person; but if there be
   anything for which men keep locks and bars, and porters, things that
   blush to see the light, and either are shameful in manners, or private
   in nature, these things are their care and their business. But if great
   things will satisfy our inquiry, the course of the sun and moon, the
   spots in their faces, the firmament of heaven, and the supposed orbs,
   the ebbing and flowing of the sea, are work enough for us; or if this
   be not, let him tell me whether the number of the stars be even or odd,
   and when they began to be so, since some ages have discovered new stars
   which the former knew not, but might have seen if they had been where
   now they are fixed. If these be too troublesome search lower, and tell
   me why this turf this year brings forth a daisy, and the next year a
   plantain; why the apple bears his seed in his heart, and wheat bears it
   in his head: let him tell why a graft, taking nourishment from a
   crab-stock, shall have a fruit more noble than its nurse and parent:
   let him say why the best of oil is at the top, the best of wine in the
   middle, and the best of honey at the bottom, otherwise than it is in
   some liquors that are thinner, and in some that are thicker. But these
   things are to such as please busybodies; they must feed upon tragedies,
   and stories of misfortunes and crimes: and yet tell them ancient
   stories of the ravishment of chaste maidens, or the debauchment of
   nations, or the extreme poverty of learned persons, or the persecutions
   of the old saints, or the changes of government, and sad accidents
   happening in royal families amongst the Arsacidae, the Caesars, the
   Ptolemies, these were enough to scratch the itch of knowing sad
   stories; but unless you stem them something sad and new, something that
   is done within the bounds of their own knowledge or relation, it seems
   tedious and unsatisfying; which shows plainly, it is an evil spirit;
   envy and idleness married together, and begot curiosity. Therefore
   Plutarch rarely well compares curious and inquisitive ears to the
   execrable gates of cities, out of which only malefactors and hangmen
   and tragedies pass -- nothing that is chaste or holy. If a physician
   should go from house to house unsent for, and inquire what woman hath a
   cancer in her bowels, or what man hath a fisula in his colic-gut,
   though he could pretend to cure it, he would be almost as unwelcome as
   the disease itself; and therefore it is inhuman to inquire after crimes
   and disasters without pretence of amending them, but only to discover
   them. We are not angry with searchers and publicans, when they look
   only on public merchandise; but when they break open trunks, and pierce
   vessels, and unrip packs, and open sealed letters.

   Curiosity is the direct incontinency of the spirit: and adultery itself
   in its principle is many times nothing but a curious inquisition after,
   and envying of, another man's enclosed pleasures; and there have been
   many who refused fairer objects that they might ravish an enclosed
   woman from her retirement and single possessor. But these inquisitions
   are seldom without danger, never with our baseness; they are neither
   just, nor honest, nor delightful, and very often useless to the curious
   inquirer. For men stand upon their guards against them, as they secure
   their meat against harpies and cats, laying all their counsels and
   secrets out of their way; or as men clap their garments close about
   them, when the searching and saucy winds would discover their
   nakedness; as knowing that what men willingly hear they do willingly
   speak of. Knock, therefore, at the door before you enter upon your
   neighbour's privacy; and remember, that there is no difference between
   entering into his house, and looking into it.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [125] Ecclus. vii. 21.--Ne occhi in lettera, ne mano in tasca, ne
   orecchi in secreti altrui.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Acts of Modesty as it is opposed to Boldness. [126]

   1. Let us always bear about us such impressions of reverence and fear
   of God as to tremble at his voice, to express our apprehensions of his
   greatness in all great accidents, in popular judgments, loud thunders,
   tempests, earthquakes; not only for fear of being smitten ourselves, or
   that we are concerned in the accident, but also that we may humble
   ourselves before his Almightiness, and express that infinite distance
   between his infiniteness and our weaknesses, at such times especially
   when he gives such visible arguments of it. He that is merry and airy
   at shore when he sees a sad and a loud tempest on the sea, or dances
   briskly when God thunders from heaven, regards not when God speaks to
   all the world, but is possessed with a firm immodesty.

   2. Be reverent, modest, and reserved, in the presence of thy betters,
   giving to all, according to their equality, their titles of honour,
   keeping distance, speaking little, answering pertinently, not
   interposing without leave or reason, not answering to a question
   propounded to another; and even present to thy superiors the fairest
   side of thy discourse, of thy temper, of thy ceremony, as being ashamed
   to serve excellent persons with unhandsome intercourse.

   3. Never lie before a king or a great person, nor stand in a lie when
   thou art accused, nor offer to justify what is indeed a fault; but
   modestly be ashamed of it, ask pardon, and make amends. [127]

   4. Never boast of thy sin, but at least lay a veil upon thy nakedness
   and shame, and python hand before thine eyes, that thou mayest have
   this beginning of repentance, to believe thy sin to be thy shame. For
   he that blushes not at his crime, but adds shamelessness to his shame,
   hath no instrument left to restore him to the hopes of virtue.

   5. Be not confident and affirmative i an uncertain matter, but report
   things modestly and temperately, according to the degree of that
   persuasion, which is, or ought to be, begotten in thee by the efficacy
   of the authority, or the reason inducing thee.

   6. Pretend not to more knowledge than thou hast, but be content to seem
   ignorant where thou art so, lest thou beest either brought to shame, or
   retirest into shamelessness.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [126] Aischunm.

   [127] Quem Deus tegit vercundiae pallio, hujus maculas hominibus non
   ostendit.--Maimon. Can. Eth.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Acts of Modesty as it is opposed to Indecency.

   1. In your prayers, in churches and places of religion, use reverent
   postures, great attention, grave ceremony, the lowest gestures of
   humility, remembering that we speak to God, in our reverence to whom we
   cannot possibly exceed; but that the expression of this reverence be
   according to law or custom, and the example of the most prudent and
   pious persons; that is, let it be the best in its kind to the best of
   essences.

   2. In all public meetings, private addresses, in discourse, in
   journeys, use those forms of salutation, reverence, and decency, which
   the custom prescribes, and is usual amongst the most sober persons,
   giving honour to whom honour belongeth, taking place of none of thy
   betters, and in all cases of question concerning civil precedency
   giving it to any one that will take it, if it be only thy own right
   that is in question.

   3. Observe the proportion of affections in all meetings, and to all
   persons: be not merry at a funeral, nor sad upon a festival' but
   rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

   4. Abstain from wanton and dissolute laughter, petulant and uncomely
   jests, loud talking, jeering, and all such actions, which in civil
   account are called indecencies and incivilities.

   5. Towards your parents use all modesty of duty and humble carriage;
   towards them and all your kindred, be severe in the modesties of
   chastity, ever fearing, lest the freedoms of natural kindness should
   enlarge into any neighbourhood of unhandsomeness. For all incestuous
   mixtures, and all circumstances and degrees towards it, are the highest
   violations of modesty in the world; for therefore incest is grown to be
   so high a crime, especially in the last periods of the world, because
   it breaks that reverence which the consent of all nations and the
   severity of human laws hath enjoined towards our parents and nearest
   kindred, in imitation of that law which God gave to the Jews in
   prosecution of modesty in this instance.

   6. Be a curious observer of all those things which are of good report,
   and are parts of public honesty. [128] For public fame, and the
   sentence of prudent and public persons is the measure of good and evil
   in things indifferent, and charity requires us to comply with those
   fancies and affections which are agreeable to nature, or the analogy of
   virtue, or public laws, or old customs. It is against modesty for a
   woman to marry a second husband as long as she bears a burden by the
   first; or to admit a second love while her funeral tears are not wiped
   from her cheeks. It is against public honesty to do some lawful actions
   of privacy in public theatres, and therefore in such cases retirement
   is a duty of modesty. [129]

   7. Be grave, decent, and modest, in thy clothing and ornament; never
   let it be above thy condition not always equal to it; never light or
   amorous discovering a nakedness through a thin veil which thou
   pretendest to hide; never to lay a snare for a soul; but remember what
   becomes a Christian, professing holiness, chastity, and the discipline
   of the holy Jesus: and the first effect of this let your servants feel
   by your gentleness and aptness to be pleased with their usual
   diligence, and ordinary conduct. [130] For the man or woman that is
   dressed with anger and impatience wears pride under their robes, and
   immodesty above.

   8. Hither also is to be reduced singular and affected walking, proud,
   nice, and ridiculous gestures of body, painting and lascivious
   dressings; all of which together God reproves by the prophet: The Lord
   saith, Because the daughters of Sion are haughty, and walk with
   stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go,
   and make a tinkling with their feet; therefore the Lord will smite her
   with a scab of the crown of the head, and will take away the bravery of
   their tinkling ornaments.' [131] And this duty of modesty, in this
   instance, is expressly enjoined to all Christian women by St. Paul:
   That women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and
   sobriety, not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearl, or costly array,
   but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. [132]

   9. As those meats are to be avoided which tempt our stomachs beyond our
   hunger, so, also, should prudent persons decline all such spectacles,
   relations, theatres, loud noises and outcries, which concern us not,
   and are besides our natural or moral interest. Our senses should not,
   like petulant and wanton girls, wander into markets and theatres
   without just employment; but when they are sent abroad by reason,
   return quickly with their errand, and remain modestly at home under
   their guide, till they be sent again. [133]

   10. Let all persons be curious in observing modesty towards themselves,
   in the handsome treating their own body, and such as are in their
   power, whether living or dead. Against this rule they offend who expose
   to others their own, or pry into others' nakedness beyond the limits of
   necessity, or where a leave is not made holy by a permission from God.
   It is also said, that God was pleased to work a miracle about the body
   of Epiphanius to reprove the immodest curiosity of an unconcerned
   person who pried too near, when charitable people were composing it to
   the grave. In all these cases and particulars, although they seem
   little, yet our duty and concernment is not little. Concerning which I
   use the words of the son of Sirach, "He that despiseth little things
   shall perish by little and little."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [128] Philip, iv. 8.

   [129] At meretrix abigit testem veloque seraque; Raraque Summaeni
   fornice rima patet.--Mart. i. 53.

   [130] Tuta sit ornatrix: odi quae sauciat ora Unguibus, et rapta
   brachia figit acu. Devovet, et tangit Dominae caput illa, simulque
   Plorat ad invisas sanguinolenta comas.--Ovid. A.A.3 238.

   [131] Isa. iii. 16-18.

   [132] 1Tim. ii. 9.

   [133] (Edipum curiositas in extremas conjecit calamitates.--Plut.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION VI.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Contentedness in all Estates and Accidents.

   Virtues and discourses are, like friends, necessary in all fortunes;
   but those are the best, which are friends in our sadnesses, and support
   us in our sorrows and sad accidents: and in this sense, no man that is
   virtuous can be friendless; nor hath any man reason to complain of the
   Divine Providence, or accuse the public disorder of things, or his own
   infelicity, since God hath appointed one remedy for all the evils in
   the world, and that is a contented spirit: for this alone makes a man
   pass through fire, and not be scorched; through seas, and not be
   drowned; through hunger and nakedness, and want nothing. For since all
   the evil in the world consists in the disagreeing between the object
   and the appetite, as when a man hath what he desires not, or desires
   what he hath not, or desires amiss; he that composes his spirit to the
   present accident, hath variety of instances for his virtues, but none
   to trouble him, because his desires enlarge not beyond his present
   fortune; and a wise man is placed in the variety of chances, like the
   nave or centre of a wheel, in the midst of all the circumvolutions and
   changes of posture, without violence or change save that it turns
   gently in compliance with its changed parts, and is indifferent which
   part is up, and which id down; for there is some virtue or other to be
   exercised, whatever happens, either patience or thanksgiving, love or
   fear, moderation or humility, charity or contentedness, and they are
   every one of them equally in order to his great end and immortal
   felicity: and beauty is not made by white or red, by black eyes and a
   round face, by a straight body and a smooth skin; but by a proportion
   to the fancy. No rules can make amiability; our minds and apprehensions
   make that; and so is our felicity; and we may be reconciled to poverty
   and a low fortune, if we suffer contentedness and the grace of God to
   make the proportions. For no man is poor that does not think himself
   so: but if, in a full fortune, with impatience he desires more, he
   proclaims his wants and his beggarly condition. [134] But because this
   grace of contentedness was the sum of all the old moral philosophy, and
   a great duty in Christianity, and of most universal use in the whole
   course of our lives, and the only instrument to ease the burdens of the
   world and the enmities of sad changes, it will not be amiss to press it
   by the proper arguments by which God hath bound it upon our spirits; it
   being fastened by reason and religion, by duty and interest, by
   necessity and conveniency, by example, and by the proposition of
   excellent rewards, no less than peace and felicity.

   1. Contentedness in all estates is a duty of religion; it is the great
   reasonableness of complying with the Divine Providence, which governs
   all the world, and hath so ordered us in the administration of his
   great family. He were a strange fool that should be angry because dogs
   and sheep need no shoes, and yet himself is full of care to get some.
   God hath supplied those needs to them by natural provisions, and to
   thee by an artificial: for he hath given the reason to learn a trade,
   or some means to make or buy them, so that it only differs in the
   manner of our provision: and which had you rather want, shoes or
   reason? Any my patron, that hath given me a farm, is freer to me than
   if he gives a loaf ready baked. But, however, all these gifts come from
   him, and therefore it is fit he should dispense them as he pleases; and
   if we murmur here, we may, at the next melancholy fit, be troubled that
   God did not make us to be angels or stars. For if that which we are or
   have do not content us, we may be troubled for everything in the world
   which is besides our being or our possessions.

   God is the master of the scenes; we must not choose which part we shall
   act; it concerns us only to be careful that we do it well, always
   saying, If this please God, let it be as it is;' and we, who pray that
   God's will may be done in earth as it is in heaven, must remember that
   the angels do whatsoever is commanded them, and go wherever they are
   sent, and refuse no circumstances; and if their employment be crossed
   by a higher degree, they sit down in peace, and rejoice in the event;
   and when the angel of Judea could not prevail in behalf of the people
   committed to his charge, because the angel of Persia opposed it, he
   only told the story at the command of God, and was as content, and
   worshipped with as great an ecstasy in his proportion, as the
   prevailing spirit. Do thou so likewise: keep the station where God hath
   placed you, and you shall never long for things without, but sit at
   home, feasting upon the Divine Providence and thy own reason, by which
   we are taught that it is necessary and reasonable to submit to God.

   For is not all the world God's family? Are not we his creatures? Are we
   not as clay in the hand of the potter? Do we not live upon his meat,
   and move by his strength, and do our work by his light? Are we anything
   but what we are from him? And shall there be a mutiny among the flocks
   and herds, because their lord or their shepherd chooses their pastures,
   and suffers them not to wander into the deserts and unknown ways? If we
   choose, we do it so foolishly that we cannot like it long, and most
   commonly not at all: but God, who can do what he pleases, is wise to
   choose safely for us, affectionate to comply with our needs, and
   powerful to execute all his wise decrees. Here, therefore, is the
   wisdom of the contented man, to let God choose for him; for when we
   have given up our wills to him, and stand in that station of the battle
   where our great general hath placed us, our spirits must needs rest
   while our conditions have for their security the power, the wisdom, and
   the charity of God.

   2. Contentedness in all accidents brings great peace of spirit, and is
   the great and only instrument of temporal felicity. It removes the
   sting from the accident, and makes a man not to depend upon chance and
   the uncertain dispositions of men for his well-being, but only on God
   and his own spirit. We ourselves make our fortunes good or bad; and
   when God lets loose a tyrant upon us, or a sickness, or scorn, or a
   lessened fortune, if we fear to die, or know not to be patient, or are
   proud, or covetous, then the calamity sits heavy on us. But if we know
   how to manage a noble principle, and fear not death so much as a
   dishonest action, and think impatience a worse evil than a fever, and
   pride to be the biggest disgrace, and poverty to be infinitely
   desirable before the torments of covetousness; then we who now think
   vice to be so easy, and make it so familiar, and think the cure so
   impossible, shall quickly be of another mind, and reckon these
   accidents amongst things eligible.

   But no man can be happy that hath great hopes and great fears of things
   without, and events depending upon other men, or upon the chances of
   fortune. The rewards of virtue are certain, and our provisions for our
   natural support are certain; or if we want meat till we die, then we
   die of that disease -- and there are many whores than to die of an
   atrophy or consumption, or unapt and courser nourishment. But he that
   suffers a transporting passion concerning things within the power of
   others, is free from sorrow and amazement no longer than his enemy
   shall give him leave; and it is ten to one but he shall be smitten then
   and there where it shall most trouble him; for so the adder teaches us
   where to strike, by her curious and fearful defending of her head. The
   old Stoics, when you told them of a sad story, would still answer,
   "Yes, for the tyrant hath sentenced you also to prison. Well, what is
   that? he will put a chain upon my leg; but he cannot bind my soul. No,
   but he will kill you. Then I will die. If presently, let me go, that I
   may presently be freer than himself; but if not till anon or tomorrow,
   I will dine first, or sleep, or do what reason or nature calls for, as
   at other times." This, in Gentile philosophy, is the same with the
   discourse of St. Paul, [135] "I have learned in whatsoever state I am,
   therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how
   to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed, both to be
   full and to be hungry; both to abound and suffer need." [136]

   We are in the world like men playing at tables, the chance is not in
   our power, but to play it is; and when it is fallen we must manage it
   as we can; and let nothing trouble us, but when we do a base action, or
   speak like a fool, or think wickedly -- these things God hath put into
   our powers; but concerning those things which are wholly in the choice
   of another, they cannot fall under our deliberation, and therefore
   neither are they fit for our passions. My fear may make me miserable,
   but it cannot prevent what another hath in his power and purpose; and
   prosperities can only be enjoyed by them who fear not at all to lose
   them; since the amazement and passion concerning the future takes off
   all the pleasure of the present possession. Therefore, if thou hast
   lost thy land, do not also lose thy constancy; and if thou must die a
   little sooner, yet do not die impatiently. For no chance is evil to him
   that is content; and to a man nothing is miserable unless it be
   unreasonable. No man can make another man to be his slave unless be
   hath first enslaved himself to life and death, to pleasure or pain, to
   hope or fear: command these passions, and you are freer than the
   Parthian kings.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [134] Non facta tibi est, si dissimules, injuris.

   [135] Phil. iv. 11, 12; 1 Tim. vi. 6; Heb. xiii. 5.

   [136] Chi bene mal non puo soffrir, a grand honor non puo venir.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Instruments or Exercises to procure Contentedness.

   Upon the strength of these premises, we may reduce this virtue to
   practice by its proper instruments first, and then by some more special
   considerations or arguments of content.

   1. When anything happens to our displeasure, let us endeavour to take
   off its trouble by turning it into spiritual or artificial advantage,
   and handle it on that side in which it may be useful to the designs of
   reason; for there is nothing but hath a double handle, or at least we
   have two hands to apprehend it. When an enemy reproaches us, let us
   look on him as an impartial relater of our faults, for he will tell
   thee truer than thy fondest friend will; and thou mayest call them
   precious balms, though they break thy head, and forgive his anger,
   while thou makest use of the plainness of his declamation. The ox, when
   he is weary, treads surest; and if there be nothing else in the
   disgrace, but that it makes us to walk warily, and tread sure for fear
   of our enemies, that is better than to be flattered into pride and
   carelessness. This is the charity of Christian philosophy, which
   expounds the sense of the Divine Providence fairly, and reconciles us
   to it by a charitable construction; and we may as well refuse all
   physic, if we consider it only as unpleasant in the taste; and we may
   find fault with the rich valleys of Thasus, because they are circled by
   sharp mountains; but so also we may be in charity with every unpleasant
   accident, because, though it taste bitter, it is intended for health
   and medicine.

   If, therefore, thou fallest from thy employment in public, take
   sanctuary in an honest, retirement, being indifferent to thy gain
   abroad, or thy safety at home. If thou art out of favour with thy
   prince, secure the favour of the King of kings, and then there is no
   harm come to thee. And when Zeno Citiensis lost all his goods in a
   storm, he retired to the studies of philosophy, to his short cloak and
   a severe life, and gave thanks to fortune for his prosperous mischance.
   When the north wind blows hard, and it rains sadly none but fools sit
   down in it and cry; wise people defend themselves against it with a
   warm garment, or a good fire and a dry roof. When a storm of a sad
   mischance beats upon our spirits, turn it into some advantage by
   observing where it can serve another end, either of religion or
   prudence, of more safety or less envy: it will turn into something that
   is good, if we list to make it so; at least it may make us weary of the
   world's vanity, and take off our confidence from uncertain riches, and
   make our spirits to dwell in those regions where content dwells
   essentially. If it does any good to our souls, it hath made more than
   sufficient recompense for all the temporal affliction. He that threw a
   stone at a dog, and hit his cruel step-mother, said, that although he
   intended it otherwise, yet the stone was not quite lost; and if we fail
   in the first design, if we bring it home to another equally to content
   us, or more to profit us, then we have put our conditions past the
   power of chance; and this was called, in the old Greek comedy, "a being
   revenged on fortune by becoming philosophers," and turning the chance
   into reason or religion: for so a wise man shall overrule his stars,
   and have a greater influence upon his own content than all the
   constellations and planets of the firmament.

   2. Never compare thy condition with those above thee; but, to secure
   thy content, look upon those thousands with whom thou wouldest net, for
   any interest, change thy fortune and condition. A soldier must not
   think himself unprosperous if he be not as successful as the son of
   Philip, or cannot grasp a fortune as big as the Roman empire. Be
   content that thou art not lessened as was Pyrrhus, or, if thou beest,
   that thou art not routed like Crassus; and when that comes to thee, it
   is a great prosperity that thou art not caged and made a spectacle like
   Bajazet, or thy eyes were not pulled out like Zedekiah's, or that thou
   wert not flayed alive like Valentinian. If thou admirest the greatness
   of Xerxes, look also on those that digged the mountain Atho, or whose
   ears and noses were cut off because the Hellespont carried away the
   bridge. It is a fine thing (thou thinkest) to be carried on men's
   shoulders; but give God thanks that thou art not forced to carry a rich
   fool upon thy shoulders, as those poor men do whom thou beholdest.
   There are but a few kings in mankind; but many thousands who are very
   miserable if compared to thee. However, it is a huge folly rather to
   grieve for the good of others than to rejoice for that good which God
   hath given us of our own.

   And yet there is no wise or good man that would change persons or
   conditions entirely with any man in the world. It may be, he would have
   one man's health added to himself, or the power of a second, or the
   learning of a third; but still he would receive these into his own
   person, because he loves that best, and therefore esteems it best, and
   therefore overvalues all that which he is, before all that which any
   other man in the world can be. Would any man be Dives to have his
   wealth, or Judas for his office, or Saul for his kingdom, or Absalom
   for his bounty, or Achitophel for his policy? It is likely he would
   wish all these, and yet he would be the same person still. For every
   man hath desires of his own, and objects just fitted o them, without
   which he cannot be, unless he were not himself. And let every man that
   loves himself so well auto love himself before all the world, consider
   if he have not something for which in the whole he values himself far
   more than he can value any man else. There is therefore no reason to
   take the finest feathers from all the winged nation to deck that bird
   that thinks already she is more valuable than any of the inhabitants of
   the air. Either change all or none. Cease to love yourself best, or be
   content with that portion of being and blessing for which you can love
   yourself so well.

   3. It conduces much to our content, if we pass by those things which
   happen to our trouble, and consider that which is pleasing and
   prosperous - that, by the representation of the butter, the worse may
   be blotted out; and, at the worst, you have enough to keep you alive,
   and to keep up and to improve your hopes of heaven. If I be overthrown
   in my suit at law, yet my house is left me still and my land; or I have
   a virtuous wife, or hopeful children, or kind friends, or good hopes.
   If I have lost one child, it may be I have two or three still left me.
   Or else reckon the blessings which already you have received, and
   therefore be pleased, in the change and variety of affairs, to receive
   evil from the hand of God as well as good Antipater, of Tarsus, used
   this art to support his sorrows on his death-bed, and reckoned the good
   things of his past life, not forgetting to recount it as a blessing, an
   argument that God took care of him, that he had a prosperous journey
   from Cilicia to Athens. Or else please thyself with hopes of the
   future; [137] for we were born with this sadness upon us, and it was a
   change that brought us into it, and a change may bring us out again.
   Harvest will come, and then every farmer is rich, at least for a month
   or two. It may be thou art entered into the cloud which will bring a
   gentle shower to refresh thy sorrows.

   Now suppose thyself in as great a sadness as ever did load thy spirit,
   wouldest thou not bear it cheerfully and nobly if thou wert sure that
   within a certain space some strange excellent fortune would relieve
   thee, and enrich thee, and recompense thee, so as to overflow all thy
   hopes and thy desires and capacities? Now then, when a sadness lies
   heavy upon thee, remember that thou art a Christian designed to the
   inheritance of Jesus; and what dost thou think concerning thy great
   fortune, thy lot and portion of eternity? Dost thou think thou shalt be
   saved or damned? Indeed if thou thinkest thou shalt perish, I cannot
   blame thee to be sad, till thy heart-strings crack; but then why art
   thou troubled at the loss of thy money? What should a damned man do
   with money, which in so great a sadness it is impossible for him to
   enjoy? Did ever any man upon the rack afflict himself because he had
   received a cross answer from his mistress? or call for the particulars
   of a purchase upon the gallows? If thou dost really believe thou shalt
   be damned, I do not say it will cure the sadness of thy poverty, but it
   will swallow it up. But if thou believest thou shalt be saved, consider
   how great is that joy, how infinite is that change, how unspeakable is
   that glory, how excellent is the recompense, for all the sufferings in
   the world, if they were all laden upon thy spirit! So that let thy
   condition be what it will, if thou considerest thy own present
   condition, and comparest it to thy future possibility, thou canst not
   feel the present smart of a cross fortune to any great degree, either
   because thou hast a far bigger sorrow, or a far bigger joy. Here thou
   art but a stranger, travelling to the country where the glories of a
   kingdom are prepared for thee; it is, therefore, a huge folly to be
   much afflicted because thou hast a less convenient inn to lodge in by
   the way.

   But these arts of looking forwards and backwards are more than enough
   to support the spirit of a Christian: there is no man but hath
   blessings enough in present possession to outweigh the evils of a great
   affliction. Tell the joints of thy body, and do not accuse the
   universal Providence for a lame leg, or the want of a finger, when all
   the rest is perfect, and you have a noble soul, a particle of divinity,
   the image of God himself; and by the want of a finger you may the
   better know how to estimate the remaining parts, and to account for
   every degree of the surviving blessings. Aristippus, in a great suit at
   law, lost a farm, and to a gentleman, who in civility pitied and
   deplored his loss; he answered, "I have two farms left still, and that
   is more than I have lost, and more than you have by one." If you miss
   an office for which you stood candidate, then, besides that you are
   quit of the cares and the envy of it, you still have all those
   excellences which rendered you capable to receive it, and they are
   better than the best office in the commonwealth. If your estate be
   lessened, you need the less to care who governs the province, whether
   he be rude or gentle. I am crossed in my journey, and yet I escaped
   robbers; and I consider, that if I had been set upon by villains, I
   would have redeemed that evil by this which I now suffer, and have
   counted it a deliverance; or if I did fall into the hands of thieves,
   yet they did not steal my land. Or, I am fallen into the hands of
   publicans and sequestrators, and they have taken all from me: what now?
   let me look about me. They have left me the sun and moon, fire and
   water, a loving wife, and many friends to pity me, and some to relieve
   me, and I can still discourse; and, unless I list, they have not taken
   away my merry countenance, and my cheerful spirit, and a good
   conscience; they still have left me the providence of God, and all the
   promises of the gospel, and my religion, and my hopes of heaven, and my
   charity to them too; and still I sleep and digest, I eat and drink, I
   read and meditate; I can walk in my neighbour's pleasant fields, and
   see the variety of natural beauties, and delight in all that in which
   God delights- that is, in virtue and wisdom, in the whole creation, and
   in God himself. And he that hath so many causes of joy, and so great,
   is very much in love with sorrow and peevishness, who loses all these
   pleasures, and chooses to sit down upon his little handful of thorns.
   Such a person is fit to bear Nero company in his funeral sorrow for the
   loss of one of Poppea's hairs, or help to mourn for Lesbia's sparrow;
   and because he loves it, he deserves to starve in the midst of plenty,
   and to want comfort while he is encircled with blessings.

   4. Enjoy the present, whatsoever it be, and be not solicitous for the
   future; for if you take your foot from the present standing, and thrust
   it forward towards tomorrow's event, you are in a restless condition:
   it is like refusing to quench your present thirst by fearing you shall
   want drink the next day. If it be well to-day, it is madness to make
   the present miserable by fearing it may be ill to-morrow -- when your
   belly is full of to-day's dinner, to fear you shall want the next day's
   supper; for it may be you shall not, and then to what purpose was this
   day's affliction? But if to-morrow you shall want, your sorrow will
   come time enough, though you do not hasten it: let your trouble tarry
   till its own day comes. But if it chance to be ill to-day, do not
   increase it by the care of to-morrow. He, therefore, that enjoys the
   present if it be good, enjoys as much as is possible; and if only that
   day's trouble leans upon him, it is singular and finite. Sufficient to
   the day (said Christ) is the evil thereof': sufficient but not
   intolerable. But if we look abroad, and bring into one day's thoughts
   the evil of many, certain and uncertain, what will be, and what will
   never be, our load will be as intolerable as it is unreasonable. To
   reprove this instrument of discontent, the ancients feigned that in
   hell stood a man twisting a rope of hay; and still he twisted on,
   suffering an ass to eat up all that was finished -- so miserable is he
   who thrusts his passions forwards towards future events, and suffers
   all that he may enjoy to be lost and devoured by folly and
   inconsideration, thinking nothing fits to be enjoyed but that which is
   not or cannot be had. Just so, many young persons are loath to die, and
   therefore desire to live to old age, and when they are come thither,
   are troubled that they are come to that state of life, to which before
   they were come they were hugely afraid they should never come.

   5. Let us prepare our minds against changes, always expecting them,
   that we be not surprised when they come; for nothing is so great an
   enemy to tranquillity and a contented spirit as the amazement and
   confusions of unreadiness and inconsideration; and when our fortunes
   are violently changed our spirits are unchanged, if they always stood
   in the suburbs and expectations of sorrows. O death, how bitter art
   thou to a man that is at rest in his possessions!' And to the rich man
   who had promised to himself ease and fulness for many years, it was a
   sad arrest that his soul was surprised the first night; but the
   apostles, who every day knocked at the gate of death, and looked upon
   it continually, went to their martyrdom in peace and evenness.

   6. Let us often frame to ourselves, and represent to our
   considerations, the images of those blessings we have, just as we
   usually understand them when we want them. Consider how desirable
   health is to a sick man, or liberty to a prisoner; and if but a fit of
   the toothache seizes us with violence, all those troubles which in our
   health afflicted us disband instantly, and seem inconsiderable. He that
   in his health is troubled that he is in debt, and spends sleepless
   nights, and refuses meat because of his infelicity, let him fall into a
   fit of the stone or a high fever, he despises the arrest of all his
   first troubles, and is as a man unconcerned. Remember then that God
   hath given thee a blessing, the want of which is infinitely more
   trouble than thy present debt, or poverty, or loss; and therefore is
   now more to be valued in the possession, and ought to outweigh thy
   trouble. The very privative blessings, the blessings of immunity,
   safeguard, liberty, and integrity, which we commonly enjoy, deserve the
   thanksgiving of a whole life. If God should send a cancer upon thy
   face, or a wolf into thy side, if he should spread a crust of leprosy
   upon thy skin, what wouldest thou give to be but as now thou art?
   Wouldest thou not, on that condition, be as poor as I am, or as the
   meanest of thy brethren? Would you not choose your present loss or
   affliction as a thing extremely eligible, and a redemption to thee, if
   thou mightest exchange the other for this? Thou art quit from a
   thousand calamities, every one of which, if it were upon thee, would
   make thee insensible of thy present sorrow: and therefore let thy joy
   (which should be as great for thy freedom from them, as is thy sadness
   when thou feelest any of them) do the same cure upon thy discontent.
   For if we be not extremely foolish or vain, thankless or senseless, a
   great joy is more apt to cure sorrow and discontent than a great
   trouble is. I have known an affectionate wife, when she hath been in
   fear of parting with her beloved husband, heartily desire of God his
   life or society upon any conditions that were not sinful; and choose to
   beg with him rather than to feast without him; and the same person
   hath, upon that consideration, borne poverty nobly, when God hath heard
   her prayer in the other matter. What wise man in the world is there who
   does not prefer a small fortune with peace before a great one with
   contention and war and violence? And then he is no longer wise if he
   alters his opinion when he hath his wish.

   7. If you will secure a contented spirit, you must measure your desires
   by your fortune and condition, not your fortunes by your desire -- that
   is, be governed by your needs, not by your fancy; by nature, not by
   evil customs and ambitious principles. [138] He that would shoot an
   arrow out of a plough, or hunt a hare with an elephant, is not
   unfortunate for missing the mark or prey; but he is foolish for
   choosing such unapt instruments: and so is he that runs after his
   content with appetites not springing from natural needs, but from
   artificial, fantastical, and violent necessities. These are not to be
   satisfied; or if they were, a man hath chosen an evil instrument
   towards his content: nature did not intend rest to a man by filling of
   such desires. Is that beast better that hath two or three mountains to
   graze on, than a little bee that feeds on dew or manna, and lives upon
   what falls every morning from the storehouse of heaven, clouds and
   providence? Can a man quench his thirst better out of a river than a
   full urn, or drink better from the fountain which is finely paved with
   marble than when it swells over the green turf? [139] Pride and
   artificial gluttonies do but adulterate nature, making our diet
   healthless, our appetites impatient and unsatisfiable, and the taste
   mixed, fantastical, and meretricious. But that which we miscall poverty
   is indeed nature; and its proportions are the just measures of a man
   and the best instruments of content. But when we create needs that God
   or nature never made, we have erected to ourselves an infinite stock of
   trouble that can have no period. Sempronius complained of want of
   clothes, and was much troubled for a new suit, being ashamed to appear
   in the theatre with his gown a little threadbare; but when he got it,
   and gave his old clothes to Codrus, the poor man was ravished with joy,
   and went and gave God thanks for his new purchase; and Codrus was made
   richly fine and cheerfully warm by that which Sempronius was ashamed to
   wear; and yet their natural needs were both alike, the difference only
   was that Sempronius had some artificial and fantastical necessities
   superinduced, which Codrus had not, and was harder to be relieved, and
   could not have joy at so cheap a rate, because he only lived according
   to nature, the other by pride and ill customs, and measures taken by
   other men's eyes and tongues, and artificial needs. He that propounds
   to his fancy things greater than himself or his needs, and is
   discontent and troubled when he wails of such purchases, ought not to
   accuse Providence, or blame his fortune, but his folly. God and nature
   made no more needs than they mean to satisfy; and he that will make
   more must look for satisfaction where he can.

   8. In all troubles and sadder accidents, let us take sanctuary in
   religion, and by innocence cast out anchors for our souls to keep them
   from shipwreck, though they be not kept from storm. For what philosophy
   shall comfort a villain that is haled to the rack for murdering his
   prince, or that is broken upon the wheel for sacrilege? His cup is full
   of pure and unmingled sorrow: his body is rent with torment, his name
   with ignominy, his soul with shame and sorrow, which are to last
   eternally. But when a man suffers in a good cause, or is afflicted, and
   yet walks not perversely with his God, then "Anytus and Melitus may
   kill me, but they cannot hurt me;" then St. Paul's character is
   engraved in the forehead of our fortune; We are troubled on every side,
   but not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
   forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. And who is he that will harm
   you, if ye be followers of that which is good?' For indeed everything
   in the world is indifferent but sin, and all the scorchings of the sun
   are very tolerable in respect of the burnings of a fever or a
   calenture. The greatest evils are from within us, and from ourselves
   also we must look for our greatest good; for God is the fountain of it,
   but reaches it to us by our own hands; and when all things look sadly
   round about us, then only we shall find how excellent a fortune it is
   to have God to our friend; and of all friendships, that only is created
   to support us in our needs; for it is sin that turns an ague into a
   fever, and a fever to the plague, fear into despair, anger into rage,
   and loss into madness, and sorrow to amazement and confusion. But if
   either we were innocent, or else by the sadness are made penitent, we
   are put to school, or into the theatre, either to learn how, or else
   actually to combat for a crown; the accident may serve an end of mercy,
   but is not a messenger of wrath.

   Let us not, therefore, be governed by external, and present, and
   seeming things; not let us make the same judgment of things that common
   and weak understandings do; nor make other men, and they not the
   wisest, to be judges of our felicity, so that we be happy or miserable
   as they please to think us: but let reason, and experience, and
   religion, and hope, relying upon the divine promises, be the measure of
   our judgment. No wise man did ever describe felicity without virtue,
   [140] and no good man did ever think virtue could depend upon the
   variety of a good or bad fortune. It is no evil to be poor, but to be
   vicious and impatient.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [137] La speranza e il pan de poveri. Non si male nunc, et olim sic
   erit.--Hor. ii. 10.

   [138] Assai bastra per chi non e ingordo.

   [139] Quanto preaestantius esset Numen aquae, viridi si margine
   claugeret undas Herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum. Juv. iii.
   20.

   [140] Beatitudo pendet a recis consilliis in affectionem animi
   constantern desinentibus.--Plut.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Means to obtain Content by way of considerations.

   To these exercises and spiritual instruments if we add the following
   considerations concerning the nature and circumstance of human chance,
   we may better secure our peace. For as to children, who are afraid of
   vain images, we use to persuade confidence by making them to handle and
   look nearer such things that when, in such a familiarity, they perceive
   them innocent they may overcome their fears: so must timorous,
   fantastical, sad, and discontented persons be treated; they must be
   made to consider and on all sides to look upon the accident, and to
   take all its dimensions, and consider its consequences, and to behold
   the purpose of God, and the common mistakes of men, and their evil
   sentences they usually pass upon them. For then we shall perceive,
   that, like colts or unmanaged horses, we start at dead bones and
   lifeless blocks, things that are inactive as they are innocent. But if
   we secure our hopes and our fears, and make them moderate and within
   government, we may the sooner overcome the evil of the accident; for
   nothing that we feel is so bad as what we fear.

   1. Consider that the universal providence of God hath so ordered it,
   that the good things of nature and fortune are divided, that we may
   know how to bear our own and relieve each other's wants and
   imperfections. It is not for a man, but for a God to have all
   excellencies and all felicities. [141] He supports my poverty with his
   wealth, I counsel and instruct him with my learning and experience. He
   hath many friends, I many children; he hath no heir, I have no
   inheritance; and any one great blessing, together with the common
   portions of nature and necessity, is a fair fortune, if it be but
   health or strength, or the swiftness of Ahimanz. For it is an
   unreasonable discontent to be troubled that I have not so good cocks,
   or dogs, or horses, as my neighbor, being more troubled that I want one
   thing that I need not, than thankful for having received all that I
   need. Nero had this disease, that he was not content with the fortune
   of his whole empire, but put the fiddlers to death for being more
   skilful in the trade than he was; and Dionysius the elder was so angry
   at Philoxenus for singing, and with Plato for disputing better than he
   did, that he sold Plato a slave into Egina, and condemned the other to
   the quarries.

   This consideration is to be enlarged by adding to it, that there are
   some instances of fortune and a fair condition that cannot stand with
   some others; but if you desire this, you must lose that, and unless you
   be content with one, you must lose the comfort of both. If you covet
   learning, you must have leisure and a retired life; if to be a
   politician, you must go abroad and get experience, and do all
   businesses, and keep all company, and have no leisure at all; if you
   will be rich, you must be frugal; if you will be popular, you must be
   bountiful; if a philosopher, you must despise riches. The Greek that
   designed to make the most exquisite picture that could be imagined,
   fancied the eye of Chioue, and the hair of Paegnium, and Tarsia's lip,
   Philenitum's chin, and the forehead of Delphia, and set all these upon
   Milphidippa's neck, and thought that he should outdo both art and
   nature. But when he came to view the proportions, he found, that what
   was excellent in Tarsia did not agree with the other excellency of
   Philenium; and although singly they were rare pieces, yet in the whole
   they made a most ugly face. The dispersed excellencies and blessings of
   many men, if given to one, would not make a handsome, but a monstrous
   fortune. Use, therefore, that faculty which nature hath given thee, and
   thy education hath made actual, and thy calling hath made a duty. But
   if thou desirest to be a saint, refuse not his persecution; if thou
   wouldest be famous as Epaminondas or Fabricius, accept also of their
   poverty, for that added lustre to their persons, and envy to their
   fortune, and their virtue without it could not have been so excellent.
   Let Euphorion sleep quietly with his old rich wife, and let medius
   drink on with Alexander, and remember thou canst not have the riches of
   the first, unless you have the old wife too; nor the favour which the
   second had with his prince, unless you buy it at his price, that is,
   lay thy sobriety down at first, and thy health a little after, and then
   their condition, though it look splendidly, yet, when you handle it on
   all sides, it will prick your fingers.

   2. Consider how many excellent personages in all ages have suffered as
   great or greater calamities than this which now tempts thee to
   impatience. Agis was the most noble of the Greeks, and yet his wife
   bore a child by Alcibiades; and Philip was prince of Ituraea, and yet
   his wife ran away with his brother Herod into Galilee; and certainly,
   in a great fortune, that was a great calamity. But these are but single
   instances. Almost all the ages of the world have noted that their most
   eminent scholars were most eminently poor, some by choice, but most by
   chance, and an inevitable decree of Providence; and in the whole sex of
   women God hath decreed the sharpest pains of childbirth, to show that
   there is no state exempt from sorrow, and et that the weakest persons
   have strength more than enough to bear the greatest evil; and the
   greatest queens, and the mothers of saints and apostles, have no
   charter of exemption from this sad sentence. But the Lord of men and
   angels was also the King of sufferings; and if thy coarse robe trouble
   thee, remember the swaddling-clothes of Jesus; if thy bed be uneasy,
   yet it is not worse than his manger; and it is no sadness to have a
   thin table if thou callest to mind that the King of heaven and earth
   was fed with a little breast-milk; and yet besides this, he suffered
   all the sorrows which we deserved. We therefore have great reason to
   sit down upon our own hearths, and warm ourselves at our own fires, and
   feed upon content at home; for it were a strange pride to expect to be
   more gently treated by the Divine Providence than the best and wisest
   men, than apostles and saints, nay, the Son of the eternal God, the
   heir of both the worlds.

   This consideration may be enlarged by surveying all the states and
   families of the world: and he that at once saw Egina and Megara, Pyraus
   and Corinth, lie gasping in their ruins, and almost buried in their own
   heaps, had reason to blame Cicero for mourning impatiently the death of
   one woman. In the most beauteous and splendid fortune there are many
   cares and proper interruptions and allays: in the fortune of a prince
   there is not the coarse robe of beggary, but there are infinite cares;
   and the judge sits upon the tribunal with great ceremony and
   ostentation of fortune, [142] and yet, at his house or in his breast
   there is something that causes him to sigh deeply. Pittacus was a wise
   and valiant man, but his wife overthrew the table when he had invited
   his friends; upon which the good man, to excuse her incivility and his
   own misfortune said, "that every man had one evil, and he was most
   happy that had but that alone." And if nothing else happens, yet
   sicknesses so often do embitter the fortune and content of a family,
   that a physician in a few years, and with the practice upon a very few
   families, gets experience enough to administer to almost all diseases.
   And when thy little misfortune troubles thee, remember that thou hast
   known the best of kings and the best of men put to death publicly by
   his own subjects.

   3. There are many accidents which are esteemed great calamities, and
   yet we have reason enough to bear them well and unconcernedly; for they
   neither touch our bodies nor our soul -- or health and our virtue
   remain entire, our life and our reputation. It may be I am slighted, or
   I have received ill language; but my head aches not for it, neither
   hath it broken my thigh, nor taken away my virtue, unless I lose my
   charity or my patience. Inquire, therefore, what you are the worse,
   either in your soul or in your body, for what hath happened; for upon
   this very stock many evils will disappear, since the body and the soul
   make up the whole man. And when the daughter of Stilpo proved a wanton,
   he said it was none of his sin, and therefore there was no reason it
   should be his misery. And if an enemy hath taken all that from a prince
   whereby he was a king, he may refresh himself by considering all that
   is left him whereby he is a man.

   4. Consider that sad accidents and a state of affliction is a school of
   virtue; it reduces our spirits to soberness, and our counsels to
   moderation; it corrects levity, and interrupts the confidence of
   sinning. It is good for me (said David) that I have been afflicted, for
   thereby I have learned thy law.' And I know (O Lord) that thou of very
   faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled.' For God, who in mercy and
   wisdom governs the world, would never have suffered so many sadnesses,
   and have sent them especially to the most virtuous and the wisest men,
   but that he intends they should be the seminary of comfort, the nursery
   of virtue, the exercise of wisdom, the trial of patience, the venturing
   for a crown, and the gate of glory.

   5. Consider that afflictions are oftentimes the occasions of great
   temporal advantages; and we must not look upon them as they sit down
   heavily upon us, but as they serve some of God's ends, and the purposes
   of universal Providence. And when a prince fights justly, and yet
   unprosperously, if he could see all those reasons for which God hath so
   ordered it, he would think it the most reasonable thing in the world,
   and that it would be very ill to have it otherwise. If a man could have
   opened one of the pages of the Divine counsel, and could have seen the
   event of Joseph's being sold to the merchants of Amalek, he might, with
   much reason, have dried up the young man's tears: and when God's
   purposes are opened in the events of things, as it was in the case of
   Joseph, when he sustained his father's family and became lord of Egypt,
   then we see what ill judgment we made of things, and that we were
   passionate as children, and transported with sense and mistaken
   interest. The case of Themistocles was almost like that of Joseph, for
   being banished into Egypt, he also grew in favour with the king, and
   told his wife "he had been undone, unless he had been undone". For God
   esteems it one of his glories, that he brings good out of evil; and
   therefore it were but reason we should trust God to govern his own
   world as he pleases; and that we should patiently wait till the change
   cometh or the reason be discovered.

   And this consideration is also of great use to them who envy the
   prosperity of the wicked, and the success of persecutors, and the baits
   of fishes, and the bread of dogs. God fails not to sow blessings in the
   long furrows which the ploughers plough upon the back of the church;
   and this success which troubles us will be a great glory to God, and a
   great benefit to his saints and servants, and a great ruin to the
   persecutors, who shall have but the fortune of Theramenes, one of the
   thirty tyrants of Athens, who escaped when his house fell upon him, and
   was shortly after put to death with torments by his colleagues in the
   country.

   To which also may be added, that the great evils which happen to the
   best and wisest men are one of the great arguments upon the strength of
   which we can expect felicity to our souls and the joys of tolerable and
   eligible, when with so great advantages they minister to the faith and
   hope of a Christian. But if we consider what unspeakable tortures are
   provided for the wicked to all eternity, we should not be troubled to
   see them prosperous here, but rather wonder that their portion in this
   life is not bigger, and that ever they should be sick, or corssed, or
   affronted, or troubled with the contradiction and disease of their own
   vices, since, if they were fortunate beyond their own ambition, it
   could not make them recompense for one hour's torment in hell, which
   yet they shall have for their eternal portion.

   After all these considerations deriving from sense and experience,
   grace and reason, there are two remedies still remaining, and they are
   necessity and time.

   6. For it is but reasonable to bear that accident patiently which God
   sends, since impatience does but entangle us, like the fluttering of a
   bird in a net, but cannot at all ease our trouble, or prevent the
   accident: it must be run through, and therefore it were better we
   compose ourselves to a patient than to a troubled and miserable
   suffering.

   7. But, however, if you will not otherwise be cured, time at last will
   do it alone; and then consider, do you mean to mourn always, or but for
   a time? If always, you are miserable and foolish. If for a time, then
   why will you not apply those reasons to your grief at first with which
   you will cure it at last? or if you will not cure it with reason, see
   how little of a man there is in you, that you suffer time to do more
   with you than reason or religion! You suffer yourself to be cured, just
   as a beast or a tree is; let it alone, and the thing will heal itself:
   but this is neither honourable to thy person, nor to reputation to thy
   religion. However, be content to bear thy calamity, because thou art
   sure, in a little time, it will sit down gentle and easy, for to a
   moral man no evil is immortal. And here let the worst thing happen that
   can, it will end in death, and we commonly think that to be near
   enough.

   8. Lastly, of those things which are reckoned amongst evils, some are
   better than their contraries; and to a good man the very worst is
   tolerable.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [141] Non te ad omnia laeta genuit, O Agamemnon, Atreus, Opus est te
   gaugere et maercre: mortalis enim natus es, et ut haud veilis; superi
   sic constucrunt.

   [142] Hie in foro beatus esse creditur, Cum foribus apertis sit suis
   miserrimus: Imperat mulier, jubet omnia, semper litigat. Multra
   adferunt ilt dolorem, nihil mihi -- Ferre, quam sortem patiuntur omnes,
   Nemo recusat.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Poverty or a low fortune.

   1. Poverty is better than riches, and a mean fortune to be chosen
   before a great and splendid one. It is indeed despised, and makes men
   contemptible; it exposes a man to the insolence of evil persons, and
   leaves a man to the insolence of evil persons, and leaves a man
   defenceless; it is always suspected; its stories are accounted lies,
   and all its counsels follies; it puts a man from all employment; it
   makes a man's discourses tedious, and his society troublesome. This is
   the worst of it; and yet all this, and far worse than this, the
   apostles suffered for being Christians; and Christianity itself may be
   esteemed an affliction as well as poverty, if this be all that can be
   said against it; for the apostles and the most eminent Christians were
   really poor, and were used contemptuously; and yet, that poverty is
   despised may be an argument to commend it, if it be despised by none
   but persons vicious and ignorant. [143] However, certain it is that a
   great fortune is a great vanity, and riches are nothing but danger,
   trouble, and temptation; like a garment that is too long, and bears a
   train; not so useful to one, but it is troublesome to two -- to him
   that bears the one part upon his shoulders, and to him that bears the
   other part in his hand. But poverty is the sister of a good mind, the
   parent of sober counsels, and the nurse of all virtue.

   For what is it that you admire in the fortune of a great king? Is it
   that he always goes in a great company? You may thrust yourself into
   the same crowd, or go often to church, and then you have as great a
   company as he hath; and that may upon as good grounds please you as
   him, that is, justly neither: for so impertinent and useless pomp, and
   the other circumstances of his distance, are not made for him, but for
   his subjects, that they may learn to separate him from common usages,
   and be taught to be governed. [144] But if you look upon them as fine
   things in themselves, you may quickly alter your opinion when you shall
   consider that they cannot cure the toothache, nor make one wise, or
   fill the belly, or give one night's sleep -- (though they help to break
   many,) -- not satisfying any appetite of nature, or reason or religion;
   but they are states of greatness which only make it possible for a man
   to be made extremely miserable. And it was long ago observed by the
   Greek tragedians, and from them by Arrianus, [145] saying, "that all
   our tragedies are of kings and princes, and rich or ambitious
   personages; but you never see a poor man have a part, unless it be as a
   chorus, or to fill up the scenes, to dance or to be derided; but the
   kings and the great generals. First, says he, they begin with joy,
   crown the houses, but about the third or fourth act they cry out, O
   Citheron! why didst thou spare my life to reserve me for this more sad
   calamity?" And this is really true in the great accidents of the world;
   for a great estate hath great crosses, and a mean fortune hath but
   small ones. It may be the poor man loses a cow; or if his child dies he
   is quit of his biggest care; but such an accident in a rich and
   splendid family doubles upon the spirits of the parents. Or, it may be
   the poor man is troubled to pay his rent, and that is his biggest
   trouble; but is is a bigger care to secure a great fortune in a
   troubled estate, or with equal greatness, or with the circumstances of
   honour and the niceness of reputation, to defend a lawsuit; and that
   which will secure a common man's whole estate is not enough to defend a
   great man's honour.

   And therefore it was not without mystery observed among the ancients,
   that they who made gods of gold and silver, of hope and fear, peace and
   fortune, garlic and onions, beasts and serpents, and a quartan ague,
   yet never deified money; meaning that however wealth was admired by
   common or abused understandings, yet from riches, that is from that
   proportion of good things which is beyond the necessities of nature, no
   moment could be added to a man's real content or happiness. Corn from
   Sardinia, herds from Calabrian cattle, meadows through which pleasant
   Liris glides, silks from Tyrus, and golden chalices to drown my health
   in, are nothing but instruments of vanity or sin; and suppose a disease
   in the soul of him that longs for them or admires them. And this I have
   otherwhere represented more largely; to which I here add, that riches
   have very great dangers to their souls not only to them who covet them,
   but to all that have them. For if a great personage undertakes an
   action passionately and upon great interest, let him manage it
   indiscreetly, let the whole design be unjust, let it be acted with all
   the malice and impotency in the world, he shall have enough to flatter
   him, but not enough to reprove him. He had need be a bold man that
   shall tell his patron he is going to hell; and that prince had need be
   a good man that shall suffer such a monitor; and though it be a strange
   kind of civility, and an evil dutifulness in friends and relatives to
   suffer him to perish without reproof or medicine, rather than to seem
   unmannerly to a great sinner, yet it is none of their least
   infelicities that their wealth and greatness shall put them into sin,
   and yet put them past reproof. I need not instance in the habitual
   intemperance of rich tables, nor the evil accidents and effects of
   fulness, pride and lust, wantonness and softness of disposition, huge
   talking and an imperious spirit, despite of religion, and contempt of
   poor persons; at the best, it is a great temptation for a man to have
   in his power whatsoever he can have in his sensual desires; [146] and
   therefore riches is a blessing like to a present made of a whole
   vintage to a man in a hectic fever; he will be much tempted to drink of
   it, and if he does, he is inflamed, and may chance to die with the
   kindness.

   Now besides what hath been already noted in the state of poverty, there
   is nothing to be accounted for but the fear of wanting necessaries; of
   which, if a man could be secured that he might live free from care, all
   the other parts of it might be reckoned amongst the advantages of wise
   and sober persons, rather than objections against that state of
   fortune.

   But concerning this, I consider that there must needs be great security
   to all Christians, since Christ not only made express promises that we
   should have sufficient for this life, but took great pains and used
   many arguments to create confidence in us; and such they were, which by
   their own strength were sufficient, though you abate the authority of
   the speaker. The Son of God told us, his Father takes care of us: he
   that knew all his Father's counsels, and his whole kindness towards
   mankind, told us so. How great is that truth, how certain, how
   necessary, which Christ himself proved by arguments! The excellent
   words and most comfortable sentences which are our bills of exchange,
   upon the credit of which we lay our cares down and receive provisions
   for our need, are these, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall
   eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put
   on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold
   the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor
   gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them! Are ye not
   much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one
   cubit to his stature? and why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the
   lilies of the field, how they grow -- they toil not, neither do they
   spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was
   not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, if God so clothe the grass of
   the field which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall
   he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no
   thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or
   wherewithal shall we be clothes? (for after all these things do the
   gentiles seek); for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of
   all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his
   righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take
   therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought
   for the things of itself: sufficient to the day is the evil thereof."
   The same discourse is repeated by St. Luke; [147] and accordingly our
   duty is urged, and our confidence abetted, by the disciples of our
   Lord, in divers places of Holy Scripture. So St. Paul -- Be careful for
   nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with
   thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." And again,
   "Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded,
   nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us
   richly all things to enjoy. And yet again, "Let your conversation be
   without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have; for
   he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee: so that we may
   boldly say, The Lord is my helper." [148] And all this is by St. Peter
   summed up in our duty thus: "Cast all your care upon him, for he careth
   for you." Which words he seems to have borrowed out of the fifty-fifth
   Psalm, ver. 23, where David saith the same thing almost in the same
   words; to which I only add the observation made by him, and the
   argument of experience: I have been young, and now am old, and yet saw
   I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.' And
   now after all this, a fearless confidence in God, concerning a
   provision of necessaries, is so reasonable, that it is become a duty;
   and he is scarce a Christian whose faith is so little as to be jealous
   of God and suspicious concerning meat and clothes -- that man hath
   nothing in him of the nobleness or confidence of charity.

   Does not God provide for all the birds and beasts and fishes? Do not
   the sparrows fly from their bush, and every morning find meat where
   they laid it not? Do not the young ravens call to God, and he feeds
   them? And were it reasonable that the sons of the family should fear
   the father would give meat to the chickens and the servants, his sheep
   and his dogs, but give none to them? He were a very ill father that
   should do so; or he were a very foolish son that should think so of a
   good father. But besides the reasonableness of this faith and this
   hope, we have infinite experience of it. How innocent, how careless,
   how secure, is infancy! and yet how certainly provided for! We have
   lived at God's charges all the days of our life, and have (as the
   Italian proverb says) set down to meat at the sound of a bell; and
   hitherto he hath not failed us: we have no reason to suspect him for
   the future; we do not use to serve men so; and less time of trial
   creates great confidences in us towards them, who for twenty years
   together never broke their word with us: and God hath so ordered it,
   that a man shall have had the experience of many years' provision
   before he shall understand how to doubt; that he may be provided for an
   answer against the temptation shall come, and the mercies felt in his
   childhood may make him fearless when he is a man. Add to this, that God
   hath given us his Holy Spirit; he hath promised heaven to us; he hath
   given us his Son; and we are taught from Scripture to make this
   inference from hence, How should not he with him give us all things
   else?'
     __________________________________________________________________

   [143] Alta fortuna also travaglio apporta.

   [144] Da autorita la ceremonia al atto.

   [145] Ondeis oe penms tragpsoian snmplmsoi ei rg choreutis. Bis sex
   dierum mensura consero ego agros, Berecynthia arva. Animusque menus
   sursum usque evectus ad polum Decidit humi, et me sic videtur alloqui;
   Disea haud nimis magnifacere mortalia. Tantal. in Traged.

   [146] James, ii. 5-7.

   [147] Matt. vi. 25, etc.

   [148] Heb. xiii. 5, 6.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Charge of many Children.

   We have a title to be provided for, as we are God's creatures, another
   title as we are his children, another because God hath promised -- and
   every of our children hath the same title; and therefore it is a huge
   folly and infidelity to be troubled and full of care because we have
   many children. Every child we have to feed is a new revenue, a new
   title to God's care and providence; so that many children are a great
   wealth; and if it be said they are chargeable, it is no more than all
   wealth and great revenues are. For what difference is it? Titus keeps
   ten ploughs, Cornelia hath ten children: he hath land enough to employ
   and feed all his hinds; she, blessings and promises, and the provisions
   and the truth of God to maintain all her children. His hinds and horses
   eat up all his corn, and her children are sufficiently maintained with
   her little. They bring in and eat up, and she indeed eats up, but they
   also bring in from the store-houses of heaven, and the granaries of
   God; and my children are not so much mine as they are God's -- he feeds
   them in the womb, by ways secret and insensible, and would not work a
   perpetual miracle to bring them forth, and then to starve them.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Violent Necessities.

   But some men are highly tempted, and are brought to a strait, that
   without a miracle, they cannot be relieved -- what shall they do? It
   may be their pride or vanity hath brought the necessity upon them, and
   it is not a need of God's making: and if it be not, they must cure it
   themselves, by lessening their desires and moderating their appetites:
   and yet if it be innocent, though unnecessary, God does usually relieve
   such necessities; and he does not only upon our prayers grant us more
   than he promised of temporal things, but also he gives many times more
   than we ask. This is no object for our faith, but ground enough for a
   temporal and prudent hope; and if we fail in the particular, God will
   turn it to a bigger mercy if we submit to his dispensation and adore
   him in the denial. But if it be a matter of necessity, let not any man,
   by way of impatience, cry out that God will not work a miracle; for
   God, by miracle, did give meat and drink to his people in the
   wilderness, of which he made no particular promise in any covenant; and
   if all natural means fail, it is certain that God will rather work a
   miracle than break his word; he can do that -- he cannot do this. Only
   we must remember that our portion of temporal things is but food and
   raiment. God hath not promised us coaches and horses, rich houses and
   jewels, Tyrian silks and Persian carpets; neither hath he promised to
   minister to our needs in such circumstances as we shall appoint, but
   such as himself shall choose. God will enable thee either to pay thy
   debt (if thou beggest it of him), or else he will pay it for thee; that
   is, take thy desire as a discharge of thy duty, and pay it to thy
   creditor in blessings, or in some secret of his providence. It may be
   he hath laid up the corn that shall feed thee in the granary of thy
   brother, or will clothe thee with his wool. He enabled St. Peter to pay
   his gabel by the ministry of a fish, and Elias to be waited on by a
   crow, who was both his minister and his steward for provisions; and his
   holy Son rode in triumph upon an ass that grazed in another man's
   pastures. And if God gives to him the domination, and reserves the use
   to thee, thou hast the better half of the two; but the charitable man
   serves God and serves thy need, and both join to provide for thee, and
   God blesses both. But if he takes away the flesh-pots from thee, he can
   also alter the appetite, and he hath given thee power and commandment
   to restrain it; and if he lessens the revenue, he will also shrink the
   necessity; or if he gives but a very little, he will make it go a great
   way; or if he sends thee but a course diet, he will bless it and make
   it healthful, and can cure all the anguish of thy poverty by giving
   thee patience and the grace of contentedness. For the grace of God
   feeds and supports the spirit in the want of provisions; and if a thin
   table be apt to enfeeble the spirits of one used to feed better, yet
   the cheerfulness of a spirit that is blessed will make a thin table
   become a delicacy, if the man was as well taught as he was fed, and
   learned his duty when he received the blessing. Poverty, therefore, is
   in some senses eligible, and to be preferred before riches; but in all
   senses it is very tolerable.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Death of Children, or nearest Relatives and Friends.

   There are some persons, who have been noted excellent in their lives
   and passions, rarely innocent, and yet hugely penitent for
   indiscretions and harmless infirmities; such as was Paulina, one of the
   ghostly children of St. Jerome; and yet, when any of her children died,
   she was arrested with a sorrow so great as brought her to the margin of
   her grave. And the more tender our spirits are made by religion, the
   more easy we are to let in grief, if the cause be innocent, and be but
   in any sense twisted with piety and due affections; to cure which we
   may consider that all the world must die, and therefore to be impatient
   at the death of a person concerning whom it was certain and known that
   he must die, is to mourn because thy friend or child was not born an
   angel; and when thou hast awhile made thyself miserable by an
   importunate and useless grief, it may be thou shalt die thyself, and
   leave others to their choice whether they will mourn for thee or no;
   but by that time it will appear how impertinent that grief was which
   served no end of life, and ended in thy own funeral. But what great
   matter is it if sparks fly upward, or a stone falls into a pit; if that
   which was combustible be burned, or that which was liquid be melted, or
   that which is mortal to die? It is no more than a man does every day;
   for every night death hath gotten possession of that day, and we shall
   never live that day over again; and when the last day is come, there
   are no more days left for us to die. And what is sleeping and waking,
   but living and dying? what is spring and autumn, youth and old age,
   morning and evening, but real images of life and death, and really the
   same to many considerable effects and changes?
     __________________________________________________________________

  Untimely Death.

   But it is not mere dying that is pretended by some as the cause of
   their impatient mourning: but that the child died young, before he knew
   good and evil, his right hand from his left, and so lost all his
   portion of this world, and they know not of what excellency his portion
   in the next shall be. If he died young, he lost but little, for he
   understood but little, and had not capacities of great pleasures or
   great cares; but yet he died innocent and before the sweetness of his
   soul was deflowered and ravished from him by the flames and follies of
   a forward age; he went out from the dining-room before he had fallen
   into error by the intemperance of his meat, or the deluge of drink; and
   he hath obtained this favor of God, that his soul hath suffered a less
   imprisonment, and her load was sooner taken off, that he might, with
   lesser delays, go and converse with immortal spirits -- and the babe is
   taken into paradise before he knows good and evil (for that knowledge
   threw our great father out, and this ignorance returns the child
   thither). But (as concerning thy own particular) remove thy thoughts
   back to those days in which thy child was not born, and you are now but
   as then you was, and there is no difference, but that you had a son
   born; and if you reckon that for evil, you are unthankful for the
   blessing; if it be good, it is better that you had the blessing for
   awhile, than not at all; and yet, if he had never been born, this
   sorrow had not been at all. [149] But be no more displeased at God for
   giving you a blessing for awhile, than you would have been if he had
   not given it at all; and reckon that intervening blessing for a gain,
   but account it not an evil; and if it be a good, turn it not into
   sorrow and sadness. But if we have great reason to complain of the
   calamities and evils of our life, then we have the less reason to
   grieve that those whom we loved have so small a portion of evil
   assigned to them. And it is no small advantage that our children dying
   young receive; for their condition of a blessed immortality is rendered
   to them secure by being snatched from the dangers of an evil choice,
   and carried to their little cells of felicity, where they can weep no
   more. And this the wisest of the Gentiles understood well, when they
   forbade any offerings of libations to be made for dead infants, as was
   usual for their other dead; as believing they were entered into a
   secure possession, to which they went with no other condition but that
   they passed into it through the way of mortality, and, for a few
   months, wore an uneasy garment. And let weeping parents say if they do
   not think that the evils their little babes have suffered are
   sufficient. If they be, why are they troubled that they were taken from
   those many and greater which in succeeding years are great enough to
   try all the reason and religion which art, and nature, and the grace of
   God have produced in us, to enable us for such sad contentions? And,
   possibly, we may doubt concerning men and women, but we cannot suspect
   that to infants death can be such an evil, but that it brings to them
   much more good than it takes from them in this life.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [149] Itidem si puer parvulus occidat, aequo animo ferendum putant; si
   vero in cunis, ne querendum quidem; atqui hoc acerbius exegit natura
   quod dederat. At id quidem in caeteris rebus melius putatur, aliquam
   partem quaim nummam attingere.--Senec.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Death unseasonable.

   But others can well bear the death of infants; but when they have spent
   some years of childhood or youth, and are entered into arts and
   society, when they are hopeful and provided for, when the parents are
   to reap the comfort of all their fears and cares, then it breaks the
   spirit to lose them. This is true in many; but this is not love to the
   dead, but to themselves; for they miss what they had flattered
   themselves into by hope and opinion; and if it were kindness to the
   dead, they may consider, that since we hope he is gone to God and to
   rest, it is an ill expression of our love to them that we weep for
   their good fortune. For that life is not best which is longest: and
   when they are descended into the grave it shall not be inquired how
   long they have lived, but how well: and yet this shortening of their
   days is an evil wholly depending upon opinions. [150] For if men did
   naturally live but twenty years, then we should be satisfied if they
   died about sixteen or eighteen; and yet eighteen years now are as long
   as eighteen years would be then: and if a man were but a day's life, it
   is well if he lasts till even song, and then says his compline an hour
   before the time -- and we are pleased, and call not that death
   immature, if he lives till seventy; and yet this age is as short of the
   old periods before and since the flood, as this youth's age (for whom
   you mourn) is of the present fulness. Suppose, therefore, a decree
   passed upon this person, (as there have been many upon all mankind,)
   and God hath set him a shorter period; and then we may as well bear the
   immature death of the young man as the death of the oldest men; for
   they also are immature and unseasonable in respect of the old periods
   of many generations. And why are we troubled that he had arts and
   sciences before he died? or are we troubled that he does not live to
   make use of them? The first is cause of joy, for they are excellent in
   order to certain ends; and the second cannot be cause of sorrow,
   because he hath no need to use them, as the case now stands, being
   provided for with the provisions of an angel and the manner of
   eternity. However, the sons and the parents, friends and relatives, are
   in the world like hours and minutes to a day. The hour comes, and must
   pass; and some stay by minutes, and they also pass, and shall never
   return again. But let it be considered, that from the time in which a
   man is conceived, from that time forward to eternity he shall never
   cease to be; and let him die young or old, still he hath an immortal
   soul, and hath laid down his body only for a time, as that which was
   the instrument of his trouble and sorrows and the scene of sicknesses
   and disease. But he is in a more noble manner of being after death than
   he can be here; and the child may with more reason be allowed to cry
   for leaving his mother's womb for this world, than a man can for
   changing this world for another.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [150] Juvenis relinquit vitam, quem Dii diligunt.--Menand. Clerc. p.
   46.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Sudden Death, or Violent.

   Others are yet troubled at the manner of their child's or friends
   death. He was drowned, or lost his head, or died of the plague; and
   this is a new spring of sorrow. But no man can give a sensible account
   how it shall be worse for a child to die with drowning in half an-hour,
   than to endure a fever of one-and-twenty days. And if my friend lost
   his head, so he did not lose his constancy and his religion, he died
   with huge advantage.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Being Childless.

   But by this means I am left without an heir. Well, suppose that: thou
   hast no heir, and I have no inheritance; and there are many kings and
   emperors that have died childless, many royal lines are extinguished;
   and Augustus Caesar was forced to adopt his wife's son to inherit all
   the Roman greatness. And there are many wise persons that never
   married; and we read nowhere that any of the children of the apostles
   did survive their fathers; and all that inherit anything of Christ's
   kingdom come to it by adoption, not by natural inheritance: and to die
   without a natural heir is no intolerable evil, since it was sanctified
   in the person of Jesus, who died a virgin.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Evil or unfortunate Children.

   And by this means we are exposed to the greater sorrow of having a
   fool, a swine, or a goat, to rule after us in our families; and yet
   even this condition admits of comfort. For all the wild Americans are
   supposed to be the sons of Dodoniam; and the sons of Jacob are now the
   most scattered and despised people in the whole world. The son of
   Solomon was but a silly weak man; and the son of Hezakiah was wicked:
   and all the fools and barbarous people, all the thieves and pirates,
   all the slaves and miserable men and women of the world, are the sons
   and daughters of Noah; and we must not look to be exempted from that
   portion of sorrow which God gave to Noah, and Adam, to Abraham, to
   Isaac, and to Jacob: I pray God send us into the lot of Abraham. But if
   anything happens worse to us, it is enough for us that we bear it
   evenly.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Our own Death.

   And how, if you were to die yourself? You know you must. Only be ready
   for it by the preparations of a good life; and then it is the greatest
   good that ever happened to thee; else there is nothing that can comfort
   you. But if you have served God in a holy life, send away the women and
   the weepers; tell them it is as much intemperance to weep too much as
   to laugh too much; and when thou art alone, or with fitting company,
   die as thou shouldest, but do not die impatiently, and like a fox
   catched in a trap. For if you fear death, you shall never the more
   avoid it, but you make it miserable. Fannius, that killed himself for
   fear of death, died as certainly as Portia, that ate burning coals, or
   Cato, that cut his own throat. To die is necessary and natural, and it
   may be honourable; but to die poorly, and basely, and sinfully, that
   alone is it that can make a man unfortunate. No man can be a slave, but
   he that fears pain, or fears to die. To such a man nothing but chance
   and peaceable times can secure his duty, and he depends upon things
   without for his felicity; and so is well but during the pleasure of his
   enemy, or a thief, or a tyrant or it may be of a dog or a wild bull.
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     __________________________________________________________________

  PRAYERS FOR THE SEVERAL GRACES AND PARTS OF CHRISTIAN SOBRIETY.

  A Prayer against Sensuality.

   O eternal Father, thou that sittest in heaven invested with essential
   glories and divine perfections, fill my soul with so deep a sense of
   the excellences of spiritual and heavenly things, that, my affections
   being weaned from the pleasures of the world and the false allurements
   of sin, I may, with great severity, and the prudence of a holy
   discipline and strict desires, with clear resolutions and a free
   spirit, have my conversations in heaven and heavenly employments; that
   being, in affections as in my condition, a pilgrim and a stranger here,
   I may covet after and labour for an abiding city, and at last may enter
   into and for ever dwell in the celestial Jerusalem, which is the mother
   of us all, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

  For Temperance.

   O Almighty God and gracious Father of men and angels, who openest thy
   hand and fillest all things with plenty, and hast provided for thy
   servant sufficient to satisfy all my needs; teach me to use thy
   creatures soberly and temperately, that I may not, with loads of meat
   or drink, make the temptations of my enemy to prevail upon me, or my
   spirit unapt for the performance of my duty, or my body healthless, or
   my affections sensual and unholy. O my God, never suffer that the
   blessings which thou givest me may either minister to sin or sickness,
   but to health and holiness and thanksgiving; that in the strength of
   thy provisions I may cheerfully and actively and diligently serve thee;
   that I may worthily feast at thy table here, and be accounted worthy,
   through thy grace, to be admitted to thy table hereafter, at the
   eternal supper of the Lamb, to sing an hallelujah to God the Father,
   the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.

  For Chastity: to be said especially by Unmarried Persons.

   Almighty God, our most holy and eternal Father, who art of pure eyes,
   and canst behold no uncleanness; let thy gracious and holy Spirit
   descend upon thy servant, and reprove the spirit of fornication and
   uncleanness, and cast him out; that my body may be a holy temple, and
   my soul a sanctuary to entertain the Prince of purities, the holy and
   eternal Spirit of God. O, let no impure thoughts pollute that tongue
   which God hath commanded to be an organ of his praises; no unholy and
   unchaste action rend the veil of that temple where the holy Jesus hath
   been pleased to enter, and hath chosen for his habitation: but seal up
   all my senses from all vain objects, and let them be entirely possessed
   with religion, and fortified with prudence, watchfulness, and
   mortification; that I, possessing my vessel in holiness, may lay it
   down with a holy hope, and receive it again in a joyful resurrection,
   through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

  A Prayer for the Love of God, to be said by Virgins, and Widows, professed or
  resolved so to live: and may be used by any one.

   Oh holy and purest Jesus, who wert pleased to espouse every holy soul,
   and join it to thee with a holy union and mysterious instruments of
   religious society and communications; O, fill my soul with religion,
   and desires holy as the thoughts of cherubim, passionate beyond the
   love of women; that I may love thee as much as ever any creature loved
   thee, even with all my soul and all my faculties, and all the degrees
   of every faculty; let me know no loves but those of duty and charity,
   obedience and devotion; that I may for ever run after thee, who art the
   King of virgins, and with whom whole kingdoms are in love, and for
   whose sake queens have died, and at whose feet kings with joy have laid
   their crowns and sceptres. My soul is thing, O dearest Jesus; thou art
   my Lord, and hast bound up my eyes and heart from all stranger
   affections; give me for my dowry purity and humility, modesty and
   devotion, charity and patience, and at last bring me into the
   bride-chamber to partake of the felicities, and to lie in the bosom of
   the Bridegroom to eternal ages, O holy and sweetest Saviour Jesus.
   Amen.

  A Prayer to be said by Married Persons in behalf of themselves and each other.

   O eternal and gracious Father, who hast consecrated the holy estate of
   marriage to become mysterious, and to represent the union of Christ and
   his church, let thy Holy Spirit so guide me in the doing the duties of
   this state, that it may not become a sin unto me; nor that liberty,
   which thou hast hallowed by the holy Jesus, become an occasion of
   licentiousness by my own weakness and sensuality; and do thou forgive
   all those irregularities and too sensual applications which may have,
   in any degree, discomposed my spirit and the severity of a Christian.
   Let me, in all accidents and circumstances, be severe in my duty
   towards thee, affectionate and dear to my wife, (or husband,) a guide
   and good example to my family, and in all quietness, sobriety,
   prudence, and peace, a follower of those holy pairs who have served
   thee with godliness and a good testimony. And the blessings of the
   eternal God, blessings of the right hand and of the left, be upon the
   body and soul of thy servant, my wife, (or husband,) and abide upon her
   (or him) till the end of a holy and happy life; and grant that both of
   us may live together for ever in the embraces of the holy and eternal
   Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

  A Prayer for the Grace of Humility.

   O holy and most gracious Master and Saviour Jesus, who by thy example
   and by thy precept, by the practice of a whole life and frequent
   discourses, didst command us to be meek and humble, in imitation of thy
   incomparable sweetness and great humility, be pleased to give me the
   grace, as thou hast given me the commandment: enable me to do
   whatsoever thou commandest, and command whatsoever thou pleasest. O
   mortify in me all proud thoughts and vain opinions of myself; let me
   return to thee the acknowledgment and the fruits of all those good
   things thou hast given me, that, by confessing I am wholly in debt to
   thee for them, I may not boast myself for what I have received, and for
   what I am highly accountable; and for what is my own teach me to be
   ashamed and humbled, it being nothing but sin and misery, weakness and
   uncleanness. Let me go before my brethren in nothing but in striving to
   do them honour and thee glory, never to seek my own praise, never to
   delight in it when it is offered: that, despising myself, I may be
   accepted by thee in the honours with which thou shalt crown thy humble
   and despised servants, for Jesus' sake, in the kingdom of eternal
   glory. Amen.

  Acts of Humility and Modesty by way of Prayer and Meditation.

  I.

   Lord, I know that my spirit is light and thorny, my body is brutish and
   exposed to sickness; I am constant to folly, and inconstant in holy
   purposes. My labours are vain and fruitless; my fortune full of change
   and trouble, seldom pleasing, never perfect; my wisdom is folly; being
   ignorant even of the parts and passions of my own body; and what am I,
   O Lord, before thee, but a miserable person, hugely in debt, not able
   to pay?

  II.

   Lord, I am nothing, and I have nothing of myself: I am less than the
   least of all thy mercies.

  III.

   What was I before birth? First, nothing, and then uncleanness. What
   during my childhood? Weakness and folly. What in my youth? Folly still,
   and passion, lust, and wildness. What in my whole life? A great sinner,
   a deceived, and an abused person. Lord, pity me; for it is thy goodness
   that I am kept form confusion and amazement, when I consider the misery
   and shame of my person, and the defilements of my nature.

  IV.

   Lord, what am I? And, Lord, what art thou? "What is man, that thou art
   mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou so regardest him?"

  V.

   How can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born
   of a woman? Behold, even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the
   stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man that is a worm, and
   the son of man which is a worm! Job, xxxv.4, etc.

  A Prayer for a contented Spirit, and the Grace of Moderation and Patience.

   O Almighty God, Father and Lord of all the creatures, who hast disposed
   all things and all chances so as may best glorify thy wisdom, and serve
   the ends of thy justice, and magnify thy mercy by secret and
   indiscernible ways, bringing good out of evil; I most humbly beseech
   thee to give me wisdom from above, that I may adore thee and admire thy
   ways and footsteps, which are in the great deep and not to be searched
   out; teach me to submit to thy providence in all things, to be content
   in all changes of person and conditions, to be temperate in prosperity,
   and to read my duty in the lines of thy mercy; and in adversity to be
   meek, patient, and resigned; and to look through the cloud, that I may
   wait for the consolation of the Lord and the day of redemption; in the
   meantime doing my duty with an unwearied diligence, and an undisturbed
   resolution, having no fondness for my hopes in heaven and the rewards
   of holy living, and being strengthened with the spirit of the inner
   man, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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CHAPTER III.

  OF CHRISTIAN JUSTICE.

   Justice is, by the Christian religion, enjoined in all its parts by
   these two propositions in Scripture: "Whatsoever ye would that men
   should do to you, even so do them." This is the measure of commutative
   justice, or of that justice which supposes exchange of things
   profitable for things profitable: that as I supply your need you may
   supply mine; as I do a benefit to you, I may receive one by you. And
   because every man may be injured by another, therefore his security
   shall depend upon mine: if he will not let me be safe, he shall not be
   safe himself; (only the manner of his being punished is, upon great
   reason, both by God and all the world, taken from particulars, and
   committed to a public disinterested person, who will do justice,
   without passion, both to him and to me;) if he refuses to do me
   advantage, he shall receive none when his needs require it. And thus
   God gave necessities to man, that all men might need; and several
   abilities to several persons, that each man might help to supply the
   public needs, and, by joining to fill up all wants, they may be knit
   together by justice, as the parts of the world are by nature. And he
   hath made all obnoxious to injuries, and made every little thing strong
   enough to do us hurt by some instrument or other; and hath given us all
   a sufficient stock of self-love and desire of self-preservation, to be
   as the chain to tie together all the parts of society, and to restrain
   us from doing violence lest we be violently dealt withal ourselves.

   The other part of justice is commonly called distributive, and is
   commanded in this rule, "Render to all their dues: tribute to whom
   tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to
   whom honour. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." [151] This
   justice is distinguished from the first; because the obligation depends
   not upon contract or express bargain, but passes upon us by virtue of
   some command of God or of our superior, by nature or by grace, by piety
   or religion, by trust or by office, according to that commandment -- As
   every man hath received the gift, so let him minister the same, one to
   another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.' [152] And as
   the first considers an equality of persons in respect of the contract
   or particular necessity, this supposed a difference of persons, and no
   particular bargains, but such necessary intercourses as by the laws of
   God or man are introduced. But I shall reduce all the particulars of
   both kinds to these four heads: 1. Obedience; 2. Provision; 3.
   Negotiation; 4. Restitution.
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  SECTION I.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Obedience to our Superiors.

   Our superiors are set over us in affairs of the world, or the affairs
   of the soul and things pertaining to religion, and are called
   accordingly ecclesiastical or civil. Towards whom our duty is thus
   generally described in the New Testament. For temporal or civil
   governors the commands are these: "Render to Caesar the things that are
   Caesar's;" and, "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers: for
   there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God;
   whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of
   God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation:" [153]
   and, Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, and
   to obey magistrates:' [154] and, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance
   of man, for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme, or
   unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of
   evil doers, and the praise of them that do well." [155]

   For spiritual or ecclesiastical governors, thus we are commanded: "Obey
   them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch
   for your souls, as they that must give an account:" [156] and, Hold
   such in reputation: and, "To this end did I write, that I might know
   the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things," said St. Paul
   to the church in Corinth. Our duty is reducible to practice by the
   following rules.
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   [153] Rom. xiii. 1.

   [154] Titus iii. 1.

   [155] 1 Pet. ii. 13.

   [156] Heb. xiii. 17.
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  Acts and Duties of Obedience to all our Superiors.

   1. We must obey all human laws appointed and constituted by lawful
   authority, that is, of the supreme power, according to the constitution
   of the place in which we live: all laws, I mean, which are not against
   the law of God.

   2. In obedience to human laws, we must observe the letter of the law
   where we can, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the
   intention of the lawgiver; but where they cross each other the charity
   of the law is to be preferred before its discipline, and the reason of
   it before the letter.

   3. If the general reason of the law ceases in our particular, and a
   contrary reason rises upon us, we are to procure dispensation, or leave
   to omit the observation of it in such circumstances, if there be any
   persons or office appointed for granting it; but if there be none, or
   if it is not easily to be had, or not without an inconvenience greater
   than the good of the observation of the law in our particular, we are
   dispensed withal in the nature of the thing, without further process or
   trouble.

   4. As long as the law is obligatory, so long our obedience is due; and
   he that begins a contrary custom without reason, sins: but he that
   breaks the law, when the custom is entered and fixed, is excused;
   because it is supposed the legislative power consents, when, by not
   punishing, it suffers disobedience to grow to a custom.

   5. Obedience to human laws must be for conscience sake; that is,
   because in such obedience public order, and charity, and benefit, are
   concerned, and because the law of God commands us: therefore we must
   make a conscience in keeping the just laws of superiors: and although
   the matter before the making of the law was indifferent, yet now the
   obedience is not indifferent; but, next to the laws of God, we are to
   obey the laws of all our superiors, who the more public they are the
   first they are to be in the order of obedience.

   6. Submit to the punishment and censure of the laws, and seek not to
   reverse their judgment by opposing, but by submitting, or flying, or
   silence, to pass through it or by it, as we can; and although from
   inferior judges we may appeal where the law permits us, yet we must sit
   down and rest in the judgment of the supreme; and if we be wronged, let
   us complain to God of the injury, not of the persons; and he will
   deliver thy soul from unrighteous judges.

   7. Do not believe thou hast kept the law, when thou hast suffered the
   punishment. For although patiently to submit to the power of the sword
   be a part of obedience, yet this is such a part as supposes another
   left undone; and the law punishes, not because she is as well pleased
   in taking vengeance as in being obeyed, but because she is pleased she
   uses punishment as a means to secure obedience for the future, or in
   others. Therefore, although in such cases the law is satisfied, and the
   injury and the injustice are paid for, yet the sins of irreligion, and
   scandal, and disobedience to God, must still be so accounted for, as to
   crave pardon and be washed off by repentance.

   8. Human laws are not to be broken with scandal, nor at all without
   reason; for he that does it causelessly is a despiser of the law, and
   undervalues the authority. For human laws differ from Divine laws
   principally in this: 1. That the positive commands of a man may be
   broken upon smaller and more reasons than the positive commands of God;
   we may, upon a smaller reason omit to keep any of the fasting-days of
   the church than omit to give alms to the poor; only this, the reason
   must bear weight according to the gravity and concernment of the law; a
   law, in a small matter, may be omitted for a small reason: in a great
   matter, not without a greater reason. and 2. The negative precepts of
   men may cease by many instruments, by contrary customs, by public
   disrelish, by long omission: but the negative precepts of God never can
   cease, but when they are expressly abrogated by the same authority. But
   what those reasons are that can dispense with the command of a man, a
   man may be his own judge, and sometimes take his proportions from his
   own reason and necessity, sometimes from public fame, and the practice
   of pious and severe persons, and from popular customs; in which a man
   shall walk most safely when he does not walk along, but a spiritual man
   takes him by the hand.

   9. We must not be too forward in procuring dispensations, nor use them
   any longer than the reason continues for which we first procured them;
   for to be dispensed withal is an argument of natural infirmity, if it
   be necessary; but, if it be not, it signifies an undisciplined and
   unmortified spirit.

   10. We must not be too busy in examining the prudence and
   unreasonableness of human laws: for although we are not bound to
   believe them all to be the wisest, yet if, by inquiring into the
   lawfulness of them, or by any other instrument we find them to fail of
   that wisdom with which some others are ordained, yet we must never make
   use of it to disparage the person of the lawgiver, or to countenance
   any man's disobedience, much less our own.

   11. Pay that reverence to the person of thy prince, of his ministers,
   of thy parents and spiritual guides, which, by the customs of the place
   thou livest in, are usually paid to such persons in their several
   degrees: that is, that the highest reverence be paid to the highest
   persons, and so still in proportion; and that this reverence be
   expressed in all the circumstances and manners of the city and nation.

   12. Lift not up thy hand against thy prince or parent, upon what
   pretence soever; but bear all personal affronts and inconveniences at
   their hands, and seek no remedy but by patience and piety, yielding and
   praying, or absenting thyself.

   13. Speak not evil of the ruler of thy people, neither curse thy father
   or mother, nor revile thy spiritual guides, nor discover and lay naked
   their infirmities; but treat them with reverence and religion, and
   preserve their authority sacred, by esteeming their persons venerable.

   14. Pay tribute and customs to princes according to the laws, and
   maintenance to thy parents according to their necessity, and honourable
   support to the clergy according to the dignity of the work and the
   customs of the place.

   15. Remember always, that duty to our superiors is not an act of
   commutative justice, but of distributive; that is, although kings and
   parents and spiritual guides are to pay a great duty to their
   inferiors, the duty of their several charges and government, yet the
   good government of a king and of parents are actions of religion, as
   they relate to God, and of piety, as they relate to their people and
   families. And although we usually all them just princes who administer
   their laws exactly to the people, because the actions are in the manner
   of justice, yet in propriety of speech, they are rather to be called
   pious and religious. For as he is not called a just father that
   educates his children well, but pious; so that prince who defends and
   well rules his people is religious, and does that duty for which alone
   he is answerable to God: the consequence of which is this, so far as
   concerns our duty -- if the prince or parent fail of their duty, we
   must not fail of ours; for we are answerable to them and to God too, as
   being accountable to all our superiors, and so are they to theirs: they
   are above us, and God is above them.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Remedies against Disobedience, and Means to endear our Obedience; by way of
  consideration.

   1. Consider, that all authority descends from God, and our superiors
   bear the image of the Divine power, which God imprints on them as on an
   image of clay, or a coin upon a less perfect metal, which whoso defaces
   shall not be answerable for the loss or spoil of the materials, but the
   defacing the king's image; and in the same measure will God require it
   at our hands, if we despise his authority, upon whomsoever he hath
   imprinted it.

   He that despiseth you, despiseth me. And Dathan and Abiram were said to
   be gathered together against the Lord.' And this was St. Paul's
   argument for our obedience: The powers that be are ordained of God.'

   2. There is very great peace and immunity from sin in resigning our
   wills up to the command of others; for provided that our duty to God be
   secured, their commands are warrants to us in all things else; and the
   case of conscience is determined, if the command be evident and
   pressing: and it is certain, the action that is but indifferent and
   without reward, if done only upon our own choice, is an act of duty and
   of religion, and rewardable by the grace and favour of God, if done in
   obedience to the command of our superiors. For since naturally we
   desire what is forbidden us, (and sometimes there is no other evil in
   the thing but that it is forbidden us,) God hath in grace enjoined and
   proportionably accepts obedience, as being directly opposed to the
   former irregularity; and it is acceptable, although there be no other
   good in the thing that is commanded us but that it is commanded.

   3. By obedience we are made a society and a republic, and distinguished
   from herds of beasts, and heaps of flies, who do what they list, and
   are incapable of laws, and obey none; and therefore are killed and
   destroyed, though never punished, and they never can have a reward.

   4. By obedience we are rendered capable of all the blessings of
   government, signified by St. Paul in these words: "He is the minister
   of God to thee for good;" [157] and by St. Peter in these: "Governors
   are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of
   them that do well." [158] And he that ever felt, or saw or can
   understand, the miseries of confusion in public affairs, or amazement
   in a heap off side, tumultuous, and indefinite thoughts, may from
   thence judge of the admirable effects of order, and the beauty of
   government. What health is to the body, and peace is to the spirit,
   that is government to the societies of men; the greatest blessing which
   they can reveive in that temporal capacity.

   5. No man shall ever be fit to govern others that knows not first how
   to obey. For if the spirit of a subject be rebellious, in a prince it
   will be tyrannical and intolerable; and of so ill example, that as it
   will encourage the disobedience of others, so it will render it
   unreasonable for him to exact of others what in the like case he
   refuses to pay.

   6. There is no sin in the world which God hath punished with so great
   severity and high detestation as this of disobedience. For the crime of
   idolatry God sent the sword amongst his people; but it was never heard
   that the earth opened and swallowed up any but rebels against their
   prince.

   7. Obedience is better than the particular actions of religion; and he
   serves God better that follows his prince in lawful services than he
   that refuses his command upon pretence he must go say his prayers. But
   rebellion is compared to that sin which of all sin seems the most
   unnatural and damned impiety, -- Rebellion is as the sin of
   witchcraft.'

   8. Obedience is a complicated act of virtue, and many graces are
   exercised in one act of obedience. It is an act of humility, of
   mortification and self denial, of charity to God, of care of the
   public, of order and charity to ourselves and all our society, and a
   great instance of a victory over the most refractory and unruly
   passions.

   9. To be a subject is a greater temporal felicity than to be a king:
   for all eminent governors according to their height, have a great
   burden, huge care, infinite business, little rest, innumerable fears;
   and all that he enjoys above another is, that he does enjoy the things
   of the world with others go at his single command, it is also certain
   he must suffer inconveniences at the needs and disturbances of all his
   people; and the evils of one man and of one family are not enough for
   him to bear, unless also he be almost crushed with the evils of
   mankind. He, therefore, is an ungrateful person that will press the
   scales down with a voluntary load, and, by disobedience, put more
   thorns into the crown or mitre of his superior. Much better is the
   advice of St. Paul; "Obey them that have the rule over you, as they
   that must give an account for your souls, that they may do it with joy
   and not with grief; for (besides that it is unpleasant to them) it is
   unprofitable for you."

   10. The angels are ministering spirits, and perpetually execute the
   will and commandment of God: and all the wise men and all the good men
   of the world are obedient to their governors; and the eternal Son of
   God esteemed it his meat and drink to do the will of his Father,' and
   for his obedience alone obtained the greatest glory: and no man ever
   came to perfection but by obedience; and thousands of saints have
   chosen such institutions and manners of living, in which they might not
   choose their own work, nor follow their own will, nor please
   themselves, but be accountable to others, and subject to discipline,
   and obedient to command; as knowing this to be the highway of the
   cross, the way that the King of sufferings and humility did choose, and
   so became the King of glory.

   11. No man ever perished who followed first the will of God, and then
   the will of his superiors; but thousands have been damned merely for
   following their own will, and relying upon their own judgments, and
   choosing their own work, and doing their own fancies. For if we begin
   with ourselves, whatsoever seems good in our eyes is most commonly
   displeasing in the eyes of God.

   12. The sin of rebellion, though it be a spiritual sin, and imitable by
   devils, yet it is of that disorder, unreasonableness, and
   impossibility, amongst intelligent spirits, that they never murmured or
   mutinied in their lower stations against their superiors. Nay, the good
   angels of an inferior order durst not revile a devil of a higher order.
   This consideration, which I reckon to be most pressing in the
   discourses of reason, and obliging next to the necessity of a Diving
   precept, we learn from St. Jude, viii.9, Likewise also these filthy
   dreamers despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. And yet Michael
   the archangel, when, contending with the devil, he disputed about the
   body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation.'

   But because our superiors rule by their example, by their word or law,
   and by the rod, therefore in proportion there are several degrees and
   parts of obedience -- several excellencies and degrees towards
   perfection.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [157] Rom. xiii. 4.

   [158] 1 Pet. ii. 14.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Degrees of Obedience.

   1. The first is the obedience of our outward work: and this is all that
   human laws of themselves regard; for because man cannot judge the
   heart, therefore it prescribes nothing to it: the public end is served,
   not by good wishes, but by real and actual performances, and if a man
   obeys against his will, he is not punishable by the laws.

   2. The obedience of the will: and this is also necessary in our
   obedience to human laws, not because man requires it for himself, but
   because God commands it towards man; and if it, although man cannot,
   yet God will demand an account. For we are to do it as to the Lord, and
   not to men, and therefore we must do it willingly. But by this means
   our obedience in private is secured against secret arts and
   subterfuges; and when we can avoid the punishment, yet we shall not
   decline our duty, but serve man for God's sake, that is, cheerfully,
   promptly, vigorously; for these are the proper parts of willingness and
   choice.

   3. The understanding must yield obedience in general, though not in the
   particular instance, that is, we must be firmly persuaded of the
   excellency of the obedience, though we be not bound, in all cases, to
   think the particular law to be most prudent. But, in this, our rule is
   plain enough. Our understanding ought to be inquisitive, whether the
   civil constitution agree with our duty to God; but we are bound to
   inquire no further: and therefore beyond this, although he who, having
   no obligation to it, (as counsellors have,) inquires not at all into
   the wisdom or reasonableness of the law, be not always the wisest man,
   yet he is ever the best subject. For when he hath given up his
   understanding to his prince and prelate, provided that his duty to God
   be secured by a precedent search, he hath also, with the best and with
   all the instruments in the world, secured his obedience to man.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION II.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Provision, or that part of Justice which is due from Superiors to
  Inferiors.

   As God hath imprinted his authority in several parts upon several
   estates of men, as princes, parents, spiritual guides; so he hath also
   delegated and committed parts of his care and providence unto them,
   that they may be instrumental in the conveying such blessings which God
   knows we need, and which he intends should be the effects of
   government. For since God governs all the world as a king, provides for
   us a father, and is the great guide and conductor of our spirits as the
   head of the church, and the great shepherd and the bishop of our souls,
   they who have portions of these dignities have also their share of the
   administration: the sum of all which is usually signified in these two
   words, governing and feeding, and is particularly recited in these
   following rules:
     __________________________________________________________________

  Duties of Kings, and all the Supreme Power, as Lawgivers.

   1. Princes of the people, and all that have legislative power, must
   provide useful and good laws for the defence of property, for the
   encouragement of labour, for the safeguard of their persons, for
   determining controversies, for reward of noble actions and excellent
   arts and rare inventions, for promoting trade, and enriching their
   people.

   2. In the making laws, princes must have regard to the public
   dispositions, to the affections and disaffections of the people, and
   must not introduce a law with public scandal and displeasure; but
   consider the public benefit, and the present capacity of affairs, and
   general inclinations of men's minds. [159] For he that enforces a law
   upon a people against their first and public apprehensions, tempts them
   to disobedience, and makes laws to become snares and hooks to catch the
   people, and to enrich the treasury with the spoil and tears and cures
   of the commonalty, and to multiply their mutiny and their sin.

   3. Princes must provide, that the laws be duly executed, for a good law
   without execution is like an unperformed promise: and therefore they
   must be severe exactors of accounts from their delegates and ministers
   of justice.

   4. The severity of laws must be tempered with dispensations, pardons,
   and remissions, according as the case shall alter, and new necessities
   be introduced, or some singular accident shall happen, in which the law
   would be unreasonable or intolerable, as to that particular. And thus
   the people, with their importunity, prevailed against Saul in the case
   of Jonathan, and obtained his pardon for breaking the law which his
   father made, because his necessity forced him to taste honey; and his
   breaking the law, in that case, did promote that service whose
   promotion was intended by the law.

   5. Princes must be fathers of the people, and provide such instances of
   gentleness, ease, wealth, and advantages, as may make mutual confidence
   between them; and must fix their security under God in the love of the
   people; which, therefore, they must, with all arts of sweetness,
   remission, popularity, nobleness, and sincerity, endeavour to secure to
   themselves.

   6. Princes must not multiply public oaths without great, eminent, and
   violent necessity; lest the security of the king become a snare to the
   people, and they become false, when they see themselves suspected; or
   impatient, when they are violently held fast: but the greater and more
   useful caution is upon things than upon persons; and if security of
   kings can be obtained otherwise, it is better that oaths should be the
   last refuge, and when nothing else can be sufficient.

   7. Let not the people be tempted with arguments or disobey, by the
   imposition of great and unnecessary taxes: for that lost to the son of
   Solomon the dominion of the ten tribes of Israel.

   8. Princes must, in a special manner, be guardians of pupils and
   widows, not suffering then persons to be oppressed, or their estates
   imbeciled, or in any sense be exposed to the rapine of covetous
   persons; but be provided for by just laws, and provident judges, and
   good guardians, ever having an ear ready open to their just complaints,
   and a heart full of pity, and one hand to support them, and the other
   to avenge them.

   9. Princes must provide, that the laws may be so administered that they
   be truly and really an ease to the people, not an instrument of
   vexation: and therefore must be careful, that the shortest and most
   equal ways of trials be appointed, fees moderated, and intricacies and
   windings as much cut off as may be, lest injured persons be forced to
   perish under the oppression, or under the law, in the injury, or in the
   suit. Laws are like princes, those best and most beloved who are most
   easy of access.

   10. Places of judicature ought, at no hand, to be sold by pious
   princes, who remember themselves to be fathers of the people. For they
   that buy the office will sell the act; [160] and they that, at any
   rate, will be judges, will not, at any easy rate, do justice; and their
   bribery is less punishable, when bribery opened the door by which they
   entered.

   11. Ancient privileges, favours, customs, and acts of grace, indulged
   by former kings to their people, must not, without high reason and
   great necessities, be revoked by their successors, nor forfeitures be
   exacted violently, nor penal laws urged rigorously, nor in light cases;
   nor laws be multiplied without great need; nor vicious persons, which
   are publicly and deservedly hated, be kept in defiance of popular
   desires; nor anything that may unnecessarily make the yoke heavy and
   the affection light, that may increase murmurs and lessen charity;
   always remembering, that the interest of the prince and the people is
   so enfolded in a mutual embrace, that they cannot be untwisted without
   pulling a limb off, or dissolving the bands and conjunction of the
   whole body.

   12. All princes must esteem themselves as much bound by their word, by
   their grants, and by their promises, as the meanest of their subjects
   are by the restraint and penalty of laws; [161] and although they are
   superior to the people, yet they are not superior to their own
   voluntary concessions and engagements, their promises and oaths, when
   once they are passed from them.
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   [159] Omittenda potius praevalida ct adulta vitia, quam hoe adsequi, ut
   palam fiat, quibus flagitiis impares simus.--Tacit.

   [160] Chi compra il magistrato, forza e, che vendra la giustitia.

   [161] Nalla lex (civilis) sibi soli conscientiam justitiaw suae debet,
   sed cis a quibus obsequim expectat--Tertul. Apolget.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Duty of Superiors as they are Judges.

   1. Princes in judgment and their delegate judges must judge the causes
   of all persons uprightly and impartially, without any personal
   consideration of the power of the mighty, or the bribe of the rich, or
   the needs of the poor. For although the poor must fare no worse for his
   poverty, yet, in justice, be must fare no better for it; and although
   the rich must be no more regarded, yet he must not be less. And to this
   purpose the tutor of Cyrus instructed him, when in a controversy, where
   a great boy would have taken a large coat from a little boy, because
   his own was too little for him, and the other's was too big, he
   adjudged the great coat to the great boy: his tutor answered, "Sir, if
   you were made to judge of decency or fitness, you had judged well in
   giving the biggest to the biggest; but when you are appointed judge,
   not whom the coat did fit, but whose it was, you should have considered
   the title and the possession, who did the violence, and who made it, or
   who bought it." And so it must be in judgments between the rich and the
   poor: it is not to be considered what the poor man needs, but what is
   his own.

   2. A prince may not, much less may inferior judges, deny justice, when
   it is legally and competently demanded: and if the prince will use his
   prerogative in pardoning an offender, against whom justice is required,
   he must be careful to give satisfaction to the injured person, or his
   relatives, by some other instrument; and be watchful to take away the
   scandal, that is, lest such indulgence might make persons more bold to
   do injury: and if he spares the life, let him change the punishment
   into that which may make the offender, if not suffer justice, yet do
   justice, and more real advantage to the injured person.

   These rules concern princes and their delegates in the making or
   administering laws, in the appointing rules of justice, and doing acts
   of judgment. The duty of parents to their children and nephews is
   briefly described by St. Paul.
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  The Duty of Parents to their Children.

   1. Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath:' [162] that is, be
   tender-bowelled, pitiful, and gentle, complying with all the
   infirmities of the children, and, in their several ages, proportioning
   to them several usages, according to their needs and their capacities.

   2. Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord:' that is,
   secure their religion; season their younger years with prudent and
   pious principles; make them in love with virtue; and make them
   habitually so, before they come to choose or to discern good from evil,
   that their choice or to discern good from evil, that their choice may
   be with less difficulty and danger. For while they are under
   discipline, they suck in all that they are first taught, and believe it
   infinitely. Provide for them wise, learned, and virtuous tutors, and
   good company and discipline, seasonable baptism, catechism, and
   confirmation. [163] For it is great folly to heap up much wealth for
   our children, and not to take care concerning the children for whom we
   get it: it is as if a man should take more care about his shoe than
   about his foot.

   3. Parents must show piety at home; [164] that is, they must give good
   example and reverend deportment in the face of their children; and all
   those instances of charity, which usually endear each other --
   sweetness of conversation, affability, frequent admonitions, all
   significations of love and tenderness, care and watchfulness -- must be
   expressed towards children, that they may look upon their parents as
   their friends and patrons, their defence and sanctuary, their treasuer
   and their guide. Hither is to be reduced the nursing of children, which
   is the first and most natural and necessary instance of piety which
   mothers can show to their babes; a duty from which nothing will excuse,
   but a disability, sickness, danger, or public necessity.

   4. Parents must provide for their own, according to their condition,
   education and employment: called by St. Paul, a laying up for the
   children;' [165] that is, an enabling them, by competent portions, or
   good trades, arts, or learning, to defend themselves against the
   chances of the world, that they may not be exposed to temptation, to
   beggary, or unworthy arts. And although this must be done without
   covetousness, without impatient and greedy desires of making them rich;
   yet it must be done with much care and great affection, with all
   reasonable provision, and according to our power: and if we can,
   without sin, improve our estates for them, that also is part of the
   duty we owe to God for them. And this rule is to extend to all that
   descend from us, although we have been overtaken in a fault, and have
   unlawful issue; they also become part of our care, yet so as not to
   injure the production of the lawful bed.

   5. This duty is to extend to a provision of conditions and an estate of
   life. [166] Parents must, according to their power and reason, provide
   husbands or wives for their children. [167] In which they must secure
   piety and religion, [168] and the affection and love of the interested
   persons; and after these let them make what provisions they can for
   other conveniences or advantages; ever remembering that they can do no
   injury more afflictive to the children than to join them with cords of
   a disagreeing affection; it is like tying a wolf and a lamb, or
   planting a vine in a garden of coleworts. Let them be persuaded with
   reasonable inducements to make them willing, and to choose according to
   the parent's wish; but at no hand let them be forced. Better to sit up
   all night than to go to bed with a dragon.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [162] Ephes. vi. 4.

   [163] Potior mihi ratio vivendi honeste, quam et opime
   dicendividetur.--Quintil. lib. i. cap. 2.

   [164] Heb. xii. 9 Crates apud Plutarch. de Liber. Educand. 1 Tim. v. 4.

   [165] 1 Tim. v. 1.

   [166] Nurphenphaton uen ton eron patmph eros. Mertrnan exzi, koud euon
   donein tase.--Eurip. Androm. 988.

   [167] Liberi sine consensu parentum contrahere non debeut. Andromache,
   apud Eurpiden, cum petita fuit ad nuptias, responidit, patris sui esse
   sponsalium suorum curam habere; et Achilles, apud Homerum, regis filiam
   sine patris sui consensu noluit ducere. II.9, 393. Et Justinanus Imp.
   alt. naturali simul et civili rationi congruere, ne filii ducant uxores
   citra parentum authoritatem. Simo Terentianus parat abdictionem, quia
   Pamphilus clam ipso duxisset uxorem. Istitsmodi sponalia frunt irrita,
   nisi velint parentes: at si subsequuta est copula, ne temere
   rescindantur connubia, toulue suadent cautiones et pericula. Liberi,
   autem, quamdiu secundum leges patrias sui juris non sunt, clandestinas
   nuptias si ineant, peccant contra quintum praeceptum, et jus naturale
   secundarium. Proprie enim loquendo parentes non habent sive potestatem,
   sed authoritatem; hebent jus jubendi aut prohibendi, sed non irritum
   faciendi. Atque etiam ista authoritas exercenda est sccudnum aequm et
   bonum; scil, nt ne morosus et difficilis sit pater. Mater enim vix
   habet aliquod juris praeter suasionis et amoris et gratitudinis. Si
   autem pater filiam non collocasset ante 25 annos, filia nubere poterat
   cui voluerat, ex jure Romanorum. Patrum enim authoritas major aut minor
   est ex legibus patriis, et solet extendi ad certam aetatem, et tum
   exspirat quoad matrimonium; et est major in filias quam filios.--Num.
   30.

   [168] Eosdem quos maritus nosse deos et colere s olos uxor debet;
   supervacaneis autem religionibus et alienis superstitionibus fores
   occludere. Nulli enim deum grata sunt sacra, quae mulier clanculum et
   furtim facit--Plutarch. Conjug. Praecept. Gen. 24. Vocemus puellam, et
   quaeramus os ejus.--The Duty of Husbands, etc. See Chap ii Sect. 3.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for Married Persons.

   1. Husbands must give to their wives love, [169] maintenance, duty, and
   the sweetnesses of conversation; and wives must pay to them all they
   have or can, with the interest of obedience and reverence: and they
   must be complicated in affections and interest, that there must be no
   distinction between them of mine and thine. And if the title be the
   man's or the woman's, yet the use is to be common; only the wisdom of
   the man is a regulate all extravagances and indiscretions. In other
   things no question is to be made; and their goods should be as their
   children, not to be divided, but of one possession and provision:
   whatsoever is otherwise is not marriage but merchandise. And upon this
   ground I suppose it was, that St. Basil commended that woman who took
   part of her husband's good to do good works withal: [170] for supposing
   him to be unwilling, and that the work was his duty or here alone, or
   both theirs in conjunction, or of great advantage to either of their
   souls, and no violence to the support of their families, she had right
   to all that: and Abigail, of her own right, made a costly present to
   David when her husband Nabal had refused it. The husband must [171]
   rule over his wife, as the soul does over the body, obnoxious to the
   same sufferings, and bound by the same affections, and doing or
   suffering by the permissions and interest of each other: that (as the
   old philosopher said) as the humours of the body are mingled with each
   other in the whole substances, so marriage may be a mixture of
   interests, of bodies, of minds, of friends, a conjunction [172] of the
   whole life, and the noblest of friendships. But if, after all the fair
   deportments and innocent chaste compliances, the husband be morose and
   ungentle, let the wife discourse thus: "If while I do my duty, my
   husband neglects me, what will he do if I neglect him?" And if she
   things to be separated by reason of her husband's unchaste life, let
   her consider, that then the man will be incurable ruined, and her
   rivals could wish nothing more than that they might possess him alone.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [169] Eoi ue deou tosa doten --

   [170] Klepsasa kala klerrata aneu anoros tas eupoiad zpoimse

   [171] Laetum esse debet et officiosum mariti imperium.-Plut. Namque es
   ei pater et frater, venerandaque mater; nec minus facit ad dignitatem
   viri, si mulier eum suum praeceptorem, philosophum, magistrumque
   appellet.--Putarch.

   [172] Convictio est quasi quaedam intensio benevolentiae. Inferior
   matrona suo sit, sexte marito: Non aliter flunt foemina, virque pares.
   18
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Duty of Masters of Families.

   1. The same care is to extend to all of our family, in their
   proportions, as to our children: for as, by St. Paul's economy, the
   heir differs nothing from a servant, while he is in minority, so a
   servant should differ nothing from a child, in the substantial part of
   the care; and the difference is only in degrees. Servants and masters
   are of the same kindred, of the same nature, and heirs of the same
   promises, and therefore, 1. must be provided of necessaries, for their
   support and maintenance. 2. They must be used with mercy. 3. Their work
   must be tolerable and merciful. 4. Their restraints must be reasonable.
   5. Their recreations fitting and healthful. 6. Their religion and the
   interest of souls taken care of. 7. And masters must correct their
   servants with gentleness, prudence, and mercy; not for every slight
   fault, not always, not with upbraiding and disgraceful language, but
   with such only as may express and reprove the fault, and amend the
   person. But in all these things measures are to be taken by the
   contract made, by the laws and customs of the place, by the sentence of
   prudent and merciful men, and by the cautions and remembrances given us
   by God; such as is that written by St. Paul, as knowing that we also
   have a Master in heaven.' The master must not be a lion in his house,
   lest his power be obeyed, and his person hated; his eye be waited on,
   and his business be neglected in secret. No servant will do his duty,
   unless he make a conscience, or love his master: if he does it not for
   God's sake or his master's, he will not need to do it always for his
   own.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Duty of Guardians or Tutors.

   Tutors and guardians are in the place of parents; and what they are in
   fiction of law, they must remember as an argument to engage them do do
   in reality of duty. They must do all the duty of parents, excepting
   those obligations which are merely natural.

   *The duty of ministers and spiritual guides to the people is of so
   great burden, so various rules, so intricate and busy caution, that it
   requires a distinct tractate by itself.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION III.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Negotiation, or Civil Contracts.

   This part of justice is such as depends upon the laws of man directly,
   and upon the laws of God only by consequence and indirect reason; and
   from civil laws or private agreements it is to take its estimate and
   measures: and although our duty is plain and easy, requiring of us
   honesty in contracts sincerity in affirming, simplicity in bargaining,
   and faithfulness in performing, yet it may be helped by the addition of
   these following rules and considerations.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules and Measures of Justice in Bargaining.

   1. In making contracts, use not many words; for all the business of a
   bargain is summed up in few sentences: and he that speaks least means
   fairest as having fewer opportunities or deceive.

   2. Lie not at all, neither in a little thing nor in a great, neither in
   the substance nor in the circumstance, neither in word nor deed: that
   is, pretend not what is false, cover not what is true: and let the
   measure of your affirmation or denial be the understanding of your
   contractor; for he that deceives the buyer or the seller by speaking
   what is true in a sense not intended or understood by the other, is a
   liar and a thief. For in bargains you are to avoid not only what is
   false, but that also which deceives.

   3. In prices of bargaining concerning uncertain merchandises, you may
   buy as cheap ordinarily, as you can; and sell as dear as you can, so it
   be, 1. without violence; and, 2. when you contract on equal terms with
   persons in all senses (as to the matter and skill of bargaining) equal
   to yourself, that is, merchants with merchants, wise men with wise men,
   rich with rich; and, 3. when there is no deceit, and no necessity and
   no monopoly: for in these cases, viz. when the contractors are equal,
   and no advantage on either side, both parties are voluntary, and
   therefore there can be no injustive or wrong to either. But then add
   also this consideration, that the public be not oppressed by
   unreasonable and unjust rates: for which the following rules are the
   best measure.

   4. Let your prices be according to that measure of good and evil which
   is established in the fame and common accounts of the wisest and most
   merciful men, skilled in that manufacture or commodity; and be gain
   such which, without scandal, is allowed to persons in all the same
   circumstances.

   5. Let no prices be heightened by the necessity or unskilfulness of the
   contractor: for the first is direct uncharitableness to the person, and
   injustice in the thing; because the man's necessity could not naturally
   enter into the consideration of the value of the commodity; and the
   other is deceit and oppression: much less must any man make
   necessities; as by engrossing a commodity, by monopoly, by detaining
   corn, or the like indirect arts; for such persons are unjust to all
   single persons, with whom, in such cases, they contract, and oppressors
   of the public.

   6. In intercourse with others, do not do all which you may lawfully do:
   but keep something within thy power: and, because there is a latitude
   of gain in buying and selling, take not thou the utmost penny that is
   lawful, or which thou thinkest so; for although it be lawful, yet it is
   not safe; and he that gains all that he can gain lawfully this year,
   possibly next year will be tempted to gain something unlawfully.

   7. He that sells dearer, by reason he sells not for ready money, must
   increase his price no higher than to make himself recompense for the
   loss which, according to the rules of trade, he sustained by his
   forbearance, according to common computation, reckoning in also the
   hazard, which he is prudently, warily, and charitably to estimate. But
   although this be the measure of his justice, yet because it happens
   either to their friends, or to necessitous and poor persons, they are,
   in these cases to consider the rules of friendship and neighbourhood,
   and the obligations of charity, lest justice turn into unmercifulness.

   8. No man is to be raised in his price or rents in regard of any
   accident, advantage, or disadvantage of his person. [173] A prince must
   be used conscionably as well as a common person, and a beggar be
   treated justly as well as a prince: with this only difference, that, to
   poor persons, the utmost measure and extent of justice is unmerciful,
   which, to a rich person, is innocent, because it is just; and he needs
   not thy mercy and remission.

   9. Let no man, for his own poverty, become more oppressing and cruel in
   his bargain, but quietly, modestly, diligently, and patiently,
   recommend his estate to God, and follow its interest and leave the
   success to him: for such courses will more probably advance his trade;
   they will certainly procure him a blessing and a recompense; and, if
   they cure not his poverty, they will take away the evil of it: and
   there is nothing else in it that can trouble him.

   10. Detain not the wages of the hireling, for every degree of detention
   of it beyond the time is injustice and uncharitableness, and grinds his
   face, till tears and blood come out, but pay him exactly according to
   covenant, or according to his needs.

   11. Religiously keep all promises and covenants, though made to your
   disadvantage, though afterwards you perceive you might have done
   better; and let not any precedent act of yours be altered by any
   after-accident. Let nothing make you break your promise, unless it be
   unlawful, or impossible: that is, either out of your natural, or out of
   your civil power, yourself being under the power of another; or that it
   be intolerably inconvenient to yourself, and of no advantage to
   another; or that you have leave expressed, or reasonably presumed.
   [174]

   12. Let no man take wages or fees for a work that he cannot do, or
   cannot with probability undertake, or in some sense profitably, and
   with ease, or with advantage manage. Physicians must not meddle with
   desperate diseases, and known to be incurable, without declaring their
   sense before hand; that if the patient please, he may entertain him at
   adventure, or to do him some little ease. Advocates must deal plainly
   with their clients, and tell them the true state and danger of their
   case; and must not pretend confidence in an evil cause: but when he
   hath so cleared his own innocence, if the client will have collateral
   and legal advantages obtained by his industry, he may engage his
   endeavour, provided he do no injury to the right cause, or any man's
   person.

   13. Let no man appropriate to his own use what God, by a special mercy,
   or the republic, hath made common; [175] for that is both against
   justice and charity too; and by miraculous accidents, God hath declared
   his displeasure against such enclosure. When the kings of Naples
   enclosed the gardens of Cenotria, where the best manna of Calabria
   descends, that no man might gather it without paying tribute, the manna
   ceased till the tribute was taken off, and then it came again; and so,
   when after the third trial, the princes found they could not have that
   in proper which God made to be common, they left it as free as God gave
   it. The like happened in Epire; when Lysimachus laid an impost upon the
   Tragasaean salt, it vanished, till Lysimachus left it public. [176] And
   when the procurators of king Antigonus imposed a rate upon the sick
   people that came to Edepsum to drink the waters which were lately
   sprung, and were very healthful, instantly the waters dried up, and the
   hope of gain perished.

   The sum of all is in these words of St. Paul, "let no man go beyond and
   defraud his brother, in any matter; because the Lord is the avenger of
   all sueth. [177] And our blessed Saviour, in enumerating the duties of
   justice, besides the commandment of Do not steal,' adds, [178] Defraud
   not,, forbidding (as a distinct explication of the old law) the tacit
   and secret theft of abusing our brother in civil contracts. And it
   needs no other arguments to enforce this caution, but only that the
   Lord hath undertaken to avenge all such persons. And as he always does
   it in the great day of recompenses, so very often he does it here, by
   making the unclean portion of injustice to be as a canker-worm eating
   up all the other increase: it procures beggary, and a declining estate,
   or a caitiff cursed spirit, an ill name, the curse of the injured and
   oppressed person, and a fool or a prodigal to be his heir.
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   [173] Mercantia non vuol ne amici ne parenti.

   [174] Surgam ad sponsalia, quia promisi, quamvis non concoxerim: sed
   non, si febricitavero: subest enim tacita exceptio, sipotero, si
   debebo. Effice ut idem status sit, cum exigitur, qui futi, cum
   promitterem. Desitiuere levitas non erit, si aliquid intervenit novi.
   Eadem mihi omnia praesta: et idem sum--Seneca. De Benefie. lib. iv.
   cap.39 Ruhk. voll iv. p. 197

   [175] Brassavol. in exam. simpl.

   [176] Caelius Rhod. 1. ix. c. 12. Athenae. Deipnos. 1. iii.

   [177] 1 Thess. iv.6.

   [178] Lev. xix. 13; 1 Cor. vi. 8; Matt. x. 19.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION IV.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Restitution.

   Restitution is that part of justice to which a man is obliged by a
   precedent contract, or a foregoing fault, by his own act or another
   man's, either with or without his will. He that borrows is bound to
   pay, and much more he that steals or cheats. [179] For if he that
   borrows, and pays not when he is able, be an unjust person and a
   robber, because he possesses another man's goods to the right owner's
   prejudice, then he that took them at first without leave is the same
   thing in every instant of his possession which the debtor is after the
   time in which he should, and could, have made payment. For, in all
   sins, we are to distinguish the transient or passing act from the
   remaining effect or evil. The act of stealing was soon over, and cannot
   be undone; and for it the sinner is only answerable to God, or his
   vicegerent; and he is, in a particular manner, appointed to expiate it
   by suffering punishment, and repenting, and asking pardon, and judging
   and condemning himself, doing acts of justice and charity, in
   opposition and contradiction to that evil action. But because, in the
   case of stealing, there is an injury done to our neighbour, and the
   evil still remains after the action is past, therefore for this we are
   accountable to our neighbour, and we are to take the evil off from him
   which we brought upon him; or else he is an injured person and a
   sufferer all the while; and that any man should be the worse for me,
   and my direct act, and by my intention, is against the rule of equity,
   of justice, and of charity; [180] I do not that to others which I would
   have done to myself, for I grow richer upon the ruins of his fortune.
   Upon this ground it is a determined rule in divinity, "Our sin can
   never be pardoned till we have restored what we unjustly took, or
   wrongfully detained:" restored it (I mean) actually, or in purpose and
   desire, which we must really perform, when we can. And this doctrine,
   besides its evident and apparent reasonableness, is derived from the
   express words of Scripture, reckoning restitution to be a part of
   repentance, necessary in order to the remission of our sins. If the
   wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, etc., he
   shall surely live, he shall not die.' [181] The practice of this part
   of justice is to be directed by the following rules:--
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   [179] Chi non vuol rendere, fa mal a prendere.

   [180] Si tua culpa datum est damnum, jure super his satisfacere te
   oportet.

   [181] Ezek. xxxiii. 15.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules of making Restitution.

   1. Whosoever is an effective real cause of doing his neighbour wrong,
   by what instrument soever he does it, (whether by commanding or
   encouraging it, by counselling or commending it, [182] by acting it, or
   not hindering it, when he might, and ought, by concealing it, or
   receiving it,) is bound to make restitution to his neighbour; if,
   without him, the injury had not been done, but, by him or his
   assistance, it was. For, by the same reason that every one of these is
   guilty of the sin, and is cause of the injury, by the same they are
   bound to make reparation; because by him his neighbour is made worse,
   and therefore is to be put into that state from whence he was forced.
   And suppose that thou hast persuaded an injury to be done to thy
   neighbour, which, others would have persuaded if thou hadst not, yet
   thou art still obliged, because thou really didst cause the injury,
   just as they had been obliged, if they had done it; and thou art not at
   all the less bound, by having persons as ill-inclined as thou wert.

   2. He that commanded the injury to be done is first bound; then he that
   did it; and, after these they also are obliged who did so assist, as
   without them the thing would not have been done. If satisfaction be
   made by any of the former, the latter is tied to repentance, but no
   restitution; but if the injured person be not righted, every one of
   them is wholly guilty of the injustice, and therefore bound to
   restitution, singly and entirely.

   3. Whosoever intends a little injury to his neighbour, and acts it, and
   by a greater evil accidentally comes, he is obliged to make an entire
   reparation of all the injury of that which he intended, and of that
   which he intended not, but yet acted by his own instrument going
   further than he at first purposed it. [183] He that set fire on a
   plane-tree to spite his neighbour, and the plane-tree set fire on his
   neighbour's house, is bound to pay for all the loss, because it did all
   rise from his own ill-intention. It is like murder committed by a
   drunken person, involuntary in some of the effect, but voluntary in the
   other parts of it, and in all the cause; and therefore the guilty
   person is answerable for all of it. And when Ariarathes, the
   Cappadocian king, had but in wantonness stopped the mouth of the river
   Melanus, although he intended no evil, yet Euphrates being swelled by
   that means, and bearing away some of the strand of Cappadocia, did
   great spoil to the Phrygians and Galatians; he, therefore, by the Roman
   senate, was condemned in three hundred talents, towards the reparation
   of the damage. Much rather, therefore, when the lesser part of the evil
   was directly intended.

   4. He that hinders a charitable person from giving alms to a poor man
   is tied to restitution if he hindered him by fraud or violence, because
   it was a right which the poor man had, when the good man had designed
   and resolved it, and the fraud or violence hinders the effect but not
   the purpose; and therefore he who used the deceit or the force is
   injurious, and did damage to the poor man. But if the alms were
   hindered only by entreaty the hinderer is not tied to restitution,
   because entreaty took not liberty away from the giver, but left him
   still master of his own act, and he had power to alter his purpose, and
   so long there was no injustice done. [184] The same is the case of a
   testator giving a legacy, either by kindness, or by promise, and common
   right. He that hinders the charitable legacy by fraud or violence, or
   the due legacy by entreaty, is equally obliged to restitution. The
   reason of the latter part of this case is because he that entreats or
   persuades to a sin, is as guilty as he that acts it; and if, without
   his persuasion, the sin and the injury would not be acted, he is in his
   kind the entire cause, and therefore obliged to repair the injury as
   much as the person that does the wrong immediately.

   5. He that refuses to do any part of his duty (to which he is otherwise
   obliged) without a bribe, is bound to restore that money, because he
   took it in his neighbour's wrong, and not as a salary for his labour,
   or a reward for his wisdom, (for his stipend hath paid all that,) or he
   hath obliged himself to do it by his voluntary undertaking.

   6. He that takes anything from his neighbour which was justly
   forfeited, but yet takes it not as a minister of justice, but to
   satisfy his own revenge or avarice, is tied to repentance, but not to
   restitution. For my neighbour is not the worse for my act, for thither
   the law and his own demerits bore him; but because I took the
   forfeiture indirectly I am answerable to God for my unhandsome, unjust,
   or uncharitable circumstances. Thus Philip of Macedon was reproved by
   Aristides for destroying the Phoeenses, because, although they deserved
   it, yet he did it not in prosecution of the law of nations, but to
   enlarge his own dominions.

   7. The heir of an obliged person is not bound to make restitution if
   the obligation passed only by a personal act; but if it passed from his
   person to his estate, then the estate passes with all its burden. If
   the father, by persuading his neighbour to do injustice, be bound to
   restore, the action is extinguished by the death of the father, because
   it was only the father's sin that bound him, which cannot directly bind
   the son; therefore the son is free. And this is so in all personal
   actions, unless where the civil law interposes and alters the case.

   *These rules concern the persons that are obliged to make restitution;
   the other circumstances of it are thus described.

   8. He that by fact, or word, or sign, either fraudulently or violently,
   does hurt to his neighbour's body, life, goods, good name, friends, or
   soul, is bound to make restitution in the several instances, according
   as they are capable to be made. In all these instances we must separate
   entreaty and enticements from deceit or violence. If I persuade my
   neighbour to commit adultery, I still leave him or her in their own
   power, and though I am answerable to God for my sin, yet not to my
   neighbour. For I made her to be willing, yet she was willing, [185]
   that is, the same at last as I was at first. But if I have used fraud,
   and made her to believe a lie, [186] upon which confidence she did the
   act, and without she would not, (as if I tell a woman her husband id
   dead, or intended to kill her, or is himself an adulterous man,) or if
   I use violence, that is, either force her or threaten her with death or
   a grievous wound, or anything that takes her from the liberty of her
   choice, I am bound to restitution; that is, to restore her to a right
   understanding of things and to a full liberty, by taking from her the
   deceit or the violence.

   9. An adulterous person is tied to restitution of the injury, so far as
   it is reparable, and can be made to the wronged person; that is, to
   make provision for the children begotten in unlawful embraces, that
   they may do no injury to the legitimate by receiving a common portion;
   and if the injured person do account of it, he must satisfy him with
   money for the wrong done to his bed. He is not tied to offer this,
   because it is no proper exchange, but he is bound to pay it if it be
   reasonably demanded; for every man hath justice done when himself is
   satisfied, though by a word, or an action, or a penny.

   10. He that hath killed a man is bound to restitution, by allowing such
   a maintenance to the children and near relatives of the deceased as
   they have lost by his death, considering and allowing for all
   circumstances of the man's age, and health, and probability of living.
   And thus Hercules is said to have made expiation for the death of
   Iphitus, whom he slew, by paying a lulct to his children.

   11. He that hath really lessened the fame of his neighbour by fraud or
   violence is bound to restore it by its proper instruments; such as are
   confession of his fault, giving testimony of his innocence or worth,
   doing him honour, or (if that will do it, and both parties agree) by
   money, which answers all things. [187]

   12. He that hath wounded his neighbour is tied to the expenses of the
   surgeon and other incidences, and to repair whatever loss he sustains
   by his disability to work or trade; and the same is in the case of
   false imprisonment, in which cases only the real effect and remaining
   detriment are to be mended and repaired, for the action itself is to be
   punished or repented of, and enters not into the question of
   restitution. But in these and all other cases, the injured person is to
   be restored to that perfect and good condition from which he was
   removed by my fraud or violence, so far as is possible. Thus a ravisher
   must repair the temporal detriment or injury done to the maid, and give
   her a dowry, or marry her if she desire it. For this restores her into
   that capacity of being a good wife, which by the injury was lost, as
   far as it can be done.

   13. He that robbeth his neighbour of his goods, or detains anything
   violently or fraudulently, is bound not only to restore the principal,
   but all its fruits and emoluments, which would have accrued to the
   right owner during the time of their being detained. By proportion to
   these rules we may judge of the obligation that lies upon all sorts of
   injurious persons; the sacrilegious, the detainers of tithes, cheaters
   of men's inheritances, unjust judges, false witnesses, and accusers;
   those that do fraudulently or violently bring men to sin, that force
   men to drink, that laugh at and disgrace virtue, that persuade servants
   to run away or commend such purposes; violent persecutors of religion
   in any instance; and all of the same nature.

   14. He that hath wronged so many, or in that manner (as in the way of
   daily trade) that he knows not in what measure he hath done it, or who
   they are, must redeem his fault by alms and dargesses to the poor,
   according to the value of his wrongful dealing, as near as he can
   proportion it. Better it is to go begging to heaven, than to go to hell
   laden with the spoils of rapine and injustice.

   15. The order of paying the debts of contract or restitution is, in
   some instances, set down by the civil laws of a kingdom, in which cases
   their rule is to be observed. In destitution, or want of such rules, we
   are, 1. to observe the necessity of the creditor; 2. then the time of
   the delay; and, 3. the special obligations of friendship or kindness;
   and, according to these, in their several degrees, make our
   restitution, if we be not able to do all that we should; but, if we be,
   the best rule is to do it so soon as we can, taking our accounts in
   this, as in our human actions, according to prudence, and civil or
   natural conveniences or possibilities, only securing these two things;
   1. that the duty be not wholly omitted; and, 2. that it be not deferred
   at all out of covetousness, or any other principle that is vicious.
   Remember that the same day in which Zaccheus made restitution to all
   whom he had injured, the same day Christ himself, pronounced that
   salvation was come to his house. [188]

   16. But besides the obligation arising from contract or default, there
   is one of another sort which comes from kindness, and the acts of
   charity and friendship. [189] He that does me a favour hath bound me to
   make him a return of thankfulness. The obligation comes not by
   covenant, not by his own express intention, but by the nature of the
   thing, and is a duty springing up within the spirit of the obliged
   person, to whom it is more natural to love his friend, and to do good
   for good, than to return evil for evil, because a man may forgive an
   injury, but he must never forget a good turn. For everything that is
   excellent, and everything that is profitable, whatsoever is good in
   itself, or good to me, cannot but be beloved; and what we love we
   naturally cherish and do good to. He, therefore, that refuses to do
   good to them whom he is bound to love, or to love that which did him
   good, is unnatural and monstrous in his affections, and thinks all the
   world born to minister to him with a greediness worse than that of the
   sea, which, although it receives all rivers into itself, yet it
   furnishes the clouds and springs with a return of all they need.

   Our duty to benefactors is to esteem and love their persons, to make
   them proportionable returns of service, or duty, or profit, according
   as we can, or as they need, or as opportunity presents itself, and
   according to the greatness of their kindness, and to pray to God to
   make them recompense for all the good they have done to us; which last
   office is also requisite to be done for our creditors, who, in charity,
   have relieved our wants.
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   [182] Goth. 3. Qui laudat servum fugitivum, tenetur. Non enim oportet
   laudando augeri maium. -- Ulpian. in lib. i. cap. de servo corrupto.

   [183] Etiamsi partem damni dare noluisti, in totum quasi prudens
   dederis, tenendus es. Fx toto enim nolaisse debet qui imprudentia
   defenditur. Sen. Contr. Involuntarium ortum ex voluntario censetur pro
   voluntario.--Strabo.

   [184] Pleonektei onsen o ou boezesas chrebasi oi anelenxerian.--Eth. 1.
   v. c. 4.

   [185] Di alloroion ergon ptaiei onxeis,--Epict.

   [186] Non licet suffurari mentem vel Samaritani.--R. Maimon. Can. Eth.

   [187] Sic Vivianus resipuit de injusta accusatione: apud Cassiodo.
   4.41.

   [188] Luke, xix. 9.

   [189] Gratitude.
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     __________________________________________________________________

  PRAYERS RELATING TO JUSTICE.

  PRAYERS
  TO BE SAID IN RELATION TO THE SEVERAL OBLIGATIONS AND OFFICES OF JUSTICE.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer for the Grace of Obedience, to be said by all Persons under Command.

   O eternal God, great ruler of men and angels, who hast constituted all
   things in a wonderful order, making all the creatures subject to man,
   and one man to another, and all to thee, the last link of this
   admirable chain being fastened to the foot of thy throne; teach me to
   obey all those whom thou hast set over me, reverencing their persons,
   submitting indifferently to all their lawful commands, cheerfully
   undergoing those burdens which the public wisdom and necessity shall
   impose upon me, at no hand murmuring against government, lest the
   spirit of pride and mutiny, of murmur and disorder, enter into me, and
   consign me to the portion of the disobedient and rebellious, of the
   despisers of dominion, and revilers of dignity. Grant this, O holy God,
   for his sake, who, for his obedience to the Father, hath obtained the
   glorification of eternal ages, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

   *Prayers for kings and all magistrates, for our parents, spiritual and
   natural, are in the following litanies, at the end of the fourth
   chapter.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said by Subjects when the Land is invaded and overrun by
  barbarous or wicked People, enemies of the Religion or the Government.

  I.

   O eternal God, thou alone rulest in the kingdoms of men; thou art the
   great God of battles and recompenses; and by thy glorious wisdom, by
   thy almighty power, and by thy secret providence, dost determine the
   events of war, and the issues of human counsels, and the returns of
   peace and victory: now at last be pleased to let the light of thy
   countenance, and the effects of a glorious mercy and a gracious pardon,
   return to this land. Thou seest how great evils we suffer under the
   power and tyranny of war, and although we submit to and adore thy
   justice in our sufferings, yet be pleased to pity our misery, to hear
   our complaints, and to provide us of remedy against our present
   calamities; let not the defenders of a righteous cause go away ashamed,
   nor our counsels be for ever confounded, nor our parties defeated, nor
   religion suppressed, nor learning discountenanced, and we be spoiled of
   all the exterior ornaments, instruments, and advantages of piety, which
   thou hast been pleased formerly to minister to our infirmities, for the
   interests of learning and religion. Amen.

  II.

   We confess, dear God, that we have deserved to be totally extinct and
   separate from the communion of saints and the comforts of religion, to
   be made servants of ignorant, unjust, and inferior persons, or to
   suffer any other calamity which thou shalt allot us as the instrument
   of thy anger, whom we have so often provoked to wrath and jealousy.
   Lord, we humbly lie down under the burden of thy rod, begging of thee
   to remember our infirmities, and no more to remember our sins, to
   support us with thy staff, to lift us up with thy hand, to refresh us
   with thy gracious eye; and if a sad cloud of temporal infelicities must
   still encircle us, open unto us the window of heaven, that, with an eye
   of faith and hope, we may see beyond the cloud, looking upon those
   mercies which, in thy secret providence and admirable wisdom, thou
   designest to all thy servants from such unlikely and sad beginnings.
   Teach us diligently to do all our duty, and cheerfully to submit to all
   thy will; and, at last, be gracious to thy people that call upon thee,
   that put their trust in thee, that have laid up all their hopes in the
   bosom of God, that, besides thee, have no helper.

   Amen.

  III.

   Place a guard of angels about the person of the king, and immure him
   with the defence of thy right hand, that no unhallowed arm may do
   violence to him. Support him with aids from heaven in all his battles,
   trials, and dangers, that he may, in every instant of his temptation,
   become dearer to thee; and do thou return to him with mercy and
   deliverance. Give unto him the hearts of all his people, and put into
   his hand a prevailing rod of iron, a sceptre of power, and a sword of
   justice; and enable him to defend and comfort the churches under his
   protection.

  IV.

   Bless all his friends, relatives, confederates, and lieges, direct
   their counsels, unite their hearts, strengthen their hands, bless their
   actions. Give unto them holiness of intention, that they may, with much
   candour and ingenuity, pursue the cause of God and the king. Sanctify
   all the means and instruments of their purposes, that they may not with
   cruelty, injustice, or oppression, proceed towards the end of their
   just desires; and do thou crown all their endeavours with a prosperous
   event, that all may co-operate to, and actually produce, those great
   mercies which we bed of thee -- honour and safety to our sovereign,
   defence of his just rights, peace to his people, establishment and
   promotion to religion, advantages and encouragement to learning and
   holy living, deliverance to all the oppressed, and comfort to all thy
   faithful people. Grant this, O King of kings, for his sake, by whom
   thou hast consigned us to all thy mercies and promises, and to whom
   thou hast given all power in heaven and earth, our Lord and Saviour
   Jesus Christ. Amen.
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  A Prayer to be said by Kings or Magistrates for themselves and their People.

   O my God and King, thou rulest in the kingdoms of men; by thee kings
   reign, and princes decree justice; thou hast appointed me under thyself
   (and under my prince [190] ) to govern this portion of thy church,
   according to the laws of religion and the commonwealth. O Lord, I am
   but an infirm man, and know not how to decree certain sentences without
   erring in judgment; but do thou give to thy servant an understanding
   heart to judge this people, that I may discern between good and evil.
   Cause me to walk, before thee and all the people, in truth and
   righteousness, and in sincerity of heart, that I may not regard the
   person of the mighty, nor be afraid of his terror, nor despise the
   person of the poor, and reject his petition; but that, doing justice to
   all men, I and my people may receive mercy of thee, peace and plenty in
   our days, and mutual love, duty, and correspondence; that there be no
   leading into captivity, no complaining in our streets, but we may see
   the church in prosperity all our days, and religion established and
   increasing. Do thou establish the house of thy servant, and bring me to
   a participation of the glories of thy kingdom, for his sake, who is my
   Lord and King, the holy and ever blessed Saviour of the world, our
   Redeemer, Jesus. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [190] These words to be added by a delegate or inferior.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said by Parents for their Children.

   O almighty and most merciful Father, who hast promised children as a
   reward to the righteous, and hast given them to me as a testimony of
   thy mercy, and an engagement of my duty, be pleased to be a Father unto
   them, and give them healthful bodies, understanding souls, and
   sanctified spirits, that they may be thy servants and thy children all
   their days. Let a great mercy and providence lead them through the
   dangers and temptations and ignorances of their youth, that they may
   never run into folly and the evils of an unbridled appetite. So order
   the accidents of their lives, that by good education, careful tutors,
   holy example, innocent company, prudent counsel, and thy restraining
   grace, their duty to thee may be secured in the midst of a crooked and
   untoward generation; and if it seem good in thy eyes, let me be enabled
   to provide conveniently for the support of their persons, that they may
   not be destitute and miserable in my death; or if thou shalt call me
   off from this world by a more timely summons, let their portion be, thy
   care, mercy, and providence over their bodies and souls; and may they
   never live vicious lives, nor die violent or untimely deaths; but let
   them glorify thee here with a free obedience, and the duties of a whole
   life, that when they have served thee in their generations, and have
   profited the Christian commonwealth, they may be coheirs with Jesus in
   the glories of thy eternal kingdom, through the same our Lord Jesus
   Christ. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said by Masters of Families, Curates, Tutors, or other obliged
  Persons, for their Charges.

   O eternal God, thou fountain of justice, mercy, and benediction, who,
   by my education and other effects of thy providence, hast called me to
   this profession, that, by my industry, I may, in my small proportion,
   work together for the good of myself and others, I humbly beg thy grace
   to guide me in my intention, and in the transaction of my affairs, that
   I may be diligent, just, and faithful; and give me thy favour, that
   this my labour may be accepted by thee as a part of my necessary duty;
   and give me thy blessing to assist and prosper me in my calling to such
   measures as thou shalt, in mercy, choose for me; and be pleased to let
   thy Holy Spirit be for ever present with me, that I may never be given
   to covetousness and sordid appetites, to lying and falsehood, or any
   other base, indirect, and beggarly arts; but give me prudence, honesty,
   and Christian sincerity, that my trade may be sanctified by my
   religion, by labour, by my intention and thy blessing, that when I have
   done my portion of work thou hast allotted me, and improved the talent
   thou hast entrusted to me, and served the commonwealth in my capacity,
   I may receive the mighty price of my high calling, which I expect and
   beg, in the portion and inheritance of the ever-blessed Saviour and
   Redeemer, Jesus. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said by Debtors, and all Persons obliged, whether by Crime or
  Contract.

   O almighty God, who art rich unto all, the treasury and fountain of all
   good, of all justice, and all mercy, and all bounty, to whom we owe all
   that we are, and all that we have, being thy debtors by reason of our
   sins, and by thy own gracious contract made with us in Jesus Christ;
   teach me, in the first place to perform all my obligations to thee,
   both of duty and thankfulness; and next, enable me to pay my duty to
   all my friends, and my debts to all my creditors, that none be made
   miserable or lessened in his estate by his kindness to me, or traffic
   with me. Forgive me all those sins and irregular actions by which I
   entered into debt further than my necessity required, or by which such
   necessity was brought upon me; but let not them suffer by occasion of
   my sin. Lord, reward all their kindness into their bosoms, and make
   them recompense where I cannot, and make me very willing in all that I
   can, and able for all that I am obliged to; or, if it seem good in
   thine eyes to afflict me by the continuance of this condition, yet make
   it up by some means to them, that the prayer of thy servant may obtain
   of thee, at least, to pay my debt in blessings. Amen.

  V.

   Lord, sanctify and forgive all that I have tempted to evil by my
   discourse or my example, instruct them in the right way whom I have led
   to error, and let me never run further on the score of sin; but do thou
   blot out all the evils I have done by the sponge of thy passion, and
   the blood of thy cross, and give me a deep and an excellent repentance,
   and a free and a gracious pardon, that thou mayest answer for me, O
   Lord, and enable me to stand upright in judgment; for in thee, O Lord,
   have i trusted, let me never be confounded. Pity me and instruct me,
   guide me and support me, pardon me and save me, for my sweet Saviour
   Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer for Patron and Benefactors.

   O mighty God, thou fountain of all good, of all excellency both to men
   and angels, extend thine abundant favour and loving-kindness to my
   patron, to all my friends and benefactors; reward them and make them
   plentiful recompense for all the good which from thy merciful
   providence they have conveyed unto me. Let the light of thy countenance
   shine upon them, and let them never come into any affliction or
   sadness, but such as may be an instrument of thy glory and their
   eternal comfort. Forgive them all their sins; let thy divinest Spirit
   preserve them from all deeds of darkness; let thy ministering angels
   guard their persons from the violence of the spirits of darkness. And
   thou who knowest every degree of their necessity by thy infinite
   wisdom, give supply to all their needs by thy glorious mercy,
   preserving their persons, sanctifying their hearts, and leading them in
   the ways of righteousness, by the waters of comfort, to the land of
   eternal rest and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

   [151] Rom. xiii 7.

   [152] 1 Pet. iv. 10.
     __________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER IV.

OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

   Religion, in a large sense, doth signify the whole duty of man,
   comprehending in it justice, charity, and sobriety; because all these
   being commanded by God, they become a part of that honour and worship
   which we are bound to pay to him. And thus the word is used in St.
   James, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father in this,
   to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep
   himself unspotted from the world. [191] But, in a more restrained
   sense, it is taken for that part of duty which particularly relates to
   God in our worshippings and adoration of him, in confessing his
   excellencies, loving his person, admiring his goodness, believing his
   word, and doing all that which may, in a proper and direct manner, do
   him honour. It contains the duties of the first table only, and so it
   is called godliness, [192] and is by St. Paul distinguished from
   justice and sobriety. In this sense I am now to explicate the parts of
   it.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of the internal Actions of Religion

   Those I call the internal actions of religion, in which the soul only
   is employed, and ministers to God in the special actions of faith,
   hope, and charity. Faith believes the revelations of God, hope expects
   his promises, and charity loves his excellencies and mercies. Faith
   gives us understanding to God, hope gives up all the passions and
   affections to heaven and heavenly things, and charity gives the will to
   the service of God. Faith is opposed to infidelity, hope to despair,
   charity to enmity and hostility; and these three sanctify the whole
   man, and make our duty to God and obedience to his commandments to be
   chosen, reasonable, and delightful, and therefore to be entire,
   persevering, and universal.
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION I.

  OF FAITH

  The Acts and Offices of Faith are,

   1. To believe everything which God hath revealed to us: [193] and, when
   once we are convinced that God hath spoken it, to make no further
   inquiry, but humbly to submit; ever remembering that there are some
   things which our understanding cannot fathom, nor search out their
   depth.

   2. To believe nothing concerning God but what is honourable and
   excellent, as knowing that belief to be no honouring of God which
   entertains of him any dishonourable thoughts. Faith is the parent of
   charity, and whatsoever faith entertains must be apt to produce love to
   God; but he that believes God to be cruel or unmerciful, or a rejoicer
   in the unavoidable damnation of the greatest part of mankind, or that
   he speaks one thing and privately means another, thinks evil thoughts
   concerning God, and such as for which we should hate a man, and
   therefore are great enemies of faith, being apt to destroy charity. Our
   faith concerning God must be as himself hath revealed and described his
   own excellencies; and, in our discourses; we must remove from him all
   imperfection, and attribute to him all excellency.

   3. To give ourselves wholly up to Christ, in heart and desire, to
   become disciples of his doctrine with choice, (besides conviction,)
   being in the presence of God but as idiots, that is, without any
   principles of our own to hinder the truth of God; but sucking in
   greedily all that God hath taught us, believing it infinitely, and
   loving to believe it. For this is an act of love reflected upon faith,
   or an act of faith leaning upon love.

   4. To believe all God's promises, and that whatsoever is promised in
   Scripture shall, on God's part, be as surely performed as if we had it
   in possession. This act makes us to rely upon God with the same
   confidence as we did on our parents when we were children, when we made
   no doubt but whatsoever we needed we should have it, if it were in
   their power.

   5. To believe, also, the conditions of the promise, or that part of the
   revelation which concerns our duty. Many are apt to believe the article
   of remission of sins, but they believe it without the condition of
   repentance, or the fruits of holy life; and that is to believe the
   article otherwise than God intended it. For the covenant of the Gospel
   is the great object of faith, and that supposes our duty to answer his
   grace; that God will be our God, so long as we are his people. The
   other is not faith, but flattery.

   6. To profess publicly the doctrine of Jesus Christ, openly owning
   whatsoever he hath revealed and commanded, not being ashamed of the
   word of God, or of any practices enjoined by it; and this without
   complying with any man's interest, not regarding favour, nor being
   moved with good words, not fearing disgrace, or loss, or inconvenience,
   or death itself.

   7. To pray without doubting, without weariness, without faintness;
   entertaining no jealousies or suspicions of God, but being confident of
   God's hearing us, and of his returns to us, whatsoever the manner or
   the instance be, that, if we do our duty, it will be gracious and
   merciful.

   These acts of faith are, in several degrees, in the servants of Jesus;
   some have it but as a grain of mustard-seed; some grow up to a plant;
   some have the fulness of faith; but the least faith that is must be a
   persuasion so strong as to make us undertake the doing of all that duty
   which Christ built upon the foundation of believing. But we shall best
   discern the truth of our faith by these following signs. St. Jerome
   reckons three. [194]
     __________________________________________________________________

  Signs of true Faith.

   1. An earnest and vehement prayer: for it is impossible we should
   heartily believe the things of God and the glories of the gospel, and
   not most importunately desire them. For everything is desired according
   to our belief of its excellency and possibility.

   2. To do nothing for vain-glory, but wholly for the interests of
   religion and these articles we believe; valuing not at all the rumours
   of men, but the praise of God, to whom, by faith, we have given up all
   our intellectual faculties.

   3. To be content with God for our judge, for our patron, for our Lord,
   for our friend; desiring God to be all in all to us, as we are, in our
   understanding and affections, wholly his.

  Add to these:

   4. To be a stranger upon earth in our affections, and to have all our
   thoughts and principal desires fixed upon the matters of faith, the
   things of heaven. For, if a man were adopted heir to Caesar, he would
   (if he believed it real and affective) despise the present, and wholly
   be at court in his father's eye; and his desires would outrun his
   swiftest speed, and all his thoughts would spend themselves in creating
   ideas and little fantastic images of his future condition. Now God hath
   made us heirs of his kingdom, and co-heirs with Jesus: if we believed
   this, we should think, and affect, and study accordingly. But he that
   rejoices in gain, and his heart dwells in the world, and is espoused to
   a fair estate, and transported with a light momentary joy, and is
   afflicted with losses, and amazed with temporal persecutions, and
   esteems disgrace or poverty in a good cause to be intolerable - this
   man either has no inheritance in heaven, or believes none; and believes
   not that he is adopted to the son of God -- the heir of eternal glory.

   5. St. James's sign is the best: Show me thy faith by thy works.' Faith
   makes the merchant diligent and venturous, and that makes him rich.
   Ferdinando of Arragon believed the story told him by Columbus, and
   therefore he furnished him with ships, and got the West Indies by his
   faith in the undertaker. But Henry the Seventh of England believed him
   not, and therefore trusted him not with shipping, and lost all the
   purchase of that faith. It is told us by Christ, He that forgiveth
   shall be forgiven:' if we believe this, it is certain we shall forgive
   our enemies; for none of us all but need and desire to be forgiven. No
   man can possibly despise, or refuse to desire such excellent glories as
   are revelaed to them that are servants of Christ; and yet we do nothing
   that is commanded us as a condition to obtain them. No man could work a
   day's labour without faith; but because he believes he shall have his
   wages at the day's or week's end, he does his duty. But he only
   believes who does that thing which other men, in like cases, do when
   they do believe. He that believes money gotten with danger is better
   than poverty with safety, will venture for it in unknown lands or seas;
   and so will he that believes it better to get to heaven with labour,
   than to go to hell with pleasure.

   6. He that believes does not make haste, but waits patiently till the
   times of refreshment come, and dares trust God for the morrow, and is
   no more solicitous for the next year than he is for that which is past;
   and it is certain that man wants faith who dares be more confident of
   being supplied, when he hath money in his purse, than when he hath it
   only in bills of exchange from God; or that relies more upon his own
   industry than upon God's providence when his own industry fails him. If
   you dare trust to God when the case, to human reason, seems impossible,
   and trust to God then also out of choice, not because you have nothing
   else to trust to, but because he is the only support of a just
   confidence, then you give a good testimony of your faith.

   7. True faith is confident, and will venture all the world upon the
   strength of its persuasion. Will you lay your life on it, your estate,
   your reputation, that the doctrine of Jesus Christ is true in every
   article/ Then you have true faith. But he that fears men more than God,
   believes men more than he believes in God.

   8. Faith, if it be true, living, and justifying, cannot be separated
   from a good life; it works miracles, makes a drunkard become sober, a
   lascivious person become chaste, a covetous man become liberal; it
   overcomes the world-it works righteousness,' [195]

   and makes us diligently to do, and cheerfully to suffer, whatsoever God
   hath placed in our way to heaven.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [195] 2 Cor. xiii 5; Rom. viii. 10.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Means and Instruments to obtain Faith are,

   1. A humble, willing, and docile mind, or desire to be instructed in
   the way of God; for persuasion enters like a sunbeam, gently and
   without violence and open but the window, and draw the curtain and the
   Sun of righteousness will enlighten your darkness.

   2. Remove all prejudice and love to everything, which may be
   contradicted by faith. How can ye believe (said Christ) that receive
   praise one of another?' An unchaste man cannot easily be brought to
   believe that, without purity, he shall never see God. He that loves
   riches can hardly believe the doctrine of poverty and renunciation of
   the world; and alms and martyrdom, and the doctrine of the cross, is
   folly to him that loves his ease and pleasures. He that hath within him
   any principle contrary to the doctrines of faith cannot easily become a
   disciple.

   3. Prayer, which is instrumental to everything, hath a particular
   promise in this thing. He that lacks wisdom, let him ask it of God:'
   and, If you give good things to your children, how much more shall your
   heavenly Father give his Spirit to them that ask him!'

   4. The consideration of the divine omnipotence and infinite wisdom, and
   our own ignorance, are great instruments of curing all doubting and
   silencing the murmurs of infidelity. [196]

   5. Avoid all curiosity of inquiry into particulars and circumstances
   and mysteries, for true faith is full of ingenuity and hearty
   simplicity, free from suspicion, wise and confident, trusting upon
   generals, without watching and prying into unnecessary or indiscernible
   particulars. No man carries his bed into his field, to watch how his
   corn grows, but believes upon the general order of Providence and
   nature; and at harvest finds himself not deceived.

   6. In time of temptation be not busy to dispute, but rely upon the
   conclusion, and throw yourself upon God; and contend not with him but
   in prayer and in the presence, and with the help of a prudent untempted
   guide; and be sure to esteem all changes of belief which offer
   themselves in the time of your greatest weakness (contrary to be
   temptations, and reject them accordingly.

   7. It is a prudent course that, in our health and best advantages, we
   lay up particular arguments and instruments of persuasion and
   confidence, to be brought forth and used in the great day of expense;
   and that especially in such things in which we use to be most tempted,
   and in which we are least confident, and which are most necessary, and
   which commonly the devil uses to assault us withal in the days of our
   visitation.

   8. The wisdom of the church of God is very remarkable in appointing
   festivals or holy days, whose solemnity and offices have no other
   special business but to record the article of the day; such as Trinity
   Sunday, Ascension, Easter, Christmas day; and to those persons who can
   only believe, not prove or dispute, there is no better instrument to
   cause the remembrance and plain notion, and to endear the affection and
   hearty assent to the article than the proclaiming and recommending it
   by the festivity and joy of a holy day.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [196] In rebus miris summa credendi ratio est omnipotentia
   Creatoris.--St. Aug.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [193] Demus, Deum aliquid posse, quod nos fateamur investigare ion
   posse.--St. Aug. 1. xxi. c.7. de Civital.

   [194] Dial. adver. Lucif.
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION II.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of the Hope of a Christian.

   Faith, differs from hope in the extension of its object, and in the
   intention of degree. St. Austin thus accounts their differences: [197]
   Faith is of all things revealed, good and bad, rewards and punishments,
   of things past, present, and to come, of things that concern us, of
   things that concern us not; but hope hath for its object things only
   that are good, and fit to be hoped for, future, and concerning
   ourselves; and because these things are offered to us upon conditions
   of which we may so fail as we may change our will, therefore our
   certainty is less than the adherences of faith; which (because faith
   relies only upon one proposition, that is, the truth of the word of
   God,) cannot be made uncertain in themselves, though the object of our
   hope may become uncertain to us, and to our possession. For it is
   infallibly certain that there is heaven for all the godly, and for me
   amongst them all, if I do my duty. But that I shall enter into heaven
   is the object of my hope, not of my faith; and is so sure as it is
   certain I shall persevere in the ways of God.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [197] Enchirid. c. 8.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Acts of Hope are,

   1. To rely upon God with a confident expectation of his promises; ever
   esteeming that every promise of God is a magazine of all that grace and
   relief which we can need in that instance for which the promise is
   made. Every degree of hope is a degree of confidence.

   2. To esteem all the danger of an action, and the possibilities of
   miscarriage, and every cross accident that can intervene, to be no
   defect on God's part, but either a mercy on his part, or a fault on
   ours; for then we shall be sure to trust in God when we see him to be
   our confidence, and ourselves the cause of all mischances. The hope of
   a Christian is prudent and religious.

   3. To rejoice in the midst of a misfortune, or seeming sadness, knowing
   that this may work for good, and will, if we be not wanting to our
   souls. This is a direct act of hope to look through the cloud, and look
   for a beam of the light from God; and this is called in Scripture
   rejoicing in tribulation, when the God of hope fills us with all joy in
   believing.' Every degree of hope brings a degree of joy.

   4. To desire, to pray, and to long for the great object of our hope,
   the mighty price of our high calling; and to desire the other things of
   this life as they are promised, that is, so far as they are made
   necessary and useful to us, in order to God's glory and the great end
   of souls. Hope and fasting are said to be the two wings of prayer.
   Fasting is but as the wing of a bird; but hope is like the wing of an
   angel, soaring up to heaven, and bears our prayers to the throne of
   grace. Without hope, it is impossible to pray, but hope makes our
   prayers reasonable, passionate, and religious; for it relies upon God's
   promise, or experience, or providence, and story. Prayer is always in
   proportion to our hope, zealous and affectionate.

   5. Perseverance is the perfection of the duty of hope, and its last
   act; and so long as our hope continues, so long we go on in duty and
   diligence; but he that is to raise a castle in an hour, sits down and
   does nothing towards it; and Herod, the sophister, left off to teach
   his son, when he saw that twenty-four pages, appointed to wait on him,
   and called by the several letters of the alphabet, could never make him
   to understand his letters perfectly.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules to govern our Hope.

   1. Let your hope be moderate; proportioned to your state, person, and
   condition, whether it be or gifts or graces, or temporal favours. It is
   an ambitious hope for persons, whose diligence is like them that are
   least in the kingdom of heaven, to believe themselves endeared to God
   as the greatest saints; or that they shall have a throne equal to St.
   Paul, or the blessed Virgin Mary. A stammerer cannot, with moderation,
   hope for the gift of tongues; or a peasant to become learned as Origen;
   or if a beggar desires, or hopes, to become a king, or asks for a
   thousand pounds a year, we call him impudent, not passionate, much less
   reasonable. Hope that God will crown your endeavours with equal
   measures of that reward which he indeed freely gives, but yet gives
   according to our proportions. Hope for good success according to, or
   not much beyond, the efficacy of the causes and the instrument; and let
   the husbandman hope for a good harvest, not for a rich kingdom, or a
   victorious army.

   2. Let your hope be well founded, relying upon just confidences; that
   is, upon God, according to his revelations and promises. For it is
   possible for a man to have a vain hope upon God; and, in matters of
   religion, it is presumption to hope that God's mercies will be poured
   forth upon lazy persons, that do nothing towards holy and strict
   walking, nothing (I say) but trust and long for an event besides and
   against all disposition of the means. Every false principle in religion
   is a reed of Egypt, false and dangerous. Rely not in temporal things
   upon uncertain prophecies and astrology, not upon our own wit or
   industry, not upon gold or friends, not upon armies and princes; expect
   not health from physicians, that cannot cure their own breath, much
   less their mortality: use all lawful instruments, but expect nothing
   from them above their natural or ordinary efficacy, and, in the use of
   them, from God expect a blessing. A hope that is easy and credulour is
   an arm of flesh, an ill supporter without a bone. [198]

   3. Let your hope be without vanity, or garishness of spirit; but sober,
   grave, and silent, fixed in the heart, not borne upon the lip, apt to
   support our spirits within, but not to provide envy abroad.

   4. Let your hope be of things possible, safe, and useful. [199]

   He that hopes for an opportunity of acting his revenge, or lust, or
   rapine, watches to do himself a mischief. All evils of ourselves or
   brethren are objects of our fear, not hope; and, when it is truly
   understood, things useless and unsafe can no more be wished for than
   things impossible can be obtained.

   5. Let your hope be patient, without tediousness of spirit, or
   hastiness of prefixing time. Make no limits or prescriptions to God;
   but let your prayers and endeavours go on still with a constant
   attendance on the periods of God's providence. The men of Bethulia
   resolved to wait upon God but five days longer; but deliverance stayed
   seven days, and yet came at last. And take not every accident for an
   argument of despair; but go on still in hoping; and begin again to work
   if any ill accident have interrupted you.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [198] Jer. ivii. 5.

   [199] Di cosi fuoro di credenza, Non vuoler far speranza.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Means of Hope, and Remedies against Despair.

   The means to cure despair, and to continue or increase hope, are partly
   by consideration, partly by exercise.

   1. Apply your mind to the cure of all the proper causes of despair: and
   they are, weakness of spirit or violence of passion. He that greedily
   covets is impatient of delay, and desperate in contrary accidents; and
   he that is little of heart is also of little hope, and apt to sorrow
   and suspicion. [200]

   2. Despise the things of the world, and be indifferent to all changes
   and events of Providence; and for the things of God, the promises are
   certain to be performed in kind; and where there is less variety of
   chance, there is less possibility of being mocked: [201] but he that
   creates to himself thousands of little hopes, uncertain in the promise,
   fallible in the event, and depending upon ten thousand circumstances,
   (as are all the things of this world,) shall often ail in his
   expectations, and be used to arguments of distrust in such hopes.

   3. So long as your hopes are regular and reasonable, though in temporal
   affairs, such as are deliverance from enemies, escaping a storm or
   shipwreck, recovery from a sickness, ability to pay your debts, etc.,
   remember that there are some things ordinary, and some things
   extraordinary, to prevent despair. In ordinary, remember that the very
   hoping in God is an endearment of him, and a means to obtain the
   blessing: I will deliver him, because he hath put his trust in me.' 2.
   There are in God all those glorious attributes and excellences which in
   the nature of things can possibly create or confirm hope. God is, 1.
   strong; 2. wise; 3. true; 4. loving. There cannot be added another
   capacity to create a confidence; for upon these premises we cannot fail
   of receiving what is fit for us. 3. God hath obliged himself by promise
   that we shall have the good of everything we desire; for even losses
   and denials shall work for the good of them that fear God. And, if we
   will trust the truth of God for performance of the general, we may well
   trust his wisdom to choose for us the particular. But the
   extraordinaries of God are apt to supply the defect of all natural and
   human possibilities. 1. God hath, in many instances, given
   extraordinary virtue to the active causes and instruments -- to a
   jaw-bone, to kill a multitude; to three hundred men, to destroy a great
   army; to Jonathan and his armour-bearer, to route a whole garrison. 2.
   He hath given excellent sufferance and vigorousness to the sufferers,
   arming them with strange courage, heroical fortitude, invincible
   resolution, and glorious patience: and thus he lays no more upon us
   than we are able to bear; for when he increases our sufferings, he
   lessens them by increasing our patience. 3. His providence is
   extra-regular, and produces strange things beyond common rules; and he
   that led Israel through a sea, and made a rock pour forth waters, and
   the heavens to give them bread and flesh, and whole armies to be
   destroyed with fantastic noises, and the fortune of all France to be
   recovered and entirely revolved by the arms and conduct of a girl,
   against the torrent of the English fortune and chivalry, can do what he
   please, and still retain the same affections to his people, and the
   same providence over mankind as ever. And it is impossible for that man
   to despair who remembers that his helper is omnipotent, and can do what
   he please [202] Let us rest there a while -- he can if he please: and
   he is infinitely loving, willing enough; and he is infinitely wise,
   choosing better for us than we can do for ourselves. This, in all ages
   and chances, hath supported the afflicted people of God, and carried
   them on dry ground through a Red Sea. God invites and cherishes the
   hopes of men by all the variety of his providence.

   4. If your ease be brought to the last extremity, and that you are at
   the pit's brink, even the very margin of the grave, yet then despair
   not; at least put it off a little longer: and remember that whatsoever
   final accident takes away all hope from you, if you stay a little
   longer, and, in the meanwhile, bear it sweetly, it will also take away
   all despair too. For when you enter into the regions of death you rest
   from all your labours and your fears.

   5. Let them who are tempted to despair of their salvation, consider how
   much Christ suffered to redeem us from sin and its eternal punishment;
   and he that considers this must needs believe that the desires which
   God had to save us were not less than infinite, and therefore not
   easily to be satisfied without it.

   6. Let no man despair of God's mercies to forgive him, unless he be
   sure that his sins are greater than God's mercies. If they be not, we
   have much reason to hope that the stronger ingredient will prevail, so
   long as we are in the time and state of repentance, and within the
   possibilities and latitude of the covenant; and as long as any promise
   can but reflect upon him with an oblique beam of comfort. Possibly the
   man may err in his judgment of circumstances; and therefore let him
   fear: but, because it is not certain he is mistaken, let him not
   despair.

   7. Consider that God, who knows all the events of men, and what their
   final condition shall be, who shall be saved, and who will perish; yet
   he treateth them as his own, calls them to be his own, offers fair
   conditions as to his own, gives them blessings, arguments of mercy, and
   instances of fear, to call them off from death, and to call them home
   to life; and, in all this, shows no despair of happiness to them; and
   therefore much less should any man despair for himself, since he never
   was able to read the scrolls of the eternal predestination.

   8. Remember that despair belongs only to passionate fools or villains,
   such as were Achitophel and Judas, or else to devils and damned
   persons; and as the hope of salvation is a good disposition towards it,
   so is despair a certain consignation to eternal ruin. A man may be
   damned for despairing to be saved. Despair is the proper passion of
   damnation. "God hath placed truth and felicity in heaven, curiosity and
   repentance upon earth, but misery and despair are the portions of
   hell." [203]

   9. Gather together into your spirit and its treasure-house, the memory,
   not only all the promises of God, but also the remembrances of
   experience and the former senses of the divine favours, that from
   thence you may argue from times past to the present, and enlarge to the
   future and to greater blessings. For although the conjectures and
   expectations of hope are not like the conclusions of faith, yet they
   are a helmet against the scorching of despair in temporal things, and
   an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, against the fluctuations of
   the spirit in matters of the soul. St. Bernard reckons divers
   principles of hope, by enumerating the instances of the divine mercy;
   and we may be them reduce this rule to practice, in the following
   manner: 1. God hath preserved me from many sins; his mercies are
   infinite: I hope he will still preserve me from more, and for ever. 2.
   I have sinned, and God smote me not; his mercies are still over the
   penitent: I hope he will deliver me from all the evils I have deserved.
   He hath forgiven me many sins of malice, and therefore surely he will
   pity my infirmities. 3. God visited my heart and changed it; he loves
   the work of his own hands, and so my heart is now become; I hope he
   will love this too. 4. When I repented, he received me graciously; and
   therefore I hope, if I do my endeavour, he will totally forgive me. 5.
   He helped my slow and beginning endeavours; and therefore I hope he
   will lead me to perfection. 6. When he had given me something first,
   then he gave me more; I hope, therefore, he will keep me from falling,
   and give me the grace of perseverance. 7. He hath chosen me to be a
   disciple of Christ's in situation; he hath elected me to his kingdom of
   grace; and therefore I hope also to the kingdom of his glory. 8. He
   died for me when I was his enemy; and therefore I hope he will save me
   when he hath reconciled me to him and is become my friend. 9. God hath
   given us his Son: how should not he with him give us all things else?'
   All these St. Bernard reduces to these three heads, as the instruments
   of all our hopes: 1. The charity of God adopting us; 2. The truth of
   his promises; 3. The power of his performance: which, if any truly
   weighs, no infirmity or accident can break his hopes into indiscernible
   fragments, but some good planks will remain after the greatest storm
   and shipwreck. This was St. Paul's instrument: Experience begets hope,
   and hope maketh not ashamed.'

   10. Do thou take care only of thy duty, of the means and proper
   instruments of thy purpose, and leave the end to God -- lay that up
   with him, and he will take care of all that is entrusted to him; and
   this, being an act of confidence in God, is also a means of security to
   thee.

   11. By special arts of spiritual prudence and arguments secure the
   confident belief of the resurrection; and thou canst not but hope for
   everything else which you may reasonably expect or lawfully desire upon
   the stock of the divine mercies and promises.

   12. If a despair seizes you in a particular temporal instance, let it
   not defile thy spirit with impure mixture, or mingle in spiritual
   considerations; but rather let it make thee fortify thy soul in matters
   of religion, that, by being thrown out of your earthly dwelling and
   confidence, you may retire into the strengths of grace, and hope the
   more strongly in that by how much you are the more defeated in this,
   that despair of a fortune or a success may become the necessity of all
   virtue.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [200] Mikropsuchoi rakrolnpoi.

   [201] Elpis kai sn Tuchm, rega Chairete ten uuun enrn. Onk eti gar
   spheteirois ipiterporai errete arpho Ouneken in reropessi puluplanees
   rala este. Ossa gar atrekeos ouk essetai, nmmes in mrin phasmata, os en
   npno, erxallete, nia t eonta aizoite, stropheoite, osons emen nsteron
   ontas Enroit un nuentas oper xeuis esti nomsai. Pallad. Brunk. Anthol.
   t. ii. p.437.

   [202] Heb. ii. 18.

   [203] V. Bede.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION III.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Charity, or the Love of God.

   Love is the greatest thing that God can give us; for himself is love;
   and it is the greatest thing we can give to God; for it will also give
   ourselves and carry with it all that is ours. The apostle calls it the
   band of perfection; it is the old, and it is the new, and it is the
   great commandment, and it is all the commandments; for it is the
   fulfilling of the law. It does the work of all other graces without any
   instrument but its own immediate virtue. For as the love to sin makes a
   man sin against all his own reason, and all the discourses of wisdom,
   and all the advices of his friends, and without temptation, and without
   opportunity, so does the love of God; it makes a man chaste without the
   laborious arts of fasting and exterior disciplines, temperate in the
   midst of feasts, and is active enough to choose it without any
   intermedial appetites, and reaches at glory through the very heart of
   grace without any other arms but those of love. It is a grace that
   loves God for himself, and our neighbours for God. The consideration of
   God's goodness and bounty, the experience of those profitable and
   excellent emanations from him, may be, and most commonly are, the first
   motive of our love; but when we are once entered, and have tasted the
   goodness of God, we love the spring for its own excellency, passing
   from passion to reason, from thanking to adoring, from sense to spirit,
   from considering ourselves to an union with God: and this is the image
   and little representation of heaven; it is beatitude in picture, or
   rather the infancy and beginnings of glory.

   We need no incentives by way of special enumeration to move us to the
   love of God, for we cannot love anything for any reason real or
   imaginary, but that excellence is infinitely more eminent in God. There
   can but two things create love -- perfection and usefulness: to which
   answer on our part, 1. Admiration; and 2. Desire; and both these are
   centered in love. For the entertainment of the first, there is in God
   an infinite nature, immensity or vastness without extension or limit,
   immutability, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, holiness, dominion,
   providence, bounty, mercy, justice, perfection in himself, and the end
   to which all things and all actions must be directed, and will, at
   last, arrive. The consideration of which may be heightened, if we
   consider our distance from all these glories, our smallness and limited
   nature, our nothing, our inconstancy, our age like a span, our weakness
   and ignorance, our poverty, our inadvertency and inconsideration, our
   disabilities and disaffections to do good, our harsh natures and
   unmerciful inclinations, our universal iniquity, and our necessities
   and dependencies, not only on God originally and essentially, but even
   our need of the meanest of God's creatures, and our being obnoxious to
   the weakest and most contemptible. But for the entertainment of the
   second, we may consider that in him is a torrent of pleasure for the
   voluptuous; he is the fountain of honour for the ambitious; an
   inexhaustible treasure for the covetous. Our vices are in love with
   fantastic pleasures and images of perfection, which are truly and
   really to be found nowhere but in God. And therefore our virtues have
   such proper objects that it is but reasonable they should all turn into
   love; for certain it is that this love will turn all into virtue. For
   in the scrutinies for righteousness and judgment, when it is inquired
   whether such a person be a good man or no, the meaning is not, What
   does he believe? or what does he hope? but what he loves. [204]
     __________________________________________________________________

   [204] St. Aug. I. ii Cenfes. c.6.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Acts of Love to God are,

   1. Love does all things which may please the beloved person; it
   performs all his commandments: and this is one of the greatest
   instances and arguments of our love that God requires of us -- this is
   love, That we keep his commandments.' Love is obedient.

   2. It does all the intimations and secret significations of his
   pleasure whom we love; and this is an argument of a great degree of it.
   The first instance is, it makes the love accepted; but this gives a
   greatness and singularity to it. The first is the least, and less than
   it cannot do our duty; but without this second we cannot come to
   perfection. Great love is also pliant and inquisitive in the instances
   of its expression.

   3. Love gives away all things, that so he may advance the interest of
   the beloved person: it relieves all that he would have relieved, and
   spends itself in such real significations as it is enabled withal. He
   never loved God that will quit anything of his religion to save his
   money. Love is always liberal and communicative.

   4. It suffers all things that are imposed by its beloved, or that can
   happen for his sake, or that intervene in his service, cheerfully,
   sweetly, willingly expecting that God should turn them into good, and
   instruments of felicity. Charity hopeth all things, endureth all
   things.' [205] Love is patient and content with anything, so it be
   together with its beloved.

   5. Love is also impatient of anything that may displease the beloved
   person, hating all sin as the enemy of its friend; for love contracts
   all the same relations, and marries the same friendships and the same
   hatreds; and all affection to a sin is perfectly inconsistent with the
   love of God. Love is not divided between God and God's enemy: we must
   love God with all our heart; that is, give him a whole and undivided
   affection, having love for nothing else but such things which he
   allows, and which he commands or loves himself.

   6. Love endeavours for ever to be present, to converse with, to enjoy,
   to be united with its object; loves to be talking of him, reciting his
   praises, telling his stories, repeating his words, imitating his
   gestures, transcribing his copy in everything; and every degree of
   love; and it can endure anything but the displeasure and the absence of
   its beloved. For we are not to use God and religion as men use
   perfumes, with which they are delighted when they have them, but can
   very well be without them. True charity is restless till it enjoys God
   in such instances in which it wants him; it is like hunger and thirst,
   it must be fed, or it cannot be answered: [206] and nothing can supply
   the presence, or make recompense for the absence of God, or of the
   effects of his favour and the light of his countenance.

   7. True love in all accidents looks upon the beloved person, and
   observes his countenance, and how he approves or disapproves, and
   accordingly looks sad or cheerful. He that loves God is not displeased
   at those accidents which God chooses, nor murmurs at those changes
   which he makes in his family, nor envies at those gifts he bestows; but
   chooses as he likes; and is ruled by his judgment, and is perfectly of
   his persuasion, loving to learn where God is the teacher, and being
   content to be ignorant or silent where he is not pleased to open
   himself.

   8. Love is curious of little things, of circumstances and measures, and
   little accidents, not allowing to itself any infirmity which it strives
   not to master, aiming at what it cannot yet reach, desiring to be of an
   angelical purity, and of a perfect innocence, and a seraphical fervour,
   and fears every image of offence; is as much afflicted at an idle word
   as some at an act of adultery, and will not allow to itself so much
   anger as will disturb a child, nor endure the impurity of a dream.
   [207] And this is the curiosity and niceness of divine love: this is
   the fear of God, and is the daughter and production of Love.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [205] 1 Cor. xiii.

   [206] amoris ut morsum qui vere senserit.

   [207] Plutarchus citans carmen de suo Apolline, adjicit ex Herodoto
   quasi de suo, De eo os meum continens esto.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Measures and Rules of Divine Love.

   But because this passion is pure as the brightest and smoothest mirror,
   and, therefore, is apt to be sullied with every impurer breath, we must
   be careful that our love to God be governed by these measures:

   1. That our love to God be sweet, even, and full of tranquillity,
   having in it no violences or transportations, but going on in a course
   of holy actions and duties, which are proportionable to our condition
   and present state; not to satisfy all the desire, but all the
   probabilities and measures of our strength. A new beginner in religion
   hath passionate and violent desires; but they must not be the measure
   of his actions; but he must consider his strength, his late sickness
   and state of death, the proper temptations of his condition, and stand
   at first upon defence; not go to storm a strong fort, or attack a
   potent enemy, or do heroical actions, and fitter for giants in
   religion. Indiscreet violences and untimely forwardness are the rocks
   of religion against which tender spirits often suffer shipwreck.

   2. Let our love be prudent and without illusion, that is, that it
   express itself in such instances which God hath chosen or which we
   choose ourselves by proportion to his rules and measures. Love turns
   into doating when religion turns into superstition. No degree of love
   can be imprudent, but the expressions may: we cannot love God too much,
   but we may proclaim it in indecent manners.

   3. Let our love be firm, constant, and inseparable; not coming and
   returning like the tide, but descending like a never-failing river,
   ever running into the ocean of divine excellency, passing on in the
   channels of duty and a constant obedience, and never ceasing to be what
   it is till it be turned into sea and vastness, even the immensity of a
   blessed eternity.

   Although the consideration of the divine excellencies and mercies be
   infinitely sufficient to produce in us love to God (who is invisible,
   and yet not distant from us, but we feel him in his blessings, he
   dwells in our hearts by faith, we feed on him in the sacrament, and are
   made all one with him in the incarnation and glorifications of Jesus:
   yet, that we may the better enkindle and increase our love to God, the
   following advices are not useless:
     __________________________________________________________________

  Helps to increase our Love to God, by Way of Exercise.

   1. Cut off all earthly and sensual loves, for they pollute and unhallow
   the pure and spiritual love. Every degree of inordinate affection to
   the things of this world, and every act of love to a sin, is a perfect
   enemy to the love of God; and it is a great shame to take any part of
   our affection from the eternal God, to bestow it upon his creature in
   defiance of the Creator, or to give it to the devil, our open enemy, in
   disparagement of him, who is the fountain of all excellences and
   celestial amities.

   2. Lay fetters and restraints upon the imaginative and fantastic part;
   because our fancy, being an imperfect and higher faculty, is usually
   pleased with the entertainment of shadows and gauds; and because the
   things of the world fill it with such beauties and fantastic imagery,
   the fancy, presents such objects as are amiable to the affections and
   elective powers. Persons of fancy such as are women and children, have
   always the most violent loves; but, therefore, if we be careful with
   what representments we fill our fancy, we may the sooner rectify our
   love. To this purpose it is good that we transplant the instruments of
   fancy into religion, and for this reason music was brought into
   churches, and ornaments, and perfumes, and comely garments, and
   solemnities, and decent ceremonies, that the busy and less discerning
   fancy, being bribed with its proper objects, may be instrumental to a
   more celestial and spiritual love.

   3. Remove solicitude or worldly cares, and multitudes of secular
   businesses, for if these take up the intention and actual application
   of our thoughts and our employments, they will also possess our
   passions, which, if they be filled with one object, though ignoble,
   cannot attend another, though more excellent. We always contract a
   friendship and relation with those with whom we converse; our very
   country is dear to us for our being in it; and the neighbours of the
   same village, and those that buy and sell with us, have seized upon
   some portions of our love; and, therefore, if we dwell in the affairs
   of the world we shall also grow in love with them; and all our love or
   all our hatred, all our hopes or all our fears, which the eternal God
   would willingly secure to himself, and esteem amongst his treasures and
   precious things, shall be spent upon trifles and vanities.

   4. Do not only choose the things of God, but secure your inclinations
   and aptnesses for God and for religion; for it will be a hard thing for
   a man to do such a personal violence to his first desires as to choose
   whatsoever he hath no mind to. A man will many times satisfy the
   importunity and daily solicitations of his first longings; and,
   therefore, there is nothing can secure our loves to God but stopping
   the natural fountains, and making religion to grow near the first
   desires of the soul.

   5. Converse with God by frequent prayer. In particular, desire that
   your desires may be right and love to have your affections regular and
   holy. To which purpose make very frequent addresses to God by
   ejaculations and communions, and an assiduous daily devotion; discover
   to him all your wants, complain to him of all your affronts; do as
   Hezekiah did, lay your misfortunes and your ill news before him, spread
   them before the Lord, call to him for health, run to him for counsel,
   beg of him for pardon; and it is as natural to love him to whom we make
   such addresses, and on whom we have such dependencies, as it is for
   children to love their parents.

   6. Consider the immensity and vastness of the divine love to us,
   expressed in all the emanations of his providence; 1. In his creation;
   2. In his conservation of us. For it is not my prince, or my patron, or
   my friend, that supports me, or relieves my needs; but God who made the
   corn that my friend sends me; who created the grapes, and supported
   him, who hath as many dependencies, and as many natural necessities,
   and as perfect disabilities, as myself. God, indeed, made him the
   instrument of his providence to me, as he hath made his own land or his
   own cattle to him, with this only difference, that God, by his
   ministration to me, intends to do him a favour and a reward which to
   natural instruments he does not; 3. In giving his Son; 4. In forgiving
   our sins; 5. In adopting us to glory; and ten thousand times ten
   thousand little addicents and instances happening in the doing every of
   these -- and it is not possible but for so great love we should give
   love again; for God, we should give man; for felicity, we should part
   with our misery. Nay, so great is the love of the holy Jesus, God
   incarnate, that he would leave all his triumphant glories, and die once
   more for man, if it were necessary for procuring felicity to him. [208]

   In the use of these instruments, love will grow in several knots and
   steps, like the sugar-canes of India, according to a thousand varieties
   in the persons loving; and it will be great or less in several persons,
   and in the same, according to his growth in Christianity. But in
   general discoursing there are but two states of love; and those are
   labour of love, and the zeal of love: the first is duty; the second if
   perfection.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [208] Sic Jesus dixit. S. Carpo apud Dionysium epist. ad Demophilum.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The two States of Love to God.

   The least love that is must be obedient, pure, simple, and
   communicative; that is, it must exclude all affection to sin, and all
   inordinate affection to the world, and must be expressive, according to
   our power, in the instances of duty, and must be love for love's sake;
   and for this love, martyrdom is the highest instance -- that is, a
   readiness of mind rather to suffer any evil than to do any. Of this our
   blessed Saviour affirmed that no man had greater love than this; that
   is, this is the highest point of duty, the greatest love, that God
   requires of man. And yet he that is the most imperfect must have this
   love also in preparation of mind, and must differ from another in
   nothing, except in the degrees of promptness and alacrity. And in this
   sense, he that loves God truly, (though but with a beginning and tender
   love,) yet he loves God with all his heart, that is, with that degree
   of love which is the highest point of our duty and of God's charge upon
   us; and he that loves God with all his heart may yet increase with the
   increase of God; just as there are degrees of love to God among the
   saints, and yet each of them love him with all their powers and
   capacities.

   2. But the greater state of love is the zeal of love, which runs out
   into excrescences and suckers, like a fruitful and pleasant tree; or
   bursting into gums, and producing fruits, not of a monstrous but of an
   extraordinary and heroical, greatness. Concerning which these cautions
   are to be observed:
     __________________________________________________________________

  Cautions and Rules concerning Zeal.

   1. If zeal be in the beginnings of our spiritual birth, or be short,
   sudden, and transient, or be a consequent of a man's natural temper, or
   come upon any cause but after a long growth of a temperate and
   well-regulated love -- it is to be suspected for passion and
   forwardness, rather than the vertical point of love. [209]

   2.That zeal only is good which in a fervent love, hath temperate
   expressions. For let the affection boil as high as it can, yet if it
   boil over into irregular and strange actions, it will have but few, but
   will need many excuses. Elijah was zealous for the Lord of Hosts, and
   yet he was so transported with it, that he could not receive answer
   from God till by music he was recomposed and tamed; and Moses broke
   both the tables of the law by being passionately zealous against them
   that broke the first.

   3. Zeal must spend its greatest heat principally in those things that
   concern ourselves; but with great care and restraint in those that
   concern others.

   4. Remember that zeal, being an excrescence of divine love, must in no
   sense contradict any action of love. Love to God includes love [210] to
   our neighbour; and therefore no pretence of zeal for God's glory must
   make us uncharitable to our brother; for that is just so pleasing to
   God as hatred is an act of love.

   5. That zeal that concerns others can spend itself in nothing but arts
   and actions and charitable instruments, for their good; and when it
   concerns the good of many that one should suffer, it must be done by
   persons of a competent authority, and in great necessity, in seldom
   instances, according to the law of God or man; but never by private
   right, or for trifling accidents, or in mistaken propositions. The
   Zealots, in the old law, had authority to transfix and stab some
   certain persons, but God gave them warrant; it was in the case of
   idolatry, or such notorious huge crimes, the danger of which was
   insupportable, and the cognizance of which was infallible; and yet that
   warrant expired with the synagogue.

   6. Zeal may be let loose in the instances of internal, personal, and
   spiritual actions, that are matters of direct duty, as in prayers, and
   acts of adoration, and thanksgiving, and frequent addresses, provided
   that no indirect act pass upon them to defile them, such as complacency
   and opinions of sanctity, censuring others, scruples and opinions of
   necessity, unnecessary fears, superstitious numberings of times and
   hours; but let the zeal be as forward as it will, as devout as it will,
   as seraphical as it will, in the direct address and intercourse with
   God there is no danger, no transgression. Do all the parts of your duty
   as earnestly as if the salvation of all the world, and the whole glory
   of God, and the confusion of all devils, all that you hope or desire,
   did depend upon every one action. [211]

   8. Let zeal be seated in the will and choice, and regulated with
   prudence and a sober understanding, not in the fancies and affections;
   [212] for those that will make it deep and smooth, material and devout.

   The sum is this; that zeal is not a direct duty, nowhere commanded for
   itself, and is nothing but a forwardness and circumstance of another
   duty, and therefore is then only acceptable when it advances the love
   of God and our neighbours, whose circumstance it is. [213] That zeal is
   only safe, only acceptable, which increases charity directly; and
   because love to our neighbour and obedience to God are the two great
   portions of charity, we must never account our zeal to be good but as
   it advances both these, if it be in a matter that relates to both; or
   severally if it relates severally. St. Paul's zeal was expressed in
   preaching without any offerings or stipend, in travelling, in spending
   and being spent for his flock, in suffering, in being willing to be
   accursed for love of the people of God and his countrymen. Let our zeal
   be as great as his was, so it be in affections to others, but not al
   all in angers against them: in the first there is no danger -- in the
   second there is no safety. In brief, let your zeal (if it must be
   expressed in anger) be always more severe against thyself than against
   others. [214]

   *The other part of love to God is love to our neighbour, for which I
   have reserved the paragraph of alms.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [209] Kalon xe zmlonsphai en tps kalpst pantote.--Gal. iv. 18.

   [210] Phil. iii. 6.

   [211] Lavora, come se tu avessi a compar ogni hora; Adora, me se tu
   avessi a morir allora.

   [212] Rom. x. 2.

   [213] Tit. ii. 14; Rev. iii. 16.

   [214] 2 Cor. vii. 11.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of the external Actions of Religion.

   Religion teaches us to present to God our bodies as well as our souls,
   for God is the Lord of both; and if the body serves the soul in actions
   natural and civil and intellectual, it must not be eased in the only
   offices of religion, unless the body shall expect no portion of the
   rewards of religion, such as are resurrection, reunion, and
   glorification. Our bodies are to God a living sacrifice; and to present
   them to God is holy and acceptable. [215]

   The actions of the body, as it serves to religion, and as it is
   distinguished from sobriety and justice, either relate to the word of
   God, or to prayer, or to repentance, and make these kinds of external
   actions of religion: 1. Reading and hearing the word of God; 2. Fasting
   and corporal austerities, called by St. Paul bodily exercise; 3.
   Feasting, or keeping days of public joy and thanksgiving.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [215] 2 Cor. vii. 11.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION IV.

  Of reading or hearing the Word of God.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Reading and hearing the word of God are but the several circumstances
   of the same duty: instrumental especially to faith, but consequently to
   all other graces of the spirit. It is all one to us whether by the eye
   or by the ear the Spirit conveys his precepts to us. If we hear St.
   Paul saying to us, that whore mongers and adulterers God will judge,'
   or read it in one of his epistles, in either of them we are equally and
   sufficiently instructed.

   The Scriptures read are the same thing to us which the same doctrine
   was when it was preached by the disciples of our blessed Lord, and we
   are to learn of either with the same dispositions. There are many that
   cannot read the word, and they must take it in by the ear, and they
   that can read find the same word of God by the eye. It is necessary
   that all men learn it in some way or other, and it is sufficient in
   order to their practice that they learn it any way. The word of God is
   all those commandments and revelations, those promises and
   threatenings, the stories and sermons recorded in the Bible; nothing
   else is the word of God that we know of by any certain instrument. The
   good books and spiritual discourses, the sermons or homilies written or
   spoken by men, are but the words of men, or rather explications of, and
   exhortations according to, the word of God; but of themselves they are
   not the word of God. In a sermon, the text only is, in a proper sense,
   to be called God's word; and yet good sermons are of great use and
   convenience for the advantages of religion. He that preaches an hour
   together against drunkenness, with the tongue of men or angels, hath
   spoke no other word of God but this, Be not drunk with wine, wherein is
   excess;' and he that writes that sermon in a book, and publishes that
   book, hath preached to all that read it a louder sermon than could be
   spoken in a church. This I say to this purpose, that we may separate
   truth from error, popular opinions from substantial truths. For God
   preaches to us in the Scripture, and by his secret assistances and
   spiritual thoughts and holy motions: good men preach to us when they,
   by popular arguments and human arts and compliances, expound and press
   any of those doctrines which God hath preached unto us in his holy
   word. But,

   1. The Holy Ghost is certainly the best preacher in the world, and the
   words of Scripture the best sermons.

   2. All the doctrine of salvation is plainly set down there, that the
   most unlearned person, by hearing it read, may understand all his duty.
   What can be plainer spoken than this, Thou shalt not kill; Be not drunk
   with wine; Husbands, love your wives; Whatsoever ye would that men
   should do to you, do ye so to them.' The wit of man cannot more plainly
   tell us our duty, or more fully, than the Holy Ghost hath done already.

   3. Good sermons and good books are of excellent use; but yet they can
   serve no other end but that we practice the plain doctrines of
   Scripture.

   4. What Abraham, in the parable, said concerning the brethren of the
   rich man, is here very proper; They have Moses and the prophets, let
   them hear them; but if they refuse to hear these neither will they
   believe though one should arise from the dead to preach unto them.'
   [216]

   5. Reading the holy Scriptures is a duty expressly commanded us, [217]
   and is called in Scripture preaching:' all other preaching is the
   effect of human skill and industry; and although of great benefit, yet
   it is but an ecclesiastical ordinance; the law of God concerning
   preaching being expressed in the matter of reading the Scriptures, and
   hearing that word of God which is, and as it is, there described.

   But this duty is reduced to practice in the following rules:
     __________________________________________________________________

   [216] Luke, xvi. 29, 31.

   [217] Deut. xxxi. 13; Luke, xxiv. 45; Matt. xxii. 29; Acts. xv. 21; 2
   Tim. iii. 16; Rev. i. 3.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for hearing or reading the Word of God.

   1. Set apart some portion of thy time, according to the opportunities
   of thy calling and necessary employment, for the reading of Holy
   Scriptures; and, if it be possible, every day read or hear some of it
   read: you are sure that book teaches all truth, commands all holiness,
   and promises all happiness.

   2. When it is in your power to choose, accustom yourself to such
   portions which are most plain and certain duty, and which contain the
   story of the life and death of our blessed Saviour. Read the gospels,
   the Psalms of David, and especially those portions of Scripture which,
   by the wisdom of the church, are appointed to be publicly read upon
   Sundays and holy days, viz. the epistles and gospels. In the choice of
   any other portions, you may advise with a spiritual guide, that you may
   spend your time with most profit.

   3. Fail not diligently to attend to the reading of Holy Scriptures upon
   those days wherein it is most publicly and solemnly read in churches,
   for at such times, besides the learning our duty, we obtain a blessing
   along with it, it becoming to us, upon those days a part of the solemn
   divine worship.

   4. When the word of God is read or preached to you, be sure you be of a
   ready heart and mind, free from worldly cares and thoughts, diligent to
   hear, careful to mark, studious to remember, and desirous to practise
   all that is commanded, and to live according to it; do not hear for any
   other end but to become better in our life, and to be instructed in
   every good work, and to increase in the love and service of God.

   5. Beg of God, by prayer, that he would give you the spirit of
   obedience and profit, and that he would, by his Spirit, write the word
   in your heart, and that you describe it in your life: to which purpose
   serve yourself of some affectionate ejaculations to that purpose before
   and after this duty.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Concerning Spiritual Books and Ordinary Sermons, take in these Advices also.

   6. Let not a prejudice to any man's person hinder thee from receiving
   good by his doctrine, if it be according to godliness; but (if occasion
   offer it, or especially to godliness; but (if occasion offer it, or
   especially if duty present it to thee- that is if it be preached in
   that assembly where thou art bound to be present) accept the word
   preached as a message from God, and the minister as his angel in that
   ministration.

   7. Consider and remark the doctrine that is represented to thee in any
   discourse; and if the preacher adds accidental advantages, anything to
   comply with thy weakness, or to put thy spirit into action or holy
   resolution, remember it and make use of it. But if the preacher be a
   weak person, yet the text is the doctrine, thou art to remember, that
   contains all thy duty; it is worth they attendance to hear that spoken
   often and renewed upon thy thoughts; and though thou beest a learned
   man, yet the same things which thou knowest already, if spoken by
   another, may be made active by that application. I can better be
   comforted by my own considerations if another hand applies them than if
   I do it myself; because the word of God does not work as a natural
   agent, but as a divine instrument; it does not prevail by the force of
   deduction and artificial discoursings only, but chiefly by way of
   blessing in the ordinance and in the ministry of an appointed person.
   At least obey the public order, and reverence the constitution, and
   give good example of humility, charity, and obedience.

   8. When Scriptures are read, you are only to inquire, with diligence
   and modesty, into the meaning of the Spirit; but if homilies or sermons
   be made upon the words of Scripture, you are to consider, whether all
   that be spoken be conforming to the Scriptures; for although you may
   practise for human reasons and human arguments ministered from the
   preacher's art, yet you must practise nothing but the command of God,
   nothing but the doctrine of Scripture; that is, the text.

   9. Use the advice of some spiritual or other prudent man for the choice
   of such spiritual books, which may be of use and benefit for the
   edification of thy spirit in the ways of holy living; and esteem that
   time well accounted for that is prudently and affectionately employed
   in hearing or reading good books and pious discourses; ever
   remembering, that God, by hearing us speak to him in prayer, obliges us
   to hear him speak to us in his word, by what instrument soever it be
   conveyed.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION V.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Fasting.

   Fasting, if it be considered in itself, without relation to spiritual
   ends, is a duty nowhere enjoined or counselled. But Christianity hath
   to do with it as it may be made an instrument of the Spirit, by
   subduing the lusts of the flesh, or removing any hinderances of
   religion. And it hath been practised by all ages of the church, and
   advised in order to three ministries; 1. To prayer; 2. To mortification
   of bodily lusts; 3. To repentance: and it is to be practised according
   to the following measures:
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for Christian Fasting.

   1. Fasting, in order to prayer, is to be measured by the proportions of
   the times of prayer; that is, it ought to be a total fast from all
   things, during the solemnity, unless a palpable necessity intervene.
   Thus the Jews ate nothing upon the Sabbath-days till their great
   offices were performed; that is, about the sixth hour: and St. Peter
   used it as an argument, that the apostles in Pentecost were not drunk,
   because it was but the third hour of the day; of such a day in which it
   was not lawful to eat or drink till the sixth hour: and the Jews were
   offended at the disciples for plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath,
   early in the morning, because it was before the time in which, by their
   customs, they esteemed it lawful to break their fast. In imitation of
   this custom, and in prosecution of the reason of it, the Christian
   church hath religiously observed fasting, before the holy communion;
   and the more devout persons (though without any obligation at all)
   refused to eat or drink till they had finished their morning devotions:
   and further yet, upon days of public humiliation, which are designed to
   be spent wholly in devotion, and for the averting God's judgments, (if
   they were imminent,) fasting is commanded together with prayer:
   commanded (I say) by the church to this end -- that the spirit might be
   clearer and more angelical, when it is quitted in some proportions from
   the loads of flesh.

   2. Fasting, when it is in order to prayer, must be a total abstinence
   from all meat, or else an abatement of the quantity; for the help which
   fasting does to prayer cannot be served by changing flesh into fish, or
   milk-meats into dry diet; but by turning much into little, or little
   into none at all, during the time of solemn and extraordinary prayer.

   3. Fasting, as it is instrumental to prayer, must be attended with
   other aids of the like virtue and efficacy; such as are removing for
   the time all worldly cares and secular business; and therefore our
   blessed Saviour enfolds these parts within the same caution, take heed,
   lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the
   cares of this world, and that day overtake you unawares.' To which add
   alms; for upon the wings of fasting and alms holy prayer infallibly
   mounts up to heaven. [218]

   4. When fasting is intended to serve the duty or repentance, it is then
   best chosen when it is short, sharp, and afflictive; that is, either a
   total abstinence from all nourishment, according as we shall appoint or
   be appointed, during such a time as is separate for the solemnity and
   attendance upon the employment: or, if we shall extend our severity
   beyond the solemn days, and keep our anger against our sin, as we are
   to keep our sorrow, that is, always in a readiness, and often to be
   called upon; then, to refuse a pleasant morsel, to abstain from the
   bread of our desires, and only to take wholesome and less pleasing
   nourishment, vexing our appetite by refusing a lawful satisfaction,
   since, in its petulancy and luxury, it prayed upon an unlawful.

   5. Fasting designed for repentance must be ever joined with an extreme
   care that we fast from sin; for there is no greater folly or indecency
   in the world than to commit that for which I am now judging and
   condemning myself. This is the best fast; and the other may serve to
   promote the interest of this, by increasing the disaffection to it, and
   multiplying arguments against it.

   6. He that fasts for repentance must, during that solemnity, abstain
   from all bodily delights, and the sensuality of all his senses and his
   appetites; for a man must not, when he mourns in his fast, be merry in
   his sport; weep at dinner, and laugh all day after; have a silence in
   his kitchen, and music in his chamber; judge the stomach, and feast the
   other senses. I deny not but a man may, in a single instance, punish a
   particular sin with a propalate, he may choose to fast only; if he have
   sinned in softness and in his touch, he may choose to lie hard, or work
   hard, and use sharp inflictions; but although this discipline be proper
   and particular, yet because the sorrow is of the whole man, no sense
   must rejoice, or be with any study or purpose feasted and entertained
   softly. This rule is intended to relate to the solemn days appointed
   for repentance publicly or privately; besides which, in the whole
   course of our life, even in the midst of our most festival and freer
   joys, we may sprinkle some single instances and acts of
   self-condemning, or punishing; as to refuse a pleasant morsel or a
   delicious draught with a tacit remembrance of the sin that now returns
   to displease my spirit. And, though these actions be single, there is
   no indecency in them; because a man may abate of his ordinary liberty
   and hold freedom with great prudence, so he does it without singularity
   in himself or trouble to others; but he may not abate of his solemn
   sorrow: that may be caution; but this would be softness, effeminacy,
   and indecency.

   7. When fasting is an act of mortification, that is, is intended to
   subdue a bodily lust, as the spirit of fornication, or the fondness of
   strong and impatient appetites, it must not be a sudden, sharp, and
   violent fast, but a state of fasting, a diet of fasting, a daily
   lessening our portion of meat and drink, and a choosing such a course
   diet, [219] which may make the least preparation for the lusts of the
   body. He that fasts three days without food will weaken other parts
   more than the ministers of fornication; and when the meals return as
   usually, they also will be served as soon as any. In the meantime, they
   will be supplied and made active by the accidental heat that comes with
   such violent fastings: for this is a kind of aerial devil the prince
   that rules in the air is the devil of fornication; and he will be as
   tempting with the windiness of a violent fast as with the flesh of an
   ordinary meal. [220] But a daily subtraction of the nourishment will
   introduce a less busy habit of body; and that will prove the more
   effectual remedy.

   8. Fasting alone will not cure this devil, though it helps much towards
   it; but it must not therefore be neglected, but assisted by all the
   proper instruments of remedy against this unclean spirit; and what it
   is unable to do alone, in company with other instruments, and God's
   blessing upon them, it may effect.

   9. All fasting, for whatever end it be undertaken, must be done without
   any opinion of the necessity of the thing itself, without censuring
   others, with all humility, in order to the proper end; and just as a
   man takes physic, of which no man hath reason to be proud, and no man
   things it necessary, but because he is in sickness, or in danger and
   disposition to it.

   10. All fasts ordained by lawful authority are to be observed in order
   to the same purposes to which they are enjoined, and to be accompanied
   with actions of the same nature, just as it is in private fasts; for
   there is no other difference, but that in public our superiors choose
   for us what in private we do for ourselves.

   11. Fasts ordained by lawful authority are not to be neglected; because
   alone they can do the thing in order to which they were enjoined. It
   may be, one day of humiliation will not obtain the blessing, or alone
   kill the lust; yet it must not be despised if it can do anything
   towards it. And act of fasting is an act of self-denial; and, though it
   do not produce the habit, yet it is a good act.

   12. When the principal end why a fast is publicly prescribed is obtain
   by some other instrument, in a particular person -- as if the spirit of
   fornication be cured by the rite of marriage, or by a gift of chastity
   -- yet that person so eased is not freed from the fasts of the church
   by that alone, if those fasts can prudently serve any other end of
   religion, as that of prayer, or repentance, or mortification of some
   other appetite; for when it is instrumental to any end of the Spirit,
   it is freed from superstition, and then we must have some other reason
   to quit us from the obligation, or that alone will not do it.

   13. When the fast publicly commanded by reason of some indisposition in
   the particular person cannot operate to the end of the commandment, yet
   the avoiding offence, and the complying with public order, is reason
   enough to make the obedience to be necessary. For he that is otherwise
   disobliged, as when the reason of the law ceases as to his particular,
   yet remains still obliged if he cannot do otherwise without scandal;
   but this is an obligation of charity, not of justice.

   14. All fasting is to be used with prudence and charity; for there is
   no end to which fasting serves but may be obtained by other
   instruments; and, therefore, it must at no hand be made an instrument
   of scruple; or become an enemy to our health; or be imposed upon
   persons that are sick or aged, or to whom it is, in any sense,
   uncharitable, such as are wearied travellers; or to whom, in the whole
   kind of it, it is useless such as are women with child, poor people,
   and little children. But in these cases the church hath made provision
   and inserted caution into her laws; and they are to be reduced to
   practice according to custom, and the sentence of prudent persons, with
   great latitude, and without niceness and curiosity, having this in our
   first care, that we secure our virtue; and, next, that we secure our
   health, that we may the better exercise the labours of virtue, lest,
   out of too much austerity, we bring ourselves to that condition that it
   be necessary to be indulgent to softness, ease, and extreme tenderness.
   [221]

   15. Let not intemperance be the prologue or the epilogue to your fast,
   lest the fast be so far from taking off anything of the sin, that it be
   an occasion to increase it; and, therefore, when the fast is done, be
   careful that no supervening act of gluttony or excessive drinking
   unhallow the religion of the past day; but eat temperately, according
   to the proportion of other meals, lest gluttony keep either of the
   gates to abstinence. [222]
     __________________________________________________________________

   [218] Jejunium sine eleemosyna, lampas sine oleo.--St. Aug.

   [219] Digiuna assai chi mal mangia.

   [220] Chi digiuna, et altro ben non fa.

   [221] S. Basil. Monast. Constit. cap. 5. Cassian. Col 21. cap. 22. Ne
   per causam necessitatis eo impingamus, ut voluptatibus scrviamus.

   [222] Amunomenoi tmn eneran.--Naz.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Benefits of Fasting.

   He that undertakes to enumerate the benefits of fasting may, in the
   next page, also reckon all the benefits of physic, for fasting is not
   to be commended as a duty, but as an instrument; and in that sense no
   man can reprove it, or undervalue it, but he that knows neither
   spiritual arts nor spiritual necessities. But by the doctors of the
   church it is called the nourishment of prayer, the restraint of lust,
   the wings of the souls, the diet of angels, the instrument of humility
   and self-denial, the purification of the spirit; and the paleness and
   meagerness of visage, which is consequent to the daily fast of great
   mortifiers, is, by St. Basil, said to be the mark in the forehead which
   the angel observed when he signed the saints in the forehead to escape
   the wrath of God. "The soul that is greatly vexed, which goeth stooping
   and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, shall give
   thee praise and righteousness, O Lord!" [223]
     __________________________________________________________________

   [223] Baruch, ii. v. 18.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION VI.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of keeping Festivals, and Days holy to the Lord; particularly the Lords Day.

   True natural religion, that which was common to all nations and ages,
   did principally rely upon four great propositions; 1. That there is one
   God; 2. That God is nothing of those things which we see; 3. That God
   takes care of all things below, and governs all the world; 4. That he
   is the great Creator of all things, without himself: and according to
   these were framed the four first precepts of the decalogue. In the
   first, the unity of the Godhead is expressly affirmed; in the second,
   his invisibility and immateriality; in the third is affirmed God's
   government and providence, by avenging them that swear falsely by his
   name, by which also his omniscience is declared; in the fourth
   commandment, he proclaims himself the maker of heaven and earth; for,
   in memory of God's rest from the work of six days, the seventh was
   hallowed into a Sabbath, and the keeping it was confessing God to be
   the great maker of heaven and earth; and consequently to this, it also
   was a confession of his goodness, his omnipotence, and his wisdom, all
   which were written with a sunbeam in the great book of the creature.

   So long as the law of the Sabbath was bound upon God's people, so long
   God would have that to be the solemn manner of confessing these
   attributes; but when the priesthood being changed, there was a change
   also of the law, the great duty remained unalterable in changed
   circumstances. We are eternally bound to confess God Almighty to be the
   maker of heaven and earth; but the manner of confessing it is changed
   from a rest, or a doing nothing, to a speaking something, from a day to
   a symbol; from a ceremony to a substance; from a Jewish rite to a
   Christian duty; we profess it in our creed, we confess it in our lives;
   we describe it by every line of our life, by every action of duty, by
   faith and trust and obedience: and we do also, upon great reason,
   comply with the Jewish manner of confessing the creation, so far as it
   is instrumental to a real duty. We keep one day in seven, and so
   confess the manner and circumstance of the creation; and we rest also,
   that we may tend holy duties; so imitating God's rest better than the
   Jew in Synesius, who lay upon his face from evening to evening, and
   could not, by stripes or wounds, be raised up to steer the ship in a
   great storm. God's rest was not a natural cessation; he who could not
   labour could not be said to rest; but God's rest is to be understood to
   be a beholding and a rejoicing in his work finished, and therefore we
   truly represent God's rest when we confess and rejoice in God's works
   and God's glory.

   This the Christian church does upon every day, but especially upon the
   Lord's day, which she hath set apart for this and all other offices of
   religion, being determined to this day by the resurrection of her
   dearest Lord, it being the first day of joy the church ever had. And
   now, upon the Lord's day, we are not tied to the rest of the Sabbath,
   but to all the work of the Sabbath; and we are to abstain from bodily
   labour, not because it is a direct duty to us, as it was to the Jews;
   but because it is necessary, in order to our duty, that we attend to
   the offices of religion.

   The observation of the Lord's day differs nothing from the observation
   of the Sabbath in the matter of religion, but in the manner. They
   differ in the ceremony and external rite: rest, with them, was the
   principal; with us, it is the accessory. They differ in the office or
   forms of worship; for they were then to worship God as a creator and a
   gentle father; we are to add to that, our Redeemer, and all his other
   excellences and mercies. And, though we have more natural and proper
   reason to keep the Lord's day than the Sabbath, yet the Jews had a
   divine commandment for their day, which we have not for ours; but we
   have many commandments to do all that honour to God which was intended
   in the fourth commandment; and the apostles appointed the first day of
   the week for doing it in solemn assemblies. And the manner of
   worshipping God, and doing him solemn honour and service upon this day,
   we may best observe in the following measures:
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for keeping the Lords Day and other Christian Festivals.

   1. When you go about to distinguish festival days from common, do it
   not by lessening the devotion of ordinary days, that the common
   devotion may seem bigger upon festivals; but, on every day, keep your
   ordinary devotions entire, and enlarge upon the holy day.

   2. Upon the Lord's day we must abstain from all servile and laborious
   works, except such which are matters of necessity, of common life, or
   of great charity; for these are permitted by that authority which hath
   separated the day for holy uses. The Sabbath of the Jews, though
   consisting principally in rest, and established by God, did yield to
   these. The labour of love and the labours of religion were not against
   the reason and the spirit of the commandment, for which the letter was
   decreed, and to which it ought to minister. And, therefore, much more
   is it so on the Lord's day, where the letter is wholly turned into
   spirit, and there is no commandment of God but of spiritual and holy
   actions. The priests might kill their beasts, and dress them for
   sacrifice; and Christ, though born under the law, might heal a sick
   man; and the sick man might carry his bed to witness his recovery, and
   confess the mercy, and leap and dance to God for joy; and an ox might
   be led to water, and as ass be haled out of a ditch; and a man may take
   physic, and he may eat meat, and therefore there were of necessity some
   to prepare and minister it; and the performing these labours did not
   consist in minutes and just determining stages; but they had, even
   then, a reasonable latitude; so only as to exclude unnecessary labour,
   or such as did not minister to charity or religion. And, therefore,
   this is to be enlarged in the gospel, whose Sabbath or rest is but a
   circumstance, and accessory to the principal and spiritual duties. Upon
   the Christian Sabbath necessity is to be served first, then charity,
   and then religion; for this is to give place to charity, in great
   instances, and the second to the first, in all, and in all cases God is
   to be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

   3. The Lord's day, being the remembrance of a great blessing, must be a
   day of joy, festivity, spiritual rejoicing, and thanksgiving; and
   therefore it is a proper work of the day to let your devotions spend
   themselves in singing or reading psalms; in recounting the great works
   of God; in remembering his mercies; in worshipping his excellences; in
   celebrating his attributes; in admiring his person; in sending portions
   of pleasant meat to them for whom nothing is provided; and in all the
   arts and instruments of advancing God's glory, and the reputation of
   religion: in which it were a great decency that a memorial of the
   resurrection should be inserted, that the particular religion of the
   day be not swallowed up in the general. And of this we may the more
   easily serve ourselves, by rising seasonably in the morning to private
   devotion, and by retiring at the leisures and spaces of the day not
   employed in public offices.

   4.Fail not to be present at the public hours and places of prayer,
   entering early and cheerfully, attending reverently and devoutly,
   abiding patiently during the whole office, piously assisting at the
   prayers, and gladly also hearing the sermon: and at no hand omitting to
   receive the holy communion when it is offered, (unless some great
   reason excuse it,) this being the great solemnity of thanksgiving, and
   a proper work of the day.

   5. After the solemnities are past, and in the intervals between the
   morning and evening devotion, (as you shall find opportunity,) visit
   sick persons, reconcile differences, do offices of neighbourhood,
   inquire into the needs of the poor, especially housekeepers, relieve
   them, as they shall need, and as you are able; for then we truly
   rejoice in God, when we make our neighbours, the poor members of
   Christ, rejoice together with us.

   6. Whatsoever you are to do yourself, as necessary, you are to take
   care that others also, who are under your charge, do in their station
   and manner. Let your servants be called to church, and all your family
   that can be spared from necessary and great household ministries; those
   that cannot, let them go by turns, and be supplied otherwise, as well
   as they may; and provide, on these days especially, that they be
   instructed in the articles of faith and necessary parts of their duty.

   7. Those who labour hard in the week must be eased upon the Lord's day,
   such ease being a great charity and alms; but at no hand must they be
   permitted to use any unlawful games, anything forbidden by the laws,
   anything that is scandalous, or anything that is dangerous and apt to
   mingle sin with it; no games prompting to wantonness, to drunkenness,
   to quarrelling, to ridiculous and superstitions customs; but let their
   refreshments be innocent and charitable and of good report, and not
   exclusive of the duties of religion.

   8. Beyond these bounds, because neither God nor man hath passed any
   obligation upon us, we must preserve our Christian liberty, and not
   suffer ourselves to be entangled with a yoke of bondage; for even a
   good action may become a snare to us, if we make it an occasion of
   scruple by a pretence of necessity, binding loads upon the conscience,
   not with the bands of God, but of men, and of fancy, or of opinion, or
   of tyranny. Whatsoever is laid upon us by the hands of man must be
   acted and accounted of by the measures of a man; but our best measure
   is this: he keeps the Lord's day best, that keeps it with most religion
   and with most charity.

   9. What the church hath done in the article of the resurrection, she
   hath in some measure done in the other articles of the nativity, of the
   ascension, and of the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost -- and so
   great blessings deserve an anniversary solemnity, since he is a very
   unthankful person that does not often record them in the whole year,
   and esteem them the ground of his hopes, the object of his faith, the
   comfort of his troubles, and the great effluxes of the divine mercy,
   greater than all the victories over our temporal enemies, for which all
   glad persons usually give thanks. And if, with great reason, the memory
   of the resurrection does return solemnly every week, it is but reason
   the other should return once a year. To which I add, that the
   commemoration of the articles of our Creed, in solemn days and offices,
   is a very excellent instrument to convey and imprint the sense and
   memory of it upon the spirits of the most ignorant person. For as a
   picture may with more fancy convey a story to a man than a plain
   narrative either in word or writing, so a real reprentment and an
   office of remembrance, and a day to declare it, is far more impressive
   than a picture, or any other art of making and fixing imagery.

   10. The memories of the saints are precious to God, and therefore they
   ought also to be so to us; and such persons who serve God by holy
   living, industrious preaching, and religious dying, ought to have their
   names preserved in honour, and God be glorified in them, and their holy
   doctrines and lives published and imitated; and we, by so doing, give
   testimony to the article of the communion of saints. But in these
   cases, as every church is to be sparing in the number of days, so also
   should she be temperate in her injunctions, not imposing them but upon
   voluntary and unbusied persons, without snare or burden. But the holy
   day is best kept by giving God thanks for the excellent persons,
   apostles, or martyrs, we then remember, and by imitating their lives --
   this all may do; and they that can also keep the solemnity must do that
   too, when it is publicly enjoined.

   The mixed Actions of Religion are, 1. Prayer; 2. Alms; 3. Repentance;
   4. Receiving the blessed Sacrament.
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION VII.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Prayer.

   There is no greater argument in the world of our spiritual danger and
   unwillingness to religion, than the backwardness which most men have
   always, and all men have sometimes, to say their prayers -- so weary of
   their length, so glad when they are done, so witty to excuse and
   frustrate an opportunity: and yet all is nothing but a desiring of God
   to give us the greatest and the best things we can need, and which can
   make us happy -- it is a work so easy, so honourable, and to so great
   purpose, that in all the instances of religion and providence (except
   only the incarnation of his Son) God hath not given us a greater
   argument of his willingness to have us saved, and of our unwillingness
   to accept it, his goodness and our gracelessness, his infinite
   condescension and our carelessness and folly, than by rewarding so easy
   a duty with so great blessings.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Motives to Prayer.

   I cannot say anything beyond this very consideration and its appendages
   to invite Christian people to pray often. But we may consider that, 1.
   It is a duty commanded by God and his holy Son. 2. It is an act of
   grace and highest honour, that we, dust and ashes, are admitted to
   speak to the eternal God, to run to him as to a father, to lay open our
   wants, to complain of our burdens, to explicate our scruples, to beg
   remedy and ease, support and counsel, health and safety, deliverance
   and salvation: and, 3. God hath invited us to it by many gracious
   promises of hearing us. 4. He hath appointed his most glorious Son to
   be the precedent of prayer, and to make continual intercession for us
   to the throne of grace. 5. He hath appointed an angel to present the
   prayers of his servants: and, 6. Christ unites them to his own, and
   sanctifies them, and makes them effective and prevalent: and, 7. Hath
   put it into the hands of men to rescind, or alter, all the decrees of
   God, which are of one kind, (that is, conditional, and concerning
   ourselves and our final estate, and many instances of our intermedial
   or temporal,) by the power of prayers. 8. And the prayers of men have
   saved cities and kingdoms from ruin: prayer hath raised cities and
   kingdoms from ruin: prayer hath raised dead men to life, hath stopped
   the violence of fire and shut the mouths of wild beasts, hath altered
   the course of nature, caused rain in Egypt, and drought in the sea: it
   made the sun to go from west to east, and the moon to stand still, and
   rocks and mountains to wales; and it cures diseases without physic, and
   makes physic to do the work of nature, and nature to do the work of
   grace, and grace to do the work of God; and it does miracles of
   accident and event; and yet prayer, that does all this, is, of itself,
   nothing but an ascent of the mind to God, a desiring things fit to be
   desired, and an expression of this desire to God as we can, and as
   becomes us. And our unwillingness to pray is nothing else but a not
   desiring what we ought passionately to long for; or, if we do desire
   it, it is a choosing rather to miss our satisfaction and felicity than
   to ask for it.

   There is no more to be said in this affair, but that we reduce it to
   practice, according to the following rules:
     __________________________________________________________________

  Rules for the Practice of Prayer.

   1. We must be careful that we never ask anything of God that is sinful,
   or that directly ministers to sin; for that is to ask God to dishonour
   himself, and to undo us. We had need consider what we pray; for before
   it returns in blessing it must be joined with Christ's intercession,
   and presented to God. Let us principally ask of God power and
   assistances to do our duty, to glorify God, to do good works, to live a
   good life, to die in the fear and favor of God and eternal life: these
   things God delights to give, and commands that we shall ask, and we may
   with confidence expect to be answered graciously; for these things are
   promised without any reservations of a secret condition: if we ask
   them, and do our duty towards the obtaining them, we are sure never to
   miss them

   2. We may lawfully pray to God for the gifts of the Spirit that
   minister to holy ends; such as are the gift of preaching, the spirit of
   prayer, good expression, a ready and unloosed tongue, good
   understanding, learning, opportunities to publish them, etc., with
   these only restraints: 1. That we cannot be so confident of the event
   of those prayers as of the former. 2. That we must be curious to secure
   our intention in these desires, that we may not ask them to serve our
   own ends, but only for God's glory; and then we shall have them, or a
   blessing for desiring them. In order to such purposes our intentions in
   the first desires cannot be amiss; because they are able to sanctify
   other things, and therefore cannot be unhallowed themselves. 3. We must
   submit to God's will, desiring him to choose our employment, and to
   furnish our persons as he shall see expedient.

   3. Whatsoever we may lawfully desire of temporal things, we may
   lawfully ask of God in prayer, and we may expect them, as they are
   promised. 1. Whatsoever is necessary to our life and being is promised
   to us; and therefore we may, with certainty, expect food and raiment,
   food to keep us alive, clothing to keep us from nakedness and shame; so
   long as our life is permitted to us, so long all things necessary to
   our life shall be ministered. We may be secure of maintenance, but not
   secure of our life -- for that is promised, not this: only concerning
   food and raiment we are not to make accounts by the measure of our
   desires, but by the measure of our needs. 2. Whatsoever is convenient
   for us; pleasant, and modestly delectable, we may pray for, so we do
   it, 1. With submission to God's will. 2. Without impatient desires. 3.
   That it be not a trifle and inconsiderable, but a matter so grave and
   concerning as to be a fit matter to be treated on between God and our
   souls. 4. That we ask not to spend upon our lusts, but for ends of
   justice, or charity, or religion, and that they be employed with
   sobriety.

   4. He that would pray with effect must live with care and piety. [224]
   For although God gives to sinners and evil persons the common blessings
   of life and chance, yet either they want the comfort and blessing of
   those blessings, or they become occasions of sadder accidents to them,
   or serve to upbraid them in their ingratitude or irreligion: and in all
   cases, they are not the effects of prayer, or the fruits of promise, or
   instances of a father's love; for they cannot be expected with
   confidence, or received without danger, or used without without a curse
   and mischief in their company. But as all sin is an impediment to
   prayer, so some have a special indisposition towards acceptation; such
   are uncharitableness and wrath, hypocrisy in the present action, pride
   and lust; because these, by defiling the body or the spirit, or by
   contradicting some necessary ingredient in prayer, (such as are mercy,
   humility, purity, and sincerity,) do defile the prayer, and make it a
   direct sin, in the circumstances or formality of the action.

   5. All prayer must be made with faith and hope, that is, we must
   certainly believe [225] we shall receive the grace which God hath
   commanded us to ask; and we must hope for such things which he hath
   permitted us to ask, and our hope shall not be vain, though we miss
   what is not absolutely promised; because we shall at least have an
   equal blessing in the denial as in the grant. And, therefore, the
   former conditions must first be secured; that is, that we ask things
   necessary, or at least good and innocent and profitable, and that our
   persons be gracious in the eyes of God: or else, what God hath promised
   to our natural needs he may, in many degrees, deny to our personal
   incapacity; but the thing being secured, and the person disposed, there
   can be no fault at all; for whatsoever else remains is on God's part,
   and that cannot possibly fail. But because the things which are not
   commanded cannot possibly be secured, (for we are not sure they are
   good in all circumstances,) we can but hope for such things, even after
   we have secured our good intentions. We are sure of a blessing, but in
   what instance we are not yet assured.

   6. Our prayers must be fervent, intense, earnest, and importunate, when
   we pray for things of high concernment and necessity. Continuing
   instant in prayer; striving in prayer; labouring fervently in prayer;
   night and day, praying exceedingly; praying always with all prayer:' so
   St. Paul calls it. [226] Watching unto prayer:' so St. Peter. [227]
   Praying earnestly:' so St. James. [228] And this is not at all to be
   abated in matters spiritual and of duty: for, according as our desires
   are, so are our prayers; and as our prayers are, so shall be the grace;
   and as that is, so shall be the measure of glory. But this admits of
   degrees according to the perfection or imperfection of our state of
   life; but it hath no other measures, but ought to be as great as it
   can, the bigger the better: we must make no positive restraints upon
   ourselves. In other things they are to use a bridle; and as we must
   limit our desires with submission to God's will, so also we must limit
   the importunity of our prayers by the moderation and term of our
   desires. Pray for it as earnestly as you may desire it.

   7. Our desires must be lasting, and our prayers frequent, assiduous,
   and continual; not asking for a blessing once, and then leaving it, but
   daily renewing our suits, and exercising our hope, and faith, and
   patience, and long-suffering, and religion, and resignation, and
   self-denial, in all the degrees we shall be put to. This circumstance
   of duty our blessed Saviour taught, saying, that men ought always to
   pray, and not to faint.' [229] Always to pray, signifies the frequent
   doing of the duty in general; but because we cannot always ask several
   things, and those are such as concern our great interest, the precept
   comes home to this very circumstance; and St. Paul calls it praying
   without ceasing;' [230] and himself in his own case gave a
   precedent--For this cause I besought the Lord thrice.' And so did our
   blessed Lord; he went thrice to God on the same errand, with the same
   words, in a short space-about half a night; for his time to solicit his
   suit was but short. And the Philippians were remembered by the apostle,
   their spiritual father, always pray for the pardon of our sins, for the
   assistance of God's grace, for charity, for life eternal, never giving
   over till we die; and thus also we pray for supply of great temporal
   needs in their several proportions; in all cases being curious we do
   not give over out of weariness or impatience; for God God oftentimes
   defers to grant our suit, because he loves to hear us beg it, and hath
   a design to give us more than we ask, even a satisfaction of our
   desires, and a blessing for the very importunity.

   8. Let the words of our prayers be pertinent, grave, material, not
   studiously many, but according to our need, sufficient to express our
   wants, and to signify our importunity. God hears us not the sooner for
   our many words, but much the sooner for an earnest desire; to which let
   apt and sufficient words minister, be they few or many, according as it
   happens. A long prayer and a short differ not in their capacities of
   being accepted, for both of them take their value according to the
   fervency of spirit, and the charity of the prayer. That prayer, which
   is short by reason of an impatient spirit, or dulness, or despite of
   holy things, or indifferency of desires, is very often criminal, always
   imperfect; and that prayer which is long out of ostentation, or
   superstition, or a trifling spirit, is as criminal and imperfect as the
   other in their several instances. This rule relates to private prayer.
   In public, our devotion is to be measured by the appointed office, and
   we are to support our spirit with spiritual arts, that our private
   spirit may be a part of the public spirit, and be adopted into the
   society and blessings of the communion of saints.

   9. In all forms of prayer mingle petition with thanksgiving, that you
   may endear the present prayer and the future blessing, by returning
   praise and thanks for what we have already received. This is St. Paul's
   advice -- Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and
   supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto
   God. [231]

   10. Whatever we beg of God, let us also work for it, if the thing be
   matter of duty, or a consequent to industry; for God loves to bless
   labour and to reward it, but not to support idleness. [232] And
   therefore our blessed Saviour in his sermons joins watchfulness with
   prayer, for God's graces are but assistances, not new creations of the
   whole habit, in every instant or period of our life. Read Scriptures,
   and then pray to God for understanding. Pray against temptation; but
   you must also resist the devil, and then he will flee from you. Ask of
   God competency of living; but you must also work with your hands the
   things that are honest, that ye may have to supply in time of need. We
   can but do our endeavor, and pray for blessing, and then leave the
   success with God; and beyond this we cannot deliberate, we cannot take
   care -- but, so far, we must.

   11. To this purpose let every man study his prayers and read his duty
   in his petitions. For the body of our prayer is the sum of our duty;
   and as we must ask of God whatsoever we need, so we must labour for all
   that we ask. Because it is our duty, therefore we must pray for God's
   grace; but because God's grace is necessary, and without it we can do
   nothing, we are sufficiently taught, that in the proper matter or our
   religious prayers is the just matter of our duty; and if we shall turn
   our prayers into precepts, we shall the easier turn our hearty desires
   into effective practices.

   12. In all our prayers we must be careful to attend our present work,
   [233] having a present mind, not wandering upon impertinent things, not
   distant from our words, much less contrary to them; and if our thoughts
   do at any time wander, and divert upon other objects, bring them back
   again with prudent and severe arts -- by all means striving to obtain a
   diligent, a sober, an untroubled, and a composed spirit.

   13. Let your posture and gesture of body in prayers be reverend, grave,
   and humble -- according to public order, or the best examples, if it be
   in public -- if it be in private, either stand or kneel, or lie flat
   upon the ground on your face, in your ordinary and more solemn prayers,
   but in extraordinary, casual, and ejaculatory prayers, the reverence
   and devotion of the soul, and the lifting up the eyes and hands to God
   with any other posture not indecent, is usual and commendable; for we
   may pray in bed, on horseback, everywhere,' [234] ^and at all times,
   and in all circumstances; and it is well if we do so; and some servants
   have not opportunity to pray so often as they would, unless they supply
   the appetites of religion by such accidental devotions.

   14. Let prayers and supplications and giving of thanks be made for all
   men; for kings, and all that are in authority; for this is good and
   acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.' [235] We, who must love
   our neighbours as ourselves, must also pray for them as for ourselves,
   with this only difference, that we may enlarge in our temporal desires
   for kings, and pray for secular prosperity to them with more
   importunity than for ourselves; because they need more to enable their
   duty and government, and for the interests of religion and justice.
   This part of prayer is by the apostle called intercession; in which,
   with special care, we are to remember our relatives, our family, our
   charge, our benefactors, our creditors, not forgetting to beg pardon
   and charity for our enemies, and protection against them.

   15. Rely not on a single prayer in matters of great concernment; but
   make it as public as you can, by obtaining of others to pray for you --
   this being the great blessing of the communion of saints, that a prayer
   united is strong, like a well-ordered army; and God loves to be tied
   fast with such cords of love, and constrained by a holy violence.

   16. Every time that is not seized upon by some other duty is seasonable
   enough for prayer; but let it be performed as a solemn duty morning and
   evening, that God may begin and end all our business; that the outgoing
   of the morning and evening may praise him; for so we bless God, and God
   blesses us. And yet fail not to find or make opportunities to worship
   God at some other times of the day, at least by ejaculations and short
   addresses, more or less, longer or shorter, solemnly or without
   solemnity, privately or publicly, as you can, or are permitted, always
   remembering, that as every sin is a degree of danger and unsafety, so
   every pious prayer and well-employed opportunity is a degree of return
   to hope and pardon.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [224] 1 John, iii. 22; John, ix. 31; Isa. iv. 15, lviii. 5; Mal. iii.
   10; 2 Tim. ii. 8; Psalm iv. 6, lxvi. 8.

   [225] Mark, xi. 24; Jam. i. 6, 7.

   [226] Rom. xii. 12, xv. 30; Col. iv. 12; 1 Thess. iii. 10; Eph. vi. 18.

   [227] 1 Pet. iv. 7.

   [228] 1 James, v. 16.

   [229] Luke, xviii. 1; xxi. 36.

   [230] 1 Thess. v. 17.

   [231] Phil. iv. 6.

   [232] Elta leagomen Kurte s zeos, pos mlagono; mooe, Cheiras ouk
   echeis: ouk epoimse soi autas s cheos; euchou nun kazmmenos opos ai
   mueat sou me reosin apomneai mallon. Arrian, 1.c.16.

   [233] Inter sacra et vota, verbis etiam profanis abstinere.--Tacit.

   [234] 1 Tim. ii. 8.

   [235] 1 Tim. ii. 2.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Caution for making Vows.

   17. A vow to God is an act of prayer, and a great degree and instance
   of opportunity, and an increase of duty by some new uncommanded
   instance, or some more eminent degree of duty, or frequency of action,
   or earnestness of spirit in the same. And because it hath pleased God,
   in all ages of the world, to admit of intercourse with his servants in
   the matters of vows, it is not ill advice that we make vows to God in
   such cases in which we have great need or great danger. But let it be
   done according to these rules and by these cautions:

   1. That the matter of the vow be lawful. 2. That it be useful in order
   to religion or charity. 3. That it be grave, not trifling or
   impertinent; but great in our proportion of duty towards the blessing.
   4. That it be an uncommanded instance, that is, that it be of
   something, or in some manner, or in some degree, to which formerly we
   were not obliged, or which we might have omitted without sin. 5. That
   it be done with prudence; that is, that it be safe in all the
   circumstances of person, lest we beg a blessing and fall into a snare.
   6. That every vow of a new action be also accompanied with a new degree
   and enforcement of our essential and unalterable duty -- such as was
   Jacob's vow, that (besides the payment of the tithe) God should be his
   God; that so he might strengthen his duty to him, first in essentials
   and precepts, and then in additionals and accidentals. For it is but an
   ill tree that spends more in leaves and suckers and gums than in fruit;
   and that thankfulness and religion is best that first secures duty and
   then enlarges in counsels. Therefore, let every great prayer and great
   need and great danger draw us nearer to God by the approach of a pious
   purpose to live more strictly, and let every mercy of God answering
   that prayer produce a real performance of it. 7. Let not young
   beginners in religion enlarge their hearts and straighten their liberty
   by vows of long continuance; nor, indeed, any one else, without a great
   experience of himself and of all accidental dangers. [236] Vows of
   single actions are safest, and proportionable to those single blessings
   ever begged in such cases of sudden and transient importunities. 8. Let
   no action which is matter of question and dispute in religion ever
   become the matter of a vow. He vows foolishly that promises to God to
   live and die in such an opinion in an article not necessary nor
   certain; or that, upon confidence of his present guide, binds himself
   for ever to the profession of what he may afterwards more reasonably
   contradict, or may find not to be useful, or not profitable, but of
   some danger or of no necessity.

   If we observe the former rules we shall pray piously and effectually;
   but because even this duty hath in it some special temptations, it is
   necessary that we are armed by special remedies against them. The
   dangers are, 1. Wandering thoughts; 2. Tediousness of spirit. Against
   the first these advices are profitable:
     __________________________________________________________________

   [236] Angustum annulum non gesta, disit Pythag, id est, vitae genus
   liberum sectare, nec vinculo temetipsum obstringe.--Plutarch. Sic
   Novatus novitios suos compulit ad jurandum, ne unquarm ad Catholicos
   episcopos redirent.--Euseb. 1. ii. Eccl. Hist.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Remedies against Wandering Thoughts in Prayer.

   If we feel our spirits apt to wander in our prayers, and to retire into
   the world, or to things unprofitable, or vain and impertinent:

   1. Use prayer to be assisted in prayer; pray for the spirit of
   supplication, for a sober, fixed, and recollected spirit; and when to
   this you add a moral industry to be steady in your thoughts, whatsoever
   wanderings after this do return irremediably are a misery of nature and
   an imperfection, but no sin, while it is not cherished and indulged to.

   2. In private it is not amiss to attempt the cure by reducing your
   prayers into collects and short forms of prayer, making voluntary
   interruptions, and beginning again, that the want of spirit and breath
   may be supplied by the short stages and periods.

   3. When you have observed any considerable wanderings of your thoughts,
   bind yourself to repeat thy prayer again with actual attention, or else
   revolve the full sense of it in your spirit, and repeat it in all the
   effect and desires of it; and, possibly, the tempter may be driven away
   with his own art, and may cease to interpose his trifles when he
   perceives they do but vex the person into carefulness and piety; and
   yet he loses nothing of his devotion, but doubles the earnestness of
   his care.

   4. If this be not seasonable or opportune, or apt to any man's
   circumstances, yet be sure, with actual attention, to say a hearty Amen
   to the whole prayer with one united desire, earnestly begging the
   graces mentioned in the prayer; for that desire does the great work of
   the prayer, and secures the blessing, if the wandering thoughts were
   against our will, and disclaimed by contending against them.

   5. Avoid multiplicity of businesses of the world, and in those that are
   unavoidable, labour for an evenness and tranquillity of spirit, that
   you may be untroubled and smooth in all tempests of fortune; for so we
   shall better tend religion when we are not torn in pieces with the
   cares of the world, and seized upon with low affections, passions, and
   interest.

   6. It helps much to attention and actual advertisement in our prayers,
   if we say our prayers silently, without the voice, only by the spirit.
   For, in mental prayer, if our thoughts wander we only stand still; when
   our mind returns we go on again -- there is none of the prayer lost, as
   it is if our mouths speak and our hearts wander.

   7. To incite you to the use of these, or any other counsels you shall
   meet with, remember that it is a great indecency to desire of God to
   hear those prayers, a great part whereof we do not hear ourselves. If
   they be not worthy of our attention they are far more unworthy of
   God's.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Signs of Tediousness of Spirit in our Prayers and all Actions of Religion.

   The second temptation in our prayer is a tediousness of spirit or a
   weariness of the employment; like that of the Jews, who complained that
   they were weary of the new moons, and their souls loathed the frequent
   return of their Sabbaths: so do very many Christians, who first pray
   without fervour or earnestness of spirit; and, secondly, meditate but
   seldom, and that without fruit, or sense, or affection; or, thirdly,
   who seldom examine their consciences, and when they do it, they do it
   but sleepily, slightly, without compunction, or hearty purpose, or
   fruits of amendment. 4. They enlarge themselves in the thoughts and
   fruitation of temporal things, running for comfort to them only in any
   sadness and misfortune. 5. They love not to frequent the sacraments,
   nor any the instruments of religion, as sermons, confessions, prayers
   in public, fastings; but love ease and a loose undisciplined life. 6.
   They obey not their superiors, but follow their own judgment when their
   judgment follows their affections, and their affections follow sense
   and worldly pleasures. 7. They neglect, or dissemble, or defer, or do
   not attend to the motions and inclinations to virtue which the Spirit
   of God puts into their soul. 8. They repent them of their vows and holy
   purposes, not because they discover any indiscretion in them, or
   intolerable inconvenience, but because they have within them labour (as
   the case now stands) to them displeasure. 9. They content themselves
   with the first degrees and necessary parts of virtue; and when they are
   arrived thither, they sit down as if they were come to the mountain of
   the Lord, and care not to proceed on toward perfection. 10. They
   inquire into all cases in which it may be lawful to omit a duty; and,
   though they will not do less than they are bound to, yet they will do
   no more than needs must; for they do out of fear and self-love, not out
   of the love of God, or the spirit of holiness and zeal. The event of
   which will be this: he that will do no more than needs must, will soon
   be brought to omit something of his duty, and will be apt to believe
   less to be necessary than is.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Remedies against Tediousness of Spirit.

   The remedies against this temptation are these:

   1. Order your private devotions so that they become not arguments and
   causes of tediousness by their indiscreet length, but reduce your words
   into a narrow compass, still keeping all the matter; and what is cut
   off in the length of your prayers supply in the earnestness of your
   spirit; for so nothing is lost, while the words are changed into
   matter, and length of time into fervency of devotion. The forms are
   made not the less perfect, and the spirit is more, and the scruple is
   removed.

   2. It is not imprudent, if we provide variety of forms of prayer to the
   same purposes, that the change, by consulting with the appetites of
   fancy, may better entertain the spirit; and, possibly, we may be
   pleased to recite a hymn when a collect seems flat to us and
   unpleasant; and we are willing to sing rather than to say, or to sing
   this rather than that: we are certain that variety is delightful; and
   whether that be natural to us, or an imperfection, yet if it be
   complied with, it any remove some part of the temptation.

   3.Break your office and devotion into fragments, and make frequent
   returnings by ejaculations and abrupt intercourses with God; for so no
   length can oppress your tenderness and sickliness of spirit; and, by
   often praying in such manner and in all circumstances, we shall
   habituate our souls to prayer by making it the business of many lesser
   portions of our time; and by thrusting in between all our other
   employments, it will make everything relish of religion, and by degrees
   turn all into its nature.

   4. Learn to abstract your thoughts and desires from pleasures and
   things of the world; for nothing is a direct cure to this evil but
   cutting off all other loves and adherences. Order your affairs so that
   religion may be propounded to you as a reward, and prayer as your
   defence, and holy actions as your security, and charity and good works
   as your treasure. Consider that all things else are satisfactions but
   to the brutish part of a man; and that these are the refreshments and
   relishes of that noble part of us by which we are better than beasts;
   and whatsoever other instrument, exercise, or consideration, is of use
   to take our loves from the world, the same is apt to place them upon
   God.

   5. Do not seek for deliciousness and sensible consolations in the
   actions of religion, but only regard the duty and the conscience of it;
   for although in the beginning of religion most frequently, and at some
   other times irregularly, God complies with our infirmity, and
   encourages our duty with little overflowings of spiritual joy, and
   sensible pleasure, and delicacies in prayer, so as we seem to feel some
   little beam of heaven, and great refreshments from the spirit of
   consolation, yet this is not always safe for us to have, neither safe
   for us to expect and look for; and when we do, it is apt to make us
   cool in our inquires and waitings upon Christ when we want them: it is
   a running after him, not for the miracles but for the loaves; not for
   the wonderful things of God, and the desires of pleasing him, but for
   the pleasures of pleasing ourselves. And as we must not judge our
   devotion to be barren or unfruitful when we want the overflowings of
   joy running over, so neither must we cease for want of them. If our
   spirits can serve God choosingly and greedily out of pure conscience of
   our duty, it is better in itself and more safe for us.

   6. Let him use to soften his spirit with frequent meditation upon sad
   and dolorous objects, as of death, the terrors of the day of judgment,
   fearful judgments upon sinners, strange horrorid accidents, fear of
   God's wrath, the pains of hell, the unspeakable amazements of the
   damned, the intolerable load of a sad eternity: for whatsoever creates
   fear, or makes the spirit to dwell in a religious sadness, is apt to
   entender the spirit, and make it devout and pliant to any part of duty;
   for a great fear, when it is ill-managed, is the parent of
   superstition; but a discreet and well-guided fear produces religion.

   7. Pray often, and you shall pray oftener; and when you are accustomed
   to a frequent devotion, it will so insensibly unite to your nature and
   affections, that it will become a trouble to omit your usual or
   appointed prayers; and what you obtain at first by doing violence to
   your inclinations, at last will not be left without as great
   unwillingness as that by which at first it entered. This rule relies
   not only upon reason derived from the nature, of habits, which turn
   into a second nature, and make their actions easy, frequent, and
   delightful' but it relies upon a reason depending upon the nature and
   constitution of grace, whose productions are of the same nature with
   the parent, and increases itself, naturally growing from grains to huge
   trees, from minutes to vast proportions, and from moments to eternity.
   But be sure not to omit your usual prayers without great reason, though
   without sin it may be done; because after you have omitted something,
   in a little while you will be past the scruple of that, and begin to be
   tempted to leave out more. Keep yourself up to your usual forms -- you
   may enlarge when you will; but do not contract or lesson them without a
   very probable reason.

   8. Let a man frequently and seriously, by imagination, place himself
   upon his death-bed, and consider what great joys he shall have for the
   remembrance of every day well spent, and what then he would give that
   he had so spent all his days. He may guess at it by proportions; for it
   is certain he shall have a joyful and prosperous night who hath spent
   his day holily; and he resigns his soul with peace into the hands of
   God, who hath lived in the peace of God and the works of religion in
   his lifetime. This consideration is of a real event; it is of a thing
   that will certainly come to pass. It is appointed for all men once to
   die;' and after death comes judgment; the apprehension of which is
   dreadful, and the presence of it is intolerable; unless, by religion
   and sanctity, we are disposed for so venerable an appearance.

   9. To this may be useful that we consider the easiness of Christ's
   yoke, [237] the excellences and sweetnesses that are in religion, the
   peace of conscience, the joy of the Holy Ghost, the rejoicing in God,
   the simplicity and pleasure of virtue, the intricacy, trouble, and
   business of sin; the blessings and health and reward of that; the
   curses the sicknesses and sad consequences of this; and that, if we are
   weary of the labours of religion, we must sit still and do nothing; for
   whatsoever we do contrary to it is infinitely more full of labour,
   care, difficulty, and vexation.

   10. Consider this also, that tediousness of spirit is the beginning of
   the most dangerous condition and estate in the whole world. For it is a
   great disposition to the sin against the Holy Ghost: it is apt to bring
   a man to backsliding and the state of unregeneration; to make him
   return to his vomit and his sink; and either to make the man impatient,
   or his condition scrupulous, unsatisfied, irksome, and desperate: and
   it is better that he had never known the way of godliness, than, after
   the knowledge of it, that he should fall away. There is not in the
   world a greater sign that the spirit of reprobation is beginning upon a
   man than when he is habitually and constantly, or very frequently,
   weary, and slights or loathes holy offices.

   11. The last remedy that preserves the hope of such a man, and can
   reduce him to the state of zeal and the love of God, is a pungent, sad,
   and a heavy affliction; not desperate, but recreated with some
   intervals of kindness, or little comforts, or entertained with hopes of
   deliverance; which condition if a man shall fall into, by the grace of
   God he is likely to recover; but if this help him not, it is infinite
   odds but he will quench the spirit.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [237] See the Great Exemplar, Part iii. Disc. xiv. of the Easiness of
   Christian religion.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION VIII.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Alms.

   Love is as communicative as fire, as busy and as active, and it hath
   four twin-daughters, extreme like each other; and but that the doctors
   of the school have done, as Thamar's midwife did, who bound a scarlet
   thread, something to distinguish them, it would be very hard to call
   them asunder. Their names are, 1. Mercy; 2. Beneficence or well-doing;
   3. Liberality; and, 4. Alms; which, by a special privilege, hath
   obtained to be called Charity. The first or eldest is seated in the
   affection; and it is that which all the others must attend, for mercy,
   without alms, is acceptable when the person is disabled to express
   outwardly what he heartily desires. But alms, without mercy, are like
   prayers without devotion, or religion without humility. 2. Beneficence
   or well-doing is a promptness and nobleness of mind, making us to do
   offices of courtesy and humanity to all sorts of persons, in their need
   or out of their need. 3. Liberality is a disposition of mind opposite
   to covetousness, and consists in the despite and neglect of money upon
   just occasions, and relates to our friends, children, kindred,
   servants, and other relatives. 4. But alms is a relieving of the poor
   and needy. The first and the last only are duties of Christianity. The
   second and third are circumstances and adjuncts of these duties; for
   liberality increases the degree of alms, making our gift greater; and
   beneficence extends it to more persons and orders of men, spreading it
   wider. The former makes us sometimes to give more than need by the
   necessity of beggars, and serves the needs and conveniences of persons
   and supplies circumstances; whereas properly alms are doles and
   largesses to the necessities of nature, and giving remedies to their
   miseries.

   Mercy and alms are the body and soul of that charity which we must pay
   to our neighbour's need; and it is a precept which God therefore
   enjoined to the world, that the great inequality which he was pleased
   to suffer in the possessions and accidents of men might be reduced to
   some temper and evenness; and the most miserable person might be
   reduced to some temper and evenness; and the most miserable person
   might be reconciled to some sense and participation of felicity.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Works of Mercy, or the several Kinds of corporal Alms.

   The works of mercy are so many as the affections of mercy have objects,
   or as the world hath kinds of misery. men want meat, or drink, or
   clothes, or a house, or liberty, or attendance, or a grave. In
   proportion to these, seven works are usually assigned to mercy, and
   there are seven kinds of corporal alms reckoned: 1. To feed the hungry;
   [238] 2. To give drink to the thirsty; 3. Or clothes to the naked; 4.
   To redeem captives; 5. To visit the sick; 6. To entertain strangers; 7.
   To bury the dead. [239] But many more may be added. Such as are, 8. To
   give physic to sick persons; 9. To bring cold and starved people to
   warmth and to the fire -- for sometimes clothing will not do it, or
   this may be done when we cannot do the other; 10. To lead the blind in
   right ways; 11. To lend money; 12. To forgive debts; 13. To remit
   forfeitures; 14. To mend highways and bridges; 15. To reduce or guide
   wandering travellers; 16. To ease their labours by accommodating their
   work with apt instruments, or their journey with beasts of carriage;
   17. To deliver the poor from their oppressors; 18. To die for my
   brother; [240] 19. To pay maidens dowries, and to procure for them
   honest and chast marriages.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [238] Matt. xxv. 35.

   [239] Matt. xxvi. 12; 2 Sam. ii. 5.

   [240] Nobilis haec esset pietatis rixa duobus; Quod pro fratre mori
   vellet uterque prior.--Mart.
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  Works of Spiritual Alms and Mercy are,

   1. To teach the ignorant; 2. To counsel doubting persons; 3. To
   admonish sinners diligently, prudently, seasonably, and charitably: to
   which also may be reduced, provoking and encouraging to good works;
   [241] 4. To comfort the afflicted; 5. To pardon offenders; 6. To
   succour and support the weak; [242] To pray for all estates of men, and
   for relief to all their necessities. To which may be added, 8. To
   punish or correct refractoriness; 9. To be gentle and charitable in
   censuring the actions of others; 10. To establish the scrupulous,
   wavering, and inconstant spirits; 11. To confirm the strong; 12. Not to
   give scandal; 13. To quit a man of his fear; 14. To redeem maidens from
   prostitution and publication of their bodies. [243]

   To both these kinds a third also may be added of a mixed nature, partly
   corporal and partly spiritual; such are, 1. Reconciling enemies; [244]
   2. Erecting public schools of learning; 3. Maintaining lectures of
   divinity; 4. Erecting colleges of religion and retirement from the
   noises and more frequent temptations of the world; 5. Finding
   employment for unbusied persons and putting children to honest trades:
   for the particulars of mercy or alms cannot be narrower than men's
   needs are, and the old method of alms is too narrow to comprise them
   all, and yet the kinds are too many to be discoursed of particularly;
   only our blessed Saviour, in the precept of alms, uses the instances of
   relieving the poor and forgiveness of injuries; and by proportion to
   these, the rest, whose duty is plain, simple, easy, and necessary, may
   be determined. But alms in general are to be disposed of according to
   the following rules:
     __________________________________________________________________

   [241] Heb. x. 24.

   [242] 1 Thess. v. 14.

   [243] Pulla prosternit se ad pedes: Miserere virginitatis meae, ne
   prostituas hoc corpus sub tam turpi titulo.--Hist. Apol. Tya.

   [244] Laudi ductum apud vet. axpsa te kai nega neikos epistamenes
   katepause.
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  Rules for giving Alms.

   1. Let no man do alms of that which is none of his own; [245] for of
   that he is to make restitution that is due to the owners, not to the
   poor; for every man hath need of his own, and that is first to be
   provided for; and then you must think of the needs of the poor. He that
   gives the poor what is not his own, makes himself a thief, and the poor
   to be the receivers. This is not to be understood as if it were
   unlawful for a man that is not able to pay his debts to give smaller
   alms to the poor. He may not give such portions as can in any sense
   more disable him to do justice; [246] but such which, if they were
   saved, could not advance the other duty may retire to this, and do here
   what they may, since, in the other duty, they cannot do what they
   should. But, generally, cheaters and robbers cannot give alms of what
   they have cheated and robbed, unless they cannot tell the persons whom
   they have injured, or the proportions; and, in such cases, they are to
   give those unknown portions to the poor by way of restitution, for it
   is no alms; only God is the supreme Lord to whom those escheats
   devolve, and the poor are his receivers.

   2. Of money unjustly taken, and yet voluntarily parted with, we may,
   and are bound to give alms; such as is money given and taken for false
   witness, bribes, and simoniacal contracts; because the receiver hath no
   right to keep it, nor the giver any right to recall it; it is unjust
   money, and yet payable to none but the supreme Lord, (who is the person
   injured,) and to his delegates, that is, the poor. To which I insert
   these cautions: 1. If the person injured by the unjust sentence of a
   bribed judge, or by false witness, be poor, he is the proper object and
   bosom to whom the restitution is to be made; 2. In the case of simony
   [247] the church, to whom the simony was injurious, is the lap into
   which the restitution is to be poured; and if it be poor and out of
   repair, the alms or restitution (shall I call it?) are to be paid to
   it.

   3. There is some sort of gain that hath in it no injustice, properly so
   called; but it is unlawful and filthy lucre; such as is money taken for
   work done unlawfully upon the Lord's day; hire taken for disfiguring
   one's-self, and for being professed jesters; the wages of such as make
   unjust bargains, and of harlots. Of this money there is some
   preparation to be made before it be given in alms, the money is
   infected with the plague, and must pass through the fire or the water
   before it be fit for alms; the person must repent and leave the crime,
   and then minister to the poor.

   4. He that gives alms must do it in mercy; that is, out of a true sense
   of the calamity of his brother, first feeling it in himself in some
   proportion, and then endeavouring to ease himself and the other of
   their common calamity. [248] Against this rule they offend who give
   alms out of custom, or to upbraid the poverty of the other, or to make
   him mercenary and obliged, or with any unhandsome circumstances.

   5. He that gives alms must do it with a single eye and heart; [249]
   that is, without designs to get the praise of men; and if he secures
   that, he may either give them publicly or privately; for Christ
   intended only to provide against pride and hypocrisy when he bade arms
   to be given in secret, it being otherwise one of his commandments, that
   our light should shine before men:' this is more excellent; that is
   more safe.

   6. To this also appertains that he who hath done a good turn should so
   forget it as not to speak of it; but he that boasts it, or upbraids it,
   hath paid himself and lost the nobleness of the charity.

   7. Give alms with a cheerful heart and countenance; not grudgingly or
   of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver;' [250] and therefore
   give quickly when the power is in thy hand, and the need is in thy
   neighbour, and thy neighbour at the door. He gives twice that relieves
   speedily.

   8. According to thy ability give to all men that need; [251] and, in
   equal needs, give first to good men rather than to bad men; and if the
   needs be unequal, do so too, provided that the need of the poorest be
   not violent or extreme; but, if an evil man be in extreme necessity he
   is to be relieved rather than a good man who can tarry longer, and may
   subsist without it; and if he be a good man he will desire it should be
   so, because himself is bound to save the life of his brother with doing
   some inconvenience to himself; and no differences of virtue or vice can
   make the ease of one beggar equal with the life of another.

   9. Give no alms to vicious persons if such alms will support their sin,
   as if they will continue in idleness; if they will not work neither let
   them eat;' [252] or if they will spend it in drunkenness, [253] or
   wantonness, such persons, when they are reduced to very great want,
   must be relieved in such proportions as may not relieve their dying
   lust, but may refresh their faint or dying bodies.

   10. The best objects of charity are poor housekeepers that labour hard,
   and are burdened with many children; or gentlemen fallen into poverty,
   especially if by innocent misfortune, (and if their crimes brought them
   into it, yet they are to be relieved according to the former rule,)
   persecuted persons, widows and fatherless children, putting them to
   honest trades or school of learning. And search into the needs of
   numerous and meaner families, [254] for there are many persons that
   have nothing left them but misery and modesty; and towards such we must
   add two circumstances of charity: 1. To inquire them out; 2. To convey
   our relief unto them so as we do not make them ashamed.

   11. Give, looking for nothing again, that is, without consideration of
   future advantages; give to children, to old men, to the unthankful, and
   the dying, and to those you shall never see again; for else your alms
   or courtesy is not charity, but traffic and merchandise; and be sure
   that you omit not to relieve the needs of your enemy and the injurious;
   for so, possibly, you may win him to yourself; but do you intend the
   winning him to God.

   12. Trust not your alms to intermedial, uncertain, and
   under-dispensers; by which rule is not only intended the securing your
   alms in the right channel, but the humility of your person, and that
   which the apostle calls the labour of love.' And if you converse in
   hospitals and alms-houses, and minister with your own hand what your
   heart hath first decreed, you will find your heart endeared and made
   familiar with the needs and with the persons of the poor, those
   excellent images of Christ.

   13. Whatsoever is superfluous in thy estate is to be dispensed in alms.
   [255] He that hath two coats must give to him that hath none;' that is,
   he that hath beyond his need must give that which is beyond it. Only
   among needs, we are to reckon not only what will support our life, but
   also what will maintain the decency of our estate and person, not only
   in present needs, but in all future necessities, and very probable
   contingencies, but no further: we are not obliged beyond this, unless
   we see very great, public, and calamitous necessities. But yet if we do
   extend beyond our measures, and give more than we are able, we have he
   Philippians and many holy persons for our precedent; we have St. Paul
   for our encouragement; we have Christ for our counsellor; we have God
   for our rewarder; and a great treasure in heaven for our recompense and
   restitution. But I propound it to the consideration of all Christian
   people that they be not nice and curious, fond and indulgent to
   themselves in taking accounts of their personal conveniences; and that
   they make their proportions moderate and easy, according to the order
   and manner of Christianity; and the consequent will be this, that the
   poor will more plentifully be relieved, themselves will be more able to
   do it, and the duty will be less chargeable, and the owners of estates
   charged with fewer accounts in the spending them. It cannot be denied
   but, in the expenses of all liberal and great personages, many things
   might be spared; some superfluous servants, some idle meetings, some
   unnecessary and imprudent feasts, some garments too costly, some
   unnecessary lawsuits, some vain journeys; and when we are tempted to
   such needless expenses, if we shall descend to moderation, and lay
   aside the surplusage, we shall find it with more profit to be laid out
   upon the poor members of Christ than upon our own with vanity. But this
   is only intended to be an advice in the matter of doing alms; for I am
   not ignorant that great variety of clothes always have been permitted
   to princes and nobility and others in their proportion; and they
   usually give those clothes as rewards to servants, and other persons
   needful enough, and then they may serve their own fancy and their duty
   too; but it is but reason and religion to be careful that they be given
   to such only where duty, or prudent liberality, or alms, determine
   them; but in no sense let them do it so as to minister to vanity, to
   luxury, to prodigality. The like also is to be observed in other
   instances; and if we once give our minds to the study and arts of alms,
   we shall find ways enough to make this duty easy, profitable, and
   useful.

   1. He that plays at any game must resolve beforehand to be indifferent
   to win or lose; but if he gives to the poor all that he wins, it is
   better than to keep it to himself; but it were better yet that he lay
   by so much as he is willing to lose, and let the game alone, and, by
   giving so much alms, traffic for eternity. That is one way.

   2. Another is keeping the fasting-days of the church, which if our
   condition be such as to be able to cast our accounts, and make
   abatements for our wanting so many meals in the whole year, (which by
   the old appointment did amount to one hundred and fifty-three, and
   since most of them are fallen into desuetude, we may make up as many of
   them as we please by voluntary fasts,) we may, from hence, find a
   considerable relief for the poor. But if we be not willing sometimes to
   fast, that our brother may eat, we should ill die for him. St. Martin
   had given all that he had in the world to the poor save one coat; and
   that also he divided between two beggars. A father in the mount of
   Mitria was reduced at last to the inventory of one Testament, and that
   book also was tempted from him by the needs of one whom he thought
   poorer than himself. Greater yet: St. Paulinus sold himself to slavery
   to redeem a young man for whose captivity his mother wept sadly; and it
   is said that St. Katherine sucked the envenomed wounds of a villain who
   had injured her most impudently. And I shall tell you of a greater
   charity than all these put together; Christ gave himself to shame and
   death to redeem his enemies from bondage and death and hell.

   3. Learn of the frugal man, and only avoid sordid actions, and turn
   good husband, and change your arts of getting, into providence for the
   poor, and we shall soon become rich in good works; and why should we
   not do as much for charity as for covetousness; for heaven as for the
   fading world; for God and the holy Jesus as for the needless
   superfluities of back and belly?

   14. In giving alms to beggars and persons of that low rank it is better
   to give little to each, that we may give to the more, so extending our
   alms to many persons; but in charities of religion, as building
   hospitals, colleges, and houses for devotion, and supplying the
   accidental wants of decayed persons, fallen from great plenty to great
   necessity, it is better to unite our aims than to disperse them; to
   make a noble relief or maintenance to one, and to restore him to
   comfort, than to support only his natural needs, and keep him alive
   only, unrescued from sad discomforts.

   15. The precept of alms or charity binds not indefinitely to all the
   instances and kinds of charity; for he that delights to feed the poor,
   and spends all his portion that way, is not bound to enter into prisons
   and redeem captives; but we are obliged by the presence of
   circumstances, and the special disposition of Providence, and the
   pitiableness of an object, to this or that particular act of charity.
   The eye is the sense of mercy, and the bowels are its organ; and that
   enkindles pity, and pity produces alms: when the eye sees what it never
   say, the heart will think what it never thought; but when we have an
   object present to our eye, then we must pity; for there the providence
   of God hath fitted our charity with circumstances. He that is in thy
   sight or in thy neighbourhood is fallen into the lot of thy charity.

   16. If thou hast no money, [256] yet thou must have mercy, and art
   bound to pity the poor, and pray for them, and throw thy holy desires
   and devotions into the treasure of the church; and if thou dost what
   thou art able, be it little or great, corporal or spiritual, the
   charity of alms or the charity of prayers, a cup of wine or a cup of
   water, if it be but love to the brethren, [257] or a desire to help all
   or any of Christ's poor, it shall be accepted according to that a man
   hath, not according to that he hath not. [258] For love is all this,
   and all the other commandments; and where it cannot, yet it is love
   still; and it is also sorrow that it cannot.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [245] S. Greg. vii. 1. 110. Epist.

   [246] Praebeant misericordia ut conservetur justitia.--St. Aug. Prov.
   iii. 9.

   [247] Decret. ep. tit. de Simonia.

   [248] Donum nudum est, nisi consensu vestiatur, 1. iii. C. de Pactis.

   [249] Qui dedit beneficium, taceat; narret, qui accepti--Sinec.

   [250] 2 Cor. ix. 7.

   [251] Luke, vi. 30; Gal. vi. 10.

   [252] 2 Thess. iii. 10. A cavallo, chi non porta sella, biada non si
   crivella.

   [253] De mendico male meretur, qui ei dat quod edat aut quod bibat: Nam
   et illud quod dat perdit, et illi prodcit vitam ad miseriam.--Trin.

   [254] Beatus qui intelligt super egenum et pauperem.-Psal. A donare e
   tenere ingegno bisogna avere.

   [255] Praemonstro tibi Ut ita te aliorum miserescat, ne tui alios
   misereat.--Tri nummus.

   [256] Luke, xii. 2; Acts, iii. 6. Chi ti da un ossa, non ti verrebbe
   morto.

   [257] 1Pet. i. 22.

   [258] 2 Cor. viii. 12.
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  Motives to Charity.

   The motives to this duty are such, as Holy Scripture hath propounded to
   us by way of consideration and proposition of its excellences and
   consequent reward. 1. There is no one duty which our blessed Saviour
   did recommend to his disciples with so repeated an injunction as this
   of charity and alms. [259] To which add the words spoken by our Lord,
   It is better to give than to receive.' And when we consider how great a
   blessing it is that we beg not from door to door, it is a ready
   instance of our thankfulness to God, for his sake, to relieve them that
   do. 2. This duty is that alone whereby the future day of judgment shall
   be transacted. For nothing but charity and alms is that whereby Christ
   shall declare the justice and mercy of the eternal sentence. Martyrdom
   itself is not there expressed, and no otherwise involved, but as it is
   the greatest charity. 3. Christ made himself the greatest and daily
   example of alms or charity. He went up and down doing good, preaching
   the gospel, and healing all diseases; and God the Father is imitable by
   us in nothing but in purity and mercy. 4. Alms given to the poor
   rebound to the emolument of the giver both temporal and eternal. [260]
   5. They are instrumental to the remission of sins; our forgiveness and
   mercy to others being made the very rule and proportion of our
   confidence and hope, and our prayer to be forgiven ourselves. [261] 6.
   It is a treasure in heaven; it procures friends when we die. It is
   reckoned as done to Christ, whatsoever we do to our poor brother; and,
   therefore, when a poor man begs for Christ's sake, if he have reason to
   ask for Christ's sake, give it him if thou canst. Now every man hath
   title to ask for Christ's sake whose need is great, and himself unable
   to cure it, and if the man be a Christian. Whatsoever charity Christ
   will reward, all that is given for Christ's sake, and therefore it may
   be asked in his name; but every man that uses that sacred name for an
   endearment hath not a title to it, neither he nor his need. 7. It is
   one of the wings of prayer by which it flies to the throne of grace. 8.
   It crowns all the works of piety. [262] 9. It causes thanksgiving to
   God on our behalf; 10. And the bowels of the poor bless us and pray for
   us; 11. And that portion of our estate out of which a tenth, or a
   fifth, or a twentieth, or some offering to God for religion and the
   poor goes forth, certainly returns with a great blessing upon all the
   rest. It is like the effusion of oil by the Sidonian woman; as long as
   she pours into empty vessels it could never cease running; or like the
   widow's barrel of meal, it consumed not as long as she fed the profit.
   12. The sum of all it contained in the words of our blesses Saviour:
   Give alms of such things as you have, and behold all things are clean
   unto you.' 13. To which may be added, that charity or mercy is the
   peculiar character of God's elect, and a sign of predestination, which
   advantage we are taught by St. Paul: Put on, therefore, as the elect of
   God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, etc. Forbearing one
   another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against
   any.' [263] The result of all which we may read in the words of St.
   Chrysostom: "To know the art of alms is greater than to be crowned with
   the diadem of kings. And yet to convert one soul is greater than to
   pour out ten thousand talents into the baskets of the poor."

   But because giving alms is an act of the virtue of mercifulness, our
   endeavour must be, by proper arts, to mortify the parents of
   unmercifulness, which are -- 1. Envy; 2. Anger; 3. Covetousness: in
   which we may be helped by the following rules or instruments:
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   [259] Matt. vi. 4; xiii.12, 33; xxv. 15. Luke, xi. 41.

   [260] Phil. iv. 17.

   [261] Acts, x. 4; Heb. xiii. 16; Dan. iv. 27.

   [262] Nunquam memini me legisse mala morte mortuum, qui libenter opera
   charitatis exercuit.--S. Hieron. Ep. ad Nepot.

   [263] Coloss. iii. 12.
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  Remedies against Unmercifulness and Uncharitableness.

   1. Against Envy, by way of consideration.

   Against envy I shall use the same argument we would use to persuade a
   man from the fever or the dropsy. 1. Because it is a disease; it is so
   far from having pleasure in it, or a temptation to it that it is full
   of pain, a great instrument of vexation: it eats the flesh, and dries
   up the marrow, and makes hollow eyes and lean cheeks and a pale face.
   2. It is nothing but a direct resolution never to enter into heaven by
   the way of noble pleasure taken in the good of others. 3. It is most
   contrary to God. 4. And a just contrary state to the felicities and
   actions of heaven, where every star increases the light of the other,
   and the multitude of guests at the supper of the Lamb makes the eternal
   meal more festival. 5. It is perfectly the state of hell and the
   passion of devils; for they do nothing but despair in themselves, [264]
   and envy other's quiet or safety, and yet cannot rejoice either in
   their good or in their evil, although they endeavour to hinder that and
   procure this with all the devices and arts of malice and of a great
   understanding. 6. Envy can serve no end in the world: it cannot please
   anything, nor do anything, nor hinder anything, but the content and
   felicity of him that hath. 7. Envy can never pretend to justice as
   hatred and uncharitableness sometimes may; for there may be causes of
   hatred and I may have wrong done me, and then hatred hath some
   pretence, though no just argument. But no man is unjust or injurious
   for being prosperous or wise. And therefore many men profess to hate
   another, but no man owns envy as being an enmity and displeasure for no
   cause, but goodness or felicity: envious men, being like cantharides
   and caterpillars, that delight most to devour ripe and most excellent
   fruits. [265] It is of all crimes the bassist: for malice and anger are
   appeased with benefits, but envy is exasperated, as envying to
   fortunate persons both their power and their will to do good, and never
   leaves murmuring till the envied person be levelled, and then only the
   vulture leaves to eat the liver. For if his neighbour be made
   miserable, the envious man is apt to be troubled: like him that is so
   long unbuilding the turrets, till all the roof is low or flat, or that
   the stones fall upon the lower buildings and do a mischief that the man
   repents of.

   2. Remedies against Anger, by way of exercise.

   The next enemy to mercifulness and the grace of alms is anger, against
   which there are proper instruments both in prudence and religion.

   1. Prayer is the great remedy against anger; for it must suppose it in
   some degree removed before we pray, and then it is the more likely it
   will be finished when the prayer is done. We must lay aside the act of
   anger as a preparatory to prayer; and the curing the habit will be the
   effect and blessing of prayer; so that if a man, to cure his anger,
   resolves to address himself to God by prayer, it is first necessary
   that, by his own observation and diligence, he lay the anger aside
   before his prayer can be fit to be presented; and when we so pray, and
   so endeavour, we have all the blessings of prayer which God hath
   promised to it to be our security for success.

   2. If anger arises in thy breast, instantly seal up thy lips and let it
   not go forth; [266] for, like fire when it wants vent, it will suppress
   itself. It is good, in a fever, to have a tender and a smooth tongue;
   but it is better that it be so in anger; for if it be rough and
   distempered, there it is an ill sign, but here it is an ill cause.
   Angry passion is a fire, and angry words are like breath to fan it;
   together they are like steel and flint sending out fire by mutual
   collision. Some men will discourse themselves into passion; and if
   their neighbour be enkindled too, together they flame with rage and
   violence.

   3. Humility is the most excellent natural cure for anger in the world;
   for he, that by daily considering his own infirmities and failings,
   makes the error of his neighbour or servant to be his won case, and
   remembers that he daily needs God's pardon and his brother's charity,
   will not be apt to rage at the levities, or misfortunes, or
   indiscretions, of another, greater than which he considers that he is
   very frequently and more inexcusably guilty of.

   4. Consider the example of the ever-blessed Jesus, who suffered all the
   contradictions of sinners, and received all affronts and reproaches of
   malicious, rash, and foolish persons, and yet in all of them was as
   dispassionate and gentle as the morning sun in autumn; and in this also
   be propounded himself imitable by us. For if innocence itself did
   suffer so great injuries and disgraces, it is no great matter for us
   quietly to receive all the calamities of fortune and indiscretion of
   servants, and mistakes of friends, and unkindnesses of kindred, and
   rudeness of enemies, since we have deserved these and worse, even hell
   itself.

   5. If we be tempted to anger in the actions of government and
   discipline to our inferiors, (in which case anger is permitted so far
   as it is prudently instrumental to government, and only is a sin when
   it is excessive and unreasonable, and apt to disturb our own discourse,
   or to express itself in imprudent words or violent actions,) let us
   propound to ourselves the example of God the Father, who, at the same
   time, and with the same tranquility, decreed heaven and hell, the joys
   of blessed angels and souls, and the torments of devils and accursed
   spirits; and, at the day of judgment, when all the world shall burn
   under his feet, God shall not be at all inflamed or shaken in his
   essential seat and centre of tranquility and joy. And if a first the
   cause seems reasonable, yet defer to execute they anger till thou mayst
   better judge. For, as Phoeion told the Athenians, who, upon the first
   news of the death of Alexander were ready to revolt, "Stay a while, for
   if the king be not dead, your stay cannot prejudice your affairs, for
   he will be dead tomorrow as well as to day;" so if thy servant or
   inferior deserves punishment, staying till to-morrow will not make him
   innocent; but it may, possibly, preserve thee so, by preventing thy
   striking a guiltless person, or being furious for a trifle.

   6. Remove from thyself all provocations and incentives to anger;
   especially, I. Games of chance and great wagers. Patroclus killed his
   friend, [267] the son of Amphidamas, in his rage and sudden fury,
   rising upon a cross-game at table. Such also are petty curiosities, and
   worldly business and carefulness about it; but manage thyself with
   indifferency or contempt of those external things, and do not spend a
   passion upon them, for it is more than they are worth. But they that
   desire but few things can be crossed but in a few. [268] In not heaping
   up, with an ambitious or curious prodigality, any very curious or
   choice utensils, seals, jewels, glasses, precious stones; because those
   very many accidents which happen in the spoiling or loss of these
   rarities, are, in event, an irresistible cause of violent anger. 3. Do
   not entertain nor suffer tale-bearers; for they abuse our ears first,
   and then our credulity, and then steal our patience, and, it may be,
   for a lie; and, if it be true, the matter is not considerable; or if it
   be, yet it is pardonable. And we may always escape with patience at one
   of these outlets; either, 1. By not hearing slanders; or, 2. By not
   believing them; or, 3. By not regarding the thing; or, 4. By forgiving
   the person. 4. To this purpose also it may serve well, if we choose (as
   much as we can) to live with peaceable persons, for that prevents the
   occasions of confusion; and if we live with prudent persons, they will
   not easily occasion our disturbance. But because these things are not
   in many men's power, therefore I propound this rather as a felicity
   than a remedy or a duty, and an act of prevention than of cure.

   7. Be not inquisitive into the affairs of other men, nor the faults of
   thy servants, nor the mistakes of thy friends; but what is offered to
   you, use according to the former rules; but do not thou go out to
   gather sticks to kindle a fire to burn thine own house. And add this:
   "If my friend said or did well in that for which I am angry, I am in
   the fault, not he; but if he did amiss, he is in the misery, not I; for
   either he was deceived, or he was malicious; and either of them both is
   all one with a miserable person; and that is an object of pity not of
   anger."

   8. Use all reasonable discourses to excuse the faults of others,
   considering that there are many circumstances of time, of person, of
   accident, of inadvertency, of infrequency, of aptness to amend, of
   sorrow for doing it; and it is well that we take any good in exchange
   for the evil done or suffered.

   9. Upon the rising of anger, instantly enter into a deep consideration
   of the joys of heaven, or the pains of hell; for "fear and joy
   naturally apt to appease this violence." [269]

   10. In contentions be always passive, never active; upon the defensive,
   not the assaulting part: and then also give a gentle answer, receiving
   the furies and indiscretions of the other, like a stone into a bed of
   moss and soft compliance, and you shall find it sit down quickly;
   whereas anger and violence, make the contention loud and long, and
   injurious to both the parties.

   11. In the actions of religion, be careful to temper all thy instances
   with meekness, and the proper instruments of it; and if thou beest apt
   to be angry, neither fast violently, nor entertain the too forward
   heats of zeal, but secure thy duty with constant and regular actions,
   and a good temper of body, with convenient refreshments and
   recreations.

   12. If anger rises suddenly and violently, first restrain it with
   consideration and then let it end in a hearty prayer for him that did
   the real or seeming injury. The former of the two stops its growth, and
   the latter quite kills it, and makes amends for its monstrous and
   involuntary birth.
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   [264] Nemo alienae viruti invidet, qui confidit suae.--Cic. contra M
   Anton.

   [265] Homerus, Thersitis maloa mores describens, makitim summam
   apposuit, Pelidae inprimis erat atque inimicus Ulyssi.

   [266] Ira cum pectus rapida occupavit, Futiles linguae jubeo cavere
   Vana latratus jaculantis.--Sappho. Turbatus sum, et non sum
   locutus.--Psalm, xxxix.

   [267] Enati to ute paiua katektanon Anphixanatos, Nnpios ouk zxelon,
   anph astrageloisi cholopheis.--Iliad.Ps 87.

   [268] Qui pauca requirunt, non multis excidunt.--Plut.

   [269] Homer.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Remedies against Anger, by way of consideration.

   1. Consider that anger is a professed enemy to counsel; it is a direct
   storm in which no man can be heard to speak or call from without; for
   if you counsel gently, you are despised; if you urge it and be
   vehement, you provoke it more. Be careful, therefore, to lay up
   beforehand a great stock of reason and prudent consideration, [270]
   that, like a besieged town, you may be provided for, and be defensible
   from within, since you are not likely to be relieved from without.
   Anger is not to be suppressed but by something that is as inward as
   itself, and more habitual. To which purpose add, that, 2. Of all
   passions it endeavours most to make reason useless. 3. That it is a
   universal poison of an infinite object; for no man was ever so amorous
   as to love a toad, none so envious as to repine at the condition of the
   miserable, no man so timorous as to fear a dead bee; but anger is
   troubled at everything, and every man, and every accident, and,
   therefore, unless it be suppressed it will make a man's condition
   restless. 4. If it proceeds from a great cause it turns to fury; if
   from a small cause it is peevishness; and so is always either terrible
   or ridiculous. 5. It makes a man's body monstrous, deformed, and
   contemptible, the voice horrid, the eyes cruel, the face pale or fiery,
   the gait fierce, the speech clamorous and loud. 6. It is neither manly
   nor ingenuous. It proceeds from softness of spirit and pusillanimity,
   which makes that women are more angry than men, sick persons more than
   the healthful, old men more than young, unprosperous and calamitous
   people than the blessed and fortunate. 8. It is a passion fitter for
   flies and insects than for persons professing nobleness and bounty. 9.
   It is troublesome not only to those that suffer it, but to them that
   behold it; there being no greater ineivility of entertainment than for
   the cook's fault, [271] or the negligence of the servants, to be cruel
   or outrageous, or unpleasant in the presence of the guests. 10. It
   makes marriage to be a necessary and unavoidable trouble; friendships
   and societies and familiarities to be intolerable. 11. It multiplies
   the evils of drunkenness, and makes the levities of wine to run into
   madness. 12. It makes innocent jesting to be the beginning of
   tragedies. 13. It turns friendship into hatred; it makes a man lose
   himself and his reason and his argument, in disputation. It turns the
   desires of knowledge into an itch of wrangling. It adds insolency to
   power. It turns justice into cruelty, and judgment into oppression. It
   changes discipline into tediousness and hatred of liberal institution.
   It makes a prosperous man to be envied and the unfortunate to be
   unpitied. It is a confluence of all the irregular passions; there is in
   it envy and sorrow, fear and scorn, pride and prejudice, rashness and
   inconsideration, rejoicing in evil and a desire to inflict it,
   self-love, impatience, and curiosity. And, lastly, though it be very
   troublesome to others, yet it is most troublesome to him that hath it.

   In the use of these arguments, and the former exercises, be diligent to
   observe lest, in your desires to suppress anger, you be passionate and
   angry at yourself for being angry; like physicians [272] who give a
   bitter potion when they intend to eject the bitterness of the choler,
   for this will provoke the person and increase the passion. But placidly
   and quietly set upon the mortification of it, and attempt it first for
   a day, resolving that day not at all to be angry, and to be watchful
   and observant, for a day is no great trouble; but, then, after one
   day's watchfulness it will be as easy to watch two days as at first it
   was to watch one day, and so you may increase till it becomes easy and
   habitual.

   Only observe that such an anger alone is criminal which is against
   charity to myself or my neighbour; but anger against sin is a holy
   zeal, and an effect of love to God and my brother, for whose interest I
   am passionate, like a concerned person; and if I take care that my
   anger makes no reflection of scorn or cruelty upon the offender, or of
   pride and violence, or transportation to myself, anger becomes charity
   and duty. And when one commended Charilaus, the king of Sparta, for a
   gentle, a good, and a meek prince, his colleague said well, "How can he
   be good who is not an enemy even to vicious persons?" [273]

   3. Remedies against Covetousness, the third Enemy of Mercy.

   Covetousness is also an enemy to alms, though not to all the effects of
   mercifulness; but this is to be cured by the proper motives to charity
   before mentioned, and by the proper rules of justice, which being
   secured, the arts of getting money are not easily made criminal. To
   which also we may add:

   1. Covetousness makes a man miserable, because riches are not means to
   make a man happy; [274] and unless felicity were to be bought with
   money, he is a vain person who admires heaps of gold and rich
   possessions. For what Hippomachus said to some persons who commended a
   tall man as fit to be a champion in the Olympic games, "It is true,"
   said he, "if the crown hang so high that the longest arm could reach
   it;" the same we may say concerning riches; they were excellent things,
   if the richest man were certainly the wisest and the best; but as they
   are they are nothing to be wondered at, because they contribute nothing
   towards felicity; which appears, because some men choose to be
   miserable, that they may be rich, rather than be happy with the expense
   of money and doing noble things.

   2. Riches are useless and unprofitable; for beyond our needs and
   conveniences nature knows no use of riches: and they say the princes of
   Italy, when they sup alone eat out of a single dish, and drink in a
   plain glass, and the wife eats without purple; for nothing is more
   frugal than the back and belly, if they be used as they should; but
   when they would entertain the eyes of strangers, when they are vain,
   and would make a noise, then riches come forth to set forth the
   spectacle, and furnish out the comedy of wealth, of vanity. No man can
   with all the wealth in the world, buy so much skill as to be a good
   lutenist; he must go the same way that poor people do, he must learn
   and take pains; much less can he buy constancy or chastity or courage;
   nay, not so much as the contempt of riches: and by possessing more than
   we need, we cannot obtain so much power over our souls as not to
   require more. And certainly riches must deliver me from no evil, if the
   possession of them cannot take away the longing for them. If any man be
   thirsty, drink cools him; if he be hungry, eating meat satisfies him;
   and when a man is cold, and calls for a warm cloak, he is pleased if
   you give it him; but you trouble him if you load him with six or eight
   cloaks. Nature rests and sits still when she hath her portion; but that
   which exceeds it is a trouble and a burden; and, therefore, in true
   philosophy, no man is rich but he that is poor according to the common
   account; for when God hath satisfied those needs which he made, that
   is, all that is natural, whatsoever is beyond it is thirst and a
   disease; and, unless it be sent back again in charity or religion, can
   serve no end but vice or vanity: it can increase the appetite to
   represent the man poorer, and full of a new and artificial, unnatural
   need; but it never satisfies the need it makes, or makes the man
   richer. No wealth can satisfy the covetous desire of wealth.

   3. Riches are troublesome; but the satisfaction of those appetites
   which God and nature hath made are cheap and easy; for who ever paid
   use-money for bread and onions and water to keep him alive? [275] but
   when we covet after houses of the frame and design of Italy, or long
   for jewels, or for our next neighbour's field, or horses from Barbary,
   or the richest perfumes of Ababia, or Galatian mules, or fat eunuchs
   for our slaves from Tunis, or rich coaches from Naples, then we can
   never be satisfied till we have the best things that are fancied, and
   all that can be had, and all that can be desired, and that we can lust
   no more; but before we come to the one-half of our first wild desires,
   we are the bondmen of usurers, and of our worse-tyrant appetites, and
   the tortures of envy and impatience. But I consider that those who
   drink on still when their thirst is quenched, or eat not only their
   superfluity, but even that which at first was necessary: so those that
   covet more than they can temperately use, are oftentimes forced to part
   even with that patrimony which would have supported their persons in
   freedom and honour, and have satisfied all their reasonable desires.

   4. Contentedness is therefore health, because covetousness is a direct
   sickness: and it was well said of Aristippus, (as Plutarch reports
   him,) if any man, after much eating and drinking, be still unsatisfied,
   he hath no need of more meat or more drink, but of a physician; he more
   needs to be purged than to be filled: and therefore, since covetousness
   cannot be satisfied, it must be cured by emptiness and evacuation. The
   man is without remedy, unless he be reduced to the scantling of nature,
   and the measures of his personal necessity. Give to a poor man a house,
   and a few cows, pay his little debt, and set him on work, and he is
   provided for, and quiet; but when a man enlarges beyond a fair
   possession, and desires another lordship, you spite him if you let him
   have it; for by that he is one degree the further off from the rest in
   his desires and satisfaction; and now he sees himself in a bigger
   capacity to a larger fortune; and he shall never find his period, till
   you begin to take away something of what he hath; for then he will
   begin to be glad to keep that which is left; but reduce him to nature's
   measures, and there he shall be sure to find rest; for there is no man
   can desire beyond his bellyful; and, when he wants that, any one friend
   or charitable man can cure his poverty, but all the world cannot
   satisfy his covetousness.

   5. Covetousness is the most fantastical and contradictory disease in
   the whole world: it must, therefore, be incurable; because it strives
   against its own cure. No man, therefore, abstains from meat, because he
   is hungry; nor from wine, because he loves it and needs it; but the
   covetous man does so, for he desires it passionately, because he says
   he needs it, and when he hath it, he will need it still, because he
   dares not use it. He gets clothes, because he cannot be without them;
   but when he hath them, then he can; as if he needed corn for his
   granary, and clothes for his wardrobes, more than for his back and
   belly. For covetousness pretends to heap much together for fear of
   want; and yet, after all his pains and purchase, he suffers that
   really, which, at first, he feared vainly; and by not using what he
   gets, he makes that suffering to be actual, present, and necessary,
   which, in his lowest condition, was but future, contingent, and
   possible. It stirs up the desire, and takes away the pleasure of being
   satisfied. It increases the appetite, and will not content it: it
   swells the principal to no purpose, and lessens the use to all
   purposes; disturbing the order of nature, and the designs of God;
   making money not to be the instrument of exchange or charity, nor corn
   to feed himself or the poor, nor wool to clothe himself or his brother,
   nor wine to refresh the sadness of the afflicted, nor his oil to make
   his own countenance cheerful; but all these to look upon, and to tell
   over, and to take accounts by, and make himself considerable, and
   wondered at by fools; that while he lives he may be called rich, and
   when he dies may be accounted miserable; and, like the dish-makers of
   China, may leave a greater heap of dirt for his nephews, while he
   himself hath a new lot fallen to him in the portion of Dives. But thus
   the ass carried wood and sweet herbs to the baths, but was never washed
   or perfumed himself: he heaped up sweets for others, while himself was
   filthy with smoke and ashes. And yet it is considerable; if the man can
   be content to feed hardly, and labour extremely, and watch carefully,
   and suffer affronts and disgrace, that he may get money more than he
   uses in his temperate and just needs, with how much ease might this man
   be happy? and with how great uneasiness and trouble does he make
   himself miserable? For he takes pains to get content, and when he might
   have it he lets it go. He might better be content with a virtuous and
   quiet poverty, than with an artificial, troublesome, and vicious. The
   same diet and a less labour would, at first, make him happy, and for
   ever after rewardable.

   6. The sum of all is that which the apostle says, "Covetousness is
   idolatry;" that is, it is an admiring money for itself, not for its
   use; it relies upon money, and loves it more than it loves God and
   religion: and it is the root of all evil;' it teaches men to be cruel
   and crafty, industrious in evil, full of care and malice; it devours
   young heirs, and grinds the face of the poor, and undoes those who
   specially belong to God's protection, helpless, craftless, and innocent
   people; it inquires into our parent's age, and longs for the death of
   our friends; it makes friendship an art of rapine, and changes a
   partner into a vulture, and a companion into a thief; and, after all
   this, it is for no good to itself; for it dares not spend those heaps
   of treasure which it snatched: and men hate serpents and basilisks
   worse than lions and bears; for these kill because they need the prey,
   but they sting to death and eat not. And if they pretend all this care
   and heap for their heirs, (like the mice of Africa, hiding the golden
   ore in their bowels, and refusing to give back the indigested gold,
   till their guts be out,) they may remember, that what was unnecessary
   for themselves in unnecessary for their sons; and why cannot they be
   without it, as well as their fathers, who did not use it? And it often
   happens that to the sons it becomes an instrument to serve some lust or
   other; that, as the gold was useless to their fathers, so may the sons
   be to the public, fools or prodigals, loads to their country, and the
   curse and punishment of their father's avarice: and yet all that wealth
   is short of one blessing; but it is a load, coming with a curse, and
   descending from the family of a long-derived sin. However, the father
   transmits it to the son, and it may be the son to one more; till a
   tyrant, or an oppressor, or a war, or change of government, or the
   usurer, or folly, or an expensive vice, makes holes in the bottom of
   the bag, and the wealth runs out like water, and flies away like a bird
   from the hand of a child.

   7. Add to these the consideration of the advantages of poverty; [276]
   that it is a state freer from temptation, secure in dangers, but of one
   trouble, safe under the Divine Providence, cared for in heaven by a
   daily ministration, and for whose support God makes every day a new
   decree; a state, of which Christ was pleased to make open profession,
   and many wise men daily make vows; that a rich man is but like a pool,
   to whom the poor run, and first trouble it, and then draw it dry: that
   he enjoys no more of it than according to the few and limited needs of
   a man; he cannot eat like a wolf or an elephant; that variety of dainty
   fare ministers but to sin and sicknesses; that the poor man, feasts
   oftener than the rich, [277] because every little enlargement is a
   feast to the poor, but he that feasts every day feasts no day, there
   being nothing left to which he may, beyond his ordinary, extend his
   appetite; that the rich man sleeps not so soundly as the poor labourer;
   that his fears are more, and his needs are greater, (for who is poorer,
   he that needs 5/. or he that needs 5000/.?) the poor man hath enough to
   fill his belly, and the rich hath not enough to fill his eye; that the
   poor man's wants are easy to be relieved by a common charity, but the
   needs of rich men cannot be supplied but by princes; and they are left
   to the temptation of great vices to make reparation of their needs; and
   the ambitious labours of men to get great estates are but like the
   selling of a fountain to buy a fever, a parting with content to buy
   necessity, a purchase of an unhandsome condition at the price of
   infelicity; that princes, and they that enjoy most of the world, have
   most of it but in title, and supreme rights, and reserved privileges,
   peppercorns, homages, trifling services, and acknowledgments, the real
   use descending to others, to more substantial purposes. These
   considerations may be useful to the curing of covetousness; that, the
   grace of mercifulness enlarging the heart of a man, his hand may not be
   contracted, but reached out to the poor in alms.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [270] Kai manphanein men, oia oran mello kaka phnmos oe kreisson ton
   enon bonlenmaton.--Medea, Porson. 1074.

   [271] Dieere quid coena possis ingratius ista?

   [272] amaram amaro bilem pharmaco qui elunt.

   [273] Plutar. de Odie et Invidia.

   [274] Quid refert igitur quantis jumenta fatiget Porticibus, quanta
   nemorum vectetur in umbra, Jugera quot vicina foro, quas emerit aedes?
   Nemo malus felix.--Juv. Sat.4.

   [275] Ergo solicitae tu causa, pecunia, vitae es: Per te immaturum
   mortis adimus iter.--Propert.

   [276] Provocet ut segnes animos, rerumque remotas Ingeniosa vias
   paulatim exploret egestas.--Claudian.

   [277] Prodigio par est in nobilitate senectus. Hortulus hic, puteusque
   brevis, nec rest movendus, In tenues plantas facili diffunditur haustu.
   Vive bidentis amans, et culti villicus hortl: Unde epululum possis
   centum dare Pythagoreis. Est aliquid, quocunque loco, quocunque
   recessu, Unius dominum sese fecisse lacertae.--Juven. Sat. iii.
     __________________________________________________________________
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  SECTION IX.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Repentance.

   Repentance, of all things in the world, makes the greatest change: it
   changes things in heaven and earth; for it changes the whole man from
   sin to grace, from vicious habits to holy customs, from unchaste bodies
   to angelical souls, from swine to philosophers, from drunkenness to
   sober counsels, and God himself, with whom is no variableness or shadow
   of change,' is pleased, by descending to our weak understandings, to
   say, that he changes also upon man's repentance, that he alters his
   decrees, revokes his sentence, cancels the bills of accusation, throws
   the records of shame and sorrow from the court of heaven, and lifts up
   the sinner from the grave to life, from his prison to a throne, from
   hell and the guilt of eternal torture, to heaven and to a title, to
   never-ceasing felicities. If we be bound on earth, we shall be bound in
   heaven; if we be absolved here, we shall be loosed there; if we repent;
   God will repent, and not send the evil upon us which we had deserved.

   But repentance is a conjugation and society of many duties; and it
   contains in it all the parts of a holy life, from the time of our
   return to the day of our death inclusively; and it hath in it some
   things specially relating to the sins of our former days, which we now
   to be abolished by special arts, and have obliged us to special
   labours, and brought in many new necessities, and put us into a very
   great deal of danger. And, because it is a duty consisting of so many
   parts and so much employment, it also requires much time, and leaves a
   man in the same degree of hope of pardon, as is his restitution to the
   state of righteousness and holy living, for which we covenanted in
   baptism. For we must know, that there is but one repentance in a man's
   whole life, if repentance be taken in the proper and strict evangelical
   covenant sense, and not after the ordinary understanding of the world:
   that is, we are but once to change our whole state of life, from the
   power of the devil and his entire possession, from the state of sin and
   death, from the body of corruption, to the life of grace, to the
   possession of Jesus, to the kingdom of the gospel; and this is done in
   the baptism of water, or in the baptism of the Spirit, when the first
   rite comes to be verified by God's grace coming upon us, and by our
   obedience to the heavenly calling, we working together with God. After
   this change, if ever we fall into the contrary state, and he wholly
   estranged from God and religion, and profess ourselves servants of
   unrighteousness, God hath made no more covenant of restitution to us;
   there is no place left for any more repentance, or entire change of
   condition, or new birth: a man can be regenerated but once; and such
   are voluntary malicious apostates, witches, obstinate impenitent
   persons, and the life. But if we be overtaken by infirmity, or enter
   into the marches or borders of this estate and commit a grievous sin,
   or ten, or twenty, so we be not in the entire possession of the devil,
   we are, for the present, in a damnable condition if we die; but if we
   live, we are in a recoverable condition; for so we may repent often. We
   repent or rise from death but once -- from sickness many times; and by
   the grace of God we shall be pardoned if so we repent. But our hopes of
   pardon are just as is the repentance; which, if it be timely, hearty,
   industrious, and effective, God accepts; not by weighing grains or
   scruples but by estimating the great proportions of our life. A hearty
   endeavour, and an effectual general change shall get the pardon; the
   unavoidable infirmities and past evils and present imperfections and
   short interruptions, against which we watch and pray and strive, being
   put upon the accounts of the cross, and paid for by the holy Jesus.
   This is the state and condition of repentance: its parts and actions
   must be valued according to the following rules:
     __________________________________________________________________

  Acts and Parts of Repentance.

   1. He that repents truly, is greatly sorrowful for his past sins; not
   with a superficial sigh or tear, but a pungent, afflictive sorrow; such
   a sorrow as hates the sin so much, that the man would choose to die
   rather than act it any more. This sorrow is called in Scripture, a
   weeping sorely; a weeping with bitterness of heart; a weeping day and
   night; a sorrow of heart; a breaking of the spirit; mourning like a
   dove, and chattering like a swallow;' [278] and we may read the degree
   and manner of it by the lamentations and sad accents of the prophet
   Jeremy, when he wept for the sins of the nation; by the heart-breaking
   of David, when he mourned for his murder and adultery; and the bitter
   weeping of St. Peter, after the shameful denying of his master. The
   expression of this sorrow differs according to the temper of the body,
   the sex, the age, and circumstances of action, and the motive of
   sorrow, and by many accidental tendernesses, or masculine hardnesses;
   and the repentance is not to be estimated by the tears, but by the
   grief; and the grief is to be valued not by the sensitive trouble, but
   by the cordial hatred of the sin, and ready actual dereliction of it,
   and a resolution and real resisting its consequent temptations. Some
   people can shed tears for nothing, some for anything; but the proper
   and true effects of a godly sorrow are, fear of the Divine judgments,
   apprehension of God's displeasure, watchings and strivings against sin,
   patiently enduring the cross of sorrow (which God sends as their
   punishment) in accusation of ourselves, in perpetually begging pardon,
   in mean and base opinions of ourselves, and in all the natural
   productions from these, according to our temper and constitution. For
   if we be apt to weep in other accidents, it is ill if we weep not also
   in the sorrows of repentance; not that weeping is of itself a duty, but
   that the sorrow, if it be as great, will be still expressed in as great
   a manner.

   2. Our sorrow for sins must retain the proportion of our sins, though
   not the equality. We have no particular measures of sins; we know not
   which is greater, of sacrilege or superstition, idolatry or
   covetousness, rebellion or witchcraft; and therefore God ties us not to
   nice measures of sorrow, but only that we keep the general rules of
   proportion; that is, that a great sin have a great grief, a smaller
   crime being to be washed off with a lesser shower.

   3. Our sorrow for sins is then best accounted of for its degree, when
   it, together with all the penal and afflictive duties of repentance we
   had in commission of the sin. [279]

   4. True repentance is a punishing duty, and acts its sorrow; and judges
   and condemns the sin by voluntarily submitting to such sadnesses as God
   sends on us, or (to prevent the judgment of God) by judging ourselves,
   and punishing our bodies and our spirits by such instruments of piety
   as are troublesome to the body; such as are fasting, watching, long
   prayers, troublesome postures in our prayers, expensive alms, and all
   outward acts of humiliation. For he that must judge himself, must
   condemn himself if he be guilty; and if he be condemned he must be
   punished; and if he be so judged, it will help to prevent the judgment
   of the Lord, St. Paul instructing us in this particular. [280] But I
   before intimated that the punishing actions of repentance are only
   actions of sorrow, and therefore are to make up the proportions of it.
   For our grief may be so full of trouble as to outweigh all the burdens
   of fasts and bodily afflictions, and then the other are the less
   necessary; and when they are used, the benefit of them is to obtain of
   God a remission or a lessening of such temporal judgments which God
   hath decreed against the sins, as it was in the case of Ahab; but the
   sinner is not, by anything of this, reconciled to the eternal favour of
   God; for, as yet, this is but the introduction to repentance.

   5. Every true penitent is obliged to confess his sins, and to humble
   himself before God for ever. Confession of sins hath a special promise:
   If we confess our sins; [281] he is faithful and just to forgive us our
   sins;' meaning, that God hath bound himself to forgive us if we duly
   confess our sins, and do all that for which confession was appointed;
   that is, be ashamed of them, and own them no more. For confession of
   our sins to God can signify nothing of itself in its direct nature: he
   sees us when we act them, and keeps a record of them; and we forget
   them, unless he reminds us of them by his grace. So that to confess
   them to God does not punish us, or make us ashames; but confession to
   him, if it proceeds from shame and sorrow, and is an act of humility
   and self-condemnation,' and is a laying open our wounds for cure, then
   it is a duty God delights in. In all which circumstances, because we
   may very much be helped if we take in the assistance of a spiritual
   guide, therefore the church of God, in all ages, hath commended, and,
   in most ages, enjoined, that we confess our sins, and discover the
   state and condition of our souls, to such a person whom we or our
   superiors judge fit to help us in such needs. For so if we confess our
   sins one to another,' as St. James advises, we shall obtain the prayers
   of the holy man whom God and the church have appointed solemnly to pray
   for us; and when he knows our needs, he can best minister comfort or
   reproof, oil or caustics; he can more opportunely recommend your
   particular state to God; he can determine your cases of conscience, and
   judge better for you than you do for yourself; and the shame of opening
   such ulcers may restrain your forwardness to contract them; and all
   these circumstances of advantage will do very much towards the
   forgiveness. And this course was taken by the new converts in the days
   of the apostles; For many that believed came and confessed and showed
   their deeds. [282] And it were well if this duty were practised
   prudently and innocently in order to public discipline, or private
   comfort and instruction; but that it be done to God is a duty not
   directly for itself, but for its adjuncts and the duties that go with
   it, or before it, or after it: which duties, because they are all to be
   helped and guided by our pastors and curates of souls, he is careful of
   his eternal interest, that will not lose the advantage of using a
   private guide and judge. He that bideth his sins shall not prosper;'
   Non dirigetur, saith the vulgar Latin, "he shall want a guide;" but who
   confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. [283] And to this
   purpose Climacus reports that divers holy persons in that age did use
   to carry table-books with them, and in them described an account of all
   their determinate thoughts, purposes, words, and actions, in which they
   had suffered infirmity; that by communicating the estate of their souls
   they might be instructed and guided, or corrected or encouraged.

   6. True repentance must reduce to act all its holy purposes, and enter
   into and run through the state of holy living, [284] which is contrary
   to that state of darkness in which in times past we walked. [285] For
   to resolve to do it, and yet not to do it, is to break our resolution
   and our faith, to mock God, to falsify and evacuate all the preceding
   acts of repentance, and to make our pardon hopeless and our hope
   fruitless. He that resolves to live well when a danger is upon him, or
   a violent fear, or when the appetites of lust are newly satisfied, or
   newly served, and yet when the temptation comes again, sins again, and
   then is sorrowful, and resolves once more against it, and yet falls
   when the temptation returns, is a vain man, but no true penitent, nor
   in the state of grace; and if he chance to die in one of these good
   moods is very far from salvation; for if it be necessary that we
   resolve to live well, it is necessary we should do so. For resolution
   is an imperfect act, a term of relation, and signifies nothing but in
   order to the actions; it is as a faculty is to the act, as spring is to
   the harvest, as eggs are to birds, as a relative to its correspondent,
   nothing without it. No man therefore can be in the state of grace and
   actual favour by resolutions and holy purposes; these are but the gate
   and portal towards pardon; a holy life is the only perfection of
   repentance, and the firm ground upon which we can cast the anchor of
   hope in the mercies of God, through Jesus Christ.

   7. No man is to reckon his pardon immediately upon his returns from sin
   to the beginnings of good life, but it is to begin his hopes and
   degrees of confidence according as sin dies in him, and grace lives; as
   the habits of sin returns but seldom in smaller instances and without
   choice, and by surprise without deliberation; and is highly
   disrelished, and presently dashed against the rock Christ Jesus, by a
   holy sorrow and renewed care, and more strict watchfulness. For a holy
   life being the condition of the covenant on our part as we return to
   God, so God returns to us, and our state returns to the probabilities
   of pardon.

   8. Every man is to work out his salvation with fear and trembling; and
   after the commission of sins his fears must multiply; because every new
   sin and every great declining from the ways of God is still a degree of
   new danger, and hath increased God's anger, and hath made him more
   uneasy to grant pardon; and when he does grant it, it is upon harder
   terms both for doing and suffering; that is, we must do more for
   pardon, and, it may be, suffer much more. For we must know that God
   pardons our sins by parts; as our duty increases, and our care is more
   prudent and active, so God's anger decreases: and yet, it may be, the
   last sin you committed made God unalterably resolve to send upon you
   some sad judgment. Of the particulars in all cases we are uncertain;
   and therefore we have reason always to mourn for our sins that have so
   provoked God, and made our condition so full of danger that, it may be,
   no prayers or tears of duty can alter his sentence concerning some sad
   judgment upon us. Thus God irrevocably decreed to punish the Israelites
   for idolatry, although Moses prayed for them, and God forgave them in
   some degree; that is, so that he would not cut them off from being a
   people; yet he would not forgive them so, but he would visit that their
   sin upon them; and he did so.

   9. A true penitent must, all the days of his life [286] pray for
   pardon, and never thing the work completed till he dies; not by any act
   of his own, by no act of the church, by no forgiveness by the party
   injured, by no restitution. These are all instruments of great use and
   efficacy, and the means by which it is to be done at length; but still
   the sin lies at the door, ready to return upon us in judgment and
   damnation, if we return to it in choice or action. And whether God hath
   forgiven us or no, we know not, [287] and how far we know not; and all
   that we have done is not of sufficient worth to obtain pardon:
   therefore still pray, and still be sorrowful for ever having done it,
   and for ever watch against it; and then those beginnings of pardon,
   which are working all the way, will at last be perfected in the day of
   the Lord.

   10. Defer not at all to repent; much less mayst thou put it off to thy
   death-bed. It is not an easy thing to root out the habits of sin [288]
   which a man's whole life hath gathered and confirmed. We find work
   enough to mortify one beloved lust, in our very best advantage of
   strength and time, and before it is so deeply rooted, as it must needs
   be supposed to be at the end of a wicked life: and therefore it will
   prove impossible, when the work is so great and the strength so little,
   when sin is so strong and grace so weak; for they always keep the same
   proportion of increase and decrease, and as sin grows grace decays: so
   that the more need we have of grace, the less at that time we shall
   have; because the greatness of our sins, which makes the need, hath
   lessened the grace of God, which should help up, into nothing. To which
   add this consideration, that on a man's death-bed the day of repentance
   is past; for repentance being the renewing of a holy life, a living the
   life of grace, it is a contradiction to say that a man can live a holy
   life upon his death-bed, especially if we consider, that for a sinner
   to live a holy life must first suppose him to have overcome all his
   evil habits, and then to have made a purchase of the contrary graces,
   by the labours of great prudence, watchfulness, self-denial and
   severity. [289] "Nothing that is excellent can be wrought suddenly."

   11. After the beginnings of thy recovery, be infinitely fearful of a
   relapse; and therefore, upon the stock of thy sad experience, observe
   where thy failings were, and by especial arts fortify that faculty, and
   arm against that temptation. For if all those arguments which God uses
   to us to preserve our innocence, and thy late danger, and thy fears,
   and the goodness of God making thee once to escape, and the shame of
   thy fall, and the sense of thy own weaknesses, will not make thee
   watchful against a fall, especially knowing how much it costs a man to
   be restored, it will be infinitely more dangerous if ever thou fallest
   again; not only for fear God should no more accept thee to pardon, but
   even thy own hopes will be made more desperate and thy impatience
   greater, and thy shame turn to impudence, and thy own will be more
   estranged, violent, and refractory, and thy latter end will be worse
   than thy beginning. To which add this consideration, that thy sin,
   which was formerly in a good way of being pardoned, will not only
   return upon thee with all its own loads, but with the baseness of
   unthankfulness, and thou wilt be set as far back from heaven as ever;
   and all thy former labours and fears and watchings and agonies will be
   reckoned for nothing, but as arguments to upbraid thy folly, who, when
   thou hadst set one foot in heaven didst pull that back, and carry both
   to hell.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [278] Jer. xiii. 17; Joel, ii. 13; Ezek. xxvii. 31; James, iv. 9.

   [279] Hugo de St. Victor.

   [280] 1 Cor. xi. 31.

   [281] 1 John, i. 9.

   [282] Acts. xix. 18.

   [283] Prov. xxviii. 13.

   [284] Rom. vi. 3, 4, 7; viii.10; xi.22, 27; xiii. 13, 14. Gal. v. 6,
   24; vi. 15. 1 Cor vii. 19. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Colos. i. 21-23. Heb. xii.
   1, 14, 16; x. 16, 22. 1 Pet. i. 15. 2 Pet. i. 3, 9, 10; iii. 11. 1 John
   i. 6; iii. 8, 9; v. 16.

   [285] Nequam illud verbum, Bene vult, nisi qui bene facit. Trinummus
   act. ii. scen. iii. 38.

   [286] Dandum interstitium paeniteniae--Tacit.

   [287] I peccati et i debiti son sempre piu di quel che si crede.

   [288] Ti oun pros estin euriskeiu bonphea; tu enantionephoz--Arrian.

   [289] Mortem venientem nemo hilaris excipit, nisi qui ad eam se diu
   composuerat.
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  Motives to Repentance.

   I shall use no other arguments to move a sinner to repentance, but to
   tell him, unless he does he shall certainly perish; and if he does
   repent timely and entirely, that is, live a holy life, he shall be
   forgiven and be saved. But yet I desire, that this consideration be
   enlarged with some great circumstances; and let us remember,

   1. That to admit mankind to repentance and pardon was a favour greater
   than ever God gave to the angels and devils; for they were never
   admitted to the condition of second thoughts: Christ never groaned one
   groan for them; he never suffered one stripe, nor one affront, nor shed
   one drop of blood, to restore them to hopes of blessedness after their
   first failings. But this he did for us: he paid the score of our sins,
   only that this repentance might be effectual to the great purposes of
   felicity and salvation.

   2. Consider, that as it cost Christ many millions of prayers and groans
   and sighs, so he is now at this instant, and hath been for these
   sixteen hundred years, night and day, incessantly praying for grace to
   us, that we may repent; and for pardon when we do; and for degrees of
   pardon beyond the capacities of our infirmities, and the merit of our
   sorrows and amendment; [290] for he ever liveth to make intercession
   for us.' And that we may know what it is in behalf of which he
   intercedes, St. Paul tells us his design; We are ambassadors for
   Christ, as though he did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
   stead to be reconciled to God. [291] And what Christ prays us to do, he
   prays to God that we may do; that which he desires of us as his
   servants, he desires of God, who is the fountain of the grace and
   powers unto us, and without whose assistance we can do nothing.

   3. That ever we should repent, was so costly a purchase, and so great a
   concernment, and so high a favour, and the event is esteemed by God
   himself so great an excellency, that our blessed Saviour tells us,
   there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth;' [292]
   meaning, that when Christ shall be glorified, and the right hand of his
   Father make intercession for us, praying for our repentance, the
   conversion and repentance of every sinner is part of Christ's
   glorification, it is the answering of his prayers, it is a portion of
   his reward, in which he does essentially glory by the joys of his
   glorified humanity. This is the joy of our Lord himself directly, not
   of the angels, save only by reflection: the joy (said our blessed
   Saviour) shall be in the presence of the angels; they shall see the
   glory of the Lord, the answering of his prayers, the satisfaction of
   his desires, and the reward of his sufferings, in the repentance and
   consequent pardon of a sinner. For therefore be once suffered, and for
   that reason he rejoices for ever. And therefore, when a penitent sinner
   comes to receive the effect and full consummation of his pardon, it is
   called an entering into the joy of our Lord;' that is, a partaking of
   that joy which Christ received at our conversion and enjoyed ever
   since.

   4. Add to this, that the rewards of heaven are so great and glorious,
   and Christ's burden is so light, his yoke is so easy, that it is a
   shameless impudence to expect so great glories at a less rate than so
   little a service, at a lower rate than a holy life. It cost the
   heart-blood of the Son of God to obtain heaven for us upon that
   condition; and who shall die again to get heaven for us upon easier
   terms? What would you do, if God should command you to kill your eldest
   son, or to work in the mines for a thousand years together, or to fast
   all thy lifetime with bread and water? were not heaven a very great
   bargain even after all this? And when God requires nothing of us but to
   live soberly, justly, and godly, (which things themselves are to a man
   a very great felicity, and necessary to our present well-being,) shall
   we think this to be an intolerable burden, and that heaven is too
   little a purchase at that price; and that God, in mere justice, will
   take a death-bed sigh or groan, and a few unprofitable tears and
   promises in exchange for all our duty?

   If these motives, joined together with our own interest, (even as much
   as felicity, and the sight of God, and the avoiding the intolerable
   pains of hell, and many intermedial judgments, come to,) will not move
   us to leave, 1. the filthiness, and, 2. the trouble, and, 3. the
   uneasiness, and, 4. the unreasonableness of sin, and turn to God, there
   is no more to be said: we must perish in our folly.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [290] Heb. vii. 15.

   [291] 2 Cor. v. 20.

   [292] Luke, xv. 7.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  SECTION X.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Of Preparation to, and the Manner how to receive the holy Sacrament of the
  Lords Supper.

   1. The celebration of the holy sacrament is the great mysteriousness of
   the Christian religion, and succeeds to the most solemn rite of natural
   and Judaical religion, the law of sacrificing. For God spared mankind,
   and took the sacrifice of beasts, together with our solemn prayers, for
   an instrument of expiation. But these could not purify the soul from
   sin, but were typical of the sacrifice of something that could. But
   nothing could do this, but either the offering of all that sinned, that
   every man should be the anathema or devoted thing: or else by some one
   of the same capacity, who by some superadded excellency might, in his
   own personal sufferings have a value great enough to satisfy for all
   the whole king of sinning persons. This the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
   God and man undertook, and finished by a sacrifice of himself upon the
   altar of the cross.

   2. This sacrifice, because it was perfect, could be but one, and that
   once; but because the needs of the world should last as long as the
   world itself, it was necessary that there should be a perpetual
   ministry established, whereby this one sufficient sacrifice should be
   made eternally effectual to the several new-arising needs of all the
   world, who should desire it, or in any sense be capable of it.

   3. To this end Christ was made a priest for ever: he was initiated or
   consecrated on the cross, and there began his priesthood, which was to
   last till his coming to judgment. It began on earth, but was to last
   and be officiated in heaven, where he sits perpetually representing and
   exhibiting to the Father that great effective sacrifice which he
   offered on the cross, to eternal and never-failing purposes.

   4. As Christ is pleased to represent to his Father that great sacrifice
   as a means of atonement and expiation for all mankind, and with special
   purposes and intendment for all the elect, all that serve him in
   holiness; so he hath appointed that the same ministry shall be done
   upon earth too, in our manner, and according to our proportion; and of
   men who, by shewing forth the Lord's death,' by sacramental
   representations, may pray unto God after the same manner that our Lord
   and high-priest does; that is, offer to God and represent in this
   solemn prayer and sacrament, Christ is already offered; so sending up a
   gracious instrument, whereby our prayers may, for his sake and in the
   same manner of intercession, be offered up to God in our behalf, and
   for all them for whom we pray, to all those purposes for which Christ
   died.

   5. As the ministers of the sacrament do, in a sacramental manner,
   present to God the sacrifice of the cross, by being imitators of
   Christ's intercession; so the people are sacrificers too in their
   manner; for besides that, by saying Amen, they join in the act of him
   that ministers, and make it also to be their own; so, when they eat and
   drink to consecrated and blessed elements worthily, they receive Christ
   within them, and therefore may also offer him to God, while, in their
   sacrifice of obedience and thanksgiving, they present themselves to God
   with Christ, whom they have spiritually received, that is, themselves
   with that which will make them gracious and acceptable. The offering
   their bodies and souls and services to God in him, and by him, and with
   him, who is his Father's well-beloved, and in whom he is well pleased,
   cannot but be accepted to all the purposes of blessing, grace, and
   glory. [293]

   6. This is the sum of the greatest mystery of our religion; it is the
   copy of the passion, and the ministration of the great mystery of our
   redemption; and therefore, whatsoever entitles us to the general
   privileges of Christ's passion, all that is necessary by way of
   disposition to the celebration of the sacrament of his passion; because
   this celebration is our manner of applying or using it. The particulars
   of which preparation are represented in the following rules:

   1. No man must dare to approach to the holy sacrament of the Lord's
   supper, if he be in a state of any one sin, [294] that is, unless he
   have entered into the state of repentance, that is, of sorrow and
   amendment; lest it be said concerning him, as it was concerning Judas,
   the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table: and he that
   receiveth Christ into an impure soul or body, first turns his most
   excellent nourishment into poison, and then feeds upon it.

   2. Every communicant must first have examined himself; that is, tried
   the condition and state of his soul, searched out the secret ulcers,
   inquired out its weaknesses and indiscretions, and all those aptnesses
   where it is exposed to temptation; that, by finding out its diseases he
   may find a cure, and by discovering its aptnesses he may secure his
   present purposes of future amendment, and may be armed against dangers
   and temptations.

   3. This examination must be a man's own act and inquisition into his
   life; but then also it should lead a man on to run to those whom the
   great Physician of our souls, Christ Jesus, hath appointed to minister
   physic to our diseases, that in all dangers and great accidents we may
   be assisted for comfort and remedy, for medicine and caution.

   4. In this affair let no man deceive himself, and against such a time
   which public authority hath appointed for us to receive the sacrament,
   weep for his sins by way of solemnity and ceremony, and still retain
   the affection: but he that comes to this feast must have on the
   wedding-garment, that is, he must have put o Jesus Christ, and he must
   have put off the old man with his affections and lusts; and he must be
   wholly conformed to Christ in the image of his mind. For then we have
   put on Christ when our souls are clothed with is righteousness, when
   every faculty of our soul is proportioned and vested according to the
   pattern of Christ's life. And therefore a man must not leap from his
   last night's surfeit and bath, and then communicate; but when he hath
   begun the work of God effectually, and made some progress in
   repentance, and hath walked some stages and periods in the ways of
   godliness, then let him come to him that is to minister it, and having
   made known the state of his soul, he is to be admitted; but to receive
   into an unhallowed soul and body is to receive the dust of the
   tabernacle in the waters of jealousy; it will make the belly to swell,
   and the thigh to rot; it will not convey Christ to us, but the devil
   will enter and dwell there, till with it he returns to his dwelling of
   torment. Remember always, that after a great sin, or after a habit of
   sins, a man is not soon made clean; and no unclean thing must come to
   this feast. It is not the preparation of two or three days that can
   render a person capable of this banquet; for in this feast, all Christ,
   and Christ's passion, and all his graces, the blessings and effects of
   his sufferings, are conveyed. Nothing can fit us for this but what can
   unite us to Christ, and obtain of him to present our needs to his
   heavenly Father: this sacrament can no otherwise be celebrated but upon
   the same terms on which we may hope for pardon and heaven itself.

   5. When we have this general and indispensably necessary preparation,
   we are to make our souls more adorned and trimmed up with circumstances
   of pious actions and special devotions, setting apart some portion of
   our time immediately before the day of solemnity, according as our
   great occasions will permit: and this time is specially to be spent in
   actions of repentance, confession of our sins, renewing our purposes of
   holy living, praying for pardon of our failings and for those graces
   which may prevent the like sadnesses for the time to come, meditation
   upon the passion, upon the infinite love of God expressed in so great
   mysterious manners of redemption; and indefinitely in all acts of
   virtue which may build our souls up into a temple fit for the reception
   of Christ himself and the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit.

   6. The celebration of the holy sacrament being the most solemn prayer,
   joined with the most effectual instrument of its acceptance, must
   suppose us in the love of God and in charity with all the world; and
   therefore we must, before every communion especially, remember what
   differences or jealousies are between us and any one else, and
   recompose all disunions, and cause right understandings between each
   other; offering to satisfy whom we have injured, and to forgive them
   who have injured us, without thoughts of resuming the quarrel when the
   solemnity is over; for that is but to rake the embers in light and
   fantastic ashes; it must be quenched, and a holy flame enkindled -- no
   fires must be at all, but the fires of love and zeal; and the altar of
   incense will send up a sweet perfume, and make atonement for us.

   7. When the day of the feast is come, lay aside all cares and
   impertinences of the world, and remember that this is thy soul's day, a
   day of traffic and intercourse with heaven. Arise early in the morning.
   1. Give God thanks for the approach of so great a blessing. 2. Confess
   thine own unworthiness to admit so divine a guest. 3. Then remember and
   deplore thy sins, which have made thee so unworthy. 4. Then confess
   God's goodness, and take sanctuary there, and upon him place thy hopes;
   5. And invite him to thee with renewed acts of love, of holy desire, of
   hatred of his enemy, sin. 6. Make oblation of thyself wholly to be
   disposed by him, to the obedience of him, to his providence and
   possession, and pray him to enter and dwell there for ever. And after
   this, with joy and holy fear, and the forwardness of love, address
   thyself to the receiving of him, to whom, and by whom, and for whom,
   all faith and all hope and all love, in the whole catholic church, both
   in heaven and earth, is designed; him, whom kings and queens and whole
   kingdoms are in love with, and count it the greatest honour in the
   world that their crowns and sceptres are laid at his holy feet.

   8. When the holy man stands at the table of blessing and ministers the
   rite of consecration, then do as the angels do, who behold and love and
   wonder that the Son of God should become food to the souls of his
   servants; that he, who cannot suffer any change or lessening, should be
   broken into pieces, and enter into the body to support and nourish the
   spirit, and yet at the same time remain in heaven, while he descends to
   thee upon earth; that he who hath essential felicity should become
   miserable and die for thee, and then give himself to thee for ever to
   redeem thee from sin and misery; that by his wounds he should procure
   health to thee, by his affronts he should entitle thee to glory, by his
   death he should bring thee to life, and by becoming a man he should
   make thee partaker of the divine nature. These are such glories that,
   although they are made so obvious that each eye may behold them, yet
   they are also so deep that no thought can fathom them; but so it hath
   pleased him to make these mysteries to be sensible, because the
   excellency and depth of the mercy is not intelligible; that while we
   are ravished and comprehended within the infiniteness of so vast and
   mysterious a mercy, yet we may be as sure of it as of that thing we see
   and feel and smell and taste; but yet it is so great that we cannot
   understand it.

   9. These holy mysteries are offered to our senses, but not to be placed
   under our feet; they are sensible, but not common; and therefore as the
   weakness of the elements adds wonder to the excellency of the
   sacrament, so let our reverence and venerable usages of them add homour
   to the elements, and acknowledge the glory of the mystery, and the
   divinity of the mercy. Let us receive the consecrated elements with all
   devotion and humility of body and spirit; and do this honour to it,
   that it be the first food we eat, and the first beverage we drink that
   day, unless it be in case of sickness, or other great necessity; and
   that your body and soul both be prepared to its reception with
   abstinence from secular pleasures, that you may better have attended
   fastings and preparatory prayers. For if ever it be seasonable to
   observe the counsel of St. Paul, that married persons by consent should
   abstain for a time, that they may attend to solemn religion, it is now.
   [295] It was not by St. Paul, nor the after-ages of the church, called
   a duty so to do, but it is most reasonable that the more solemn actions
   of religion should be attended to, without the mixture of anything that
   may discompose the mind and make it more secular or less religious.

   10. In the act of receiving, exercise acts of faith with much
   confidence and resignation, believing it not to be common bread and
   wine, but holy in their use, holy in their signification, holy in their
   change, and holy in their effect; and believe, if thou art a worthy
   communicant, thou dost as verily receive Christ's body and blood to all
   effects and purposes of the Spirit as thou dost receive the blessed
   elements into thy mouth -- that thou puttest thy finger to his hand,
   and thy hand into his side, and thy lips to his fontinel of blood,
   sucking life from his heart; [296] and yet, if thou dost communicate
   unworthily, thou eatest and drinkest Christ to thy danger and death and
   destruction. Dispute not concerning the secret of the mystery, and the
   nicety of the manner of Christ's presence; it is sufficient to thee
   that Christ shall be present to thy soul as an instrument of grace, as
   a pledge of the resurrection, as the earnest of glory and immortality,
   and a means of many intermedial blessings, even all such as are
   necessary for thee, and are in order to thy salvation. And to make all
   this good to thee, there is nothing necessary on thy part but a holy
   life, and a true belief of all the sayings of Christ; amongst which,
   indefinitely assent to the words of institution, and believe that
   Christ in the holy sacrament, gives thee his body and his blood. He
   that believes so much needs not to inquire further, nor to entangle his
   faith by disbelieving his sense.

   11. Fail not at this solemnity, according to the custom of pious and
   devout people, to make an offering to God for the uses of religion and
   the poor, according to thy ability. For when Christ feasts us with his
   body, let us also feast our fellow- members, who have right to the same
   promises, and are partakers of the same sacrament, and partners of the
   same hope, and cared for under the same Providence, and descended from
   the same common parents, and whose Father God is, and Christ is their
   elder brother. If thou chancest to communicate where this holy custom
   is not observed publicly, supply that want by thy private charity; but
   offer it to God at his holy table, at least by thy private designing it
   there.

   12. When you have received, pray and give thanks. Pray for all estates
   of men; for they also have an interest in the body of Christ, whereof
   they are members: and you, in conjunction with Christ, (whom then you
   have received,) are more fit to pray for them in that advantage, and in
   the celebration of that holy sacrifice, which then is sacramentally
   represented to God. Give thanks for the passion of our dearest Lord:
   remember all its parts, and all the instruments of your redemption; and
   beg of God, that by a holy perseverance in well-doing you may from
   shadows pass on to substances, from eating his body to seeing his face,
   from the typical, sacramental, and transient, to the real and eternal
   supper of the Lamb.

   13. After the solemnity is done, let Christ dewll in your hearts by
   faith and love, and obedience and conformity to his life and death: as
   you have taken Christ into you, so put Christ on you, and conform every
   faculty of your soul and body to his holy image and perfection.
   Remember, that now Christ is all one with you; and, therefore, when you
   are to do an action consider how Christ did or would do the like; and
   do you imitate his example, and transcribe his copy, and understand all
   his commandments, and choose all that he propounded, and desire his
   promises, and fear his threatenings, and marry his loves and hatreds,
   and contract his friendships; for then you do every day communicate;
   especially when Christ thus dwells in you, and you in Christ, growing
   up towards a perfect man in Christ Jesus.

   14. Do not instantly, upon your return from church, return also to the
   world and secular thoughts and employment; but let the remaining parts
   of that day be like a post-communion, or an after-office, entertaining
   your blessed Lord with all the caresses and sweetness of love and
   colloquies, and intercourses of duty and affection, acquainting him
   with all your needs, and revealing to him all your secrets, and opening
   all your infirmities; and as the affairs of your person or employment
   call you off, so retire again with often ejaculations and acts of
   entertainment to your beloved guest.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [293] Nosti tempora tu Jovis sereni, Cum fulget placidus, suoque vultn,
   Quo nil supplicibus solet negare.--Martial. ep. 1.v.6.

   [294] Vasa pura ad rem divinam.--Plaut. in Cap. Act. iv.sc.1.

   [295] Discedite ab aris, Queis tulit hesterna gaudia nocte Venus Tibul
   ii. 1.12.

   [296] Cruei haeremus, sanguinem sugimus, et inter ipsa Redemporis
   nostri vulnera, figimus linguam.--Cyprian. de Caena Dovt.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Effects and Benefits of Worthy Communicating.

   When I said that the sacrifice of the cross, which Christ offered for
   all the sins and all the needs of the world, is represented to God by
   the minister in the sacrament, and offered up in prayer and sacramental
   memory, after the manner that Christ himself intercedes for us in
   heaven, (so far as his glorious priesthood is imitable by his ministers
   on earth,) I must of necessity also mean, that all the benefits of that
   sacrifice are then conveyed to all that communicate worthily. But if we
   descend to particulars, then and there the church is nourished in her
   faith, strengthened in her hope, enlarged in her bowels with an
   increasing charity; there all the members of Christ are joined with
   each other, and all to Christ their head; and we again renew the
   covenant with God in Jesus Christ, and God seals his part, and we
   promise for ours, and Christ unites both, and the Holy Ghost signs both
   in the collation of those graces which we then pray for an exercise and
   receive all at once. There our bodies are nourished with the signs, and
   our souls with the mystery: our bodies receive into them the seed of an
   immortal nature, and our souls are joined with him who is the
   first-fruits of the resurrection and never can die. And if we desire
   anything else and need it, here it is to be prayed for, here to be
   hoped for, here to be received. Long life and health, and recovery from
   sickness, and competent support and maintenance, and peace and
   deliverance from our enemies, and content and patience, and joy, and
   sanctified riches, or a cheerful poverty, and liberty, and whatsoever
   else is a blessing was purchased for us by Christ in his death and
   resurrection, and in his intercession in heaven. And this sacrament
   being that to our particulars which the great mysteries are in
   themselves and by design to all the world, if we receive worthily, we
   shall receive any of these blessings, according as God shall choose for
   us; and he will not only choose with more wisdom, but also with more
   affection, than we can for ourselves.

   After all this, it is advised by the guides of souls, wise men and
   pious, that all persons should communicate very often, even as often as
   they can, without excuses or delays; everything that puts us from so
   holy an employment, when we are moved to it, being either a sin or an
   imperfection, an infirmity or in devotion, and an inactiveness of
   spirit. All Christian people must come. They, indeed, that are in the
   state of sin must not come so, but yet they must come. First they must
   quit their state of death, and then partake of the bread of life. They
   that are at enmity with their neighbours must come-that is no excuse
   for their not coming; only they must not bring their enmity along with
   them, but leave it, and then come. They that have variety of secular
   employment must come; [297] only they must leave their secular thoughts
   and affections behind them, and then come and converse with God. If any
   man be well grown in grace, he must needs come, because he is
   excellently disposed to so holy a feast: but he that is but in the
   infancy of piety had need to come, that so he may grow in grace. The
   strong must come lest they become weak; and the weak that they may
   become strong. The sick must come to be cured; the healthful to be
   preserved. They that have leisure must come, because they have no
   excuse; they that have no leisure must come hither, that by so
   excellent an act of religion they may sanctify their business. The
   penitent sinners must come, that they may be justified; and they that
   are justified, that they may be justified still. They that have fears
   and great reverence to these mysteries, and think no preparation to be
   sufficient must receive, that they may learn how to receive the more
   worthily; and they that have a less degree of reverence must come
   often, to have it heightened: that as those creatures that live amongst
   the snows of the mountains turn white with their food and conversation
   with such perpetual whitenesses, so our souls may be transformed into
   the similitude and union with Christ by our perpetual feeding on him,
   and conversation, not only in his courts, but in his very heart, and
   most secret affections and incomparable purities.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [297] L'Evaque de Geneve, Introd. a la Vic Devote.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

PRAYERS

FOR ALL SORTS OF MEN AND ALL NECESSITIES; RELATING TO THE SEVERAL PARTS OF THE
VIRTUE OF RELIGION.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer for the Graces of Faith, Hope, Charity.

   O Lord God of infinite mercy, of infinite excellency, who hast sent thy
   holy Son into the world to redeem us from an intolerable misery, and to
   teach us a holy religion, and to forgive us an infinite debt: give me
   thy Holy Spirit, that my understanding and all my facilities may be so
   resigned to the discipline and doctrine of my Lord, that I may be
   prepared in mind and will to die for the testimony of Jesus, and to
   suffer any affliction or calamity that shall offer to hinder my duty,
   or tempt me to shame or sin or apostasy; and let my faith be the parent
   of a good life, a strong shield to repel the fiery darts of the devil,
   and the author of a holy hope, of modest desires, of confidence in God,
   and of a never-failing charity to thee, my God, and to all the world;
   that I may never have my portion with the unbelievers or uncharitable
   and desperate persons; but may be supported by the strengths of faith
   in all temptations, and may be refreshed with the comforts of a holy
   hope in all my sorrows, and may bear the burden of the Lord, and the
   infirmities of my neighbour, by the support of charity; that the yoke
   of Jesus may become easy to me, and my love may do all the miracles of
   grace, till from grace it swell to glory, from earth to heaven, from
   duty to reward, from the imperfections of a beginning and still growing
   love, it may arrive to the consummation of an eternal and never-ceasing
   charity, through Jesus Christ the Son of thy love, the author of our
   hope, and the author and finisher of our faith: to whom with thee, O
   Lord God, Father of heaven and earth, and with thy Holy Spirit, be all
   glory and love and obedience and dominion, now and for ever. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Acts of Love by way of Prayer and Ejaculation; to be used in private.

   O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for
   thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no
   water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the
   sanctuary. Because thy loveing-kingness is better than life, my lips
   shall praise thee. Psalm lxiii. 1, etc.

   I am ready, not only to be bound, but to die for the name of the Lord
   Jesus. Acts, xxi. 13.

   How amiable are thy tabernacles, thou Lord of Hosts! My soul longeth,
   yes even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh
   crieth out for the living God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy
   house; they will still be praising thee. Psalm lxxxiv. 1, 2, 4.

   O blessed Jesus, thou art worthy of all adoration and all honour and
   all love: thou art the wonderful, the counsellor, the mighty God, the
   everlasting Father, the Prince of peace; of thy government and peace
   there shall be no end: thou art the brightness of thy Father's glory,
   the express image of his person, the appointed heir of all things. Thou
   upholdest all things by the word of thy power; thou didst by thyself
   purge our sins; thou art set on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
   thou art made better than the angels; thou hast by inheritance obtained
   a more excellent name than they. Thou, O dearest Jesus, art the head of
   the church, the beginning and the first born from the dead: in all
   things thou hast the pre-eminence, and it pleased the Father that in
   thee should all fulness dwell. Kingdoms are in love with thee; kings
   lay their crowns and sceptres at thy feet; and queens are thy
   handmaids, and wash the feet of thy servants.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said in any Affliction, as Death of Children, of Husband or
  Wife, in great Poverty, in Imprisonment, in a sad and disconsolate Spirit, and
  in Temptations to despair.

   O eternal God, Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, with much
   mercy look upon the sadnesses and sorrows of thy servant. My sins lie
   heavy upon me, and press me sore, and there is no health in my bones by
   reason of thy displeasure and my sin. The waters are gone over me, and
   I stick fast in the deep mire, and my miseries are without comfort,
   because they are punishments of my sin: and I am so evil and unworthy a
   person, that though I have great desires, yet I have no dispositions or
   worthiness toward receiving comfort. my sins have caused my sorrow, and
   my sorrow does not cure my sins; and unless for thine own sake, and
   merely because thou art good, thou shalt pity me and relieve me, I am
   as much without remedy as now I am without comfort. Lord, pity me!
   Lord, let thy grace refresh my spirit! Let thy comforts support me, thy
   mercy pardon me, and never let my portion be amongst hopeless and
   accursed spirits; for thou art good and gracious, and I throw myself
   upon thy mercy. Let me never let my hold go, and do thou with me what
   seems good in thine own eyes. I cannot suffer more than I have
   deserved; and yet I can need no relief so great as thy mercy is; for
   thou art infinitely more merciful than I can be miserable, and thy
   mercy, which is above all thy own works, must needs be far above all my
   sin and all my misery. Dearest Jesus, let me trust in thee for ever,
   and let me never be confounded. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Ejaculations and short Meditations to be used in time of Sickness and Sorrow,
  or Danger of Death.

   Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. [298] Hide not
   thy face from me in the time of my trouble, incline thine ear unto me
   when I call; O hear me, and that right soon, For my days are consumed
   like smoke, and my bones are burnt up as it were with a firebrand. My
   heart is smitten down and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat
   my bread; and that because of thine indignation and wrath; for thou
   hast taken me up and cast me down: thine arrows stick fast in me, and
   thine hand presseth me sore. [299] There is no health in my flesh
   because of thy displeasure; neither is there any rest in my bones by
   reason of my sin. My wickednesses are gone over my head, and are a sore
   burden too heavy for me to bear. But I will confess my wickedness and
   be sorry for my sin. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine indignation,
   neither chasten me in thy displeasure. [300] Lord, be merciful unto me,
   heal my soul for I have sinned against thee. [301]

   Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness, according to the
   multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences. [302] O remember not
   the sins and offences of my youth; but according to thy mercy think
   thou upon me, O Lord, for thy goodness. [303] Wash me thoroughly from
   my wickedness; and cleanse me from my sin. Make me a clean heart, O
   God, and renew a right spirit within me. [304] Cast me not away from
   thy presence, from thy all-hallowing and life-giving presence; and take
   not thy Holy Spirit, thy sanctifying, thy guiding, thy comforting, thy
   supporting, and confirming Spirit, from me.

   O God, thou art my God for ever and ever: thou shalt be my guide unto
   death. [305] Lord, comfort me now that I lie sick upon my bed: make
   thou my bed in all my sickness. [306] O deliver my soul from the place
   of hell; and do thou receive me. [307] My heart is disquieted within
   me, and the fear of death is fallen upon me. [308] Behold thou hast
   made my days as it were a span long, and my age is even as nothing in
   respect of thee; and verily every man living is altogether vanity.
   [309] When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, thou makest his
   beauty to consume away, like a moth fretting a garment: every man
   therefore is but vanity. And now, Lord, what is my hope? truly my hope
   in even in thee. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with thine ears consider
   my calling: hold not thy peace at my tears. Take this plague away from
   me: I am consumed by the means of thy heavy hand. I am a stranger with
   thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me a little, that
   I may recover my strength, before I go hence and be no more seen. My
   soul cleaveth unto the dust: O quicken me according to thy word [310]
   And when the snares of death compass me round about, let not the pains
   of hell take hold of me. [311]
     __________________________________________________________________

   [298] Psalm cii. 1-4, 10.

   [299] Psalm xxxviii. 2-4, 18.

   [300] Psalm vi. 1.

   [301] Psalm xli. 4.

   [302] Psalm li. 1.

   [303] Psalm xxv. 6.

   [304] Psalm li. 2, 10, 11.

   [305] Psalm xiviii. 13.

   [306] Psalm xli. 3.

   [307] Psalm xlix. 15.

   [308] Psalm lv. 4.

   [309] Psalm xxxix. 6.

   [310] Psalm cxix. 25.

   [311] Psalm cxvi. 3.
     __________________________________________________________________

  An Act of Faith concerning the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment, to be
  said by Sick Persons, or meditated.

   I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter
   day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
   yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine
   eyes shall behold, though my reins be consumed within me. Job xix.25,
   etc.

   God shall come and shall not keep silence; there shall go before him a
   consuming fire, and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about
   him: he shall call the heaven from above, and the earth, that he may
   judge his people. [312] O blessed Jesus, thou art my judge and thou art
   my advocate: have mercy upon me in the hour of my death, and in the day
   of judgment. See John v. 28, and 1 Thess. iv. 15.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [312] Psalm 1. 3, 4.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Short Prayers to be said by Sick Persons.

   O holy Jesus, thou art a merciful high-priest, and touched with the
   sense of our infirmities; thou knowest the sharpness of my sickness and
   the weakness of my person. The clouds are gathered about me, and thou
   hast covered me with thy storm: my understanding hath not such
   apprehension of things as formerly. Lord, let thy mercy support me, thy
   Spirit guide me, and lead me through the valley of this death safely;
   that I may pass it patiently, holily, with perfect resignation; and let
   me rejoice in the lord, in the hopes of pardon, in the expectation of
   glory, in the sense of thy mercies, in the refreshments of thy Spirit,
   in a victory over all temptations.

   Thou hast promised to be with us in tribulation. Lord, my soul is
   troubled, and my body is weak, and my hope is in thee, and my enemies
   are busy and mighty; now make good thy holy promise. Now, O holy Jesus,
   now let thy hand of grace be upon me: restrain my ghostly enemies and
   give me all sorts of spiritual assistance. Lord, remember thy servant
   in the day when thou bindest up thy jewels.

   O take from me all tediousness of spirit, all impatience and
   unquietness: let me possess my soul in patience, and resign my soul and
   body into thy hands, as into the hands of a faithful Creator and a
   blessed Redeemer.

   O holy Jesus, thou didst die for us; by thy sad, pungent, and
   intolerable pains, which thou enduredst for me, have pity on me, and
   ease my pains, which thou endurest for me, have pity on me, and ease my
   pain, or increase my patience. Lay on me no more than thou shalt enable
   me to bear. I have deserved it all and more, and infinitely more. Lord,
   I am weak and ignorant, timorous and inconstant; and I fear lest
   something should happen that may discompose the state of my soul, that
   may displease thee: do what thou wilt with me, so that thou dost but
   preserve me in thy fear and favour. Thou knowest that it is my great
   fear, but let thy Spirit secure that nothing may be able to separate me
   from the love of God in Jesus Christ: then smite me here that thou
   mayest spare me for ever; and yet, O Lord, smite me friendly, for thou
   knowest my infirmities. Into thy hands, I commend my spirit; for thou
   hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth. Come, Holy Spirit, help me
   in this conflict. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

   (Let the sick man often meditate upon these following promises and
   gracious words of God.)

   My help cometh of the Lord, who preserveth them that are true of heart.
   Psalm vii. 11.

   And all they that knew thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou,
   Lord, hast never failed them that seek thee. Psalm ix. 10.

   O how plentiful is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that
   fear thee, and that thou hast prepared for them that put their trust in
   thee, even before the sons of men! Psalm xxxi. 21.

   Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, and upon them
   that put their trust in his mercy, to deliver their souls from death.
   Psalm xxxiii. 18, 19.

   The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart; and will save
   such as are of an humble spirit. Psalm xxxiv. 18.

   Thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast: how excellent is thy mercy,
   O God! and the children of men shall put their trust under the shadow
   of thy wings. Psalm xxxvi. 7.

   They shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of thy house; and thou
   shalt give them to drink of thy pleasures, as out of the rivers. Verse
   8.

   For with thee is the well of life; and in thy light we shall see light.
   Verse 9.

   Commit thy way unto the Lord, and put thy trust in him, and he shall
   bring it to pass. Psalm xxxvii. 5.

   But in the salvation of the righteous cometh of the Lord, who is also
   their strength in the time of trouble. Verse 40.

   So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:
   doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth. Psalm lvii. 10.

   Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and receivest unto thee: he shall
   dwell in thy court, and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of thy
   house, even of thy holy temple. Psalm lxv. 4.

   They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psalm cxxvi. 6.

   It is written, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Heb. xiii. 5.

   The prayer of faith shall save the sick; and the Lord shall raise him
   up: and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. James v.
   15.

   Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn, and he will
   heal us: he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. Hos. vi. 1.

   If we sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
   righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins. 1 John ii. 1, 2.

   If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our
   sins, and to cleans us from all unrighteousness. 1 John, i. 9.

   He that forgives shall be forgiven. Luke, vi. 37.

   And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything
   according to his will, he heareth us. 1 John, i. 14.

   And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins. 1 John iii.
   5.

   If ye, being evil, know how to give good things to your children, how
   much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them
   that ask him? Matt. vii. 11.

   This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus
   Christ came into the world to save sinners. 1 Tim. i. 15.

   He that hath given us his Son, how should he not, with him, give us all
   things else? Rom. viii. 32.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Acts of Hope, to be used by Sick Persons after a pious Life.

   I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
   principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
   height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate me
   from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. viii. 38,
   39.

   I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the
   faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
   which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not
   to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 2 Tim. iv.
   7, 8.

   Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
   mercies and the God of all comforts, who comforts us in all our
   tribulation. 2 Cor. i. 3, 4.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said in behalf of a Sick or Dying Person.

   O Lord God, there is no number of thy days nor of thy mercies, and the
   sins and sorrows of thy servant are multiplied. Lord look upon him with
   much mercy and pity, forgive him all his sins, instruct his ignorances,
   strengthen his understanding, take from him all disorders of spirit,
   weakness and abuse of fancy. Restrain the malice and power of the
   spirits of darkness; and suffer him to be injured neither by his
   ghostly enemies nor his own infirmities; and let a holy and a just
   peace, the peace of God, be within his conscience.

   Lord, preserve his senses till the last of his time, strengthen his
   faith, confirm his hope, and give him a never-ceasing charity to thee,
   our God, and to all the world: stir up in him a great and
   proportionable contrition for all the evils he hath done, and give him
   a just measure of patience for all he suffers; give him prudence,
   memory, and consideration, rightly to state the accounts of his soul;
   and do thou remind him of all his duty, that when it shall please thee
   that his soul goes out from the prison of his body, it may be received
   by angels, and preserved from the surprise of evil spirits, and from
   the horrors and amazements of new and strange regions, and be laid up
   in the bosom of our Lord, till, at the day of thy second coming, it
   shall be reunited to the body, which is now to be laid down in weakness
   and dishonour; but we humbly beg may then be raised up with glory and
   power for ever to live, and to behold the face of God in the glories of
   the Lord Jesus, who is our hope, our resurrection, and our life, the
   light of our eyes and the joy of our souls, our blessed and
   ever-glorious Redeemer. Amen.

   (Hither the sick person may draw in, and use the acts of several
   virtues respersed in the several parts of this book, the several
   litanies, viz. of repentance, of the passion, and the single prayers,
   according to his present needs.)
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said in a Storm at Sea.

   O my God, thou didst create the earth and the sea for thy glory and the
   use of man, and dost daily show wonders in the deep: look upon the
   danger and fear of thy servant. My sins have taken hold upon me, and
   without the supporting arm of thy mercy I cannot look up; but my trust
   is in thee. Do thou, O Lord, rebuke the sea, and make it calm, for to
   thee the winds and the sea obey; let not the waters swallow me up, but
   let thy Spirit, the spirit of gentleness and mercy, move upon the
   waters. Be thou reconciled unto thy servants, and then the face of the
   waters will be smooth. I fear that my sins make me, like Jonas, the
   cause of the tempest. Cast out all my sins, and throw not thy servants
   away from thy presence and from the land of the living, into the depths
   where all things are forgotten. But if it be thy will that we should go
   down into the waters, Lord, receive my soul into thy holy hands, and
   preserve it in mercy and safety till the day of restitution of all
   things; and be pleased to unite my death to the death of thy Son, and
   to accept of it so united as a punishment for all my sins, that thou
   mayest forget all thine anger, and blot my sins out of thy book, and
   write my soul there, for Jesus Christ's sake, our dearest Lord and most
   mighty Redeemer. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Then make an Act of Resignation thus:

   To God pertain the issues of life and death. It is the Lord, let him do
   what seemeth good in his own eyes. Thy will be done in earth as it is
   in heaven. Recite Psalms cvil. and cxxx.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Form of a Vow to be made in this or the like Danger.

   If the Lord will be gracious and hear the prayer of his servant, and
   bring me safe to shore, then I will praise him secretly and publicly,
   and pay unto the use of charity (or religion) (then name the sum you
   design for holy use). O my God, my goods are nothing unto thee: I will
   also be thy servant all the days of my life, and remember this mercy
   and my present purposes, and live more to God's glory, and with a
   stricter duty. And do thou please to accept this vow as an instance of
   my importunity, and the greatness of my needs; and be thou graciously
   moved to pity and deliver me. Amen.

   (This form also may be used in praying for a blessing on an enterprise,
   and may be instanced in actions of devotions as well as of charity.)
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer before a Journey.

   O almighty God who fillest all things with thy presence, and art a God
   afar off as well as near at hand; thou didst send thy angel to bless
   Jacob in his journey, and didst lead the children of Israel through the
   Red Sea, making it a wall on the right hand and on the left; be pleased
   to let thy angel go our before me and guide me in my journey,
   preserving me from dangers of robbers, from violence of enemies, and
   sudden and sad accidents, from falls and errors. And prosper my journey
   to thy glory, and to all my innocent purposes; and preserve me from all
   sin, that I may return in peace and holiness, with thy favour and thy
   blessings, and may serve thee in thankfulness and obedience all the
   days of my pilgrimage; and at last bring me to thy country, to the
   celestial Jerusalem, there to dwell in thy house, and to sing praises
   to thee for ever. Amen.

   Ad. Sect. 4.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said before the hearing or reading the Word of God.

   O holy and eternal Jesus, who hast begotten us by thy word, renewed us
   by thy Spirit, fed us by thy sacraments, and by the daily ministry of
   thy word, still go on to build us up to life eternal. Let thy most Holy
   Spirit be present with me and rest upon me in the reading or hearing
   thy sacred word, that I may do it humbly, reverently, without
   prejudice, with a mind ready and desirous to learn and to obey; that I
   may be readily furnished and instructed to every good work, and may
   practice all thy holy laws and commandments to the glory of thy holy
   name, O holy and eternal Jesus. Amen.

   Ad. Sect. 5, 9, 10.
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  A Form of Confession of Sins and Repentance, to be used upon Fasting Days, or
  Days of Humiliation, especially in Lent, and before the Holy Sacrament.

   "Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness; according to the
   multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences: for I will confess my
   wickedness, and be sorry for my sin." O my dearest Lord, I am not
   worthy to be accounted amongst the meanest of thy servants, not worthy
   to be sustained by the least fragments of thy mercy, but to be shut out
   of thy presence for ever with dogs and unbelievers. But for thy name's
   sake, O Lord, be merciful unto my sin, for it is great.

   I am the vilest of sinners, and the worst of men; proud, and
   vain-glorious, impatient of scorn or of just reproof; not enduring to
   be slighted, and yet extremely deserving it; I have been cozened by the
   colours of humility and when I have truly been called myself vicious I
   could not endure any man else should say so or think so. I have been
   disobedient, unchristian, and unmanly. But for thy name's sake, etc.

   O just and dear God, how can I expect pity or pardon, who am so angry
   and peevish, with and without cause, envious at good, rejoicing in the
   evil of my neighbours negligent of my charge, idle and useless,
   timorous and base, jealous and impudent, ambitious and hard-hearted,
   soft, unmortified, and effeminate in my life, undevout in my prayers,
   without fancy or affection, without attendance to them or perseverance
   in them; but passionate and curious in pleasing my appetite of meat,
   and drink, and pleasures, making matter both for sin and sickness; and
   I have reaped the cursed fruits of such improvidence, entertaining
   indecent and impure thoughts, and I have brought them forth in indecent
   and impure actions, and the spirit of uncleanness hath entered in and
   unhallowed the temple which thou didst consecrate for the habitation of
   thy Spirit of love and holiness. But for thy name's sake, O Lord, be
   merciful unto my sin, for it is great.

   Thou hast given me a whole life to serve thee in, and to advance my
   hopes of heaven; and this precious time I have thrown away upon my sins
   and vanities, being improvident of my time and of my talent, and of thy
   grace and my own advantages, resisting thy Spirit and quenching him. I
   have been a great lover of myself, and yet used many ways to destroy
   myself. I have pursued my temporal ends with greediness and indirect
   means. I am revengeful and unthankful, forgetting benefits, but not so
   soon forgetting injuries, curious and murmuring, a great breaker of
   promises. I have not loved my neighbour's good, nor advanced it in all
   things, where I could. I have been unlike thee in all things. I am
   unmerciful and unjust: a sottish admirer of things below, and careless
   of heaven and the ways that lead thither.

   But for thy name's sake, O Lord, be merciful unto my sin, for it is
   great.

   All my senses have been windows to let sin in, and death by sin. Mine
   eyes have been adulterous and covetous; mine ears open to slander and
   detraction; my tongue and palate loose and wanton, intemperate, and of
   foul language, talkative and lying, rash and malicious, false and
   flattering, irreligious and irreverent, detracting and censorious; my
   hands have been injurious and unclean, my passions violent and
   rebellious, my desires impatient and unreasonable; all my members and
   all my facilities have been servants of sin; and my very best actions
   have more matter of pity than of confidence, being imperfect in my
   best, and intolerable in most.-But for thy name's sake, O Lord, etc.

   Unto this and a far bigger heap of sin I have added also the faults of
   others to my own score, by neglecting to hinder them to sin in all that
   I could and ought; but I also have encouraged them in sin, have taken
   off their fears, and hardened their conscience, and tempted them
   directly, and prevailed in it to my own ruin and theirs, unless thy
   glorious and unspeakable mercy hath prevented so intolerable a
   calamity.

   Lord, I have abused thy mercy, despised thy judgments, turned thy grace
   into wantonness. I have been unthankful for thy infinite
   loving-kindness. I have sinned and repented, and then sinned again and
   resolved against it, and presently broke it; and then I tied myself up
   with vows, and then was tempted, and then I yielded by little and
   little, till I was willingly lost again, and my vows fell off like
   cords of vanity.

   Miserable man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of sin?

   And yet, O Lord, I have another heap of sins to be unloaded. My secret
   sins, O Lord, are innumerable; sins I noted not; sins that I willingly
   neglected; sins that I acted upon wilful ignorance and voluntary
   mispersuasion; sins that I have forgot; and sins which a diligent and a
   watchful spirit might have prevented, but I would not. Lord, I am
   confounded with the multitude of them, and the horror of their
   remembrance though I consider them nakedly in their direct appearance,
   without the deformity of their unhandsome and aggravating
   circumstances; but, so dressed, they are a sight too ugly, an instance
   of amazement, infinite in degrees, and insufferable in their load.

   And yet thou hast spared me all this while, and hast not thrown me into
   hell, where I have deserved to have been long since, and even now to
   have been shut up to an eternity of torments, with insupportable
   amazement, fearing the revelation of thy day.

   Miserable man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of sin?

   Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God. Thou that prayest for me shalt
   be my judge.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Prayer.

   Thou hast prepared for me a more healthful sorrow; O deny not thy
   servant when he begs sorrow of thee. Give me a deep contrition for my
   sins, a hearty detestation and loathing of them, hating them worse than
   death with torments. Give me grace entirely, presently, and for ever,
   to forsake them; to walk with care and prudence with fear and
   watchfulness, all my days; to do all my duty with diligence and
   charity, with zeal and a never fainting spirit; to redeem the time, to
   trust upon thy mercies, to make use of all the instruments of grace, to
   work out my salvation with fear and trembling; that thou mayest have
   the glory of pardoning all my sins, and I may reap the fruit of all thy
   mercies and all thy graces, of thy patience and long-suffering, even to
   live a holy life here, and to reign with thee for ever, through Jesus
   Christ our Lord. Amen.

   Ad. Sect. 6.
     __________________________________________________________________

  Special Devotions to be used upon the Lords Day, and the great Festivals of
  Christians.

   In the morning recite the following form of thanksgiving, upon the
   special festivals, adding the commemoration of the special blessings
   according to the following prayers; adding such prayers as you shall
   choose out of the foregoing devotions.

   Besides the ordinary and public duties of the day, if you retire into
   your closet to read and meditate, after you have performed that duty,
   say the Song of St. Ambrose, (commonly called the Te Deum,) or, We
   praise thee, etc.; then add the prayers for particular graces, which
   are at the end of the former chapter, such and as many of them as shall
   fit your present needs and affections, ending with the Lord's Prayer.
   This form of devotion may, for variety, be indifferently used at other
   times.

   A form of thanksgiving with a recital of public and private blessings,
   to be used upon Easter-day, Whit-sunday, Ascention-day, and all Sundays
   of the year; but the middle part of it may be reserved for the more
   solemn festivals, and the other used upon the ordinary, as every man's
   affections or leisure shall determine.

   1. Ex Liturgia S. Basilii magna ex parte.

   Oh eternal essence, Lord God, Father Almighty, maker of all things in
   heaven and earth; it is a good thing to give thanks to thee, O Lord,
   and to pay to thee all reverence, worship and devotion, from a clean
   and prepared heart, and with an humble spirit to present a live in and
   reasonable sacrifice to thy holiness and majesty; for thou hast given
   unto us the knowledge of thy truth; and who is able to declare thy
   greatness, and to recount all thy marvelous works which thou hast done
   in all the generations of the world?

   O great Lord and Governor of all things, Lord and Creator of all
   things, Lord and Creator of all things visible and invisible, who
   sittest upon the throne of thy glory, and beholdest the secrets of the
   lowest abyss and darkness, thou art without beginning, uncircumscribed,
   incomprehensible, unalterable, and seated for ever unmovable in thy own
   essential happiness and tranquility; thou art the Father of our Lord
   Jesus Christ, who is,

   Our dearest and most gracious Saviour, our hope, the wisdom of the
   Father, the image of thy goodness, the word eternal, and the brightness
   of thy person, the power of God from eternal ages, the true light that
   lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, the redemption of man,
   and the sanctification of our spirits.

   By whom the Holy Ghost descended upon the church; the Holy Spirit of
   truth, the seal of adoption; the earnest of the inheritance of the
   saints; the first fruits of everlasting felicity; the life-giving
   power; the fountain of sanctification; the comfort of the church, the
   ease of the afflicted, the support of the weak, the wealth of the poor,
   the teacher of the doubtful, scrupulous, and ignorant; the anchor of
   the fearful; the infinite reward of all faithful souls, by whom all
   reasonable and understanding creatures serve thee, and send up a
   never-ceasing and a never-rejected sacrifice of prayer, and praise, and
   adoration.

   All angels and archangels, all thrones and dominions, all
   principalities and powers, the cherubim with many eyes, and the
   seraphim covered with wings from the terror and amazement of thy
   brightest glory; these, and all the powers of heaven, do perpetually
   sing praise and never-ceasing hymns and eternal anthems to the glory of
   the eternal God, the Almighty Father of men and angels.

   Holy is our God; holy is the Almighty; holy is the Immortal; holy,
   holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of the
   majesty of thy glory. Amen. With these holy and blessed spirits I also,
   thy servant O thou great lover of souls, though I be unworthy to offer
   praise to such a majesty; yet, out of my bounden duty, humbly offer up
   my heart and voice to join in this blessed choir, and confess the
   glories of the Lord. For thou art holy, and of thy greatness there is
   no end; and in thy justice and goodness thou hast measured out to us
   all thy works.

   Thou madest man out of the earth, and didst form him after thine own
   image; thou didst place him in a garden of pleasure, and gavest him
   laws of righteousness to be to him a seed of immortality.

   "O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and
   declare the wonders that he hath done for the children of men."

   For when man sinned and listened to the whispers of a tempting spirit,
   and refused to hear the voice of God, thou didst throw him out from
   paradise, and sentest him to till the earth; but yet leftest not his
   condition without remedy, but didst provide for him the salvation of a
   new birth, and by the blood of thy Son didst redeem and pay the price
   to thine own justice for thine own creature, lest the work of thine own
   hands should perish.

   "O that men would therefore praise the Lord," etc.

   For thou, O Lord, in every age didst send testimonies from heaven,
   blessings, and prophets, and fruitful seasons, and preachers of
   righteousness, and miracles of power and mercy; thou spakest by thy
   prophets and saidst, I will help by one that is mighty; and, in the
   fulness of time, spakest to us by thy Son, by whom thou didst make both
   the worlds, who, by the word of his power, sustains all things in
   heaven and earth; who thought it no robbery to be equal to the Father;
   who, being before all time, was pleased to be born in time to converse
   with men, to be incarnate of a holy virgin; he emptied himself of all
   his glories, took on him the form of a servant, in all things being
   made like unto us, in a soul of passions and discourse, in a body of
   humility and sorrow, but in all things innocent, and in all things
   afflicted; and suffered death for us, that we by him might live, and be
   partakers of his nature and his glories, of his body and of his Spirit,
   of the blessings of earth, and of immortal felicities in heaven.

   "O that men would therefore praise the Lord," etc.

   For thou, O holy and immortal God, O sweetest Saviour Jesus, wert made
   under the law to condemn sin in the flesh; thou, who knewest no sin,
   wert made sin for us; thou gavest to us righteous commandments, and
   madest known to us all thy Father's will; thou didst redeem us from our
   vain conversation, and from the vanity of idols, false principles, and
   foolish confidences, and broughtest us to the knowledge of the true and
   only God and our Father, and hast made us to thyself a peculiar people
   of thy own purchase, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; thou hast
   washed our souls in the laver of regeneration, the sacrament of
   baptism; thou hast reconciled us by thy death, justified us by thy
   resurrection, sanctified us by thy Spirit, sending him upon thy church
   in visible forms, and giving him in powers and miracles and mighty
   signs, and continuing this incomparable favour in gifts and sanctifying
   graces, and promising that he shall abide with us for ever; thou hast
   fed us with thine own broken body, and given drink to our souls out of
   thine own heart, and hast ascended up on high, and hast overcome all
   the powers of death and hell, and redeemed us from the miseries of a
   sad eternity; and sittest at the right-hand of God, making intercession
   for us with a never-ceasing charity.

   "O that men would therefore praise the Lord," etc.

   The grave could not hold thee long, O holy and eternal Jesus; thy body
   could not see corruption, neither could thy soul be left in hell; thou
   wert free among the dead, and thou breakest the iron gates of death,
   and the bars and chains of the lower prisons. Thou broughtest comfort
   to the souls of the patriarchs, who waited for thy coming, who longed
   for the redemption of man, and the revelation of thy day. Abraham,
   Isaac, and Jacob saw thy day and rejoiced; and when thou didst arise
   from thy bed of darkness, and leftest the graveclothes behind thee, and
   didst put on a robe of glory, (over which for forty days thou didst
   wear a veil) and then enterdst into a cloud, and then into glory, then
   the powers of hell were confounded, then death lost its power and was
   swallowed up into victory; and though death is not quite destroyed, yet
   it is made harmless and without a sting, and the condition of human
   nature is made an entrance to eternal glory; and art become the Prince
   of life, the first-fruits of the resurrection, the first-born from the
   dead, having made the way plain before our faces, that we may also
   arise again in the resurrection of the last day, when thou shalt come
   again unto us, to render to every man according to his works.

   "O that men would therefore praise the Lord," etc.

   O give thanks unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord; praise him and magnify
   him for ever.

   O ye spirits and souls of the righteous, praise ye the Lord; praise him
   and magnify him for ever.

   And now, O Lord God, what shall I render to thy Divine Majesty for all
   the benefits thou hast done unto thy servant in my personal capacity?

   Thou art my creator and my Father, my Protector and my Guardian; thou
   hast brought me from my mother's womb; thou hast told all my joints,
   and in thy book were all my members written; thou hast given me a
   comely body, Christian and careful parents, holy education; thou hast
   been my guide and my teacher all my days; thou hast given me ready
   faculties, an unloosed tongue, a cheerful spirit, straight limbs, a
   good reputation, and liberty of person, a quiet life, and a tender
   conscience. Thou wert my hope from my youth, through thee have I been
   holden up ever since I was born. Thou hast sent thy angel to snatch me
   from the violence of fire and water, to prevent precipices, fracture of
   bones, to rescue me from thunder and lightning, plague and pestilential
   diseases, murder and robbery, violence of chance and enemies, and all
   the spirits of darkness; and in the days of sorrow thou hast refreshed
   me; in the destitution of provisions thou are taken are of me, and thou
   hast said unto me, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

   "I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart, secretly among
   the faithful, and in the congregation."

   Thou, O my dearest Lord and Father, hast taken care of my soul, hast
   pitied my miseries, sustained my infirmities, relieved and instructed
   my ignorances; and though I have broken thy righteous laws and
   commandments, run passionately after vanities, and was in love with
   death, and was dead in sin, and was exposed to thousands of
   temptations, and fell foully, and continued in it, and loved to have it
   so, and hated to be reformed; yet thou didst call me with the checks of
   conscience, with daily sermons and precepts of holiness, with fear and
   shame, with benefits and the admonitions of thy most Holy Spirit, by
   the counsel of my friends, by the example of good persons, with holy
   books and thousands of excellent arts, and would not suffer me to
   perish in my folly but didst force me to to attend to thy gracious
   calling, and hast put me into a state of repentance, and possibilities
   of pardon, being infinitely desirous I should live, and recover, and
   make use of thy grace, and partake of thy glories.

   "I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart, secretly among
   the faithful and in the congregation. For salvation belongeth unto the
   Lord, and thy blessing is upon thy servant. But as for me, I will come
   into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies, and in thy fear will I
   worship toward thy holy temple. For of thee, and in thee, and through
   and for thee, are all things. Blessed be the name of God, from
   generation to generation." Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said on the Feast of Christmas, or the Birth of our blessed
  Saviour Jesus; the same also may be said upon the Feast of the Annunciation
  and Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

   O holy and almighty God, Father of mercies, Father of our Lord Jesus
   Christ, the Son of thy love and eternal mercies, I adore and praise and
   glorify thy infinite and unspeakable love and wisdom, who hast sent thy
   Son from the bosom of felicities to take upon him our nature and our
   misery and our guilt, and hast made the Son of God to become the Son of
   man, that we might become the Sons of God, and partakers of the Divine
   nature; since thou hast so exalted human nature, be pleased also to
   sanctify my person, that by a conformity to the humility and laws, and
   sufferings of my dearest Saviour, I may be united to his Spirit, and be
   made all one with the most holy Jesus. Amen.

   O holy and eternal Jesus, who didst pity mankind lying in his blood,
   and sin, and misery, and didst choose our sadnesses and sorrows that
   thou mightest make us to partake of thy felicities; let thine eyes pity
   me, thy hands support me, thy holy feet tread down all the difficulties
   in my way to heaven; let me dwell in thy heart, be instructed with thy
   wisdom, moved by thy affections, choose with thy will, and be clothed
   with thy righteousness; that, in the day of judgment, I may be found
   having on thy garments, sealed with thy impression; and that hearing
   upon every faculty and member the character of my elder brother, I may
   not be cast out with strangers and unbelievers. Amen.

   O holy and ever-blessed Spirit, who didst overshadow the holy
   Virgin-mother of our Lord, and caused her to conceive by a miraculous
   and mysterious manner, be pleased to overshadow my soul, and enlighten
   my spirit, that I may conceive the holy Jesus in my heart, and may bear
   him in my mind, and may grow up to the fulness of the stature of
   Christ, to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Amen.

   To God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the eternal Son that
   was incarnate and born of a virgin, to the Spirit of the Father and the
   Son be all honour and glory, worship and adoration, now and for ever.
   Amen.

   (The same form of prayer may be used upon our own birthday, or day of
   our baptism; adding the following prayer.)
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said upon our Birth-day, or Day of Baptism.

   O blesses and eternal God, I give thee praise and glory for thy great
   mercy to me in causing me to be born of Christian parents and didst not
   allot to me a portion with misbelievers and heathen that have not known
   thee. Thou didst not suffer me to be strangled at the gate of the womb,
   but thy hand sustained and brought me to the light of the world, and
   the illumination of baptism, with thy grace preventing my election, and
   by an artificial necessity and holy prevention engaging me to the
   profession and practices of Christianity. Lord, since that, I have
   broken the promises made in my behalf, and which I confirmed by my
   after-act; I went back from them by an evil life; and yet thou hast
   still continued to me life and time of repentance; and didst not cut me
   off in the beginning of my days, and the progress of my sins. O dearest
   God, pardon the errors and ignorances, the vices and vanities, of my
   youth, and the faults of my more forward years, and let me never more
   stain the whiteness of my baptismal robe; and now that by thy grace I
   still persist in the purpose of obedience, and do give up my name to
   Christ, and glory to be a disciple of thy institution, and a servant of
   Jesus, let me never fail of thy grace; let no root or bitterness spring
   up and disorder my purposes, nor defile my spirit. O let my years be so
   many degrees of nearer approach to thee; and forsake me not, O God, in
   my old age, when I am grey-headed; and when my strength faileth me, be
   thou my strength and my guide unto death; that I may reckon my years,
   and apply my heart unto wisdom; and at last, after the spending a holy
   and a blessed life, I may be brought unto a glorious eternity, through
   Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

   (Then add the form of thanksgiving formerly described.)
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer to be said upon the Days of the Memory of Apostles, Martyrs, etc.

   O eternal God, to whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in
   the Lord, and I whom the souls of them that be elected, after they be
   delivered from the burden of the flesh, be in peace and rest from their
   labours, and their works follow them, and their memory is blessed; I
   bless and magnify thy holy and ever-glorious name, for the great grace
   and blessing manifested to thy apostles and martyrs, and other holy
   persons, who have glorified thy name in the days of their flesh, and
   have served the interest of religions and of thy service; and this day
   we have thy servant (name the apostle, or martyr, etc.) in remembrance
   whom thou hast led through the troubles and temptations of this world,
   and now hast lodged in the bosom of a certain hope and great beatitude,
   until the day of restitution of all things. Blessed be the mercy and
   eternal goodness of God; and the memory of all thy saints is blessed.
   Teach me to practise their doctrine, to imitate their lives, following
   their example, and being united as a part of the same mystical body by
   the band of the same faith, and a holy hope, and a never-ceasing
   charity. And may it please thee, of thy gracious goodness, shortly to
   accomplish the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy kingdom, that
   we with thy servant and all others departed in the true faith and fear
   of thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, in body
   and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting kingdom. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Form of Prayer recording all the parts and mysteries of Christs Passion,
  being a short history of it: to be used especially in the week of the
  Passions, and before the receiving the blessed Sacrament.

   All praise, honour, and glory be to the holy and eternal Jesus. I adore
   thee, O blessed Redeemer, eternal God, the light of the Gentiles, and
   the glory of Israel; for thou hast done and suffered for me more than I
   could wish; more than I could thing of; even all that a lost and a
   miserable perishing sinner could possibly need.

   Thou wert afflicted with thirst and hunger, with heat and cold, with
   labours and sorrows, with hard journeys and restless nights; and when
   thou wert contriving all the mysterious and admirable ways of paying
   our scores, thou didst suffer thyself to he designed to slaughter by
   those for whom in love thou wert ready to die.

   "What is man, that thou art mindful of him; and the Son of man, that
   thou visited him?"

   Blessed be thy name, O holy Jesus; for thou wentest about doing good,
   working miracles of mercy, healing the sick, comforting the distressed,
   instructing the ignorant, raising the dead, enlightening the blind,
   strengthening the lame, straightening the crooked, relieving the poor,
   preaching the gospel, and reconciling sinners by the mightiness of thy
   power, by the wisdom of thy Spirit, by the word of God, and the merits
   of thy passion, thy healthful and bitter passion.

   "Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him," etc.

   Blessed by thy name, O holy Jesus, who wert content to be conspired
   against by the Jews, to be sold by thy servant for a vile price, and to
   wash the feet of him that took money for thy life, and to give to him
   and to all thy apostles thy most holy body and blood, to become a
   sacrifice for their sins, even for their betraying and denying thee;
   and for all my sins, even for my crucifying thee afresh, and for such
   sins, which I am ashamed to think, but that the greatest of my sins
   magnify the infiniteness of thy mercies, who didst so great things for
   so vile a person.

   "Lord, what is man,"etc.

   Blessed be thy name, O holy Jesus, who, being to depart the world,
   didst comfort thy apostles, pouring out into their ears and hearts
   treasures of admirable discourses; who didst recommend them to thy
   Father with a mighty charity, and then didst enter into the garden set
   with nothing but briars and sorrows, where thou didst suffer a most
   unspeakable agony, until the sweat didst sigh and groan, and fall flat
   upon the earth, and pray, and I had deserved, and thou sufferest.

   "Lord, what is man," etc.

   Blessed be thy name, O holy Jesus, who hast sanctified to us all our
   natural infirmities and passions, by vouchsafing to be in fear and in
   trembling and sore amazement, by being bound and imprisoned, by being
   harassed and dragged with cords of violence and rude hands, by being
   drenched in the brook in the way, by being sought after like a thief,
   and used like a sinner who wert the most holy and the most innocent,
   cleaner than an angel and brighter than the morning star.

   "Lord, what is man," etc.

   Blessed by thy name, O holy Jesus, and blessed by thy loving kindness
   and pity, by which thou didst neglect thine own sorrows, and go to
   comfort the sadness of thy disciples, quickening their dulness,
   encouraging their duty, arming their weakness with excellent precepts
   against the day of trial. Blessed be that humility, encouraging their
   duty, arming their weakness with excellent precepts against the day of
   trial. Blessed be that humility and sorrow of thine, who, being Lord of
   the angels, yet wouldest need and receive comfort from thy servant, the
   angel; who didst offer thyself to thy persecutors, and madest them able
   to seize thee; and didst receive the traitor's kiss, and sufferedst a
   veil to be thrown over thy holy face, that thy enemies might not
   presently be confounded by so bright a lustre; and wouldst do a miracle
   to cure a wound of one of thy spiteful enemies; and didst reprove a
   zealous servant in behalf of a malicious adversary; and then didst go
   like a lamb to the slaughter, without noise or violence or resistance,
   when thou couldst have commanded millions of angels for thy guard and
   rescue.

   "Lord, what is man," etc.

   Blessed be thy name, O holy Jesus, and blessed be that holy sorrow thou
   didst suffer, when thy disciples fled, and thou wert left alone in the
   hands of cruel men, who, like evening wolves, thirsted for a draught of
   thy best blood, and thou wert led to the house of Annas, and there
   asked ensnaring questions, and smitten on the face by him whose ear
   thou hadst but lately healed; and from thence wert fragged to the house
   of Caiaphas; and there all night didst endure spittings, affronts,
   scorn, contumelies, blows, and intolerable insolences; and all this for
   man, who was thy enemy, and the cause of all thy sorrows.

   "Lord, what is man," etc.

   Blessed be thy name, O holy Jesus, and blessed be thy mercy, who, when
   thy servant Peter denied thee and forsook thee and forswore thee, didst
   look back upon him, and by that gracious and chiding look didst call
   him back to himself and thee; who wert accused before the high-priest
   and railed upon, and examined to evil purposes, and with designs of
   blood; who wert declared guilty of death for speaking a most necessary
   and most probable truth; who wert sent to Pilate and found innocent,
   and sent to Herod and still found innocent, and wert arrayed in white,
   both to declare thy innocence and yet to deride thy person, and wert
   sent back to Pilate, and examined again, and yet nothing but innocence
   found in thee, and malice round about thee to devour faith, which yet
   thou wert more desirous to lay down for them than they were to take it
   from thee.

   "Lord, what is man," etc.

   Blessed be thy name, O holy Jesus, and blessed be that patience and
   charity, by which for our sakes thou wert content to be smitten with
   canes, and have that holy face, which angels with joy and wonder do
   behold, be spit upon, and be despised, when compared with Barabbas, and
   scourged most rudely with unhallowed hands, till the pavement was
   purpled with that holy blood, and condemned to a sad and shameful, a
   public and painful death, and arrayed in scarlet, and crowned with
   thorns, and stripped naked and then clothed, and loaden with the cross,
   and tormented with a tablet stuck with nails at the fringes of thy
   garment, and bound hard with cords, and dragged most vilely and most
   piteously, till the load was too great, and did sink thy tender and
   virginal body to the earth; and yet didst comfort the weeping women,
   and didst more pity thy persecutors than thyself, and wert grieved for
   the miseries of Jerusalem to come forty years after, more than for thy
   present passion.

   "Lord, what is man," etc.

   Blessed be thy name, O holy Jesus, and blessed be that incomparable
   sweetness and holy sorrow which thou sufferedst, when thy holy hands
   and feet were nailed upon the cross, and the cross, being set in a
   hollowness of the earth, did in the fall rend the wounds wider, and
   there, naked and bleeding, sick and faint, wounded and despised, didst
   hang upon the weight of thy wounds three long hours, praying for thy
   persecutors, satisfying thy Father's wrath, reconciling the penitent
   thief, providing for thy holy and afflicted mother, tasting vinegar and
   gall; and when the fulness of thy suffering was accomplished, didst
   give thy soul into the hands of God, and didst descent to the regions
   of longing souls, who waited for the revelation of this thy day in
   their prisons of hope: and then thy body was transfixed with a spear,
   and issued forth two sacraments, water and blood, and thy body was
   composed to burial, and dwelt in darkness three days, and three nights.

   "Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man,
   that thou thus visited him?"
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Prayer.

   Thus, O blessed Jesus, thou didst finish thy holy passion with pain and
   anguish so great, that nothing could be greater than it, except thyself
   and thine own infinite mercy: and all this for man, even for me, than
   whom nothing could be more miserable, thyself only excepted, who
   becamest so by undertaking our guilt and our punishment. And now, Lord,
   who hast done so much for me, be pleased only to make it effectual to
   me, that it may not be useless and lost as to my particular, lest I
   become eternally miserable, and lost to all hopes and possibilities of
   comfort. All this deserves more love than I have to give; but, Lord do
   thou turn me all into love, and all my love into obedience , and let my
   obedience be without interruption, and there I hope thou wilt accept
   such a return as I can make. Make me to be something that thou
   delightest in, and thou shalt have all that I am or have from thee,
   even whatsoever thou makest fit for thyself. Teach me to live wholly
   for my Saviour Jesus, and to be ready to die for Jesus, and to be
   conformable to his life and sufferings, and to be united to him by
   inseparable unions, and to own no passions but what may be servants to
   Jesus and disciples of his institution. O sweetest Saviour, clothe my
   soul with thy holy robe; hide my sins in thy wounds, and bury them in
   thy grave; and let me rise in the life of grace, and abide and grow in
   it, till I arrive at the kingdom of glory. Amen.

   "Our Father," etc.

   Ad. Sect. 7,8,10.
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Form of Prayer or Intercession for all Estates of People in the Christian
  church. The parts of which may be added to any other forms; and the whole
  office, entirely as it lies, is proper to be said in our preparation to the
  Holy Sacrament, or on the day of celebration.

   1. For Ourselves.

   O thou gracious Father of mercy, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, have
   mercy upon thy servants, who bow our heads and our knees and our hearts
   to thee; pardon and forgive us all our sins; give us the grace of holy
   repentance, and a strict obedience to thy holy word; strengthen us in
   the inner man with the power of thy Holy Ghost for all the parts and
   duties of our calling and holy living; preserve us for ever in the
   unity of the holy catholic church, and in the integrity of the
   Christian faith, and in the love of God and of our neighbours, and in
   hope of life eternal. Amen.

   2. For the whole Catholic Church.

   O holy Jesus, King of the saints, and Prince of the catholic church,
   preserve thy spouse, whom thou hast purchased with thy right hand, and
   redeemed and cleansed with thy blood; the whole catholic church from
   one end of the earth to the other; she is founded upon a rock, but
   planted in the sea. O, preserve her safe from schim, heresy, and
   sacrilege. Unite all her members with the bands of faith, hope, and
   charity, and an external communion, when it shall seem good in thine
   eyes. Let the daily sacrifice of prayer and sacramental thanksgiving
   never cease, but be for ever presented to thee, and for ever prevail
   for the obtaining for every of its members grace and blessing, pardon
   and salvation. Amen.

   3. For all Christian Kings, Princes, and Governors.

   O King of kings and Prince of all the rulers of the earth, give thy
   grace and Spirit to all Christian princes, the spirit of wisdom nor
   counsel, the spirit of government and godly fear. Grant unto them to
   live in peace and honour, that their people may love and fear them, and
   they may love and fear God. Speak good unto their hearts concerning the
   church, that they may be nursing fathers to it, fathers to the
   fatherless, judges and avengers of the cause of widows; that they may
   be compassionate to the wants of the poor, and the groans of the
   oppressed; that they may not vex or kill the Lord's people with unjust
   or ambitious wars; but may feed the flock of God, and may inquire after
   and do all things which may promote peace, public honesty, and holy
   religion; so administering things present that they may not fail of the
   ever-lasting glories of the world to come, where all thy faithful
   people shall reign kings for ever. Amen.

   4. For all the Orders of them that minister about Holy Things.

   O thou great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, holy and eternal Jesus,
   give unto thy servants the ministers of the mysteries of Christian
   religion, the spirit of prudence and sanctity, faith and charity,
   confidence and zeal, diligence and watchfulness, that they may declare
   thy will unto the people faithfully, and dispense thy sacraments
   rightly, and intercede with thee graciously and acceptably for thy
   servants. Grant, O Lord, that by a holy life and a true belief, by
   well-doing and patient suffering, (when thou shalt call them to it,)
   they may glorify thee, the great lover of souls, and, after a plentiful
   conversion of sinners from the errors of their ways, they may shine
   like the stars in glory. Amen.

   Give unto thy servants, the bishops, a discerning spirit, that they may
   lay hands suddenly on no man, but may depute such persons to the
   ministries of religion who may adorn the gospel of God, and whose lips
   may preserve knowledge and such who by their good preaching and holy
   living may advance the service of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

   5. For our nearest Relatives, as Husband, Wife, Children, Family, etc.

   O God of infinite mercy, let thy loving mercy and compassion descent
   upon the head of thy servants: (my wife, or husband, children, and
   family) be pleased to give them health of body and of spirit, a
   competent portion of temporals, so as may with comfort support them in
   their journey to heaven: preserve them from all evil and sad accidents,
   defend them in all assaults of their enemies, direct their persons and
   their actions, sanctify their hearts and words and purposes; that we
   all may, by the bands of obedience and charity, be united to our Lord
   Jesus, and, always feeling thee our merciful and gracious Father; may
   become a holy family discharging our whole duty in all our relations;
   that we in this life being thy children by adoption and grace, may be
   admitted into thy holy family hereafter, for ever to sing praises to
   thee in the church of the first-born, in the family of thy redeemed
   ones. Amen.

   6. For our Parents, our Kindred in the Flesh, our Friends and
   Benefactors.

   O God, merciful and gracious, who hast made (my parents) my friends and
   my benefactors ministers of thy mercy, and instruments of Providence to
   thy servant, I humbly beg a blessing to descend upon the heads of (name
   the persons or the relations). Depute thy holy angels to guard their
   persons, thy Holy Spirit to guide their souls, thy providence to
   minister to their necessities; and let thy grace and mercy preserve
   them from the bitter pains of eternal death, and bring them to
   everlasting life, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

   7. For all that lie under toe Rof of War, Famine, Pestilence; to be
   said in the Time of Plague, or War, etc.

   O Lord God Almighty, thou art our Father, we are thy children; thou art
   our Redeemer, we thy people, purchased with the price of thy most
   precious blood; let not thy whole displeasure arise, lest we be
   consumed and brought to nothing. Let health and peace lie within our
   dwellings; let righteousness and holiness dwell for ever in our hearts,
   and be expressed in all our actions, and the light of thy countenance
   be upon us in all our sufferings, that we may delight in the service
   and in the mercies of God for ever. Amen.

   O gracious Father and merciful God, if it be thy will, say unto the
   destroying angel, "It is enough;" and though we are not better than our
   brethren, who are smitten with the rod of God, but much worse, yet may
   it please thee, even because thou art good, and because we are timorous
   and sinful, not yet fitted for our appearance, to set thy mark upon our
   foreheads, that thy angel, the minister of thy justice, may pass over
   us and hurt us not; let thy hand cover thy servants and hide us in the
   clefts of the rock, in the wounds of the holy Jesus, from the present
   anger that is gone out against us; that though we walk through the
   valley of the shadow of death, we may fear no evil, and suffer none;
   and those whom thou hast smitten with thy rod support with thy staff,
   and visit them with thy mercies and salvation, through Jesus Christ.

   8. For all Women with Child, and for unborn Children.

   O Lord God, who art the Father of them that trust in thee, and showest
   mercy to a thousand generations of them that fear thee; have mercy upon
   all women great with child; be pleased to give them a joyful and a safe
   deliverance; and let thy grace preserve the fruit of their wombs, and
   conduct them to the holy sacrament of baptism; that they, being
   regenerated by thy Spirit, and adopted into thy family, and the portion
   and duty of sons, may live to the glory of God, to the comfort of their
   parents and friends, to the edification of the Christian commonwealth,
   and the salvation of their own souls, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

   9. For all Estates of Men and Women in the Christian Church.

   O holy God, King eternal, out of the infinite storehouses of thy grace
   and mercy, give unto all virgins chastity and a religious spirit; to
   all persons dedicated to thee and to religion, continence and meekness
   and active zeal and an unwearied spirit; to all married pairs, faith
   and holiness; to widows and fatherless, and all that are oppressed, thy
   patronage, comfort, and defence; to all Christian women, simplicity and
   modesty, humility and chastity, patience and charity; give unto the
   poor, to all that are robbed and spoiled of their goods, a competent
   support, and a contented spirit, and a treasure in heaven hereafter;
   give unto prisoners and captives, to them that toil in the mines, and
   row in the gullies, strength of body and of spirit, liberty and
   redemption, comfort and restitution; to all that travel by land, thy
   angel for their guide, and a holy and prosperous return: to all that
   travel by sea, freedom from pirates and shipwreck, and bring them to
   the haven where they would be; to distressed and scrupulous
   consciences, to melancholy and disconsolate persons, to all that are
   afflicted with evil and unclean spirits, give a light from heaven,
   great grace, and proportionable comforts and timely deliverance; give
   them patience and resignation; let their sorrows be changed into grace
   and comfort, and let the storm waft them certainly to the regions of
   rest and glory.

   Lord God of mercy, give to thy martyrs, confessors, and all thy
   persecuted, constancy and prudence, boldness and hope, a full faith and
   a never-failing charity. To all who are condemned to death, do thou
   minister comfort, a strong, a quiet, and a resigned spirit; take from
   them the fear of death, and all remaining affections to sin, and all
   imperfections of duty, and cause them to die full of grace, full of
   hope. And give to all faithful, and particularly to them who have
   recommended themselves to the prayers of thy unworthy servant, a supply
   of all their needs temporal and spiritual, and, according to their
   several states and necessities, rest and peace, pardon and refreshment,
   and show us all a mercy in the day of judgment. Amen.

   Give, O Lord, to the magistrates equity, sincerity, courage, and
   prudence, that they may protect the good, defend religion, and punish
   the wrong-doers. Give to the nobility wisdom, valour, and loyalty; to
   merchants, justice and faithfulness, to all artificers and labours,
   truth and honesty; to our enemies, forgiveness and brotherly kindness.

   Preserve to us the heavens and the air in healthful influence and
   disposition, the earth in plenty, the kingdom in peace and good
   governments, our marriages in peace, and sweetness, and innocence of
   society, thy people from famine and pestilence, our houses from burning
   and robbery, our persons from being burnt alive, from banishment and
   prison, from widowhood and destitution, from violence of pains and
   passions, from tempests and earthquakes, from inundation of waters,
   from rebellion or invasion, from impatience and inordinate cares, from
   tediousness of spirit and despair, from murder, and all violent,
   accursed, and unusual deaths, from the surprise of sudden and violent
   accidents, from passionate and unreasonable fears, from all thy wrath,
   and from all our sins, good Lord, deliver and preserve thy servants for
   ever. Amen.

   Repress the violence of all implacable, warring, and tyrant nations;
   bring home unto thy fold all that are gone astray; call into the church
   all strangers; increase the number and holiness of thine own people;
   bring infants to ripeness of age and reason; confirm all baptized
   people with thy grace and with thy Spirit; instruct the novices and new
   Christians; let a great grace and merciful providence bring youthful
   persons safely and holily through the indiscretions, and passions, and
   temptations of their younger years; and to those whom thou hast or
   shalt permit to live to the age of a man, give competent strength and
   wisdom, take from them covetousness and churlishness, pride and
   impatience; fill them full of devotion and charity, repentance and
   sobriety, holy thoughts and longing desires after heaven and heavenly
   things; give them a holy and a blessed death, and to us all a joyful
   resurrection, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

   Ad. Sect. 10.
     __________________________________________________________________

  The Manner of using these Devotions by way of Preparation to the receiving of
  the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper.

   The just preparation to this holy feast consisting principally in a
   holy life, and consequently in the repetition of the acts or all
   virtues, and especially of faith, repentance, charity, and
   thanksgiving; to the exercise of these four graces, let the person that
   intends to communicate, in the times set apart for his preparation and
   devotion, for the exercise of his faith recite the prayer or litany of
   the passion; for the exercise of repentance, the form of confession of
   sins with the prayer annexed; and for the graces of thanksgiving and
   charity, let him use the special forms of prayer above described. Or if
   a less time can be allotted for preparatory devotion, the two first
   will be the more proper, as containing in them all the personal duty of
   the communicant. To which, upon the morning of that holy solemnity, let
   him add
     __________________________________________________________________

  A Prayer of Preparation or Address to the Holy Sacrament.

  An Act of Love.

   O most gracious and eternal God, the helper of the helpless, the
   comforter of the comfortless, the hope of the afflicted, the bread of
   the hungry, the drink of the thirsty, and the Saviour of all them that
   wait upon thee; I bless and glorify thy name, and adore thy goodness,
   and delight in thy love, that thou hast once more given me the
   opportunity of receiving the greatest favour which I can receive in
   this world, even the body and blood of my dearest Saviour. O take from
   me all affection to sin or vanity; let not my affections dwell below,
   but soar upwards to the element of love, to the seat of God, to the
   regions of glory, and the inheritance of Jesus; that I may hunger and
   thirst for the bread of life, and the wine of elect souls, and may know
   no loves but the love of God, and the most merciful Jesus. Amen.

  An Act of Desire.

   O blessed Jesus, thou hast used many arts to save me, thou hast given
   thy life to redeem me, thy Holy Spirit to sanctify me, thyself for my
   example, thy word for my rule, thy grace for my guide, the fruit of thy
   body hanging on the tree of the cross for the sin of my soul; and,
   after all this, thou hast sent thy apostles and ministers of salvation
   to call me, to importune me, to constrain me to holiness, and peace,
   and felicity. O now come, Lord Jesus, come quickly: my heart is
   desirous of thy presence and thirsty of thy grace, and would entertain
   thee, not as a guest, but as an inhabitant, as the Lord of all my
   faculties. Enter in and take possession, and dwell with me for ever;
   that I also may dwell in the heart of my dearest Lord, which was opened
   for me with a spear and love.

  An Act of Contrition.

   Lord, thou shalt find my heart full of cares and worldly desires,
   cheated with love of riches, and neglect of holy things, proud and
   unmortified, false and crafty to deceive itself, intricated and
   entangled with difficult cases of conscience, with knots which my own
   wildness and inconsideration and impatience have tied and shuffled
   together. O my dearest Lord, if thou canst behold such an impure seat,
   behold the place to which thou art invited is full of passion and
   prejudice, evil principles and evil habits, peevish and disobedient,
   lustful and intemperate, and full of sad remembrances, that I have
   often provoked to jealousy and to anger thee my God, my dearest
   Saviour, him that died for me, him that suffered torments for me, that
   is infinitely good to me, and infinitely good and perfect in himself.
   This, O dearest Saviour, is a sad truth, and I am heartily ashamed, and
   truly sorrowful for it, and do deeply hate all my sins, and am full of
   indignation against myself for so unworthy, so careless, so continued,
   so great a folly: and humbly beg of thee to increase my sorrow, and my
   care, and my hatred against sin; and make my love to thee swell up to a
   great grace, and then to glory and immensity.

  An Act of Faith.

   This indeed is my condition; but I know, O blessed Jesus, that thou
   didst take upon thee my nature, that thou mightest suffer for my sins,
   and thou didst suffer to deliver me from them and from thy Father's
   wrath; and I was delivered from this wrath, that I might serve thee in
   holiness and righteousness all my days. Lord, I am as sure thou didst
   the great work of redemption for me and all mankind, as that I am
   alive. This is my hope, the strength of my spirit, my joy and my
   confidence; and do thou never let the spirit, my joy and my confidence;
   and do thou never let the spirit of unbelief enter into me and take me
   from this rock. Here I will dwell, for I have a delight therein; here I
   will live, and here I desire to die.

  The Petition.

   Therefore, O blessed Jesus, who art my Saviour and my God, whose body
   is my food, and thy righteousness is my robe, thou art the priest and
   the sacrifice, the master of the feast and the feast itself, the
   physician of my soul, the light of my eyes, the purifier of my stains;
   enter into my heart and cast out from thence all impurities, all the
   remains of the old man; and grant I may partake of this holy sacrament
   with much reverence, and holy relish, and great effect, receiving hence
   the communication of thy holy body and blood, for the establishment of
   an unreprovable faith, of an unfeigned love, for the fulness of wisdom,
   for the healing my soul, for the blessing and preservation of my body,
   for the taking out the sting of temporal death, and for the assurance
   of a holy resurrection; for the ejection of all evil from within me,
   and the fulfilling all thy righteous commandments; and to procure for
   me a mercy and a fair reception at the day of judgment, through thy
   mercies, O holy and ever-blessed Saviour Jesus.

   (Here also may be added the prayer after receiving the cup.)
     __________________________________________________________________

  Ejaculations to be said before or at the receiving the Holy Sacrament.

   Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my soul after
   thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God;
   when shall I come before the presence of God? Psalm xiii. 1, 2.

   O Lord my God, great are thy wondrous works which thou hast done; like
   as be also thy thoughts, which are to us ward: and yet there is no man
   that ordereth them unto thee. Psalm xi. 6.

   O send out thy light and thy truth, that they may lead me, and bring me
   unto thy holy hill and to thy dwelling; and that I may go unto the
   altar of God, even unto the God of my joy and gladness; and with my
   heart will I give thanks to thee, O God my God. Psalm xliii. 3, 4.

   I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord, and so will I go to thine
   altar: that I may show the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy
   wondrous works. Psalm xxvi. 6, 7.

   Examine me, O Lord, and prove me, try thou my reins and my heart. For
   thy loving-kindness is now and ever before my eyes; and I will walk in
   thy truth. Verse 2, 3.

   Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me: thou
   hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full. But thy
   loving-kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
   I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Psalm xxiii. 5, 6.

   This is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat
   thereof and not die. John vi. 50.

   Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in
   him, and hath eternal life abiding in him; and I will raise him up at
   the last day. Verse 54, 56.

   Lord, whither shall we go but to thee? thou hast the words of eternal
   life. John, vi. 68.

   If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. John, vii. 37.

   The bread which we break, is it not the communication of the body of
   Christ? and the cup which we drink, is it not the communication of the
   blood of Christ? 1 Cor. x. 16.

   What are those wounds in thy hands? They are those with which I was
   wounded in the house of my friends. Zech. xiii. 6.

   Immediately before the receiving, say,

   Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. But do
   thou speak the word only, and thy servant shall be healed. Matt. viii.
   8.

   Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show thy praise. O God,
   make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

   Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

   After receiving the consecrated and blessed Bread, say,

   O taste and see how gracious the Lord is: blessed is the man that
   trusteth in him. The beasts do lack and suffer hunger; but they which
   seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good. Lord, what am
   I, that my Saviour should become my food; that the Son of God should be
   the meat of worms, of dust and ashes, of a sinner, of him that was his
   enemy? But this thou hast done to me, because thou art infinitely good
   and wonderfully gracious, and lovest to bless every one of us, in
   turning us from the evil of our ways. Enter into me, blessed Jesus, let
   no root of bitterness spring up in my heart; but be thou Lord of all my
   faculties. O let me feed on thee by faith, and grow up by the increase
   of God to a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Amen. Lord, I believe: help
   mine unbelief.

   Glory be to God the Father, Son, etc.

   After receiving the Cup of Blessing.

   It is finished. Blessed be the mercies of God revealed to us in Jesus
   Christ. O blessed and eternal High-priest, at the sacrifice of the
   cross, which thou didst once offer for the sins of the whole world, and
   which thou dost now and always represent in heaven to thy Father by thy
   never-ceasing intercession, and which this day hath been exhibited on
   thy holy table sacramentally, obtain mercy and peace, faith and
   charity, safety and establishment to thy holy church, which thou hast
   founded upon a rock, the rock of a holy faith; and let not the gates of
   hell prevail against her, nor the enemy of mankind take any soul out of
   thy hand, whom thou hast purchased with thy blood, and sanctified by
   thy spirit. Preserve all thy people from heresy and division of spirit,
   from scandal and the spirit of delusion, from sacrilege and hurtful
   persecutions. Thou, O blessed Jesus, didst die for us; keep me for ever
   in holy living, from sin and sinful shame, in the communion of thy
   church, and thy church is safety and grace, in truth and peace, unto
   thy second coming. Amen.

   Dearest Jesus, since thou art pleased to enter into me, O be jealous of
   thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth: suffer no unclean
   spirit or unholy thought to come near thy dwelling, lest it defile the
   ground where thy holy feet have trod. O teach me so to walk, that I may
   never disrepute the honour of my religion, nor stain the holy robe
   which thou hast now put upon my soul, nor break my holy vows which I
   have made, and thou hast sealed, nor lose my right of inheritance, my
   privilege of being co-heir with Jesus, into the hope of which I have no
   further entered: but be thou pleased to love me with the love of a
   father, and of a brother, and a husband, and a lord; and make me to
   serve thee in the communion of saints, in receiving the sacrament, in
   the practice of all holy virtues, in the imitation of thy life, and
   conformity to thy sufferings: that I, having now put on the Lord Jesus
   may marry his loves and his enmities, may desire his glory, and may
   obey his laws, and be united to his Spirit, and in the day of the Lord
   I may be found having on the wedding-garment, and bearing in my body
   and soul the marks of the Lord Jesus, that I may enter into the joy of
   my Lord, and partake of his glories for ever and ever. Amen.

   Ejaculations to be used any time that Day, after the Solemnity is
   ended.

   Lord, if I had lived innocently, I could not have deserved to receive
   the crumbs that fall from thy table. How great is thy mercy, who hast
   feasted me with the bread of virgins, with the wine of angels, with
   manna from heaven!

   O when shall I pass from this dark glass, from this veil of sacraments,
   to the vision of thy eternal clarity? from eating thy body, to
   beholding thy face in thy eternal kingdom?

   Let not my sins crucify the Lord of life again: let it never he said
   concerning me, The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on this
   table.'

   O that I might love thee as well as ever any creature loved thee! Let
   me drink nothing but thee, desire nothing but thee, enjoy nothing but
   thee.

   O Jesus, be a Jesus unto me. Thou art all things unto me. Let nothing
   ever please me but what savours of thee and thy miraculous sweetness.

   Blessed be the mercies of our Lord, who of God is made unto me wisdom,
   and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

   He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.' Amen.

   THE END
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

   [191] James, i. 27.

   [192] Tit. ii. 12.
     __________________________________________________________________

                                    Indexes
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Scripture References

   Genesis

   [1]24

   Leviticus

   [2]19:13

   Numbers

   [3]30

   Deuteronomy

   [4]31:13

   2 Samuel

   [5]2:5

   Job

   [6]19   [7]24:15

   Psalms

   [8]1   [9]1   [10]1   [11]1   [12]1   [13]1   [14]1:3   [15]1:4
   [16]4:4   [17]4:6   [18]4:9   [19]6:1   [20]7:11   [21]8   [22]9:10
   [23]10:11   [24]11:6   [25]13:1   [26]13:1-2   [27]13:4   [28]13:6
   [29]13:7-8   [30]15:5-6   [31]15:6   [32]17:13   [33]21:5-6
   [34]23:5-6   [35]25:5   [36]25:6   [37]26:2-3   [38]26:6-7
   [39]29:3-4   [40]30:6   [41]31:21   [42]33:18-19   [43]34:18
   [44]36:7   [45]36:8   [46]36:8-9   [47]36:9   [48]37:5   [49]37:40
   [50]38:2-4   [51]38:18   [52]39   [53]39:6   [54]39:9   [55]41:3
   [56]41:4   [57]43:3-4   [58]49:15   [59]51:1   [60]51:2   [61]51:10
   [62]51:11   [63]55:4   [64]57:10   [65]63:1   [66]65:4   [67]65:5
   [68]66:8   [69]84:1-2   [70]84:4   [71]96:3   [72]102:1-4
   [73]102:10   [74]116:3   [75]119:25   [76]121:1   [77]124:8
   [78]125:4   [79]126:6   [80]138:1-2   [81]156

   Proverbs

   [82]3:9   [83]23:29   [84]23:33   [85]28:13   [86]31:4

   Isaiah

   [87]3:16-18   [88]4:15   [89]25:1   [90]26:12   [91]58:5

   Jeremiah

   [92]6:5   [93]11:15   [94]13:17   [95]17:10   [96]23:23-24

   Ezekiel

   [97]9:9   [98]16:49   [99]27:31   [100]33:15

   Daniel

   [101]4:27

   Hosea

   [102]2:6   [103]6:1

   Joel

   [104]2:13

   Zechariah

   [105]13:6

   Malachi

   [106]3:10

   Matthew

   [107]6:4   [108]6:25   [109]7:11   [110]8:8   [111]10:19   [112]11:25
   [113]13:12   [114]13:33   [115]18:20   [116]22:29   [117]25:15
   [118]25:35   [119]26:12

   Mark

   [120]11:24

   Luke

   [121]6:17   [122]6:30   [123]11:41   [124]12:2   [125]15:7
   [126]16:29   [127]16:31   [128]18:1   [129]19:9   [130]21:34
   [131]21:36   [132]24:45

   John

   [133]5:28   [134]6:50   [135]6:54   [136]6:56   [137]6:68   [138]7:37
   [139]9:31   [140]13:15

   Acts

   [141]3:6   [142]4   [143]10:4   [144]15:21   [145]17:28   [146]19:18
   [147]21:13   [148]28:2

   Romans

   [149]6:3-4   [150]6:7   [151]8:10   [152]8:10   [153]8:32
   [154]8:38-39   [155]10:2   [156]11:22   [157]11:27   [158]12:12
   [159]13:1   [160]13:4   [161]13:7   [162]13:13-14   [163]15:30

   1 Corinthians

   [164]3:16   [165]3:17   [166]6:8   [167]6:18   [168]6:19   [169]7:5
   [170]7:19   [171]10:16   [172]10:31   [173]11:31   [174]13

   2 Corinthians

   [175]1:3-4   [176]5:20   [177]6:16   [178]7:11   [179]7:11
   [180]8:12   [181]9:7   [182]13:5   [183]13:5

   Galatians

   [184]4:18   [185]5:6   [186]5:24   [187]6:10   [188]6:15

   Ephesians

   [189]5:18   [190]5:32   [191]6:4   [192]6:18

   Philippians

   [193]3:6   [194]4:6   [195]4:8   [196]4:11-12   [197]4:17

   Colossians

   [198]1:21-23   [199]3:12   [200]4:12   [201]21

   1 Thessalonians

   [202]3:10   [203]4:3-5   [204]4:6   [205]4:15   [206]5:14   [207]5:17

   2 Thessalonians

   [208]3:10

   1 Timothy

   [209]1:15   [210]2:2   [211]2:8   [212]2:9   [213]5:1   [214]5:4
   [215]6:6

   2 Timothy

   [216]2:8   [217]3:16   [218]4:7-8

   Titus

   [219]2:12   [220]2:14   [221]3:1

   Hebrews

   [222]2:18   [223]4:13   [224]7:15   [225]10:16   [226]10:22
   [227]10:24   [228]10:25   [229]12:1   [230]12:9   [231]12:14
   [232]12:16   [233]13:5   [234]13:5   [235]13:5-6   [236]13:16
   [237]13:17

   James

   [238]1:6-7   [239]1:27   [240]2:5-7   [241]4:6   [242]4:9   [243]5:15

   1 Peter

   [244]1:15   [245]1:22   [246]1:22   [247]2:13   [248]2:14   [249]4:7
   [250]4:10

   2 Peter

   [251]1:3   [252]1:9   [253]1:10   [254]3:10   [255]3:11

   1 John

   [256]1:6   [257]1:9   [258]1:9   [259]1:14   [260]2:1-2   [261]3:5
   [262]3:8-9   [263]3:22   [264]5:16

   Revelation

   [265]1:3   [266]2:17   [267]3:16   [268]4:10   [269]5:10   [270]5:13
   [271]11:17   [272]14:4   [273]15:3   [274]21:23   [275]22:5

   Sirach

   [276]7:21   [277]31:25   [278]31:26
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Greek Words and Phrases

     * Aischunm.: [279]1
     * Amunomenoi tmn eneran.: [280]1
     * Atiria paxm.: [281]1
     * Di alloroion ergon ptaiei onxeis: [282]1
     * Elpis kai sn Tuchm, rega Chairete ten uuun enrn.: [283]1
     * Elta leagomen Kurte s zeos, pos mlagono; mooe, Cheiras ouk echeis:
       ouk epoimse soi autas s cheos; euchou nun kazmmenos opos ai mueat
       sou me reosin apomneai mallon.: [284]1
     * Enroit un nuentas oper xeuis esti nomsai: [285]1
     * Eoi ue deou tosa doten --: [286]1
     * Enati to ute paiua katektanon Anphixanatos, Nnpios ouk zxelon, anph
       astrageloisi cholopheis: [287]1
     * Kai manphanein men, oia oran mello kaka phnmos oe kreisson ton enon
       bonlenmaton.: [288]1
     * Kalon xe zmlonsphai en tps kalpst pantote.: [289]1
     * Klepsasa kala klerrata aneu anoros tas eupoiad zpoimse: [290]1
     * Kraipalm apo pphoteraias aut apo chdizms oino posias.: [291]1
     * Mertrnan exzi, koud euon donein tase: [292]1
     * Mikropsuchoi rakrolnpoi.: [293]1
     * Mouou skipssu posou poleis tlu seautou praireaiu, amphrope ei reotu
       allo, re oligou autpu polpads.: [294]1
     * Nuktiporian kai oligaristan.: [295]1
     * Nurphenphaton uen ton eron patmph eros.: [296]1
     * Ondeis oe penms tragpsoian snmplmsoi ei rg choreutis.: [297]1
     * Onk eti gar spheteirois ipiterporai errete arpho: [298]1
     * Ossa gar atrekeos ouk essetai, nmmes in mrin: [299]1
     * Ouneken in reropessi puluplanees rala este.: [300]1
     * Pleonektei onsen o ou boezesas chrebasi oi anelenxerian.: [301]1
     * Ti oun pros estin euriskeiu bonphea; tu enantionephoz: [302]1
     * Ps: [303]1
     * aizoite, stropheoite, osons emen nsteron ontas: [304]1
     * axpsa te kai nega neikos epistamenes katepause.: [305]1
     * muktiporiau kai oligaristian.: [306]1
     * uphomegou tigos, pos estin esphtein artos pheots; eidikaios estn,
       ephe, kai eugoroos, kai isoe, kai egeoatos, kai kosmios, omk esti
       kai aresos tois pheois.: [307]1
     * phasmata, os en npno, erxallete, nia t eonta: [308]1
     * phd dn autots euokiglomtes, ots eusrtom, euprepdpdserm deu apogiam
       eisaei pheromtai.: [309]1
     * pheos periechei tg zouledee to tag, retxogn tou tomtoz ospeg ouaib,
       outos chsixig.: [310]1
     * philees olugpia uekeasi: Dei se eutakteiu, auankotropheiu
       apechesphau peraton, germazesxat pmankem, : [311]1
     * phxartikai ton archon.: [312]1
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Latin Words and Phrases

     * "Quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita mancbat,: [313]1
     * (Edipum curiositas in extremas conjecit calamitates.: [314]1
     * Alexandrum intemperantia bibendi, et ille Herculanus ac fatalis
       scyphus perdidit.: [315]1
     * Alter alteri satis amplum theatrum sumus; satis unus, satismullus.:
       [316]1
     * Ama nesciri et pro nihilo reputari.: [317]1
     * Angustum annulum non gesta, disit Pythag, id est, vitae genus
       liberum sectare, nec vinculo temetipsum obstringe.: [318]1
     * Animusque menus sursum usque evectus ad polum: [319]1
     * Appetitus fornicationis anxietas est, satietas vero poenitentia.:
       [320]1
     * Arbuteos foetus, montanaque fraga legebant.: [321]1
     * At meretrix abigit testem veloque seraque; Raraque Summaeni fornice
       rima patet.: [322]1
     * Atticus eximie si coenat, lautus, habetur; Si Rutilus, demens --:
       [323]1
     * Beatitudo pendet a recis consilliis in affectionem animi
       constantern desinentibus.: [324]1
     * Beatus qui intelligt super egenum et pauperem.: [325]1
     * Benedictus in spinis se volutavit; S. Martinianus faciem et manus.
       S. Johanes, cognomento Bonus, calamos acutos inter ungues et carnem
       digitorum intrusit. S. Theoctistus in silvia more ferarum vixit, ne
       inter Arabes pollueretur.: [326]1
     * Berecynthia arva.: [327]1
     * Bis sex dierum mensura consero ego agros,: [328]1
     * Casso saltem delectamine amare quot potiri non licest.: [329]1
     * Cicero vocat Temperantiam ornatum vitae, in quo decorum illud et
       honestum situm est.: [330]1
     * Contra libidinis impetum apprehende fugam, si vis obtinere
       victoriam.: [331]1
     * Convictio est quasi quaedam intensio benevolentiae. Inferior
       matrona suo sit, sexte marito: Non aliter flunt foemina, virque
       pares.: [332]1
     * Corpus onustum Hesternis vitiis animum quoque praegravat.: [333]1
     * Cruei haeremus, sanguinem sugimus, et inter ipsa Redemporis nostri
       vulnera, figimus linguam.: [334]1
     * Danda est opera at matrimonio devincianur, quod est tutissimum
       juventutis vinculum.: [335]1
     * Dandum interstitium paeniteniae: [336]1
     * De mendico male meretur, qui ei dat quod edat aut quod bibat: Nam
       et illud quod dat perdit, et illi prodcit vitam ad miseriam.:
       [337]1
     * Decidit humi, et me sic videtur alloqui;: [338]1
     * Demus, Deum aliquid posse, quod nos fateamur investigare ion
       posse.: [339]1
     * Desideria tua parvo redime; hoe enim tantum curare debes, ut
       desinant.: [340]1
     * Dieere quid coena possis ingratius ista?: [341]1
     * Discedite ab aris, Queis tulit hesterna gaudia nocte Venus: [342]1
     * Disea haud nimis magnifacere mortalia.: [343]1
     * Donum nudum est, nisi consensu vestiatur: [344]1
     * Ebrietas est voluntaria insania.: [345]1
     * Eosdem quos maritus nosse deos et colere s olos uxor debet;
       supervacaneis autem religionibus et alienis superstitionibus fores
       occludere. Nulli enim deum grata sunt sacra, quae mulier clanculum
       et furtim facit--Plutarch. Conjug. Praecept. Gen. 24: [346]1
     * Ergo solicitae tu causa, pecunia, vitae es: Per te immaturum mortis
       adimus iter.: [347]1
     * Etiamsi partem damni dare noluisti, in totum quasi prudens dederis,
       tenendus es. Fx toto enim nolaisse debet qui imprudentia
       defenditur. Sen. Contr. Involuntarium ortum ex voluntario censetur
       pro voluntario.: [348]1
     * Fabis abstine, dixit Pythagoras. Olim nam Magistratus per suffragia
       fabis lata creabantur.: [349]1
     * Facilius est initia affectuum prohibere, quam impetum regere.:
       [350]1
     * Felix initium, prior aetas contenia dulcibus arvis; Facileque sera
       solebat jejunia solvere glande.: [351]1
     * Hie in foro beatus esse creditur, Cum foribus apertis sit suis
       miserrimus: Imperat mulier, jubet omnia, semper litigat. Multra
       adferunt ilt dolorem, nihil mihi -- Ferre, quam sortem patiuntur
       omnes, Nemo recusat.: [352]1
     * Homerus, Thersitis maloa mores describens, makitim summam apposuit,
       Pelidae inprimis erat atque inimicus Ulyssi.: [353]1
     * I1villan nobilitado non cognosce partentado.: [354]1
     * Idem fere apud Plutarch. Vinolentia animi quandam remissiem et
       levitatem, ebrietas futilitatem significat.: [355]1
     * In colloquiis pueri invisi aliis non fient, si non omnino in
       disputationibus victoriam sempetr obtinere laborent. Non tantum
       egregium est scire vincere, sed etiam posse vinci pulchrum est, ubi
       victoria est damnosa.: [356]1
     * In rebus miris summa credendi ratio est omnipotentia Creatoris.:
       [357]1
     * Insaniae comes est ira, contubernalis ebrietas.: [358]1
     * Inter sacra et vota, verbis etiam profanis abstinere.: [359]1
     * Ira cum pectus rapida occupavit, Futiles linguae jubeo cavere Vana
       latratus jaculantis.: [360]1
     * Itidem si puer parvulus occidat, aequo animo ferendum putant; si
       vero in cunis, ne querendum quidem; atqui hoc acerbius exegit
       natura quod dederat. At id quidem in caeteris rebus melius putatur,
       aliquam partem quaim nummam attingere.: [361]1
     * Jejunium sine eleemosyna, lampas sine oleo.: [362]1
     * Juvenis relinquit vitam, quem Dii diligunt.: [363]1
     * Laete venire Venus, trists abire solet.: [364]1
     * Laetum esse debet et officiosum mariti imperium.-Plut. Namque es ei
       pater et frater, venerandaque mater; nec minus facit ad dignitatem
       viri, si mulier eum suum praeceptorem, philosophum, magistrumque
       appellet.: [365]1
     * Laudatur Augustus Caesar apud Lucanum, -- media inter praelia
       semper Stellarum coelique plagis, superisque vacabat.: [366]1
     * Laudi ductum apud vet. : [367]1
     * Liberi sine consensu parentum contrahere non debeut. Andromache,
       apud Eurpiden, cum petita fuit ad nuptias, responidit, patris sui
       esse sponsalium suorum curam habere; et Achilles, apud Homerum,
       regis filiam sine patris sui consensu noluit ducere. II.9, 393. Et
       Justinanus Imp. alt. naturali simul et civili rationi congruere, ne
       filii ducant uxores citra parentum authoritatem. Simo Terentianus
       parat abdictionem, quia Pamphilus clam ipso duxisset uxorem.
       Istitsmodi sponalia frunt irrita, nisi velint parentes: at si
       subsequuta est copula, ne temere rescindantur connubia, toulue
       suadent cautiones et pericula. Liberi, autem, quamdiu secundum
       leges patrias sui juris non sunt, clandestinas nuptias si ineant,
       peccant contra quintum praeceptum, et jus naturale secundarium.
       Proprie enim loquendo parentes non habent sive potestatem, sed
       authoritatem; hebent jus jubendi aut prohibendi, sed non irritum
       faciendi. Atque etiam ista authoritas exercenda est sccudnum aequm
       et bonum; scil, nt ne morosus et difficilis sit pater. Mater enim
       vix habet aliquod juris praeter suasionis et amoris et
       gratitudinis. Si autem pater filiam non collocasset ante 25 annos,
       filia nubere poterat cui voluerat, ex jure Romanorum. Patrum enim
       authoritas major aut minor est ex legibus patriis, et solet extendi
       ad certam aetatem, et tum exspirat quoad matrimonium; et est major
       in filias quam filios.: [368]1
     * Mortem venientem nemo hilaris excipit, nisi qui ad eam se diu
       composuerat.: [369]1
     * Multa faciunt ebrii quibus sobrii erubescunt.: [370]1
     * Nalla lex (civilis) sibi soli conscientiam justitiaw suae debet,
       sed cis a quibus obsequim expectat: [371]1
     * Nemo alienae viruti invidet, qui confidit suae.: [372]1
     * Nequam illud verbum, Bene vult, nisi qui bene facit.: [373]1
     * Nihil ita dignum est odio, ut eorum mores, qui compellantibus se
       difficiles, praebent.: [374]1
     * Nil interest, faveas sceleri, an illud facias.: [375]1
     * Nisi fundamenta stirpis jacta sint probe, Miseros necesse est esse
       deinceps posteros.: [376]1
     * Nobilis haec esset pietatis rixa duobus; Quod pro fratre mori
       vellet uterque prior.: [377]1
     * Non facta tibi est, si dissimules, injuris.: [378]1
     * Non licet suffurari mentem vel Samaritani.: [379]1
     * Non te ad omnia laeta genuit, O Agamemnon, Atreus, Opus est te
       gaugere et maercre: mortalis enim natus es, et ut haud veilis;
       superi sic constucrunt.: [380]1
     * Nosti tempora tu Jovis sereni, Cum fulget placidus, suoque vultn,
       Quo nil supplicibus solet negare.: [381]1
     * Nunquam memini me legisse mala morte mortuum, qui libenter opera
       charitatis exercuit.: [382]1
     * Omittenda potius praevalida ct adulta vitia, quam hoe adsequi, ut
       palam fiat, quibus flagitiis impares simus.: [383]1
     * Patellas luxuriae oculos, dixit Isidorus.: [384]1
     * Plutarchus citans carmen de suo Apolline, adjicit ex Herodoto quasi
       de suo, De eo os meum continens esto.: [385]1
     * Potior mihi ratio vivendi honeste, quam et opime dicendividetur.:
       [386]1
     * Praebeant misericordia ut conservetur justitia.: [387]1
     * Praemonstro tibi Ut ita te aliorum miserescat, ne tui alios
       misereat.: [388]1
     * Prodigio par est in nobilitate senectus. Hortulus hic, puteusque
       brevis, nec rest movendus, In tenues plantas facili diffunditur
       haustu. Vive bidentis amans, et culti villicus hortl: Unde epululum
       possis centum dare Pythagoreis. Est aliquid, quocunque loco,
       quocunque recessu, Unius dominum sese fecisse lacertae.: [389]1
     * Provocet ut segnes animos, rerumque remotas Ingeniosa vias paulatim
       exploret egestas.: [390]1
     * Pulla prosternit se ad pedes: Miserere virginitatis meae, ne
       prostituas hoc corpus sub tam turpi titulo.: [391]1
     * Quanto preaestantius esset Numen aquae, viridi si margine claugeret
       undas Herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum.: [392]1
     * Quem Deus tegit vercundiae pallio, hujus maculas hominibus non
       ostendit.: [393]1
     * Qui animum vincunt, quam quos animus, semper prokiores cluent.:
       [394]1
     * Qui dedit beneficium, taceat; narret, qui accepti: [395]1
     * Qui laudat servum fugitivum, tenetur. Non enim oportet laudando
       augeri maium.: [396]1
     * Qui pauca requirunt, non multis excidunt.: [397]1
     * Qui turatur ut maechetur, maechus est magis quam fur.: [398]1
     * Quid refert igitur quantis jumenta fatiget Porticibus, quanta
       nemorum vectetur in umbra, Jugera quot vicina foro, quas emerit
       aedes? Nemo malus felix.: [399]1
     * Quisquis in primo obsitit Repulitqua amorem, tutus ac victor fuit:
       Qui blandiendo dulce nutrivit malum, Sero recusat ferre, quod
       subiit, jugum.: [400]1
     * Si tua culpa datum est damnum, jure super his satisfacere te
       oportet.: [401]1
     * Sic Jesus dixit. S. Carpo apud Dionysium epist. ad Demophilum.:
       [402]1
     * Sic Novatus novitios suos compulit ad jurandum, ne unquarm ad
       Catholicos episcopos redirent.: [403]1
     * Sic Vivianus resipuit de injusta accusatione: apud Cassiodo.:
       [404]1
     * Sp. Minucius Pontifex Posthumium monuit, ne verbis vitae
       eastimoniam non aequantibus uteretur.: [405]1
     * Spiritu principali me confirma.: [406]1
     * Surgam ad sponsalia, quia promisi, quamvis non concoxerim: sed non,
       si febricitavero: subest enim tacita exceptio, sipotero, si debebo.
       Effice ut idem status sit, cum exigitur, qui futi, cum promitterem.
       Desitiuere levitas non erit, si aliquid intervenit novi. Eadem mihi
       omnia praesta: et idem sum: [407]1
     * Time videre unde possis cadere, et noli fieri perversa simplicitate
       securus.: [408]1
     * Tu sia nimum vicisi potius quam animus te, est quod gaudeas.:
       [409]1
     * Turbatus sum, et non sum locutus.: [410]1
     * Vasa pura ad rem divinam.: [411]1
     * Venter mero awstuanus cito despumatur in libidines.: [412]1
     * Venus rosam amat propter fabellam, quam recitat.: [413]1
     * Verum humilem patientia ostendit.: [414]1
     * Virginitas est, in arne corruptibili, incorruptionis perpetua
       meditatio: [415]1
     * Voluptates abeuntes fessas et poenitentia plenas, animis nostris
       natura subjecit, quo minus cupide repetantur.: [416]1
     * amaram amaro bilem pharmaco qui elunt.: [417]1
     * amoris ut morsum qui vere senserit.: [418]1
     * res an gusta domi: [419]1
     * super totam materiam: [420]1
     __________________________________________________________________

            This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
               Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
                   generated on demand from ThML source.

References

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  87. file:///ccel/t/taylor/holy_living/cache/holy_living.html3?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=3&scrV=16#iv.v.iv-p8.2
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  89. file:///ccel/t/taylor/holy_living/cache/holy_living.html3?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=25&scrV=1#iii.iv.iv-p8.2
  90. file:///ccel/t/taylor/holy_living/cache/holy_living.html3?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=26&scrV=12#iii.iii.ii-p6.2
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