But for my part though I hope I both value and desire Religious Preachers as much as the rest of my Brethren yet I think it would be much to the injury of Scripture and of Reason if we should suffer the personal faults of men to keep them from doing that good their nature fits them for The Etymology of the Gospel importing its being welcome news 't is pity that any one that teaches it should not have a title to the Character David gave Ahimaaz of whom he said that he is a good man and brings good tidings But my desirousness of piety in a Preacher is more for others sake than mine For I know not why Truth which is an intellectual thing should lose its nature by any moral vitiousness in the Proposer I know there is something extraordinary in the case of Noah who awoke from his Wine and immediately prophesied and yet the Event verifi'd his Predictions Our Saviour instructing his Disciples about the Scribes and Pharisees who sate in Moses's Chair at the same time commands them to conform to their Doctrine when he forbids them to imitate their Example The Wise-men did not the less find Christ at Bethlehem though the Priests and Pharisees sent them without accompanying them thither And the Assyrian General was cured of his Leprosie by following the Prophet's prescription convey'd him by that Gehazi who by his unworthy carriage in that business transplanted if I may so speak that foul Disease into himself and his posterity I will therefore consider Sermons more than Preachers For as in a Burning-glass though the Sun-beams do but illustrate not heat it in their passage they may yet by its assistance kindle subjects that are more disposed to receive their action So those very Truths and Notions of a learned Preacher which do but enlighten him may inflame his Hearers and kindle in their hearts the love of God And as if a Perfume be set on fire by the Beams projected through a Burning-glass which they do not so much as warm in their passage the Scent is no less odoriferous and grateful than if it had been produc'd by an actually burning coal So neither is that Devotion which is kindled by the Eloquence of an indevout Preacher any whit the less acceptable to God for their not being themselves affected with the Zeal they beget in others And what the Book of Kings relates of Elisha's Bones contains a far greater Miracle in the Historical than in the Allegorical sense in which 't is no such wonder to see a man rais'd to life by a dead Prophet REFLECTION IX Upon the finding a Horse-shoe in the High-way THe common people of this Country have a Tradition that 't is a lucky thing to find a Horse-shoe And though 't was to make my self merry with this fond conceit of the superstitious Vulgar I stoop'd to take this up yet now I observe in it a Circumstance that may for ought I know somewhat justifie the Tradition For I take notice that though Horse-shoes are by travelling worn out yet if they had a sense of their own condition it might afford them some consolation in it that the same Journeys that waste them make them both useful and bright Whereas though the Horse-shoe I have taken up have not been consum'd upon the account of travelling it has been eaten up by rust which wastes it as well as Attrition would have done but does not give it the lustre it would have receiv'd from that I meet with many who very unmindful that He who was justly styl'd the Wise-man whose counsel it was that what ever our hand finds to do we should do it with all our might c. make it the main business of their life merely to lengthen it that are far more sollicitous to live long than well and would not undergo the least labour or endure the least hardship to do the greatest Good but had rather lose an hundred opportunities of serving God or obliging Men than one Entertainment or an hours sleep and all this under the pretence of minding their Health and complying with the Dictates of Self-preservation But I have often observ'd too that ev'n these jolly People that seldome have a serious Thought but how to avoid serious Imployments may by making their whole Lives a Succession of Divertisements or rather a constant Diversion from the true end of them make their Lives indeed thereby useless but not at all immortal And truly Feavers Plurisies and other acute Diseases that are home-bread besides those numerous fatal ones that are caught by Contagion and a multitude of Casualties do cut off so many before they reach old Age in comparison of those that the Diligence and Industry impos'd by Religion or Curiosity destroy that I think so great a fear of using the Body for the interests of the Soul and of him to whom we owe both do's very little become his Disciples who said That 't was his Meat to do the Will of God that sent him and to accomplish his Work The trouble of Thirsting and Sweating and Undressing would to an ingenious Man be but just recompenc'd by the bare pleasures of Eating and Drinking and Sleeping to confine an honest and inquisitive Person from those which he looks upon as the almost onely Manly employments the exercise of Virtue and the pursuit of Knowledge by telling him that such a forbearance may protract his Life is to promise a thing upon a condition that destroys the end and use of it and he will look upon it as if you should offer him a Horse provided he will not ride him or a Perspective-glass upon condition he shall not draw it out for fear the Air should as it sometimes do's impair the Glasses A Heaven-born Soul would scarce think it worth while to stay here below if its work must be not to imploy the Body but to tend it Those that are so unreasonably afraid to spend their Spirits are in some regards less excusable than Misers themselves for though both hoard up things that cannot be better injoy'd than by being parted with the chief uses for which they were intrusted with them yet in this those I blame are more censurable than the Covetous themselves since these by their Niggardliness can avoid spending their Money but the others by their Laziness cannot avoid the Consumption of their time I know a Man may be Prodigal of himself as well as his Estate and that both those Profusions are faults and therefore fit to be declin'd But if I could not shun both the Extremes certainly since we all must Dye and the question is not whether or no we will Live for ever for the most that can be hop'd for is not to be priviledg'd from Death but onely to be longer repriv'd but whether we will rather indeavour to lead a Life mean and unprofitable a few more days or a glorious Life for a somewhat less number of them I should rather chuse to spend my
the power of created Agents are so equally inconsiderable in reference to one that is Infinite that Omnipotence may make even the World without Toyl Secondly To make this Shadow I neither use nor need Colours nor Pencil I digg no Quarries nor fell no Trees to perfect this work and employ no Materials about it As little had God any Pre-existent matter to contrive into this vast Fabrick Our Creed proclaims him the Creator of Heaven and Earth the Angel that holds the Book in the Revelations describes him resemblingly and the Apostle tells us That through Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things that do appear And indeed it became an Omnipotent Architect not to be beholden but to himself for his Materials He that calleth things that are not as though they were makes them by calling them He brought forth Light out of Darkness by calling for Light and there was Light he spake it and it was done says the Psalmist and the VVorld was if I may so express it but the real Eccho of that productive FIAT The next thing I was considering was that to destroy this Shadow I needed neither Sword nor Pistol the withdrawing of my self under the Neighbouring Trees being sufficient to make the Shadow disappear and leave behind as little shape of it as if there never had been any And thus as the VVorld could not have had a beginning without having been provided by God so for the continuance of the Being it enjoys it depends altogether and every moment upon the will and pleasure of its first Author of whom Saint Paul tells us That in Him we not only live and move but have our being and to the same purpose I think one may allege that place where the Scripture says of God not only That he has made Heaven the Heaven of Heavens with all their Hoast the Earth and all things that are thereon the Seas and all that is therein but adds That he preserveth them all as our Translatours English it for in the Hebrew I remember it is Vivifies them all that is sustains them in that improper Kind of Life or that Existence which whilst their Nature lasts belongs unto it so that if God should at any time withdraw his preserving Influence the World would presently Relapse or Vanish into its first Nothing as there are many Notions of the Mind such as that of Genus and Species which are so the Creatures of Reason that they have no longer an Existence in the nature of things than they are actually upheld therein by being actually thought upon by some Intellectual Being And God is so the preserver of all his Creatures that one may say of the rest as the Psalmist speaks of many of them where addressing himself to God he says Thou hidest thy Face they are troubled Thou takest away their Breath they Dye and return to their Dust Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are Created c. I was also taking notice pursues Eusebius that to produce what changes I pleas'd in all or any part of this Shadow I needed not employ either Emissaries or Instruments nor so much as rowse up my self to any difficult Exertion of my own strength since by only moving this or that part of my own Body I could change at pleasure in the twinkling of an Eye the figure and posture of what part of the Shadow I thought fit And thus when God had a mind to work those Miracles we most admire as when at Josuah's prayer he stop'd the course of the Sun and at Hezekiah's made him go back we Men are apt to imagine that these prodigious Effects must needs cost their Author much and that he must strain his Power and be necessitated to a troublesome Exertion of his Omnipotence to be able to produce them whereas to that Divine Agent those things that would be to all others impossible are so far from being difficult and the Creatures have so absolute and continual a dependance on him that 't is as easie for him to effect the greatest Alterations in them as to resolve to do so And even those Miraculous changes of the course of Nature that do the most astonish us do so naturally and necessarily flow from the Motions of his own Will that to decree and to execute whether or no they require powers otherwise than Notionally differing are alike easie to him And that irresistible Agent finds as little more difficulty to produce the greatest changes among the Creatures than to produce the least as I find it harder to move the whole Arm of my Shadow than to move its little Finger And this consideration subjoyns Eusebius might be methought consolatory enough to his Church who by reposing an entire trust in her God entitles her self to the protection of him that can as easily produce changes in the VVorld as resolve on them and can with the same facility destroy her and his greatest Enemies as decree their Destruction I was also further considering says Eusebius That though the little wat'ry Bodies that make up this River and consequently those that glided along by me were in a restless Motion the hindmost always urging on and chasing those that were before them yet my Shadow was as compleat and stable upon the fugitive Stream as if it had been projected on the water of a Pond or rather as if all the parts of VVater whereon 't was Visible had been fixt and moveless of which I made this Application that though we may say with Solomon in a larger sence than his That one Generation goes and another comes the VVorld being maintained by perpetual Vicissitudes of Generation and Corruption yet the Wisdome and Providence of God does so far confine the Creatures to the establish'd Laws of Nature that though vast Multitudes of Individualls are always giving place to others yet the particular Creatures which do at any time make up the VVorld do always exhibit the like Picture of its divine Original But yet lastly says Eusebius I was considering too that though this Shadow have some kind of resemblance to that whose Shadow it is yet the Picture is but very superficial and obscure And if we should suppose the Fishes that inhabit this Stream to be endued with reason they could even from Lindamors shadow but collect that the Original is a Man and not a Brute but they could not hence make any discovery of what manner of Man he is nor know any thing of his Virtues or his Thoughts or his Intention nor consequently have that Notion of him that I pursues Eusebius turning to him and a little Smiling on him do harbour and cherish who having the happiness to converse with him have the opportunity and the justice to admire him Thus where I formerly ventured to call the VVorld Gods Shadow I did not forget how imperfect a Picture a Shadow is wont to be And
pass uncited before Man's Tribunal to receive their Condemnation at God's But though a Prince can scarce as a Legislator prevent or suppress such Sins yet as a Pattern he may do much towards it For by his Example his Opinions his Encouragements and his Frowns he may reform an hundred particular things which the Laws do not and perhaps cannot reach His declar'd Esteem of such and such Practices joyn'd with his particular Actions suited to it and his profest dislike of those Sinful or Dishonourable courses he finds the Rifest back'd with a steddy and resolute discountenance of those that do not decline them will in a short time bring those that are about him to conform their Actions and Behaviour to what Men are satisfi'd he desires or likes And those whom their nearness to Him or their Employments make the conspicuous and exemplary Persons being thus model'd their Relations and Dependants will quickly be so too and then that which is in request at Court being upon that very account look'd upon as the Fashion it will by degrees be imitated by all those on whom the Court has Influence since as we just now saw in the Instance of Eusebius's gawdy Gentleman Men will be asham'd to be unlike those whose Customs and Deportments pass for the Standards by which those of other Men are to be measur'd REFLECTION VI. Upon hearing of a Lute first tun'd and then excellently play'd on THe Jarring strings made so unpleasant a noise whil'st the Instrument was tuning that I wonder not at the Story that goes of a Grand Signior who being invited by a Christian Embassadour to hear some of our Musick commanded the Fidlers to be thrust out of his Seraglia upon a mis-apprehension that they were playing when they were but tuning But this rare Artist had no sooner put an end to the short exercise he gave our Patience than he put us to the Exercise of another Virtue For his nimble and skilful Fingers make one of the innocentest Pleasures of the Senses to be one of the greatest and this Charming melody for which Orpheus or Orion themselves might envy him do's not so properly delight as ravish us and render it difficult to moderate the Transports of our Passions but impossible to restrain the praises that express our satisfaction So that if this Musitian had been discourag'd by the unpleasant Sounds that were not to be avoided whil'st he was putting his Lute in Tune from proceeding in his work he had been very much wanting to himself and to save a little pains had lost a great deal of Pleasure and Applause Thus when the faculties and passions of the Mind either through a native unruliness or the remisness of Reason and Conscience are discompos'd he that attempts to bring them into order must expect to meet at first but an uneasie Task and find the beginning of a Reformation more troublesome for the time than the past disorders were But he is very little his own Friend if he suffers these short-liv'd difficulties to make him leave his Endeavours unprosecuted For when once they have reduc'd the untun'd Faculties and Affections of the Soul to that pass which Reason and Religion would have them brought to the tun'd or compos'd Mind affords a satisfaction whose greatness do's ev'n at present abundantly recompence the Trouble of procuring it and which is yet but a praelude to that more ravishing Melody wherein the Soul already Harmonious within it self shall hereafter bear a part where the Harps of the Saints accompany the glad Voices that sing the Song of the Lamb and the Hallelujahs of the rest of the Caelestial Quire REFLECTION VII Upon being presented with a rare Nosegay by a Gardener Lindamor Eusebius Lind. HEre is indeed a Present for which I must still think my self this fellow's Debtor though he thinks I have over-paid him 'T is pity these Rarities were not more suitably address'd and worn by some of Natures other Master-pieces with whom they might exchange a graceful Lustre and have the Ornament they confer reflected back upon them But one that had never been a Lover would perhaps say that that wish were more civil to the Flowers than the Ladies of whom there are few which these soft polish'd Skins and Orient Tinctures would not easilier make Foils than prove such to them For not to name the Rest this Lovely fragrant Rose here wears a Blush that needs not do so at any Colour the Spring it self can amongst all her Charming Rarities shew Yes here are Flowers above the flattery of those of Rhetorick and besides two or three unmingled Liveries whose single Colours are bright and taking enough to exclude the wish of a diversity here is a variety of Flowers whose Dyes are so dexterously blended and fitly checquer'd that every single Flower is a variety I envy not Arabia's Odours whil'st that of this fresh Blusher charms my sense and find my Nose and Eyes so ravishingly entertain'd here that the Bee extracts less sweetness out of Flowers which were they but less frail I fear would make me more so than yet I am Surely this Gard'ner leads a happy Life He inherits nothing of Adam but that Primitive profession that imploy'd and recompenc'd his Innocence and such a Gay and priviledg'd Plot of his Eden as seems exempted from the general Curse and instead of the Thorns and Thistles that are the unthankful Earths wonted productions brings him forth Lillies and Tulips and gratefully crowns his Culture for Toil I cannot think it with chaplets of Flowers Euseb I perceive Lindamor that you judge of the Delightfulness of this Man's calling onely by these Lovely and Fragrant productions of it And you see these curious Flowers in their prime without seeing by what practices and degrees they have been brought from despicable seeds to this perfection and lustre And perhaps if you consider'd that a Gardener must be digging in the violent heats of the Summer and must be afraid of the bitter cold of the Winter and must be watchful against surprising frosts in the Spring and must not onely prune and water and weed his Ground but must to obtain these gawdy and odoriferous Flowers submit to deal with homely and stinking Dung If Lindamor you would take notice of these and of some other Toils and Hardships that attend a Gardener's Trade you would I doubt not confess that his Imployments like his Bushes bring him Thorns as well as Roses And now give me leave Lindamor to tell you that this may be appli'd to the condition of some studious persons that you and I know For when we hear a Learned or Eloquent Sermon or read some Book of Devotion or perhaps some Occasional Discourse handsomely written we are apt to envy the Preacher or the Writer for being able to say some things thar instruct or please us so much But alas Lindamor though we see not these Productions of the Brain till they are finish'd and consequently fitted to appear with their full