primary cause of a great deale of the good they atchieue So wee cannot but grant that while here his memory weares out his glory in a better world augments daily either by his good presidents his pious institutions his charitable deeds or his godly works each of which with Gods blessing are able to kindle some heat in the cold zeale of posteritie Examples are the best and most lasting lectures vertue the best example Happie man that hath done these things in sincerity Time shall not outliue his worth He liues truely after death whose pious actions are his pillars of remembrāce though his flesh moulders to drosse in the graue yet is his happinesse in a perpetuall growth no day but addes some graines to his heape of glory Good workes are seedes that after sowing returne vs a continuall haruest A man liues more renowned by some glorious deedes then euer did that Carian by his Mausolean monument On the contrary what a wofull course hath he runne that hath liued lewdly and dyes without repentance his example infects others and they spread it abroad to more like a man that dyes on the plague he leaues the infection to a whole Citie So that euen the sinnes of thousands hee must giue an account for What can we thinke of such as haue been the inuentors of vnlawfull games and callings that are now in vse sure they haue much to answere for that thus haue occasioned so much ill yea better had it beene they had not beene at all then being to be loaden with the sinnes of so many Miserable man that when thy owne burthen is insupportable thou yet causest others to adde to thy weight as if thou would'st be sure desperately to make thy rising irrecouerable are the waters of thy own sinnes so low that thou must haue streames from euery place to runne into thy Ocean Who can without a showre of teares thinke on thy deplorable state or without mourning meditate thy sad condition Oh! Let me so liue as my life may be beneficiall not hurtfull to other Let my glory increase when my life is done I am sure satietie in heauen is not capable of either complaint or discontent but as for spoyling others by my owne confusion sinne I should think death a faire preuention I loue not that life which makes death eternall I haue sin enough of my owne to sigh and sorrow and mourne for I need not make others mine by my owne bad actions A little of this is too too much yea he hath enough that hath none hee hath too much that hath any at all XXV Hee deserues not commendation that for beeing commēded growes proud euery good thing a good man speakes of mee shall like the blast of a trumpet in warre incite and incourage me to a closer pursuit of more nobler vertue not like Bucephalus trappings blow mee vp in a higher conceit of ouerprizing my owne weaknes So while some speake well let my deeds exceed their tougue I had rather men should see more thē they expect then looke for more then they shall find XXVI When a man hath the proiect of a course in his mind 't is good wisedome to resolue of secrecy till the time his intent bee fulfilled neither can hee but be foolish that brags much either of what he will doe or of what hee shall haue For if what hee speakes of falls not out accordingly then will the world mocke him with derision and scorne and oftentimes his liberall tongue may be occasion of some ones sodain intercepting his aime divulged intentions seldome proceed well multitudes make a iarre in businesses their opinions or Councels either distract Iudgement or diuert resolution But howsoeuer if what wee boasted of commeth to passe yet shall we be reputed vain-glorious boasters vnwise Bragges lift vp expectation so high that shee ouerthinkes the birth and many times the childe which indeed is faire wee thinke not so because wee were possest with hopes of finding it rare Secrecy is a necessary part of policie things vntold are yet vndone then to say nothing there is not a lesse labour I obserue the Fig-tree whose fruit is most pleasant bloomes not at all whereas the Sallow that hath glorious palmes is continually found Barren I would first be so wise as to bee my owne Councellor next so secret as to bee my owne Councell-keeper XXVII Some men read Authors as our Gentlemen vse flowers onely for delight and smell to please their fancy and refine their tongue Others like the Bee extract onely the hony the wholesome precepts and this alone they beare away leauing the rest as little worth of small value In reading I will care for both though for the last most the one serues to instruct the mind the other fits her to tell what she hath learned pitty it is they should be deuided he that hath worth in him and cannot expresse it is a chest keeping a rich Iewell and the key lost Concealing goodnesse is vice vertue is better by being cōmunicated A good stile with wholesome matter is a faire woman with a vertuous soule which attracts the eyes of all The good man thinkes chastly and loues her beauty for her vertue which hee still thinks more faire for dwelling in so faire an outside The vicious man hath lustfull thoughts and he would for her beauty faine destroy her vertue but comming to sollicite his purpose findes such diuine lectures from her Angels tongue and those deliuer'd with so sweet a pleasing modesty that he thinks vertue is dissecting her soule to him to rauish man with a beauty which he dream'd not of So hee could now curse himselfe for desiring that lewdly which he hath learn'd since onely to admire and reuerence Thus he goes away better that came with an intent to bee worse Quaint phrases on a good subiect are baits to make an ill man vertuous how many vile men seeking these haue found themselues Conuertites I may refine my speech without harme but I will endeuour more to reforme my life 'T is a good grace both of Oratory or the Pen to speake or write proper but that is the best work where the Graces and the Muses meet XXVIII Wee see in the Moone a threefold condition her Wane her Increase her Full all which I liuely see resembled in a Christian three causes working them Sinne Repentance Faith Sinne vvhich after the act vvhen he once considers it makes him like the Moone in her Wane or state of Decrement obscuring and diminishing that glorious light of the spirit vvhich vvhilome shined so brightly in him nay sometimes as the Moone in her latest state of Diminution hee seemes quite gone resting for a time like a man in a trance like a tree in Winter or as fire buried in concealing Embers vvithout either sence or shew of either light or heat But then comes Repentance and casts water in his face bedewes him vvith teares rubbes vp his benummed soule that there is to bee seene
bee more worth then a perpetuated fame from Adam till Doomes day While heauen and my Conscience see mee Innocent the worlds suppositions cannot make mee culpable Hee that is good and ill spoken of shall reioyce for the wrong is done him by others Hee that is bad and well reported shall grieue for the iniury hee does himselfe In the one they would make mee what I am not in the other I make my selfe what I should not Let mee rather heare ill and doe well then doe ill and bee flattered LII For iniuries my opinion is with Socrates 'T is better to suffer then to offer them He may be good that beares them he must be ill that proffers them Saul would slay Dauid when himselfe only is vitious and ill Vice is accompanied with iniustice Patience is an attendant on Vertue LIII In all nations two things are causes of a common prosperity Good Gouernment and good Obedience A good Magistrate ouer a peruerse people is a sound head on a surfetted body A good Communaltie and a bad Ruler is a healthfull body with a head aching either are occasions of ruine both soūd preseruatiues A good Gouernour is a skilfull Ship-master that takes the shortest and the safest course and continually so steeres as the Rockes and Shelues which might shipwracke the state be auoided and the voyage euer made with the soonest speed best profit most ease But a wicked Magistrate is a Wolfe made leader of the fold that both satiates his crueltie and betrayes them to danger To whom if you adde but ignorance you may vpon certain grounds prophesie destruction The Iudges insufficiencie is the Innocents calamitie But if the Common-wealth be obedient the Ruler worthy how durable is their felicitie and ioy Solon might well say That Citie was safe whose Citizens were obedient to the Magistrates and Magistrates to the Lawes What made the Maior Scipio so victorious but his wisedome in directing and his Souldiers willingnesse in obeying when he could show his troopes and say You see not a man among al these but will if I command him from a Turret throw himselfe into the Sea The inconuenience of stubbornnesse that Consull knew who meeting vvith an obstinate Youth sold both him and his goods saying Hee had no need of that Cittizen that vvould not obey As it is in the larger and more spacious vvorld so is it in the little world of Man None if they serue their true Prince but haue a Gouernour completely perfect Criticisme it selfe cannot find in God to cauill at He is both iust and mercifull in the Concrete and the Abstract he is both of them Who can taxe him with either crueltie or partialitie though my obedience cannot answere his perfection yet will I endeuour it If Christ bee not my King to gouerne he wil neither be my Prophet to forewarne nor my Priest to expiate If I cannot come neere it in effect as being impossible I will in desire as being conuenient so though lesse yet if sincere I know he wil accept it not as meritorious but respecting his promise LIIII 'T is an Aphorisme in Physicke that they which in the beginning of sicknes eate much and mend not fall at last to a generall loathing of food The Morall is true in Diuinity He that hath a sick conscience and liues a hearer vnder a fruitfull Ministery if hee growes not sound he will learne to despise the word Contemned blessings leaue roome for curses Hee that neglects the good hee may haue shall find the euill he would not haue Iustly hee sits in darknesse that would not light his Candle when the fire burned cleerely He that needs counsell and will not heare it destines himselfe to miserie and is the willing Author of his own woe Continue at a stay he cannot long if he could not to proceede is backward And this is as dangerous to the soule as the other to the body Pittifull is his estate that hates the thing should helpe him if euer you see a drowning man refuse helpe conclude him a wilfull murtherer When God affoords mee plentifull meanes woe bee to mee if they proue not profitable I had better haue a deafe eare then hear to neglect or hate to the burying of such treasures there belongs a curse to their misspending Iudgements LV. God giues three kinds of gifts Temporall Spirituall and Eternall Temporall as Wealth Pleasure Honour and such like Spirituall as Sauing Faith Peace of Conscience and assurance of Saluation Eternall as Glory and happines in heauen for euer The first is common to the wicked as well as the godly and they mostly florish in these terrene beauties For who so great in fauour with the world as they They liue become old and are mighty in power as Iob speakes in his 21. yet all these sweetes passe away like a vapour and though they reuell out their dayes in mirth yet in a moment they goe downe to the graue The two other God bestowes onely vpon his Elect all that heere hee often giues them is onely one of these some spirituall fauours hee bestowes vpon them the other he reserues for them when Earth cannot cal them her Children One he giues them not till they be gone from hence the other when they haue it the world sees it not What differēce can a blind man perceiue betweene a sparkling Diamond and a worthlesse peble Or what can a naturall man spie in an humble Christian that euer hee thinkes may make him be happie Afflictions heere are the Lot of the righteous and they dimme those splendid beauties that speak them faire in the eye of the Almighty they are sports of the priuie Chamber that these Kings ioy in the vnciuill vulgar see not the pleasures of their Crown Whereas the wicked and God-forsaken man spreads out his plumes and seemes euen to checke the Sunne in his glory Vice loues to seeme glorious yea more to seeme then to bee What a Lustre these Glow-wormes cast in darknesse which yet but touched are extinct a poore reckoning alas in the end when all these counterfet Iewels shal be snatched from him and he answere for all strictly at the vnauoidable barre of the last Iudgement They had neede haue some pleasure here that can haue nothing but woe heereafter Flesh rebellious flesh would sometime set me to murmur at their prosperity but when my minde in her Closet reuolues their fickle estate and findes all their good in presēt outward I see nothing may be a midwife to the least repining enuie When my soule solaceth her selfe in those rauishing delights that exhilarate a Christians mind how poorely can I thinke of those lamentable ioyes the spirituall man lookes on the flourishes of this life with pitty not desire If God giues the wicked one and me two why should I complaine but when the least of mine is infinitely better then his all let mee neuer grudge him so poore and so short a heauen If God affoords mee his childrens
burne his linnen because 't is foule they may both returne to their former purity and then to hate is sinfull But as for my friend I will loue both his person and his qualities his qualities first and for them his person Yet in neither will I so hate as to bee a foe to goodnesse nor so loue as to foster Iniquity 'T is a question which is the worst of the two to bee vices friend or vertues enemie LXXIV Next God the good man is the onely friend for when all other slinke out of the way hee onely is a secure harbour for a shipwrackt soule to ride in If he be vpright that be falne in distresse he then relieues him as a brother as a member If lewd yet necessity induceth a commiseration and seeing the glorious Impresse of the Almighties image in him hee can not but for his Fathers sake affect him If hee be poore of God's making by the vnauoidable designement of a supreme prouidence nature incites a reliefe For he knowes not how soone a like lot may fall in his owne ground The same sunne saw Iob both rich and poore to a Prouerbe If his owne ill courses haue brought his decay hee is not so obdurate and flinty but that hee can afford him a hand of compassion to strengthen him a little in the midd'st of disasters hoping that his charitie may either worke his returne or stay him from speedy ruine If he be ill he is a Magistrate to correct and reclaime him if good he is a father to vphold and loue him if rich he reades him a lecture of moderation and discreet disposure tels him not possession but vse diuitiates a man more truely if poore he sets him to Schoole with Paul there to learne Content is plenty tel's how that Pagan Cynick could laugh at riches when he call'd them nothing but fortunes vomit if wise hee is his delight and solace euen the Granar where he leaues his load and lockes his store if ignorant hee instructs him with the Oracles of God dictitates sentences vnto him speakes all tanquam ex tripode Euery way I finde him so beneficiall that the pious vvill not liue but with him and the badde man cannot liue without him Who had salu'd the offending Israelites had not Moses stood vp for to intercede it shall more ioy mee to liue with Christians then men LXXV The hard-hearted man hath misery almost in perfection and there is none more wretched then a man with a conscience feared Other sinners march in the high-way to ruine but hee as hee goes builds a wall at his backe that hee cannot retire to the tent Neither Mercies nor Iudgements winne him at all Not mercies those his pride makes him thinke but his due and while they are but common ones they passe away with his cōmon thoughts Benefits seldome sinke deepe in obdurate minds 't is the soft nature that is soonest taken with a courtesie Not Iudgements for either he reuerberates them back before they pierce as a wal of steele doth a blunt-headed arrow or if they doe perhaps find entrance like the Elephant with the convulsion of his nerues his bodies contraction hee casts out the shaft that sticks within him so still he rests vnmollified for all this raine and haile Warnings to peruerse dispositions are the meanes to make them worse Those plagues and wonders that would haue melted a milder soule only reduced Pharaoh's to a more hard and desperate temper Strange that hee should locke out of his own good with so strong a key so sure a Ward when euery vice that defiles the minde findes both ready and free welcome If I liue in sinne God's first call is mercy I had better goe willingly then be led by constraint 't is fit hee should know the smart of torture that nothing will cause to confesse but the Racke if I finde God whips mee with any sensible stroke I will search the cause then seeke the cure such blowes are the physicke of a bleeding soule but neglected my sinne will be more and my punishment 't is in vaine to bee stubborne with God hee that can crush vs to nothing can turne vs to any thing let mee rather returne speedily and preuent Iudgements then stay obstinately and pull downe more as 't is a happy feare which preuents the offence and the rod so that is a miserable valour which is bold to dare the Almighty LXXVI Some mens Censures are like the blasts of Rammes Hornes before the walles of Iericho all the strength of a mans vertue they lay leuell at one vtterance when all their ground is onely a conceited fancie without any certaine basis to build on What religious minde will not vvith amazement shudder at the peremptorie conclusions where they haue set their period Wondring Man that knowes so little should yet so speake as if he were priuy to all I confesse a man may roue by the outward lineaments what common inclinations rule within yet that Philosopher did more wisely that seeing a faire face with a tongue silent bade him speake that he might see him For the cheeke may be dimpled with a pleasing smile while the heart throbs with vndiscerned dolors and as a cleere face shewes not alwayes a sound body no more is an ingenuous look alwayes the ensigne of a minde vertuous I wil onely walke in Christ's path and learne by their fruits to know them where I want experience charitie bids mee thinke the best and leaue what I know not to the Searcher of heart's Mistakes Suspect and Enuie often iniure a cleere fame there is least danger in a charitable construction In part hee s guilty of the wrong that 's done Which doth beleeue those false reports that runne I will neither beleeue all I heare nor speake all I beleeue A mans good name is like a milke-white ball that will infinitely gather soyle in tossing The act of Alexander in this cause merits an eternall memory that hauing read a Letter with his Fauorite Hephaestion wherein his mother calumniated Antipater tooke his Signet from his finger and appressed his lips with it Coniuring as it were the strict silence of anothers disgrace Oh Alexander this very action was enough to make thee famous who should not in this admire and imitate thee A desire to disgrace another cannot spring from a good roote Malice and basenesse euer dwell with calumnie I will iudge well of euery man whom his owne bad life speakes not ill of if he be bad I 'le hope well what know I show his end may prosper I had better labour to amend him to himselfe then by publishing his vices make him odious to others If hee be good and belongs to God how can I chuse but offend much when I speake ill of a child that is indeared to such a fathers affection God loues his owne tenderly and whosoeuer offers a disgrace to them shall be sure to pay for 't either by teares or torment LXXVII There are
were not extraordinarily vvarie I might soon counterfet some mans humour false and that would bane my drift For both to Vertue and to Vice is Flatterie a false glasse making the one seeme greater the other lesse then it is and if it lights on a noble discretion it is euer so vnhappy as to beget the ruine of it selfe But I imagine I could doe it with such exactnesse that euen the eye of Lyncaeus could not espy it yet when one should commend mee for one thing and another for the contrary vvhat vvould the vvorld thinke of mee that could thus in one bee hot and cold should I not be censured as a Tymorist Yes surely and that iustly neither could it but be iust with God at last to vnmaske my Flatterie and vnrip my folly in the view of the multitude Priuate sinnes are punisht with a publike shame A supposed honest man found lewd is hated as a growne Monster discouered by the blabbe of Time Sinne is a concealed fire that euen in darknesse will so worke as to bewray it selfe If I liue vertuously and with piety the world will hate me as a Separatist and my Reputation will be traduced by the Ignominious aspersion of maleuolent tongues To be good is now thought too neere a way to contempt That which the Ancients admired wee laugh at A good honest man is a foole What then shall I to please a man displease a Christian I had rather liue hated for goodnesse then bee loued for Vice Hee does better that pleaseth one good man then hee that contents a thousand bad ones I would if it could be please all yet I would winne their loues vvith honesty otherwise let their hate wound mee rather then their loue imbrace What care I for his friendship that affected not vertue hauing his hate he may hurt mee outwardly but inioying his loue I will iustly suspect my soule of some ill For if his affection be toward me 't is sure because hee sees somthing in mee that pleaseth himselfe but while hee sees euery thing vnlike him how is 't possible I should bee beloued of him since diuersities breed nothing but disvnion and sweet Congruitie is the mother of Loue. XXI Who admires not the Wisedome of Demosthenes in the answere hee returned to Corinthian Lais Poenitere tanti non emo Certainely had hee not knowne it from a selfe experience 't is not possible a HeatheÌ„ should haue spake so diuinely All our dishonest actions are but earnests laid downe for griefe Vice is an infallible fore-runner of wretchednesse Let the Worldling tell me if he findes it not true that all his warrantable aberrations wherein he hath dilatedly tumbled himselfe end at last either in anguish or confusion Sinne on the best condition brings repentance but for sinne without repentance is prouided hell 'T is not folly but madnes euen the highest that makes a man buy his vexation I wil force my selfe to want that willingly which I cannot enioy without future distaste Though the Waspe falles into the hony that after drownes her yet the Bee chuseth rather to goe to rhe Flowre in the field where shee may lade her â—highes securely and with leisure then to come to the shop of the Apothecarie where shee gets more but makes her life hazardable XXII Workes without faith are like a Salamander without fire or a fish without water In which though there may seeme to be some quicke actions of life and symptomes of agilitie yet they are indeede but fore-runners of their end and the very presages of death Faith againe without Workes is like a bird without wings who though she may hop with her companions here vpon earth yet if she liues til the world ends shee 'l neuer fly to heauen But when both are ioyn'd together then doth the soule mount vp to the Hill of eternall Rest these can brauely raise her to her first height yea carry her beyond it taking away both the will that did betray her and the possibility that might The former without the latter is selfecoozenage the last without the former is meere hypocrisie together the excellencie of Religion Faith is the Rocke while euery good action is as a stone laid one the Foundation the other the structure The Foundation without the walls is of slender value the building without a Basis cannot stand They are so inseparable as their coniunction makes them good Chiefely will I labour for a sure Foundation Sauing Faith and equally will I seeke for strong wals Good Workes For as man iudgeth the house by the edifice more than by the Foundation so not according to his Faith but according to his Workes shall God iudge man XXIII 'T is a rare thing to see a rich man religious we are told that his way is difficult and not many mighty are chosen For while the earth allowes them such ioyes 't is their heauen and they looke for no other Their pleasures are sufficient vnto them both for honour solace and wealth who wonders to see them carelesse of the better when they dote vpon the worse neither the minde nor affection can bee seriously diuided at once Againe euen low Commons whom they thinke meanely of are higher often in vertues of the minde are dearer vnto God then they shall sit in heauen aboue them Are there not many seruants that in life haue born the burthen now crowned with vnending Ioyes while their masters are either in a lower degree glorious or excluded that coelestiall societie I dare make it a part of my faith yet auouch my selfe no Hereticke Euen in meanest things GOD shewes his mighty power Impossibilities are the best aduancers of his Glory For what we least beleeue can be done wee most admire beeing done Yet in this obserue the mercy of God that though the Worldling hath not pietie in his thoughts yet God giues him all these good things that hee hath no right to albeit by his owne ill he like enuy extracts euill out of good so they proue in the end nothing but paper pillars and painted fruite Let all men blesse God for what they enioy they that haue wealth for their riches I will praise him that he hath kept them from me I haue now what is good for me and when my time comes my ioy shall abound XXIIII A vertuous man shining in the puritie of a righteous life is a Lighthouse set by the Sea-side whereby the Mariners both saile aright and auoyd danger But he that liues in noted sinnes is a false lanthorne which shipwrackes those that trust him The vertuous man by his good carriage winnes more to godlines and is the occasion of much good yea it may bee so long as the Moone renewes For his righteousnes dyes not with him those good examples which he liued in and those pyous workes which hee leaues behind him are imitated and followed of others both remayning and succeeding So they are coÌ„ueyed from one generation to another and he next God is a