not prepared for Warre there is small hope of euasion none at all to conquer none to ouercome How much more hard is the winter to the Grashopper then the Pismire who before hauing stor'd her Garner is now able to withstand a famine Lest then I make my death seem more terrible to me then indeed it is I will first daily expect it that when it comes I may not be to seeke to entertaine it if not with ioy as beeing but flesh yet without sorrow as hauing a soule Secondly I will labour to be acquainted with it often before it come thinking it may come so whē I know it better I shal better sustaine it with lesse feare without terror Thirdly I will prepare for it by casting vp my accounts with God that all things euen and streight betwixt vs whensoeuer he shall please to call for me I may as willingly lay down my life as leaue a prison Thus shall I make my death lesse dreadfull and finish my life before I dye He that dyes dayly seldome dyes dijectedly VI. A good beginning haue I oftē seen cōclude ill Sin in the bud is faire sweet pleasing but the fruit is death horror hell Something will I respect in my way most in my Conclusion in the one to preuent all wilfull errors in the other to insure a Crowne For as Iudgement hath relation to the manner of dying so hath death dependance on the course of liuing Yet the good end hath no bad beginning it once had A good consequence makes the premises so esteemed of and a sweete rellish at the leauing off makes the draught delightfull that at the first did taste vnpleasant That is well that ends well and better is a bad beginning that concludes well then a prosperous onset that ends in complaint What if my beginning hath been ill sorrowes ouerblowne are pleasant that which hath beene hard to suffer is sweet to remēber I will not much care what my beginning be so my end be happy If my Sunne set in the new Ierusalem I haue liu'd well how-euer afflictions haue sometimes clouded my course VII Extreme longings in a Christian I seldome see succeed well surely God meanes so to temper his as hee would not haue their affections violent in the search of a temporall blessing or else hee knowes our frailety such as wee would be more taken with the fruition of a benefit then the Author Prosperities are strong pleaders for sinne Troubles be the surest Tutors of goodnesse How many would haue dyed ill if they had liu'd merrily GOD hath seuerall wayes to reduce his to his own orders among which I am perswaded none is more powerfull then restraint of our wils It sends the soule to meditation wherby she sees the worlds follies in such true colours of vanitie that no sound discretion can thinke them worth the doting on and though our discontentments so transport vs as we see not the good we reape by a Depriuation yet sure wee are happier by this want for wee are all like women with Child if wee had the things we long for how soone should we eate and surfet When nature findes her ardent desires fulfilled shee is rauenous and greedy yea then shee hath so little moderation as 't is not safe to satisfie her If I can I will neuer extremely couet so though I meet with a Crosse it shal neither distemper nor distract mee but if my desires out-strip my intention I will comfort my selfe with this that the enioyment might haue added to my content and endangered my soule but the want shall in the end be a meanes to embetter them both Gods Saints shall with ioy subscribe to his wil though heere for a time it may seeme to thwart them VIII A worthy Act hath hee done that hath learned to refraine his tongue and surely much euill hath hee preuented if hee knowes when to be well silent Vnkindnesses breed not so many Iarres as the multiplying of words that follow them How soone would these coales dye if the tongue did not enkindle them Repentance often followes speaking silence either seldome or neuer for while our words are many sinne is in some in most Goe to the Crane thou Babbler reade her storie and let her inform thee who flying out of Sicily puts little stones in her mouth lest by her owne garrulitie she bewray her selfe as a prey to the Eagles of the mountaine Taurus which with this policy she flyes ouer in safety euen silence euery where is a safe safeguard if by it I offend I am sure I offend without a witnesse while an vnruly tongue may procure my ruine and prooue as a sword to cut the thrid of my life in two 't is good alwayes to speake well in season and is it not as safe sometimes to say nothing hee that speakes little may mend it soone and though hee speakes most faults yet hee exceedes not for his words were few To speake too much bewrayes folly too little an vnperceiuing stupiditie I will so speake as I may be free from babbling Garrulitie so bee silent as my Spectators may not account me blockishly dull Silence and speech are both as they are vsed either tokens of Indiscretion or badges of Wisedome IX 'T is a hard thing among men of inferiour ranke to speak to an earthly Prince no King keepes a Court so open as to giue admittance to all commers and though they haue they are not sure to speede albeit there bee nothing that should make their petitiōs not grantable Oh how happy how priuiledged is then a Christian who though he often liues heere in a slight esteeme yet can hee freely conferre with the King of Heauen who not onely heares his intreaties but delights in his requests inuites him to come and promiseth a happy welcome which he shewes in fulfilling his desires or better fitter for him In respect of whō the greatest Monarch is more base then the basest vassaile in regard of the most mighty and puissant Emperour Man cannot so much exceede a beast as God doth him what if I be not known to the Nimrods of the world and the Peeres of the earth I can speake to their better to their Master and by prayer bee familiar with him importunity does not anger him neither cāanything but our sins make vs goe away empty while the game is playing there is much differēce between the King and the Pawne that once ended they are both shuffled into the bag together akd who can say whether was most happy saue onely the King had many checks while the little Pawne was free and secure My comfort is my accesse to heauen is as free as the Princes my departure from earth not so grieuous for while the world smiles on him I am sure I haue lesse reason to loue it then hee Gods fauour I will chiefly seeke for mans but as it fals in the way to it when it proues a hindrance I hate to be loued X. The vertuous
the Moone whereby it is both kept from putrifaction and by struggling with it selfe from ouer-flowing the land In this world Order is the life of Kingdoms Honours Arts and by the excellency of it all things flourish and thriue Onely in hell is confusion horrour and amazing disorder From whence the wicked man shewes himself sprung for there is nothing that like him liues so irregular and out of compasse Disorder is a bird of the Diuels hatching I feare lest those that rent the Church for Ceremonie haue some affinitie with that prince of mis-rule wee oft finde the parents disposition though not propagated to the child yet followed by him I do not censure but doubt We haue seldome knowne him good that refuseth to obey good orders Who can expect a fruitfull crop when the field is somtimes blasted with Lightning sometime drenched with invndations but neuer cherished with a kindly Sunne things vncapable of a true forme are euer mending yet euer vnperfect when the rankes are broken the victory is in hazzard One bad voice can put twenty good ones out of tune I will first order my minde by good resolution then keepe it so by a strong constancie Those Souldiers dyed brauely that where they stood to fight they fell to death LXXXII In euery man there bee three things that encounter our Consideration The Mind the Behauiour the Person A grosse blemish in any of which sticke some disgrace on the vnhappy owner If the Mind be vitious though the carriage bee faire and Person comely Honesty esteemes not outward parts where inward Grace is wanting If his mind be good carriage clownish his outward bad demeanour makes his inward worth ridiculous and admit he hath both deseruing applause yet a surfeited and diseased body makes al disregarded while the approch of his presence may proue preiudiciall infectious noisome To remedy the defects of all these I finde three noble Sciences Diuinity Philosophy Phisick Diuinity for the Soule to preserue that vnstain'd and holy as also to indue it with vnderstanding for God with his Graces instils Knowledge it was the keeping of his Law made Dauid wiser then those that taught him Diuine knowledge is not without humane when God giues the first in some measure hee giues both and therefore we seldome finde the ignorant man honest if hee bee mentally yet hee failes expressiuely Philosophie for his manners and demeanour in the many contingent things of this life to fit him both with decent Complements and sufficicient stayednes neither sauouring of Curiosity nor rusticity nor was euer Religion found a foe to good manners For shee shines brightest in a braue behauiour so it bee still free from affectation flattery Philosophy is the salt of life that can dry vp the crude humors of a nouice correct those pestilent qualities wherewith nature hath infested vs which was ingenuously confest by Socrates when Zopyrus by his Phisiognomy pronounced him fouly vicious Physicke to know the state of the body both to auoyde distempers in health and to recouer health in wearying diseases 't is the restitution of decaying nature when she is falling this giues her a hand of sustenance it puts away our blemishes restores our strength and rids vs of that which would rid vs of our liues In all these though a man bee not so learned as to teach them to others yet in all I would know so much as might serue to direct mee in mine owne occasions 'T is commendable to know any thing that may beare the title of Good but for these so pleasing Sciences I will rather study with some paines then want experience in things so necessary Thus shall I fit my mind for God my body to my mind my behauiour to both and my friends LXXXIII The distempers of these times would make a wise man both merry and mad merry to see how vice flourishes but a while and being at last frustrate of all her faire hopes dyes in a deiected scorne which meetes with nothing in the end but beggery basenesse and contempt To see how the world is mistaken in opinion to suppose those best that are wealthiest To see how the world thinkes to appall the minde of noblenesse with misery while true resolution laughs at their poore impotency and slights euen the vtmost spight of tyranny To see how men buy Offices at high rates which when they haue prooue gins to catch their soules in and snare their estates and reputations To see how foolishly men coozen themselues of their soules while they thinke they gaine by their cunning defrauding another To see how the proiectors of the world like the spoke of the Wheele of SESOSTRIS Chariot are tumbled vp and downe from beggery to worship from worship to honour from honour to basenesse againe To see what idle complements are currant among some that affect the Phantasticke garbe as if friendship were nothing but an apish salute glossed ouer with the varnish of a smooth tongue To see a strutting prodigall ouer-looke a region with his wauing plume as if he could as easily shake that as his feather yet in priuate creep like a crouching Spaniell to his base muddy prostitute To see how pot-valour thunders in a Tauerne and appoints a Düell but goes away and giues mony to haue the quarrell taken vp vnderhand Mad on the other side to see how Vice goes trapperd with rich furniture while poore Vertue hath nothing but a bridle and saddle which onely serue to increase her bondage To see Machiauel's tenents held as Oracles honesty reputed shallownesse Iustice bought and sold as if the world went about to disprooue Zorobabel and would make him confesse mony to bee stronger then Truth To see how flatterie creepes into fauour vvith Greatnesse while plaine dealing is thought the enemie of state and honour To see how the Papists for promotion of their owne Religion inuent lyes and print them that they may not onely cozen the present age but gull posterity with forged actions To see how well-meaning simplicitie is foot-ball'd To see how Religion is made a Polititians vizor which hauing help't him to his purpose hee casts by like Sunday apparell not thought on all the weeke after And which vvould mad a man more then all to know all this yet not know how to helpe it These would almost distract a man in himselfe But since I finde they are incurable I 'le often pray for their amendment in priuate neuer declaime but when I am call'd to 't Hee loseth much of his comfort that without a iust deputation thrusts himselfe into danger Let mee haue that once and it shall neuer grieue mee to die in a warrantable Warre LXXXIV To reuenge a wrong is both easie and vsuall and as the world thinkes sauours of some noblenesse but Religion sayes the contrarie and tels vs 't is better to neglect it then requite it If any man shall willingly offer me an iniury hee shall know I can see it but withall he shall see
but a friend is both XIIII I will in all losses looke both to what I haue lost and to what I haue left To what I haue lost that if it may be and be good I may recouer it if not that I may know what I haue forgone To what I haue left that if it be much I may be thankefull that I lost no more hauing so much that I might haue been depriued of if little that I may not repine because I haue yet something if nothing but my life that I may then be glad because that will bee the next thing I shall lose Which whensoeuer it happens will with double Ioy recompence all the rest Gods presence is aboundant plenty hauing that I know nor want nor losse nor admission of ill XV. A man that would establish a troubled gouernment must first vanquish all his foes Factious heads must bee higher by a Pole then their bodies For how will the Folds bee quiet while yet among them there bee some Wolues Hee that would rule ouer many must fight with many and conquer and be fure either to cut off those that raise vp tumults or by a Maiesticke awe to keepe them in a strict subiection Slacknesse and conniuence are the ruines of vnsettled Kingdomes My passions and affections are the chiefe disturbers of my Ciuill State What peace can I expect within mee while these Rebels rest vnouercome If they get a head my Kingdome is diuided so it cannot stand Separations are the wounds of a Crowne whereby neglected it will bleed to death Them will I striue to subdue If I cut them not off I will yet restraine them 'T is no cruelty to deny a Traytor libertie I will haue them be my Subiects not my Prince they shall serue mee and I will sway them If it cannot bee without much striuing I am content with a hard combate that I may haue a happie raigne 'T is better I endure a short skirmish then a long siege hauing once wonne the field I will hope to keepe it XVI Death to a righteous man whether it commeth soone or late is the beginning of ioy and the end of sorrow I will not much care whether my life bee long or short If short the fewer my dayes bee the lesse shall bee my misery the sooner shall I be happy But if my yeeres be many that my head waxe gray euen the long expectation of my happinesse shall make my ioy more welcome XVII 'T was anciently said that whatsoeuer good worke a man doth with labour the labour vanisheth but the good remaines with him that wrought it And whatsoeuer euill thing hee doth with pleasure the pleasure flyes but the euill still resteth with the Actor of it goodnesse making labour sweet euill turning pleasure to a burthen I wil not care how laborious but how honest not how pleasurable but how good my actions be If it could bee let mee bee good without pleasure rather then lewd with much ioy For though my good bee at first tedious I am sure in time it will yeeld me content whereas the euill that now is delightfull cannot but prooue a woe to my soule The sweetest liquor is not alwayes the most wholesome The Limon is more tart yet excelleth the Orenge that delighteth the taste poison may a while seeme pleasant and a weake stomacke thinke a Cordiall fulsome XVIII What if I were the worlds chiefe Fauourite endowed with the choycest ornaments her Treasury could affoord mee adorn'd with beauty imbellisht with a faire proportion in policie subtill in alliance great in reuenue large in knowledge rich famed with honor and honored with attendants and to all these had adioyned the prolonged yeeres of Methusalah yet if I wanted grace to vse these graces right they would all turne to my greater disgrace and confusion Good parts imployed ill are weapons that being meant for our owne defence we madly turne their edges and wound our selues they might make mee faire in show but in substance more polluted they would bee but as a saddle of gold to the backe of a gall'd horse adorne mee they might better mee they could not Grace onely can make a man truely happy what shee affordeth can content sufficiently and with ease furnish the vast roomes of the mind without her all are nothing with her euen the smallest is true sufficiencie how fully can she bee rich in the penury of these outward royalties something indeed they adde to her ornament but 't is from her that they assume their goodnesse For though heauen hath made them so in their owne nature yet is it from her that they proue so to me Doe we not oftner finde them lights to blind vs then to direct vs I will neuer thinke my selfe neerer heauen for hauing so much of earth A weake house with a heauie roofe is most in danger He that gets heauen hath plenty enough though the earth scornes to allow him any thing he that failes of that is truely miserable though shee giue him all shee hath Heauē without earth is perfect Earth without Heauen is but a little more cheerly hell Who haue beene more splendent in these externall florishes then Heathen but in the other 't is the Christian onely can challenge a felicity Hauing these I might winne applause with men but the other wanting I shall neuer gaine approbation vvith God And what wil all their allowance auaile when the Earths Creator shall Iudge and Condemn 't is a poore reliefe in misery to be onely thought well of by those that cannot helpe me XIX Is not man born to trouble as the sparkes flye vpward is not his time short and miserable his dayes few and euill What madnesse then were it in me to hope for a freedome from sorrowes or to thinke my selfe exempt from the common appointment of the most High It hath beene censured as phrensie to vndertake to expell nature what shall I thinke it to hope to frustrate the designement of the Lord of Nature Humanitie and misery are alwayes paralels sometimes indiuiduals and therefore when wee vvould put sorrow in an Embleme we paint him a man If I haue but few Crosses I vvill truely then account my selfe fauoured if I haue many and be somtimes free I le thinke I escape well beeing so vntoward If I haue nothing but troubles yet may I not complaine because my sinne hath deseru'd more then heere I can bee able to suffer Had I but a being though full of woe yet vvere I beholding to God for it His very least and meanest gift exceedeth much euen all my best desert I doe infinitely want how to merit a permission to liue XX. To haue euery man speak vvell of me is impossible because howsoeuer I carry my selfe some Cynick will barke at my course Who can scape the lash of Censure If I should be vitious and profuse I should bee loued of some but not the best not the good If I should Camelion-like change my selfe to euery obiect if I
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