about Not voyce but vow not lip not tongue but hart Not sound but soule that God takes in good part What Gods high hidden counsels are wast not thy wits to learne But being mortall minde the things which mortall men concerne The Serpents sting the beasts sharp tooth we shun But from prophane men onely see thou runne Learne of the learned and instruct thy friends Knowledge conceal'd both God and man offends Shame not in ignorance to show thy willingnesse to learne The shame is theirs that nothing know nor no good will decerne Against a iust religious man contend not wickedly For God in rigour will reuenge his wrong and iniury Nature impart thee all that shee can teach And God supply where nature cannot reach Out of Compasse In Religion is Atheisme VVHo doubts of God with Pythagoras is an Infidell who denieth God with Diagoras is a Deuill Vice is the habitude of sinne sinne the act of the habytude but want of Religion the ground of both Lust bringeth short life prodigality wretched life but want of Religion assured and eternall damnation The sicknesse of age is Auarice the errors of Youth prophannesse Craft putteth on him the habit of policy malice the shape of Courage rashnesse the title of valour lewdnesse the image of pleasure but want of religion hath no cloake but Curses If youth want religion old age can neuer know honesty Deceit is too familiar with wisdome austerity with temperance pride with great minds prodigality with liberality rashnesse with fortitude and superstition with religion There is no greater signe of wickednesse then open heresie Sermons guilt with words and not matter are like images that painted séeme faire but lookt into are found earth Who can be more vnfortunate then he that of necessity will néeds be irreligious As sinne blinds the eies of the prophane man so punishments opens them When prophane men are in the height of their iollity mischeife it euer knocking at the dore A prophane man neuer séemes more ougly then when he would dissemble or appeare religious A prophane man is the true shadow of the Diuell and at the end comes to his substance An irreligious man trampleth goodnesse vnder foote like the grasse of the field and preserueth vice as the flowers of the season when all good men know the first doth kéepe fresh and flowrisheth the latter doth sodainly decay and withereth To make iests of Religion of Charity or chastity are the perfit notes of most prophane impudency Who thinkes to thriue by what God hath accursed liues vpon miserable gaines which are purchased by the losse of his soule for there is no true gaine but from a good conscience Hypocrisie is the first sinne that falls into a reprobate sense for in all the bundell of sinners was neuer read of an Hipocrites repentance Be fearefull to commit sinne especially exemplar sinne and of them aboue all the sinne of heresie and new sect making a way to other mens practise least they perishing therein it be reckond in thine accompt euery man hath enough of his owne woe to him which beares that and others since euery small sinne like a milstone is able to presse thée downe to the pit of hell Affect not popularity for selfe-loue of knowledge for the end neuer proues good and though attained by desert yet it is as daungerous as contempt for states kéepe downe those whom they contemne but cut away all those whom they enuy and therefore not to aâ—â—eâ—t nor to neglect is the best discretion Feare God honor thy parents reuerence thy friends obay the lawes and all from the rule of vpright religion Let euery irreligious and prophane man take to his consideration his time past his time present and his time to come what God hath done for him what he doth and what he will doe what God would haue done what man doth and what he should do and let him weigh the good omitted with the euill committed and to them put the punishment deserued and then thinke how long God hath deferred how iustly he will punish and how surely he will come hee shall then find a short life a sure death and a most certaine heauey iudgment Prophane men must remember that as death leaues them iudgement finds them and iustice rewards them so that there is nothing but infinit misery in his life in his death and after death He that shewes more religious at one time then another either hath already or very shortly intends to deceiue thée He that hath too quick a beleife hath euer too rash a iudgement Who feares not God feares euery thing else he séeth He that mindes least good euer affecteth the worst mischiefe Knew'st thou one Moneth should end thy dayes it would giue cause of sorrow And yet perhaps thou laughes to day when thou must dye to morrow Men trample grasse and praise the flowers of May Yet grasse is greene when flowers fade away Prophane men looke what conscience you haue For conscience both must damne you must saue By new sects to rayse vp new names is but a losing gaine Euils on good mens ruines built to ruine turne againe Who is a false Iudge one day must appeare So to bee iudged as hee hath iudg'd here Build thy house nere so high All delight in pleasure take In the dust thou must lye Till the last Trumpe thee awake Therefore all is lost and spended That to Vertue is not intended If thou wilt backe into thy Compasse get These sixe fayre Rules neare to thy conscienceset Beate downe the euill raise the iust Learne best thy selfe to know Hold holy Writ and counsell peace Be Patient in thy woe Keep within Compasse In Conuersation COnuersation is the maine body of honesty whose greatest branches are familiarity and friendship with good men drawing the community of a perpetuall will to the fellowship of life all which is founded and built by the profit of a long continued loue and furnished with more pleasure then desire Let thy conuersation carry a perfect consent of all things appertaining as well vnto God as man with beneuolence and charity The loue of men to women is a thing common and of course but the friendship of man to man infinite and immortall The fellowship and conuersation of a true friend in misery is alwaies swéet and his counsels in prosperity are euer fortunate Let thy conuersation with friendship haue a thrée fold lustre the first in neighbourhood the second in hospitality and the last in thy particular loue If thy conuersation winne thée loue eyther by bounty or the study of vertue it goes from a passion to an habit and so leaueth the name of loue and is called friendship the which no time can violate Forget not in thy conuersation that to begge any thing of thy friend is most dearely to buy it It is a most grieuous thing to try thy friends yet must they be toucht lest shining like the Carbunkle as if they had fire they bee
Keepe within Compasse OR The worthy Legacy of a wise Father to his beloued Sonne teaching him how to liue richly in this world and eternally happy in the world to come Meete for all sorts of people whatsoeuer Atheisme ✚ Pray in thy Chamber In Religion VERTVE Luxury ✚ Conuerse with good Men Conuersation Gluttony ✚ Eate thine owne Labours Dyet Prodigality ✚ Suite thine owne Calling Apparell Printed at London for I. Trundle dwelling in Barbican TO THE WORTHY Gentleman and his best respected Friend Mr. Roger Taylor all those good wishes his owne heart desireth Worthy SIR THE frequent custome of this Age to challenge Patrons and to trouble their braines with bestowing vpon those Patrons Mountebancke Encomiums hath no whit at all taken vp my minde since no folly can be greedy thereof but shall purchase wit enough for that purpose Suffice it is my true knowledge of you and my truer loue vnto you which makes mee send this poore infant of my braine and slender Collections to kisse your hand which in as much as the roote or centre is Vertue the circumference that happy list or bound out of which no good man will willingly stray and in which I know the goodnesse of your inclination makes you delight to liue on whom can I better bestow it both in respect of the thing which onely looketh vpon Vertue and in respect of your selfe who is not onely a louer but a supporter of the vertuous So that to conclude if your acceptance shall say I haue done well I will beleeue all which are good like you will agree with you who doth the contrary I will laugh at for hee loues not Goodnesse Yours Iohn T. To the Reader PEruse this Diall euery day Wherein no hower shall passe away But by it thou shalt learne to finde Some Iewell to inrich thy minde Count one the first hower of thy breath And all the rest to lead to death Count twelue thy dolefull passing Bell And so my Dyall shall goe well The Dyall The Howers I ONe God one Baptisme and one Faith One Truth there is the Scripture saith II Two Testaments the Olde and New Wee must acknowledge to be true III Three Persons in the Trinitie Doe make one God in Vnitie IIII Foure holy Euangelists there are Which Christs birth life death declare V Fiue wounds the Iewes our Sauiour gaue Whence flow'd the bloud that all men saue VI Sixe dayes to labour is no wrong For God himselfe did worke so long VII Seauen deadly Sinnes in man doe rest Which once expell'd mans soule is blest VIII Eight in Noahs Arke alone were found When in a word the world lay drown'd IX Nine Hyrarchies of Angels rayse Both day and night Iehouahs praise X Tenne Statutes God to Moses gaue Which broke or kept doe spill or saue XI Eleauen aboue with God doe dwell The twelfth burnes in perpetuall hell XII Twelue attended on Gods Sonne Twelue made the Creede my Dyall's done Keep within Compasse OR A Direction for good life In Religion FIrst my sonne vnderstand that Religion is a Iustice of men towards God or a diuine honouring of him in the perfect and true knowledge of his word peculiar onely to man It is the ground of all other vertues and the onely meanes to vnite and reconcile man vnto God for his saluation And whosoeuer breaketh out of this list or circumference strayeth through Atheisme into eternall damnation True Religion is the soule of Innocency mouing in an uspotted conscience To be doubtfull in Religion is to bee certaine of the greatest punishment True Religion hath thrée vertues to be knowne by first it serueth the true God next limiteth euery action by the word and lastly reconciles man to his Maker if hee doe pursue it The first precept from the wisest Philosopher was to feare God and the first Law amongst good men to increase Religion It is Faith and not Reason which teachethmen Religion Religion is the stay of the weake the master of the ignorant the philosophy of the simple As hée that heareth without eares can interpret our prayers without our tongues so a religious man may pray and neuer open his lips Religion is the oratory of the deuout the remedy of sinne the counsell of the iust and the comfort of them in tribulation Religion is that absolute cleane Beast which both chaweth the cud and diuides the hoofe for it makes a man ruminate and chaw holy meditations till they giue diuine nourishment and the one claw poynteth man to the feare of God the other to the loue of his neighbour Hée is happily religious whom no feare troubleth no sorrow consumeth no fleshly lust tormenteth no desire of worldly wealth afflicteth nor any foolishnesse moueth vnto mirth Religion teacheth men to pray and no man is so happy as he whose life is a continuall prayer Religion is the wings that beare the soule vp to heauen and meditation the eye which onely can sée God liuing Religious deuotion is a continuall discourse or conference with God for when thou readest God speakes to thée when thou praiest thou talkst with God True Religion makes prayer ascend that Grace may descend In thy deuotions fixe thy iudgement on thy faith not on thine experience for faith is truth experience but deceitfull To desire sufficient things is néedlesse for God will giue them vndemanded but desire to bee contented with such things as he bestoweth for therein will consist thy happinesse Except true religion make vs vnderstand God in his word our sight is but blindnes our vnderstanding ignorance our wisedome foolishnesse and our deuotion diuellishnesse Religion will teach thée to know that God is a most bright Sunne which ariseth vpon those that feare him and goes downe from them that are carelesse and prophane God sits in the highest heauens if thou wilt lift vp thy selfe vnto him hee will flye from thée but if thou humbless thy selfe before him he will come downe vnto thée True Religion brings a man vp to heauen which is the seat of glory the habitation of Angels the resting place of the faithfull farre beyond thought and glorious beyond report Hee that bites of euery wéede must néedes taste poyson and he that is of diuers religions must néedes méete with damnation Religion will make thée know well and doe well and they are the only two poynts belonging to Uertue As plants measurably watred grow the better but being watred too much are drowned and dye so opinions in religion mixt with moderation are made sound and refreshed but accompanyed with too seuere curiositie oft turne and conuert to heresie As a ship with a sure Anchor may lye any where so the minde ruled by religious reason is quiet at all seasons Since holy Writ shewes vs Gods holy power With pure heart adore him euery howre Begin thy dayes worke when the day begins First blessing Gods thrice blessed name deuout And then at euening when thy labour ends Prayse him againe so bring the day
found by the Test to bee without faith Striue to be in loue with Uertue out of the inclination of thine owne vertue for it is but a flanish good which Lawes and extremitie doth kéepe from committing of euill Let wisedome propound discréet ends to thine affayres and do nothing rashly for an honest suruey of things to come preuents insuing repentance Let not the Sunne goe downe on thy wrath but whether iniuring or iniured offer reconciliation for the peace-maker is blessed If thy enemy do it before thée hee conquers thée and thou losest that blessing Let thine owne brest be the Cabanet for thine owne secret counsels and doe not beleâ—ue that it is too hard for one but that it is enough for two and a great deale too much for thrée Let neuer any malice make thée reneale what the least friendship hath shut in thy bosome Let the choyce of thy friend be a iourney into the Indies long in doing but once chosen kéepe him to the end for to want a friend is to want vertue and to change often shewes incertaine honesty Let thy spéech be like Moses his slow but aduised and fore-thinke the fitnesse of thy spéech before thine vtterance affirme nothing but truth within thine owne knowledge and rather bee silent then speake to euill purpose In praysing be discréet without enuy in saluting courteous in admonishing friendly in forgiuing mercifull in promising faithfull in recompensing bountifull and make not the reward of Uertue the gift of fauour Giue euery man the reuerence due to his place but respect his goodnesse before his greatnesse Auoid pride in thy youth disdaine it in thine age and feare and suspect it at all seasons Pride hath two steps to climbe by alow bloud and a great enuy Kéepe thy foot from the doore of the harlot thy hand from the booke of the lender thy tongue from the slander of thy neighbour thy society from the drunkard and Epicure for pouerty shall be their portion And the sléeper shall bee cloathed with ragges Beware of Suretiship it is the birdlime of the time and lockes vp men in bolted cages Bee not vnthrifty to spend too much loue on thy selfe nor yet so extreame frugall not to spend good wit and words together And howsoeuer thou studiest the highest things let thy modesty looke for no rent from thy selfe but strangers Say with the Wise-man thou knowest nothing but that thou knowest nothing Rule those that liue vnder thée rather with loue then feare the first is safe the latter dangerous In hearing controuersies clense thine eares from the waxe of other mens reports and lend the one to the accuser the other to the accused let the cause of the poore and néedy come in equall ballance with the rich and mighty and if by aduantagious wealth any mountains be raysed to obscure the poore valley pull downe the first and rayse vp the latter till both come to an euen leuell Make not recreation an occupation for the too much vse thereof conuerts to poyson like a surfet of honey cannot be cured without digesting of wormwood If thou suruey the liues of men and manners of the time While each reproues anothers fault looke who is void of crime Loue not vilde things how faire so ere they seem 'T is Vertue and not Wealth wisemen esteeme Be constant but if cause require vnstable seeme to be Wise men their conuersations change and yet from faults are free Argue not with a man is naught but words Speech but not wisdome Nature vs affords So loue thy friend as to thy selfe a louing friend thou bee So bound thy bounty to the best that harme pursue not thee The better to supply thy want spare what thy hand hath got And that thou maist thy penny saue suppose thou hast it not Without Compasse In Conuersation is Luxury THe smyle of a Foe that procéedeth of enuy is worse then the teare of a friend procéeding of pitty There can be no amity where there is no vertue and that friendship is most hatefull and accursed where some become friends to doe vnto others mischiefe A false friend is like quick-siluer vnto gould it cleanes vnto it séemes as if it would neuer forsake it but if it once come into the fire it presently flies away in fume and though the gould remaine yet is the siluer neuer more to be decerned and such is a fayned friend in the time of tribulation He that is immoderate in his laughter or too audacious in his spéech in the one expresseth his folly in the other his pride Hee whose sad countenance is euer voyde of alacrity hath a proud hart empty of all humility A man of ill conuersation may slaunder his neighbour foure seuerall waies first in his silence when he saith nothing and yet can truely cleare an imputation falsly affirmed secondly in writing casting out lybells that are false and vniustifiable thirdly in doubts by drawing away the good opinions of other men and lastly in his authority by making such as trust him beléeue vntruths and falshoods Who sweares for lucre or gaine of money goes but a haires breadth from periury though his oath be iust for the sinne of couetousnesse wil confound him Those which haue no care but to heap vp riches and are not able to imploy them are like those men which haue goodly Horses but know not how to ride them He that doth good to the wicked is like him that giues meate to another mans dogge for they barke at him as well as at others Luxurie is a pleasure bought with paine a delight hatcht with disquiet a content passed with feare and a sinne finished with sorrow Luxurie is an enemy to the purse a foe to the person a canker to the mind a corasiue to the conscience a weakner of the wit a besotter of the senses and lastly a mortall bane to the whole body so that who so liues out of compasse in this wildernesse shall finde pleasure the path way to perdition and Luxurie the loadstone to vtter ruine The Jealous man liuing dyes and dying prolongs out his life in passions worse then death he sées none but with suspition heare 's no man knocke but with amazement nor interprets any discourse but to dishonest purpose if his wife frowne she hates him if she smile she hath had successe in adultery modesty is dissimulation fauour is a decrée of false dealing and in conclusion nothing can he sée but doubts and frenzie Enuy shooteth at others but for the most part euermore woundeth her selfe Enuy is the filthy slime impostume of the soule a perpetuall torment to him in whom it abideth a venome or quicksiluer which consumeth the flesh and dryeth vp the marrow of the bones Dissimulation is an euill humor of the mind and contrary to honesty it is a countenaunce euer disagréeing from the hearts imaginations and a notorious lyar in whatsoeuer it suggesteth The flattery of an enemy is like the song of the Syren it