be Right if it be not fit to be done If not Prudent tho Just it is not adviseable He that loses by getting had better lose than get 156. Knowledge is the Treasure but Judgment the Treasurer of a Wise Man 157. If thou wouldst be obeyed being a Father being a Son be obedient 158. He that begets thee owes thee and has a natural Right over thee 159. Next to God thy Parents next them the Magistrate 160. Remember thou art not more Indebted to thy Parents for thy Nature than for their Love and Care 161. Rebellion in Children was therefore Death by God's Law and the next Sin to Idolatry Which is renouncing of God the great Parent of all 162. Obedience to Parents is not only our Duty but our Interest We received our Life from them and prolong it by obeying them For Obedience is the first Commandment with Promise 163. The Obligation is as indissolvable as the Relation 164. If we must not disobey God to obey them at least we must let them see when we do disobey them that there is nothing else in our Refusal For some unjust Commands cannot excuse the general neglect of our Duty 165. A Man in Business must put up many Affronts if he loves his own quiet 166. We must not pretend to see all that we see if we would be easie 167. It were endless to dispute upon every thing that is disputable 168. A vindictive Temper is not only uneasie to others but to them that have it 169. Rarely Promise But if Lawful constantly perform 170. Hasty Resolutions are of the Nature of Vows and to be equally avoided 171. I will never do this says one yet does it I am resolved to do that says another but flags upon second Thoughts Or does it though awkardly for his Word's sake As if it were worse to break his Word than to do a miss in keeping it 172. Wear none of thine own Chains but keep free whilst thou art free 173. It is an effect of Passion that Wisdom corrects to lay thy self under Resolutions that cannot be well made and must be worse performed 174. Avoid all thou canst being Entrusted But do thy utmost to discharge the Trust thou undertakest For Carelesness is Injurious if not Unjust 175. The Glory of a Servant is Fidelity which cannot be without Diligence as well as Truth 176. Fidelity has Enfranchised Slaves and Adopted Servants to be Sons 177. Reward a good Servant well And rather quit than disquiet thy self with an ill one 178. Mix Kindness with Authority and rule more by Discretion than Rigour 179. If thy Servant be faulty strive rather to convince him of his Error than discover thy Passion And when he is sensible forgive him 180. Remember he is thy Fellow-Creature and that God's Goodness not thy Merit has made the difference betwixt Thee and Him 181. Let not thy Children Domineer over thy Servants Nor suffer Them to slight thy Children 182. Suppress Tales in the general But where a Matter requires notice encourage the Complaint and right the Aggrieved 183. If thou art a Child thou art to Entreat and not to Command And if a Servant to comply where thou dost not obey 184. Tho' there should be but one Master and Mistress in a Family yet Servants should remember that Children have the Reversion 185. Indulge not unseemly things in thy Master's Children nor refuse them what is fitting For one is the highest Unfaithfulness and the other Indiscretion as well as Disrespect 186. Do thine own Work honestly and chearfully And when that is done help thy Fellow that so another time he may help thee 187. Be not fancifully Jealous For that is Foolish as to be reasonably so is Wise 188. He that superfines upon other Men's Actions cozens himself as well as injures them 189. To be very subtle and scrupulous in Business is as hurtful as being over confident and secure 190. In difficult Cases such a Temper is timorous and in dispatch irresolute 191. Experience is a safe Guide And a Practical Head is a great happiness in Business 192. We are too careless of Posterity not considering that as they are so the next Generation will be 193. If we would mend the World we should mend our selves and teach our Children not what we are but what they should be 194. We are too apt to awaken and tune up their Passions by the Example of our own and to teach them to be pleased not with what is best but with what pleases best 195. It is our Duty and ought to be our Care to ward against that Passion in them which is more especially our own Weakness and Affliction For we are in great measure accountable for them as well as for our selves 196. We are true Turners of the World upside down For Mony is first and Vertue last and least in our care 197. It is not how we leave our Children but what we leave them 198. To be sure Vertue is but a Supplement and not a Principal in their Portion and Character 199. The Country Life is to be preferr'd For there we see the Works of God but in Cities little else but the Works of Men. And the one make a better subject for our Contemplation than the other 200. As Puppets are to Men and Babies to Children so is Man's Workmanship to God's We are the Picture he the Reality 201. God's Works declare his Power Wisdom and Goodness but Man's Works for the most part his Pride Folly and Excess The one is for use the other chiefly for Ostentation and Lust 202. Art is Good where it is beneficial Socrates wisely bounded his Knowledge and Instruction by Practice 203. Have a Care therefore of Projects And yet despise nothing rashly or in the Lump 204. Ingenuity as well as Religion sometimes suffers between two Thieves Pretenders and Despisers 205. Though injudicious and dishonest Projectors often discredit Art yet the most useful and extraordinary Inventions have not at first escap'd the Scorn of Ignorance As their Authors rarely have escap'd cracking of their Heads or breaking their Backs 206. Undertake no Experiment in Speculation that appears not true in Art Nor then at thine own Cost if costly or hazardous in making 207. As many Hands make light Work so several Purses make cheap Experiments 208. Industry is certainly very commendable and supplies want of Parts 209. Patience and Diligence like Faith remove Mountains 210. Do good with what thou hast or it will do thee no good 211. Seek not to be Rich but Happy The one lyes in Bags the other in Content which Wealth can never give 212. We are apt to call things by wrong Names We will have Prosperity to be Happiness and Adversity to be Misery though That is the School of Wisdom and oftentimes the way to eternal Happiness 213. If thou wouldst be happy bring thy Mind to thy Condition and have an Indifferency for more than what is sufficient 114. Have but little to do and
Some Fruits of Solitude IN REFLECTIONS AND MAXIMS Relating to the CONDUCT OF Human Life Licens'd May 24. 1693. LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-Street 1693. The Preface Reader THis Enchiridion I present thee with is the Fruit of Solitude A School few care to learn in tho' none Instructs us better Some Parts of it are the Result of serious Reflection Others the Flashings of Lucid Intervals writ for private Satisfaction and now publisht for an Help to Human Conduct The Author blesseth God for his Retirement and kisses that gentle Hand which lead him into it For tho' it should prove Barren toth ' World it can never do so to him He has now had some Time he could call his own a Property he was never Master of before In which he has taken a View of himself and the World and observed wherein he hath hit and mist the Mark what might have been done what mended and what avoided together with the Omissions and Excesses of others as well Societies and Governments as private Families and Persons And he verily thinks were he to live over his Life again he could with God's Grace serve Him his Neighbour and Himself better than he hath done and have Seven Years of his Time to spare And yet perhaps he hath not been the Worst or the Idlest Man in the World nor is he the Oldest And this is the rather said that it might quicken thee Reader to lose none of the Time that is yet thine There is nothing of which we are so lavish as of Time and about which we ought to be more solicitous Without it we can do nothing in this World Time is what we want most but what alas we use worst and for which God will certainly most strictly reckon with us when Time shall be no more It is of that Moment to us in reference to both Worlds that I can hardly wish any Man better than that he would seriously consider what he does with his Time how and to what Ends he employs it and what Returns he makes to God his Neighbour and Himself for it Will he never have a Leger for this To come but once into the World and Trifle away our true Enjoyment of it and of our selves in it is lamentable indeed This one Reflection would yield a thinking Person great Instruction And since nothing below Man can Think Man in being Thoughtless must needs fall below himself And that to be sure such do as are unconcern'd in the use of their most precious Time This is but too evident if we will allow our selves to consider that there is hardly any thing we take by the Right End or improve to its just Advantage We understand little of the Works of God either in Nature or Grace We pursue false Knowledg and mistake Education extreamly We are violent in our Affections Confused and Immethodical in our whole Life making that a Burthen which was given for a Blessing and of little Comfort to our selves hending the true Notion of Happiness and so missing of the Right Use of Life and Way of happy Living And till we are persuaded to stop and step a little aside out of the noisy Crowd and Incumbering Hurry of the World and calmly take a Prospect of things it will be impossible we should be able to make a right Judgment of our selves or know our own Misery But after we have made the just Reckonings which Retirement will help us to we shall begin to think the World in great measure Mad and that we have been in a sort of Bedlam all this while Reader whether Young or Old think it not too soon or too late to turn over the Leaves of thy past Life And be sure to fold down where any Passage of it may affect thee And bestow thy Remainder of time to correct those Faults in thy future Conduct be it in relation to this or the next Life What thou wouldst do if what thou hast done were to do again he sure to do as long as thou livest upon the like Occasions Our Reflections seem to be vigorous as often as we survey our past Errors But alas our Resolutions are apt to be flat upon fresh Temptations to the same things The Author does not pretend to deliver thee an Exact Piece his Business being not Vanity but Charity 'T is Miscellaneous in the Matter of it and by no means Artificial in the Composure But it contains Hints that may serve thee for Texts to preach to thy self upon and which comprehend much of the Course of Human Life Since whether thou art Parent or Child Prince or Subject Master or Servant Single or Married Publick or Private Mean or Honourable Rich or Poor Prosperous or Improsperous in Peace or Controversy in Business or Solitude whatever be thy Inclination or Aversion Practice or Duty thou wilt find something not unsuitably said for thy Direction and Advantage Accept and Improve what deserves thy notice The rest excuse and place to account of good Will to thee and the whole Creation of God REFLECTIONS AND MAXIMS I. IT is admirable to consider how many Millions of People come into and go out of the World ignorant of themselves and of the World they have lived in 2. If one went to see Windsor-Castle or Hampton-Court it would be strange if he did not observe and remember the Situation the Building the Gardens Fountains c. And yet few People know themselves no not their own Bodies the Houses of their Minds the most curious Structure of the World a living walking Tabernacle nor the World out of which it was made and in which it is fed which would be so much our Benefit as well as our Pleasure to know 3. The World is a great and stately Volume of Natural Things but how very few Leaves of it do we seriously turn over This ought to be the Subject of the Education of our Youth who at 20 when they should be fit for Business know not any thing of it 4. We are in Pain to make them Scholars but not Men to Talk rather than to Know which is true Canting 5. The first thing obvious to Children is what is Sensible And that we make no part of their Rudiments 6. We press their Memories too soon and puzle strain and load them with Words and Rules to know Grammar and Rhetorick and a strange Tongue or two that it is ten to one may never be useful to them leaving their Natural Genius to Mechanical and Physical Knowledge uncultivated and neglected which is of exceeding Use and Pleasure to them through the whole course of their Life 7. To be sure Languages are not to be despised or neglected But Things are to be preferred 8. Children had rather be making of Tools and Instruments of Play Shaping Drawing Framing and Building c. than getting some Rules of Propriety of Speech by Heart And those also would follow with more Judgment and less Trouble and Time
a Friend we are to find them before we chuse one 107. The Covetous the Angry the Proud the Talkative cannot but make ill Friends as well as the False 108. In short chuse a Friend as thou dost a Wife till Death separates you 109. Yet be not a Friend beyond the Altar But let Virtue bound thy Friendship Else it is not Friendship but an evil Confederacy 110. If my Brother or Kinsman will be my Friend I ought to prefer him before a Stranger or I shew little Duty or Nature to my Parents 111. And as we ought to prefer our Kindred in point of Affection so too in point of Charity if equally needing and deserving 112. Be not easily acquainted lest finding reason to cool thou makest an Enemy instead of a good Neighbour 113. Be Reserved but not Sour Grave but not Formal Bold but not Rash Humble but not Servile Patient not Insensible Constant not Obstinate Chearful not Light rather Sweet than Familiar Familiar than Intimate and Intimate with very few and upon very good Grounds 114. Return the Civilities thou receivest and be ever grateful for Favours 115. If thou hast done an Injury to another rather own it than defend it One way thou gain'st Forgiveness the other thou doubl'st the Wrong and Reckoning 116. Some oppose Honour to Submission But it can be no Honour to maintain what it is Dishonourable to do 117. To confess a Fault that is none out of fear is indeed mean But not to be afraid of standing in one is Brutish 118. We should make more haste to Right our Neighbour than we did to Wrong him And instead of being Vindicative we should leave him to be judge of his own Satisfaction 119. True Honour will pay treble Damages rather than justifie one Wrong by another 120. In such Controversies it is but too common for some to say Both are to blame to excuse their own Unconcernedness which is a base Neutrality Others will cry They are both alike thereby involving the Injured with the Guilty to mince the Matter for the Faulty or cover their own Injustice to the wronged Party 121. Fear and Gain are great Perverters of Mankind and where either prevail the Judgment is violated 122. Avoid Company where it is not profitable or necessary and in those Occasions speak little and last 123. Silence is Wisdom where Speaking is Folly and always safe 124. Some are so Foolish as to interrupt and anticipate those that speak instead of hearing and thinking before they answer which is uncivil as well as silly 125. If thou thinkest twice before thou speakest once thou wilt speak twice the better for it 126. Better say nothing than not to the purpose And to speak pertinently consider both what is fit and when it is fit to speak 127. In all Debates let Truth be thy aim not Victory or an unjust Interest and endeavour to gain rather than to expose thy Antagonist 128. Give no advantage in Argument nor lose any that is offered This is a Benefit which arises from Temper 129. Don't use thy self to dispute against thine own Judgment to shew Wit lest it prepare thee to be too indifferent of what is Right Nor against another Man to vex him or for meer trial of Skill Since to inform or to be informed ought to be the end of all Conferences 130. Men are too apt to be concerned for their Credit more than for the Cause 131. There is a Truth and Beauty in Rhetorick but it oftner serves ill turns than good ones 132. Elegancy is a good Meen and Adress given to Matter be it by proper or figurative Speech where the words are apt and Allusions very natural Certainly it has a moving Grace But it is too artificial for Simplicity and oftentimes for Truth The danger is lest it delude the Weak who in such cases may mistake the Handmaid for the Mistress if not Error for Truth 133. 'T is certain Truth is least indebted to it Because she has least need of it and least uses it 134. But it is a reproveable Delicacy in some that despise Truth in plain Cloaths 135. Such Luxuriants have but false Appetites like those Gluttons that by Sawces force an Appetite where they have no Stomach and Sacrifice to their Pallate not their Health Which cannot be without great Vanity nor that without some Sin 136. Nothing does Reason more Right than the Coolness of those that offer it And Truth often suffers more by the Heat of its Defenders than from the Arguments of its Opposers 137. Zeal ever follows an appearance of Truth and the Assured are too apt to be warm But 't is their weak side in Argument Zeal being better shewn against Sin than Persons or their Mistakes 138. Where thou art obliged to speak be sure to speak the Truth For Equivocation is half way to Lying as Lying the whole way to Hell 139. Believe nothing against another but upon good Authority Nor report what may hurt another unless it be a greater hurt to others to conceal it 140. It is wise not to seek a Secret and honest not to reveal one 141. Trust thy self and another shall not betray thee 142. Openness has the Mischief tho' not the Malice of Treachery 143. Never assent meerly to please others For that is beside Flattery oftentimes Untruth and discovers a Mind liable to be servile and base Nor contradict to vex others for that shews an ill Temper and provokes but profits no Body 144. Do not accuse others to excuse thy self for that is neither Generous nor Just But let Sincerity and Ingenuity be thy Refuge rather than Craft and Falshood For Cunning borders very near upon Knavery 145. Wisdom never uses nor wants it Cunning to Wise is as an Ape to a Man 146. Interest has the Security tho' not the Virtue of a Principle As the World goes 't is the surer side For Men daily leave both Relation and Religion to follow it 147. 'T is an odd sight but very evident That Families and Nations of cross Religions and Humors unite against those of their own where they find an Interest to do it 148. We are tied down by our Senses to this World And where that is in Question it can be none with Worldly Men whether they should not forsake all other Considerations for it 149. Have a care of Vulgar Errors Dislike as well as Allow Reasonably 150. Inquiry is Human Blind Obedience Brutal Truth never loses by the one but often suffers by the other 151. The usefullest Truths are plainest And while we keep to them our Differences cannot rise high 152. There may be a Wantonness in Search as well as a Stupidity in Trusting It is great Wisdom equally to avoid the Extreams 153. Do nothing improperly Some are Witty Kind Cold Angry Easie Stiff Jealous Careless Cautious Confident Close Open but all in the wrong Place 154. It is ill mistaking where the Matter is of Importance 155. It is not enough that a thing