a greater vertue to do well than to hear well DO nothing which thou disallowest disallow thy self some things which thou maiest doe but nothing which thou oughtest to doe give no liberty to thy selse in unlawfull things use not the utmost of that liberty which is given thee in other things and so use thy liberty in what thou art permitted as that they may not hinder thee in the things thou art commanded PRomise nothing which may prejudice thee in performance performe what thou hast promised though to thy prejudice thinke thy selfe bound by thy word though without oath or witnesse if thou art not well able to perform consider thou wert able not to promise a good man measures his promises by his ability but hee measures his performance by his promise ACcount it the greatest knowledge truly to know thy selse and the greatest conquest to subdue thy selfe not give way to thine owne lusts not boast of thine owne parts to doe nothing that is ill nor vainegloriously to tell of what thou doest well in all things to approve thy selfe a good man and a Christian but not boast of it PLace not Religion in talke only it is an easier matter to give counsell than to follow it sometimes we have known men to fall into those sinnes from which they have with great paines converted others but Christianity as we say of charity begins at home it was Christ's to S. Peter Art thou converted strengthen the Brethren but first bee converted himselfe he may happily save others that is not saved himselfe yet hee will sooner save another that goes in the way of salvation himself good Doctrine is weakned much with ill life hee that will doe good upon others must first be good himself SPeake nothing which thou would'st wish to recall and do nothing which thou shalt need to repent condemne nothing in a humour nor maintaine nothing out of faction never defend a false cause either to revenge a wrong or to do a pleasure THinke onely the present time thine for that which is past is none of thine and that which is to come it is a question whether ever it shall be thine so the certaine time of thy life is very little and the account which thou shalt certainely give of this life very great and thy account is made greater by tarrying but thy life lesse so that to put off the finishing of this account till a farther time is to make thy selfe a greater account and have lesse time to doe it in nay thou shalt answer for the neglect of that time wherein it might have beene done and it may bee denied another time to doe it MEasure not goodnesse by good words onely a Parrat may bee taught to speake well good words cost us nothing and men are for that Religion that is cheapest it is an easie matter to speake like a Christian Satan himself can talke Scripture Charity consists not barely in knowing or discoursing of what is good but in practising what wee doe know in religion not to doe as thou sayest is to unsay thy religion in thy deeds EVer expect death though not wish for it let thy last houre find thee rather willing to goe than contented to tarry put not off amendment till another day thou art not sure to see an end of this provide that thy death bed amy rather finde thee fitted for God than fit thee and so order thy estate and thy soule in thy health that when death comes thy mayest have nothing to doe but to die IN point of reformation first plucke out thy owne More spend not thy time in exhorting others to the keeping of the Commandements and breake them thy selfe measure not thy goodnesse by anothers want of it nor measure thy want of goodnesse by others store of it God doth not so though thou art not so good as the best yet while thou endeavourest to be so thou art good enough God who workes in us both to will and to do doth in some case accept the will for the deed REckon nothing which thou hast thine owne nor nothing which thou doest at thine owne disposing and use all not as a Master but a servant remembring thou must one day answer for them to their Master DO not murmure at thy condition if mean nor measure Gods blessings by thy wants but by thy deserts if God be better to others then he is to thee yet while he is better to thee than thou deservest hee is good enough IN Christianity not thinke to attaine the end without the meanes and if the same meanes doe not in all produce the same effect not to impute it to any alteration or deficiency in the meanes but in the subject the means is the same the parties are not all men are not alike hardned in sin therefore all are not alike hard or easie to bee converted sinnes are compared to diseases all diseases are not mortall some humours spend themselves others are not recovered but with expence and danger and the same sickenesse is not removed with the same ease in bodies because there is not in all the same temper that physick doth but stirre the humour in some bodies which in others would utterly expell it it is with the sicknesse of the soule as of the body all sinnes are not equall all men are not equally sinnefull either the sins may be lesse or of lesse continuance for custome as it begets a greater liking of sinne so it leaves a deeper root continuation of things makes them partly naturall therefore wee call custome another nature setled impieties like set led humours doe not easily ftirre though the means are the same yet while the subjects is not it is no wonder that the effects are not there must bee the same disposition of the matter as well as of the agent it is nor enough that the word bee the same if the hearers be not as as the same physicke doth not worke or cure alike nor the same seed thrive alike in all grounds so neither doth the same word save alike or prevaile alike withall Sodome would have repented with those meanes which Corazin did not in thine impenitency therefore not to accuse God or the meanes but thine owne selfe in thy conversion not to thanke thine owne selfe or the means but God and the meanes under God REnember that as there is â—…e death which thou must prepre to meet so there is another death which thou must study to avoid the death of the soule the naturall death consists in the dissolution of the soule from the body the spirituall death in the dissolution of the soule from God and one day of soule and body from God which is the second death now as wee say of the naturall body that the way to be young long is to be old betimes so the way to live not long but ever is to die betimes if thou die but once while thou livest the death of sinne thou shalt live eternally after
tou art dead LOve nothing in this world too well no not thy selfe thinke of the pleasures of this World either as sinnes or occasions of it and the other more necessary things of it though they have thy presence let them not have thy heart and use them rather because thou wantest them than because thou likest them and so provide that thy death may be the beginning of thy happinesse not the end of it Ever suspect ever feare For to be too happy here Left in heaven thou have lesse If any for this happinesse Seldome haue I known To have Heavens more then one All the pleasures of this life They are usefull but a knife I may warme me by their fire But take heed of comming nigher Yet in this is danger still He that warmes is after chill Oh JEHOVAH but with thee Is there true felicity All this sublunary treasure Yeeld but counterfeit of pleasure Silken cares Kings of clouts Full of torments feares and doubts Trifles dangers baited books Sha dowes onely shape and looks Of what we call worse than naughts Snares temptation if not faults Whether it be birth or place Beauty and the pride of face Honour wealth or higher yet That they call a favourite Like a shadow on the Sun Have their being and are done From anothers like or frown So they rise and so go down They are got and kept with feares And are parted with with teares And accounted for with borror And then Dives is the poorer When the finall day shall come A dreadfull day indeed to some And we answer for their use Then to want them we would choose So then much of these to aske Is to beg thy seâ—f a taske A beggery for thus to be Is the greatest poverty All thou hast is on the score What is that but to be poore Adde to this it doth not last And happinesse is torment pass't It may be present so thy host Is but may be at the most In Heaven onely is there blisse That ever shall be ever is Worldly laughter is not mirth Born and buried in the birth Where O God there wants thy grace Mirth is only in the face O God thou art only thou To morrow yesterday and now To thee my self my time I give All that I have all that I live DEliberately to move to any businesse is proper to man headily to be carried by desired is common to beasts in civill actions be led by thy reason not by thy appetite in divine action by Religion and doe nothing that may forfeit either thy reason or thy honesty measure the goodnesse of things by their lawfulnesse not by their profit nor be drawne to doe ill for advantage not intend thy particular good with the forfeiture of the genreall IN religion publish nothing which thou datest not stand to nor libell against the truth if thou think it is not the truth why doest thou publish it if thou thinkest it is the truth why art thou ashamed of it such are between two rocks either of which splits them for either they sinne in publishing that which is a lye or else having published it they sin in being asham'd or afraid to stand to it which they think is the truth true Gold flies not the Touchstone a good mans actions are such as hee feares not to be discovered it is a signe their workes are ill when they dare not own them Oderunt lucem is our Saviours note of such if it be the truth they ought not onely in some case to owne it but to die in it if it be a lye they ought not to live in it much lesse to give it life every lye is a sinne but to print a lie is to justifie a sinne and in Religion to print a lie for truth is to father a lie upon God a good man will publish nothing in God's name to which he dares not set his own MEasure not thy selfe by what men say of thee they may mistake thee it is their sinne not thine if others slander thee to bee ill spoken of and undeser vedly is neither thy fault nor alone thy case Christ himselfe was thought a Wine bibber and Saint Paul mad if ill tongues could make men ill good men were in ill taking never regard what any can say against thee but thine owne conscience though all the World condemne thee while God and thy selfe doe not thou art innocent enough the wickednesse of ill tongues doth but dirt themselves the mire that is cast upon thee is not thine care not to have ill men speake well of thee it may be if thou wert worse thou wouldeft hear better Parcit cognatis maculis similis fera the Devill doth not accuse his owne if thou wert one if them they would speake more favourably bee carefull to bee cleane to God what ever thou art to the world and bee slow in soyling and blacking others if they are not so cleane as thou could'st wish their foulnesse bee to themselves let them bee never the fouler for thy mouth they that are forward in censuring and accusing others are usually such themselves TO all thy promises need no other bond but thy word nor no other witnesse but God be carefull never to promise any thing of which thou shalt wish to be forgiven the performance nor plead either want of ability or testimony an honest man doth not promise more than he meanes nor a wise man more than hee is able BE not a servant to those things which thou shouldest command thy mony thy body and thy appetite or thy sensitive part but use thy estate to serve thy body and thy occasions and thy body to be subservient to thy soule and thy soule to serve God thus while either of these serve in their proper office God is serv'd in all if thou art commanded by the first of these thou art neither thine owne Master nor fit to be God's servant REsolve nothing but upon good ground nor alter thy resolution but upon good reason not inconstantly to waver nor obstinately to persevere in things to heare others judgements besides thine own and if right to submit to them not to thinke it a disparagement that there are wifer than thy selfe to thinke it a fault rather to stand in an errour than to fall into one not choose to defend a lie rather than descend to yeeld to others it that which is the truth to maintaine an opinion because it is thine not because it is true is to maintaine thy selfe not the truth and to prefer thy selfe to the truth SO farre intend thy profit as that thou still subject it to your religion not make thy commodity the sterne of the conscience he was not the best Disciple that had the bag so procure or continue to thy self a place upon earth as that thou lose not thy place in heaven LEarne not to examine thy selfe by what thou art not as the Pharisee not like other men and while some others are
alterable whereas wee changing but once and for the better shall ever after remaine immutable so that to bee loath to change is to contradict what thou dost to feare a change and yet love a life that is full of changes IF God hath made thee handsome let not that make thee proud beauty is an ornament doe not thou make it a snare why shouldest thou have cause to wish that thou hadst been ill favoured shew nothing naked of thy selfe to others but thy face and that onely that thou mayest bee knowne not seen be courteous to all but not familiar stay not to heare thy handsomnesse prais'd much lesse to praise it thinke no time so ill spent about thy selfe as in dressing nor no money as in fashions yet in neither bee ridiculous allow for both acknowledge no beauty in thy selfe but of the minde nor strive for none if God have made thee beautifull in others eyes let it be thy care to make thy selse so in his beauty without grace is the greatest deformity IN Gods house and businesse forget thine owne be there as a member of the Church not of the Common-wealth empty thy selfe of this world thou art conversant in the next let all thy senses have no other object but God let thy eares be open but thy eyes shut if anothers beauty draw thy eyes from God that beauty is become thy deformity and hath turn'd God's eyes from thee LOve no woman but a wife and use no familiarity with her but in publike thou knowest not whither it may grow many have thought no hurt in the beginning of those things that after have proceeded to impiety and in all thy behaviour examine not what thou doest but with what minde thou doest it else that which happily in it selfe was indifferent is to thee unlawfull to a good mind all company is safe and all familiarity is safe 'T is the mind that makes a fault Else such things would not be naught He that can and is no lyâ—… Sport and talke without a fire Can be courteous can be kind And not kindle in his mind And can touch a womans skin As his own not stir within Doth salute without delight And more would not if he might Nor scarce that whom thus to bill Manners treacheth not his will Nor with hand nor lip nor eye Doth commit aduliery But see and salute each other Woman as he doth his mother As the Nurses harmelesse kisse To her child is such is his Without pleasure without taste With a minde a thought as chaste As Turtle till thy minde be such Do nor look nor sport nor touch Or at least till this thou can Sport and talk and play with man Not with woman for â—f fair Thou wilt findk or make a snare Nay although thy minde be such Do not toy nor sport nor touch For although thy thoughts be good Yet thoughts are not understood But by actions so therein May be scandall if not sin Who exactnesse will fulfill Must forbeare things seeming ill Not that are but might have been Or that may be construed sin Men judge thee ill or innocent By what 's seen not what is meant Then untill all mindes be such Think a look a smile to much LOve thy neighbour as thy selfe in the kinde unfainedly but love thy friend as thy selfe in the degree doe as much as thou canst but love more then thou canst doe hee that doth but little for his friend because his ability is so loves more than hee which doth much but lesse than he is able REvenge no injury though thou canst and requite every courtesie if thou canst yet shew that thou art willing to requite a courtesie where thou art able and shew that thou art able to revenge a wrong if thou canst though thou art not willing so by shewing that thou couldst revenge this thou wilt happily prevent another and by not revenging it thou wilt prove thy selfe better then thou shewst for to revenge a wrong done is to doe a wrong to God so thou wilt be guilty of doing that which thou complainest of and therefore unjustly complainest of that which thou thy selfe doest LEt thy conceit of thy selfe be low but thy desires high even as high as heaven thinke thy selfe not worthy of the least good yet by the grace of God capable of the greatest thinke often upon Christs death it will sweeten thine and account it his he accounts it so he died not for himself but for thee and if thou live not to thy selfe but to him then he lives not for himselfe neither but for thee to make thee partaker of eternall life which already thou hast in the certainty though not in the fruition and believest all this and more very humbly but very confidently THat thou mayest avoid sin avoid the occasion of it as he that complaines of heate removes farther from the fire omit no opportunity of doing good and doe no evill though thou hast opportunity it is a greater commendations of thy goodnesse that thou mightest and wouldst not MEditate often upon thy death thou wilt like it the better and often upon the next life thou wilt like this the worse thinke of this World as a thing in trust and provide to discharge it account nothing thine owne but as being shortly to give an account of it to the right owner BE not angry without cause be merry without offence admit a seasonable anger and shunne an unseasonable jest be moderate in both doe not forget thy selfe in thy anger nor thy friend in thy mirth by the one thou wilt be burthensome to thy selfe by the other to the company LOve the body but subordinate to the soule the Tenant is more noble than the house the most beautifull body is but a body of earth and the jewels which adorne it are but stones in the earth and the gold and silver which it prides in are veines in this earth the cloaths which thou wearest were the cloathing of some beast or the labour of some Worme or at the best of a man like thy selfe thinke then with what vile things thou art made fine which yet doe but make thee so in the esteeme of others not truly so in thy selfe and doe but hide those parts which thou art ashamed to shew not adorne that inner part which doth truly shew thee therefore to bee so much a Christian to preferre that part which thou hast common with Christ in respect of his humane nature thy reasonable soule or so much a man not to prefer that part which thou hast common with the beast an earthly body IF thou art a Master let thy family beaw'd rather by thy example then thy word bee angry for small faults it will prevent greater commend and encourage those that doe well they will doe better commendations of former goodness is a provocation to more THinke upon this life as a current ever running doe not hope to live long but be assur'd not to live still and account it