troubles When therefore thy Conscience like a sterne Sergeant shall catch thee by the throat and arrest thee upon Gods debt let thy only plea bee that thou hast alreadie paid it Bring forth that bloudy acquittance sealed unto thee from Heaven by Faith in Christ and streight way thou shalt see the fierce and terrible looke of thy Conscience changed into friendly smiles and that rough and violent hand that was ready to drag thee to prison shall now lovingly embrace thee and fight for thee against all the wrongfull attempts of any Spirituall Adversarie But the time wil come when the carelesse sinner shall bee plunged in woes and shall therefore desperately sorrow because he sorrowed not sooner for sin He may feast away his Cares for a while and bury them with himself in wine and sleep but after all these frivolous evasions they will returne again nor will they be repelled but increased hereby Sin owes him a spight and perhaps will pay him when hee is in worse case to sustaine it Namely up his Death-bed which shall prove very grievous unto him for his many wilfull adjournings of Repentance HE said wel who when some skilfull Astrologer upon calculation of his Nativitie had foretold him some specialties concerning his future estate answered Such perhaps I was borne but since that time I have been born again and my second Nativitie hath crossed my first The Power of Nature is a good Plea for those that acknowledge nothing above Nature but for a Christian to excuse his intemperatenesse by his naturall inclination and to say I am borne cholericke sullen Amorous c. is an Apologie worse than the fault For wherefore serves Religion but to subdue or governe Nature We are so much Christians as wee can rule our selves the rest is but forme and speculation THere is no difference but continuance betwixt Anger and Madnesse for raging Anger is a short Madnesse else what argues the shaking of the hands and lips the palenesse rednesse or swelling of the face glaring of the eies stammering of the Tongue stamping with the Feet unsteadie motions of the whole Body wilde distracted Speeches and rash Actions which we remember not to have done Doubtlesse a milde Madnes is more tolerable than frequent and furious Anger OVr Cowardlinesse and unpreparednesse is Deaths chiefest advantage wheras true boldnesse in confronting him dismayes and weakens his forces Happy is the Soule that can send out the Scouts of his thoughts before-hand to discover the power of Death a far off then can resolutely incounter him at unawares upon advantage such a one lives securely and dies with Comfort Death argues not Gods displeasure Abel whom God loved best dies first when the Murtherer Cain is punished with living COntentation is a rare Blessing because it either arises from a fruition of all comforts or a not desiring of some wee have not We are never so bare as not to have some benefits never so ful as not to want somthing yea as not to bee full of wants God hath much adoe with us either we lacke health or quietnesse or Children or wealth or company or our selves in all these Nature is moderate in her desires but Conceit is insatiable Who cannot pray for his daily bread when hee hath it in his Cup-bourd but when our owne provision failes then not to distrust God is a noble triall of Faith All grudging is odious but most when our hands are full To whine in the midst of abundance is a shamefull unthankfulnesse it is a base cowardise so soon as ever we are called from the garrison to the field to think of running away then is Fortune worthy of Prayse when wee can endure to be miserable O God I have made an ill use of thy mercies if I have not learned to be content with thy corrections NO benefit can stop the mouth of impatience if our turne be not served for the present former favours are either forgotten or contemned No marvell wee deale so with men when God receives this measure from us One Moone of ill weather makes us over-looke all the blessings of God and more to mutine at our sence of evill than to praise him for our variety of good It is an unfound praise that is given a man for one good action Many distrust God in their necessity that are ready to follow his guidance in their welfare if wee follow God and murmure it is all one as if wee staid behinde We can think him absent in our wants yet cannot see him absent in our sinnes It is wickednesse not affliction that argues him gone for he is most present when he most chastises And the sorrow of repentance comes never out of season all times are alike unto that Eternity where to we make our spirituall moanes that which is past and that which is future are both present with him It is neither weake nor uncomely for an old man to weep for the sins of his youth Such teares can never bee shed either too soon or too late THere is scarse a vicious man who name is not rotten before his Carcasse Contrarily a good mans name is often heire to his life either borne after the death of the Parent Envy not suffering it to come forth before or perhaps so well growne up in his life time that the hope thereof is the staffe of his age and the joy of his death The name of the wicked may be feared a while but is soone forgotten or cursed The good mans either sleepes with his body in peace or wakes as his soule in glory Vertue is not propagated Children naturally possesse only as bodily diseases so the vices of their Parents The grain is sowne pure yet comes up with chaffe and huske Hast thou a good son he is Gods not thine Is he evill nothing but his sinne is thine Help by thy prayers and endeavours to take away that which thou hast given him and to obtaine of God that which perhaps thou hast and canst not give else maist thou name him a possession but finde him a losse SPirituall gifts are so chained together that who excels in one hath alwaies some eminency in more Faith is attended with a Bevy of Graces he that beleeves cannot but have hope if hope patience he that beleeves and hopes must needs have joy in God if joy love of God hee that loves God cannot but love his brother his love to God breeds piety and care to please sorrow for offending feare to offend Vertues goe ever in troopes and that so thicke that sometimes some are hid in the crowd which yet are but appeare not IT is a rare evill that hath not something to sweeten it either in sence or in hope otherwise men would grow desperate mutinous envious of others weary of themselves The better the thing is wherein we place our comfort the happier we live and the more we love good things the better they are to us The worldling laughs more but the
Christian is more delighted Thou laughest not at the sight of an heap of thy gold yet thy delight is more than in a jest that shaketh thy spleene As griefe so joy is not lesse when it is least expressed It must needs be a strong and nimble soule that can mount to heaven possessing abundance of earthly things If thou finde wealth too pressing abate of thy load either by having lesse or loving lesse or adde to the strength of thy activity that thou maist yet ascend It is more commendable by how much more hard to climbe up to heaven with a burthen THe meaner sort of men would be too much discontented if they saw how far more pleasant the life of others is and if those of higher ranke could looke downe to the infinite miseries of their inferiours it would make them either miserable in compassion or proud in conceit It is good sometimes for the delicate rich man to looke into the poore mans Cup-board and seeing God in mercy lets him not know their sorrows by experience yet to know it in speculation Which will teach him more thankes to God more mercy to men and more contentment in himselfe I never saw Christian lesse honoured for a wise neglect of himselfe If our dejection proceed from the conscience of our want it is possible wee should be as little esteemed of others as of our selves but if we have true Graces and prize them not at the highest others shall value both them in us and us for them and with usury give us that honour we withheld modestly from our selves I never read of Christian that repented him of too little worldly delight he that takes his full liberty in what he may shall repent him how much more in what hee should not The surest course in all earthly pleasures is to rise with an appetite and to be satisfied with a little That mans end is easie and happy whom death findes with a weake body and a strong soule HErein as much as in any thing the perversnesse of our nature appeares that wee wish death or love life upon wrong causes we would live for pleasure and die for paine Iob for his sores Elias for his persecution Ionas for his Gourd would presently die and outface God that it was better for him to die than to live Wherein we are like to garrison souldiers that while they live within safe walls and shew themselves once a day rather for ceremony and pompe than need and danger like warfare well enough but being once called forth to the field they hang the head and wish themselves at home THe shipwrack of a good Conscience is the casting away of all other excellencies It is no rare thing to note the soule of a wilfull sinner stripped of all her Graces and by degrees exposed to open shame for since he hath cast away the best it is just with God to take away the worst and to cast off them in lesser regards which have rejected him in greater THe tongue will hardly leave that to which the heart is inured if we would have good motions to visit us in sicknesse we must send for them familiarly in health for such as a mans delights and cares are in health such are both his thoughts and speeches commonly on his death-bed And no marvell though the worldling often escapes earthly punishments God corrects him not because hee loves him not he will not doe him the favour to whip him The world afflicts him not because it loves him for each one is indulgent to his owne God uses not the rod where he meanes to use the sword the Pillory or scourge is for those Malefactors which shal escape execution LAughing is proper to Man alone amongst all living creatures though indeed he ought ever to be weeping because he ever sins and the beasts might rather laugh to see man so much abuse his most excellent part his reason Doubtlesse if man knew before he came into the world what should be his portion in the world he would feare his first day more than his last wherefore we ought to moderate our affections and in imitation of our great Lord and Saviour who was a man of sorrows we should not be altogether composed of mirth SEldome hath any man got either wealth or learning with ease and the greatest good is most difficult in obtaining he must not thinke to get Christ that takes no paines for him If men can endure such cutting such lancing and searing of their bodies only to protract a miserable life for a short time how much should we care what we doe or what we suffer so wee may win Christ No paine should bee refused for the gaining of Eternity MVch ostentation and much learning seldome meet together The Sun rising and declining makes long shadows but being at the highest makes none at all Skill when it is too much shewne loseth the grace as fresh coloured wares that are often opened lose their brightnesse and are soiled with much handling It is better to applaud our selves for having much of that we shew not than that others should applaud us for shewing more than we have The conscience of our owne worth should cheare us more in their contempt than their approbation comfort us against the secret check of our knowne unworthinesse Every man hath an heaven and a hell Earth is the wicked mans heaven his hell is to come contrarily the godly have their hell upon earth where usually they are vexed with many afflictions and temptations by Sathan and his complices their heaven is above in endlesse happinesse Though they sow in teares they shall reape in joy though their seed time be commonly waterish and lowring and their spring wet they shall bee sure of a cleare and joyfull harvest It is no marvell if the wicked have peace in themselves being as sure as temptation can make them Princes wage not warre with their owne subjects The The godly are still enemies and must therefore looke to be assaulted both by stratagems and violence Wherefore nothing should more joy us than our inward unquietnesse A just war is far more happy than an ill conditioned peace EVery good prayer knocketh at heaven for a blessing but an importunate prayer pierceth it though as hard as brasse and makes way for it selfe into the eares of the Almighty And as it ascends lightly up carried with the wings of faith so it ever comes laden downe againe upon our heads In prayer our thoughts should not be guided by our words but our words by our thoughts Good prayers never came weeping home and by fervent prayer we are sure to receive either what we aske or what we should aske VErtuous actions are a mans best monument Foolish is the hope of Immortality and future praise by the cost of sencelesse stone when the Passenger shall only say here lies a faire stone and a filthy Carkasse That only can report us rich but for other praises our selves must build
mans braine if it flow not from heaven it is odious to heaven The only way to bring comforts and to intaile a comfortable prosperity upon our Posterity is our conscionable inward obedience to God The services of our love to Gods Children are never thanklesse When wee are dead and rotten they shall live and procure blessings to those that never knew perhaps nor heard of their progenitors If we sow good workes succession shall reape them and wee shall be happy in making them so Doubtlesse that childe is happy whose progenitors are in heaven for he is left an inheritor of blessings together with estate whereas wicked Ancestors lose the thankes of a rich Patrimony by the curse that attends it A Good heart hath learned to frame it selfe unto all conditions and can change his estate without change of disposition rising and falling according to occasion whereas the worldly minde can rise easily but knowes not how to descend either with patience or safety OF all creatures Christians should have least interest in themselves but should live as given to benefit of others not caring much for what they have and nothing for what they have not seeing all worldly things though they require long labour in getting yet affoord but a short pleasure in enjoying them WIcked men that know the filthinesse of their soules dare not so much as view them but shift off all checks of their former iniquity with vaine excuses of good fellowship Whence it is that every small reprehension galls them because it calls the eyes of the soule home to it selfe making them see a glimpse of what they would not Like a foolish and timorous Patient who knowing his wound very deepe cannot endure the Surgeon should search it whereof what can ensue but a festering of the part and a danger of the whole body The old proverbe is true Oft and even reckonings make long friends Many prodigall wasters runne so far in bookes that they cannot abide to heare of a reckoning Happy is he that summes up his estate often with God he shall thereby know what he hath to expect and answer for neither shall his score run on so long that he shall not know his debts or feare an account or despaire of paiment FEw men feare to doe ill every man to suffer ill wherin if we consider right we shall finde that wee feare our best friends for Prosperity usually makes us forget our death Adversity on the other side makes us neglect our life Now if wee measure both of these by their effects forgetfulnesse of death makes us secure neglect of this life makes us carefull of a better So much therefore as neglect of life is better than forgetfulnes of death and watchfulnesse better than security so much more beneficiall should wee esteeme Adversity than Prosperity T Is a base thing to get goods only to keep them wee see that God who is only infinite rich holdeth nothing in his own hands but gives all to his Creatures But if wee wil needs lay up where should wee rather repose it than in Christs Treasury which is the poore mans hand There should all our superfluity bee hoarded up where doubtlesse it shall be safely kept and surely returned us If our money were anothers wee could but keepe it onely expending it shewes it our owne t is better to lay it out well than to keep it safely NO worldly pleasure hath any absolute delight in it but as a Bee having honey in the mouth hath a sting in the taile Why then should wee be so foolish to rest our hearts upon any of them and not rather labour to aspire to that one absolute Good in whom is nothing savouring of griefe nothing wanting to perfect happinesse EVery man acts his part upon this worlds Theatre The good man is a Comedian who however hee begins ever ends merrily but the wicked man acts a Tragedy and therefore alwaies ends in horrour Who sees an Oxe grazing in a fat and rank pasture and thinks not that hee is neere to the slaughter whereas the leane beast that toiles under the yoke is farre enough from the shambles The best wicked man cannot bee so glorious in his first shewes as hee is miserable in the conclusion THat affection which is grounded on the best and most Heavenly vertue must needs be the safest for as it unites man to God so inseparably that no temptations no torments no not all the gates of hell can sever him so it unites one Christian soule to another so firmely that no outward occurrents no imperfections in the party loved can dissolve them Hee that loves not the childe of God for his owne and his Fathers sake more than a friend for his commodity or a kinsman for bloud never received any sparke of true heavenly love IT happens to Christians in their pilgrimage to a better life as it doth to Travellers who meet with many hosts but few friends Good friends are a great happinesse and therefore should not easily bee lost nor must they bee used as suits of apparell which when wee have worne thred-bare wee cast off and call for new Nothing but death or villany should divorce us from an old friend we should still follow him so farre as possibility or honesty can guide us which if he chance to leave we should yet leave him with sorrow THere is no man so pure in whom we may not mislike somewhat and who may not as justly mislike somewhat in us Our friends faults therefore if little should bee swallowed and digested if great they should be smothered at least winked at to others yet lovingly notified to him WHy should we vexe our selves because another hath vexed us Injuries hurt not more in the receiving than in the remembrance A small injury should goe as it comes great ones may dine or sup with us but if they lodge with us we shall finde them very irksome A Friends death as it may moderately grieve us so it may another way much benefit us in recompence of his want for it should make us think more often and seriously of earth and of heaven of earth for his body which is reposed in it of heaven for his soule wch possesseth it before us of earth to put us in minde of our like frailty and mortality of heaven to make us desire and after a sort emulate his happinesse and glory and it is a true saying he which hath himselfe hath lost nothing IT is better not know than by knowledge to bee made miserable he that never tasted the pleasures of sinne longs least after those deceitfull contentments 'T is easier to deny a guest at the first than to turn him out having stayed awhile The senselesse man knowes not what joy hee loseth when he fondly lasheth into new offences While the Conscience is unspotted it can make us smile even on the Rack and in Flames but that once wounded our joyes are buried at once and wee throw a jewell from
was not ashamed to set upon Christ himselfe with this temptation and thinks Christs members never low enough untill he can bring them as low as himselfe But God is often neerest to his children when he seemeth farthest off In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seene God is with them and in them though the wicked be not aware of it even as the Moone at what time it is least visible to us is then neerest the Sunne HE that shunneth labour procureth trouble An unimployed life is a burthen to it selfe God is a pure At alwayes working alwayes doing and the neerer our Soule comes to God the more it is in action and the freer from disquiet Men experimentally feele that comfort in doing what belongs unto them which before they longed for and went without WE ought not to be over-hastie in censuring others when we see their spirits out of temper Many things worke strongly upon the weake nature of man and wee may sinne more by harsh censure than they by over-much distemper as in Iobs case which was a matter rather of just griefe and pittie than great wonder or heavie censure IN all our troubles we should looke first home to our owne hearts stop the storme there for wee may thanke our owne selves not onely for our troubles but likewise for overmuch troubling our selves in trouble if wee will prevent casting downe let us prevent griefe the cause of it and sinne the cause of that A Dejected man is indisposed to good duties it makes him like an Instrument out of tune like a Body out of joint that mooveth both uncomely and painefully It unfits him to duties towards God who loves both a chearefull giver and receiver Dejectednesse makes a man forgetfull of all former blessings and stoppes the influence of Gods grace for the time present and that to come it makes us unfit to receive mercies A quiet Soule is the seat of wisdome therefore meekenesse is required in receiving of that ingrafted Word which is able to save our soules It is ill sowing in a storme A stormie spirit will not suffer the Word to take place Men are deceived that thinke a dejected spirit to be an humbled spirit yet it is so when we are cast downe in the sense of our owne unworthinesse and then as much raysed in the confidence of Gods mercie SAtan hath never more advantage than upon discontent it disposeth us for entertaining any Temptation It damps the spirits of those that walke the same way with us when as we should as good travellers cheere up one another both by word and example In such a case the wheeles of the soule are taken off or as it were want oyle whereby it passeth on very heavily and no good action comes off from it as it should which breeds not only uncomfortablenesse but unsetlednesse in good courses for a man will never goe on comfortably and constantly in that which he heavily undertakes So much as we are quiet and cheerfull so much we live and are as it were in Heaven so much as we yeeld to discouragements we lose so much of our life and happinesse Cheerfulnesse being as it were the life of our lives and the spirit of our spirits by which they are more inlarged to receive happinesse and to expresse it THere is an art or skill in bearing troubles without over-much troubling our selves As in bearing of a burthen there is away so to poise it that it weigheth not over-heavy if it hang all on one side it poiseth the body down The greater part of our troubles we pul upon our selves by not parting our care so as to take upon us only the care of duty and leave the rest to God and by mingling our passions with our crosses and like a foolish Patient chewing the Pills which we should swallow downe WHy should wee dwell too much upon griefe when wee ought to remove the soule higher Wee are neerest neighbours unto our selves when wee suffer griefe like a Canker to eat into the soule and like a fire in the bones to consume the marrow and drink up the spirits we are accessarie to the wrong done both to our bodies and soules we waste our owne Candle and put out our owne Light IN great fires men looke first to their Iewels and then to their Lumber No Iewell is so precious no possession so rich as the Soule The account for our owne soules and the soules of others is the greatest account and therefore the care of soules should be the greatest care A Godly mans comforts and grievances are hid from the world naturall men are strangers to them If we be troubled with the distempers of our hearts it is a ground of comfort unto us that our spirits are ruled by a higher Spirit and that there is a principle of that life in us which cannot brooke the most secret corruption but rather casts it out by an holy complaint as strength of Nature doth poyson which seekes its destruction Hee wants spirituall life that is not at all disquieted hee abates the vigour and livelinesse of his life that is over-much disquieted A Burning Ague is more hopefull than a Lethargie so is hee that feeles too much more happie than hee that feeles not at all for hee in all his jollitie is but as a Booke fairely bound beautifull to the eye while it is shut but being opened is full of nothing but Tragedies despaire to such is the beginning of comfort trouble the beginning of peace A storme is the way to a calme and Hell the way to Heaven 'T is fit that sinne contracted by joy should be dissolved by griefe A Christian should neither be a dead Sea nor a raging Sea Affections are never well ordered but when they are fit to have communion with God to love joy trust and delight in him above all things for they are the inward movings of the soule which then move best when they move us to God not from him A Carnall man is like a Spring corrupted that cannot worke it selfe cleare because it is wholly tainted his eye and light is darknesse and therefore no wonder if he seeth nothing Sinne lyeth upon his understanding and hinders the knowledge of it selfe it lyes close upon the will and hinders the striving against it selfe That which a carnall man doth for by-ends and reasons the godly man doth from a new Nature which if there were no Law to compell yet it would moove him to that which is pleasing to Christ WE cannot say This or that trouble shall not befall yet we may by helpe of the Spirit say Nothing that doth befall shall make me doe that which is unworthy of a Christian If wee expect the worst when it comes it is no more than wee thought of if better befalls us then it is the sweeter to us the lesse wee expected it IN the uncertaintie of all events here we should labour to frame that contentment in and from our own selves which
every day in the perfect righteousnesse and obedience of his Saviour than the sinfull stirrings of his soule when hee findes something in himselfe alwayes enticing and drawing away his heart from God and intermingling it selfe with his best performances WE may with better leave use all the comforts which God hath given to refresh us in the way to Heaven than refuse them The care of the outward man bindes Conscience so farre as that wee should neglect nothing which may helpe us in a chearefull serving of God in our places and tend to the due honour of our bodies which are the temples of the Holy Ghost and companions of our soules in all performances but the intemperate use of the creatures is the Nurse of all passions because our spirits which are the Soules instruments are hereby inflamed and disturbed and it is no wonder to see an intemperate man transported into any passion SAtan and his instruments by bewitching the imagination with false appearances mis-leadeth not only the world but troubleth the peace of men taken out of the world whose estate is layd up safe in Christ Who notwithstanding passe their few dayes here in an uncomfortable wearisome and unnecessarie sadnesse of spirit being kept in ignorance of their happie condition by Satans juggling and their owne mistakes and so come to Heaven before they are aware Some againe passe their dayes in a golden dreame and drop into Hell before they thinke of it AS the distemper of Fancie disturbing the act of Reason oftentimes breedes madnesse in regard of civill conversation so it breeds likewise spirituall madnesse carrying men to those things which if they were in their right wits they would utterly abhorre MEn whose Wills are stronger than their Wits who are wedded to their own wayes are more pleased to heare that which complyes with their inclinations than a harsh truth which crosses them this presageth ruine because they are not counsellable Wherefore God suffers them to bee led through a fooles Paradise to a true Prison as men that will neither heare themselves nor others who would doe them good against their wills WHat an unworthy thing is it that wee should pittie a beast over-loaden and yet take no pittie of a Brother Whereas there is no living member of Christ but hath spiritual love infused into him and some abilitie to comfort others Dead stones in an Arch uphold one another and shall not living After Love hath once kindled love then the heart being melted is fit to receive any impression Vnlesse both pieces of the Iron be red hot they will not joyne together two spirits warmed with the same heat will easily solder together AS God loves not emptie hands so he measures fulnesse not by the hand but the heart A Widowes Mite is prefer'd before the Temples Treasure by Him who never askes how great but how good our offerings are GOod fellowship doth no way so well as in our passage to Heaven Many sticks layd together make a good fire which being single lose both their light and heat REmove the beame from thine owne if thou wilt clearely see the mote in thy brothers eye first learne then teach He gathers that heares he spends that speaketh and if we spend before we gather we may soone prove bankrout THe Devil alledged Scripture to tempt our Saviour and therefore no marvell though hypocrites make a faire shew to deceive with a glorious lustre of holinesse since we see from whence they have it No Devill is so dangerous as the Religious Devill which turnes the Tables of God into traps to catch Soules SAtan makes the ruggedest way seeme smooth while we tread in his paths but turne thy feet unto holinesse hee blocks up the way with temptation For never man endeavoured a common good without opposition and 't is a signe the Worke is holy and the Agent faithfull when hee meets with strong affronts SOmetimes the world under-rates him that findes reason to set an high price upon himselfe Sometimes againe it over-values a man that knowes just cause of his owne humiliation If others mistake us this can be no warrant for our error We cannot be wise unlesse we receive the knowledge of our selves by direct beames not by reflection unlesse wee have learned to condemne unjust applauses scorning the worlds flatterie frowne on our owne vilenesse with Lord I am not worthy GOd gives to his poore conscionable servants a kinde of reverence and respect even from those men that maligne them most so as they cannot but venerate whom they hate contrariwise no wit nor power can shield a lewd man from contempt for the wise providence of God commonly payes us with our owne choise So that when we thinke we have brought about our owne ends to our best content we bring about his purposes to our owne confusion HErod had so much Religion to make scruple of an Oath though not of a Murther No man casts off all justice and pietie at once but whilest he gives himselfe over to some sinnes he stops at others It was Lust that carryed Herod into Murther The proceedings of sinne are more hardly avoided than the entrance who so gives himselfe leave to be wicked knowes not where he shall stay OVr hood-winkt progenitors would have no eyes but in the heads of their ghostly Fathers and we are so quick-sighted in our owne eyes that we pittie the blindnesse of our able Teachers It is the boldnesse of Nature upon an Inch given to challenge an Ell for finding our selves graced with some abilitie wee strait flatter our selves with a facultie of more IT hath ever bin Gods wont by small Precepts to trie mans obedience which is so much the more as the thing required is lesse hee 'l trie thee with a trifle before hee trust thee with a talent and obedience ever meets a blessing IT is most seasonable in our worst to thinke of our best estate for both that thought will be best digested when wee are well and that change best prepared for when farthest from us HOw indulgent is the wicked rich man in studying his owne miserie Famine is his food and Toyle his recreation Cares are his cheeres and Torment his glory Hee remembers not that his wealth hath wings which pluckt or cut flye away or that his Soule hath so but Thou foole this night and it flyes from thy Riches to Hell I Like silent speaking well when our actions supply the office of our tongue Give me the Christian that 's more seene than heard for a loud tongue and a silent hand never escapes the brand of an hypocrite SAtan hath most advantage in solitarinesse and therefore sets upon Christ in the Wildernesse and upon Eve single and it is added to the glory of Christs victorie that hee overcame him in a single combat and in a place of such advantage Wherefore those that will be alone being cast downe by any spirituall temptation doe as much as in them lyeth tempt the Tempter himselfe
revengefull MEe thinks it is torment enough for the poore man to want and yet I see every man ready to adde to his affliction by neglect Proud Haman was hanged and poore Mordecai raised to his honour There is no man so fixt in greatnes but may fall nor any so low in miserie but may rise why then should wee slight any mans meanes since we know not his destinie Nothing doth so powerfully call home the conscience as affliction neither need wee any other act of memorie for sinne than miserie Actions salved up with a free forgivenesse are as not done and as a bone once broke is stronger after well setting so is Love after reconcilement Yet as wounds though healed leave a scar behind them so injuries though remitted leave a guilty remembrance in the actors and it must bee a great favor that can appease the Conscience of a great injurie for a guilty conscience seldom thinks it selfe safe COrruption when it is checked growes mad with rage as the vapour in a cloud which would not make that fearefull report if it met not with opposition A good heart yeelds at the stillest voice of God but his most gratious motions harden the wicked Many would not have been so desperately setled in their sins had not the Word controlled them Any thing seems due worke to a carnall minde save Gods service nothing superfluous but religious duties Christ tells us there is but one thing necessarie Nature saith there is nothing but that needlesse REligion doth not call to a weake simplicitie but allowes as much of the Serpent as the Dove Lawfull Policies have from God both liberty in the use and blessing in the successe A wicked heart never looks inward to it self but outward to the Reproover if that afford exception it is enough as Dogs run first to revenge on the stone What matter is it to me who he be that admonishes mee Let me looke home unto my selfe and also to his advice if that be good my shame 's the more to be reproved by an evill man As a good mans allowance cannot warrant evill so an evill mans reproof may remedy evil NOthing but innocencie and knowledge can give sound confidence to the heart Ignorance as it makes bold intruding men into unknowne dangers so it makes men often causelesly fearfull Herod feared Christs comming because hee mistooke it had the tyrant known the manner of his spirituall regiment hee had spared both his owne fright and the bloud of others And hence it is that wee feare death because we are not acquainted with the vertue of it WOrdly Cares are fitly compared to Thornes for as they choke the Word so they prick our Soules Neither can the word grow up amongst them nor the heart rest upon them Spirituall Cares are as sharp but more profitable They paine us but leave the soule better they breake our soule but for a sweeter rest we are not well but either while we have them or after wee have had them It is impossible to have spirituall health without these as to have bodily strength with the other Hee lives most contentedly that is most secure for this World most resolute for the other SAtan never feares us but when we are well imploied and the more likelihood hee sees of our profit the more is his envy and labour to distract us he is ever busiest in our best actions and most in the best part of the best as in the end of prayer when the heart should close up it self with most comfort We should therfore strive so much the more towards our own good as his malice strives to interrupt it We do nothing if we contend not when wee are resisted The Devill steals upon us suddenly by temptations because he would foile us and if we be not armed ere we be assaulted wee shall be foiled ere we can be armed HE that intermits good Duties incurreth a double losse of the blessing that followeth good and of the faculty in doing it Want of use causeth disabilitie as Custome perfection He that omits prayer in his closet can hardly pray in publique but with a cold formalitie Hee that discontinues meditation shall be long in recovering whereas the man inured to this exercise performs both well and with ease CHristianity is both an easie yoke and a hard hard to take up easie to beare when once taken The heart requires much labour ere it can be induced to stoop under it and finds as much content when it hath stooped The worldling thinks Religion great servitude but the Christian knowes whose slave he was till he entred into this service and that no bondage can bee so ill as freedome from these bands Every good action hath his let and hee can never be good as he ought that is not resolute The regenerate Christian both is and knowes himselfe truly great and thereupon mindeth and speaketh of spirituall immortall glorious Heavenly things but every Worldling is base minded and therefore his thoughts creepe still low upon the earth The more the soule stoopeth to earthly matters the more unregenerate it is ALl our future good wee hold only in hope and the present fauour of God wee have many times when we feele it not The stomacke finds the digestion even in sleep though we perceive it not We are most happy when wee know our selves so But miserable were many Christians if they could not be happy and know it not It is not a mans naturall parts but his graces that crown him honest sottishnesse is better than prophane eminence None ever did so much mischiefe to the Church as those that have been excellent in wit and learning others have been spitefull enough but were not able to accomplish their malice That Enemy is most to bee feared that hath both strength and craft to hurt us THe Conscience can have no perfect peace while sinne is within to vexe it no more than an angry swelling can cease throbbing aching while the Thorne or corrupted Matter lies rotting underneath Time that remedies all other evils of the mind encreaseth this which like to bodily diseases proves worse with continuance and growes upon us with our age Sin is a perpetuall Make-bait betwixt God and man betwixt a man and himselfe ever working secret unquietnesse to the heart The guilty man may have a seeming Truce a true peace hee cannot have which makes the galled soule seek refreshing in varietie of pleasures places and companies yet after many such vaine wearyings finds no rest but complaines of remedilesse and unabated torment for alas what availes it to seeke outward reliefes when our executioner is within us Nero after so much innocent bloud shed may change his Bed-chamber but his Friends being as parts of himselfe will ever attend him The soule may flee from the body but the Conscience will not flee from the Soule nor sin from the Conscience It is a divine Power only that can uphold the mind against the rage of inward
our owne Monuments alive and write our owne Epitaphs in honest and honourable actions Which are so much more noble than other as living men are better than dead stones We should either procure such a Monument to bee remembred by or else wish to be buried in oblivion for it is better be inglorious than infamous NO man is so happy as the regenerate Christian when he lookes up into heaven hee thinkes That is my home The God that made it and owes it my Father the Angels more glorious in nature than my selfe are my attendants Yea those things that are most terrible to the wicked are most pleasant to him When hee heares God thunder above his head he thinkes This is the voice of my Father When he remembreth the Tribunall of the last judgement he thinkes It is my Saviour that sits in it When death he esteemes it but as the Angel set before Paradise which with one blow admits him to eternall joy And which is his greatest comfort nothing in earth or hell can make him miserable AN evill man is Clay to God Waxe to the devill God may stamp him into powder or temper him anew but none of his meanes will melt him Contrariwise a good man is Gods Waxe and Sathans Clay hee relents at every looke of God but is not stirred by any temptation knowing that earth affoords no sound contentment For what is there under heaven not troublesome besides that which is called pleasure And that in the end we finde most irksome of all other THe spirits of Christians are like the English Iett whereof we reade that it is fired with water quenched with oyle And these two prosperity and adversity are like heate and cold the one gathers the powers of the soul together and makes them abler to resist by uniting them The other diffuses them and by such separation makes them easier to conquer The Sun more usually causeth the Traveller to cast off his cloake than the Winde I hold it therefore as praise-worthy with God for a man sometimes to contemne a proffered honour or pleasure for conscience sake as on the Rack not to deny his profession THere is no vice doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious cleare and round dealing is the honour of mans nature Certainely it is heaven upon earth to have a mans minde move in charity rest in providence and turne upon the poles of truth THat man which studies revenge keepes his owne wounds greene which otherwise would heale and doe well Revenge is a kinde of wilde justice which the more mans nature runs to the more ought Law to roote it out In taking revenge a man is but eaven with his enemy but in passing over an injury he is superiour CHildren sweeten labours but they make misfortunes more bitter they increase the cares of life but they mitigate the remembrance of death Parents joyes are secret and so are their feares and griefes they cannot utter the one nor will they utter the other The perpetuity by generation is common to beasts but memory merit and noble workes are proper to men HEE that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune for they are impediments to great enterprises either of vertue or mischiefes Vnmarried men are best friends best Masters best servants but not alwayes best subjects for they are light to run away and almost all fugitives are of that condition A single life doth well with Church-men for charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a poole Grave natures led by custome and therefore constant are commonly loving husbanda Wives are young mens mistresses companions for middle age and old mens Nurses CErtainly great persons had need to borrow other mens opinions to thinke themselves happy for if they judge by their owne feeling they cannot finde it so Men in great place are thrice servants to the Soveraigne or State to fame and to businesse so as they have no freedome either in their persons actions or time It is a strange desire to seeke power with losse of liberty or to seeke power over others and to lose power over a mans selfe The rising unto paines is laborious and by paines men come to great paines Great persons are the first that finde their owne griefes but the last that finde their owne faults The vices of authority are chiefly foure delaies corruption roughnesse and facility And it is an assured signe of a generous spirit whom honour amends for honour is or should be the place of Vertue GOodnesse of nature is a character of the Deity and without it a man is a busie mischievous and wretched thing no better than a Vermine Goodnesse answers to the Theologicall Vertue Charity and admits no excesse but error Seek the good of other men but be not in bondage to their faces for that is facility or softnesse which soone taketh an honest minde prisoner HEE that denies a God destroyes Mans nobility for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body and if he be not of kin to God by his spirit he is a base and ignoble creature And doubtlesse hypocrites are the greatest Atheists who are ever handling holy things but without feeling HEE that travelleth into a Country before hee hath â—â—â—e entrance into the language goeth to schoole and not to travell Things to bee seene and observed in travell are the Courts of Princes specially when they give audience unto Embassadours The Courts of justice while they sit and heare causes And so of Consistories Ecclesiastick the Churches and Monasteries with the Monuments that are therein extant the Wals and Fortifications of Cities and Townes with their havens and harbors antiquities and ruines Libraries Colledges Disputations and Lectures where any are Shipping and Navies houses and gardens of estate and pleasure neare great Cities Armories Arsenalls Magazins Exchanges Burses Warehouses exercises of horsmanship Fencing training of Souldiers and the like Comedies such as whereunto the better sort of persons doe resort Treasuries of Iewels and Robes Cabinets and rarities and to conclude whatsoever is memorable in the places where they goe THe minde of man is more cheared and refreshed by profiting in small things than by standing at a stay in great It is a miserable state of minde to have few things to desire and many to feare And yet that commonly is the case of Kings who are like to heavenly bodies which cause good or evill times having much veneration but little or no rest THere is no greater wisdome than well to tune the beginnings and onsets of things that so neither hast may harme thee nor delay deceive thee of what thou desirest As in races it is not the large stride or high lift that makes the speed so in businesse the keeping close to the matter and not taking of it too much at once procureth dispatch True dispatch is a rich thing for time is the measure of businesse as money is of wares
to weigh and consider Some bookes are to be tasted only others to be swallowed and some few to bee chewed and digested That is some are to be read only in parts others cursorily and few wholly and with diligent attention Reading makes a full man Conference a ready man and Writing an exact man Wherfore he that writes little had need have a great memory he that confers little had need have a present wit and hee that reades little had need have much cunning to seeme to know that he doth not History makes men wise Poetry witty naturall Philosophy deepe Morall grave Logick and Rhetorick able to contend There is no stone or impediment in the wit but may be wrought out by fit studies like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises bowling is good for the stone and reines shooting for the lungs and breast gentle walking for the stomach riding for the head c. So wandring wits should study the Mathematicks for in demonstrations if fancy bee drawne away never so little they must begin againe Let a wit not apt to distinguish or finde differences study the School men And he that is apt to beat over matters and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another should study Law Cases so every defect of the minde may have a speciall Receit OVr behaviour should bee like our apparell not too straite or point device but free for exercise or motion Men had need beware how they bee too perfect in complements for be they never so sufficient otherwise their enviers will be sure to give them that attribute to the disadvantage of their greater vertues Opinion many times perverteth verity Praise from the vulgar sort is commonly false because they understand not many excellent vertues the lowest vertues draw praise from them Middle vertues astonish them but of the highest vertues they have no sence or perceiving at all Certainly fame is like a River that beares up things light and swolne and drownes things weighty and solid Vaine glorious men are the scorne of wise men the admiration of fooles the Idols of Parasites and the slaves of their owne vaunts Vaine glory sutes best with Commanders and souldiers for as iron sharpens iron so by glory one courage sharpeneth another IVdges ought to bee more learned than witty more reverend than plausible more advised than confident and ought also to remember that their office is Ius dicere and not Ius dare to interpret Law and not to make or give Law Else will it be like the authority of the Church of Rome which under pretext of exposition of Scripture doth not sticke to adde and alter pronouncing what they doe not finde and by shew of antiquity doe produce novelty The principall duty of a Iudge is to suppresse force and fraud Force being most pernitious when open and fraud when it is close and disguised One foule sentence doth more hurt than many foule examples for these doe but corrupt the streame the other corrupts the fountaine In cases of life and death Iudges ought as far as the Law permitteth in justice to remember mercy and to cast a severe eye upon the example but a mercifull eye upon the person Patience and gravity of hearing is an essentiall part of Iustice and an over speaking Iudge is no well-tuned Symbal It is strange to see that boldnesse of Advocates should prevaile with Iudges whereas they should imitate God who represseth the presumptuous and giveth grace to the modest The place of Iustice is an hallowed place and therefore not only the Bench but the footpace and precincts thereof ought to be preserved without scandall or corruption For certainly as the Scripture saith Grapes will not be gathered of thorns nor Figs of thistles Neither can Iustice yeeld her fruit with sweetnesse among the Briars and Brambles of catching and polling Clerks and Ministers An ancient Clerke skilfull in Presidents wary in proceeding and understanding in the businesse of the Court is an excellent finger of a Court and doth many times point the way to the Iudge himselfe ANger is certainly a kind of basenesse as it appears well in the weaknesse of those subjects in which it reignes Children women old folkes sick folkes Only men must beware that they cary their anger rather with scorn than feare so that they may seeme rather above the injury than below it which may easily be done if we can master our Passion by Reason The prime motive of anger is to be sencible of hurt and therefore tender and delicate bodies must needs be oft angry having so many things to trouble them which robust natures have little sence of PVblique reproofe is like striking a Deere in the Heard it not only wounds him to the losse of inabling blood but betrayes him to the Hound his enemy and makes him be pushed out of company by his fellows To be plaine in reproofe argues honesty but to be pleasing argues discretion Sores are not to bee anguisht with a rustick pressure but gently stroaked with a Ladied hand CHristian society is like a bundle of sticks laid together whereof one kindles another as solitary men have few provocations to evill so againe have they fewest incitations to good So much as doing good is better than not doing evill will I account Christian good fellowship better than an Hermitish and Melancholy solitarinesse AMbitious men are like poysoned Rats who having tasted of their baine cannot rest till they drinke and then rest much lesse till their death for ambition affoords as much discontentment in enjoying as in want It is better to live in the wise mans stocks in a contented want than in a fooles Paradise to be vexed with wilfull unquietnesse SVrely we deceive our selves to thinke that on earth continued joyes would please It is a way that crosses that which Nature goes nothing would be more tedious than to bee glutted with perpetuall jollities Were the body tyed to one though most delicate dish alwaies after a small time it would complaine of loathing and saciety and so would the soule if it did ever Epicure it selfe in joy I know not well which is the more usefull Ioy is to be chosen for pleasure but adversities are the best for profit and sometimes these doe so far help us that wee should without them want much of the joy we have VAlour is then best tempered when it can turne out of a sterne fortitude into the milde straines of pitty For though pitty be a downy vertue yet she never shines more brightly than when she is clad in steele A Marshall man compassionate shall conquer both in peace and war and by a twofold way get victory with honour WIth a generall swallow death still gapes upon the generall world It is a sleepe eternall the bodies dissolution the rich mans feare the poore mans wish an event inevitable an uncertaine journey a theefe that steales away Man Sleepes father Lifes flight the departure of the living and
the resolution of all THe idle man is like a dumbe Iack in a Virginall while all the other dance out a winning musick this like a member out of joynt sullens the whole body with an ill disturbing lazinesse It is action only that keepes the soule both sweet and sound whilest lying still doth rot it to an ordured noysomnesse There is no creature but is busied in some action for the benefit of the restlesse world Nor is the teeming earth it selfe weary after so many thousand yeares productions Men learne to doe ill by doing what is next it nothing for while we want businesse wee are ready to drown in the mud of vice and sloathfulnesse The soule growes bright with use and negotiation and beleeve it industry is never wholly unfruitfull if it bring not joy with the in-comming profit it will banish mischiefe from thy busied gates There is a kinde of good Angel waiting upon diligence that ever carries a Laurell in his hand to crowne her but the bosomed fist beckens the approach of poverty and leaves besides the noble head ungarded while the lifted arme doth frighten want and is ever a shield to the noble director CErtainly they worke by a wrong engine that seeke to gaine their ends by constraint You may stroke the Lion into bondage but you may sooner hew him in pieces than beat him into a chaine Easie nature and free liberty will steale a man into a winy excesse when urged healths doe but shew him the way to refuse The noblest weapon wherewith man can conquer is love and gentlest curtesie Nature is more apt to be led by the soft motions of the musicall tongue than the rusticke threshings of a striking arme How many have lost their hopes while they have sought to ravish with too rude a hand Little fishes are twitched up with the violence of a sudden pull when the like action cracks the line whereon a great one hangs I have knowne denials that had never been given but for the earnestnesse of the requester Vrge a grant to some men and they are inexorable seeme carelesse and they will force the thing upon you THe best object of bounty is either necessity or desert the best motive thy own goodnesse and the limit is the safety of thy state It is for none but him that is all to give to all abundantly To live well of a little is a great deale more honour than to spend a great deale vainly It is not good to make our kindnesse to others to be cruelty to our selves and ours CErtainly if there bee any Dalilah under heaven it is in bad society it bindes us betrayes us blindes us undoes us Many a man had been good that is not if he had but kept good company Ill company is an engine wherewith the devill is ever practising to lift man out of Vertues seat It is the spirituall Whore which toyes the good man to his soules undoing Good company should be cherished as the choice of men or as Angels that are sent for Guardians but we should study to lose the society of the bad lest by keeping them we lose our selves in the end THe jollities of the villanous man stagger the religious minde They live as if they were passing through the world in state and the streame of prosperity turning it selfe to rowle with their applauded wayes when how miserable is despised vertue and how stormy is her sea Certainly for the present the good man seemes to be in the disgrace of heaven he smarts and pines and saddens his incombered soule living as it were in the frowne and nod of the traducing world so that to view the vertuous but with natures eye a man would think they were things that Nature envyed or that the whole world were deluded with a poisonous lye in making only the vertuous happy Innocence is become a staire to let others rise to our abuse and not to raise our selves to greatnesse How rare is it to finde one raised for his sober worth and vertue Iosephs goodnesse alone brought him to the stocks and irons whereas if he had coaped with his enticer it is like he might have swom in Gold and lived a lapling to the silkes and dainties Doubtlesse we may finde a soule within our soules which tels we doe unnobly while we love sin more for the pleasure of it than we doe vertue for the animall sweetnesse she yeelds in her selfe SVrely cowards have soules of a courser mixture than the common spirits of men The coward really meets with far more dangers than the valiant man Every base nature will be ready to offer injuries where they thinke they will not be repaid he will many times beat a coward that would not dare to strike him if he thought him valiant An unappalled looke doth daunt a base attempter and oftentimes if a man hath nothing but a couragious eye it protects him the brave soule knowes no trembling and indeed valour casts a kinde of honour upon God in that wee shew we beleeve his goodness when we trust our selves in danger upon his care only Wheras the coward eclipses his sufficiency by unworthy doubting that God will not bring him off so unjustly accusing either his power or his will while he would make himselfe his owne Saviour he becomes his owne confounder For it is just with God to leave Man when he distrusts him No armour can defend a fearefull heart when hee would runne away feare arrests him with a sencelesse amasement which betraies him to the pursuite of his foes I had rather have a minde confident and undaunted with some troubles than a pulse still beating feare in the flush of prosperity IT is comparison more than reality that makes men both happy and miserable Were all the world ugly Deformity would be no Monster In those Countries where all goe naked they neither shame at their being uncovered nor complaine that they are exposed to the violence of the Sun and Windes Many never finde themselves in want till they have discovered the abundance of some others and many againe doe beare their want with ease when they finde others below themselves in happinesse Our adversity is lessened by seeing our enemies in worse estate than our selves We pick our owne sorrowes out of the joyes of other men and out of their sorrowes likewise we assume our joyes When we see the poore toiling Labourer we looke upon our selves with gladnesse but when we eye the distributers of the earth in their royalty then what poore Atomes doe we count our selves compared with those huge piles of State THe proud man and the cholerick seldome arrive at any height of vertue They are sometimes borne to good parts of nature but they rarely are knowne to adde by industry It is the milde and suffering disposition that oftnest doth attaine to eminence Temper and humility are advantagious vertues for businesse and to rise by Pride and Choler make such a noise that they awake dangers which
HEE that is perfect and marries not may in some sort be said to be guilty of a contempt against Nature when the husband and wife are together the world is contracted in a bed and without this like the head and the body parted either would consume without a possibility of reviving A wise wife comprehends both Sexes she is woman for her body and she is man within for her soule is like her husbands Questionlesse a woman with a wise soul is the fittest companion for man otherwise God would have given him a friend rather than a wife It is the crowne of blessings when in one woman a man findeth both a wife and a friend Poverty in Wedlock is a great decayer of love and contentation Above all therefore the generous minde should beware of marrying poore for though hee cares least for wealth yet will he be most galled with the want of it Single life is to be liked in those who can suffer Continency but should all live thus an hundred yeares would make the world a Desart NOthing makes a man more like to God than Charity As all things are filled with his goodnesse so the Vniversall is partaker of the good mans spreading love Wealth in a Misers hand is uselesse as a lockt up treasure It is charity only that makes Riches worth the owning To every thing that hath sence there is a kinde of pitty owing Solomons good man is mercifull to his beast Surely he that is right must not think his Charity to one in need a curtesie but a debt which nature at his first being bound him to pay yet should we not water a strange ground to leave our owne in drought MVsick is good or bad as the end to which it tendeth they that wholly despise â—t may well be suspected to be something of a savage Nature Light Notes are sometimes usefull as in times of generall joy and when the minde is pressed with sadnesse whose dull blood will not caper in his veines when the very aire he breathes in frisketh in a tickled motion We finde Halelujahs are sung in heaven and doubtlesse Musick is a helper both to good and ill it is therefore to be honoured when it moves to uertue as to bee shunned when it would flatter into vice REpentance is so powerfull that it cannot be but a gift of the Deity he is not to be pittied in his sufferings that may escape a torment by the compunction of a heart and teares Sometimes a returne after failing is a prompter to a surer hold S. Ambrose doubts not to say that Peter by his fall found more grace than he lost his faith being thereby much stronger The devill sometimes cosens himselfe by plunging man into a deepe offence A sudden ill act grows often abhorred in the minde that did it yet a man should beware the steps he once hath stumbled at Doubtlesse that is the best life that is a little sprinkled with the salt of crosses the other would quickly be ranke and tainted There are whose paths are washt with butter and the Rose bud crownes them but surely it is a misery to live in oily vice when her waies are made slippery with her own slime Heaven is not had without repentance and repentance seldome meets a man in jollity in the careere of lust and the bloods lose riot COmmanders in war should be wise valiant and experienced Experience puts a credit on their actions making them far more prompt in undertakings And indeed there is a great deale of reason why we should respect him that with an untainted valour hath growne old in armes and hearing the drum beat When every minute death seemes to passe by and shun him he is as one that the supreame God hath cared for and by a particular guard defended in the haile of death It is true it is a life tempting to exorbitancy yet this is more in the common sort that are pressed as the refuse and burthen of the land than in those that by a nobler breeding are abler to command Want idlenesse and the desperate face of blood hath hardened them to outrages Nor may we wonder hereat since even their life is but an ordered quarrell raised to the feud of killing Wars have the same nature with offences they must be yet are they mightily in fault that cause them When a just cause and a just deputation meet for war I shall ever thinke this one of the noblest and most manly wayes of dying BLots appeare fouler in a strict life than a loose one no man wonders at the Swines wallowing but to see an Ermin mired is a prodegy Where doe vices shew so foule as in a Minister When he shall be heavenly in the pulpit only Certainly they wound the Gospell that preach it to the world and live as if they thought to goe to heaven some other way than that they teach the people How unseemly is it when a grave Cassock shall be lined with a wanton Reveller and with crimes that make a loose one odious We should not professe that wee will not strive to practise Surely God will bee severest against those that will weare his badge and seeme his servants yet inwardly side with the devill and lusts They spot his honour and cause profane ones to jest at his holinesse Other offences God may punish this he must left the enemies of his truth triumph against him If thou beest unsound within soile not the glorious robe of truth by putting it upon thy beastlinesse This is to be religiously rude and even all the Church of sincerest good men suffer in a seeming good mans fall Let not thy actions sight against thy tongue or pen one ill life will pull downe more than many good tongues can build THe best way of speech is to be short plaine materiall Tedious admonitions dull the advised and make the giver contemptible It is a short reproofe that staies like a stab in the memory and many times three words doe more good than an idle discourse of three houres A limitlesse tongue is a strange unbitted beast to worry one with A talkative fellow is the unbraced drum which beats a wise man out of his wits Surely Nature did not guard the tongue with the double fence of teeth and lips but that shee meant it should not move too nimbly GOod men have most right to the best of Gods creatures and seeing Wine was given to cheare the heart why should I not use it to that end for surely the merry soule is freer from intended mischiefe than the thoughtfull man and a bounded mirth is a Patent adding time and happinesse to the crazed life of man without which he is but a meere lumpe of quickned care For as there are many that in their life assume too great a liberty so doubtlesse there are some that abridge themselves of what they might lawfully use forgetting what Solomon saith That the only profit to a man is to eat and drinke and
us which is richer than the worlds wealth happy is he that desires to die unexperienced in the sweets of such sin he knowes not HE is not worthy of thanks that professeth kindnesse for his owne ends hee that loves me for my gift sake loves my gift above my selfe and if I should happen to light on Adversity I should not finde him then to appeare there being no hope of a gainefull requitall friendship won by large gifts resembles a straw fire that having matter to feede upon burnes brightly but let new fuell be neglected it dies consumes and quite goes out A Good life is a Fortresse against shame and a good mans shame is his benefit the one keepes it away the other when it comes makes it prove profitable for nothing more saddens the soule of a good man than the serious apprehension of a just shame and by how much his honesty was more noted by so much will his shame and griefe bee more because all will now bee ready to brand him with the odious and stygmaticall name of an hypocrite Wee should first strive to be voyd of the act may bring shame and next not to cast it in the dish of the penitent If our sufferings bee unjust wee shall bee sure in the end to finde them comfortable BEtweene friends it cannot be but discurtesies will appeare though not intended by a willing act yet so taken by a wrong suspect which smothered in silence increase daily to a greater distaste but once revealed in a friendly manner oft meet with that satisfaction which doth in the disclosure banish them There is not any thing eates out friendship sooner than concealed grudges Conceits of unkindnesse harboured and beleeved will worke even a steady love to hatred If a private thought of unkindnesse arise betweene my friend and my selfe I presently tell it and be reconciled If he be cleare I shall like him the better when I see his integrity if faulty confession gaines my pardon and bindes me still to love him Fire almost quencht and laid abroad dies presently put together it will burne the better a little shaking helps the trees growth every such breach as this may unite affection faster HOnour and high place upon earth can confer nothing unto us that may make our life more truly happy if it add to our joys it increaseth our feares if it augment our pleasure our trouble and care is the more great persons are like flags in the tops of Shipmasts as more high and more visible so more and ever open to the winde and stormes What a snare hath wealth proved to many that like the Sun have in the morning of their time mounted themselves to the highest pitch of perspicuity and brightnesse which when they have once attained they decline fall vanish and are gone leaving nothing behinde them but darke night black reputation The Theefe that meets with a full purse takes away it and returns a stab whilest the empty pocket makes the life secure Hee is not a compleat Christian that cannot be content with what be enjoyes we should rather settle our mindes to a quiet rest in that we finde than let her wander in a wearied solicitude after ungotten plenty we should ever esteeme that estate best which God gives us though we cannot thinke so yet doubtlesse it is so and to thinke against knowledge is a foolish suspition AS Providence is the mother of happinesse so Negligence is the parent of misery No vice so soone steales on us as the abuse of things in themselves It is good the Vine should flourish but let it alone and it ruines it selfe in superfluous branches Our pleasures are sometimes the inlivenings of a drooping soule but they easily steale away our mindes making us with a mad affection dote upon them to our destruction We should ever be most circumspect in things veiled either with goodnesse or sweetnesse for nothing steales more soules from God than lewd courses that are outwardly glorious THe formall amity of the world is confined to a face or to the possibility of a recompence languishing in disability and dying in the decease of the party affected It is true love that over-living the person of a friend will be inherited of his seed but to love the posterity of an enemy in a friend is the miracle of friendship That love was ever false that is not ever constant and the most operative when it cannot be either knowne or requited WE should not nourish the same spirits in our adverse estates that we found in our highest prosperity what use have wee made of Gods hand if we be not the lower in our fall Gods intent is we should carry our Crosse not make a fire of it to warme us by It is no bearing up of sailes in a Tempest nor is there a more certaine way to glory and advancement than a lowly dejection of our selves under Gods chastisements IT is one of the mad Principles of wickednesse That it is weaknesse to relent and rather to die than yeeld even ill Causes once undertaken must be upheld although with blood whereas the gracious heart finding its owne mistaking doth not only remit of an ungrounded displeasure but studies to bee revenged on it selfe and to give satisfaction to the offended THere can be no fitter invitation to temptation than the down-bed of idlenesse the industrious man hath no leisure to sin the idle hath neither leisure nor power to avoid sin Exercise is not more wholsome for the body than for the soule the omission whereof breeds matter of disease in both the water that hath been heated soonest freezeth and the most active spirit soonest tyreth with slacking The earth stands still and is all dregs the heavens ever move and are pure Wee have no reason to complaine of the assiduity of worke the toile of action is answered by the benefit if we did lesse we should suffer more Satan like an idle companion if he findes us busie flies back and sees it no time to entertaine vaine purposes with us We cannot please him better than by casting away of our worke to hold chat with him we can not yeeld so far be guiltless THere can bee no safety with that soule where the senses are let loose hee can never keepe his covenant with God that makes not a covenant with his eyes It is an idle presumption to thinke the outward man may be free while the inward is safe he is more than a man whose heart is not led by his eyes he is no regenerate man whose eyes are not restrained by his heart THe griefe that goes before an evill for remedy can hardly be too much but that which followes an evill past remedy can never be too little Even in the saddest accident Death we may yeeld something to Nature nothing to impatience Immoderation of sorow for losses past hope of recovery is more sullen than usefull our stomack may be bewrayed by it not our wisdome THere is