What Wesley Left Out

~244 words

AND VOWS ; 

DIVINE AND MORAL. 

TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL 

iiOBERT DRURY, KNIGHT; 

LL INCREASE OF TRUE HOVOUR 
AKD VIRTUE. 

7 AT I have made these my 
homely Aphorisms public, needs 
\er reason, but that, though the 
I is furnished with other writ' 
even to satiety and surfeit, yet 
}se which reduce Christianity to 
ice, there is^ at leasts scarce 
h : wherein, yet, I must needs 
8S, I had some eye to myself; 
having after a sort vowed this 
re course of judgment andprac- 
o myself, 1 thought it best to 
lint the world with it, that it 
either witness my answerable 
eding, or check me in my stray- 
kerjsfrom* By which means, «o 




ntani/ men as I live amongst, io many 
mmtilors I shall have; which shall 
point me to my own rules, and tip- 
braid me Kith my aberrations. Why 
I have dedicated (hem to your name 
cannot be strange to any, that knows 
you my Patron and me your Pastor. 
The regard of which bond easily 
drew me on to consider, that, whereas 
my body, which was ever weak, began 
of late to langmsh more, it would 
not be inexpedient, at the worst, to 
leave behind me this little monument 
of thai great respect uikich I deserv- 
edly bear you. And, if it shall please 
God to reprieve me until a longer 
day ; yet, it shall not repent me to 
have sent this unworthy scrowl, to 
wait upon you in your necessary ab- 
sence : neither shall it be, I hope, 
bootless for you, to adjoin these my 
mean speculations unto those grounds 
of virtue you have so happily laid ; 
to which if they shall add but one 
scruple, it shall be to me sufficient 
joy, contentment, recompence. 

From your Worship's humbly 
devoted. 



JOSEPH HALL. 




MEDITATIONS AND 
VOWS. 

I. 

'N Meditation, those, which

~326 words

not of his 
Council. 

IV. 

As there is no vacuity in nature, no 
more is there spiritually. Every vessel 
is full, if not of liquor, yet of air : so 
ia the heart of man; though, by na- 
ture, it is empty of grace, yet it is full 
of hypocrisy and iniquity. Now, nR 



Century the First. 



it fiiieth with grace, bo it is emptied 
of his evil qaalities; as in a vessel, so 
much water as goes* in, so much air 
goes out : but man's heart is a narrow- 
mouthed vessel, and receives grace 
but by drops; and therefore asks a 
long time to empty and fill. Now, as 
there be differences in degrees, and 
one heart is nearer to fulness than 
another; so the best vessel is not quite 
full, while it is in the body, because 
there are still remainders of corrup- 
tion. I will neither be content with 
that measure of grace I have, nor im- 
patient of God*s delay.; but every day 
I will endeavour to have one drop 
added to the rest : so my last day shall 
fill up my vessel to the brim. 

V. 

Satan would seem to be mannerly 
and reasonable ; making, as if he would 
be content with one half of the heart, 
whereas God challengeth all or none : 
as, indeed. He hath most reason to 
claim all, that made all. But this is 
nothing, but a crafty fetch of Satan ; 
for he knows, that if he have any 
part Qod will have none : so the whole 
falleth to his share alone. My heart, 
when it is both whole and at the best, 
is bvt a strait and unworthy \od^\tv^ 



6 Meditations and Vows. 

for God. If it were bi^er and better, 
1 would reserve it all for him. Sataii | 
may look in at my doors by a tempta- ' 
tion ; but he shall not have so much 
as one chamber-room set apart, for 
liirn to sojourn in. 

vr

~218 words

for a crust of 
bread, towards my preservation ? 

XI. 

If the world would make me his 
minion, he could ^veme but what he 

hath : and what hath he to give, hut 
3 smoke of honour, a shadow of riches, 
a sound of pleasures, a blast of fame; 
which when 1 have had in the best 
measure, 1 may be worse, I cannot be 
better? 1 can live no whit longer, no 
whit merrier, no whit happier. If he 
profess to hate me, what can he do, 
but disgrace me in my name, impo- 
verish me in my estate, afflict me in 
my body? in all which, it is easy, not to 
he ever the more miserable. I have 
been too long beguiled with the vain 
semblances of it: now, henceforth, 
accounting myself horn to a better 
world, I will, in a holy loftiness, bear 
myself as one too good to be enamoured 
of the best pleasures, to be daunted 
with the greatest miseries, of this life. 



Century the First. 1 1 

XII. 

I SEE there is no man so happy, as 
to have all thmgs; and no man so 
miserable, as not to have some. Why 
should I look for a better condition, 
jthan all others ? If I have somewhat, 
and that of the best things ; I will in 
thankfulness enjoy them, and want 
the rest with contentment. 

XIIL

~423 words

shall be easy, and thy bur- 
den light. 

XIV. 

I AM a stranger even athome : there- 
fore, if the dogs of the world bark at 
ne, I neither care, nor wonder* 




12 Meditations and Vows. 

XV. 

It is the gr«stest madness in the 
world, Co b« a hypocrite io religious 
|>rt<fvMioii. Men halo thee, becauie 
thou irl n Christian, so much as in fip- 
pearaure : God hates thee double, be- 
cause thou art but in appearance : so, 
wliile thou hast the hatred of both, 
thou bast no comrorl in thyself. Yet, 
if thou wilt not b« good, as thoa seem- 
eat; I hold It better, to seem ill, as 
thou art. An open kicked ni:in doth 
much liiirl, with notorious sins ; but a 
hypocritu ilntb at last more shame 
goodneM, by Bceming; good. I would 
rather bo iin open wicked mnn, than 3 
hypocrite; but 1 would rather be no 
man, than cither of them. 

XVI. 



When 


I cast down min 


e eyes u 


pon 


ray wanti 


i, upon my sins 


t, upon 


my 


mieericB ; 


metliinks no ms 


m should be 


worse, nc 


1 man so ill as I 


, mymt 


■ans 


so many, 


80 forcible, and almost ' 


vio- 


lent; my progress so small, and 


in- 


sensible ; 


my coiruptions 


BO Strong ; 


my infirm 


lilies so frequent 


, and re 


me- 


dilesB; m 


ly body so unan 


swerabli 


e to 


my mind 


: But, when I lo 


ok up to 


the 


blessings 


that God hath t 


mriched 


me 



Century the First. 13 

withal, methinks I should soon be in- 
duced to think none more happy than 
snyself : Grod is my Friend, and my 
Father; the world^notmy masterybot 
my slave : I have Mends, not many, 
but so tried, that I dare trust them ; 
an estate, not superfluous, not needy, 
yet nearer to defect than abundance ; 
a calling, if desf»sed of men, yet ho- 
nourable with God; a body, not so 
strong as to admit security, but often 
checking me in occasion of pleasure, 
nor yet so weak as to afflict me con- 
tinually; a mind, not so furnished with 
knowledge that I may boast of it, nor 
yet so naked that I should despair of 
obtaining it: my miseries afford me 
joy; mine enemies, advantage: my 
account is cast up for another world. 
And, if thou think I have said too much 
good of myself, either I am thus, or I 
would be. 

XVII. 

The worldling's life is, of all other, 
most discomfortable : for, that, which 
Is his God, doth not alway favour him ; 
that, which should be, never. 

XVIII

~670 words

God himself, and his friends? How 
can it be less in worth, than God is 
above his creatures, and God*s friends 
better than his enemies ? I will not 
only be content, but desirous, to be 
dissolved. 

XXII. 

It is commonly seen, that boldness 
puts men forth before their time, be- 
fore their ability. Wherein, we have 
seen many, that, like lapwings and 
^rtridges, have run away with some 
Mirt of their shell on their heads : 
whence it follows, that» as they began 
oldly, so they proceed unpro£tably, 
id conclude not without shame. I 
ould rather be haled by force of others 
g^reat duties, than rush upon them 
bidden. It were better a man should 
nt work, than that great works 
>uld want a man answerable to their 
g^ht. 



em, ne ran awaj trom it. 

XXIV. 

HAVE seldom seen much ostenta- 
and much learning, met together, 
sun, rising, and declining, makes 
shadows ; at midday when he is 
ghest, none at all. Besides that, 
» when it is too much shown, loseth 
^ace : as fresh coloured wares, if 
be often opened, lose their bright- 
, and are soiled with much hand- 
I would rather applaud myself, 
mngmuch, that I shew not; than 
others should applaud me, for 
ing more than I have. 

XXV, 



Century the First. 17 

XXVI. 

There was never good thing easily 
come by. The heathen man could 
say," God sells knowledge for sweat;" 
and 80 he doth honour for jeopardy. 
Never any man hath got either wealth 
orleaming, with ease. Therefore, the 
greatest good must needs be most diffi- 
cult. How shall I hope to get Christ, 
if I take no pains for him ? And if, in 
all other things, the difficulty of ob- 
taining whets the mind so much the 
more to seek, why should it in this 
alone daunt me ? I will not care what 
I do, what i suffer, so I may win Chrbt. 
If men can endure such cutting, such 
lancing, and searing of their bodies, to 
protract a miserable life yet a while 
longer, what pain should I refuse for 
etemi^ ? 

XXVII. 

If I die, the world shall miss me but 
a little : I shall miss it less. Not it 
me ; because it hath such store of bet- 
ter men : not I it ; because it hath 
BO mach ill, and I shall have so much 
happiness. 

XXVIII. 

Two things make a man set by ; 
X^ignityi and Desert. Amongst fools, 



18 Meditations and Vows. 

the first without the seconi) is auffi- 
cient : amongst wiae raeD, the second 
without the firat. Let me deserve 
well; though! be not adTaneed. The 
conscience of mj worth shall cheer me 
more ia others' contempt, thaa the 
approbation of others can comfort me 
against the secret check of mji own 
uQworthineos. 

XXIX. 

The beat qualities do so cleave to 
their subjects, that they cannot bo 
communicated to others : for, whereas i 
piitriraony and vulgar account of ho- 
nour follow the blooJ, in many gene- 
rations ; virtue is not traduced in pro- 
pagation, nor learning bequeathed by 
our Will to our heira; lest the givers 
should wax proud, and the receivers 
negligent. I will account nothing my 
own, but what I have gotten ; nor that 
my own, because it is more of gift than 
desert. 

XXX. 

TuESonlyistheChurchmosthappy, 
when Truth and Peace kiss each other; 
and then miserable, when either of 
them balk the way, or when they meet 
and kiss not: for, truth without peace, 
is turbulent ; and peace without truth, 



Century the First. 19 

is secure iDJostice. Thoagh I love 
|>eace well; jet I love main troths 
better : and, tboogh I love all troths 
well; yet I would rather conceal a 
small troth, than disturb a common 
peace. 

XXXI. 

An indiscreet good action, is little 
better than a discreet mischief. For, 
in this, the doer wrongs only the pa- 
tient : but, in that other, the wrong is 
done to the g^ood action ; for both it 
makes a good thing odious (as many 
ffood tales are marred in telling,) and, 
besides*, it prejudices a future oppor- 
tunity. I will rather let pass a good 
gale of wind, and stay on the shore ; 
than launch forth, whei\ I know the 
rind will be contrary. 

XXXIL 

The World teacheth me, that it is 

adness

~442 words

the defence of a good 



XXXVIL 

:e godly sow in tears, and reap 
IT* The seed-time is commonly 
ish and lowering. I will be con-> 
with a wet spring, so I may be 
>f a clear and joyful harvest. 




n earth, where thej are vexed with 

ptations and afflictions, hj Satan 

his complicea; their heaven is 

78, in en^ess happiness. If it be 

(vith me on earUi^ it is well mj 

aent is so short, and so euj : I 

not be so covetooSy toliope fiii^ '^ 

heavens. i 



XXXIX. 

>l AN, on his deadi-bedt haft e don* 
prospect ; whidi, ift his Ufethur, 
interpoehioa of pleainire and ml- 
es debarred Uin nrom. The goed 
1 looks npwardy and seat HeavM 
Q, with Stephen ; and the glorioqe 
^els, readj to carry up his soiil : 



1 



) 



Century the First. 23 

wicked man is so loth to hear of death ; 
BO dejected* when he feeleth aicknets ; 
and so desperate^ when he feeleth the 
pangs of death : nor that every Balaam 
would fain die the death of the righ- 
teous. Henceforth, I will envy none* 
but a good man : I will pity nothing 
so much, as the prosperity of the 
wicked. 

XL. 

Not to be afflicted, is a sign of 
weakness: for, therefore God imposeth 
no more on me, because he sees I can 
bear no more. God will not make 
choice of a weak champion. When I 
am stronger, I will look for more : 
and when I sustain more, it shall more 
comfort mOi that God finds me strong ; 
dian It shall grieve me, to be pressed 
with a heavy affliction. 

XLI. 

That the wicked have peace in 

themselves, is no wonder : they are as 

sure, as temptation can make them. 

No prince niakes war with his own 

sobjeets. The godly are still enemies : 

tAarefore, they must look to be as- 

JtiCiHed both by stratagems and vio- 

^^x^oe. Nothing ^all more joy me, 

^^^n my inward unquietness. A just 



in make things simply evil (namelTy 
ir sins) good to us: not good in 
iture, but g^ood in the event ; good, 
hen they are done, not good to be 
)ne. Sin is so powerful, thjst it etn 
irn the hotiest ordioaimi of Ghd 
ito itself. Bot heniin oar sin goea 
iyond our goodness ; That fin d^fihi. 
man or action otherwise goodt bot 
1 the goodntss of the woiU ^mot 
istify one sin: as the holy flesh in 
le skirt, makes not the bread holy 
lat toucheth it; but the uncletB» 
inching a boly Uiing, defileth it. I 
ill loath every evil for its own sdps : 
will do good ; bat not trost to it. 



VTTTT 



Century the First. 25 

XLIV

~370 words

the 
stature of my soul. 

XLV. 

Peide is the most dangerous of all 
sins : for, both it is most insinuative, 
having crept into Heaven and Para- 
dise; and most dangerous, where it 
is: for, where all other temptations 
are about evil, this alone is conversant 
only about g^d things ; and one dram 
of it poisons many measures of g^ce. 
I will not be more afraid of doing 
good things amiss, than of being proud 
when I have well performed them. 

XLVI. 

Not only commission makes a sin. 

c 



truth, that it makes the mind incapa- 
ble of it. In matters of faith, I will 
first lay a sure ground, and then be- 
lieve, though 1 cannot argue ; holding 
the conclusion, in spite of the pre- 
mises: but, in other less matters, I 
will not so forestall mj mind with re- 
solution, as that I will not be willing 
to be better informed. Neither will I 
say in myself, *' I will hold it, there- 
fore it shall be troth ; " but, <* This is 
truth, therefore I will hold it." I will 
not striye for vil^tory ; but for truth» 

XLVIII. 

Drunkenness and Covetonsness 

do much resemble one another : for, 
the more a mnn *1rinTro ♦!»- ' 



Century the First. 27 

score, is no more questionable. The 
coretoos man, in two things, plainly 
resembleth a Swine; That he ever 
roots in the earth , not so much as 
looking towards heaven; That he 
never doth good, till his death. In 
desiring, my rale shall be, necessity 
of nature or estate : in having, I will 
account that my good, which doeth me 
good. 

XLIX. 

I ACKNOWLEDGE no Master of re-* 
quests in heaven, but one; Christ, 
my Mediator. I know I cannot be so 
happy, as not to need. him; nor so 
miserable, that he should contemn me. 
I will always ask ; and that of none, 
but where I am sure to speed ; but 
where there is so much store, that 
when I have had the most, I shall 
leave no less behind. Though num- 
berless drops- be in the sea; yet, if 
one be taken out of it, it hath so much 
the less, though insensibly: but God, 
because he is infinite, can admit of no 
diminution. Therefore are men nig- 
gardly, because the more they g^ve

~552 words

of thy store. Good prayers 



EE, inai a Ul uout^, luauy liiucd, 

3 a thief: and many would be 
, if they had but the common 
s of their neighbours. I account 
lone of the least favours of God, 
;he world goes no better forward 
me: for, I fear, if my estate 
better to the world, it might be 
J to God. As it is a happy ne- 
;y that enforceth to good ; so is 
next happy, that hinders from 

LI. 

is the basest love of all others, 
is for a benefit : for, herein we 
Qot another, so much as ourselves, 
igh there were no Heaven, O 



\ 



Century the First. 29 

digal of their blood, in the revenge 
of a disg^ceful word, against them- 
selves ; while they can be content to 
hear God pulled out of heaven with 
blasphemy, and not feel so much as a 
rising of their blood: which argues 
our cold love to God, and our over 
fervent affection to ourselves. In mine 
own wrongs, I will hold patience laud- 
able ; but, in God*s injuries, impious. 

LIII. 

It is a hard thing, to speak well : 
but it is harder, to be well silent ; so 
as it may be free from suspicion of af- 
fectation, or sullenness, or ignorance 2 
else, loquacity, and not silence, would 
be a note of wisdom. Herein I will 
not care how little, but how well« He 
said well lor this, '^ Not that, which 
is mnch, is well; but tbat^ which is 
well, is much.'' 

LIV. 

There is nothing more odious, than 

fruitless old age. Now, for that no 

tree bears fruit in Autumn unless it 

61o68om in the Spring, to the end that 

•KBy age may be profitable and laden 

'%mth ripe fruit, I will endeavour, that 

ly youth may be studious and flowered 



.>r. ruirtouiiiiteui 'a« Ihcku & 

m 

^lU I UAi^iiK iurt iou 'vzll un 

He, :Qa& 'iv«w v«il, caonoc 
'3u( iM w«ii : for. :f iw die sa 
>t.'£ 'iM diM aoc unprep«redlT 
>isurti, liw otioscieacti at his i 
.lie iu,ike« his deach more coml 






.'?■«.■ JSCt-v 



• '4,, 



■ <«< 









^fi, 









30 Meditations and Vows. 

with tha bloasoms of learning and ob« 9 
Bervation. 

LV. 
Revenge commonly hurts both the 
oEerer and sufferer : as we eee in the 
foolieh Bee (though ia all other things 
commendable; yet herein the pattern 
of fond spitefulness), which, in her an- 
ger, envenometh the flesh, and loMth 
her sting-; and so lives a Drone ever 
aftof. I account it the only valour, 
to remit a wrong; and will applaud it 
to myself, as right noble and Chrbtian, 
that I might hurt and will not. 

LVI. 

He, that lives well, cannot choose 
but die well : for, if he die suddenly, 
yet ho dies not unpreparedly ; if, by 
leisure, the conscience of his well-led 
life makes his death more comfortable. 
But it is seldom seen, that he, which 
liveth ill, dieth well : for the con- 
Ecience of his former evils, hia present 
pain, and the expectation and fear of 
greater, so take up his heart, that he 
cannot seek God. And now it is just 
with God, not to be sought, or not to be 
found ; because he sought to him in his 
life-time, and was repulsed. Whereas, 
therefore, there are usually two main 



Century the First. 31 

cares of good men ; to live well, and 
Die well : I wiU have bat this one ; 
to Live well. 

LVIL

~241 words

it comes 
ever laden down ag^in, upon our 
heads. In my prayers, my thoughts 
shall not be g^ded by my words ; but 
my words shall follow my thoughta% 



i 



all become of them, that rob Uod ot 
^ own ? If God gain a little glory 
1110, I shall gain more by him. I 
11 labour so to husband the stock, 
at God hath left in my hands, that 
may return my soul better than I 
ceived it ; and that he may make it 
tter than I return it. 

LX. 

Heaven is compared to a hill : and 
ereforeis figured by Olympus, among 
e heathen ; by Mount Siou, in God's 
)ok : Hell, contrariwise, to a Pit. 
le ascent to the one is hard, there- 
re ; and the descent of the other, 
sy and headlong : and so, as if we 
ce besrin to fall, the recovery Is 



Century the First. 33 

whereof each makes way for other. 
From the object is raised an ill sug- 
gestion : suggestion draws on delight ; 
delight, consent ; consent, endeavour ; 
endeavour, practice; practice, cus- 
tom ; custom, excuse ; excuse, de- 
fence ; defence, obstinacy ; obstinacy, 
boasting of sin ; boasting, a reprobate 
sense. I will watch over my ways : 
and do thou. Lord, watch over me, 
that I may avoid the first degrees of 
sin. And, if those overtake my frailty, 
yet keep me, that presumptuous sins 
prevail not over me. Beginnings are 
with more ease and safety declined, 
when we are free ; than proceedings, 
when we have begun. 

LXL

~1,006 words

base ; with any, full of 
[uietness. 

LXIII. 

'he praise of a good speech stand'etli 
words and matter : matter, whleb 
IS a fiedr and well-featored bodyi 
^nce of words, which is as a nea^ 
I well-ftshioned garment. Goo4 
tier, slabbered np in rude and cttrsv 
i words, is m^de loathsome to the 
irer ; as a. good hodj, mis-ehapen 
h unhandsome clothes. Elegancjj. 
hout soundness, is no better than 
lice Tanity. Although, thereibne, 
most hearers are like bees, that 
all to the flowers ; never regarding 



Century the First, 35 

LXIV. 

I SEE, that, as black and white co- 
lours, to the eyes ; so is the vice and 
virtue of others, to the judgment of 
men. Vice gathers the beams of the 
sight in one ; that the eye may see it, 
and be intent upon it : virtue scatters 
them abroad; and therefore hardly 
admits of a perfect apprehension. 
Whence it comes to pass, that, as 
judgment is according to sense, we 
do so soon espy, and so earnestly 
censure a man for, one vice : letting 
pass many laudable qualities undis- 
cemed ; or, at least, unacknowledged. 
Yea, whereas every man is once a fool, 
and doeth that perhaps in one fit of 
his folly, which he shall at leisure re- 
pent of (as Noah, in one hour's drunk- 
enness, uncovered those secrets, which 
were hid six hundred years before,) 
the world is hereupon ready to call in 
question all his former integrity, and 
to exclude him from the hope of any 
future amendment. Since God hath 
g^ven me two eyes ; the one shall be 
busied about the present fault that I 
see, with a detesting commiseration ; 
the other, about the commendable 
qualities of the ofifender, not without 
an unpartial approbation of them. So 



3fi Meditations and Vows. 

ehall I d.0 God do wrong;, iq robbin 
him of ttie glory of his gifts, mix* 
with infirmitiee : nor jet, in the mo 
time, enconrage vice; while I do di 
tinctly reserve for it, a due portioa 
hatred. 

LXV. 
God ia above man ; the brute ere 
tares, under him ; he, aetintbemidi 
Lest he should be proud that ha hi 
infinite creaturea under him, that oi 
is infiaite degrees above him. I d 
therefore, owe awe unto God ; mere 
to the inferior creatures : knowin 
that they are my fellows, in respect 
creation; whereas there is nopropc 
tion betwixt me and my Maker. 

LXVI. 
One said, " It is good to inure t 
mouth to Bpeak well ; for good spee 
ia many times drawn into the a£F( 
tion : " but I would fear, that, spea 
ing well without feeling, were the ne 
way to procure a habitual hypocrii 
Let my good words follow good afft 
tions ; not go before them. I n 
therefore speak as I think : b 
withai, I will labour to think we 
and then, I know, 1 cannot but spe 



Century the First. 37 

LXVII. 

When I consider my souly I coold 
be proud, to think of how divine a 
nature and quality it is : but when I 
cast down mine eyes to my body, as 
the swan to her black leg^ ; and see 
what loathsome matter issues from the 
mouth, nostrils, ears, pores, and other 
passages, and how most carrion-like 
of all other creatures it is after death ; 
I am justly ashamed, to think that so 
excellent a guest dwells not in a more 
cleanly dunghill. 

LXVIIL 

Every worldling is a madman : for, 
besides that he preferreth profit and 
pleasure to virtue, the world to God, 
earth to heaven, time to eternity ; he 
pampers the body, and starves the 
soul. He feeds one fowl a hundred 
times, that it may feed him but once : 
and seeks all lands and seas for dain- 
ties ; not caring whether any, or what 
repast, he provideth for his soul. He 
clothes the body with all rich orna- 
ments ; that it may be as hdi without, 
AS it is filthy within : while his soul 
^oes bare and naked, having not a rag 
^>f knowledge to cover it. Yea, he 
csares noit to destroy his soul, to please 



■"uu or madness ? !*» ' " ' "°: 

'oul no longer than r f ^"J 
wdy. T ef*!: r"^ ^ prefer it 

umg'LTl ""? »y "oi < 

*e pSiS'trt:''-o 

»P«d not. HezUkh ^?^ 
: 7et^^^beca„sete''tttr.:'^C 

1. wftho" t meaS^'^L '''«"''* h. 
». I will .««!.' ''*°'' ando) 
^JiviU use good means; not, 



Century the First, 39 

other praises, thyself must build thy 
monument, alive ; and write thy own 
epitaph, in honest and honourable ac- 
tions : which are so much more noble 
than the other, as living men are better 
than dead stones. Nay, I know not 
if the other be not the way to work a 
perpetual succession of infamy ; while 
the censorious reader, upon occasion 
thereof, shall comment upon thy bad 
life: whereas, in this, every man's 
heart is a tomb; And every man's 
tongue writeth an epitaph upon the 
well behaved. ■ Either I will procure 
me such a monument, to be remem- 
bered by ; or else, it is better to be in- 
glorious, than infamous. 

LXXI. 

The basest things are ever most 
plentiful. History and experience tell 
us, that some kind of mouse breedeth 
one hundred and twenty young ones 
in one nest ; whereas the lion, or ele- 
phant, beareth but one at once. I 
have ever found, The least wit yield- 
eth the most words. It is both the 
surest and wisest way, to speak little, 
and think more. 

LXXII. 
An evil man is clay to God ; wax 



i 



God ; but is not stirrea ai any 
tion. I would rather bow than 
to God : but, for Satan, or the 

I would rather be broken in 
with their riolence, than suffer 

to be boijed unto their obedi* 

LXXUI. 

8 an easy matter, for s mm to 
eless of himself; and yet modi 
to be enamoured of himseu : 
' he be a Christian; while 1» 
aneth the world perfecUy, it is 
or him to reserve a competent 
re of love to himself: ifawoiid- 
it is not possible but he mwt 
3ve himself. I will strife for 



Century the First. 41 

of all in Grod

~438 words

wherein 
I enjoy him not ? 

LXXVII. 

There is no man so happy as the 
Christian. When he looks up unto 



42 Meditatiom and Vows. 

beaven, he thioks, " That is mj home : 
the God, that made it and owns it, ia 
my Father : the angels, more glorious 
ia nature than myself, ore my attend- 
ants : mine enemiea are my vassals." 
Yea, those things, which are the terri- 
blest of all to the wicked, are most 
pteasBDt to him. When he hears God 
thunder above his head, be thinks, 
" Tliifl is the voice of my Father." 
When he rememhereth the Tribunal 
of the Last Judgment, he thinks, " II 
is my Saviour, that sits in it ;" when 
death, he esteems it but as the ange! 
set before Paradise ; which, with one 
blow, admits him to eternal joy. And, 
which is most of all, nothing in eartli 
or hell can make him miserable. Ther« 
is nothing in the world, worth envying, 
but a Christian. 

LXXVIII. 
As man is a little world ; so ever; 

Christian is a little Church, within 
himself. As the Church, therefore 
b sometimes in the wane, through per- 
secution ; other times, in her full glorj 
and brightness : so let me expect my- 
self sometimes drooping under tamp 
tations, and sadly hanging down th< 
head for the want of the feeling o 
God's presence ; at other times, carriec 



Century the First, 43 

with the fall sail of a resolate assur- 
ance to heayen : knowing, that, as it 
in a Chorch at the weakest stay ; so 
shall I, in my greatest dejection, hold 
the child of God. 

LXXIX. 

Temptatioks, on the right hand, 
are more periloos, than those on the 
left ; and destroy a thousand, to the 
others' ten : as die sun, more usually, 
caoseth the trareller to cast off his 
cloak, than the wind. For, those on 
the left hand miscarry men but two 
ways : to distrust, and denial of God ; 
more rare sins : but the other, to all 
the rest, wherewith men's lives are so 
commonly defiled. The spirit of Chris* 
tians is lUce the English jet, whereof 
we read, that it is fired with water, 
quenched with oil. And these two, 
prosperity and adversity, are like 
heat and cold: the one gathers the 
powers of the soul together, and makes 
them able to resist, by uniting them ; 
the other diffuses ^em, and, by such 
separation, makes them easier to con- 
quer. I hold it, therefore, as praise* 
worthy with God, for a man to contemn 
a proffered honour or pleasure, for con- 
science* sake ; as, on the rack, not to 
deny his profession. When these are 



44 Meditations and i'oi 



LXXX. 

God ia

~2,351 words

kneel 
as a subject, to mj Prince. 

LXXXI. 

I HAVE not been in others' breasts 
but, for my own part, I never tasted o 
ought, that might deserve the name o 
pleasure. And, if I could, yet a thou 
sand pleasures cannot countervail on< 
torment ; because the one may be ex 
quisite ; the other, not without com 
position. And, if not one torment 
much less a thousand. And if not fo 
a moment, much less for eternity 
And if not the torment of apart, mucl 
less of the whole. For, if the paii 
but of a tooth be so intolerable, wha 
shall the racking' of the whole bod; 
be ? And, if of the body, what shal 
that be, which is primarily of the aoul 
If there be pleasures that I hear no 
of, I will be wary of buying them B- 



Century the First. 46 

LXXXII. 

As hypocrisy is a common counter* 
feit of all virtues ; so there is no special 
virtue, which is not, to the very life of it, 
seemingly resembled, by some special 
vice . So, devotion is counterfeited by 
superstition ; good thrift, by niggard- 
liness ; charity, with vain-glorious 
pride. For, as charity is bounteous 
to the poor ; so is vain-glory to the 
wealthy: as charity sustains all, for 
truth ; so pride, for a vain praise : both 
of them make a man courteous and 
affable. So the substance of every 
virtue is in the heart : which, since it 
hath not a window made into it, by 
the Creator of it, but is reserved under 
lock and key for his own view ; I will 
judge only by appearance. I would 
rather wrong myself, by credulity ; 
than others, by unjust censures and 
suspicions. 

LXXXIII. 

Evert man hath a kingdom within 

himself. Reason, as the Princess, 

dwells in the highest and inwardest 

room. The Senses are the Guard and 

Attendants on the Court; without 

'%^ho9e aid, nothing is admitted into 

%be Presence. The supreme faculties, 



\ to bare no passioiiB; lur uhi» 

'■ to overthrow this inwmrd gOTem- {■ 

c LioU hath erected in me : but a P 

L»tian> to order thoaelhaTe. And, i 

hat 1 Mt> Aift w, ii 

mulLBMMft paiMtt dnvs oa 

in pnaaiwM^ Aift mm makm «ij 

tho oxftVMUftf cf aasttflr ^ «x- 

Of \ff9% HMIBlfc eXBMl €t glkf , 

a tha ksi of what we lorai:) I 
do m wiw Prioeca «ae, to tkina 
r miadoatl ftr £MCioii; ao Mi 
n down and keep fbtm bare, diat 
r Tety iBipotoncy and icauanaaa 
U affinnd ma aocuiitj* 

LXXXIV. 

LOOK npon the tbings of thb Hft, 



Century the First, 47 

other^B ; knowing, that though I hold 
them by right, jet it is only by tenure 
at will. 

LXXXV. 

There is none like to Lather's three 
masters ; Prayer, Temptation, Medi- 
tation. Temptation stirs up holy me- 
ditation : meditation prepares to pray- 
er : and prayer makes profit of tempta- 
tion; and fetcheth all divine knowledge 
from heaven. Of others, I may learn 
the theory of Divinity ; of these only, 
the practice. Other masters teach 
me, by rote^ to speak, parrot-like, of 
hearenly things; these alone, with 
feeling and understanding. 

LXXXVI. 

Affectation ib the greatest enemy, 
both of doing well, and good accept- 
ance of what is done. I hold it the 
part of a wise man, to endeavour ra- 
ther that fame may follow him, than 
g^ before him. 

LXXXVII. 

I SEE a number, which, with Shimei, 

wiiile they seek their servant, which 

h riches, lose their souls. No worldly 

tt^iDg^ shall draw me without the gates, 

^ritbkn which God hath confined me. 



xjc 10 uuuci It . aiusi uuui, Uiue« 

is easy. Yet both of these muf 

found in both ; or else we sha! 

drunken with pleasures, and c 

whelmed with sorrow. As ti 

therefore, which should eat some 

over-deliciously sweet, do allaj it 

tart sauce, that they may not be < 

ed; and those, that are to re 

bitter pills, that they may not \h 

noyed with their unpleasing tasti 

them in sugar : so, in all pleasoi 

is best to labour, not how to i 

them most delightful, but how to 

derate them from excess ; and, i 

sorrows, so to settle our hearts in 

grounds of comfort, that we ma; 

care so much for being bemoan 

others, as how to be most content 

ourselves. 



Century the First. 49 
siblest, bol the tratsty tibougli more 



XC. 

Christiav aodetj is like a bundle 
of sdcke laid together, whereof one 
kindles another. Solitary men have 
fewest provocations to eril ; but, again, 
fewest indtations to good. So much, 
as dcnng good is better than not doing 
erfl, win I account Christian g^ood- 
fellowBhip better than an eremitish and 
melancholj solitariness. 

§ 

XCI. 

I WOULD rather confess my igno- 
rance, than falsely profess knowledge. 
It is no shame, not to know all things : 
bat it is a just shame, to over-reach 
in any thing. 

XCII. 

Sudden extremity is a notable trial 

f faith, or any other disposition of 

le soul. For, as, in a sadden fear, the 

ood gathers to the heart, for guard- 

g of that part which is principal: 

the powers of the soul combine 

imselves in a hard exigent, that 

vy may be easily judged of. The 

hful, more suddenly than any ca- 

Ity, can lift up his heart to his stay 

D 



I v.i ua\e iiiai loseeK in nis extremity ? 
^^ hen therefore some sudden stitch 
irirds me in the side, like to be the 
messenger of death; or, when the 
sword of my enemy, in an unexpected 
assault, threatens my body; I will 
seriously note how I am affected : so 
the suddenest eril, as it shall not come 
iinlooked for, shall not go away un- 
thought of. If I find myself coura- 
geous and heavenly-minded, I will 
rejoice in the trotk of (jod*s ^race in 
me ; knowing, that one dram of tried 
faith, is worth a whole poond of spe- 
culative ; and that, which once stood 
by me, will never fail me : if dejected 
and heartless, herein I will acknow- 
ledge cause of humiliation ; and, with 
all care and earnestness, seek to store 
myself against the dangers following. 



Century the First. 61 

and rale ; *' but when he is once seated 
in the throne over loyal subjects, 
*' unite and rule : ** So, in the regi- 
ment of the soul, there must be va- 
riatace set in the judgment, and the 
conscience and affections ; that that, 
. which is amiss, may be subdued : but, 
when all parts are brought to order, it 
IS the only course to maintain their 
peace; that, all seeking to establish 
and help each other, the whole may 
prosper. Always to be at war, is des- 
perate; always at peace, secure and 
o?er-epicure-like. I do account a se- 
cure peace, a just occasion of this 
civil dissension, in myself; and a true 
Christian peace, the end of all my se- 
cret wars : which when I have achiev- 
ed, I shall reign with comfort; and 
never will be quiet, till I have achieved 
it. 

XCIV. 

I BROUGHT sin enough with me 
into the world to repent of, all my 
life ; though I should never actually 
sin : and sin enough actually, every 
day, to sorrow for; though I had 
brought none with me into the world : 
but, laying both together, my time is 
HLther too short for my repentance. It 
■were madness in me, to spend my short 



he world, the coatagioo of m^ sin 
; shall add to the guilt of it : yet, 

loth tliese states, I am uncapnble 
epeotaDce. I will do that while I 
', which, when I have neglected, 
nrecoverable. 

XCV. 
LMniTiON is torment enoagh, fur 
iaetay : for it aSords as much dis- 
Centmeot in enjojing', as in want; 
ling men like poisoneid rats: wliicb, 
:n they have tasted of their bane, 
not rest till they drink ; and then 
much less rest, till their death. 
B better for me to live in the wise 
I'a stocks, in a contented want ; 
a in a fool's paradise, to vex my- 
' with wilful uaquietnesi. 



Century the First, 53 

give room to the costliest ; but spills 
beside whatsoever is infused. The 
proud man, though he be emptj of 
good substance, yet is full of conceit. 
Many men had proved wise, if they 
had not so thought themselves. I am 
empty enough, to receive knowledge 
enough. Let me think myself but so 
bare as I ain; and more I need not. 

Lord, do thou teach me how little, 
how nothing I have ; and give me no 
more, than I know I want. 

xcvn. 

Every man hath his turn of sor- 
row ; whereby, some more, some less, 
all men are in their times miserable. 

1 never yet could meet with the man, 
that complained not of somewhat. 
Before sorrow come, I will prepare 
for it : when it is come, I will wel«* 
come it ! when it goes, I will take 
but half a farewell of it ; as still ex- 
pecting his return. 

XCVIIL 

There be three things that follow 
an injury, so far as it concemeth our- 
selves; (for, as the offence toucheth 
God, it is above our reach ;) revenge, 
censure, satisfaction : which must be 
remitted of the merciful man. Y^t 



i 



hath endamaged me much, ca 
plead breach of charity, in my s 
in^ his restitution. I will so r 
wrongBf as I may not encourage ot 
to offer them ; and so retain then 
I may not induce God to retain i 
to him. 

XCIX. 

OAnmnrTs^ that have once one 
in them, are subject to be torn on e 
nail and every brier; andglasses, 
are once cracked, are soon brol 
such is a man's good name, once tai 
with just reproach. Next to the 
profrntion of God and the testmun 
mine own conscience, I will seek : 
good reputation with men: not. 
close carriage, concealing faults, 
they may not be known, to my sha 



Century the First, 55 

C. 

Many vegetable and many brute 
creatures exceed man in length of 
age : which hath opened the mouths 
of heathen philosophers, to accuse na- 
ture, as a step-mother to man ; who 
hath given him the least time to live, 
that only could make use of his time 
in getting knowledge. But herein 
religion doth most magnify God, in 
his wisdom and justice ; teaching us, 
that other creatures live long, and 
perish to nothing: only man recom- 
penses the shortness of his life, with 
eternity after it; that the sooner' he 
dies well, the sooner he comes to per- 
fection of knowledge, which he might 
in vain seek, below; the sooner he 
dies ill, the less hurt he doth with his 
knowledge. There is great reason 
then, why man should live long; 
greater, why he should di0 early. 1 
will never blame Grod, for making me 
too soon happy ; for changing my ig- 
norance, for knowledge ; my corrup- 
tion, for immortality ; my infirmities, 
for perfection : Come^ Lord Jesus, 
come quickly. 



^ 



THE 
SECOND CBNTURT OF 

MEDITATIONS AND YOWS ; 

DIVINE AND MORAL. 

TO THB 
RIGHT VIRTUOUS AND WORSHIPFUL LADY, 

THE LADY DRURY, 

ALL INCREASE OF GRACE. 

Madam : 

IKNO Wyour Christian ingenuity 
suchy that you will not grudge 
others the communication of this your 
private right : which yet I durst not 
have presumed to adventure , if I 
feared, that either the benefit of it 
would be lesSf or the acceptation. 
Now it shall be no less yours : only, 
it shall be more known to be yours. 
Vouchsafe therefore to take part 
with your worthy husband^ of these 
my simple Meditations, Andy if your 
long and gracious experience have 
written you a larger volume ofwholc' 
some laws, and better informed you 
by precepts fetched from your own 
feeling, than I can hope for,^ 6'y m\j 

D % 



58 Dedication. 

bare speculation : yet, where these 
my not unlikely rules shall accord 
with yours, let your redoubled assent 
allow them, and they confirm it. I 
made Ihem not for the Eye ; but/or 
the Heart: neither do I commend 
them to your Readin^fbut your Prac- 
tice : wherein also it shall not be 
enough, that you are a mere and or- 
dinary agent, but that you be a pat- 
tern propounded unto others' imita- 
tion. So shall your virtuous and 
holy progress, besides your own peace 
and happiness, be my crown and re- 
joicing, in the day of our common 
appearance. 

Your Ladyship's humbly devoted, 

JOSEPH HALL. 

Ilolshid, December 4. 




MEDITATIONS AND 
VOWS, 

1. 

MAN, under God's afflic- 
tion, is like a bird in a 
net; the more he strives 
the more he is entangled. 
God's decree cannot be eluded with 
impatience. What I cannot avoid, I 
will learn to bear. 

II. 

I FIND that all worldly things re- 
quire a long labour, in getting ; and 
a£Ford a short pleasure, in enjoying 
them. I will not care much, for what 
I have ; nothing, for what I have not. 

III. 

I SEE natural bodies forsake their 
own place and condition, for the pre- 
servation of the whole : but, of all 
other creatures, man ; and, of all other 
men. Christians, have the least interest 
in themselves. I will live, as given 
to others ; lent only, to myself. 



m the water, but set 
and muddy channels 
moralized, in men of < 
who know their souL 
that they dare not so 
them : but shift off all 
former iniquity, with ^ 
good-fellowship. Whc 
every small reprehem 
them ; because it calls t 
soul home to itself, and 
see a glimpse of what tl 
So have I seen a foolish 
patient, which, knowin] 
very deep, would not en( 
urgeon to search it: w 
can ensue, but a festerin 
and a danger of the wholi 
have seen many prodiga 
so far in books, that thf^^^ 



Century the Second, 61 

God, that I shall not know my debts, 
or fear an audit, or despair of pay- 
ment. 

V. 

I ACCOUNT this body, nothing, but 
a close prison to my soul; and the 
earth a lai^er prison to my body. I 
may not break prison, till I be loosed 
by death : but I will leave it, not unr 
willingly y when I am loosed. 

VI

~306 words

in the midst of the deep 

XIV. 

It is a base thing, to get good 
keep them. I see that G(id, n 
only is infinitely rich, holdet^noc 
in bia own hunds ; but gives all t 
creatures. But, if we will need 
up; where should we rather n 
it, than in Christ's treasury ? 
poor man'a hand is the treaaur 
Chriat. All my supcrauity sha. 
there hoarded up, wlierc I kiic 
shall be safely kept, and surely 
turned me. 

XV. 

Tete school of God, and Na 
require two contrary manners of 
ceeding. In the School of Na 
we must conceivo ; and then heli 
in the School of God, we must 
believe ; and then wo shall cone 
He, that believes no more thai 

nor he a Philosopher, that as: 
without reason. In Nature's Sc 
we are taught to bolt out the t 
by logical discourse : God canno 
dure a logician. In his school, 



Century the Second. 65 

the best scholar, that reasons least, 
and assents most. In divine things, 
what I may, I will conceive : the rest 
I will bdieve and admire. Not a 
curioQS head, bnt a credulous and plain 
hearty is accepted with God. 

XVI. 

No woxMl J pleasure hath any ab- 
solute delight in it; but as a bee, 
having honey in the mouth, hath a 
sting in the tail. Why am I so foolish, 
to rest my heart upon any of them : 
and not rather labour to aspire to that 
one absolute good, in whom is nothing 
savouring of grief; nothing wanting 
to perfect happiness ? 

XVII. 

A SHAKP reproof I account better, 
than a smooth deceit. Therefore, when 
my friend checks me, I will respect it 
with thankfulness : when others flatter 
me, I will suspect it ; and rest in my 
own censure of myself, who should be 
more privy, and less partial^ to my 
own deservings. 

XVIII. 

Extremity distinguisheth

~325 words

and God in all things. 

XXIII. 

There be three usual causes of in- 
gratitude, upon a benefit received; 
Envy, Pride, Covetousness : Envy, 
looking more at others* benefits than 
our own ; Pride, looking more at our- 
selves than the benefit; Covetousness, 
looking more at what we would have 
than what we have. In good turns, I 



68 Meditations and Vows. 

will neither respect the g^iver, nor my- 
self, nor the gift, nor othera ; hut only 
the intent and good will, from whence 
it proceeded. So ehall I requite others' 
great pleasures, with equal good-will ; 
and accept of sraal] farouTB, with great 
thankfulneM. 

XXIV. 

WiiEKKAS the custom of the world 
is, to hate things present, to desire 
future, and magnify what is past; I 
will, contrarily, esteem that, which is 
present, hcst; for, hoch, what is past 
was once present, and what is future 
will be present: future things, next; 
because the; are present in hope : what 
is past, least of all ; because it cannot 
be present; yet somewhat, because it 



XXV. 

We pity the folly of the lark, which, 
while it playeth with the feather and 
stoopeth to the glass, is caught in the 
fowler's net; and yet cannot see our- 
selves alike made fools, by Satan ; 
who, deluding us by the vain feathers 
and glasses of the world, suddenly 
enwrappeth us in his snares. We see 
not the nets, indeed ; it is too much, 
that we shall feel them ; and that they 



Century the Second. 69 

are not so easily escaped after, as be- 
fore avoided. O Lord^ keep thou 
mine eyes from beholding vanity, 
Andy though mine eyes see it, let not 
my heart stoop to it ; but loath it af&r 
off. And, if I stoop at any time, and 
be taken ; set thou my soul at liberty : 
that I may say, My soul is escaped^ 
even as a bird out of the snare of 
the fowler : the snare is broken, and 
I am delivered. 

XXVL

~1,355 words

trusting them in the other. 



70 Meditatiojts and Vows, 

XXVII. 
If my money were anotber man's, 
I could but keep it : only the expend- 
ing shews it my own. It is greater 
glory, comfort, and gain, to lay it out 
well, than to keep it safely. God hath 
made me, not his Treasurer, but his 
Steward. 

XXVI 11. 
Augustik's friend, Nebridiua, not 
unjuBtly hated a short answer, to a 
weighty and difficult question ; because 
the disquisition ofgpreat truths requires 
time, and the determining is perilous. 
1 will as much hate a tedious and far- 
fetched answer, to a short and easy 
question. For, as that other wrongs 
the truth ; so this, the hearer. 

XXIX. 

Pbrformance is a binder. I will 
request no more favour of any man, 
thanlmustneeds. I will rather choose 
to make an honest shift, than over- 
much enthral myself, by being be- 
holding. 

XXX. 

The world is a stage : every man 
an actor ; and plays his part here, 



Century the Second. 71 

either in a Comedy or Tragedy. The 
good man is a Comedian; which, how- 
ever he beginsy ends merrily : bat the 
wicked man acts a Tragedy; and 
therefore ever ends in horror. Thoa 
seest a wicked man vaunt himself on 
his stage : stay till the last Act ; and 
look to his end, as David did; and 
see, whether that be peace. Thou 
wouldest make strange Tragedies, if 
thou wouldest have but one Act. Who 
sees an ox, grazing in a fat and rank 
pasture, and thinks not that he is near 
to the slaughter? whereas, the lean 
beast, that toils under the yoke, is far 
enough from the shambles. The best 
wicked man cannot be so envied in his 
first shews, as he is pitiable in the con- 
clusion. 

XXXI. 

Of all objects of beneficence, I will 
choose either an old man, or a child ; 
because these are most out of hope to 
requite. The one forgets a good turn ; 
the other lives not, to repay it. 

XXXII. 

That, which Pythagoras said of 
Philosophers, is more true of Chris- 
tians ; for, Christianity is nothing but 
a divine and better philosophy : Three 



72 Meditations and Vows. 

sorts of men come to tlie market ; 
buyers, sellers, lookers-OD. The two 
first are both busy, and carefully dis- 
tracted about their market: only the 
tliird live happily; using the world, 
as if they used it not. 

XXXIII. 
There be three things, which, of 
all other, I will never strive for; the 
wall, the way, the best seat. If 1 
deserve well, a low place caonot dis- 
parage me so much, as I shall grace 
it : if not, the height of my place shall 
add to my shame; while every man 
shall condemn me of pride, matched 
with un worthiness. 

XXXIV. 

I SEE, there is not so much differ- 
ence betu'ist a man and a beast, as 
betwixt a Christian and a natural man. 
For, whereas man hves but one life 
of reason, above the beast ; a Chris- 
tian lives four lives, above a natural 
man : the life of inchoate regenera- 
tion, by grace ; the perfect life of im- 
puted righteousness ; the life of glory 
begun in the separation of the soul ; 
the life of perfect glory, in the society 
of the body with thesoul.infull happi- 
ness : the worst 'nhereaf is better by 



Century the Second. 73 

many degreeB, than the best life of a 
aatiinl man. For, whereas the dig- 
nity of the life is measured by de 
caose of it, (in which regard the life 
of the plant is basest ; because it is 
bat from the joicey arising from the 
rooty administered by the earth : the 
life of the brate creature better than 
it; because it is sensitire: of a man 
better than it; because reasonable,) 
uid the cause of this life is the Spirit 
of Grod ; so fitf as the Spirit of God is 
abore reason, so far doth a Christian 
exceed a mere naturalist. I thank 
God much, that he hath made me a 
man; but more, that he hath made 
me a Christian : without which, I know 
not whether it had been better for me, 
to have been a beast, or not to have 
been. 

XXXV. 

Gri^at men's favours, friends' pro- 
mises, and dead men's shoes, I will 
esteem ; but not trust to. 

XXXVI. 

It is a fearful thing, to sin ; more 
fearful, to delight in sin ; yet worse, 
to defend it ; but worse than worst, to 
boast of it. If, therefore, I cannot 
avoid sin ; because I am a man : yet I 

E 



74 Meditations and Votes. 

will avoid the delight, defence, &nd 
boasting of sin ; because I am a 
Christian. 

XXXVII. 
Those things, which are most 
eagerly desired, are most hardly both 
gotten and kept; God commonly cross- 
ing our desires, in what we are over- 
fervent. I will, therefore, account all 
things, as too good to have, so nothing 
too dear to lose. 

XXXVIII. 

A TRUE friend Is not horn every 
day. It is beat to he courteous to all ; 
entire with few : so may we, perhaps, 
have less cause of joy ; lBmsure,leB3 
occasion of sorrow. 

XXXIX. 

Secrecies, as they are a burden to 
the mind, ere they he uttered ; so arc 
they no less charge to the receiver, 
when they arc uttered. I mill not 
long after more inward secrets; lest I 
should procure doubt to myself, and 
jealous fear to the discloser: but, as 
my mouth shall be shut with 6delity, 
not to blab them ; so my ear shall not 
be too open to receive them. 



Century the Second, To 



As good plijBCMO, bj oae iccoipl 
BMko wmj fur MiiH|ier ; oo is it the 
safest ooone in practioe : I will iotssI 
a great seeret to none, bat whom 1 
hare foond &idifiil in less. 

XLI. 

I wiixenjofall things in God, and 
God in all diings; nothing in itself: 
so shall my joys neither change, nor 
perish. For, howoTer the things them- 
selves may alter or fiEtde : yet he, in 
whom they are mine, is ever like him- 
self; constant, and OTerlasting. 

XUI. 

If I woald provoke myself to con- 
tentation, I will cast down my eyes to 
my inferiors; and there see better men, 
in worse condition : if to humility, I 
will cast them up to my betters ; and 
so much more deject myself to them, 
by how moch more I see them thought 
worthy to be respected of others, and 
deserve better in themselves. 

XLIII. 

True virtae resU in the conscience 
of itself; either lor reward, or een- 
suro. If, thsreforsy I know myself 



76 Meditations and Vows. 

upright, faUe rumourg Bh&ll not daunt 
me : if not anewerable to the good re- 
port of my faTonrera, I will myself 
find the first fault; that I may prevent 
the shame of others. 

xuv. 

I wiiL account virtue the best riches, 
knowledge the next, riches the worst ; 
and therefore will laixtur to be virtuous 
and learned, without condition : as for 
riches, if they fall in my way, I refiiM 
them not; but if not, I desire them 
not. 

XLV. 

An honest word I account better, 
than a careless oath. I tvill say no- 
thing, but what I dare swear, and will 
perform. It is a shame for a Christian, 
to abide hb tongue a false servant, or 
hia mind a loose mistress. 

XLVI. 
There is a just and easy difFerence, 
to be put betwixt a friend, and an ene- 
my ; betwixt a familiar, and a friend : 
and much good use to be made of all ; 
but, of all, with discretion. I will 
disclose myself, no wbit, to my enemy ; 
somewhat, to my friend ; wholly, to 
no man: lest I should be more others'. 



Century the Second. 11 

than mine own. Friendship is brittle 
staff. How know I, whether he, that 
now loves me, may not hate me here- 
after? 

XLVII. 

No man, bat is an easy judge of 
his own matters x and lookers-on often- 
times see the more. I will, therefore, 
submit myself to others, in what I am 
reproved ; but in what I am praised, 
only to myself. 

XLVIII

~1,180 words

to myself, for my backwardness. 

LI. 
Hearing is a sense of great appre- 
hension ; yet far more subject to de- 
ceit, than seeing : not in the manner 
of apprehending; but in the uncer- 
tainty of the object. Words are vocal 
interpreters of the mind; actions real: 
and, therefore, however both should 
speak according to the truth of what 



/ 



Century the Second. 79 

is in the heart; yet words do more 
belie the heart, than actions. I care 
not what words I hear, when I see 
deeds. I am surey what a man doth, 
he thinketh : not so always, what he 
speaketh. Thoogh I will not be so 
severe a censor, that, for some few evil 
actSf I should condemn a man of false- 
heartedneis; yet, in common course 
of life, I need not be so mopish, as not 
to beliere rather the language of the 
hand, than of the tongue. He, that 
says well and doth well, is without ex- 
ception commendable : but, if one of 
these must be severed from the other, 
I like him well that doth well, and 
saith nothing. 

LIT. 

That which they say of the pelican, 
f That when the shepherds, in desire to 
catch her, lay fire not far from her 
' nest; which she finding, and fearing 
the danger of her young, seeks to blow 
ont with her wings, so long till she 
bum herself, and matkes herself a prey 
in an unwise pity to her young : I see 
morally verified in experience, of those, 
which, indiscreetly meddling with the 
flame of dissension kindled in the 
Church, rather increase, than quench 
it ; rather fire their own wings, than 



Meditations and Vows. 

lelp others. I would rather bewail 
the fire afar off, than stir in the coals 
of it. 1 would not grudge my ashes 
to it, if those might abate the burning : 
but, since 1 see it is daily increased 
with partaking, 1 will behold it with 
ftorrow; and meddle no otherwise, 
than by prayers to God, and entres' 
ties to men ; seeking my own safety 
and the peace of the Church, in the 
freedom of my thought, and silence of 
my tongae. 

Liir. 

That, which is said of Lucilla's 
faction, That Anger bred it, Pride 
fostered it, and Covetousness con- 
finned it, is true of all schisms ; though 
with Eome inversion. For, the most 
ere bred through Pride; while men, 
Upon a high conceit of tbemselTes, 
scorn to go in the common road, and 
affect singularity in opinion : are con- 
firmed through Anger; while the" 
stomach and grudge any contradi( 
tion ; and are nourished through C' 
vetOUsneHs ; while they seek abili 
to bear out their part. In some Dih« 
again, Covetouanesa obtains the f 
place; Anger, the second ; Pride, 
last. Herein, therefore, 1 have 1 
aJwayB wont to commend and ad 



Century the Second. 81 

the hamility of those gpreat and pro* 
foand wits, whom depth of knowledge 
hath not led to bj-paths in judgment ; 
but, walking in the beaten path of the 
Church, have bent all their forces to 
the establishment of received truths : 
accounting it g^reater gjorj, to confirm 
an ancient verity, than to devise a new 
opinion, though never so profitable, 
unknown to their predecessors. I will 
not reject a truth, for mere novelty ; 
old truths may come newly to light ; 
neither is God tied to times, for the 
gift of his illiimination : but I will 
suspect a novel opinion, of untruth ; 
and not entertain it, unless it may be 
deduced from ancient grounds. 

LIV. 

The ear and the eye are the mind's 
receivers ; but the tongue is only bu- 
sied, in expending the treasure re- 
ceived. If, therefore, the revenues of 
the mind be uttered as fast or faster 
than they are received, it cannot be, 
but that the mind must needs be held 
Imre, and can never lay up for pur- 
chase : but, if the receivers take in 
•till with no utterance, the mind may 
toon g^w a burden to itself, and un- 
profitable to others. I will not lay 
op too much, and utter nothing ; lest 

Hi 



82 Meditations avd Vows. 

I be covetous : nor gpend much, and 
store up little ; lest 1 be prodigal and 

'"*"^" LV. 

It is a Tain-gloriona flattery, for a 
man to praise himself; an envioDB 
wrong, to detract from others ; I will 
speak DO ill of others; no good of 
myself. 

LVI. 

That, which is the misery of travel- 
lers, to find many hosts and few friends, 
is the estate of Christiana in their pil- 
grimage to a better life. Good friends 
may not, therefore, be easily forgone : 
neither must they be used as suits of 
apparel ; which, when wo have worn 
threadbare, we cast off, and call for 
new. Nothing, but death, or villany, 
shall divorce me from an old friend; 
but still I will follow him so far, as is 
either possible or honest : and then, I 
will leave him, with sorrow. 

LVII. 

True friendshipsecessarily requires 
patience : for, there ia no man, in 
whom I shall not mislike somewhat; 
aod who shall not, as justly, mislike 
somewhat in me. My friends' faults, 
therefore, if little, I will swallow and 



CaUmwy tie Seecmd. 83 



digwt; ifgTMlylwiDnMillwrtlMB: 
howefcr, I wiDwiiik at them, looibnB: 
lMI^ ]ofiiq;lj notify then to lumad^ 

LVin. 

Ikjuribs bait not more in the re- 
^▼ii^y then in the remembrence* A 
eyudl injnrj ehell go ee it oomee : a 
great injuiy may dine or cap with me : 
bat none at all shall lodge with me. 
Why ehoold I vex myself , becanae an- 
other hath vexed me ? 

LIX. 

It is good dealing with that, over 
which we have the most power. If 
my estate will not be firamed to my 
mindy I will labour to frame my mind 
to my estate. 

LX. 

It is a great misery, to be either 
always or never alone : society of men 
bath not so much gpun as distraction. 
In gpreatest company, I will be alone 
to myself: in greatest privacy, in 
company with God. 

LXI. 

GniEF for things past that cannot 
be remedied, and care for things to 



84 Meditations and Vojvs. 

come that cannot be prevented, may 
easily hurt, can never benefit me. 1 
will, therefore, commit myself to God 
in both, and enjoy the present. 

Lxn. 

Let my estate be never ao mean, I 
will ever keep myself rather beneath ; 
than either level, or above it. A man 
may rise, when he will, with honour ; 
but cannot fall, without shame. 



Nothing doth so befool a man, as 
extreme passion. This doth both make 
them fools, which otherwise are not ; 
and shew them to be fools, that are 
80. VioIentpassions,if I cannot tame 
them, that they may yield, to my ease; 
I will at least smother them by con- 
cealment, that they may not appear, 

LXIV. 
The mind of man, though infinite 
in desire, yet is finite in capacity. 
Since I cannot hope to know all thinga, 
1 will labour first to know what I needs 
must, for their use ; next, what I best 
may, for their ci 



Century the Second. 85 

LXV

~350 words

return every man his own mea- 
sure ; if not with usury. It is much 
better to be a creditor, than a debtor, 
in any thing ; but especially of this : 



86 Meditations and Vows, 

yet of thie I will so be content to be a 
debtor, that I will always be paying it, 
wbere 1 owe it; and yet tierer will 
have BO paid it, that I ehall not owe it 



LXIX. 
The Spanish proverb is too true ; 
" Dead men and absentfind no friends." 
All mouths are boldly opened, with a 
conceit of impunity. My ear shall be 
no grave, to bury my friend's gtwd 
name. But, as 1 will be my present 
friend's self: so will 1 be my absent 
friend's deputy ; to say for him, what 
be would, and cannot, speak for him- 
self. 

LXX. 
The loss of my friend, as it shall 
moderately grieve me ; so it shall, an- 
other way, much benefit me, in recom- 
peace of hie want : for it shall make 
me think more often and seriously, of 
earth and of heaven : of earth; for his 
body, which is reposed in it: of hea- 
ven ; for his soul, which possesseth it 
before me : of earth ; to put me in 
mind of my like frailty and mortality : 
of heaven; to make me desire, and, 
after a sort, emulat« his happiness and 



Century the Second. 87 

LXXI. 

Variety of objects is wont to cause 
distraction : when, again, a little one^ 
laid close to the eye, if but of a penny 
breadthy wholly tokes up the sight ; 
which could else see the whole half 
heaven at once. I will have the eyes 
of my mind ever forestalled and filled 
with these two objects ; the shortness 
of my life, eternity after death, 

LXXII. 

I SEE that he IS more happy, that 
hath nothing to lose ; than he, that 
loseth that which he- hath. I will, 
therefore, neither hope for riches, nor 
fear poverty. 

LXXIII. 

I CARB not so much in any thing, 
for multitude, as for choice. Books 
and friends I will not have many : I 
would rather seriously converse with a 
few, than wander amongst many. 

LXXIV

~1,148 words

by so much less I be- 

LXXV. 

The godly man lives iiardly ; and, 
Uke the ant, toils here, during the 
summer of his peace ; holding him- 
self short of his pleasures, aa looking 
to provide for a hard winter; which, 
when it comes, he is able to near it 
out coinfortabty : whereas the wicked 



Century the Second. 89 

man doth prodigally lash oat all his 
joys, in the time of his prosperity ; 
aa^y like the grasshopper, singing 
menrily all summer, is starred in win- 
ter. I will so enjoy the present, that 
I will lay up more for hereafter. 

LXXVI. 

I HATE wondered oft, and hlushed 
for shame, to read in mere philoso- 
phers, whjbh had no other mistress 
but nature, such strange resolution, 
in the contempt of both fortunes, as 
they call them ; such notable precepts 
for a constant settledness and tran- 
quillity of mind : and to compare it 
with my own disposition, and practice i 
whom I have found too much drocqiing 
and dejected under small crosses, and 
easily ag^n carried away with littie 
prosperity : To see such courage and 
strength to contemn death, in those, 
which thought they wholly perished in 
death ; and to find such faint-hearted- 
nesB in myself, at the first conceit of 
death, who yet am thoroughly per- 
suaded of the future happiness of my 
soul. I have the benefit of nature, as 
well as they; besides infinite more 
helps, that tiiey wanted. Oh the dul- 
ness and blindness of us unworthy 
Christians, that suffer Heathens, by 



1 




the dim candle-light of Nature, to go 
further than we by the clear sun of 
the Gospel ; that an indifferent man 
could not tell by our practice, whether 
were the P^an ! Let me nerer, for 
ehame, account myself a Christian, 
unless my Art of Cliriaiianily have 
imitated and gone beyond Nature, so 
far, that I can find the best Heathen 
as far below me in true resolution, as 
the vulgar sort were below them. 
Else, I may shame religion ; it can 
neither honest nor help me. 
LXXVII. 
Ip I would be irreligious and un- 
conscionable, I would make no doubt 
to be rich : for, if a man will defraud, 
dissemble, forswear, bribe, oppress, 
serve the time, make use of all men 
for his own turn, make no scruple of 
any wicked action (or his advantage ; 
1 cannot see, how he can escape 
wealth and preferment : but, for an 
upright man to rise, is difficult : while 
his conscience strailly curbs him in 
from every unjust action, and will not 
allow htm to advance himself by indi- 
rect means. So, riches come seldom 
easily, to a good man ; seldom hardly, 
to (he conscienceless. Happy is that 
roan, that can be rich with truth, or 



Century the Second. 91 

poor with contentment. I will not 
envy the gravel, in the unjust man's 
throat. Of riches, let me never have 
more, than an honest man can hear 
away. 

LXXVIII. 

€iOD is the God of order ; not of 
confusion. As, therefore, in natural 
things, he useth to proceed from one 
extreme to another, hy degrees, through 
the mean; so doth he, in spiritual. 
The sun riseth not at once to his 
highest, from the darkness of mid- 
night ; hut first sends forth some feeble 
glimmering of light, in the dawning : 
then, looks out with weak and water- 
ish beams ; and so, by degrees, ascends 
to the midst of heaven. So, in the 
seasons of the year, we are not one 
day scorched with a summer heat; 
and, on the next, frozen with a sudden 
extremity of cold : but winter comes 
on softly; first by cold dews, then 
hoar frost ; until at last it descend to 
the hardest weather of all. Such are 
God's spiritual proceedings. He never 
brings any man from the estate of sin 
to the estate of glory, but through the 
state of g^ce. And, as for grace, 
he seldom brings a man from g^oss 
wickedness to any eminence of per- 



92 Meditations and Vows. 

faction. I will be charitably jealous 
of those neo, vhich, from notorious 
lewdnesB, leap at once into a auddea 
forwardness of profession. Holiness 
doth not, like Jonah's gourd, grow up 
in a night. I like it better, to go on, 
soft and sure ; than, for a hasty Gt, to 
run myself out of wind ; and, after, 
stand still and breathe me. 

LXXIX. 

It hath been said of old, " To do 
well and hear ill, is princely." Which 

as it is most true, by reason of the 
envy which follows upon justice ; bo 
is the contrary no less justiGed, by 
many experiments. To do ill and to 
hear well, is the fashion of many great 
men: to do ill, because they are borne 
out with the assurance of impunity ; 
to hear well, because of abundance of 
parasites, which, as ravens to a car- 
case, g&therabout greatmen. Neither 
is there any so great misery in great- 
ness as this, that it conceals men from 
themselves ; and, when they will needs 
have a sight of their own actions, it 
shews them a false glass to look in. 
Meanness of state, that I can find, 
hath none so great inconvenienco. 1 
am no whit sorry, that I am rather 
Bubject to contempt, than flattery. 



Century the Second. 93 

LXXX. 

Tbebe i3 Qo eartblj blessing so 
precious, as health of body ; without 
which, slU other worldly good thii^ 
are but troublesome. Neither is there 
any thing more difficult, than to have 
a good soul, in a 9trong and Yigorous 
body ; for, it is comiponly seen, that 
the worse part draws away the better : 
but, to have a healthful and sound 
soul in a weak sickly body, is no 
novelty; while the weakness of the 
body is a help to the soul; playing 
the part of a perpetual monitor, to in- 
cite it to good and check it for evil. 
I will not be pverrglad of healthy nor 
over-fearful of sickness. I will more 
fear the spiritual hurt, that may follow 
upon heidth; than the bodily pain, 
that accompanies sickness. 

LXXXI. 

There is nothing more troublesome 
to a good mind, than to do nothing : 
for, besides the furtherance of our es- 
tate, the mind doth both delight and 
better itself with exercise. There is 
but this difference, then, betwixt la- 
bour and idleness; that labour is a 
profitable and pleasant trouble ; idle- 
ness, a trouble both unprofitable and 



94 Meddations and Vows 



cmnfurtJeas. I will be ever doing 
Boiuething; that either God K'hen he 
Cometh, or Satan when he lempteth, 
may find me busied. And yet, since, 
as the old proverb is, " Better it is ta 
be idle than effect nothing ; " I will 
not more hate doing nothing;, thaa 
doing something to no purpose. I 
shiill do good, but a while : let me 
strive to do it, while I may. 

LXXXIl. 

A FAITHFUL man hath

~233 words

which I see, is unspeakable, in- 
estimable, for comfort, for glory. 



98 Medilatioits and f'ows. 

Lxxxiir. 

It is not pomible, for an inferior to 
live at peace, nnlcis he hare learned 
to be coDtemoed : for, the pride of his 
saperiora, and the malice of his eqaala 
and inferiors, shall offer him coDtiDual 
and inevitable occasions of unquiet' 
nesB. Ab contentation is the mother 
of inward peace with oQrselvea; so is 
humility the mother of peace with 
others : for, if thou be vile in thine 
own eyes first, it shall tbelesa trouble 
thee to be accounted rile of others. 
So that a man of a high heart, in a 
low place, cannot want discontent' 
ment; whereasamanof lowlystomach 
can swallow and digest contempt, 
without any distemper : for, wherein 
can he be the worse for being' con- 
temned, who, out of his own know- 
ledge of his deserts, did most of all 
contemn himself? I should be very 
improrident, if, in this calling, 1 did 
not look for daily contempt ; wherein 
we are made a spectacle to the world, 
lo angels, and men. When it comes, 
I will either embrace it, or contemn 
it : embrace it, when it is within my 
measure ; when abore, contemn it ; 
so embrace it, that I may more hum* 
blc myself under it ; and s< 



Century the Second. G9 

it» that I maj not give heart to him 
that offeni it, nor disgpraoe him for 
whoM cause I am contemned. 

LXXXIV

~165 words

that we wrong his mercy with 
despairing. 

LXXXV. 

For a man to be weary of the world 
through miseries that he meets with, 
and for that cause to covet death, is 
neither difficult, nor commendable ; 
but rather argues a base weakness of 
mind. So it may be a cowardly part, 
to contemn the utmost of all terrible 
things, in a fear of lingering misery : 



but, for a man, either living happily 
here an earth, or resolving' to tire 
miserablj', yet to desire his removal 
to heaven, doth well become a true 
Christian courage, and argues a nota- 
ble mixture of patience and failh: of 
pntience, for that he can and dare 
abide to live sorrowfully ; of faith, for 
that he is assured of his better being 
otherwhere, and therefore prefers the 
absent joys he looks for, to those fas 
feels in present. No sorrow shall 
make me wish myself dead, that I 
may not be at all ; no contentment 
shall hinder me from wishing myself 
with Christ, that I may be happier, 

LXXXVI

~274 words

time 
and labour upon others. 



Century the Second. 103 

LXXXVIII. 

It wm an excellent rule that fell 
from Epicure (whose name b odious 
to U89 for the father of looseness;) 
That if a man would be rich, honour- 
able, aged, he should not strive so 
much to add to his wealth, reputation, 
years, as to detract from his desires. 
For^ certainly, in these things, which 
stand most upon conceit, he hath the 
most, that destreth least. A poor 
man, that hath little and desires no 
more, is, in truth, ridier than the 
g^ateet monarch; that thinks he hath 
not what he should, or what he might ; 
or that grieves there is no more to 
have. It is not necessity, but ambi- 
tion, that sets men'e hearts on the 
rack. If I have meat, drink, apparel, 
I will learn therewiUi to be content. 
If I had the worid full of wealth be- 
eide, I could enjoy no more than I 
use: the rest could please me no 
otherwise, but by looking on. And 
why can I not thus solace myself, 
while it is others' ? 

LXXXIX. 

An inconstant and wavering mind, 
as it makes a man unfit for society 
(for that there can he no assurance of 



1 



a rolling atone gathers no 
the mind, whilst it woulc 
tiling, proves nothing. 
cannot ba without Iobh :) y> 
him flora enjoying that, 
bath attained. For, it Iteep 
in work : building, pulling' 
ing, changing, buying, coi 
forbidding. So, while he 
other mnn's friend, he is tl 
own. It is the safest co 
man's profit, credit, and eai 
berate long, to resolve sure! 
to alter ; not to enter lyioa 
end he foresees not answen 
wlien he is once entered, i 
cease till he have attained 
foresaw. So may he, to got 
begin a new work, when hi 
finished the old. 



Century the Second, 105 

to climb, on oar hands and knees; 
bat, when we are coma up, there is 
rictorj

~373 words

but so well as thou 
wtshest me, and 1 am safe. 

XCIII. 
It gi'ieves me to see all other crea- 
tures GO officious to their Maker, in 
their kind : that both winds, and sea, 
and heaven, and earth obey him, with 
nil readioeEs : that each of these hears 
other, and all of them their Creator ; 
though to the destruction of them- 



Century the Second. 107 

selves : and man only is rebellious ; 
imitating herein the evil spirits, who, 
in the receipt of a more excellent kind 
of reason, are yet more perverse. 
Henpe it is, that the prophets are oft- 
times fain to turn their speech to the 
earth, void of all sense and life ; from 
this living earth, informed with rea- 
son : that only, which should make us 
more pliable, 8ti£Feneth us. God could 
force us, if he pleased ; but he would 
rather incline us by gentleness. I 
must stoop to his power, why do I not 
stoop to his will ? It is a vain thing 
to resist his voice, whose hand we 
cannot resist. 

XCIV. 

As all natural bodies are mixed ; so 
must all our moral dispositions. No 
simple passion doth well. If our joy 
be not allayed with sorrow, it is mad- 
ness ; and if our sorrow be not tem- 
pered with some mixture of joy, it is 
hellish' and desperate. If, in these 
earthly things, we hope without all 
doubt, or fear without all hope, we 
o£Fend on both sides; if we labour 
without all recreation, we grow dull 
and heartless; if we sport ourselves 
without all labour, we grow wild and 
unpro6 table. These compositions are 



r 



108 Meditations and Votes. 

wholesome, as for the body, so for the 
mind ; which, though it be not of a 
compounded fluhetance aa tfae body, 
yet hath much variety of qualities aod 
affections, and those contrary to each 
other. 1 care not how simple my 
heavcDly affections are ; which, the 
more free they are from compoaition, 
are the nearer to God : nor how com- 
pouoded my earthly : which are easily 
subject to extremities. If joy come 
alone, I will ask him for his fellow ; 
and evermore, id spite of him, cOBple 
him with his contrary: that so, while 
each are enemies to other, both may 
be friends to me. 

xcv. 

Joy and sorrow are bard to con- 
ceal

~1,343 words

opportunity, I will make 
it. 

XCVI. 

When I see my Saviour hanging in 
so forlorn a fashion upon the Cross : 
his head drooping down ; his temples 
bleeding with thorns, his hands and 
feet wiUi the nails, and his side with 
the spear; his enemies round about 
him, mocking at his shame, and in* 
suiting over his impotence: how should 
I think any otherwise of him, than, as 
himself complaineth, forsaken of his 
FathM*? But, when «gain I turn mine 
eyes, and see the sun darkened, the 
earth quaking, the rocks rent, the 
graves opened, the thief confessing, to 
give witness to his Deity ; and when 
I see so strong a guard of Providence 
over him, that all his malicious ene- 
mies are not able so much as to break 
one bone of that body, which seemed 



\ 



HO Meditations and Vowi. 

carelessly neglected : I cannot but 
wander at bia g'lory and sBfuty. God 
is eyei' near, though oft unseen ; and, 
if he wink at our distress, he sleepetli 
not. The sense of others must not 
he judges of his presence and care; 
but our faith. What care I, if the 
woild give me up for miserable, while 
I am under his secret protection ? O 
Lord, since thou art strong in our 
weakness, and present in our sense- 
iessucss ; give me but as much com- 
fort in my sorrow, as thou givest me 
security, and at my worst 1 shall be 
Well, 

XCVII. 
In sins, and afflictions, our course 
must be contrary : we must begin to 
detest the g^reatest sin first, anddescend 
to the hatred of the least ; we must 
first begin to suffer small afflictions 
with patience, that we may ascend to 
the endurance of the greatest ; then 
alone shall 1 be happy, when, by this 
holy method, I have drawn my soul to 
make conscience of the least evil of 
sin, and not to shrink at the greatest 
evil of affliction. 



Century the Second, 111 

XCVIII, 

Prescription is no plea •against 
the king : much less can long custom 
plead for error, against that our Su- 
preme Lord, to whom a thousand years 
are but as yesterday. Yea, Time, 
which pleads voluntarily for continu- 
ance of things lawful) will take no 
fee, not to speak against an evil use. 
Hath an ill custom lasted long? It 
is more than time it were abrogated ; 
age is an aggravation to sin. Heresy 
or abuse, if it be grey-beaded, de-r 
serves sharper opposition. To say " I 
will do ill because I have done so," is 
perilous and impious presumption. 
Continuance can no more make any 
wicj^edness safe, than the author of 
sin, no devil. If I have once sinned, 
it is too much : if oft, woe be to me ; 
if the iteration of my oSence cause 
boldness, and not rather more sorrow, 
more detestation : woe be to me and 
my sin, if I be not the better because 
I have sinned. 

XCIX. 

It is strange to see the varieties and 
proportion of spiritual and bodily diets. 
There be some creatures, that are 
fatted and delighted with poisons: 



wiciuseives ; ot 

cretions of nobler cr 
search into the earth 1 
or dive into the waters; 
themselves with what tl 
yields them, witliout ' 
these, and more, are an 
palate of the soul : there 
the most, to whom sin, ' 
most venomous nature, 
and dainties ; others, tha 
only life, to feed on the | 
applause ; others, that ai 
out of the fire of contentio 
wilfully trouble all water 
private humours and opini< 
whose cruelty delights ii 
and blood, yea whose envy 
their own hearts; othen 
pleasure to revive the wic 



lerpKioo '•■^ '' 



Century the Second. 113 

to handy without any careful disqui- 
sition of truth : so, some feed foul ; 
others, hut few, clean and wholesome. 
As there is no beast upon earth, which 
hath not his like in the sea, and which 
perhaps is not in some sort paralleled 
in the plants of the earth ; so there is 
no hestial disposition, which is not 
answerahly found in some men : man- 
kind, therefore, hath within itself his 
Goats, Chameleons, Salamanders, Ca- 
mels, Wolves, Dogs, Swine, Moles, 
and whatever sorts of heasts : there 
are hut a few men, amongst men. 
To a wise man, the shape is not so 
much as the qualities. If I be not a 
man within ; in my choices, affections, 
inclinations; it had been better for 
me to have been a beast without : a 
beast is but like itself ; but an evil man 
is half a beast, and half a devil. 

C. 

Forced favours are thankless ; and, 
commonly, with noble minds find no 
accejptation. For a man to give his 
soul to God, when he sees he can no 
longer hold it ; or to bestow his goods, 
when he is forced to part with them ; 
or to forsake his sin, when he cannot 
follow it; are but unkind and cold 
obediences. God sees our necessity, 



\ 




114 Meditatiotis and Vows. 

and scorns our compelled offers, What 
man of say generous spirit will abide 
himself made the last refug'e of a 
craved, denied, and constrained cour- 
tesy ? While God givea me leave to 
keep my soul, jet then to bequeath it 
to him ; and, while strength and op- 
portunity serve me to sin, then to for^ 
sake it; is both accepted and crowned: 
God loves neither grudged nor neces- 
Bary gifts : I will offer faetimea, that 
he may vouchsafe to take ; I will give 
him the best, that he may take all. 

O God, give me this grace, that I 
may give thee myself, freely and sea- 
sonably : aod then I know thou canst 
not but accept me, because this gift ia 
thine own. 



THK 
THIRD CENTURY OF 

MEDITATIONS AND VOWS ; 

DIVINE AND MORAL. 

TO TH£ RIGHT WOESHIPFCL 

SIB EDMUND BACON, KNIGHT ; 

INCREASE OF HOKOUE, STRENGTH OF 
BODY, PERFECTION OF VIRTUE. 

Sir: 

THERE is no wise man would 
give his thoughts for all the 
world : which^ €is they are the most 
pleasing and noble btidness of man, 
being the natural and immeeUate issue 
of that reason whereby he is severed 
from brute creatures ; so they are, in 
their use^ most beneficial to ourselves 
and others. For, by the means here^ 
of we enjoy both Ood and ourselves; 
and hereby we make others partners 
of those rich excellencies^ which Ood 
hath hid in the mind. And, though 
it be most easy and safe for a man, 
mth the Psalmist, to commune with 
his own heart in silence ; yet is it 



i 



116 Dedication. 

more behoveful to 
for which, both as Men and Chris- 
tiana, we are ordained, that those 
thoughts, which out expeHence halh 
found comfortable and fruitful lo 
ourselves, should, with -neglect of all 
censures, be communicated to others. 
The concealment whereof, methinks, 
can proceed from no other ground, 
but either timorouineis or envy. 
Which consideration hath ittducedme 
to clothe these naked thoughts, in 
plain and simple words : and to ad- 
venture them into the light, after 
their fellows : consecrating them the 
rather to your name, for that, be- 
sides all other respects of duty, they 
are part of those Meditations, which, 
in my late peregrination with you, 
look me up under the solitary hills of 
Ardenna, wanting as then the oppor- 
tunity of their employment. I offer 
them to you, not for that yourself 
are not stored with choice of belter ; 
but as poor men use lo bring presents 
to the rich. If they mag carry ac- 
ceptation from you and bring profit 
unto any soul, it shall abundantly 
satisfy me : who should think it ho- 
nour enough, if I might be vouchsafed 
to bring but one pin towards the deck- 
ing of the Spouse of Christ ; while 



Dedication, 117 

others, out of their abundance, adorn 
her with costly robes and rich medals. 
I commend their success, to Ood; 
their patronage, to you ; their use, to 
the world. That God multiply his 
rare favours upon you, and your 
worthy Lady ; and go you on to fa- 
vour. 

Your Worship's humble devoted^ 

JOSEPH HALL. 




MEDITATIONS AND 
VOWS. 

L 

[OOD men are placed by 
God, as 80 many stars in 
the lower firmament of the 
world. As they most imi- 
tate tboee heavenly bodies, in their 
light and influence; so also in their 
motion ^ and, therefore, as the planets 
have a coarse proper to themselves, 
against the sway of the heaven that 
carries them about ; so must each-good 
man have a motion, out of his own 
judgment, contrary to the customs and 
opinions of the vulg^; finishing his 
own course with the least shew of resist • 
ance. I will never affect singularity, ex- 
cept it be among those that are vicious. 
It is better to do or think well alone, 
than to follow a multitude in evil. 

II

~737 words

challenge the greatest, as if 1 deserved 



124 Meditations and Vo 



It is no small commendBtion, to 
mannge a little well. He is a good 
wan;gooer, that can turn in a narrow 
room. To live well in abundance, is 
tlie praise of the estate, not of the 
person. I will study more, how to 
give a good account of my little, than 
how to make it more. 

VII, 

Many Chrisliana do greatly wrong 
themselves, with a dull and heavy 
kind of sullenness ; who, not sufferiog 
themselves to delight in any worldly 
thing, are thereupon ofttimes so heart- 
less, that they delight in nothiog. 
These men, hke to careless guests, 
when they are invited to an excellent 
banquet, lose their dainties, for want 
of a stomach; and lose their stomach, 
for want of exercise. A good consci- 
ence keeps always good cheer: he 
cannot chuse but fare well, that bath 
it ; unless he lose his appetite, with 
neglect and slothfulness. It is a 
shame for us Christians not to Gnd as 
much joy in God, as worldlings do iu 



Century the Third, 125 

^■^ ^ ■"■■ ■ ■■ ■ - ■ ■■■■ ^^^^^^^^^»^— — ^i^^— ■— ^— 

their forced merriments, and lewd 
wretches in the practice of their sins. 

VIII. 

A WISE Christian hath no enemies. 
Many hate fitnd wrong him ; but he 
loves all, and all pleasure him. Those, 
that profess love to him, pleasure him 
with the comfort of their society, and 
the mutual reflection of friendship : 
those, that profess hatred, make him 
more wary of his ways ; shew him 
faults in himself, which his friends 
would either not have espied or not 
censured ; send him the more willingly 
to seek favour above : and, as the 
worst do bestead him, though against 
their wills ; so he again doth volun- 
tarily good to them. To do evil for 
evil, as Joab to Abner, is a sinful 
weakness: to do good for good, as 
Ahasuerus to Mordecai, is but natural 
justice : to do evil for good, as Judas 
to Christ, is u'nthankfulness and vil- 
lany : only to do good for evil, agrees 
with Christian profession. And what 
greater work of friendship, than to do 
good ? If men will not be my friends 
in love, I will perforce make them my 
friends in a good use of their hatred. 
I will be their friend, that are mine, 
and would not be. 



J 



we see they must 

either we wish the] 

good, or that we i 

them. Yea, it is m 

them, than it was be 

them. If, contrar 

things, their very p 

some ; and still w 

were good, or that 

dened of them. Sg 

troublesome, in evei 

their use : they, in 

in the present: th 

shall come to an en 

they do continue. 

or thy child lies dyin 

up a loving and duti; 

and loving parture ; 

thou rather for thy 
1 1 -^ 



Century the Third, 127 

to live an age in love. Or, if thy life 
be yet dearer : thou hast lived to grey 
hairs; not hastened with care, but 
bred with late succession of years : 
thy table was ever covered with variety 
of dishes : thy back softly and richly 
clad : thou never ga vest denial to either 
skin or stomach : thou ever favouredst 
thyself; and health, thee. Now death 
is at thy threshold, and nnpartially 
knocks at thy door ; dost thou not wish 
thou hadst lived with crusts, and been 
clothed with rags ?. Wouldst not thou 
have given a better welcome to death, 
if he had found thee lying upon a 
pallet of straw, and supping of water- 
gruel ; after many painful nights, and 
many sides changed in vain ? Yet 
this beggarly estate thou detestest in 
health, and pitiest in others, as truly 
miserable. The sum is ; A beggar 
wisheth he might be a monarch, while 
he lives ; and the great potentate wish- 
eth he had lived a be^ar, when he 
comes to die : and, if be^ary be to 
have nothing, he shall be so in death, 
though he wished it not. Nothing 
therefore but eternity can make a man 
truly happy; as nothing can make 
perfect misery but eternity : for, as 
temporal good things afflict us in their 
ending, so temporal sorrows afford us 



I 



128 Meditations and V&ws. 

joy in the hope of their end. What 
folly U this in ub, to seek for our 
trouble, to neglect our happiness ! I 
can be but well ; nnd this, That 1 was 
well, shall one day be grievous. No- 
thiug shall please me, but that once 1 
shall be hsppj for ever. 



The eldest of our forefather* lived 
not so much ns

~273 words

to live but 
then, and should live no more afterui 
wards. 

XII. 

It was not in rain, that the ancient 
founders of languages used the same 
word in many tongues, to signify both 
Honour and Charge ; meaning therein, 
to teach us the inseparable connection 
of these two. For there scarce ever 
was any charge, without some opinion 
of honour; neither ever was there 
honour, without a charge : which two, 
as they are not without reason joined 
together in name, by human insti- 
tution ; so they are most wisely coupled 
together by God, in the disposition of 
these worldly estates. Charge, with- 
out honour to make it amends,, would 
be too toilsome ; and must needs dis- 
courage and over-lay a man : Honour, 
without charge, would be too pleasant; 
and, therefore, both would be toe much 
sought after, and must needs carry 
away the mind in the enjoying it. 
Now, many dare not be ambitious, be- 
cause of the burden; chusing rather 
to live obscurely and securely : and 
yet, on the other side, those, that are 
under it, are refreshed in the Charge 



t 



130 Meditations and Vows. 

with the Bweetnessof Hononr. Seeing 
they cannot be separated, it la not the 
-vorst estate to want both. They, whom 
tbou enriest for honour, perhaps enry 
fhee more for tiiy quietness. 

xni. 

He, that takelh liis own cares upon 
himself, loads himself in vain with an 
uneasy burden. The fear of what naay 
came, expectation of what will come, 
(li>sire of what will not come, and in- 
ability of redressing' all tbeM, moBt 
needs breed him continual torment. I 
will cast my cares upon God : he hath 
bidden me : they cannot hurt him ; he 
can redress them. 

XIV. 

Our infancyts

~1,702 words

that ever I was young, 
to be a fool/' 

XV. 

There is not the least action or 
event, whatever the vain Epicures have 
imagined, which is not overruled and 
disposed by a Providence : which is so 
far from detracting ought from the 
Majesty of God, for that the things 
are small; as that there can be no 
greater honour to him, than to extend 
his providence and decree to them, 
because they are infinite. Neither 
doth this hold in natural things only, 
which are chained one to another by a 
regular order of succession ; but even 
in those things, which fall out by ca- 
sualty and imprudence : whence that 
worthy Father, when as his speech 
digressed his intention to a confutation 



132 Medilaiions and Vows. 

of the errors of the Manichees, could 
presently ^ess, that, in that unpur- 
posed taming of it, God intended the 
converaion of Eome unknown auditor ; 
as the event proved his coojecture 
true, ere many days. When ought 
falls out contrary to that 1 proposed, 
it Bl^all content me, that God proposed 
it as it is fallen out : bo the thing hath 
attained his own end, while it misBed 
mioe. I know what 1 would, hut 
God knoweth what I should will. It 
is enough, that his will is done, though 
mine be crossed. 

XVI. 

It is the most thankless office in 
the world, to be a man's pander unto 
sin. In other wrongs, one man is a 
wolf to another; but in this, a devil. 
And, though, at the first, this damna- 
ble sernce carry away reward ; yet, in 
conclusioD, it is requited with hatred 
and curses. For, aa the sick man, 
extremely distasted with a loathsome 
potion, hateth the very cruse wherein 
it was brought him; so doth the con- 
science, once soundly detesting sin, 
loath the means that induced him to 
commit it. Contrarily, who withstands 
a man in his prosecution of a sin, while 
Ae doteth upon it, bears away frowns 



Century the Third. 133 

and heart-burnings for a time ; but, 
when the offending party comes to 
himself and right reason, he recom- 
penseth his former dislike, with so 
much more love, and so many more 
thanks. The frantic man, returned 
to his wits, thinks him his best friend, 
that bound him, and beat him most. 
I will do my best to cross any man in 
his sins : if I have not thanks of him, 
yet of my conscience I shall. 

XVII. 

God must be magnified in his very 
judgments. He looks for praise ; not 
only for heaven, but for hell also. 
His justice is himself, as well as his 
mercy. As heaven, then, is for the 
prabe of his mercy ; so hell for the 
glory of his justice. We must, there- 
fore, be so affected to judgments, as 
the Author of them is ; who delighteth 
not in blood, as it makes his creature 
miserable, but as it makes his justice 
glorious. Every true Christian, then, 
must learn to sing that compound ditty 
of the Psalmist; Of mercy y and judg^ 
merit. It shall not only joy me, to 
see God gracious and bountiful, in his 
mercies and deliverances of his own ; 
but also to see him terrible, in ven- 
geance to his enemies. It is no cruelty 



134 Meditations and Vows. 

to rejoice injustice. The foolish mercy 
of men ie cruelty to God. 

XVIII. 

Rareness causeth wonder, and more 
than that, incredulity, in those things, 
wiiich, in themselves, are not more 
admirable, than the oi'dinary proceed- 
ings of nature. If a blazing' star he 
seen in the sky, every man goes foi'th 
to gaze ; and spende, every evening, 

of it. That any fowl should he bred 
of corrupted wood reBol ved into worms ; 
or that the chameleon should ever 
change his colours, and live by air; 
that the ostrich should digest iron; 
that the phcenix should burn herself 
to ashes, and from thence breed a 
successor : we wonder, and can scarce 
credit. Other things more usual, no 
less miraculous, we know and neg- 
lect. That there should be a bird, 
that knoweth and noteth the hours of 
day and night, as certainly as any 
astronomer by the course of heaven ; 
if we knew not, who would believe ? 
Or that the loadstone should, by his 

as that a whole chain of needles should 
all liang by insensible paints at each 



Centuiy the Third. 136 

tber, only by the influence that it 
ends down from the first ; if it were 
lOt ordinary, would seem incredible. 
Vho would believe, when he sees a 
owl mounted as high as his sight can 
lescry it, that there were an engine 
3 be framed, which could fetch it 
lown into his fist ? Yea, to omit in<- 
inite examples, that a little despised 
feature should weave nets out of her 
)Wn entrails, and in her platforms of 
luilding should observe as just pro* 
K>rtions as the best geometrician, we 
ihould suspect for an untruth, if we 
law it not daily practised in our own 
vindows. If the sun should arise but 
mce to the earth, I doubt, every man 
vould be a Persian, and fall down and 
worship it: whereas now, it riseth 
md declineth without any regard. 
Bztraordinary events each man can 
wonder at. The frequence of God's 
jest works causeth neglect : not that 
bhey are ever the worse for common- 
aess ; but because we are soon cloyed 
with the same conceit, and have con- 
tempt bred in us through familiarity. 
[ will learn to note God's power and 
wisdom, and to give him praise of 
both, in his ordinary works : so those 
things, which are but trivial to the 



136 Meditations and Vows. 

most ignorant, aliall be wonders to 
me ; and that, not for nine days, but 



XIX. 

Those, that affect to tell novelties 
and wonders, fall into many absurdi- 
ties; both in busy enquiry after mat- 
ters impertinent, and in a light creda- 
lity to whatever they hear; and in 
fictions of their own, and additions of 
circumstances, to make their reports 
the more admired. I have noted these 
men, not so much wondered at for 
their strange stories, while they are 
telling; as derided afterwards, when 
the event hath wrought their disproof 
and shame. 1 will deal with rumours, 
as grave men do with strange fashions ; 
talte them up, when they are grown 
into common use before : I may be- 
lieve, but I will not relate them but 
under the name of my author; who 
shall either warrant me with defence, 
if it be true ; or, if false, bear my 

XX. 

It was a wittv and true speech of 
that obscure Her'aclitus, That all men, 
awaking, are in one common world; 
but, when we sleep, each man goes 



Century the Third. 137 

into a several world by himself; which 
though it be but a world of fancies, 
yet is the true image of that little 
world which is in every man's heart : 
for the imaginations of our sleep shew 
us what our disposition is awaking: 
and, as many in their dreams reveal 
those their secrets to others, which 
they would never have done awake; 
so all may and do disclose to them- 
selves in their sleep those secret incli- 
nations, which, after much searching, 
they could not have found out waking. 
I doubt not, therefore, but as God 
heretofore hath taught future things 
in dreams, which kind of revelation is 
now ceased ; so still he teacheth the 
present estate of the heart, this way. 
Some dreams are from ourselves, vain 
and idle, like ourselves : others are 
divine, which teach us good, or move 
us to good : and others devilish, which 
solicit us to evil. Such answer, com- 
monly, shall 1 give to any temptation 
in the day, as I do by night. I will 
not lightly pass over my very dreams. 
They shall teach me somewhat: so 
neither night nor day shall be spent 
unprofitably : the night shall ieach 
me what I am ; the day, what I should 
be. 



# 



138 Meditations and Vows. 

XX[. 

Men make difiereace bettvixt ser- 
vants, friends, and sons, Servaala, 
though near ua in place ; yet, for their 
inferiority, are not familiar. Friends, 
thoug-h, by reason of their equality 
and our lore, they are familiar ; yet 
still we conceive of them as others 
from ouTBelves. But children we think 
of, affectionately, as the divided pieces 
of OUT own bodies. But alt these are 
one to God : his Eervants are hia 
friends; his friends are his sons; his 
sons, his servants. Many claim kin- 
dred of God, and profess friendship 
to him, because these are privileges 
without difficulty, and not without 
honour : all the ti'ial is in service : 
the other are most in affection, and 
therefore seci'et, and so may be dis- 
sembled ; this, consisting in action, 
must needs shew itself to the eyes of 
e my friends, if ye do 



whatsoever I c 


ommand you , 


: friend- 


ship n 


■ith God 


is ia service, 


and this 


servio 


e is in act 


ion. Manywc 


:av God's 


cloth. 


that kn 


ow not their 


Master ; 


thatn 


ever did 


g'ood cheer ii 


1 his ser- 


vice; 


so that God hath many i 


retainers. 


thatw 


ear his lit 


•ery, foracouE 


Ltenance ; 


never 


wait on 


him ; whom 


he will 



Century the Third. 139 

never own for servants, either by fa- 
vour, or wages. Few servants ; and, 
therefore, few sons. It is great favour 
I in Qtoiy and great honour to me, that 
he will vouchsafe to make me the 
I lowest drudge in his family; which 
' place if I had not, and were a monarch 
of men, I were accursed. I desire no 
more but to serve; yet, Lord, thou 
givest me more, to be thy son. I hear 
David say, Seemeth it a small matter 
to yoUf to be the son-in-law to a 
King? What is it then, oh, what is 
it, to be the true adopted son of the 
King of Glory ! Let me not now say 
as David of Saul, but as SauVs grand- 
child to David; oh, what is thy ser^ 
vantj that thou shouldest look upon 
such a dead dog as I am ? 

XXIL

~1,073 words

before thou lettest me 
come iii to behold it. 

XXlli. 

RlCl|[;s, or beauty, or whatever 

worldly good thRt hath been, Joth hut 

grieve us: that, which is, doth not 

satiefy us : that, which shall be, is 



Century the Third. 141 

uncertain. What folly is it, to trust 
to any of them ! 

XXIV. 

Security makes worldlings merry : 
and, therefore are they secure, because 
they are ignorant. That is only solid 
joy, which ariseth from a resolution ; 
when the heart hath cast up a full 
account of all causes of disquietness, 
and findeth the causes of his joy more 
forcible ; thereupon settling itself in a 
stayed course of rejoicing: for, the 
other, so soon as sorrow makes itself 
to be seen, especially in an unexpected 
form, is swallowed up in despair; 
whereas this can meet with no occur- 
rence, which it hath not prevented in 
thought. Security and ignorance may 
scatter some refuse morsels of jckjt, 
sauced with much bitterness ; or, may 
be like some boasting housekeeper, 
which keepeth open doors for one day 
with much cheer, and lives starvedly 
all the year after. There is no good 
Ordinary, but in a good conscience. 
I pity that unsound joy in others; 
and will seek for this sound joy in 
myself. I would rather weep upon a 
just cause, than rejoice unjustly. 



142 Meilitatioiis and Vows. 



XXV. 

As love keeps the whole Law, 
love only is the breaker of it; be 
the ground, as of all obedience, » 
all Bin : for, whereaa sin hath b 
commonlyaccounted tohave tworo' 
Love and Fear, it is plain, that I 
hath his original from lore ; for 
man fears to lose ought, but what 
loves. Here ie Bin, aud righteouam 
brought both into a short sum ; 
pending both, upon one poor alTecti 
It shall be my only care, therefore 
bestow my love well, both for ob 
and measure. AH that is good, 1 r 
love ; but in several degrees : wha 
simply good, absolutely : what is g 
by circumstance, only with limitati 
There be these three things, tha 
may love without exception, God, 
neighbour, my soul; yet so as e 
have their due place : mybody, go< 
fame, &c. as servants to the forn 
A II other things, I will either not c 
for, or hale, 

XXVI. 

One would not think, that pi 
and base-mindedness should so t 
agree ; yea, that they love so togoti 



Century the Third, 143 

envy ever proceeds from a base mind, 
is granted of all. Now the proud 
man, as he fain woald be envied of 
others, so he envieth all men. His 
betters he envies, because he is not so 
good as they : he envies his inferiors, 
because he fears they should prove as 
good as he ; his equals, because they 
are as good as he. So, under big . 
looks, he bears a base mind ; resem- 
bling some Cardinal's mule, which, 
to make up the train, bears a costly 
port-mantle stuffed with trash. On 
the contrary, who i& more proud than 
the basest, (the Cynick tramples on 
Plato's pride ; but with a worse) es- 
pecially if he be but a little exalted ? 
wherein we see base men so much 
more haughty, as they have had less 
before, what they might be proud of. 
It is just with God, as the proud man 
is base in himself, so to make him 
basely esteemed in the eyes of others ; 
and, at last, to make him base without 
pride. I will contemn a proud man, 
because he is base; and pity him, 
because he is proud. 

XXVII, 

Let mebut have time to my thoughts ; 
but leisure to think of heaven, and 
grace to my leisure ; and I can be 



\ 



144 Meditations and Voi, 

bappy in spite of the world. Nothing, 
but God that gives it, can ttereave me 
of grace ; and he will not : for hii 
gifts are without repentance. No- 
thing, hut death,, can abridge me bf 
time ; and, wlien I begin to want 
time to think of heaven, I shall have 
eternal leisure to enjoy it. 1 fiball be 
both ways happy ; not from any virtue 
of apprehension in me, (which have 
DO peer in worthiness,) but from Ibe 
glory of that 1 apprehend ; v ' 
the act and object are from the author 
of liappiiiess. lie gives me this glory : 
let me give him the glory of his gift. 
Hia gloiy is my happiness : let ny 
glory be his. 

XXVIII. 
God bestows favooni upon some, in 
anger; as he strikes other some, in 
love : (the Israelites had better bave 
wanted their quails, than to have 
eaten them with such sauce :) and, 
sometimes, at our instance removing 
a lesser punishment, leaves a greater, 
though insensible, in the room of it. 
1 will not so much strive against 
affliction, as displeasure. Let me ra- 
ther be afflicted in love, than prosper 
without it. 



Century the Third. 145 

XXIX. 

It is strange, that we men, having 
JO continual use of God, and being so 
perpetually beholding to him, should 
be so strange to him, and so little ac- 
qui|inted with him: since we account 
it perverse nature in any man, that, 
being provoked with many kind offices, 
refuses the familiarity of a worthy 
friend, which doth still seek it, and 
hath deserved it. Whence it comes, 
that we are so loth to think of our 
dissolution, and going to God : for, 
naturally, where we are not acquainted, 
we list not to hazard our welcome; 
chusing rather to spend our money at 
a simple inn, than to turn in for a free 
lodging to an unknown host, whom 
we have only heard of, never had 
friendship with ; whereas, to an entire 
friend, whose nature and welcome we 
know, and whom we have elsewhere 
familiarly conversed withal, we go as 
boldly and willingly as to our home, 
knowing that no hour can be unsea- 
sonable to such a one. While, on 
the other side, we scrape acquaintance 
with the world, that never did us good, 
even after many repulses. I will not 
live with God, and in God, without 
his acquaintance ; knowing it my hap- 



146 Meditations and Vows. 

piness to have such a frieod. I will 
Dot let one day pass, without some act 
of renewing my familiarity with him ; 
not giving over, till I have given bjoi 
some testimony of my love to him, and 
joy in him ; Bnd till he hath left be- 
hind him some pledge of his continued 
favour to nie. 

XXX. 

Mt^N

~459 words

to live till to-morrow. 

XXXI. 

As a true friend is the sweetest con- 
tentment in the world; so, in his 
qualities he well resembleth honey, the 
sweetest of all liquors. Nothing is 
more sweet to the taste ; nothing more 
sharp and cleansing, when it meets 
with an exulcerate sore. For myself, 
I know I must have faults ; and, there- 
fore, I care not for that friend, that I 
shall never smart by. For my friends, 
I know they cannot be faultless ; and, 
therefore, as they shall find me sweet 
in their praises and encouragements, 
so sharp also in their censure. Either 
let them abide me no friend to their 
faults, or' no friend to themselves. 



148 Meditations nnd Vows. 

XXXII. 
!n all other thiogs, we are led by 
profil ; but, to the main matter of all, 
we ahetv oarflelres utterly anthriftj : 
and, while we are wise in making 
good markets ia these base commodi- 
ties, we shew ourselves fooliah io the 
great match of our souls. God nnd 
the world come both to one ehop, and 
make proffers for our souls : the world, 
like B frank chapman, says. All these 
will I give thee ; shewing us his bags 
and promotions, and thnisting them 
into our hands : God offers a crown 
of glory, which yet he tells us we must 
give him day to perform ; and have 
nothing in present, but our hope and 
some small earnest of the bargain : 
though we know there is no compari- 
son betwixt these two in value, find- 
ing these earthly things vain and un- 
able to give any contentment, and 
those others of invaluable worth and 
beneflt; yet we would rather take 
these in hand, than trust God on his 
word for the future, while yet, in the 
same kind, we chuse rather to take 
some rich lordship in reversion, after 
the long expectation of three lives ex- 
pired, than a present sum much under 



Century the Third. 149 

foot. As, contrarilyy when God and 
the world are sellers, and we come to 
the mart, the world offers fine painted 
wares, but will not part with them 
under the price of our torment : God 
proclaims, ComCy ye that want; buy 
for nought: now, we thrifty men, 
that try all shops for the cheapest 
pennyworth, refuse God, proffering 
his precious commodities for nothing ; 
and pay a hard price for that, which 
is worse than nothing, painful. Surely, 
we are wise for any thing, but our 
souls: not so wise for the body, as 
foolish for them. O Lord, thy pay- 
ment is sure; and who knows how 
present ? Take the soul, that thou hast 
both made and bought; and let me 
rather give my life for thy favour, than 
take the offers of the world for no- 
thing* 

XXXIIL

~158 words

the ground of my love ; eo, 
as 1 grow in divine knawledg'e, I ehall 
still proflt in a heavenly zeal. 

XXXIV. 
Those, that travel in long pilgrim- 
ages to the Holy Land, what a Dumber 
of weary paces they mensure ! what 
a number of hard lodgings and known 
dangers Cliey pass I and, at last, when 
tbey are come within view of tlieir 
Journey's end, what a targe tribute 
pay they at the Pisan Castle to the 
Turks! And when they are come 
thither, what see they, but the bare 
Sepulchre wherein their Saviour lay ; 
and the earth, that he trod upon; to 
the increase of a carnal devotion ? 
What labour should I willingly un- 
dertake, in my journey to the true 
Land of Promise, the Celestial Jeru- 
salem, where I shall see and enjoy my 
Saviour himself ! What tribute of pain 
or death, should I refuse to pay for my 



Century the Third. 161 

entrance, not into his Sepulchre, but 
his Palace of Glory ; and that, not to 
look npon, but to possess it ! 

XXXV

~244 words

not bereave 
me of mine. 

XXXVII. 
The proud man hath no God : the 
euviouB man hath no ueig-hbour : the 
angry man hath not himself. What 
can that man have, that wants him- 
aelf? Wbatisaroanbetter, if behaye 
himself, and want all others ? What 
is he the nearer, if he have himself, 
and others, and yet want God ? What 
good is it then to be a roan, if be be 
either wrathful, proud, or envious ? 

XXXVIII. 
Man, that was once the sovereign 
lord of all creatures, whom they ser- 
viceably attended at all times, is now 
sent to the very basest of all creatures, 
to learn good qualities ; Go to the 
pismire, Sfc. and sees the most con- 
temptible creatures preferred before 
him; The ass knoweth his otuner. 
Wherein we, like the miserable heir 
of some great peer, whose house is 
decayed through the treason of our 



Century the Third. 163 

progenitors, bear and see what honours 
and lordships we should have had ; but 
now find ourselves below many of the 
vulgar. We have not so much cause 
of exaltation, that we are men, and 
not beasts ; as we have of humiliation, 
in thinking how much we were once 
better than we are, and that now in 
many duties we are men inferior to 
t>easts: so as those, whom we con- 
temn, if they had our reason, might 
more justly contemn us ; and, as tbey 
are, may teach us by their examples, 
and do condemn us by their practice. 

XXXIX

~2,452 words

I keep myself 
from hurt.' 



H 1 



I 



154 Meditations and Vows. 

XL. J 

There cbd be no nearer coDJanC' 

tioa ill nature, than is betwixt the 
body and the eoul : yet these tno are 
of so contrary disposition, that, as it 
falls out in an ill-matched man and 
nife, those servants, which the one 
likes best, are most dispraised of the 
other; so here, one still takes part 
against the other ia their choice. What 
benefita the one, is the hurt of the 
other : the glutting of the body pines 
ihe aout ; and the soul thiives beat, 
when the body is pinched. Who can 
wonder, that there is such faction 
amongst others, that sees so much 
in his very self? True tvisdom, is, to 
take, not with the stronger, as the 
fashion of the world is, but with the 
better: following herein, not usurped 
power, but justice. It is not hard to 
discern, whose the right is, whether 
the servant should rule, or the mistress. 
I will labour to make and keep the 
peace, by giving each part his own 
indifferently ; but, if more be affected 
with an ambitious contention, I will 
rather beat Hagar out of doors, than 
she shall over-rule her mistress. 



Century the Third. 156 

xu. 

I SEE iron, first, heated red-hot in 
the fire ; and, after, beaten and hard- 
ened with cold water. Thus will I 
deal with an offending friend : first, 
heat him with deserved praise of his 
virtue ; and, then, beat upon him with 
apprehension : so, good nurses, when 
their children are fallen, first take them 
up and speak them fair, chide them 
afterwards. Gentle speech is a good 
preparative for rigour* He shall see, 
that I love him, by my approbation ; 
and that I love not his faults, by my 
reproof. If he love himself, he will, 
Vbve those that mislike his vices ; and 
if he love not himself, it matters not 
whether he love me. 

XLII. 

The liker we are to God, which is 
the best and only good, the better and 
happier we must needs be. All sins 
make us unlike him, as being contrary 
to his perfect holiness ; but some shew 
more direct contrariety. Such is envy ; 
for, whereas God bringeth good out of 
evil, the envious man fetcheth evil out 
of good : wherein also his sin proves 
a kind of punishment : for, whereas 
to good men even evil things work to- 



IS6 Meditations and Voks. 

gether to their gogd ; contrarily, to 
the envious good thinps work together 
to their evil. The evil, in any man, 
though never eo prosperous, I will not 
eory ; but pity : the good graces, I 
will not repine at ; hut holily emulate; 
rejoieing that they are so good, but 
irrieving that I am no better. 

XLIII. 
The coTetouB mania like a spider: 
3S in this, that ho dolh nothing but lay 
hlB nets to catch every fly, gsping 
only for a booty of gain; so, yet more, 
in that, while he makes nets for these 
flies, he consumeth his own bowels: 
so, that, which is his life, is hie death. 
If there be any creature miserable, it 
is he ; and yet he is least to be pitied, 
because he makes himself miserable. 
Such as he is, 1 will accounthim ; and 
will, therefore, sweep down his webs, 
and hate his poison. 

XLIV. 
In heaven, there is all life, and no 
dying: in hell, is all death, and no 
life: in earth, there is both living 
and dying; which, as it is betwixt 
iiotb, HO it prepares for both. So that 
he, which here be\oYi ditatoftm.doth 
■ifter live in heaven; ani.cmvwwi-^. 



Century the Third. 167 



he, that lires in sin upon earth, dies 
in hell afterward. What if i have 
no part of joy here helow, hut still 
succession of afflictions ? The wicked 
have no part in heaven, and yet they 
enjoy the earth with pleasure : I would 
not change portions with them. I 
rejoice, that, seeing I cannot have 
hoth, yet I have the better. O Lord, 
let me pass both my deaths here upon 
earth. I care not how I live or die, so 
I may have nothing but life, to look 
for in another world. 

XLV. 

The conceit of propriety hardipns a 
Itaan against many inconveniences, and 
addeth much to our pleasure. The 
mother abides many unquiet nights,' 
many painful throes, and unpleasant 
savours of her child, upon this thought, 
*' It is my own." ■ The indulgent fa- 
ther magnifies that in his own son, 
which he would scarce like in a 
stranger. The want of this to God- 
ward, makes us so subject to discon- 
tentment, and cooleth our delight in 
him ; because we think of him aloof, 
as one in whom we are not interested. 
If we .could think, '* It is my God, 
that cheereth me with his presence 
and blessings, while I prosper; that 



158 Meditations and Vows. ■ 

aSlicteth me in love, when I am de- 
jected : my Saviour is at God's rigbt 
hand; my angels stand ia his pre- 
sence;" it could not be, but God's 
favour would be sweeter, liis chastUe' 
ments more easj, hie benefits more 
effectual. 1 am not mine own, while 
God is not mine; and, while he is 
mine, since 1 do possess him, 1 will 
enjoy him. 

XLVl. 
Nature is, of her own inclination, 
frowurd ; importunately longing after 
that which is denied her, and scorn- 
ful of what she may have. If it were 
appointed, that we should live alwaj» 
upon earth, how extremely should we 
exclaim of weariness, and wish rather 
that we were not 1 Now it is appointed 
we shall live here but a while, and 
then give room to our successors, each 
one affects a kind of eternity upon 
earth. 1 will labour to tame this 
peevish and sullen humour of nature ; 
and will like that best, that must be. 

XLVII. 

All true earthly pleasure forsook 
man, when he forsook his Creator. 
What honest and holy delight he took 
beloie, in the dutiful services of the 



Centwy the Third. 1 59 

obsequious creatures ; in the contem- 
plation of that admirable variety and 
strangeness of their properties; in 
seeing their sweet accordance with 
each other, and all with himself ! Now, 
inost of our pleasure is, to set one 
creature together by the ears with 
another ; sporting ourselves only with 
that deformity , which was bred through 
our own fault. Yea, there have been, 
that have delighted to see one man 
spill another's blood upon the sand ; 
and have shouted for joy at the sight 
of that slaughter, which bath fallen 
out upon no other quarrel, but the 
pleasure of the beholders. I doubt 
ttot, as we solace ourselves in the dis- 
cord of the inferior creatures, so the 
evil spirits sport themselves in our 
dissensions. There are better quali- 
ties of the creature, which we pass 
over without pleasure. In recreations, 
I will chuse those, which are of best 
example, and best use ; seeking those, 
by which I may not only be the 
merrier, but the better. 

XLVIII. 

There is no want, for which a man 
may not find a remedy in himself. Do 
I want Riches? he, that desires but 
little, cannot want much. Do I want 



ICQ Meditationa and Vows. 

Friends? if I love God enough, and 
myself but enough, it matters not. Do 
1 want Health? if ( want it but a 
little, and recover ; 1 shall eeteem it 
the more, because I wanted : if 1 be 
long sick, and unrecoverobly, 1 shall 
be the titter and willing^r to die ; and 
my pain is so much Less sharp, by how 
much more it lingei'eth, Do 1 want 
Mnintenance? a little, and coarse, 
will content nature:- let my mind be 
DO more ambitious, than ray back and 
belly; I can hardly complain of too 
little. Do I want Sleep ? I am going 
whitherthere is do use of sleep; where 
all rest, and sleep not. Do 1 want 
Children ? many, that have them, wish 
they wanted : it is better to be child- 
less, than crossed with their miscar- 
riage. Do I want Learning? he hath 
none, that saith be hath enough: the 
next way to get more, is, to find thou 
wantest. There is remedy for all 
wants, in ourselves; saving only, for 

not so much aa see and complain that 
he wants, but from above. 

XLIX. 
EvEitT virtuous action, like the sun 
eclipsed, hath a double shadow; ac- 
cording- to the divers aspects of the 



^ 



Century the Third. 161 



beholders : one, of glory ; the other, 
of envy : glory follows upon g^ood de- 
serts ; en?y, upon glory. He, that is 
envied, may think himself well ; for 
he, that envies him, thinks him more 
than well. 1 know no vice in another, 
whereof a man may make so good and 
comfortable use to himself. There 
would be no shadow, if there were no 
light. 



Ik meddling with the faults of 
friends, I have observed many wrong- 
ful courses; what for fear, or self- 
love, or indiscretion. Some I have 
seen, like unmerciful and covetous 
chirurgeons, keep the wound raw, 
which they might have seasonably re- 
medied, for their own gain : others, 
that have laid healing plaisters, to skin 
it aloft; when there hath been more 
need of corrosives, to eat out the dead 
flesh within : others, that have galled 
and drawn ; when there hath been no- 
thing but solid flesh, that hath wanted 
only filling up : others, that have healed 
the sore ; but left an unsightly scar of 
discredit behind them. He, that would 
do good this way, must have fidelity, 
courage, discretion, patience : fidelity, 
not to bear with ; courage, to reprove 



162 Meditniions and Vows. 

ihetii ; discretion, to reprove them 
well ; patience, to abide the leisure of 
ameDdraent; makiDg much of igooA 
beginnings, and putting up many re- 
pulses; bearing with many weak- 
oeeses; stdl hoping, still soliciting; 
as knowing, that those, who have been 
long used to fetters, cannot but halt 
while, nhen they are taken oS. 

LI. 

God hath made all tha world, and 
vet whnt a little part of it is his! 
Divide the world into four parts : but 
one, and the least, containeth all that 
is worthy the name of Christendom ; 
the rest overwhelmed with Turkism 
»nd Paganism: and, of this least part, 
the greater half, yet holding aright 
concerning God and their Saviour in 
some common principles, overthrow 
the truth in their codcIusioub; and 
so leave the lesser part of the least 
part for God. Yet lower: of those, 
that hold aright concerning Christ, 
how few are there, that do otherwise 
than fashionably profess him! And, 
of those, that do seriously profess him, 
how few are there, that in their lives 
deny him not ; living unworthy of so 
glorious a calling ! Wherein, I do not 
pity God, who will have glory even of 



1 



Century the Third. 1 63 

those that are not his : I pity miser- 
able men, that do reject their Creator 
and Redeemer, and themselves in him : 
and I envy Satan, that he raleth so 
large. Since God hath so few, I will 
be more thankful that he hath vouch- 
safed me one of his ; and be the more 
zealous of glorifying him, because we 
have but a few fellows. 

LII. 

As those, that have tasted of some 
delicate dish, find other plain dishes 
but unpleasant; so itfareth with those, 
which have once tasted of heavenly 
things : they cannot but contemn the 
best worldly pleasures. As, there- 
fore, some dainty guest, knowing there 
is so pleasant fare to come ; I will re- 
serve my appetite for it, and not suffer 
myself cloyed with the coarse diet of 
the world. 

LIII. 

I FIND many places, where God 
hath used the hand of good angels for 
the punishment of the wicked ; but 
never could yet fiud one, wherein he 
employed an evil angel in any direct 
good to his children: indirect I find 
many, if not all ; through the power of 
him, that brings light out of darkness, 



1 64 Meditations and Vows. 

aod turns their evil to our good. In 
this choice, God would and must be 
imitated. From an evil spirit I dare 

I will receive aa little aa I roay, from 
a wicked maa : if he were us perfectly 
evil as the other, I durst receive no- 
thing'. I would rather hunger, than 
wilfully dip my hand in a wicked man's 
dbh. 

LIV. 
Wb are ready to condemn others, 

for tiiat, which is as eminently faulty 
in ourscK-ea. If one blind man rush 
upon another in the way, either com- 
plains of other's blindness ; neither, 
of his own. I have heard those, which' 
have had most corrupt lungs, complain 
of the unsavoury breath of others. 
The reason is, because the mind cast- 
eth altogether outward, and refiecteth 
not into itself. Yet it is more shame- 
ful, to he either ignorant of, or favour- 
able to, our own imperfections. I 
will censure others' vices fearfully; 
my own conEdentiy, because I know 
them ; and those I know not, I will 
suspect. 



Century the Third, 165 

LV. 

He is a very humble man, that 
thinks not himself better than some 
others; and he is very mean, whom 
some others do not account better 
than themselves : so, that vessel, that 
seemed very small upon the Main, 
seems a tall ship upon the Thames, 
■n As there are many better for estate 
, than myself, so there are some worse ; 
and, if I were yet worse, yet would 
there be some lower; and, if I were 
so low that I accounted myself the 
worst of all, yet some would account 
themselves in worse case. A man's 
opinion is in others: his being is in 
himself. Let me know myself: let 
others guess at me. Let others either 
envy or pity me ; I care not, so long 
as I enjoy myself. 

LVL 

He can never wonder enough at 
God's workmanship, that knows not 
the frame of the world : for he can 
never else conceive of the hugeness, 
and strange proportion of the crea'^ 
tore. And he, that knows this, can 
never wonder more at any thing else. 
1 will learn to know, that 1 may ad- 



166 Meditations and Voks. 



LVll. 

TfiERE ia nothiag; below, but toil- 
ing, grieving, n'ishing, hoping', fear- 
ing; and weariness in all tliese. Whal 
fools are we, to be besotted with the 
Jove of our own trouble, and to hale 
our liberty and rest ! The love of 
misery is much worse, than misery 
itself. We must first pray, that God 
would make ua wise ; before we can 
wish, he would make UB happy. 

LVIII

~988 words

them : accounting them only as 9^ . 
thoroughfare, to pass hy; not as 2^'-' 
habitation, to rest in. 

LIX. 

He is wealthy enough, that wanteth 
not: he is great enough, that is his 
own master : he is happy enough, that 
lives to die well. Other things I will 
not care for ; nor too much for these : 
Bave only for the last, which alone can 
admit of no immoderation. 

LX. 

A MAN of extraordinary parts makes 
himself, by strange and singular be- 
haviour, more admired ; which if a man 
of but common faculty do imitate, he 
makes himself ridiculous :* for that, 
which is construed as natural to the 
one, is descried to be affected in the 
other ; and there is nothing forced by 
affectation can be comely. I will ever 
strive to go in the common road : so, 
while I am not notable, I shall not be 
notorious. 

LXI. 

Gold is the best metal; and, for 
the purity, not subject to rust, as all 
others: and yet the best gold hath 



\ 



aiirli^^fcjfc: I i 




,jieUf Unle a 
TKa diiorofMnMM r>^th«n^ to lire 
■iatraiiiT, in a good estate ; ud Hate 
to BMk« a good estate aiiieraUe. 1 
will fint knov, vbat I saj do for 
•afetr ; aod tb«ii 1 wiU try, what 1 
can do for ipeed. 

LXIII. 
The rich man batb many friendB ; 
altboogb, ID troth, riches have them, 
and not the man: as the ass, that 
carried the li^^ptian Goddess, had 
many boned knees; jet Dot to the 
beaat, but to tbe burthen. For, sepa- 
rate ibe riches from tbe person, and 
thou shalt see friendship leave the 
man; and follow that, which was ever 



Century the Third. 169 

her object: while he may command, 
and can either give or control, \m. 
hath attendance and profiFer of love at 
all hands ; but which of these dares 
acknowledge him, when he is going 
to prison for debt ? Then these wasps, 
that made such music about this galli- 
pot, shew plainly, that they came only 
for the honey that was in it This is 
the misery of the wealthy, that they 
cannot know their friends: whereas 
those, that love the poor man, love 
him for himself. He, that would chuse 
a true friend, must search out one, 
that is neither •covetous nor ambitious ; 
for such a one loves but himself in 
thee. And if it be rare to find any 
not infected with these qualities, the 
best is to entertain all, and trust few. 

LXIV, 

That, which the French Proverb 
hath of sicknesses, is true of all evils : 
That they come on horseback, and go 
away on foot. We have oft seen a 
sudden fall ; or one meal's surfeit hath 
stuck by many to their graves : where- 
as pleasures come like oxen, slow and 
heavily ; and go away like post-horses, 
upon the spur. Sorrows, because they 
are lingering guests, I will entertain 
but moderately; knowing, that the 

I 



170 Meditations and Vows. 

more they are made of, ibc longer they 
Vtll contmue : and, fur pleasures, be- 
cause thej stay not, and Aa but call 
to drink at my door ; I wil! use tbem 
as passengers, with slig^htreepect. He 
is his own best fiiend, that makes least 
of both of tbem. 

LXV. 

It is indeed more commendable, to 
give good ezample, than to take it; 
yet imitation, however in civil matters 
it be condemned of seiTility, in Chris- 
tian prariice hath his due praise: and, 
ihou^'-h it te more natural for begin- 
ners, at tbeir first initiation, that can- 
not swim without bladders ; yet the 
best proficient shall see ever some 
higher steps of those, diat have gone 
to heaven before him, worthy of his 
tracing. Wherein much caution must 
be bad ; that we follow good men, and 
in good: good men; for, if we pro- 
pound imperfect patterns to ourselves, 
we shall be constrained first to unlearn 
those ill habits we have got by their 
imitation, before we can be capable of 
good ; go, besides the loss of labour, 
we are further off from our end : in 
good; for, that a man should be so 
wedded to any man's person, that he 
caa make no separation from his in- 

I 



Century the Third. 171 

firmities, is both absurdly servile and 
unchristiaa. He, therefore, that woiiI4 
follow welly most know to distin* 
guish well, betwixt good men and 
evil ; betwixt good men and better ; 
betwixt good qualities and infirmities. 
Why hath God given me education, 
not in a desert alone, but in the com- 
pany of good and virtuous men, but 
that, by the sight of their good car- 
riage, I should better mine own ? Why 
should we have interest in the vices 
of men, and not in their virtues? 
And, although precepts be surer, yet a 
g^ood man's action is according to pre- 
cept; yea, is a precept itself. The 
Psalmist compares the Law of Grod to 
a lianthorn: good example bears it* 
It is safe following him, that carries 
the light : if he walk without the light, 
he shall walk without me. 

LXVI. 

As there is one common end to all 
good men. Salvation ; and one Author 
of it, Christ : so, there is but one way 
to it, doing well and suffering evil. 
Doing welly methinks, is like the Zo- 
diac in the heaven, the high-way of 
the sun, through which it daily pass- 
eth : suffering evil, is like the Eclip- 
tic-line, that goes through the midst 



^v^i sm dx»mple. Are we sawn 
'."i^vsi *' $o wnd Isaiah. Are we 
^WjmM^ ^ 90 Johu Baptist. Crucifi< 
W^¥^»litK Tkiwn to wild beasts ? 

>iim iiMtiiUL, ?ti»ii* atSlrali 
IMIIWnm? •• «■• BsiBWisl IliMn 

^mukmi^tudmAi wbatgodli 
^iMPr mm not? It w«re bmj to 
^hBimIkNAi in toniie&ts sad mChi 
nkumof Mch hadi b^im to «Asr, 
tow. I nnj not hope to speedlMf 
Ami the best Christiaas: le^iihoti 
to lare worse. It is no matter, wh 
way I go, so I come to beayen. 

LXVII

~964 words

his passage in my proficiency. 

LXVIII. 

The prodigal man, while he spend - 
eth; is magnified ; when he is spent, 
is pitied : and that is all his recom- 
pence for his lavished patrimony. The 
covetous man is grudged while he 
lives, and his death is rejoiced at ; for, 
when he ends, his riches begin to be 
goods. He, that wisely keeps the 
mean between both, liveth well, and 
hears well ; neither repined at by the 
needy, nor pitied by greater men. I 
would so manage these worldly comr 
modities, as accounting them mine, to 
dispose ; others', to partake of. 

LXIX. 

A oooD name (if any earthly thing) 
is worth seeking, worth striving for : 
yet, to affect a bare name, when we 
deserve either ill or nothing, is but a 
proud hypocrisy ; and, to be puffed up 
with the wrongful estimation of others' 
mistaking our worth, is an idle and 
ridiculous pride. Thou art well spoken 
of upon no desert : what then ? thou 



self as thou art accounted : th 
came from thee ; the shame \ 
in thee. 1 will account no 
grMler, dian for a man to estc 
repoft me above that I am : 
joicin^, ID that I am well thoi 
btti ia dial I am sneh as I am est 

LXX. 

Ir mm a speech worthy tl 

miMlHlgon and frequent remem 

0f m imn® & Bishop as Ac 

«iitfc is reported of an aged 

jB Ms time ; who, when his 

cmrfbrted him on his sick-bc 

nMhim,they hoped he should r 

aaswered, '« If I shall not die 

vall; but if ever, why not ; 

Sorely, it is folly, what we m 

to do unwillingly. I will neve 



Century the Third. 176 

LXXI. 

Excesses are never alone. Com* 
monly, those, tkat have excellent parts, 
have some extremely vicious qualities. 
Great wks have great errors, and great 
estates have great cares ; whereas me- 
diocrity of gifts or of estate hath usu» 
ally but easy inconveniences : else the 
excellent woold not know themselves, 
and the mean would be too much de« 
jected : now, those, whom we admire 
for their faculties, we pity for their 
infirmities ; and those, which find them* 
selves but of the ordinary pitch, joy, 
that, as their virtues, so their vices, 
are not eminent : so, the highest have 
a blemished glory, and the mean are 
contentedly secure. I will magnify 
the highest ; but affect the mean. 

LXXI I. 

The body is the case or sheath of 
the mind : yet) as naturally it hideth 
it ; so it doth also, many times, dis- 
cover it : for, although the forehead, 
eyes, and frame of Uie countenance 
do sometime belie the disposition of 
the heart; yet, most commonly, they 
give true general verdicts. An angry 
man's brows are bent together, and 
his eyes sparkle with rage ; . which, 



176 Meditations and Vows. 

when he is well pleased, look emooth 
and cheerfully. Envy hath one Itwk ; 
deaire, another ; sorrow, yet another ; 
conteotment, & fourth, difTerent from 
all the rest. To show no passion, is 
too Etoical ; to shew all, is impotent ; 
to shew othei than we feel, hypo- 
critical. The face and gesture do but 
wriie and make commentaries upon 
the heart. 1 will first endeavour so to 
frame and order that, as not to enter- 
tain any passion, but what I need not 
care to have laid open to the world : 
and, therefore, will Grst see that the 
text be good ; then, that the gloss be 
true; and, lastly, that it be sparing. 
To what end hath God so walled in 
the heart, if I should let every man's 
eyes into it by my countenance ? 

LXXIII. 

public action, which 
t ready to scan : there 
private, which the btiI 
witnesses of: I will 
) live, as knowing th«t 
3 eyes of mine enemies. 

LXX[V. 

ourselves and all other 
vetouaness alone 
best age. This 



There is 

the world is i 



nthi 



When 

rices are old. th< 
'a j'Onng, and a: 



Century the Third. \11 

vice loYes to dwell in an old, ruinous 
cottage: yet that age can have no 
such honest colour for niggardliness 
and insatiable desire. A young man 
might plead the uncertainty of his 
estate, and doubt of his future need ; 
but an old man sees his set period 
before him. Since this humour is so 
necessarily annexed to this age, I will 
turn it the right way ; and nourish it 
in myself: the older I grow, the more 
covetous I will be ; but of the riches, 
not of the world I am leaving, but of 
the world I am entering into. It is 
good coveting^ what I may have, and 
cannot leave behind me. 

LXXV. 

Th£EE is a mutual hatred, betwixt 
a Christian and the worid : fbr, on 
the one side, the love of the world is 
enoiity with God, and God's children 
cannot but take their Father's part: 
on the other, The world hates you, 
because it hated me first. But the 
hatred of the good man to the wicked 
is not so extreme, as that wherewith 
he is hated : for the Christian hates 
ever with commiseraticH^ and love of 
that good he sees in the worst ; know- 
ing, that the essence of the very devils 
is good; and that the lewdest man 

I 2 



178 Meditalions and I'oics. 

hath some ezcelleot parts of nature, 
or common graces of the Spirit of 
God, which he warily singleth out in 
hja affection : but the wicked man 
hates him for goodDeesi sod, there- 
fore, finds'nothing in hiiuEelf to mo- 
lienite bis detestation. There can be 
110 better music in miae ear, than the 
discord of the wicked. If he like me, 
I am afraid he spies some quality in 
me, like to his own. If he saw no- 
tiling; but goodness, he could not love 
lite, and be bad himself

~358 words

I will not 
intend it. 

LXXVII. 

The joy of a Christian in these 
worldly things is limited, and ever 
awed with fear of excess ; but recom- 
pensed abundantly with his spiritual 
mirth: whereas the worldling g^ves 
the reins to the mind, and pours him- 
self into pleasure ; fearing only that 
he shall not joy enough. He, that is 
but half a Christian, lives but misera- 
bly ; for he neither enjoyeth God, nor 
the world : not God, because he hath 
not grace enough to make him his 
own ; not the world, because he hath 
some taste of grace, enough to shew 
him the vanity and sin of his plea- 
sures. So, the sound Christian hath 
his heaven above ; the worldling, here 
below; the unsettled Christian, no 
where. 



180 Mfditationt and Vows. 

LXXVIII. 
Good deeds are very fruitful ; and, 
not BO much of their nature, as of 
God'e blessing, mil Iti pliable. We think 
ten in the hundred extreme and biting 
iiBury : God gires us more than a 
hundred for ten; yea, aboTO the in- 
crease of the grain, which we com- 
mend most for mnltiplicatioo : for, out 
of one good action of ours, God pro- 
duceth a thousand ; the harvest where- 
of \a perpetual. Even the faithful 
actioDH of the old Patriarchs, the con- 
stant Bufferings of ancient Martyrs, 
live still ; and do good to all iucces- 
sioas of ages, by their example : for 
public actions of virtue, besides that 
they are presently comfortable to the 
doers, are also exemplary to others ; 
and, as they are more beneficial to 
others, bo are more crowned id ns. 
If good deeds were utterly barren and 
incommodious, I would seek after them, 
for the conscience of their own good' 
ness : how much more shall I now ba 
encouraged to perfoi'm them, for that 
they are so profitable both to myself, 
and to others, and to me in others I 
My principal care shall be, that while 
my soul lives in glory in heaven, my 
gooi actions may live upon earth ; 



Century the Third. 181 

and that they might be put into the 
bank and multiply, while my body lies 
in the grave and eonsumeth. 

LXXIX

~336 words

be pruned, that I 
may g^w; rather than cut up, to 
burn. 

LXXX. 

Those, that do but superficially taste 
of divine knowledge, find but little 
sweetness in it ; and are ready, for 
the unpleasant relish, to abhor it: 
whereas, if they would dive deep into 
the sea, they should find fresh water 
near to the bottom. That it savours 
not well at the first, is the fault, not 
ei it, but of the distempered palate 
that tastes it. Good metals and mi- 
nerals are not found close under the 
skin of the earth, but below in the 



{ 



too soon discouraged in our spiritual 
gains. I will still persevere to seek ; 
hardening myself against all difficulty. 
There is eomfort even in -.seekiiig, 
hope; and there is joy bt hojpiairf 
good sacceee; and in thai aoeeeH, fa 
happin< 



LXXXI. 

. He, that hath any experienoa fa 
spiritual mattersy knows thift Satan- ii 
ever more violent at the last: thsi 
raging most farioosly, when he knowi 
be shall rage bat a while. Henoa 
of the first persecutions of the Sn 
Church, the tenth and last» uadet 
Diocletiali and Maximiniiki and thoa 
other five Tyrants, was the- bloodies! 
Hence, this age is the most dissdlnte 
KonnnaA nAAr»ftt thfl rnnclasion* And 



Century the Third, 183 

is the folly of those men, who defer 
their repentance till then, when their 
onset shall be most sharp ; and they, 
through pain of body and perplezed- 
ness of mind, shall be least able to 
resist. Those, that have long furnish- 
ed themselves with spiritual munition, 
^ find work enough in this extreme 
brant of temptation : how then should 
the careless man, that, with the help of 
all opportunities, could not find grace 
to repent, hope to achieve it at the last 
gasp, against greater force, with less 
means, more distraction, no leisure? 
Wise princes use to prepare ten years 
before, for a field of one day : I will 
every day lay up somewhat for my 
last. If I win that skirmish, I have 
enough. The first and second blow 
begin the battle; but the last only 
wins it. 

LXXXII. 

I OBSEEYB three seasons, where

~227 words

unwise thoughts, but he, that 
Ktters them. Even concealed folly is 
wisdom ; and sometimes, wisdom ut- 
tered, is folly. While others care how 
la apeak, my care shall he how u> hold 
my peace. 

LXXXIII. 
A WORK is then only good and ac- 
ceptable, when the action, meaning, 
and manner are all good : for, to do 
good with an ill meaning, as Judas 
sainted Chriat to betray him, ia so 



Century the Third. 186 

much more sinful, by how much the 
action is better; which, being good 
in the kind, is abused to an ill purpose* 
lo do ill in a good meaning, as Uzzah, 
in staying the Ark, is so much amiss, 
that the good intention cannot bear 
9ut the unlawful act : which although 
it may seem some excuse, why it should 
not be so ill ; yet is no warrant to 
justify it. To mean well, and do a 
good action in an ill manner, as the 
Pharisee made a good prayer but ar- 
rogantly, is so offensive, that the e?il 
manner depraveth both the other. So, 
a thing may be evil, upon one circum- 
Btance : it cannot be good, but upon 
all. In whatever business I go about, 
I will enquire, What I do, for the 
Bubstance ; How, for the manner ; 
Why, for the intention : for the two 
first, I will consult with God ; for the 
last, with my own heart. 

LXXXIV

~270 words

endeavour may be void of per- 
pluiity. 

LXXXVIII. 

The precepts and practice of thoae, 
with whom we live, avail much on 
either part. For a man not to be ill, 
where he hath no provocations to evil, 
ia less commendable : but, for a man 
to live continently in Asia (as be said), 
where he seea nothing but alluremenU 
to uncleannesB ; for Lot to he a good 
man, In the midst of Sodom ; to be ' 
al>s[emious,inGermany; and,in Italy, - 



Century the Third. 189 

chaste; this is truly praise-worthy. 
To sequester ourselves from the com- 
pany of the world, that we may depart 
from their devices, proceeds from a 
base and distrusting mind : as if we 
would so force goodness upon our- 
selves, that therefore only we would 
be good, because we cannot be ill : 
but, for a man so to be personally and 
locally in the throng of the world, as 
to withdraw his affections from it ; to 
use it, and yet to contemn it, at once ; 
to compel it to his service, without 
any infection ; becomes well the noble 
courage of a Christian. The world 
shall be mine, I will not be his ; and 
yet so mine, that his evil shall be still 
his own. 

LXXXIX. 

He, that lives in God, cannot be 
weary ^ of his life ; because he ever 
finds, both somewhat to do, and some- 
what to solace himself with : cannot 
be over-loth to part with it ; because 
he shall enter into a nearer life and 
society with that God, in whom he 
delighteth. Whereas, he, that lives 
without him, lives many times un^ 
comfortably here ; because, partly he 
knows not any cause of joy in him- 
self, and partly he finds not any worthy 



S\rr^irbVlet me not !«• 




fending Wm. 



Century the Third, 191

~186 words

know I shall 
be satisfied. 

xcin. 

There is more in the Christian, than 
thouseest'. for he is both an entire body 
of himself, and he ia a limb of another 
more excellent ; even that gloriogi 
mystical body of his Saviour; to whom 
he is BO united, that the actions of 
either are reciprocally referred to each 
other. For, on the one side, the 
CbristianliTesinChrist, dies in Christ, 
in Christ fulfils the Law, posbesseth 
heaven ; on the other, Christ is perse- 
cuted by Paul in his members, and 
is persecuted in Paul afterwarda by 
others; he suffers in us, he Uves in 
us, he works in and by us : so thou 
etaut not do either good or harm to a 



Century the Third. 193 

Christian, but thou dost it to his Re- 
deemer, to whom he is invisibly united. 
Thou seest him as a man ; and, there- 
fore, worthy of favour, for humanity's 
sake : thou seest him not as a Chris- 
tian, worthy of honour, for his secret 
and yet true union with our Saviour. 
I will love every Christian, for that I 
see ; honour him, for that I shall see. 

XCIV

~304 words

as sure as my 
sense* 

XCVII. 

There is no word or action, bat 
may be taken with two hands ; either 
with the right-hand of charitable con- 
stroction, or the sinister interpretation 
of malice and suspicion : and all things 
do so succeed, as they are taken. I 
have noted evil actions, well taken, 
pass current for either indifferent or 
commendable ; contrarily, a good 
speech or action, ill taken, scarce 
allowed for indifferent ; an indifferent 
one, censured for evil; an evil one, 
for notorious : so, favour makes vir- 
'tues of vices; and suspicion makes 
virtues faults, and faults crimes. Of 
the two, I would rather my right-hand 
should offend. It is always safer of- 
fending on the better part. To con- 
strue an evil act well, is but a pleasing 
ind profitable deceit of myself: but 
misconstrue a good thing, is a treble 
Tong; to myself, the action, the 
ithor. If no good sense can be made 



f 

I 



ment to myself. 

XCVIII. 

I KNOW not how it come 
that the mind of man doth 

'• both overprize his own, in c 

I ' of others ; and yet contemn 

' lect his own, in compariso: 

he wants. The remedy of 
evil is, to compare the good 
have, with the evils whicl 
not, and others g^an und 
art in health, and regard< 
look on the misery of th( 
on their bed of sickness, t' 
tremity of pain and angai 
death to release them. Tho 
eye-sight, sound limbs, use 
and passest these over wit) 
spect : think how many 



ii 



Century the Third. 199 

dead : thas thou mightest be, and art 
not. If I be not happy for the good 
that I have, I am yet happy for the 
evils that I might have had, and have 
escaped. I have deserved the greatest 
evil : every evil that I miss, is a new 
mercy. 

XCIX