\ifi uft '' SS' PRECIOUS STONES. ALL endeavours aspire to eminency : all eminencies do beget an admiration. And this makes me believe that contemplative admiration is a large part of the worship of the Deity. Nothing can carry us so near to God and heaven as this. The mind can walk beyond the sight of the eye ; and (though in a cloud) can lift us into heaven while we live. Meditation is the soul's perspective glass : whereby, in her long remove, she discerneth God, as if He were nearer hand. I persuade no man to make it his whole life's business. We have bodies, as well as souls. And even this world, while we are in it, ought somewhat to be cared for : contemplation generates : action propogates. St. Bernard compares contemplation to Rachael, which was the more fair; but action to Leah, which was the more fruitful. I will neither always be busy and doing, nor ever shut up in nothing but thoughts. Yet, that which some would call idleness, I will call the sweetest part of my life : and that is my thinking. (Owen Feltham's Resolves, p. 32.) PRECIOUS STONES: t0 Mlettion, PROSE WRITERS OF THE SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. COLLECTED BY THE REV. ROBERT ARIS WILLMOTT, 1SCUMBEXT OF BEARWOOD, BERKS J AUTHOR OF "JEREMY TAYLOR, A BIOGRAPHY." LONDON: THOMAS BOSWORTH, 215 REGENT STREET. MDCCCLILT. 38nnuni CURATE OF CHERTSEY, , THESE PRECIOUS STONES ARE INSCRIBED BY HIS FRIEND, K. A. WILLMOTT. INTRODUCTION. IT is believed that the following pages contain some of the costliest thoughts in our English Prose. They are the fruit of independent reading, and the Collec- tor has generally added distinct and minute references ; but in a few places they have been accidentally left im- perfect. He would gladly have ga- thered larger clusters from the abundant orchards of the seventeenth century : the flavour of these may turn eyes to the tree. Several of the writers are not commonly known, or read, as Henry Smith, Archbishop Williams, Digges, VI INTRODUCTION. Farindon, Swinnocke, C. Ellis, Bishop Reynolds, Sibbes, Henry More, and others. The essays of Jeremy Collier are recommended with particular em- phasis. He was the antagonist, and in his masculine eloquence may claim the glory of being the rival, of Dry den. The short specimens in this volume will serve to show the resemblance in vigour of thought, dignity of utterance, and music of composition. We . find Johnson, in 1778, contrasting the smooth elegance of Jortin, Sherlock, Smalridge, and Ogden, with the inharmonious periods of "a hundred years ago." But this was a fallacy, like "Waller's tuning of our language, after Spenser. The wri- ters of the seventeenth century are. almost constantly melodious in the con- struction of sentences. They give the various swell of the organ, instead of the INTRODUCTION. Vll sweet but ever-recurring monotones of the flute. Davenant's preface to Gondi- bert flows in the majesty of rhythm. The most hasty observation discovers two distinctive features in the prose style of the seventeenth century. (1.) It is ex- exceedingly rich, and ornamented with every hue of image, and turn of expres- sion ; but the glancing lights of imagina- tion shoot out of the subject and form a part of it. They are shadows arising from the dye of the garment ; not patches of embroidery sewed upon the stuff. (2.) Its gorgeousness is very seldom effeminate. The greatest preachers and authors of the period between Elizabeth and the second Charles, like their Master of An- tioch, wore purple over armour. The controversial sword cut through the folds of a decorated and learned fancy, only Vlll INTRODUCTION. to be blunted on the impenetrable argu- ment beneath it. No classification of subjects has been attempted, or desired. A warning, or a consolation, is most effective when it steals upon us by surprise. A man, who is disposed to be angry, does not look out for admonitions under the head of good temper ; but the sudden confront- ing of such a suggestion as Shenstone's (p. 251), may startle. him into reflec- tion. The absence of regular arrange- ment is, therefore, intentional. Few themes, however, of religious, or moral interest, are left without illustration. The design of the book is suggestive to lead to meditation, and to furnish food for it. Each passage is a text for the reader to enlarge and apply. He is to be his own preacher, and speak homilies INTRODUCTION. IX to his conscience. Our elder theological literature is happily adapted for this self-improvement. The seminal princi- ple of reproduction is active in most contributions of that epoch. In the words of Lord Bacon,* " They generate still, and cast their seeds in the minds of others, provoking and causing infinite actions and opinions in succeeding ages." These " Precious Stones " will not alto- gether disappoint the Collector, if by their shining they happen to guide en- quiring spirits, and especially the young, into those fields where pearls of great price may be sought after and found. Mr. Coleridge said that a clergyman, in full Orders, who had not read the works of Bull and Waterland, has a duty yet to perform. * " Advancement of Learning," b. i. X INTBODUCTION. It is not to be supposed that every writer in these pages is recommended to study and admiration. In certain tracts of country, unhealthiness of atmosphere warns the visitor against searching for jewels or gold. A remark of the Bishop of Oxford * affords a necessary caution. These aids to reflection "are not intended to direct the reader to the other writings of all the authors, but to be complete in themselves to serve as key-notes for thought and meditation." Perhaps the book offers something of interest even to erudite explorers. The scholar may meet with a wise definition, a sublime metaphor, or a touching appeal, which had escaped his notice in the old folio. Nor will familiar passages be without a charm. They resemble leaves of flowers * Biographical Sketch prefixed to " Comfort for the Afflicted," p. 6. INTRODUCTION. XI preserved in an herbarium. Each sepa- rated thought recalls the intellectual garden from which it was gathered ; and enables the student to bring before that " inward eye, which makes the bliss of solitude," the whole landscape of illumi- nated learning and wisdom, as it lay spreading abroad its unbroken beauty and colours, to the Divine, or the Moralist, in the solemn stillness and rapture of composition ; just as one leaf of a flower, though dry and faded, often causes to reappear the sunny border in which it grew, and all the little affecting circum- stances connected with its culture, and with the friends who loved it, and are with us no longer. St. Catherine's, Jan. 31, 1850. CONTEXTS. Eeligious Houses (LATIJCER) pas 6 ^ Transubstantiation Bejected (CRAXMER) 2 The Authority of the Scriptures and the Church (HOOPEB) 4 Unwritten Tradition not to be followed (SANDYS)... 5 The Power of the Keys (BECOX) 7 Eeformation not Destruction (JEWELL) 8 Christian Fervour in the Cause of God (Ibid.) 9 The Agency of Man in Propagating the Gospel (Ibid.) 9 The Obedience of Christ (BILSON) 11 The Sinner's Destiny (SMITH) 12 Hypocrisy (Ibid.) IS The Christian's Service (Ibid.) 13 The Certainty of Future Punishment (Ibid.) 14 Eeligious Knowledge (Ibid.) 14 The Euin of a Soul Forsaken by God (Ibid.) 15 Two Consciences (Ibid.) 16 Legislation to be adapted to National Character (SPEKSEK) 18 Faith in Christ an Incentive to Self-exertion (HOOKER) 19 Against Sudden Death_(/&irf.) - 20 The Sacredness of Poetry (SIDNEY) 22 Of Wisdom for a Man's Self (BACOS) 23 XVI CONTENTS. A Thought on Ash- Wednesday (ANDREWS) 24 Mercy and Judgment (DONNE) page 25 Eomance and Eeality of Life (Ibid.) , 25 The Inherent Sanctity of Law (Ibid.) 26 Human Life (Ibid.) 27 The Eternal Happiness of the Eighteous (Ibid.) ... 27 The Voices of God to Man (Ibid.) 27 Against Praying to Saints (HALL) 30 The Christian in Society, Instructed by Christ (Ibid.) 31 Spiritual Crucifixion (Ibid.) 32 Looking to Jesus (Ibid.) 33 De Piis et Probis (JONSON) 33 Ingenia (Ibid.) 34 Elegantia (Ibid.) 34 The Mystic Union of Christ and the Believer (USHER) 35 Effectual Calling (Ibid.) 35 Suffering made the Instrument of our Sanctification (Ibid.) 36 A Noble Spirit (OVERBURY) 37 The School of Sorrow -(WILLIAMS) 39 True Nature of Law (DIGGES) 39 Expediency Denned (SANDERSON) 40 A Thought for Christmas (H ACKET) 41 The Grief of Jesus upon the Cross (FARINDON) 43 The Redesmer's Agony (Ibid.) 44 Mental Satisfaction (REYNOLDS) 47 Varieties of Grief- (Ibid) 48 Thoughts in Spare Minutes (WARWICK) 49 How to make the Heart a Temple for Christ (CHILLINGWORTH) 50 Momentary Sensations of Remorse (Ibid.) 51 Ordinances Ineffectual (Ibid.) 51 CONTENTS. XV11 Resurrection of the Sinner (fbid) page 52 Recollection and Forgetfulness (BROWNE) 53 Growth of Grace (HAMMOND) 54 A True Friend Sketched (HABINGTON) 55 The Moral of an Hour-glass (FULLER) 56 The Reformation (MILTON) 57 The Inward Reverence of a Man towards his own Person (Ibid.) 58 The False Enjoyments of the World (TAYLOR) 60 Prayer and Anger (Ibid.) 62 The Last Judgment (Ibid.) 63 Sobriety of Religious Feelings (Ibid.) 65 Against Deferred Repentance (Ibid.) 66 The Catechism (NICHOLSON) 68 Mutual Dependence Inculcated (LEIGHTON) 70 The Conflagration of the "World argued from the Power of Christ (MORE) 71 The Harmony of Providence (WILKINS) 72 God, All in All (BAXTER) 73 Loving Christ (Ibid.) 74 Zeal (CUDWORTH) . 75 Holiness never forsaken by God (Ibid.) 75 True Reputation-(CowLEz) 77 The Good Man in a Crowd (Ibid.) 77 Not Chance but Providence (Ibid.) 78 Mechanical Christians (SMITH) 79 The Divine Nature of the Human Soul (Ibid.) 80 The Sacred Moral of Nature (Ibid.) 80 Regard the End (PATRICK) 80 Heart's Ease taught by Nature (Ibid.) 81 Reparation Essential to Repentance (KIDDER) 82 The Fallen Condition of Man (HOWE) 83 Philosophic Serenity (FLECKNOE) 85 The Ancient Saints and Heroes Contrasted-(BABROw) 86 XV111 CONTENTS. Resurrection of Christ (Ibid.) page 89 Goodness alone Kespected (Ibid.) 90 Against Rash Judgment (/bid.) 91 Man as Created in the Image of God his Under- standing (SOUTH) 93 Parallel between Daniel and St. John (KKK) 94 Companionship (FELTHAM) 96 Against Great Eagerness (Ibid.) 96 Asking and Denying (Ibid.) 96 How to Ascend (SUTTON) 98 The Scriptures proved to be Divine (LAUD) 99 A Bruised Eeed and Smoking Flax (SIBBZS) 102 The Temptations of the Saviour Distinguished from His Disciples' (Ibid.) 103 Jesus Christ, as Prophet, Priest, and King (Ibid.) 105 Faith, how Manifested (Ibid.) 109 Trust in God (Ibid.) 110 The Method of Trusting in God (Ibid.) Ill Patience, the Strength of Genius (JACKSON) 112 Measure of Things (SELDEN) 113 Feel for All (HALES) 114 God's Presence in Sacred Places (MEDE) 116 The Reformed Church (Ibid.) 119 The Calendar of the Church (Cosra) 121 Against Sloth (QUAKLES) 125 The Worldly Man's Talk with Himself (Ibid.) 1 24 The Censorious Man Warned (/fcid) 125 The Pestilence and its Terrors (Ibid.) 1 26 A Gradual Change of Character the most Lasting (Ibid.) ISO The Keligious Man a Judge of Himself (HERBERT) . 130 Death a Bringer of Kepose (HILL) 132 Bible Mysteries Man's Checks (LIGHTFOOT) 134 Aphorisms (WHICHCOT) 136 CONTENTS. XIX God's Foreknowledge and Man's Salvation (Gooo- XAX) page 137 Presumptuous Professors (Ibid.) 139 Lip-talk and Heart-talk about Keligion (/fad.) 140 Our Saviour's Example within Doors (Ibid.) 141 Disputers about Religion (Ibid.) 143 No House without Care (ROGERS) 144 Grace and Free Will (PLAIFERE) 145 The Communion of Saints (PEARSON) 147 Good Works, What they Are, and Why Required (HALE) 150 A Christian Parent's Resignation (EVELYN) 152 A Thought upon the Bible (BOYLE) 153 Great Evil and Danger of little Sins (HOPKINS) 153 Working out our Salvation (Ibid.) 160 The Regard of the Saints in Heaven (Ibid.) 164 Conscience (Ibid.) 164 Daily Confession of Sin (Ibid.) 165 The Good Man's Treasure (Ibid.) 165 Grief, Sin's Legacy (Ibid.) 166 The Good Man's Light and Shade (Ibid.) 167 The Throne of Grace (Ibid.) 168 How to use out Transgressions (Ibid.) 169 The Thorn before the Flower (BROWNING) 169 Submission to God the Soul's Way to Light and Peace (WORTHINGTON) 170 The Strong Man Plundered (G. SWINNOCKE) 176 Bright City seen by Faith (Ibid.) 177 The Difficult and Harrow Way to Heaven (Ibid.) . . 178 The Middle State of the Soul after Death (BULL) . 179 Of Angels (Ibid.) 180 Of Angels Ministering (Ibid.) 181 The Office of Holy Angels towards the Faithful (Ibid.) 182 XX CONTENTS. Of Angels as our Guardians (Ibid.) page 184 The Angels' Oversight the Christian's Admonition (Ibid.) 189 The Glory and Sorrow of Literature (DATENAST) . 189 The Influence of the Pu\pii(Ibid.) 191 Difficulties of Checking Crime by Legislation (Ibid.) .-. 192 Education of the People (Ibid.) 193 "Wit regarded as an Exponent of Mental Power (Ibid.) 194 God everywhere (CHAKKOCK) 195 The Believer's Share in his Lord's Glory (Ibid.) ... l?o The True Gentleman (ELLIS) 201 Against Making Yows (STILLTNGFLEET) 202 The Sun of Righteousness (BEVERIDGE) 204 Helps against Committing Sin (HOBNECK) 205 God's All seeing Eye (BUBXET) 207 True Courage (COLLIER) ...: 208 Of Loneliness and Retirement (Ibid.) 210 The Face, an Index (Ibid.) 211 Better Wear out, than Rust out (Ibid.) 212 Of General Kindness (Ibid.) 213 Against Hero-Worship (Ibid.) 215 Time-Serving (Ibid.) 217 Entertainment of Books (Ibid.) 217 Of Liberty (Ibid.) 218 Melancholy frequently the Result of Pride (Ibid.) . 219 Of Eagerness of Desire (Ib id.) 219 Human Life : its Sufferings and Hopes ( WOLLASTON) 220 Consistency of Prayer with Divine Immutability (Ibid.) 222 A Prayer for Peace of Mind and Comfort (KETTLE- WELL) 223 Ifot to Return Evil for Evil (Noasis) 225 CONTENTS. XXI A Thought upon Tombs (MATTHEW HEJTRY) ...page 226 Family Prayer (Ibid.) 226 Good Intentions and Good Works (SMALRIDGE) ... 227 An Atheistical Conjecture Illustrated (BEKTLEY) ... 229 A Moonlight Walk Improved (ADDISOIT) 230 The Eeality of our Lord's Body after His Kesurrec- tion (SHERLOCK) 232 The Conversion of an Unbeliever shown in a Simile (BERKELEY) 235 Intellectual Development (Ibid.) 236 Our own Knowledge no Measure of Probability (Ibid.) 236 World above World (Ibid.) 238 Approbation and Dislike caused by Association of Ideas (HUTCHESON) 240 Blasphemous Doctrines of Infidelity (WARBURTON) 241 Pride and Vanity Distinguished (Ibid) 242 The Moral of an Earthquake (Ibid.) 242 Heart Husbandry (JORTIH) 243 Xot to have Fellowship with Unrighteousness (BATES) 244 Spiritual Knowledge, a Living Power (Ibid.) 244 Changes of the Earth's Surface a Picture (SHAFTESBURT) 245 Eenewal of the Mind after Baptism (WATERLAHD) . 247 Kegeneration Explained (RIDLEY) 248 Admonitory Thoughts (SHENSTONE) 251 The Moral of a Microscope (HERVEY) 252 The Holy Communion, what it is (BRETT) 253 Sacramental Bread and Wine (COMBER) 257 The Christian's Victory over Misfortunes (JoHH- BON the Whig) 258 Heresy not without its Uses (LESLIE) 259 Transforming Power of the Gospel (DOEDRIDGE) ... 261 XX11 CONTENTS. Acknowledge a Fault (SEED) page 261 Domestic Love and Union Enforced (Ibid.) 262 Wisdom should be sought Early (Ibid.} 262 Against Calumny (OGDEN) 263 Good Effects of Conversation (NEWTON) 264 False Ideas of Prophecy (Huiu>) 265 The Mystery of Prophecy not Unreasonable (Ibid.) 267 Good Temper, a Characteristic of Christians (BLAIR) 268 Observation of Scenery a Help to Prophetic Inter- pretation (GILPIN) 270 The World a Machine in God's Hand (WATSON) ... 272 Figurative Language of Holy Scripture Explained (JONES) 273 Religious Use of Excited Feelings (ADAMS) 274 On the Disposal of Property (SKRLE) 275 Time Spent in Religious Exercises never Lost (ROBERT HALL) 277 True Excellence always a Conqueror (Ibid.) 277 Against Excessive Love of Novel Reading (Ibid.)... 278 Doing, not Feeling, the Measure of Piety (Ibid.) 279 Always look Upward (COLERIDGE) 280 Power of Bad Habit (FOSTER) 281 Spring and its Moral Analogies (Ibid.) 281 A Summer Thought (Ibid.) 282 Autumn Warnings (Ibid.) 282 Winter (Ibid.) 283 Postscript 285 PRECIOUS STONES. BISHOP LATIMER. Religious Houses. [LATIMER, born 1470, died 1555.] It is a common speech among the people, and much used, that they say all religious houses are pulled down ; which is a very peevish saying, and not true, for they are not pulled down. That man and that woman that live together godly and quietly, doing the works of their vocation and fear God, hear His word and keep it : that same is a religious house that is the house that pleas- eth God. For religion, pure religion, I say, standeth not in wearing of a monk's cowl, but in righteousness, justice, and well-doings; and, as St. James saith, in visiting the widows that lack their husbands orphans that lack their parents to help them when B PEECffOTTS STONES. they be poor to speak for them when they be oppressed ; herein standeth true religion. (Sermons, p. 152 ; 1584.) ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. Transubstantiation Rejected. [CRANMER, born 1489, died 1555.] Was there ever any man so destitute of reason but that he under- standeth this, that when bread is called bread, it is called by the proper name, as it is in deed ; and when bread is called the body of Christ, it taketh the name of a thing which is not in deed, but is so called by a figurative speech. And "calling," say you, in the words of Christ, signifieth " making," which, if it sig- nified when bread is called bread, then were calling of bread a making of bread : and thus is answered your demand, why this word "call" in the one signifieth the truth, and in the other not, because that the one is a plain speech, and the other a figurative. For else, by your reasoning out of reason, when the cup which Christ used in His last supper PRECIOUS STONES. 3 was called a cup, and when it was called Christ's blood, all was one calling, and was of like truth without figure ; so that the cup was Christ's blood in deed. And, likewise, when the stone that flowed out water was called a stone, and when it was called Christ ; and the ark, also, when it was called the ark, and when it was called God : all these must be one speech and of like truth, if it be true which you here say. But as the ark was an ark, the stone a stone, and bread very bread, and the cup a cup, plainly, without figurative speech ; so, when they be called God, Christ, the body and blood of Christ, this cannot be a like calling, but must needs be understood by a figurative speech. For as Christ, in the Scripture, is called a lamb for His innocency and meekness, a lion for His might and power, a door and way whereby we enter into His Father's house, wheat and corn for the property of dying before they rise up and bring increase; so is He called bread, and bread is called His body, and wine His blood, for the property of feeding and nourishing ; so that these, and all like speeches, whereas B 2 4 PRECIOUS STONES. one substance is called by the name of another substance diverse and distinct in nature, must needs be understood figuratively by some si- militude or property of one substance unto another, and can in nowise be understood properly and plainly without a figure. And, therefore, when Christ is called the Son of God, or bread is called bread, it is a most plain and proper speech ; but when Christ is called bread, or bread is called Christ, these can in nowise be formal and proper speeches, the substances and natures of them being so diverse, but must needs have an understand- ing in figure, signification, or similitude (as the very nature of all sacraments require), as all the old writers so plainly teach. (Answer to Gardyner : Works of Cranmer by Jenkins., iii. 285.) BISHOP HOOPER. The Authority of the Scriptures and the Church. [HOOPER, born 1495, died 1555.] I had rather follow the shadow of Christ than the body of all the general councils and doc? PRECIOUS STONES. 5 tors since the death of Christ. Unto the rules and canons of the Scripture must man trust and reform his errors thereby, or else he shall not reform himself, but rather deform his conscience. The Church of the Romans, Corinthians, and others the seven Churches that John writeth of in the Apocalypse were in all things reformed unto the rule and form prescribed by the everlasting God. The images of these Churches I always print in my mind. (The Office and Character of Christ.) ARCHBISHOP SANDYS. Unwritten Tradition not to be followed. [SANDYS, born 1519, died 1588.] If God have committed His laws, moral, civil, ceremonial, evangelical, and historical also, unto writing, there should we seek for the statutes of the Almighty ; but in His written word the ancients of the house of God knew no fountain of His truth but this : they never enquired what had been whispered in men's ears : that which they 6 PRECIOUS STONES. believed and taught, they read it out of The Book. In the history of Joshua it is recorded how he did assemble the tribes, elders, heads, judges, and officers of Israel together, shewing them what God had spoken unto them by Moses, but uttering unto them no speech which was not written. Josias, with all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, prophets, and all the people small and great, made a covenant before the Lord, to keep His commandments, and His testi- monies, and His statutes, with all their heart and with all their soul. But what statutes ? What testimonies ? " The words of the cove- nant written in this book." Christ speaketh many things, His apostles many things, con- cerning the doctrine of the prophets : but no one point of doctrine which is not found in their books and writings. The prophet Isaiah crieth, " To the law and to the testimony." Consider the practice of Jesus Christ: His proofs are " It is written." His demands are "How dost thou read?" His apologies are " Search the Scriptures, they bear me record." His apostles tread in the same path : PRECIOUS STONES. they go not the breadth of an hair, not a whit, from that which is written. ( Tracts of the Anglican Fathers. T. 11. p. 291.) THOMAS BECOtf. The Power of the Keys.{BECQX, died 1570, Chaplain to Cranmer.] This preaching of remitting or retaining sins are the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, which Christ promised His apostles before His death, as we may see in St. Matthew; and after His resurrection performed His promise, as we read in the Gospel of St. John; and by a metaphor, Christ called the preaching of His word a key ; for, as a key hath two properties, one to shut, another to open, so hath the word of God. It openeth to the faithful the treasure of the gifts of God grace, mercy, favour, remission of sins, quietness of conscience, and everlasting life ; but to the unfaithful it shutteth all its treasures, and suffereth them to receive none of them all, so long as they persist and remain in their incredulity and unfaithfulness. These 8 PRECIOUS STONES. keys are given to so many as, being truly called unto the office of ministration, preach the word of God. They loosen, that is to say, they preach to the faithful remission of sins by Christ ; they also bind, that is, they declare to the unfaithful damnation. (The Castle of Comfort.') BISHOP JEWELL. Reformation not Destruction. [JEWELL, born 1522, died 1571.] In religion no part is to be called " little." A hair is but little, yet it hath a shadow. I speak not this, be- cause I think nothing at all may be left to any special purpose ; for even in Jericho, where was made a general destruction, God Himself commanded that all silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, should be saved, and not saved only, but be brought into the Lord's treasury. Howbeit, the things that may be reserved mut not be dust, or chaff, or hay, or stubble ; but gold and silver, and iron and brass I mean they may not be PRECIOUS STONES. 9 things meet to famish and maintain supersti- tion, but such things as be strong, and may serve either directly to serve God, or else for comeliness and good order. Such things may be reserved, notwithstanding they come out of the spoil of Jericho. (Sermons : Joshua vi.) Christian Fervour in the Cause of God. The true and godly zeal proceedeth not from hypocrisy or intention, but is led and trained by understanding, and is molten into the heart, and the vehemency and heat of it no man knoweth but he that feeleth it. It taketh away the use of reason : it eateth and devour- eth up the heart even as the thing that is eaten is turned into the substance of him that eateth it ; and as iron, while it is burning hot, is turned into the nature of the fire, so great and so just is the grief that they which have this zeal conceive when they see God's house spoiled, or His holy name dishonoured. (Psalm Ixix. 9.) The Agency of Man in Propagating the Gospel. I speak not against all civil and 10 PRECIOUS STONES. honest lawful policy ; for I know it is the gift of God, without the which no common State nor the Church can be maintained. But this seemeth to have been the meaning of the old fathers that in the building of God's Church the preaching of God's word must go before, to quiet men's consciences ; and wisdom and policy, like handmaids, must follow after. For this honour and prerogative God claim- eth only to Himself that His Church must be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Thus Christ, at the beginning, gathered His Church, not by laws of men, but against all law and policy, by the preach- ing of His word. God might have instructed Cornelius by the angel that appeared to him, as it appeareth in the Acts of the Apostles ; but He would not so, but sent Peter to him, that he might be instructed by the mouth of a preacher. He might have taught Paul, after He had stricken him down from his horse, when He appeared to him and said, " I am Jesus, whom thou persecuted ;" but He would not so, but rather left him to be taught by Ananias. And, as it appeareth in the PRECIOUS STONES. 11 Acts of the Apostles, at the preaching of Peter, three thousand people were converted and won in one day, that it might appear by what tools, and with what workmen, God would have His harvest set forward. (Ser- mon : Matthew ix. 37, 38.) BISHOP BILSOX. The Obedience of Christ. [BiLSOX, born 1536, died 1616.] By Christ's obedience, I do not mean the holiness of His life or per- formance of the law, but the obedience of the person unto death, even the death of the cross, which was voluntarily offered by Him, not necessarily imposed on Him, above and be- sides the law, and no way required in the law ; for it could be no duty to God or man, but only mercy and pity towards us, that caused the Son of God to take our mortal and weak flesh unto Him, and therein and thereby to pay the ransom of our sins, and to purchase eternal life for us. He must be a Saviour no debtor ; a Redeemer no pri- soner ; Lord of all even He humbled Him- 12 PRECIOUS STONES. self to be the servant of all. His divine glory, power, and majesty, make His sufferings to be of infinite force and value. And from His dignity and unity of person, which is the main pillar of our redemption, if we cast our eyes on any other cause, or devise any new help to strengthen the merits of Christ, we dishonour and disable His divinity, as if the Son of God were not a full and sufficient price to ransom the bodies and souls of all mankind. On this foundation do the Scrip- tures build the whole frame of man's redemp- tion. " God purchased His Church (saith Paul) with His own blood." (Acts xx.) : God, noting the dignity ; His own, the unity of His person ; and both imparting a price far worthier than the thing purchased. ( Works, 1599.) HENRY SMITH. TJie Sinner's Destiny. [SMITH, born , died 1600.] When Iniquity hath played her part, Vengeance leaps upon the stage; the comedy is short, but the tragedy is long. The PRECIOUS STONES. 13 black guard shall attend upon you ; you shall eat at the table of sorrow, and the crown of death shall be upon your heads, many glister- ing faces looking upon you. (The Trumpet of the Soul sounding to Judgment.') Hypocrisy. When God seeth a hypocrite, he will pull his vizard from his face, as Adam was stripped of his fig leaves, and show the anatomy of his heart, as though his life were written on his forehead. (Ibid.') The Christian's Service. Every thought, and word, and deed, of a faithful man is a step towards heaven ; in every place he meet- eth Christ everything puts him in mind of God ; he seeks Him to find Him, and when he hath found Him he seeks Him still ; he is not satisfied, because at every touch there comes some virtue from Him. Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and after them he served seven more, and yet he was content to serve six more ; and when he had served so many years, they seemed unto him as nothing, because he loved her. He which served so 14 PRECIOUS STONES. long for Rachel served all his life for heaven ; and if he had lived till this day, he would have served God, and thought it nothing, be- cause he loved Him. (Jacob's Ladder.) The Certainty of Future Punishment. Methinks that every one should have a feel- ing of sin : though this day be like yesterday, and to-morrow like to-day, yet one day will come for all, and then wo, wo, wo, and nothing but darkness ; and though God came not to Adam until the evening yet He came ; although the fire came not upon Sodom until evening yet it came ; and so comes the Judge. Though He be not yet come though He hath leaden feet He hath iron hands ; the arrow slayeth and is not yet fallen so is His wrath. (Four Sermons, p. 129 ; 1674.) Religious Knowledge. The star, when it came to Christ, stood still, and went no far- ther ; so, when we come to the knowledge of Christ, we should stand still and go no far- ther ; for Paul was content to know nothing but Christ crucified. (A Looking-glass for Christians.) PRECIOUS STOXES. 15 The Ruin of a Soul forsaken by God. The soul of man is called the temple of the Holy Ghosf. As God pulled down His temple when it became a den of thieves, so He for- saketh the temple of the soul, and taketh His grace from her (as from a divorced spouse) when she lusteth after other loves. With any talent He giveth this charge Use and in- crease it until I come ; being left, at last He cometh to see what we have done. The seed was sown this year the Lord calls for fruit, but none will come ; the next year, and the next after, but none comes ; at last the curse goeth forth Never fruit grow upon thee more. Then as the fig-tree began to wither, so his gifts begin to fade, as if a worm were still gnawing at them ; his knowledge loseth his relish, like the Jews' manna ; his judgment rusts like a sword which is not used ; his zeal trembleth as though it were in a palsy ; his faith withereth as though it were blasted ; and the image of death is upon all his religion. After this he thinketh, like Sampson, to pray as he did, and speak as he did, and hath no power ; but wondereth, like Zedekiah, how 16 PRECIOUS STONES. the Spirit is gone from him. Now, when the good Spirit is gone, then cometh the spirit of blindness, and the spirit of terror, and the spirit of fear, and all to seduce the spirit of man. After this, by little and little, first he falls into error then he comes into heresy at last he plungeth into despair ; after this, if he enquire, God will not suffer him to learn : if he read, God will not suffer him to understand : if he hear, God will not suffer him to remember : if he pray, God seemeth unto him, like Baal, who could not hear ; at last he beholdeth his wretchedness, as Adam looked upon his nakedness, and mourneth for his gifts, as Rachel wept for her children, because they were not. {The Heavenly Thrift.) Two Consciences. Be not deceived, for sin doth not end as it begins ; when the terrors of Judas come upon the soul the tongue can- not hide his sins, for despair and horror will not be smothered ; but he which hath Saul's spirit haunting him will rage as Saul did. There is a warning conscience, and a gnaw- ing conscience. The warning conscience PRECIOUS STONES. 17 cometh before sin; the gnawing conscience cometh after sin. The warning conscience is often lulled asleep ; but the gnawing con- science waketh her again. If there be any hell in this world, they which feel the worm of conscience gnaw upon their hearts may truly say that they have felt the torments of hell. Who can express that man's horror but him- self ? Nay, what horrors are there which he cannot express himself? Sorrows are met in his soul at a feast ; and fear, thought, and anguish divide his soul between them : all the the furies of hell leap upon his heart like a stage. Thought calleth to Fear; Fear whistleth to Horror ; Horror beckoneth to Despair, and saith, Come and help me to tor- ment this sinner. One saith that she cometh from this sin, and another saith that she cometh from that sin so he goes through a thousand deaths and cannot die. Irons are laid upon his body like a prisoner all his lights are put out at once. (The Betraying of Christ.) 1$ PRECIOUS STONES, EDMUND SPENSER. Legislation to be adapted to National Cha- racter. [SPENSER, born 1553, died 1598.] Laws ought to be fashioned unto the manners and conditions of the people to whom they are meant, and not to be imposed upon them according to the simple rule of right ; for then instead of good they may work ill, and pervert justice to extreme injustice. For he that transfers the laws of the Lacedemonians to the people of Athens, should find a great absurdity and inconvenience. For those laws of Lacedemon were devised by Lycurgus, as most proper and best agreeing with that people whom he knew to be inclined altogether to wars ; and, therefore, wholly trained them up even from their cradles iii arms and military exercises, clean contrary to the institution of Solon ; who, in his laws to the Athenians, laboured by all means to temper their warlike courages with sweet delights of learning and sciences : so that, as much as the one excelled in arms, the other exceeded in knowledge. (View of the State of Ireland, p, 8 ; 1633.) PRECIOUS STOXES. 19 RICHARD HOOKER. Faith in Christ an Incentive to Self-exertion [HOOKER, born 1553, died 1600.] It was not the meaning of our Lord and Saviour, in saying " Father keep them in thy name," that we should be careless to keep ourselves. To our own safety, our own sedulity is required ; and then blessed for ever be that mother's child whose faith hath made him the child of God. The earth may shake, the pillars of the world may tremble under us, the countenance of the heavens may be appalled, the sun may lose his light, the moon her beauty, the stars their glory ; but, concerning the man that trusteth in God, if the fire once proclaimed it- self unable to singe a hair of his head if lions, beasts ravenous by nature, and keen with hun- ger, being set to devour, have, as it were, religiously adored the flesh of the faithful man what is there in the world which shall change his heart, overthrow his faith, alter his affection towards God, or the affection of God to him ? If I be of this note, who shall make a separation between me and my God ? ]' Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, C 2 20 PRECIOUS STONES. or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ?" No. " I am persuaded that neither tribula- tion, nor anguish, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword, nor death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature," shall ever prevail so far over me. I know in whom I have believed I am not ignorant whose precious blood hath been shed for me : I have a Shepherd, full of kindness, full of care, and full of power : unto Him I commit myself: His own finger hath engraven this sentence on the tables of my heart : " Satan hath desired to winnow thee as wheat, but I have prayed that thy faith fail not ;" therefore the assurance of my hope I will labour to keep as a jewel unto the end ; and by labour, through the gracious mediation of His prayer, I shall keep it. (Sermon on the Certainty and Perpetuity of Faith in the Elect.} Against Sudden Death. Quick riddance out of life is often both requested and bestowed as a benefit. Commonly, therefore, it is for PRECIOUS STONES. 21 virtuous considerations that wisdom so far prevaileth with men, as to make them desirous of slow and deliberate death against the stream, of their sensual inclination ; content to endure* the longer grief and bodily pain, that the soul may have time to call itself to a just account of all things past, by means whereof repen- tance is perfected ; there is wherein to exer- cise patience -the joys of the kingdom of hea- ven have leisure to present themselves the pleasures of sin and this world's vanities are censured with uncorrupt judgment charity is free to make advised choice of the soil wherein her last seed may most fruitfully be bestowed the mind is at liberty to have due regard of that disposition of worldly things which it can never afterwards alter ; and, because the nearer we draw unto God, the more we are oftentimes enlightened with the shining beams of His glorious presence as being then even almost in sight a leisurable departure may in that case bring forth, for the good of such as are present, that which shall cause them for ever after, from the bottom of their hearts, to pray " let us die the death of the righte- 22 PRECIOUS STORES. ous, and let our last end be like theirs."- (Ecclesiastical Polity, b. v.) SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. The Sacredncss of Poetry. [SIDNEY, born 1554, died 1586.] And may I not presume a little farther, to show the reasonableness of this word " Vates," and say, the holy David's Psalms are a divine poem ? If I do, I shall not do it without the testimony of great learned men, both ancient and modern. But even the name of Psalms will speak for me which, being interpreted, is nothing but songs; then that is fully written in metre, as all learned Hebricians agree, although the rules be not yet fully found. Lastly, and princi- pally, his handling his prophecy, which is merely poetical for what else is the awak- ing his musical instruments ; the often and free changing of persons ; his notable proso- popoeias, when he maketh you, as it were, see God coming in His majesty ; his telling of the beasts' joyfulness and hills leaping, but a PRECIOUS STONES, 23 heavenly poesy ; wherein, almost, he sheweth himself a passionate lover of that unspeakable and everlasting beauty, to be seen by the eyes of the mind only cleared by faith? But, truly; now, having named Him, I fear I seem to pro- phane that holy name applying it to poetry, which is, among us, thrown down to so ridi- culous an estimation. But they that, with quiet judgments, will look a little deeper into it. shall find the end and working of it such as, being rightly applied, deserveth not to be scourged out of the Church of God. (Defence of Poetry, p. 9 : ed. Gray.) LOED BACOX. Of Wisdom for a Man's Self. [BACON", born 1561, died 1626.] An ant is a wise creature for itself, but is a shrewd thing in an orchard or garden ; and certainly men that are great lovers of themselves waste the pub- lic divide with reason between self-love and society. It is a poor centre of a man's actions himself: it is right earth, for that only stands fast upon his own centre ; whereas all things 24 PRECIOUS STONES. that have affinity with the heavens move upon the centre of another which they benefit Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing : it is the wisdom of rats that will be sure to leave a house some time before it falls ; but that which is espe- cially to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) are sui amantes, sine rivali, are many times unfortunate ; and whereas they have all their time sacrificed themselves, they become in the end them- selves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought, by their self- wis- dom, to have pinioned.-CEssays : Of Wisdom.') BISHOP ANDREWS. A Thought on Ash- Wednesday. [ANDREWS, born 1565, died 1626.] To speak of re- pentance at the time of fasting, or of fasting at the time of repentance, is no way out of season : as tree and fruit they stand. Of these fruits, fasting is one I and this we now begin, a worthy fruit, even from year to year, religiously brought forth in the Church of Christ that we go PRECIOUS STONES. 2& not from one when we fall upon the other. Repentance is here brought in and presented to us as a tree with fruit upon it. (Matt. iii. 8.) The tree of God's planting: the first medicinable of the nature of a counter- poison, against our bane, taken by the fruit of another tree. The fruit of this forbidden tree had envenomed our nature ; the fruit of this tree, to expel it. to recover and cure us of it. (Sermon Ivi., p. 238 ; 1631.; DONNE. Mercy and Judgment. [DONNE, born 1573, died 1631.] This is the difference between God's mercy and His judgments that some- times His judgments may be plural, compli- cated, enwrapped in one another ; but His mercies are always so, and cannot be other- wise. (Sermon Ixxx., fol. 1640, p. 11.) Romance and Reality of Life. The world, which finds itself truly in an autumn in itself, finds itself in a spring in our imagination. (Hid, 161.; 26 PREtflOtTS STONES, The Inherent Sanctity of Law. How far human laws do bind the conscience how far they lay such an obligation upon us, as that, if we transgress them, we do not only incur the penalty but sin towards God hath been a perplexed question in all times and in all places. But how diverse soever their opinions be in that, they all agree in this, that no law which hath all the essential parts of a law, (for laws against God, laws beyond the power of him that pretends to make them, are no laws), no law can be so merely a human law but there is in it a divine part. There is in human law part of the law of God, which is obedience to the superior. That man cannot bind tlie conscience, because he cannot judge the conscience, nor he cannot absolve the conscience, may be a good argument ; but, in laws made by that power which is or- dained by God, man binds not, but God himself; and then you must be subject. not because of wrath, but because of con- science. Though then the matter and subject of the law, that which the law commands or prohibits may be an indifferent action, yet PRECIOUS STONES. 27 in all these God hath His part ; and there is a certain divine soul and spark of God's power, which goes through all laws and inanimates them. (Sermon cliv.J Human Life. An ant-hill is the same book in decimo sexto as a kingdom is in folio a flower, that lives but a day, is an abridgement of a king that lives out his three score and ten years. (Ibid.) The Eternal Happiness of the Righteous. A day that hath no pridie, nor postridie, yesterday doth not usher it in, nor to- morrow shall not drive it out. Methusalem, with all his hundreds of years, was but a mushroom of a night's growth to this day ; and all the four monarchies, with all their thousands of years, and all the powerful kings, and all the beautiful queens of this world, were but as a bed of flowers some gathered at six, some at seven, some at eight, all in the morning in respect of this day. ( Sermon Ixxiii.^ The Voices of God to Man. God multi- plies his mercies to us in His divers ways of 28 PRECIOUS STONES. speaking to us. Call enarrant, says David, the heavens declare the glory of God ; and not only by showing, but saying ; there is a language in the heavens, for it is enarrant a verbal declaration ; and, as it follows literally, day unto day uttereth speech. This is the true tes- timony of the spheres which evfery man may hear. Though he understand no tongue but his own, he may hear God in the motions of the same, in the seasons of the year, in the vi- cissitudes and revolutions of the Church and State, in the voice of thunder and lightnings, and other declarations of His power. God once confounded languages that conspiring men might not understand one another ; but never so, as that all men might not under- stand Him God translates Himself in par- ticular works ; nationally, He speaks in par- ticular judgments or deliverances to one nation ; and domestically, He speaks that lan- guage to a particular family; and so personally, too, He speaks to every particular soul. God will speak to me in that voice, and in that way which I am most delighted with, and hearken most to, If I be covetous, God will PRECIOUS STONES. 29 tell me that heaven is a pearl, a treasure : if cheerful and affected with mirth, that heaven is all joy : if ambitious and hungry of pre- ferment, that heaven is all glory : if sociable and conversible, that it is a communion of saints. God will make a fever speak to me, and tell me His mind, that there is no health but in Him ; God will make the frowns and disfavour of him I depend upon speak to me, and tell me His mind, that there is no safe dependence, no assurance, but in Him ; God will make a storm by sea, or a fire by land, speak to me and tell me His mind even my sin shall be a sermon and catechism to me ; God shall suffer me to fall into some such sin as, that by some circumstances in the sin, or consequences from the sin, I shall be drawn to hearken unto Him ; and whether I hear Hosannas, acclamations and commendations, or Crucifiges, exclamations, and condemnations from the world, I shall still find the voice and tongue of God, though in the mouth of the devil and his instruments. God is a declara- tory God. The whole year is to His saints a continual Epiphany one day of manifestation! 30 PRECIOUS STONES. In every minute that strikes upon the bell is a syllable nay, a syllogism, from God ; and, in my last bell, God shall speak too that bell when it tolls shall tell me I am going and when it rings out, shall tell you I am gone into the hands of that God who is the God of the living and not of the dead, for they die not that depart in Him. Dives pressed Abraham to send a preacher from the dead to his brethren : this was to put God to a new language, when he had spoken sufficiently by Moses and the prophets. And yet, even in this language, the tongue of the dead hath God spoken too in his Son Jesus Christ, the Lord of Life, and yet the first-born of the dead. (Sermon cxx.J BISHOP HALL. Against Praying to Saints. [HALL, born 1574, died 1656.] Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken from thee. I do not hear him say " Ask of me when I am gone ; in my glorified condition I shall be more able to 'bestead thee;" but "Asfc before I go," PRECIOTJS STONES, 31 We have a communion with the saints de- parted, not a commerce. (Contemplations : the Baptism of Elijah.') The Christian in Society, Instructed ty Christ. I do not find where Jesus was ever bidden to any table and refused. If a phari- see, if a publican, invited him, He made not dainty to go not for the pleasu& of the dishes. What was that to Him who began His work in a whole Lent of days, but as it was His meat and drink to do the will of His Father for the benefit of so winning a con- versation ? If He sat with sinners He con- verted them ; if with converts, He confirmed and instructed them ; if with the poor, He fed them ; if with the rich in substance, He made them rich in grace. At whose board did He ever visit and left not His host a gainer? The poor bridegroom entertained Him, and hath his water pots filled with wine. Simon, the pharisee, entertains Him, and hath his table honoured with the public remission of a penitent sinner, and with the heavenly doc- trine of remission. Zaccheus entertains Him; 32 PRECIOUS STONES. salvation came that day to his house with the Author of it. That presence made the pub- lican a son of Abraham. Matthew is recom- pensed for his feast with an apostleship. Martha and Mary entertain Him, and, besides divine instruction, receive their brother from the dead. (Ibid Matthew called.') Spiritual Crucifixion. Wherefore, then, say you was the apostle's complaint Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death ? Mark, I beseech you, it was the body of sin, not the life of sin a body of death, not the life of that body. Or, if this body had yet some life, it was such a life as is left in the limbs when the head is struck off; some dying quivering, rather as the remainder of a life that was, than any act of a life that is. Or, if a further life, such an one as in swounds and fits of epilepsy, which yields breath but not sense ; or, if some kind of sense, yet no motion ; or, if it have some kind of motion in us, yet no manner of dominion over us. What power, motion, sense, relics of life, are in a fully crucified man ? Such PRECIOUS STONES. 33 an one may waft up and down with the wind, but cannot move out of any internal princi- ple. (Ibid.) Looking to Jesus. Those that have searched into the monuments of Jerusalem write that our Lord was crucified with His face to the west ; which, however spitefully meant of the Jews (as not allowing Him worthy to look on the holy city and temple), yet was not without a mystery. His eyes looked to the Gentiles, Sfc., saith the Psalmist. As Christ, therefore' on His cross, looked towards us, sinners of the Gentiles, so let us look up to Him. ( Ser- mon : Gal ii. 20.J BEN JONSON. De Piis et Prolis. [JoNSON, born 1574, died 1637.] Good men are the stars the planets of the age wherein they live, and illustrate the times. God did never let them be wanting to the world : as Abel, for an ex- ample of innocency ; Enoch of purity ; Noah of trust in God's mercies ; Abraham of faith ; D 34 PRECIOUS STONES. and so of the rest. These, sensual men thought mad, because they would not be par- takers or practisers of their madness ; but they, placed high on the top of all virtue, looked down on the stage of the world, and contemned the play of fortune ; for, though the most be players, some must be spectators. (Discourses.) Ingenia. Natures that are hardened to vil you shall sooner break than make straight : they are like poles that are crooked and dry there is no attempting them. (Ibid.) Elegantia. A man should so deliver him- self to the nature of the subject whereof he speaks, that his hearer may take notice of his discipline with some delight ; and so ap- parel fair and good matter that the studious of elegancy be not defrauded ; redeem arts from their rough and brakey seats where they lay hid, and overgrown with thorns, to a pure, open, and flowery light ; where they rarely may take the eye, and be taken by the" hand. (Ibid.) PRECIOUS STONES. 35 ARCHBISHOP USHER. The Mystic Union of Christ and the Be- liever.[ USHER, born 1580, died 1656.] The bond of this mystical union betwixt Christ and us is on His part that quickening Spirit which, being in Him as the head, is from thence diffused to the spiritual animation of all His members ; and on our part faith, which is the prime act of life, wrought in those who are capable of understanding by that same Spirit. Both thereof must be acknowledged to be of so high a nature that none could possibly, by such ligatures, knit up so admirable a body but that he was God Almighty. (Immanuel; or the Mystery of the Incarnation, 1638.^ Effectual Calling. You hear much talk of God's eternal and everlasting election, and we are too apt to rest on this that, if we are elected to salvation, we shall be saved ; and if not we shall be damned, troubling ourselves with God's work of predestination : whereas this works no change in the party elected, until we come unto Him in His own person. What is God's election to me ? It is nothing P 2 36 PRECIOUS STONES. to my comfort, unless I myself am effectually called, We are to look to this effectual cal- lingthe other is but God's love to sever me. But what is my effectual calling ? It is that when God touches my heart, or trans- lates me from the death of sin to the life of grace. (Sermon ii. : Hebrews iv. 1.) Suffering made the Instrument of our Sanc- tification. Until the Lord humble and bring us low in our own eyes, showing us our misery and sinful poverty, and that in us there is no good thing that we are stripped of all health in and without ourselves, and must perish for ever unless we beg His mercy we will not come unto Him, as we see it was with the woman whom Christ healed. (Luke viii. 43.) How long it was before she came to Christ ! She had been sick twelve years she had spent all her substance upon physicians, and nobody could help her, and this brings her to Christ. So that this is the means to bring us unto Christ to drive us on our knees, hopeless as low as they may be, to show us where hope only is to be found and run us PRECIOUS STONES. 37 unto it. Thus, therefore, when men have no time to come to Christ, He sends, as it were, fiery serpents to sting them, that they might look up unto the brazen serpent or rather unto Jesus Christ, of which it was a type, for help : so unto others, being strangers unto Him, He sends varieties of great and sore afflictions to make them come to Him that He may be acquainted with them. As Absa- lom sets Joab's corn on fire, because he would not come to him, being twice sent for, so God deals with us before our conversion, many times, as with iron whips lashing us home, turning lose the avenger of blood after us ; and then, for our life, we run and make haste to the city of refuge. (The Seal of Salvation : Romans viii. 14. ) SIR THOMAS OVERBURY. A Noble Spirit. [OvERBURY, born 1581, died 1613.] He hath surveyed and fortified his disposition, and converts all occurrences into experience, between which experience and his reason there is marriage ; the issue 38 PRECIOUS STONES. are his actions : he circuits his intents, and seeth the end before he shoots : he calls not the vanity of the world chances, for his medi- tation hath travelled over them, and his eye, mounted upon his understanding, seeth them as things underneath. Truth is his goddess, and he takes pains to get her not to look like her : he knows the condition of the world, that he must act one thing like an- other, and then another ; to these he carries his desires and not his desires him, and sticks not fast by the way ; but, knowing the circle of all courses, of all intents, of all things to have but one centre or period, without all distrac- tion, he hasteneth thither, and ends there as his true natural element. Unto the society of men he is a sun, whose clearness directs their steps in a regular motion. When he is more particular, he is the wise man's friend the example of the indifferent the medicine of the vicious. Thus time goeth not from him, but with him ; and he feels age more by the strength of his soul, than the weakness of his body. Thus feels he no pain, but esteems all such, things as friends that desire to file PRECIOUS STONES. 39 off his fetters and help him out of prison. (Characters.) ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS. The School of Sorrow. [WILLIAMS, born 1582, died 1650.] A Christain soul is best instructed which is most scourged and af- flicted. For, as Joseph entertained his bre- thren roughly, before he was pleased to be discovered by them, so God will have His children exercised with roughness, before He will be perfectly known unto them. Job (it seems) was no young man in the beginning, but sure he was a young scholar, and never put to his Christ's cross (the real alphabet of true Christianity, which we spell out by suf- fering, not by reading) until his latter end. And so the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning. (Sermon on Perseverance, p. 50 ; 1628.) DUDLEY DIGGES. True Nature of Law. [DiGGES, born 1583, died 1639.] If we look back to the law of 40 PRECIOUS STONES. nature, we shall find that the people would have had a clearer and more distinct notion of it, if the common use of calling it law had not helped to confound their understanding, when it ought to have been named the right of nature ; for right and law differ as much as liberty and bonds; and therefore,y(>r nature, all the right of nature, which now we can innocently make use of, is that freedom, not which any law gives us, but which no law takes away ; and laws are the several restraints and limitations of native liberty. (The Un- lawfulness of Subjects taking up Arms, fyc. p. 40 ; 1647.) BISHOP SANDERSON. Expediency defined. [SANDERSON, born 1587, died 1663.] That expediency ever re- lates to the end, we may gather from the very notion of the words ; ovpfapetv, in the Greek, is as much as to confer, or contribute something, to bring in some health or further- ance towards the attainment of the desired end ; and expedire, in the Latin, is properly PRECIOUS STONES. 41 to speed a business ; as the contrary thereof (impedire) is to hinder it. The word expedi- tion comes thence ; and so does this also of ex- pediency. That thing, then, may not unfitly, be said to be expedient to any end, that does expedite, give any furtherance or avail towards the attaining of that end ; and that, on the contrary, to be inexpedient, that does impe- dire, cast in any let, rub, or impediment, to hinder the same. It must be man's first care to propose to himself, in all his actions, some right end ; and then he is to judge of the ex- pediency of the means by their serviceable- ness thereunto. ( Twelfth Sermon ad Aulam> July 26, 1640.) BISHOP HACKET. A Thought for Christmas. [HACKET, born 1592, died 1670.] In the Old Testament, says Hugo, though angels were sent to men upon sundry occasions, yet they never came with this property, so far as we can read, that glory did shine about them ; but now, the Sun of Righteousness did rise upon the earth, they 42 PRECIOUS STONES. appear conspicuous in their colours, like the beams of the sun By this it appears how suitably a beam of admirable light did concur in the angel's message to set out the majesty of the Son of God ; and I beseech you to observe, all you that would keep a good Christmas, as you ought, that the glory of God is the best celebration of His Son's Nativity ; and all your pastimes and mirth (which I disallow not, but rather commend in moderate use) must so be managed, without riot, without surfeiting, without excessive gaming, without pride and vain pomp, in harmlessness, in sobriety ; as if the glory of the Lord were round about us. Christ was born to save them that are lost, but frequently you abuse His Nativity with so many vices, such disordered outrages, so that you make this happy time an occasion for your loss rather than for your salvation. Praise Him in the congregation of the people' praise Him in your inward heart praise Him with the sanctity of your life praise Him in your charity to them that are in need and are in want. This is the glory of God shining PRECIOUS STONES. 43 round, and the most Christian solemnizing of the birth of Jesus. (Century of Sermons, fol.,p.27; 167-5.) FARIKDON. The Grief of Jesus upon the Cross. [FAR- IXDOX, born 1596, died 1658.] Grieve Christ did, and fear : He who, as God, could have commanded a legion of angels, as man had need of one to comfort Him : He was deli- vered up to passions to afflict, not to swallow Him up. There was no disorder, no jar with reason, which was still above them; there was no sullenness in His grief, no despair in His complaints, no unreasonableness in His thoughts : not a thought rose amiss, not a word was misplaced, not a motion irregular : He knew He was not forsaken when He asked, Why hast thou forsaken Me ? The bitterness of the cup struck Him into a fear. When His obedience called for it, He prayed, indeed, Let this cup pass from Me ; but that was not the cup of His cross and passion, but 44 PRECIOUS STONES. the cup of His agony. And in that prayer it is plain He was heard ; for the text tells us, There appeared an angel unto Him from heaven to strengthen Him. Being of the same mould and temper with men, He was willing to receive the impressions, which are so visible in man, of sorrow and fear. (Sermon : Ro- mans viii. 32.) THE REDEEMER'S AGONY. Is there yet any more ? or can the Son of God be de- livered further ? Delivered he was not to despair, for that was impossible ; not to the torments of hell, which could never seize on His innocent soul, but to the wrath of God, which withered His heart like grass, " burnt up His bones like a hearth," and " brought Him even to the dust of death." Look now upon His countenance it is pale and wan ; upon His heart it is melted like wax ; upon His tongue it cleaveth to the roof of His mouth. What talk we of death? The wrath of God is truly the terriblest thing in this world the sting of 'sin, which is the sting of death. Look into our own souls PRECIOUS STONES. 45 that weak apprehension of it which we some- times have what a night and darkness doth it draw over us ? Nay, what a hell doth it kindle in us ! What torments do we feel the types and sad representations of those in the bottomless pit ! How do our delights distaste us, and our desires strangle them- selves ! What a Tophet is the world, and what furies are our thoughts ! What do we see which we do not turn from ? What do we know which we would not forget ? What do we think which we do not startle at ? or, do we know what to think ? Now, what rock can hide us ? What mountain can cover us ? We are weary of ourselves, and could wish rather not to be than to be under God's wrath. Were it not for this, there would be no law, no conscience, no devil ; but with this the law is a killing letter, the conscience a fury, and the devil a tormentor. But, yet, there is still a difference between our appre- hension and Christ's. For. alas ! to us, God's wrath doth not appear in its full horror ; for, if it did, we should sooner die than offend Him. Some do but think of it; few think 46 PRECIOUS STONES. of it as they should, and they that are most apprehensive look upon it, as at a distance, as that which may be turned away ; and so, not fearing God's wrath, "treasure up wrath against the day of wrath." To us, when we take it at the nearest and have the fullest sight of it, it appeareth but as the cloud did to Elijah's servant, " like, a man's hand ;" but to Christ " the heavens were black with clouds and wind," and it showered down upon Him as in a tempest of fire. We have not His eyes, and therefore not His apprehension; we see not so much deformity in sin as He did, and not so much terror in the wrath of God Divers sinners have been delivered up to afflictions and crosses, nay, to the anger of God ; but never any, nay, not those who have despaired, were so delivered as Christ. For though Christ could not despair, yet the wrath of God was more visible to Him than to those who bear but their own burdens : whereas He lay pressed under the sins of the whole world. God, in His approaches of jus- tice, when He cometh towards the sinner to correct him, may seem to go, like the consul PRECIOUS STONES. 47 of Rome, with his rods and his axes carried before him. Many sinners have felt His rod, and His rod is comfort ; His frown, favour ; His anger, love; and His blow, a benefit. But Christ was struck, as it were, with His axe. Others have trembled under His wrath ; but Christ was even consumed by the stroke of His ha.n a sound, from which comes our English word echo, which is but a reciprocation of the voice, or a return or report of what is uttered. Not without reason, then, the Spirit of God chose, and the wisdom of the Church retained, those forementioned notions, because the chief principles of Christianity were at first instilled by the ear ; the sound of the apostles' words going out into all lands. For at the highest they are but echoes or sounds, whose pro- perty is to report what is heard, which ought to be observed accurately by all Catechists, who are not to teach for doctrine their own conceptions, but to sound into the ears of others what they have heard, and nothing but what they have heard; to wit, the certain 70 PRECIOUS STONES. words of their Master and His Disciples first sounded in the Gospel. (An Exposition of the Catechism, p. 1, 1686.) ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON. Mutual Dependence Inculcated. [LEIGH- TON, born 1613, died 1684.] Every man hath received some gift, no man all gifts ; and this, rightly considered, would keep all in a more even temper ; as, in nature, nothing is altogether useless, so nothing is self-sufficient. This, duly considered, would keep the meanest from repining and discontent, even him that hath the lowest rank in most respects ; yet something he hath received that is not only a good to himself, but, rightly improved, may be so to others likewise. And this will curb the loftiness of the most advanced, and teach them not only to see some deficiencies in themselves, and some gifts in far meaner persons which they want. But, besides the simple discovery of this, it will pat them upon the use of what is, in lower persons, not only PRECIOUS STONES. 71 to stoop to the acknowledgment, but even withal to the participation and benefit of it ; not to trample upon all that is below them, but to take up and use things useful, though lying at their feet. Some flowers and herbs that grow very low are of a very fragrant smell and healthful use. (Commentary on the first Epistle of Peter, ch. iv. 10.) HENRY MORE. The Conflagration of the World argued from the Power of Christ. [MORE, born 1614, died 1687.] That which Nature seems perpetu- ally to threaten of herself, can it be hard for us to believe that Christ and His glorious host of angels, who have a power above Nature, will be able to effect, when it shall seem good to Him whom God has made visible Judge of the world ? Remember what command He had over the elements when He was in the flesh in the lowest state of humiliation, and what power He had over them, that for so long time have been permitted to lord it in this >72 PRECIOUS STONES. grosser elementary world, whose chieftain is called the prince of the air. What is it, then, that He cannot do in His exalted estate, when He returns to judgment in so exceeding great majesty and glory, when He shall descend with the sound of a trump, and face the earth with His bright squadrons, and fill the whole arch of heaven with innumerable legions of His angels of light, the warm gleams of whose presence are able to make the mountains to reek and smoke, and to awake that fiery principle, that lies dormant in the earth, into a devouring flame. (Mystery of Godliness, -b. 6, chap, ix.) BISHOP WILKINS. The Harmony of Providence. [WlLKINS, born 1614, died 1672.] We cannot see the whole frame of 'things, how sundry particular events in a mutual relation do concur to make up the beauty of the whole. He that can discern only two or three wheels in a clock, how they move one against another, would PRECIOUS STOXES. 73 presently think that there were contrariety and confusion in the work ; whereas he that be- holds the whole frame, and discerns how all those divers motions do jointly conduce to the same end, cannot choose but acknowledge a wise order in the contrivance of it. So, likewise, is it in the fra me of times, where he alone is fit to judge of particulars who under- stands how they refer to the general. (A Discourse on the Beauty of Providence, p. 52 ; 1649.) RICHARD BAXTER. God, All in ^//.[BAXTER, born 1615, died 1691.] Know not, desire not, love not any creature but purely as subordinate to God ! Without Him, let it be nothing to you but as the glass without the face, or scattered letters without the sense, or as the corpse without the soul : call nothing prosperity or pleasure but His love ; and nothing adversity or misery but His displeasure, and the causes and fruits of it. Fear Him much, but love 74 PRECIOUS STONES. Him more ! Let love be the soul and end of every other duty ! It is the end and reason of all the rest, but it has no end or reason but its object. Think of no other heaven and end and happiness of man, but love the final act, and God the final object. (Instructions for a Holy Life.} Loving Christ. Christ will not take ser- mons, prayers, fastings no, nor the giving our goods, nor the burning our bodies instead of love : and do we love Him, and yet care how long we are from Him ? Was it such a joy to Jacob to see the face of Joseph in Egypt? And shall we be contented without the sight of Christ in glory, and yet say we love Him ? I dare not conclude that we have no love at all when we are so loth to die ; but I dare say, were our love more, we should die more willingly : by our unwillingness to die, it ap- pears we are little weary of sin. Did we take sin for the greatest evil, we should not be willing to have its company so long. (Sainfs Best, 205.) PRECIOUS STOKES. 75 RICHARD CUDWORTH. &>a?. [CUD WORTH, born 1617, died 1688.] Let us take heed we do not sometimes call that zeal for God and his Gospel, which is nothing else but our own tempestuous and stormy passion. True zeal is a sweet, hea- venly, and gentle flame, which maketh us active for God, but always within the sphere of love. It never calls for fire from heaven to censure those who differ a little from us in their apprehensions. It is like that kind of lightning (which the philosophers speak of) which melts the sword within, but singeth not the scabbard : it strives to save the soul, but hurteth not the body. (Sermons : 1 John c. ii. v. 3, 4 ; fol. ; p. 60 ; edit. 1676.; Holiness never forsaken by God. Let U3 not think Holiness, in the hearts of men here in the world, is a forlorn, forsaken, outcast thing from God, that he hath no regard of Holiness, wherever it is, though ever so small; if it be but hearty and sincere, it can no more be cut off and discontinued from God, than a 76 PRECIOUS STONES. sunbeam here upon earth can be broken off from its intercourse with the sun, and be left alone amid the mire and dirt of this world. The sun may as well discard its own rays, And banish them from itself, into some region of darkness far more remote from it, where they shall have no dependence at all upon it, AS God can forsake and abandon Holiness in the world, and leave it a poor orphan thing, that shall have no influence at all from Him to preserve and keep it. Holiness is some- thing of God, wherever it is : it is an efflux from Him, that always hangs upon Him, and lives in Him : as the sunbeams, although they .gild this lower world and spread their golden wings over us, yet they are not so much here, where they shine, as in the sun, from whence they flow. God cannot draw a curtain be-