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 MEDITATIONS 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 
 HOLY AND HUMANE 
 
 IN TWO PARTS 
 
 BY JOSEPH HENSHAWE DD 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 A THIRD PART 
 BY RICHARD KIDDER DD 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS 
 
 OXFORD 
 
 JOHN HEXRY PAKKER 
 MDCCCXLI 
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THE Author of the excellent Meditations 
 reprinted in this volume was Dr. JOSEPH 
 HENSHAWE, sometime Lord Bishop of 
 Peterborough. He was descended from 
 an ancient family, for many generations 
 resident at Henshawe Hall, in the town- 
 ship of Siddington, in the county Palatine j 
 of Chester, and was the second son of 
 Thomas Henshawe, Solicitor General of 
 Ireland during the reign of Queen Eliza- ; 
 beth, by Joane only daughter of Richard 
 Whiston, chief Surgeon to that Queen. 
 
 ! Our Author was born in 1603, and, ac- 
 cording to the Oxford biographer, in the 
 Parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, although ; 
 
 O ^ c 
 
 1OMS77
 
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 iv ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 it would appear that his father and 
 grandfather had for some years resided 
 at Sumpting, a village on the sea-coast of 
 Sussex. He was educated at the Charter 
 House, then lately founded, being one 
 (the 29th) of the first thirty-five Scholars 
 appointed by the Governors at their fourth 
 Meeting. In December, 1621, he entered 
 at Magdalene Hall, having previously 
 been elected to an Exhibition at Charter 
 House, and here he took the Degree of 
 Bachelor of Arts, Feb. 26, 1624-5. 
 
 It has been asserted, on the authority of 
 a MS. account of Bp. Henshawe, written 
 in 1719, by a relative (Philip Henshawe, 
 Esq. son of a nephew of the Bishop's), and 
 communicated to White Kennett, Bishop 
 of Peterborough, that he was at one 
 period elected to a Fellowship at All 
 Souls; but a careful examination of the 
 Registers of that College proves, that the 
 only Fellow of that Society of the name 
 O C
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. V 
 
 of Henshawe, was a totally different per- 
 son, one, in truth, forced into the place 
 of a better subject by the Parliamentary 
 Visitors in 1648. 
 
 At an early age he was appointed Chap- 
 lain to John Digby, Earl of Bristol, as 
 well as to George Villiers, first Duke of 
 Buckingham of that name. Beside the 
 Rectories of Steadham cum Hayshot, and 
 of East Lavant, both in the county of 
 Sussex, he held a Canonry in the Cathe- 
 dral Church of Chichester; and pro- 
 ceeded D.D. A.D. 1639. He had married 
 Jane, seventh daughter of John Maye, 
 Esq. of Rawmere, in the same neighbour- 
 hood. By her he had three children, the 
 eldest of whom died young, and was 
 buried within the Chancel of East Lavant 
 Church, in the same vault with her 
 mother, to whom he afterwards erected 
 an alabaster monument, consecrating 
 her memory in an Inscription, which 
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 will be found at the end of this Adver- 
 tisement. 
 
 From the MS. account before alluded 
 to, it seems that the other children were 
 a son and daughter; the former married 
 a Miss Gore, and died without issue; the 
 latter married Sir Andrew Hackett, and 
 left an only daughter, married to a Mr. 
 Whittall, a gentleman of Shropshire. 
 Upon the breaking out of the great Rebel- 
 lion, Henshawe was deprived of all his 
 preferment ; and forced to compound for 
 his temporals at the cost of 177; and 
 having remained for some time in the 
 house of the Lady Paulet, at length de- 
 termined on attending King Charles II. 
 in his exile, and leaving his two surviving 
 children to the care of their Uncle 
 Thomas Henshawe of Billingshurst in his 
 native county. 
 
 At the Restoration, he did much ser- 
 vice to the Church at Chichester in set- 
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. Vli 
 
 tling its affairs ; and having been made on 
 the 10th of July, 1660, Precentor in that 
 Cathedral, was on the removal of Dr. 
 Ryves to Windsor, chosen Dean. In the 
 following year, when the House of Con- 
 vocation met for the revision of the 
 Liturgy, he was appointed, with other 
 members of the Lower House, to attend 
 the Bishops at Ely, and to consult with 
 them on the drawing up of a form of 
 prayer for the 29th of May. 
 
 On the 15th of April, 1663, he became 
 Bishop of Peterborough, on the transla- 
 tion of Dr. Laney from that See to Lin- 
 coln ; which preferment he continued 
 to hold till his death, which happened 
 suddenly in the 76th year of his age, at 
 his lodgings in James Street, Covent 
 Garden, on the 9th of March, 1 678 ; on 
 which day, being Sunday, he was ob- 
 served to have attended divine Service 
 twice in Westminster. According to his
 
 Q 
 
 r iii ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 express desire, the same vault, in which 
 his wife and child had been interred 
 nearly 30 years before, received his bones 
 in peace. 
 
 Besides these MEDITATIONS, Bishop 
 Henshawe was the author of another ex- 
 cellent little work of a similar descrip- 
 tion, entitled, " Horse Succisivae, or spare 
 hours of Meditations upon our duty to 
 God, to others, and ourselves," of which 
 it is supposed there have been eight edi- 
 tions, the last printed in 1831, edited by 
 Mr. Turnbull, of Edinburgh, a gentleman 
 whose accuracy of research, and extent of 
 information on literary subjects, are too 
 well known to require any commenda- 
 tion in these pages. 
 
 The present little work first appeared 
 in 1637 : Meditations Miscellaneous, 
 Holy and Humane. 
 
 o-
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. ix 
 
 Horat. de Ar. Po. 
 
 Quicquid praecipies esto brevis 
 Lectorem delectando pariterque monendo. 
 
 London, printed by R. B. and are to be 
 sold by Thomas Andrewes in Smith-field, 
 1637, 12mo. pp. 136, besides title, dedi- 
 cation, and to the reader (10). It is 
 thus dedicated to Lord Keeper Coventry; 
 " Right Honourable. Not in expectation 
 of future benefits or any thing to be re- 
 ceiv'd, but in a thankfull acknowledg- 
 ment of former favours already conferred, 
 do I present these short Meditations to 
 your Lordship, and if we shal esteeme 
 of Bookes (which Erasmus doth, in qui- 
 bus argumenti utilitas commendat elo- 
 quentiam) rather by the matter which 
 it doth deliver, than the strength or 
 meannesse of the stile in which it is 
 deliver'd, there will not want that to 
 | commend this ; it is but short, and such 
 as will be rather a diversion than an 
 
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 X ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 imployment, in which you wil happily 
 finde somewhat that will please, and 
 somewhat that will profit, so that the 
 time will neither seeme tedious, nor the 
 paines altogether lost; I desire your 
 Lordship to weigh them, not by their 
 owne worth, but by the devotion of the 
 Author, whom with many favours you 
 have bound to be ever at your Lordship's 
 service to command." 
 
 This first edition contained only the 
 first part of the Meditations : when the 
 second part first appeared has not been 
 discovered. Wood mentions a third edi- 
 tion of the book, " with enlargements," 
 Lond. 1651, but it has not fallen in the 
 way of the publisher. The text of that 
 now reprinted is taken from a copy 
 printed in 1704, under the title of " A 
 New- Year's Gift. Meditations Miscel- 
 laneous, Holy and Humane. By J. H. 
 D.D. To which is added, a Third Part, 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. xi 
 
 by the late Lord Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, fec. London, printed for Brab. 
 Aylmer, at the Three Pigeons, against 
 the Royal-Exchange in Cornhill, 1704." 
 In addition to the third part of the Medi- 
 tations by Bishop Kidder, this New Year's 
 Gift contained also Bishop Tillotson's 
 Letter to Mr. Hunt of Canterbury in 
 1687, an Extract from Barrow's Sermons 
 of Contentment, and an Abridgment of 
 the History of the Bible; but these, how- 
 ever excellent in themselves, have been 
 omitted, as having no connexion with 
 Bishop Henshawe. 
 
 It may be added, that some passages 
 omitted in the Edition of 1704, have 
 been restored from that of 1637, with 
 which the whole of the first part has been 
 collated. 
 
 G. F. DE T. 
 
 Oxford, 
 Feast of St. John Baptist, 
 
 1841. 
 
 c
 
 Xll ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Hicjacet 
 
 Nostra et uestra (Si Chran' cs) soror 
 
 Insignis pietatis mulier Jana Henshawe, 
 
 Deo et marilo nimis dilecta, nimis diligens : 
 
 Verse, antiquse, unicse religionis filia et matrona 
 
 Pauperib' eleemosyna ria . aegrotis medica, o/b' arnica 
 
 Propinqvsis, famulis, amicis amicis-sima. 
 
 Johannis Maye Armigeri et 
 
 Elizab. uxoris ejus chariss. filia 
 
 Ex multis una, ordine 7 mi . fed nulli secunda 
 
 Joseph! Henshawe, S. Th. Do rl . 
 Eccles. Cathedr. Ciciste. Canon Eesid. 
 
 Et hujus Eccles. Rect. Indigni : 
 Uxor casta, sed divisa Cho et marito : 
 
 Triplici felix sobole, 
 Quaru una praecessit natu maxima; 
 
 Duos impari aetate et sexu 
 
 Marito reliquit mox secuturo 
 
 Et eodem hoc tumulo condendo : 
 
 Nondum tricessimu agens annu : 
 
 3o. die Feb. Ann. Dni. 1639. 
 
 Orb' desiderata hinc migravit 
 
 Mundo ignota ; 
 Deum solu (et quod magnu est) se ipsam novit 
 
 Et his nota est : * 
 
 Cho solo et futuro seculo digna quo abiit. 
 
 Qua moritura vir suus sic affatus est 
 
 Qua? te terra susceperit moriente in ilia 
 
 Ego moriar ibique locu accipia sepulturse. 
 
 Buth, chap. i. vers. 17- 
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. xiil 
 
 By the care of the present Incumbent, the 
 monument has been lately cleaned, and the 
 inscription rendered legible. 
 
 The parish Register only begins with 1653; 
 but we find the following entry of the burial 
 of Dr. Henshawe. 
 
 " Joseph Henshawe, Byshopp of Petterber- 
 ! rowe, was buried the 15th of March, 1678." 
 
 o o
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 IT is not out of desire of being known, nor 
 out of a desire to be thought to know, that I do 
 commend this small Tract to the world : but to 
 take up the room of worse thoughts in thy head, 
 and of worse books in thy hands. It is the work 
 of younger years, and the fruit of idle times, not 
 of a serious study ; and no otherwise do I pub- 
 lish it to view ; though I am persuaded it would 
 conduce much to the peace of the Church, if 
 books of this nature were more in use. It were 
 to be wished that inferiors would employ their 
 time rather in a holy meditation of those truths 
 which are already received in the Church, than 
 in making themselves, or shewing themselves, 
 able to defend them: not that I would com- 
 mend an ignorant devotion to any, or desire men . 
 
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 Xvi THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. 
 
 to know less good, but more to practise that 
 good which they know : nor turn religion into 
 disputation, hut turn their disputation into 
 action and obedience. They shall find in the 
 last day, that it is holiness and knowledge (I do 
 not say holiness without knowledge) that must 
 bring them to Heaven ; supremo illi judici non 
 scripta approbanda, sed facta : not the disputer, 
 but the doer of God's will shall be justified : 
 men while they spend their time in disputing 
 what they should do, too often neglect to do 
 even those things which are without dispute. 
 In this book, if there be little pains, yet there is 
 no hurt, nay, it is thy own fault if there rise not 
 some good to thee from it, which if thou second 
 with practice, will bring thee to an eternal good, 
 which I wish thee. 
 
 J. H. 
 
 O 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 MAKE the word of God the rule, and God 
 Himself the pattern, of all thy actions; con- 
 template God and thyself, what He is, and 
 what He requires thee to be, like Him in a 
 degree, though not a perfection ; in a per- 
 fection of sincerity, though not of degrees. Do 
 nothing against thy word, and let thy word 
 be regulated by God's word. Do not ill for 
 company, nor good only for company. 
 
 Let thy talk not be much, and that profit- 
 able. Be spai-ing of oaths and promises, and 
 perform both. Shun jests in holy things, and 
 abhor lies, though in jest. Speak to the capa- 
 cities, but not to the humours, of men ; so 
 frame thy talk, as one that is going shortly 
 to give an account of his words. Detract 
 from no man ; speak well of all men till thou 
 
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 2 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 knowest otherwise ; and where thou canst 
 not speak well, be silent. Meditate often 
 upon the shortness of thy life, and be careful 
 so to employ it, as that thou dost not make thy 
 account long. Measure the length of it, as 
 the Scripture doth, by a bubble, and a shadow, 
 and a flower, light and vanishing; but yet to 
 comfort thyself in this present state with re- 
 membrance of the future. That if this life 
 which thou hast be short, yet that which thou 
 hopest for is eternal. 
 
 My life is like a bubble but a blast ; 
 
 At first God breath'd into me, and I live ; 
 And like a bubble I do daily waste, 
 
 And am like water poured into a sieve : 
 Lord, since I am Tby bubble, wben I die, 
 Like to a bubble let me ascend on bigb. 
 Or, if you will, my life is like a flower, 
 
 And like a flower for a while I stand ; 
 I am, and am not in another hour, 
 
 For I am gather'd by the Owner's hand : 
 Since I am so, why am T so corrupt, 
 That do not know how soon I shall be pluck't? 
 But of all flowers, most of all, methinks, 
 Resembled in the marigold am I, 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 3 
 
 And like the marigold, that wakes and winks 
 Still as it sees the sun, am born and die ; 
 But here's my comfort, with that flower when 
 The Sun appeareth, I shall blow again. 
 
 Affect not to set out thyself to the world, 
 not to thyself. Speak not thine own praise, 
 nor greedily hear it from others, nor too 
 easily believe it; spend thy time rather in 
 pressing forward to what thou shouldest be, 
 than in idly contemplating or contenting 
 thyself with what thou art. Think meanly 
 of thyself, and that thought will both make 
 thee modest, (for he that suspects himself is 
 not bold,) and eager in the pursuit of that 
 goodness or knowledge wherein thou sup- 
 posest thyself defective. Be ready rather to 
 give, than to take an applause ; and if thou 
 art apt to think thou deservest well, check it 
 with thinking how many deserve better. 
 
 Let thy thoughts be such to thyself, that 
 
 if it should be suddenly asked, what thou 
 
 thinkest on? thou mightest not blush to tell. 
 
 i Stifle sin in the first warmth and quickening, ' 
 
 before it shape too far : a twig may be
 
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 4 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 plucked up with one hand, which the whole 
 body cannot wag when it is a tree. Even evil 
 ([thoughts are evil; and though yet they be not, 
 'yet cherished, will spread into evil actions. 
 
 ) Be not easily provoked, and easily be friends. 
 Give no occasion of exceptions thyself, and do 
 not easily take exceptions at others, and be 
 ready to make satisfaction to those that have 
 just exceptions against thee. It is a greater 
 virtue to forgive one injury than to do many 
 courtesies, because it is harder : and it is 
 harder, because more against nature; for 
 many a man will do for another, that will 
 not suffer for him ; therefore it is a greater 
 persecution to be contented to suffer, than to 
 be willing to do, unless it be to do for those 
 of whom we have suffered, for our enemies, 
 which is the highest. 
 
 Affect the company of those who are abler 
 than thyself, and desire rather to partake of 
 others' sufficiency, than to publish thine own. 
 In meaner company thou mayest be admired 
 more, but in this thou shalt profit more. It is 
 better to learn wisdom from those that are
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 5 
 
 wise, than to be thought wise by those that 
 are ignorant. Be studious rather of being 
 able, than of being so accounted; not to pick 
 up thy knowledge, especially thy opinions, 
 from other men's discourse, but with pains 
 and industry rather to search out the know- 
 ledge of truth thyself, than lazily to take 
 it up from others. 
 
 In religion examine, but not broach, opi- 
 nions ; ever incline to antiquity, and suspect 
 novelty. In indifferent things 3 ever submit 
 to the authority thou livest under, and let the 
 Church's opinion be thine. 
 
 Measure not equity and right by friends 
 
 and profit ; nor do wrong, either to get, or to 
 
 | do, a courtesy ; nor upbraid others with the 
 
 \ kindnesses thou doest for them, nor forget the 
 
 j kindnesses which others do for thee. Be 
 
 ' sparing of receiving a courtesy where it is 
 
 an engagement, and of doing one where it 
 
 is dishonourable. 
 
 Be not wilful, nor wavering, nor change 
 but upon good reason, nor obstinate against 
 a middle things, first edit. 
 
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 6 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 treason. Believe not every report, nor report 
 every thing thou believest; not grant every 
 thing \vhich thou canst not answer, but sus- 
 pect rather thine own insufficiency that can- 
 not defend it, than cry down the matter as 
 not to be defended. 
 
 Be sparing of commendation, especially of 
 self. Commend no man undeservedly, that 
 is flattery : nor thyself, though never so 
 deserving, it is vain-glory. 
 
 Do not admire or applaud what thou under- 
 standest not. Do not seem to understand 
 where thou dost not. It is better to acknow- 
 ledge thy ignorance and learn, than falsely to 
 profess learning, and be still ignorant. 
 
 Desire rather to do well, than to hear well. 
 If thou canst, preserve to thyself a good re- 
 port, but be ambitious only of a good con- 
 science. Do not measure thyself by other 
 men's reports, nor measure other men by 
 thyself; ask thine own heart, and not their 
 tongues, what thou art. 
 
 Labour to reform thyself first; let other 
 men's sins rather be the subject of thy grief, 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 7 
 
 than of thy discourse. So speak of other 
 i men's sins, as that thou detract not from the 
 person ; and so excuse or mitigate the slip of 
 any person, as that thou seem not to counte- 
 nance the sin. 
 
 Do not think thou art good enough, so long 
 as thou art not known to be otherwise ; and 
 never think thy life so good, as not to neecl 
 mending. 
 
 Say nothing but what thou meanest, and 
 promise nothing but what thou art able. Not 
 to intend what thou speakest, is to give thy 
 heart the lie with thy tongue. Not to perform 
 what thou promisest, is to give thy tongue the 
 lie with thy actions. 
 
 Do not greedily find fault in any, nor re- 
 proachfully publish it; but rather by a hidden 
 and oblique way to insinuate his error to him, 
 than detractingly to blaze it. Seek not the ad- 
 vancement of thine own wit by another man's 
 folly ; not always comply with the fortune, 
 and censure him that is down; not ever judge 
 of things by the event, nor condemn that as 
 unadvisedly imdertaken which succeeds ill. 
 
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 8 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Put not off devotion., arid the duties of re- 
 ligion, with want of leisure ; nor the needy 
 and duties of charity, with want of ability ; 
 in both, though never so straitened, thou 
 mayest do somewhat, though the less. A sigh 
 or a groan in the one, and a cup of cold water 
 in the other, thou canst not be without. 
 
 When thou promisest, think thou mayest 
 be taken at thy word; be nothing in a compli- 
 ment which thou darest not stand to in earnest; 
 as there is less sin, so there is less wrong in 
 denying, than in not performing ; to deny is 
 at most but a discourtesy, not to perform is 
 an injury ; for if thou deniest, he may seek 
 to others ; if thou deceivest, he fails of all : 
 it is lawful for thee not to promise, it is not 
 lawful for thee to break promise. 
 
 Observe what is good in any man, and 
 learn it ; what is evil, and eschew it ; if any 
 thing good in thyself, to be thankful for it ; 
 or evil, if evil of punishment, to bear it ; if 
 evil of sin, to repent of it; not deride any 
 man's imperfections, but thank God that they 
 are not thine ; not to scorn any friend for an 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 9 
 
 error, but be sorry that he is wrong, and be 
 so much his friend, as to endeavour to set 
 him right. 
 
 For a servant ever to speak well of his 
 master; if ill, to speak the best; if ill to him, 
 to impute it to his ill deserving, is a duty, 
 yet a commendation ; to think obedience, a 
 virtue, not servitude, and that it is not the 
 least mastery, so far to command one's self, as 
 to be contented to submit to the commands of 
 others. 
 
 Do courtesies for others as gifts, not looking 
 for requital ; receive courtesies of others as 
 loans, and meaning to repay : what favours 
 thou dost for others, to forget them ; if thou 
 receivest any, ever to remember them : not 
 to requite the injuries of an enemy with the 
 like, nor the good turns of a friend only with 
 the like. 
 
 Speak not censoriously of thy betters, not 
 scornfully of thy inferiors, not vain-gloriously 
 of thyself; not to boast of thyself that 
 which thou never didst, nor to assume to 
 thyself the praise of that learning and wit 
 
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 10 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 which is not thine own; not slightly and 
 undervaluingly to speak of other men's vir- 
 tues, and not at all of their vices: not to 
 think superciliousness majesty, or a grave 
 reservedness wisdom, as if thou wouldest be 
 therefore thought wise, because thou sayest 
 little : not to be a riddle, which is rather to 
 puzzle curiosity, than to benefit society, which 
 man was made for ; and therefore be such 
 rather as men may make use of thee, than be 
 troubled to know thee. 
 
 Be covetous of nothing but of doing good, 
 and be prodigal of nothing but of good counsel ; 
 be slow in believing ill of any, but slower in 
 speaking of it. 
 
 In place of judicature look not whose cause 
 comes before thee, but what; and judge even 
 thy brother, not as a brother, but a j udge ; 
 not measure the sentence by the relation; not 
 sell judgment, nor do a profitable wrong ; it 
 will never repent thee that thou art the poorer 
 for doing right 
 
 Be mild to all, but know when to be severe. 
 There is an unreasonable meekness ; I know 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 11 j 
 
 not which is worse, to be angry unjustly, or j 
 not to be justly angry. If by the first thou 
 mayest wrong an innocent person, by the other 
 thou mayest a guilty. Sometimes to be silent 
 at, is to encourage, a fault ; it may be, a due 
 chiding would reform that offence which takes 
 heart with sufferance. 
 
 A ffirm not any thing out of humour, or because 
 thou hast affirmed it; it is a greater disparage- 
 ment to stand in a lie, than to recant an error; 
 to err is but a weakness, and the case of all ; 
 to acknowledge an error is a virtue, and the 
 praise but of a few ; but to maintain an error 
 is a sin, and it is a greater offence to justify a 
 sin, than to fall into it. 
 
 Love, but not be fond of, the body; to love 
 it is a duty, to be fond of it is a sin ; let the 
 fare be such, as may neither impair the health 
 of it, nor the devotion; the apparel neat, not 
 chargeable; not mimically in, nor ridiculously 
 out of, fashion ; such as may agree with thy 
 estate, thy years, thy profession; not at all to 
 invent, and slowly to take up, a fashion, and 
 that rather because thou wouldest not be 
 
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 1 2 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 singular, than because thou likest it, and as 
 may shew thee willing to be constant, but 
 not obstinate. 
 
 Let thy recreations be short and diverting, 
 such as may rather fit thee for business, than 
 rob thee of time ; long and tedious sports do 
 rather take away the stomach to serious things, 
 than whet it; he that makes recreation a busi- 
 ness, will think business a toil. 
 
 Submit to every fortune, and like it, not 
 place felicity in wealth and greatness. To be 
 without, and yet not to want these; or to want, 
 and yet not desire them ; to be able to manage 
 a great estate, and to bear a mean, to like 
 God's will, even when it crosseth thine; cheer- 
 fully to pass over crosses, yet to take notice of 
 them ; to be patient, but not without sense ; 
 to be sorrowful, but not without hope ; not 
 to grow great by corruption, nor to grow 
 proud with greatness; not to grow strange to 
 others in a high estate, or think God so to 
 thee, or you so to Him, in a mean ; not to ebb 
 and flow with thy condition, and be either 
 supercilious or dejected ; to take the changes 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 13 
 
 of this world without any great change of 
 thyself; he that is contented ever with what 
 he is, makes himself happy without a for- 
 tune. 
 
 Think of death as a thing certain,, (it may 
 be) at hand ; that physicians die, that kings 
 in this are subjects. Some, like crude fruit, 
 are plucked off by casualty; others, like over- 
 ripe, drop off with age. For old and young, 
 there are graves of all sizes. Endeavour 
 therefore rather to procure eternal life, than 
 to prolong this ; and use means rather to 
 sweeten death, than to defer it. 
 
 Learn not to think of the things of this 
 
 world as things of continuance, and to use 
 
 I the things of this world not as an owner, but 
 
 i a steward : so thou wilt be neither loth to 
 
 ; leave them, nor afraid to account for them. 
 
 Do courtesies to thy friend not with hope to 
 
 receive greater; and receive courtesies of thy 
 
 friend as if thou hadst done none. Think 
 
 ; of requiting the good which thou receivest, 
 
 ; though thou deservest it ; expect no requital 
 
 I of that good which thou doest, though unde-
 
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 14 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 served ; lest failing of what thou expectest, 
 thou repent of what thou hast done, and so 
 losest the praise of thy goodness, by looking 
 after the reward of it. 
 
 Commend no man to his face, and censure 
 no man behind his back; if thou knowest 
 any good thing of him, tell it others ; if 
 any ill or vice, tell it himself: so by telling 
 others of his good parts, thou wilt procure 
 for him a good opinion ; and by telling and 
 admonishing him of his faults, thou wilt 
 make him deserve that good opinion. 
 
 Abstain not only from ill, but from the 
 appearance of it, lest thou hear ill unde- 
 servedly, or do ill unawares. 
 
 Let thy discourse be neither light nor un- 
 seasonable, such as may call either thy good- 
 ness in question, or thy judgment. If thou 
 canst not speak well, say nothing ; so if others 
 be not bettered by thy silence, yet they shall 
 not be made worse by thy discourse. 
 
 Think meanly of thine own sufficiency, 
 though others think not so ; look much upon 
 thy defects, and little upon thy good parts; and 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 15 
 
 think that thou art short not only of what thou 
 oughtest, but of others; that that which thou 
 knowest, is nothing to that of which thou art 
 ignorant ; and therefore to labour rather truly 
 to know thyself, than to make those small 
 parts superficially known to others. 
 
 Scorn not to be bettered by the good ex- 
 ample of others, and be careful not to make 
 others worse with thine; do nothing in which 
 thou wouldest not be imitated and imitate 
 nothing which thou knowest is not fit to be 
 done ; it is a fault to do what thou shouldest 
 not, it is none to learn what thou shouldest 
 do of any. 
 
 Think in the morning what thou hast to do 
 this day, and at night what thou hast done ; 
 and do nothing upon which thou mayest not 
 boldly ask God's blessing ; nor (as near as 
 thou canst) nothing for which thou shalt need 
 to ask his pardon. Let thy first care be, not 
 to do ill; thy next care, to repent of it. Ac- 
 count often with thyself, thy last account will 
 be the less ; be not afraid to look upon thy ! 
 score, but be afraid to increase it; to despair 
 
 c -o
 
 O ; 
 
 16 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 because thou art sinful, is to be worse, because 
 thou hast been so bad. 
 
 Be thy life like his that must 
 
 Account, and hath it but in trust. 
 
 Let the actions of thy youth 
 
 Answer not the times, but truth. 
 
 Let thy words be modest, few, 
 
 Thy opinions firm, not new : 
 
 Thy mirth plausible, not vain, 
 
 Not abusive, not profane. 
 
 Live not only to the eye, 
 
 Sin is sin, though none be by ; 
 
 Witnesses do only prove, 
 
 Not make, guilty ; and true love 
 
 Of virtue, more esteems it ought 
 
 So to be, than to be thought ; 
 
 'Tis wejikness to eschew the scar, 
 
 Not the ulcer ; and prefer 
 
 Esteem to truth, deeds must be 
 
 Such as God approves, not we. 
 
 Be in private what you seem 
 
 In public view ; and not deem 
 
 All things lawful that are hid, 
 
 Not what's seen, but what's forbid, 
 
 is unjust ', 
 
 And only what we may, we must 
 

 
 o o 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 17 
 
 Be not wicked with advantage, nor be 
 drawn to do a gainful sin ; not think that 
 godly which is gainful, but think that gain 
 enough which is with godliness. He that 
 makes his commodity the measure of his 
 actions, for a morsel of bread that man will 
 transgress. 
 
 Ever learn to be ever contented with what 
 thou hast ; inasmuch as there is nothing which 
 by the appointment of God doth not happen 
 unto thee ; and to dislike what God doth, is 
 to do what God dislikes, and make that a sin, 
 which was before but a punishment, and (as 
 it might have been used) a blessing. To find 
 fault with God, is to make a fault in ourselves; 
 that which God doth may be harsh, it cannot 
 be unjust; or if that state which thou hast 
 be bad, yet that which thou hopest for is 
 better. 
 
 Think not well of thyself, though others 
 think so ; yet to give no occasion to any to 
 think otherwise, and give the glory of both 
 to God, both of thy good parts, and their 
 good opinions. 
 
 o o
 
 o o 
 
 18 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Every morning take leave of the things 
 of this world, as thinking thou mayest 
 part with them before night; and every 
 night to examine the employment of that 
 day, as thinking thou mayest account for 
 it before morning. He that is ever pro- 
 viding for his going, will less increase his 
 account by tarrying. We do not commend 
 his providence that hath his furniture to buy, 
 when he should take horse. 
 
 Make not a neighbour's fault greater to 
 men than it is, nor thine own less to God. 
 To excuse thine own sin, is to double it : de- 
 tractingly to aggravate another's fault, is to 
 make it thine own. 
 
 Busy not thyself in searching into other 
 men's lives, the errors of thine own are more 
 than thou canst answer for; it more concerns 
 thee to mend one fault in thyself, than to find 
 out a thousand in others. 
 
 Be careful not to fall into sin, being fallen, 
 not to lie in it ; being surprised, not to stand 
 in it; confession is some part of satisfaction. 
 By denying a little sin, thou makest it great ; 
 
 o o
 
 Q 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 19 
 
 by truly confessing a great sin to God, thou 
 makest it none. 
 
 If thou hast lived long, think thou hast the 
 longer account, think thou hast had the longer 
 time to provide for thy account, and therefore 
 hast the greater sin, if unprovided. Where 
 God forbears a great while, he expects a 
 greater increase ; as where men give long 
 day, they expect larger payment. 
 
 Perform not the things of religion, either 
 out of vain-glory, or custom, since the good- 
 ness of these is not measured by what is 
 done, but by what mind we do it with. 
 Cursed be he thai doth the work of the Lord 
 negligently : there is that curse upon negli- 
 gent doing, which upon unwilling leav- 
 ing of it undone is not. There is little 
 difference between not doing what thou 
 shouldest, and not doing it as thou should- 
 est. To do thy duty for show only, or 
 in show only, is to do thy duty, and be 
 still undutiful. If that which thou doest be 
 right, if the mind with which thou doest it 
 be not so, all is wrong, and thou forfeitest j 
 
 o o
 
 o o 
 
 20 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 the acceptation of what was good, by the 
 ill performance. 
 
 Two things do not trouble thyself to know, 
 other men's faults, nor other men's estates. 
 The estate of thine own soul, and the amend- 
 ment of thine own faults, let that be thy 
 study, nor think any sin less because it is 
 hid : remember, that to Him that shall judge 
 thee it is open, and that in the last day God 
 will not measure His judgment by ours ; the 
 Day of Judgment will condemn many a man 
 whom we have quitted. 
 
 Do not practise religion in show only, yet 
 shew it in thy practice ; think no sin little, 
 nor no good which thou dcest great, it is 
 from the acceptance of God that it is good 
 at all ; hope for, but challenge not, a reward 
 of thy well-doing, yet not for itself, but for 
 what Christ hath done. Measure thyself 
 not by what others are, but by what thou 
 oughtest to be; remember thy sins with 
 grief, and thy goodness; the one, for that 
 thou hast been so bad ; the other, that thou 
 canst be no better; and though thou canst 
 
 o o
 
 o c 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 21 
 
 ; not attain to perfection on earth, yet aim at 
 it. 
 
 Labour not only to know what thou 
 shouldest be, (that most men do,) but to 
 be so ; nor at all to know what other men 
 are, thou shalt not answer for it. Be careful 
 if thou canst to make others better by thy 
 good counsel ; or, at least, not to make them 
 worse by thy example. 
 
 Be ever contented with thy present estate, 
 but if thou canst, better it ; do not corruptly 
 thrust thyself into any place, and being in, 
 do nothing that may thrust thee out ; make 
 the execution of thy office a discharge of thy 
 conscience, not an improvement of thy estate; 
 and desire any place rather to do good, than 
 to grow rich. Give no bribes to pi'ocure an 
 unjust thing, nor take none to do one; and 
 if thou art in the place of judicature, remem- 
 ber thy office is to give sentence, but not sell 
 it. 
 
 Do not make any sin less by custom ; for 
 as men do at first less like sin, so with 
 continuance they do less feel it; as those 
 
 6 O
 
 O 
 
 22 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 that are accustomed to carry burthens, are 
 less sensible of the weight. And if thou 
 doest now the same things with more ease, 
 do not think that the sin is more light, but 
 that thou art more hardened, and thy case 
 is so much more desperate, by how much 
 want of sense is nearer to death than pain. 
 Feeling is an argument of life, thou art a dead 
 member, if thou hast lost thy feeling ; but 
 here is the misery, that thou hast lost thy feel- 
 ing in regard of sin, but not of punishment. 
 
 Fix thy desires upon such things as may 
 not shame thee in the obtaining; and com- 
 pass thy desires by such means as may not 
 shame thee to own, though that which thou 
 seekest for be good, yet while the way by 
 which thou seekest for it is evil, thou 
 shamest the end by the way, and shamest 
 thyself in the end. 
 
 Think no sin little, and make it not great 
 by repeating it; what is a mountain of earth, 
 but an accumulation of many little dusts? 
 what is a flood, but a concurrence of many 
 little drops? A little prick being neglected,
 
 C 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 23 
 
 may fester to a gangrene ; by how much 
 that in which thou sinnest is less, by so much 
 thy sin is the greater, that wouldest dishonour 
 God for so little a thing. 
 
 Think of death as a thing thou must meet 
 with, and of thy life as a thing thou must 
 part with, and not to love too well that 
 life that keeps thee from a better; nor at 
 all to fear that death that leads thee to a 
 better life: this life is a journey, and the 
 world an uneasy horse, that with much 
 jolting, and some falls, brings you to your 
 home. And why art thou unwilling to 
 alight? love rather that passage that leads 
 to eternal happiness, than that life which 
 keeps thee from it, and not without con- 
 tinual misery. 
 
 Study rather to make thyself fit for any 
 employment and place, than to think thyself 
 so, and be preferred by thy desert, not by 
 purchase ; slip no lawful means to do thyself 
 good, and use no unlawful ; he which grow- 
 eth great by buying, doth likely continue 
 that greatness by selling. 
 
 o o
 
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 24 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Measure thy wealth by thy mind, not by 
 thy estate. A contented mind is ever rich. 
 But measure thy expense by thy estate, not 
 by thy mind; not what thou wouldest do, 
 but what thou art able to do. Think not 
 frugality a disparagement, nor outrun thy- 
 self to keep pace with others. This is to 
 procure that which thou fearest; and lest 
 thou shouldest be thought mean, to become 
 so. Many times a slow pace performs that 
 journey, whilst galloping tires by the way. 
 
 Let thy thoughts be such to thyself, as 
 thou art not ashamed to have God know 
 them; and thy words such to God, as thou 
 art not afraid to have men hear them ; and 
 let thy whole life be such toward God and 
 man, as that thou neither dishonour God by 
 thy ill life, nor draw others to the same 
 dishonour of Him by thy ill example. 
 
 Pleasure not thyself by wronging others, 
 nor (with the unjust steward) make thee 
 friends with other men's monies, lest whilst 
 thou wouldest buy other friends, thou sell 
 God; come to promotion if thou canst, by 
 
 o i
 
 o o 
 
 MEDITATIONS. '25 
 
 friends, not by money; if thou deservest it 
 not, thou wrongest others ; if thou dost 
 deserve it, thou wrongest thyself. 
 
 The goodness of the mind is witnessed in 
 the outward actions ; the goodness of the 
 outward actions is determined by the in- 
 tention and mind; inward goodness without 
 outward shows of it, is like a tree without 
 fruit, useless; and outward shows of good- 
 ness without inward sincerity, is like a tree 
 without heart, lifeless; that thou art good 
 inwardly in thine heart is thine own com- 
 fort; that thou dost outwardly profess this 
 goodness in thy life, is others' benefit. Thou 
 thyself art not the better for that goodness 
 which thou dost not make show of. Others 
 are not the better for that goodness of which 
 thou makest no show. So inward sincerity is 
 required in respect of God ; outward pro- 
 fession only in respect of men. By the first, 
 thou art a true Christian; by the other, it 
 doth appear that thou art so. 
 
 Neither undertake much, nor talk much, 
 and that to the purpose. Deliver thy mind 
 
 O 

 
 c: c 
 
 26 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 rather in profitable language, than curious; 
 by this, haply, thou wilt gain more applause, 
 but by the other thou wilt do more good, 
 and it is a greater virtue to do well, than to 
 hear well. 
 
 Do nothing which thou disallowest; dis- 
 allow thyself some things which thou mayest 
 do, but nothing which thou oughtest to do : 
 give no liberty to thyself in unlawful things ; 
 use not the utmost of that liberty which is 
 given thee in other things : and so use thy 
 liberty in what thou art permitted, as that it 
 may not hinder thee in the things thou art 
 commanded. 
 
 Promise nothing which may prejudice thee 
 in the performance ; perform what thou hast 
 promised, though to thy prejudice; think 
 thyself bound by thy word, though without 
 oath or witness. If thou art not well able 
 to perform, consider thou wert able not to 
 promise ; a good man measures his promises 
 by his ability, but he measures his perform- 
 ance by his promise. 
 
 Account it the greatest knowledge truly to 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 27 
 
 know thyself, and the greatest conquest to 
 subdue thyself; do not give way to thine 
 own lusts, nor boast of thine own parts. To 
 do nothing that is ill, nor vain-gloriously to 
 tell of what thou dost well ; in all things to 
 approve thyself a good man, and a Christian, 
 but not boast of it. 
 
 Place not religion in talk only; it is an 
 easier matter to give counsel than to follow 
 it. Sometimes we have known men to fall 
 into those sins from which they have with 
 great pains converted others. But Christianity 
 (as we say of charity) begins at home. It 
 was Christ's to St. Peter, Art thou converted? 
 strengthen lliy brethren : but first he con- 
 verted himself. He may haply save others 
 that is not saved himself, yet he will sooner 
 save another that goes in the way of salvation 
 himself: good doctrine is weakened much 
 with ill life; he that will do good upon 
 others, must first be good himself. 
 
 Speak nothing which thou wouldest wish 
 to recall ; and do nothing which thou shalt 
 need to repent; condemn nothing in a 
 
 o o
 
 o 
 
 28 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 humour, nor maintain nothing out of fac- 
 tion. Never defend a false cause, either to 
 revenge a wrong, or to do a pleasure. 
 
 Think only the present time thine, for 
 that which is past is none of thine; and 
 that which is to come, it is a question 
 whether ever it shall be thine. So the 
 certain time of thy life is very little, and 
 the account which thou shalt certainly give 
 of this life very great; and thy account is 
 made greater by tarrying, but thy life less: 
 so that to put off the finishing of this account 
 till a farther time, is to make thyself a greater 
 account, and have less time to do it in. Nay, 
 thou shalt answer for the neglect of that 
 time wherein it might have been done, and, 
 it may be, denied another time to do it. 
 
 Measure not goodness by good words only: 
 a parrot may be taught to speak well. Good 
 words cost us nothing, and men are for that 
 religion that is cheapest. It is an easy 
 matter to speak like a Christian ; Satan him- 
 self can talk Scripture. Charity consists not 
 barely in knowing or discoursing of what is
 
 o -o 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 29 
 
 j good, but in practising what we do know : 
 in religion not to do as thou sayest, is to 
 unsay thy religion in thy deeds. 
 
 Ever expect death, though not wish for it: 
 let thy last hour find thee rather willing to 
 go, than contented to tarry. Put not off 
 amendment till another day; thou art not 
 sure to see an end of this. Provide that thy 
 death-bed may rather find thee fitted for God, 
 than fit thee ; and so order thy estate and thy 
 soul in thy health, that when death comes, 
 thou mayest have nothing to do but to die. 
 
 In point of reformation, first pluck out 
 thine own mote; spend not thy time in 
 exhorting others to the keeping of the com- 
 mandments, and break them thyself. Mea- 
 j sure not thy goodness by another's want of 
 j it, nor measure thy want of goodness by 
 I others' store of it. God doth not so, though 
 ; thou art not so good as the best, yet while 
 thou endeavourest to be so, thou art good 
 j enough ; God, who works in us both to will 
 ! and to do, doth in some case accept the will 
 i for the deed. 
 
 3 O
 
 , Q 
 
 30 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Reckon nothing which thou hast thine 
 own; nor nothing which thou cloest at thine 
 own disposing. And use all, not as a master, 
 but a servant, remembering thou must one 
 day answer for them to their master. 
 
 Do not murmur at thy condition, if mean; 
 nor measure God's blessings by thy wants, 
 but by thy deserts ; if God be better to 
 others than He is to thee, yet while He is 
 better to thee than thou deservest, He is 
 good enough. 
 
 In Christianity, not think to attain the 
 end, without the means; and if the same 
 means do not in all produce the same effect, 
 not to impute it to any alteration or defi- 
 ciency in the means, but in the subject; the 
 means is the same, the parties are not; all 
 men are not alike hardened in sin, therefore 
 all are not alike hard or easy to be converted. 
 Sins are compared to diseases; all diseases 
 are not mortal; some humours spend them- 
 selves, others are not recovered, but with 
 expense and danger; and the same sickness 
 is not removed with the same ease in all 
 
 o
 
 O '. 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 31 
 
 bodies, because there is not in all the same 
 temper. That physic doth but stir the 
 humour in some bodies, which in others 
 would utterly expel it. It is with the sick- 
 ness of the soul, as of the body, all sins are 
 not equal ; all men are not equally sinful : 
 either the sins may be less, or of less con- 
 tinuance; for custom, as it begets a greater 
 liking of sin, so it leaves a deeper root; 
 continuation of things makes them partly 
 natural, therefore we call custom another 
 nature. Settled impieties, like settled hu- 
 mours, do not easily stir ; though the means 
 are the same, yet while the subject is not, 
 it is no wonder that the effects are not; 
 there must be the same disposition of the 
 matter, as well as of the agent. It is not 
 enough that the word be the same, if the 
 hearers be not ; as the same physic doth not 
 work or cure alike, nor the same seed thrive 
 alike in all grounds, so neither doth the same 
 word save alike, or prevail alike with all. 
 Sodom would have repented with those 
 means which Chorazin did not: in thine 
 
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 32 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 impenitency therefore not to accuse God, 
 or the means, but thine own self; in thy 
 conversion, not to thank thine own self, or 
 the means, but God, and the means under 
 God. 
 
 Remember that as there is one death which 
 thou must prepare to meet, so there is another 
 death which thou must study to avoid, the 
 death of the soul. The natural death con- 
 sists in the dissolution of the soul from the 
 body ; the spiritual death, in the dissolution 
 of the soul from God ; and one day, of soul 
 and body from God, which is the second 
 death. Now as we say of the natural body, 
 that the way to be young long is to be old 
 betimes, so the way to live not long, but 
 ever, is to die betimes. If thou die but 
 once, while thou livest, the death of sin, thou 
 shalt live eternally after thou art dead. 
 
 Love nothing in this world too well, no 
 not thyself. Think of the pleasures of this 
 world either as sins, or occasions of it; and 
 the other more necessary things of it, though 
 they have thy presence, let them not have 
 
 O
 
 MEDITATIONS. 33 
 
 thy heart, and use them rather because thou 
 wantest them, than because thou likest them; 
 and so provide, that thy death may be the 
 beginning of thy happiness, not the end 
 of it. 
 
 Ever suspect, ever fear, 
 For to be too happy here : 
 Lest in Heaven thou have less, 
 (Tf any) for this happiness. 
 Seldom any have I known 
 To have heavens more than one. 
 All the pleasures of this life 
 They are useful, hut a knife. 
 I may warm me by their fire, 
 But take heed of coming nigher : 
 Yet in this is danger still, 
 He that warms, is after chill. 
 Oh Jehovah ! but with Thee, 
 Is there true felicity. 
 All this sublunary treasure 
 Yields but counterfeit of pleasure ; 
 Silken cares, kings of clouts, 
 Full of torments, fears, and doubts; 
 Trifles, dangers, baited hooks, 
 Shadows, only shape and looks 
 
 6
 
 34 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Of what we call them ; worse than noughts, 
 
 Snares, temptations, if not faults. 
 
 Whether it he hirth or place, 
 
 Beauty and the pride of face, 
 
 Honour, wealth, or higher yet, 
 
 That they call a favourite, 
 
 Like a shadow on the sun, 
 
 Have their being, and are done. 
 
 From another's like or frown, 
 
 So they rise, and so go down. 
 
 They are got, and kept, with fears, 
 
 And are parted with, with tears, 
 
 And accounted for with horror, 
 
 And then Dives is the poorer. 
 
 When that final day shall come, 
 
 (A dreadful day indeed to some,) 
 
 And we answer for their use, 
 
 Then to want them we would choose ; 
 
 So then much of these to ask, 
 
 Is to beg thyself a task. 
 
 A beggary, for thus to be 
 
 Is the greatest poverty. 
 
 All thou hast is on the score, 
 
 What is that but to he poor? 
 
 Add to this, it doth not last, 
 
 And happiness is torment past.
 
 MEDITATIONS. 35 
 
 It may be present, so thy boast 
 Is but may be, at tbe most. 
 In heaven only is there bliss, 
 That ever shall be, ever is. 
 Worldly laughter is not mirth, 
 Born and buried in the birth. 
 Where, O God, there wants Thy grace, 
 Mirth is only in the face. 
 O God, Thou art, only Thou, 
 To-morrow, yesterday, and now ; 
 To Thee myself, my time I give, 
 All that I have, all that I live. 
 
 Deliberately to move to any business, is 
 proper to man; headily to be carried by 
 desire, is common to beasts : in civil actions 
 be led by reason, not thy appetite ; in divine 
 actions by religion, and do nothing that may 
 forfeit either thy reason, or thy honesty. 
 Measure the goodness of things by their law- 
 fulness, not by their profit, nor be drawn to 
 do ill for advantage, nor intend thy particular 
 good with the forfeiture of the general. 
 
 In religion publish nothing which thou 
 darest not stand to, nor libel against the 
 
 c o
 
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 36 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 truth; if thou think it is not the truth, 
 why dost thou publish it? if thou thinkest 
 it is truth, why art thou ashamed of it? 
 Such are between two rocks, either of which 
 splits them ; for either they sin in publishing 
 that which is a liej or else having published 
 it, they sin in being ashamed or afraid to 
 stand to it, which they think is the truth. 
 True gold flies not the touchstone ; a good 
 man's actions are such as he fears not to be 
 discovered; it is a sign their works are ill, 
 when they dare not own them ; Oderunt 
 lucem, is our Saviour's note of such; if it 
 be the truth, they ought not only (in some 
 case) to own it, but to die in it; if it be 
 a lie, they ought not to live in it, much less 
 to give it life. Every lie is a sin; but to 
 print a lie, is to justify a sin, and in religion 
 to print a lie for truth, is to father a lie upon 
 God : a good man will publish nothing in 
 God's name, to which he dares not set his own. 
 Measure not thyself by what men say of 
 thee, they may mistake thee ; it is their sin, 
 not thine, if others slander thee; to be ill 
 
 o o
 
 ,_ Q 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 37 
 
 spoken of, and undeservedly, is neither thy 
 fault, nor alone thy case; Christ Himself 
 was thought a wine-bibber, and St. Paul 
 mad. If ill tongues could make men ill, 
 good men were in ill taking; never regard 
 what any can say against thee, but thine 
 own conscience. Though all the world con- 
 demn thee, while God and thyself do not, 
 thou art innocent enough. The wickedness 
 of ill tongues doth but dirt themselves, the 
 , mire that is cast upon thee is not thine. Care 
 not to have ill men speak well of thee, it 
 may be if thou wert worse, thou wouldest 
 hear better; Parcil cogtialix maculis s'nmlis 
 fera : the Devil doth not accuse his own ; I 
 j if thou wert one of them, they would speak 
 more favourably. Be careful to be clean to 
 God, whatever thou art to the world, and be 
 slow in soiling and blacking others. If they 
 are not so clean as thou couldest wish, their 
 foulness be to themselves; let them be never 
 the fouler for thy mouth ; they that are for- 
 ward in censuring and accusing others, are 
 usually such themselves. 
 
 O
 
 o o 
 
 38 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 To all thy promises need no other bond, 
 but thy word, nor no other witness, but God. 
 Be careful never to promise any thing of 
 which thou shalt wish to be forgiven the 
 performance, nor plead either want of 
 ability or testimony ; an honest man doth 
 not promise more than he means, nor a wise 
 man more than he is able. 
 
 Be not a servant to those things which 
 thou shouldest command; thy money, thy 
 body, and thy appetite, or thy sensitive 
 part ; but use thy estate to serve thy body, 
 and thy occasions; and thy body to be sub- 
 servient to thy soul, and thy soul to serve 
 God. Thus, while either of these serve in 
 their proper office, God is served in all. 
 If thou art commanded by the first of these, 
 thou art neither thine own master, nor fit to 
 be God's servant. 
 
 Resolve nothing but upon good ground, 
 nor alter thy resolution but upon good 
 reason; not inconstantly to waver, nor ob- 
 stinately to persevere in things: to hear 
 other's judgments besides thine own, and if 
 
 o o
 
 ; O 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 39 
 
 right, to submit to them. Not to think it 
 a disparagement, that there are wiser than 
 thyself. To think it a fault rather to stand 
 in an error than to fall into one ; not choose 
 to defend a lie, rather than descend to yield 
 to others in that which is the truth. To 
 maintain an opinion because it is thine, not 
 because it is true, is to maintain thyself, not 
 the truth, and to prefer thyself to the 
 truth. 
 
 So far intend thy profit, as that thou still 
 subject it to thy religion ; not make thy 
 commodity the stern of thy conscience: he 
 was not the best disciple that had the bag. 
 So procure, or continue, to thyself a place 
 upon earth, as that thou lose not thy place in 
 heaven. 
 
 Learn not to examine thyself by what 
 thou art not ; as the Pharisee, not like other 
 men; and while some others are worse, to 
 think thou art well enough. We measure 
 crooked things by that which is straight, 
 not by that which is more crooked: the 
 rule of goodness is God's word, not other 
 
 o o
 
 O Q 
 
 40 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 men's deeds: not to measure the straight- 
 ness of thy life by the crookedness of 
 another's : he that measures his beauty by 
 another's deformity, may still be unhandsome 
 enough. If a drunkard shall measure him- 
 self by some debauchedness, he will seem 
 a sober man. In the day of judgment, 
 God will not examine thee by what others 
 were, but by what thou wert commanded 
 to be. 
 
 Plead not for licentiousness of life, under 
 liberty of conscience, as if Christian liberty 
 consisted in doing what they list: or that 
 Christ hath so freed thee from the yoke 
 of the Law, as that thou art not still subject 
 to the Commandments : not think that Christ 
 was therefore obedient unto the death, that 
 thou shouldest be tied to no obedience 
 of any thing during thy life : that the merits 
 of our Redeemer hath obtained, not, that the 
 Commandments of God should not still be 
 observed, but, that the not perfect observing 
 of them should not be imputed. 
 
 Make not other men's sins thine, by 
 
 o o
 
 O 3 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 4 1 
 
 imitating them : nor thine, other men's, by 
 teaching of them ; do nothing in which thou 
 wouldest not be followed : follow nothing of 
 which thou canst not well justify the doing. 
 
 Affect not much business, especially of 
 other men's, yet to hate idleness; to use 
 recreations, but not dwell in them ; to affect 
 rather what is needful, than curious ; not to 
 over-do, and in all these things to suffice 
 nature, not humour it. 
 
 Be slow in choosing a friend, but slower in 
 changing him when thou hast chosen : be 
 courteous to all, but inward only with a 
 few ; thou mayest use that freedom to a 
 friend, which thou wilt not to every ac- 
 quaintance; thy acquaintance is but thy 
 neighbour, but thy friend is thyself. 
 
 Scorn no man for his meanness, and 
 ! humour no man for his wealth : do nothing 
 to please any, whereby thou shalt displease 
 God ; never be drunk to please the company, 
 or think it uncivility to part sober ; or cease 
 to be a good Christian, that thou mayest be 
 thought a good companion. 
 
 o o
 
 42 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Be displeased with nothing which God 
 doth, and as near as thou canst, do nothing 
 wherewith God is displeased; do all thou 
 doest as in God's presence, and speak all 
 in his audience; and let neither thy words 
 nor actions be such, as to which thou mayest 
 willingly desire God's absence, or not desire 
 His assistance. 
 
 It is the goodness of God to us, that is the 
 cause of the love of God to us ; and it is the 
 goodness of God in us, that is the cause of 
 the love of God in us: confess that the good 
 which thou receivest is not for thine own 
 sake, nor the good which thou doest is not 
 by thine own power; it is the mercy of 
 God that moves Him to do for us; that 
 enables us to do that which pleaseth Him. 
 
 Account that good which is lawful, not 
 which is profitable; and endeavour rather 
 to serve God, than thine own turn, in all: 
 make these two the rule of thyself, justice, 
 and godliness, and thou shalt fulfil the 
 duties of both Tables, God and thy neigh- 
 bour. 
 

 
 MEDITATIONS. 43 
 
 Not repiningly to complain of thy suffer- 
 ings of this life, since it is partly in thy 
 power to make them blessings; and if to 
 make them blessings be in thine own power, 
 then, that they are otherwise it is thy own 
 fault: God intends amendment in it; if it 
 do not amend thee, thou makest it a punish- 
 ment, not He. 
 
 Labour to see thy own mortality in other 
 men's deaths, and thy own frailty in other 
 men's sins. And since thou must shortly 
 die, be afraid to sin ; and so order thy sins 
 as thou mayest not be afraid to die; that 
 thy sins do not bring thee to a worse death, 
 and that this death may lead thee to a better 
 life. 
 
 Do what thou art commanded, not what 
 others do ; make no man's example a rule, 
 not the best man's ; all may err, and he 
 that in all things follows him that may 
 err, will be sure in some things to fall into 
 error. 
 
 Call to mind often what thou hast done, 
 and then compare with it what thou hast 
 
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 : Q 
 
 44 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 suffered, and what thou hast received; and 
 when thou shalt find that thou hast received 
 more good than thou hast done, and hast 
 done more evil than thou hast suffered ; fear 
 that there is less good behind for thee, and 
 more evil ; and therefore betake thee to re- 
 pentance and a new life ; and by that thou 
 mayest prevent the evil which thou hast 
 deserved to suffer, and procure to thyself, 
 though not deserved, a reward of that good 
 which thou hast done. 
 
 Let it not trouble thee that some others 
 have lived longer than thyself; not the length 
 of thy life, but the goodness, is the measure of 
 thy happiness : if thou hast lived well, thou 
 hast lived long enough ; if thou hast not 
 lived well, thou hast lived too long. 
 
 Never think it too soon to repent, thou 
 dost not know how soon thou mayest die, 
 and after death it is too late; he that puts 
 off his amendment with hope of living, loseth 
 eternal life in a presumption of this. 
 
 Intend rather the effecting of a public 
 good than a particular: for by intending
 
 O O 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 45 
 
 only thy particular good, thou mayest do 
 wrong to the public, whereas thou canst 
 not effect a public good without thine own 
 good in particular : for whatever is beneficial 
 to the whole, cannot be prejudicial to the 
 parts; so then, thou being a member of the 
 whole, in performing a general good, even 
 by that thou art so far good to thine own 
 particular, as thou hast an interest in the 
 general: whereas by seeking thy private 
 good with the neglect of the public, thou 
 dost both decline from the common nature 
 of things, and from the nature of goodness, 
 which is by so much the more good, by how 
 much it is good to more, and doest rather 
 that which is good to thee, than what is 
 truly good in itself: this is to make thine 
 own self and thy advantage the rule of good- 
 ness, that shouldest make goodness the rule 
 of thyself and thy actions. 
 
 Think that in death thou dost not lose 
 a life, but exchange one; death is but a 
 change, and therefore not to fear a change, 
 that art every day so acquainted with 
 
 O
 
 o . o 
 
 46 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 changes; every change is a kind of death, 
 inasmuch as that which it changeth from, 
 doth die to what it was. If the beasts and 
 creatures themselves did not change from 
 what they are, how should we be fed ? Nay, 
 if their skins and clothing did not change 
 from its natural use to them, how could it 
 be useful to us? If the sun itself did not 
 change his place ; if the year, and the parts 
 of the year, did not change, how should we 
 either have life or necessaries ? Thou then 
 that dost thus subsist by changes, why dost 
 thou fear a change? especially considering 
 that other things being ever altering in 
 themselves, do yet ever continue alterable; 
 whereas we changing but once, and for the 
 better, shall ever after remain immutable; 
 so that to be loth to change, is to contradict 
 what thou doest, to fear a change, and yet 
 love a life that is full of changes. 
 
 If God hath made thee handsome, let not 
 that make thee proud. Beauty is an orna- 
 ment, do not thou make it a snare : why 
 shouldest thou have cause to wish that thou
 
 MEDITATIONS. 47 
 
 hadst been ill-favoured? Shew nothing naked 
 of thyself to others but thy face, and that 
 only that thou mayest be known, not seen. 
 Be courteous to all, but not familiar. Stay 
 not to hear thy handsomeness praised, much 
 less to praise it : think no time so ill spent 
 about thyself as in dressing, nor no money 
 as in fashions ; yet in neither be ridiculous, 
 allow for both: acknowledge no beauty in 
 thyself but of the mind, nor strive for none. 
 If God have made thee beautiful in other's 
 eyes, let it be thy care to make thyself so 
 in His. Beauty, without grace, is the greatest 
 deformity. 
 
 In God's house and business forget thine 
 own : be there as a member of the Church, 
 not of the commonwealth. Empty thyself of 
 this world, thou art conversant in the next. 
 Let all thy senses have no other object but 
 God; let thy ears be open, but thy eyes shut. 
 If another's beauty draw thy eyes from God, 
 that beauty is become thy deformity, and 
 hath turned God's eyes from thee. 
 
 Love no woman but a wife, and use no 
 
 6 _
 
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 48 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 familiarity with her but in public; thou 
 knowest not whither it may grow : many 
 have thought no hurt in the beginning of 
 those things that after have proceeded to 
 impiety : and in all thy behaviour, examine 
 not what thou dost, but with what mind 
 thou doest it, else that which happily in 
 itself was indifferent, is to thee unlawful: 
 to a good mind all company is safe, and all 
 familiarity is harmless, 
 
 'Tis the mind that makes a fault, 
 
 Else such things would not be naught. 
 
 He that can (and is 110 liar) 
 
 Sport and talk without a fire; 
 
 Can he courteous, can he kind, 
 
 And not kindle in his mind ; 
 
 And can touch a woman's skin 
 
 As his own, nor stir within; 
 
 Doth salute without delight, 
 
 And more would not, though he might. 
 
 Nor scarce that ; whom thus to hill 
 
 Manners teacheth, not his will ; 
 
 Nor with hand, nor lip, nor eye, 
 
 Doth commit adultery ; 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 49 
 
 But see and salute each other 
 Woman, as he doth his mother : 
 As the nurse's harmless kiss 
 To her child is, so is his 
 Without pleasure, without taste, 
 With a mind, a thought, as chaste 
 As turtle ; till thy mind be such, 
 Do not look, nor sport, nor touch; 
 Or, at least, till this thou can 
 Sport and talk, and play with man : 
 Not with woman, for if fair, 
 Thou wilt find, or make, a snare ; 
 Nay, although thy mind be such, 
 Do not toy, nor sport, nor touch; 
 For although thy thoughts be good, 
 Yet thoughts are not understood 
 But by actions ; so therein 
 May be scandal, if not sin. 
 Who exactness will fulfil, 
 Must forbear things seeming ill, 
 Not that are, but might have been, 
 Or that may be, construed sin. 
 Men judge thee ill or innocent, 
 By what is seen, not what is meant : 
 Then until all minds be such, 
 Think a look, a smile, too much.
 
 50 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Love thy neighbour as thyself in the kind, 
 unfeignedly ; but love thy friend as thyself 
 in the degree. Do as much as thou canst, 
 but love more than thou canst do. He that 
 doth but little for his friend, because his 
 ability is so, loves more than he which doth 
 much, but less than he is able. 
 
 Revenge no injury, though thou canst ; 
 and requite every courtesy, if thou canst; yet 
 shew that thou art willing to requite a cour- ! 
 tesy where thou art not able ; and shew that 
 thou art able to revenge a wrong (if thou 
 canst) though thou art not willing; so by 
 shewing that thou couldest revenge this, thou 
 wilt happily prevent another; and by not 
 revenging it, thou wilt prove thyself better 
 than thou shewest ; for to revenge a wrong 
 done, is to do a wrong to God. So thou wilt 
 be guilty of doing that which thou complain- 
 est of, and therefore unjustly com plainest of 
 that which thou thyself doest. 
 
 Let thy conceit of thyself be low, but thy 
 desires high, even as high as heaven. Think 
 thyself not worthy of the least good, yet by 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 51 
 
 the grace of God capable of the greatest. 
 Think often upon Christ's death, it will 
 sweeten thine ; and account it His, He ac- 
 counts it so; He died not for Himself, but 
 for thee ; and if thou live not to thyself, but 
 to Him, then He lives not for Himself neither, 
 but for thee, to make thee partaker of eternal 
 life, which already thou hast in the certainty, 
 though not in the fruition, and believest all this 
 and more very humbly, but very confidently. 
 
 That thou mayest avoid sin, avoid the 
 occasion of it ; as he that complains of heat 
 removes farther from the fire. Omit no 
 opportunity of doing good, and do no evil 
 though thou hast opportunity. It is a 
 greater commendation of thy goodness, that 
 thou mightest and wouldest not. 
 
 Meditate often upon thy death, thou wilt 
 like it the better ; and often upon the next 
 life; thou wilt like this the worse. Think of 
 this world as a thing in trust, and provide to 
 discharge it. Account nothing thine own, 
 but as being shortly to give an account of 
 it to the right Owner. 
 
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 52 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Be not angry without cause ; be merry 
 without offence; admit a seasonable anger, 
 and shun an unseasonable jest. Be moderate 
 in both. Do not forget thyself in thy anger, 
 nor thy friend in thy mirth. By the one thou 
 wilt be burthensome to thyself; by the other 
 to the company. 
 
 Love the body, but subordinate to the soul: 
 the tenant is more noble than the house. The 
 most beautiful body is but a body of earth : 
 and the jewels which adorn it are but stones 
 in the earth : and the gold and silver which 
 it prides in are veins in this earth; the clothes 
 which thou wearest were the clothing of some 
 beast, or the labour of some worm, or at the 
 best, of a man like to thyself; think then 
 with what vile things thou art made fine: 
 which yet do but make thee so in the esteem 
 of others, not truly so in thyself; and do but 
 hide those parts which thou art ashamed to 
 shew, not adorn that inner part which doth 
 truly shew thee; therefore to be so much 
 a Christian to prefer that part which thou 
 hast common with Christ in respect of His 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 53 
 
 human nature, thy reasonable soul: or so 
 much a man, not to prefer that part which 
 thou hast common with the beast, an earthly 
 body. 
 
 If thou art a master, let thy family be 
 awed rather by thy example than thy word ; 
 be angry for small faults, it will prevent 
 greater. Commend and encourage those 
 that do well, they will do better ; com- 
 mendations of former goodness is a provo- 
 cation to more. 
 
 Think upon this life as a current, ever 
 running; do not hope to live long, but be 
 assured not to live still, and account it thy 
 comfort that thou shalt one day die ; to wish 
 thyself ever upon earth, is to wish thyself out 
 of heaven. 
 
 Be employed only in such ways as thou 
 wouldest not blush to be met in ; Thamar 
 goes disguised, when to play the harlot. Tell 
 nothing of another which thou wouldest not 
 have told him; believe nothing of another 
 which thou mayest not tell ; do not construe 
 seriously what is spoken but in jest, and for- 
 
 O
 
 O O 
 
 54 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 bear those jests which may be construed to 
 earnest; hear no ill of a friend, but reply; 
 and speak no ill, though of an enemy. 
 
 In thy house let thy entertainment be free, 
 not costly ; bid thy friends welcome to thy 
 ability, not beyond it. Never make one meal 
 so, as thou must be fain to fetch it up out of 
 many ; be hospitable, but provident ; think 
 nothing too much for thy friends, which is 
 not too much for thy estate ; hospitality bids 
 thy friends welcome, and providence makes 
 thee able to bid them welcome. If hospitality 
 be the life of neighbourhood, providence is the 
 life of hospitality ; he is not thy friend that 
 expects more than thou art well able ; thou 
 art not thine own friend, if thou doest less ; 
 to live above thy means is folly, to live too 
 far below thy means is a disparagement. Do 
 all like thyself, so as may neither weaken thy 
 respect, nor thy estate. 
 
 Love not ill company, lest thou learn the 
 ill of the company. It is hard not to be like 
 the company thou keepest. It is rare if we 
 deny not Christ in Caiaphas's house. \Vith 
 
 O O
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 55 
 
 Solomon, it is hard having the Ethiopian 
 without her idols. We see people change 
 their complexion with the climate : vessels 
 smell of the liquor they contain; by ordinary 
 communication in the ways of sinners, with- 
 out a great deal of care, you will communicate 
 with their sin. Wilh the froward ihou wilt 
 learn frotvardness : he that goes to the meet- 
 ings of wicked men, will come a wicked man 
 out ; or, to say the best, worse than he went 
 in. For thy conversation, let this be thy rule ; 
 if thy company be better, imitate them : if 
 worse, convert them : if equal, and as thou 
 art, join with them. 
 
 Feed the poor often at thy door, sometimes 
 at thy table ; whatsoever thou givest to Christ 
 in His members, He will one day give back 
 again to thee in thy person ; it is but just if 
 God deny thee thy daily bread, if thou daily 
 deny Him the crumbs. 
 
 Let it not trouble thee what is talked of thee 
 when thou art absent, more than what will 
 be talked of thee when thou art dead : an ill 
 report doth not make thee an ill man. Be 
 
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 56 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 careful to do nothing that deserves to be ill 
 spoken of; let it not trouble thee to be ill 
 spoken of undeservedly. 
 
 Let thy prayers be frequent; thy wants 
 are so; and thy thanksgivings frequent, thy 
 blessings are so. Pray daily at home, and if 
 thou canst, at church ; God is every where, 
 but there He hath promised to be. Miss 
 not the Confession and Absolution, unless 
 thou hast no sins to confess, or carest not 
 to be forgiven them. 
 
 Think not the worse of the ordinances of 
 God for the sins of the preacher ; those that 
 are ill themselves, may yet be instruments 
 of good to others ; God hath promised His 
 blessing to the thing, not to the person. The 
 sacrifice of Eli's sons were effectual for the 
 people. It is not the people's fault that the 
 preacher is wicked, and as it is without their 
 fault, so it is without their prejudice ; it was 
 our blessed Saviour's of the Pharisees, Afler 
 their sayings, do ye. We must follow their 
 sayings, whose deeds we may not. Thou 
 mayest not refuse the word of God from 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 57 
 
 any, if they teach what they should, though 
 
 they do not what they teach; the wickedness 
 
 I of the messenger doth not abate the power of 
 
 ! the means, as the intemperance and debauch- 
 
 edness of the physician doth not hinder the 
 
 working of the physic. 
 
 Remember often that thou art a Christian, 
 and do nothing that may disprove it. Be not 
 a law to thyself, but be regulated by that 
 which is a law to us all, the word of God. 
 Study not much how to make thy life longer, 
 but better. Consider that the longer thou art 
 here, the longer thou art from God ; let it be 
 thy care rather to lead a good life than a long. 
 Endeavour to thy ability to do well, and grieve 
 that thou canst not do better. Do not wrong 
 to others ; forgive the wrongs which others 
 do thee. Strive what thou canst to keep a 
 good name, but rather a good conscience. 
 If men mistake thee, comfort thyself that 
 God, which shall reward thee, doth not. 
 Look upon the necessities of others not as 
 a stranger, but a member ; as thou wouldest 
 have God look upon thine. Be good to all, 
 
 o o
 
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 58 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 God is so, but with a difference, especially to 
 t/ie household of faith. Cherish no sin in thy- 
 self, and countenance none in another ; ac- 
 quaint thyself rather with the commandments 
 of God, than the decrees, and conclude of 
 thy salvation to thyself rather by a diligent 
 observing of His revealed will, than by 
 searching into His secret will. Let not 
 the changes of this world to preferment or 
 want, make thee either fond of thy life, or 
 weary of it. Be contented to live, but be 
 desirous to die, to be dissolved, and to be with 
 Christ : and if thou canst not attain to per- 
 fection upon earth, aim at it. 
 
 Let thy first care be to be good thyself, 
 thy next care to make others so. Be not 
 a Christian in shew only, yet in every thing 
 shew thyself a Christian. Do nothing but 
 what is good, and speak nothing but what 
 is truth : he is the best Christian that speaks 
 well, and doth as he speaks. 
 
 If thou would'st know who is a Christian, he 
 Whose holy words are seconded with deeds; 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 59 
 
 For by the fruit we must judge of the tree. 
 Men do not gather grapes nor figs of reeds. 
 We judge of vrhat he is, hy what he bears, 
 And bears he doth not only blade, but ears. 
 
 Slow to revenge a wrong, not to forgive ; 
 
 Whose goodness is not only to the eye, 
 Thinks rather how to die, than how to live, 
 And yet is dead to sin before he die. 
 
 And who lives here on earth, and dies to sin, 
 When he is dead, his life doth but begin. 
 
 Who doth not what he likes, but what he may, 
 And asks, " what may I" too, not of himself, 
 But of religion ; and (the Scriptures say) 
 Who is his own rule, runs upon a shelf, 
 
 Who though he might, he would not, be de- 
 
 boyse, 
 Is good, not of necessity, but choice. 
 
 That makes not opportunity his bawd : 
 
 (Occasion sometimes doth invite a sin,) 
 To may, and will not, is the Christian's laud ; 
 He's guilty that is out, but would be in. 
 But, being tempted, or but not withstood, 
 Not to be evil is a double good. 
 
 6
 
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 60 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 That can revenge a wrong, but doth forhear it ; 
 
 And to he slow to malice is not sloth, 
 Speaks only what is truth, hut will not swear it ; 
 Nor seconds every trifle with an oath. 
 
 That likes no vice, though follow' d with a 
 
 throng : 
 Who measures truth by voices doth it wrong. 
 
 Some good he doth, yet fain he would do more ; 
 
 To would be better, is an act of grace 
 His mind is rich to Christ, his power is poor ; 
 God mend his power and he will mend his pace. 
 Mean time God likes the will, and in His Son, 
 What we would do, is, iu th' acceptance, done. 
 
 If yet he do, (as who did never ill? 
 
 Who is without his errors?) Yet is this 
 The error of his frailty, not his will : 
 
 He doth indeed, but grieves to do, amiss. 
 To sigh and grieve for what we cannot do, 
 Is to come short, and yet to do it too. 
 
 You'll say then, " Christianity is hard." 
 
 What good was ever easy? Where the gains 
 
 Are greatest, likely there the way is barr'd : 
 Double renown is had with double pains: 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 61 
 
 Whoso doth follow Christ, doth pitch a field, 
 'Tis less praise not to fight, than not to yield. 
 
 Worldly advancements are not had with ease, 
 
 And want is the inheritance of sloth : 
 Would' st thou do less for heaven than for these ? 
 'Tis fit who would have one,he should have hoth : 
 The gain with hardness, thus it is less hard 
 The danger's great, hut so is the reward. 
 
 Let it trouble thee more to do a fault, 
 than to hear of it. If thou art ill spoken of 
 by another, first call thyself to account before 
 him; it may be, thou cleservest it; be more 
 sorry that it is true, than that it is known : 
 if false, it is not thy fault that thou art belied, 
 it is thy comfort that it is a lie. Do not 
 think to be ever free from censure here, nor 
 sometimes from faults. He is the best man 
 that errs seklomest ; he is more than a man 
 that never errs. 
 
 In religion receive no opinion upon credit, 
 and vent none upon discontent. Be of that 
 opinion that may save thee, rather than that 
 may raise thee ; let not the doors of thy lips 
 
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 62 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 move upon the hinges of another man's tongue. 
 Speak what thou thinkest, not what others 
 speak ; so follow good men, as remembering 
 they are but men. Go rather the way which 
 you ought, than the way which is gone. 
 Make others companions, but not copies, 
 or so far copies as they agree with the 
 Original. 
 
 Take whatsoever God doth thankfully, 
 and do whatsoever He commands cheerfully. 
 Labour to make a good use of ill accidents. 
 Hate every man's sin, love every man's person, 
 and love no man's sin for the person's sake. 
 
 Fear rather to do ill, than to suffer for thy 
 ill doing. He that truly fears sin, shall never 
 fear punishment. Think upon the goodness 
 of God, and thou wilt love Him ; and think 
 upon the justice of God, and thou wilt fear 
 Him, and so by consequence love that which 
 may free thee from this fear; and so between 
 these two, thou wilt fear to do any thing 
 against him whom thou lovest, and thou 
 wilt (at least) not love to do any thing against 
 him for fear. 
 
 c
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 03 
 
 If the actions of another reflect to thy harm, 
 examine not what is done, but what was 
 intended. And if he intended no ill, think 
 he hath done thee none, though in effect he 
 have ; willingly do no wrong ; wink at those 
 wrongs that are unwillingly done thee, God 
 doth so ; and measures what we do by what 
 we meant to do. He that shot at a mark and 
 killed a man, by the law of God was not held 
 a murderer; God that works in us both to will 
 and to do, as he doth sometimes accept the 
 will for the deed, so he doth usually measure 
 the deed by the will. 
 
 Do not easily entertain a friend, nor easily 
 part with him. Think him no true friend 
 whom one injury can make thine enemy ; or 
 that accounts every error an injury. He must 
 have no friends that will have a friend with 
 no faults. Make no man thy enemy by doing 
 him wrong. Become not an enemy to every 
 one that wrongs thee. Account every man 
 thy neighbour, though thine enemy, that 
 needs thee. 
 
 In religion look to the end, but by the I 
 
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 64 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 means ; think not to partake of what God 
 hath promised, but by doing in some measure 
 what He hath commanded : thoiigh heaven 
 be had without our desert, yet it is not had 
 without our pains : then mayest thou hope 
 that God will be as good as His word to thee, 
 when thou sincerely endeavourest to be as 
 good as His word commands thee to be to- 
 wards Him. 
 
 Do nothing w r hich is ill, nor every thing 
 which is lawful. Measure not thy liberty by 
 the lawfulness of the thing, but the expe- 
 diency. Many times an unseasonable good, 
 though it be not ill in itself, yet it is, in the 
 occasion of it He which will at no time 
 forbear to do something which he may, will at 
 some time do something which he may not. 
 
 Be content to hear of another's praises 
 
 before thee without repining; and to tell 
 
 of another's praises without detracting. To 
 
 speak well of all men, or net at all ; for as it 
 
 ; is flattery to speak that good of another which 
 
 I is false, so it is detraction, to speak that ill of 
 
 j another, unnecessarily, which is true. 
 
 o o
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 65 
 
 Forgive the wilful injuries of any, yet tell 
 him of them ; by shewing of him his fault, 
 thou shewest him his duty : do not love him 
 less for it, but trust in him less. But if he 
 be thoroughly sorry for it, be thou thoroughly 
 satisfied ; God asks no more for thine : con- 
 sider that to suffer wrongs is common to thee 
 with Christ, and to forgive wrongs proper to 
 thee as a Christian. God doth suffer such : 
 wrongs to be, that He may exercise thy < 
 patience. And He commands thee to forgive 
 those wrongs, that thou mayest exercise thy j 
 charity. 
 
 So live as thou mayest not be afraid to die, 
 as thou mayest be assured of a better life 
 after death. Do nothing which shall need 
 an excuse, or fear a witness ; and so use this 
 world, as remembering you must account for 
 it in the next. 
 
 Let thy discourse be ever of goodness, but 
 I not of thine own ; or of the good which thou 
 hast received of God, not which thou hast 
 done. If thy talk be good, thou dost at 
 once both shew goodness, and teach it. 
 O : !
 
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 66 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Be good without much noise. Be provi- 
 dent without perplexedness. Be merry with- 
 out lightness. Be bountiful without waste. 
 Live to the benefit of all, but to the service 
 only of God. 
 
 If now thou art not perfect yet with these, 
 
 (As where is their perfection here below ?) 
 Yet they may do enough to make thee please, 
 God accepts what we can, for what we owe. 
 Whilst thou endeavour'st to be what thou 
 
 shouldest 
 
 If thou waut'st power, 'tis enough thou 
 wouldest. 
 
 The clearest water is not free from mud ; 
 The Sun is not exempted from eclipse : 
 Here our perfection is but mingled good ; 
 And he is more than man that never slips : 
 In all we do, we something do amiss, 
 And our perfection imperfection is. 
 
 For the condition of our present plight 
 Is that we would he better than we are, 
 
 Not a perfection ever, but an height : 
 
 And we are good, but not without a scar. 
 
 o o
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 67 
 
 All things are like ourselves, a mixture, then 
 God doth not look that we should not he 
 
 GLORIA DEO. 
 
 o-
 
 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Do nothing merely for gain. Account not 
 those actions gainful to thee, for which thou 
 must pawn thy conscience ; do not sell that 
 which thou canst not buy, piety ; think not 
 any thing in this life worthy the loss of the 
 next. 
 
 Do all thy business leisurely, not dream- 
 ingly ; undertake nothing but advisedly, and 
 what thou hast undertaken, go through with ; 
 propose such ends to all thy actions, as thou 
 mayest not be ashamed to own ; as may 
 witness thee both a wise man, and a good 
 Christian. 
 
 When thou seest any born into the world 
 naked and. helpless, think that thy beginning 
 
 6 o
 
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 70 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 was no better ; and when thou seest any 
 ! peaceably die, and decently buried, that thy 
 j end (haply) may not be so good ; there is but 
 j one common end to all, namely, death ; but 
 there are many sorts of death, and what death 
 thou shalt die, whether a natural, or a violent, 
 it may be a shameful ; whether at home, or 
 upon the way; among whom thou shalt be 
 sick, or by whom thou shalt be buried, if at 
 all; whether thou shalt die on the sea where 
 thou shalt have no grave, and that in a ship- 
 wreck, where thou shalt have no burial ; or 
 in the wars, where thou shalt have no pity ; 
 and all alone, where thou shalt have none to 
 help, none to comfort thee, or to pray with 
 thee ; and whether then thou shalt have time 
 to repent, or whether thou shalt have grace 
 to repent ; and by any of these how soon 
 thou mayest be fetched, or how long thou 
 mayest tarry, thou knowest not ; only this 
 thou knowest, that go thou must, and cer- 
 tainly sooner than thou wottest of; and that 
 if thou hast already outlived any others, that 
 this hath not happened to thee by any pre- 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 71 
 
 eminence of nature or difference of mould. 
 The lower part of a taper or light is not 
 better than the upper part, because it is 
 longer before it be consumed. That thou 
 dost already differ nothing from a carcase 
 or dead corpse, but that thou hast a soul, 
 which if thou employest faithfully and in 
 the fear of God, thou differest little from the 
 saints in heaven, save that thou hast a body ; 
 if otherwise, thou dost but in that differ 
 from the devils in hell. 
 
 Be strict in paying thy due, not too strict 
 in demanding it. Unwillingly undertake a 
 suit, and willingly make an end of it. Choose 
 rather to buy quietness with some loss, than 
 gain with contention. He that goes to law 
 for every trifle, buys an unquiet life at a dear 
 rate, and will in the end find his chests empty 
 of money, and full of papers. 
 
 As at the first thou hadst thy beginning and 
 being from God, so frame thy life, that when 
 this being shall end, thou mayest return to 
 God. Do all things to His glory, and to all 
 things ask His aid, since without it thou
 
 c i 
 
 72 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 canst do nothing; even to speak of His praises 
 
 thou wilt need His assistance. 
 
 Think it not safe to defer amendment : 
 late repentance is seldom sound. He which 
 puts off to repent till sickness, commonly 
 makes but a sick repentance, if any. If sin 
 keep possession all thy life, it will hardly be 
 gotten out when thou comest to die. 
 
 Make the Scripture the complete rule to 
 thee of good and evil. Measure the goodness 
 of other things not by their nature, but their 
 use. Think indifferent things good or bad, 
 according as authority enjoins or forbids them. 
 If supreme authority impose any thing which 
 it is not a sin to do, think thou sinnest if thou 
 refuse to do it. If it impose any thing which 
 is a sin, though thou dost not sin if thou re- 
 fuse it, yet know thou sinnest if thou rebel 
 against authority. Thou mayest not resist a 
 lawful authority, even in an unlawful thing, 
 otherwise than by thy prayers. 
 
 Think not with the fool, that there is no 
 God, and do nothing that may make thee 
 wish there were none. And as thou dost be- 
 
 o 6
 
 Q i 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 73 
 
 lieve that there is a God, so let thy life be 
 such as may conclude to thee that He is thy 
 God. If thou make Him thy God in thy ser- 
 vice of Him, thou wilt by that too make Him 
 thy Father in His care of thee here, and thy 
 debtor, at least by promise, in respect of His 
 reward to thee hereafter. 
 
 Think it a long art to die well ; and that 
 thou hast but a short time to learn it. And 
 beside that which thou art to learn, much it 
 is which thou art to forget, and dost daily 
 forget much of that good which thou hadst 
 learned. Therefore not, like truanting boys, 
 to trifle away any of that time in telling tales, 
 which is too little to get thy lesson. 
 
 Do nothing which may shut thee out of 
 heaven, yet do not despair, if thou hast done 
 any. Think every sin great, but none so 
 great but may be forgiven; forgiveness of 
 sin is an Article of your faith : you deny 
 your Creed if you deny that. Thou canst 
 not wrong Jesus Christ more, than by mak- 
 ing any sin bigger than His sufferings. 
 
 Examine not how long thou hast lived, but
 
 p 
 
 74 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 how well; measure thy Christianity by thy 
 piety, not by thy age ; think not that thou 
 dost benefit God, but thyself, by being holy ; 
 consider that God hath no need of thy good- 
 ness, inasmuch as He is able to make a good use 
 of thy sins. And that if thou wilt not glorify 
 Him by doing well, yet He is able to glorify 
 Himself by what thou doest ill ; therefore to 
 intend God's glory in all, inasmuch as thou 
 shalt glorify Him, though thou intend it not ; 
 and so doing God's will against thine own, 
 thou dost His will so, as that yet thou shalt 
 be punished for doing it. 
 
 In every sin thou art about to commit, con- 
 sider first how dear it will cost thee ; that 
 God hath not made hell for nought ; that 
 He reserveth the devil and his angels to be 
 company for impenitent sinners ; that punish- 
 ment is the end of all sin, and there is no end 
 of that punishment; the short pleasures of any 
 sin are not worth the long punishments they 
 do bring with it. . 
 
 Do not over-prize or affect the things which 
 thou hast ; do not perplex thy mind for the 
 
 o-
 
 o -^ 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 75 
 
 things which thou wantest; consider how 
 many want more, and how courageously and 
 cheerfully they endure those wants. And 
 account it thy great want, that thou wantest 
 their courage, even when thou hast not their 
 wants. 
 
 Be no observer of other men's ways, nor of 
 other men's humours. Pass sentence upon 
 no man's soul, it is God which judgeth ; nor 
 censure any man by the estate he is in. It is 
 not sin but impenitency that damns any, and 
 what knowest thou but he may repent? Look 
 diligently into thine own conscience, it will 
 never repent thee that thou lookest not at all 
 into others ; other men's sins, as they shall in 
 the last day be no part of thy account, so here 
 to know them is no part of thy duty. 
 
 Conform thy desires to thy condition ; be 
 not troubled with thinking what thou might- 
 est have been, or what others (happily) have 
 been from less beginnings, it may be with less 
 desert; whilst thou hast what is necessary, 
 what thou wouldest have more, if it be not 
 superfluous, yet it neither concerns thee as a
 
 Q . ; 
 
 76 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 man, and essentially to thy being, nor as a 
 Christian. Add to this, that if in outward 
 things of the body thou comest short of some, 
 yet in the things of thy soul and the means of 
 salvation, thou art an equal sharer with the 
 best. Consider the bounty of God to thee in 
 thine ordinary blessings > which, however con- 
 tinuance make less regarded, it doth not make 
 them less necessary. Consider thy health and 
 strength, &c. how ill thou couldest be without 
 it, how earnest thou wouldest be with God 
 for it, if thou wert without it ; and therefore 
 be careful not to be the worse for enjoying 
 of those things without which thou wouldest 
 esteem thyself so much worse than others, 
 that God be not provoked to take them from 
 thee to make thee better ; but rather learn to 
 know the goodness of God's blessings in the 
 fruition of them, than by the want of them. 
 
 Do not sin in hope of pardon. Do not 
 forbear sin, only for fear of punishment. 
 Grieve not only for the sins thou hast fallen 
 into, but for those that thou art subject to ; 
 that thou art in a condition and body not free 
 
 -G
 
 ! Q 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 77 
 
 from sin ; which consideration of thy sin, as 
 it doth work grief, so that grief doth again 
 extenuate thy sin ; for if thou truly do what 
 thou canst, and art truly sorry for what thou 
 canst not do, and desirest God to accept that 
 doing, and that sorrow, though thou hast 
 not that perfection, which the law doth ex- 
 act, yet thou hast such a perfection as God 
 doth accept ; with whom sincerely to endea- 
 vour what we should, and to grieve for the 
 failings of our endeavours, and to long and 
 prepare for that place where there shall be 
 an end of those failings, is thought good 
 enough, and though not such a goodness as 
 by which thou canst condignly merit a re- 
 ward, yet such it is, as for which thou mayest 
 expect one. 
 
 Affect every thing here as remembering 
 here thou must leave it; do every thing here 
 as that hereafter thou must account for it. 
 Worldly things, as they should be the least 
 part of thy care, so let them have the least 
 part of thy respect ; consider that in the 
 last day not to have loved them well, but 
 
 6 o
 
 78 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 to have used them well, will be thy com- 
 fort. 
 
 Think of death, not only as near, but pro- 
 fitable to thee; and in death to make thee will- 
 ing to part with the earth, consider that thou 
 art then journeying to heaven. Think upon 
 thy dying, not as an end of thy being, but a 
 beginning of thy happiness. Here thou art 
 happy, but neither simply nor long; there 
 is no good here without some mixture and 
 allay. Besides, consider how little of these 
 thou dost then part with; it is not the pleasure 
 or delight, &c. of many years, no not of many 
 minutes, that death deprives thee of. Thou 
 canst not be said to be robbed by death of 
 the time or years which are already spent, 
 because they are already dead to thee, and if 
 thou didst live still, they should not revive to 
 thee ; and that which is yet to come is yet 
 not thine, and thou canst not be said to lose 
 that which thou never hadst; so all that thou 
 partest with in death, is but that which thou 
 enjoyest at the very instant of departing. 
 Surely he which considers seriously what he 
 
 6 c
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 79 
 
 here leaves, and for what he leaves it, cannot 
 think much to die, but rather think much to 
 live, because in dying he doth lose nothing, 
 but only exchange something, and that for 
 the better: by how much eternal life is better 
 than long life, and the society of angels better 
 than the company of men; heaven better than 
 earth, and the fruition of God better than a 
 man's self. 
 
 Pass not thy word to thy hurt, and break 
 not thy word for thy advantage ; consider 
 that in all thy promises God is either a party, 
 or a witness; the promises which thou makest 
 not to Him, thou makest before Him. Follow 
 justice and goodness, though no man know 
 it ; care for no other witness of thy sincerity 
 than God, inasmuch as thou art to expect no 
 other rewarder of it. 
 
 Do nothing but what is praiseworthy, yet 
 esteem the praise of men nothing worth, in- 
 asmuch as it is the fault of most men to com- 
 mend rather those that are good to them, 
 than those that are truly good in themselves; 
 consider how many in the world do not know 
 
 O O
 
 o o 
 
 80 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 thee, how many do know thee but by hear- 
 say, and thou dost not know what they hear 
 of thee: and therefore thou wilt much wrong 
 thyself, if thou measure thy worth by their 
 praises which are beholden to thee, which 
 may be partial ; or the contrary, by their 
 reports, who do not know thee, which is 
 ever uncertain. 
 
 Let thy prayers to God be often and earnest 
 rather than long, and let thanksgiving be ever 
 a part of thy prayer ; for as God doth not 
 usually bestow His blessings without our 
 prayers, so neither doth He continue them 
 without our thanks; yet let all thy desires to 
 God be conditional, if He please and see it 
 good; refer thy will to His, and thus by 
 freely submitting it to Him, thou prayest 
 more powerful than by asking it; learn so 
 to conform thy will to God's, that whatever 
 by His Providence shall happen to thee, 
 thou mayest be ready to bid it welcome; 
 whatever shall be taken from thee, to bid 
 t farewell. 
 In sickness use means for the recovery of 
 
 o- o
 
 o c 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 81 
 
 thy health ; yet think, what if thou shouldest j 
 not recover, what if thou shouldest die now ; j 
 whether thou art ready for death, whether ' 
 thou art ready to give an account of thy life? ! 
 and since both these must be done, and sick- j 
 ness is an ill time to do it in, think that he I 
 which will be ready for death in sickness, ! 
 must provide for it in his health. 
 
 Do not perplex thyself with thinking what 
 
 may be, or make to thyself miseries before 
 
 ' they are, and which, it may be, shall never 
 
 j be. Account not thyself unhappy in any 
 
 mischances which shall befall thee, but that 
 
 thou art happy enough that thou canst bear 
 
 them ; ever think better of other men than 
 
 I of thyself, but think better of thine own con- 
 
 ! dition and fortune than other men's, so thou 
 
 wilt be ever content with that thou art, and 
 
 not proud of it. 
 
 Measure the greatness or smallness of sins 
 not by the thing, but by the Commandment; 
 the thing in which Adam offended was not 
 great. Account all sins mortal in themselves, 
 and therefore fear to commit them ; but all 
 
 o o
 
 O 
 
 82 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 venial in respect of God's mercy, and there- 
 fore do not despair in them ; let the actions 
 of thy whole life be such as thou carest not 
 who knows them, yet be not ambitious to 
 make thy goodness known ; consider that 
 thou art bound to be good, though no man 
 know it, and that it cannot be unknown to 
 God who will recompense it ; that opinion 
 makes not things better or worse. Pearls 
 ' are not valued either in those places where 
 there is plenty, or by those persons that want 
 skill, yet have the same virtue even where 
 they want their due value; if men think 
 worse of thee than thou deservest, it is thy 
 | unhappiness, not thy sin ; if thou deservest 
 w r orse than they think of thee, it is their un- 
 i happiness to mistake thee, but it is thy sin 
 ' not to be so good as they take thee for 
 
 So enjoy this life, as being willing to leave 
 
 it; and so meditate upon the next life, as 
 
 being desirous to enjoy it. Be good whilst 
 
 thou hast time and means, lest if now thcu 
 
 i mayest and wilt not, hereafter thou wouldest 
 
 ! but canst not, it is not unjust if God then 
 
 Q __ Q
 
 o o 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 83 
 
 deny that to thee, which before thou deniedst 
 to thyself. 
 
 Weigh the goodness of God to thee in 
 these two, what he at first made thee, after 
 his own image, and what He Himself was 
 afterward made for thee, after thy image. 
 First, He made us like Himself, then He 
 made Himself like us: man by his sin 
 having lost the image and likeness of God, 
 God Himself became in the likeness of sinful 
 man, that He might again make sinful man 
 like Himself; and that He might take away 
 his sin, did take on Himself not only his 
 nature, but his punishment, and to become 
 his Saviour, became his sacrifice. 
 
 'Twas little that thou mad'st me first of nought, 
 But thou wast sold, and I was bought. 
 
 No worth was I, nothing hut worth in thee ; 
 
 Yet, Lord ! thou wast the price of me : 
 
 Ohheighth! oh depth! Thyself would'stnot be thine, 
 (Bless'd Saviour) to he mine. 
 
 Therefore will I no longer he mine own, 
 That so I may be Thine alone. 
 
 Do rather those things which are good,
 
 O ' 
 
 84 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 than those which are acceptable; do and 
 speak all from thy heart, yet neither do 
 nor speak all that is in thy heart : go about 
 nothing rashly, and be not easily diverted 
 from what thou goest about. Be good not 
 only inwardly to thyself, but externally to 
 the world; let thy outward conversation 
 answer thy inward conscience ; give no 
 occasion to any to think worse of thee 
 than indeed thou art; and if without just 
 occasion they do, comfort thyself that thou 
 art better than they think thee. 
 
 Be provident, but not covetous, in thy 
 affairs ; look at thy profit, but neither first, 
 nor wholly ; think it the greatest gain to 
 do well ; be not drawn to an unlawful act, 
 either for fear or company ; do not lose 
 a good conscience to gain a kingdom; con- 
 sider there is a better kingdom than this 
 world hath any, promised to the keeping of 
 it. 
 
 If thou wouldest avoid sin, avoid those 
 things that may occasion it; thou mayest 
 safer and better shun a temptation, than 
 
 o o
 
 o o 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 85 
 
 shun the sin when thou art tempted ; it 
 is an easier matter to keep out of the fire, 
 than to keep from burning when thou art 
 in. 
 
 Rather run, than be drawn, to goodness, 
 yet neither run, nor be drawn, into sin ; be 
 not persuaded to be evil, and be good though 
 none persuade thee: nay, though they per- 
 suade thee to the contrary : let no man's will 
 prevail with thee against God's, let God's 
 will prevail with thee even against thine 
 own ; and so by cheerful submitting of thy 
 will to God's, thou dost in some sense sub- 
 ject God to thy will; for willing nothing 
 but according to God's will, he should deny 
 his own will, if he denied thine. 
 
 Think all godliness gainful; thou canst not 
 say that wants gain, that gains thee Heaven. 
 In all things shew thyself a man, and be 
 governed by reason, not by thy appetite, 
 or thy sensitive part. Do not all things 
 which thou hast a mind to ; do not for the 
 importunity of other things contrary to thy 
 mind : or if thou art drawn to do sometime 
 
 o (
 
 O 
 
 86 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 something against thy mind, yet never be 
 drawn to do any thing against thy conscience. 
 
 Commend not any man in any thing where 
 he deserves it not; excuse what is spoken 
 disgracefully of any man, though he deserve 
 it ; it is a better office to defend a neighbour 
 in his absence, than to magnify and extol 
 him, being present ; for so doing thou canst 
 neither puff him up by what thou sayest, nor 
 be thought to flatter him by saying it. 
 
 Strive not unjustly at law for that which 
 is another's, lose not every thing which is 
 thine own without striving for, if it be of 
 moment ; religion doth not so teach patience 
 towards others, as that it forbids us in a just 
 cause to defend ourselves; yet contend not 
 in a suit for a trifle, thou mayest lose it 
 better -cheap than thou wilt recover it: as 
 I would not impose on men their sheepish- 
 ness, which are content to purchase their 
 peace with the loss of their estates, so neither 
 do I like their valour that sell their estate to 
 buy contention. 
 
 As we do not of things, so neither may 
 
 o o
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 87 
 
 we judge of men always by the appearance, 
 (hypocrisy hath usually a better vizard than 
 it hath a face,) yet judge of no man contrary 
 to what he appears ; I cannot think him a 
 sober man whom I see every day distempered 
 with drink, yet he may be intemperate whom 
 I never see so; we too often find demureness 
 without sincerity ; he who in all things be- 
 lieves always his eyes, is no less subject to 
 error, than he who will believe them in 
 nothing. 
 
 Some men love their friend, as intending 
 and wishing some good to him ; others, as 
 hoping only, and expecting some good from 
 him. The first of these loves his friend, the 
 latter of these loves himself. Love every 
 man that doth for thee, good nature requires 
 that ; and be ready to do even for those that 
 do not love thee, religion requires this; nei- 
 ther do only for those that love thee, nor 
 love any man only for this reason, that he 
 may do for thee; he which loves another 
 only for gain, loves the gain, not him. 
 
 Fear rather a secret than an open enemy, 
 
 o 6
 
 88 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 the malice which is not seen, is not easily 
 warded. Envy no man for his parts, and 
 contemn no man for his weaknesses; bear 
 with the frailties and imperfections of thy 
 neighbours, consider that God bears with 
 thine. Do all like a wise man providently, 
 and circumspectly for thyself; yet like a 
 Christian with respect to others. 
 
 Think contentation the greatest wealth, 
 and covetousness the greatest poverty ; if 
 thou hast not so much as others, yet thou 
 hast that which is appointed for thee, and 
 consider, that in Heaven the reward shall 
 not be according to what we have here, 
 but what we have done here. 
 
 Learn to distinguish aright between those 
 things which thou art but to use, and those 
 things which thou art to enjoy. To love God 
 for Himself, and other things only for God; 
 for if thou dost love God for other things, 
 and other things for themselves, thou dost 
 only make use of God for enjoying of those 
 other things, whereas thou shouldest desire 
 God only for Himself, and other things only 
 
 o o
 
 ) O 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 89 
 
 to further thy desire of God. A wicked 
 man loves God because he cannot be without 
 Him, the righteous man loves God because 
 he would not be without Him ; the one loves 
 God because he knows He is good, the other 
 because he hears He is bountiful ; the good 
 man loves Him for what He is, the other for 
 what He hath ; so he enjoys those things 
 which he should but use, and doth but make 
 use of God, whom he should labour to 
 enjoy. 
 
 In all religious performances, do not look 
 only at what thou art to do, but how thou 
 art to do it; measure the goodness of the 
 thing by the lawfulness, and that by the 
 commandment : but measure the goodness of 
 the act by the end, and that by the intention : 
 that duty can never be rightly done, that is 
 not done to a right end. He that performs 
 a good work with an ill intention, may be 
 said to have done good, but cannot be said 
 to have done well ; and he who doth good, 
 and not for God, receives from God no 
 reward of his doing, nay, he receives a 
 
 ) O
 
 90 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 contrary reward, because by intending his 
 I own end he doth not serve God by that 
 duty, but makes God in that duty serve him : 
 and that which was in its own nature good, 
 is made sin in the performance ; and so by 
 doing God's will for thine own ends, thou 
 sinnest worst than by leaving it undone, 
 because it is a less fault through infirmity 
 to do ill, than in pretence only, or vain- 
 glory, to do well. For as he which loves 
 that which is good or just, so far only as 
 it is profitable, loves profit, not goodness, 
 so he which doth good only for his own 
 ends, whether of advantage or glory, cannot 
 be said simply to do good, but to do good to 
 himself. 
 
 Think thy service which thou performest 
 to God is already paid for, inasmuch as thou 
 canst serve Him with nothing that is not 
 His; yet expect a reward of thy service, 
 though thou merit none, nor only expect 
 but claim it; God doth no less owe that 
 which He hath promised, than that which 
 thou deservest. 
 
 o o
 
 o o 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 91 
 
 Let thy apparel and dress be such as may 
 shew cleanliness without pride, and thy be- 
 haviour such as may shew gravity without 
 strangeness., and affability without lightness, 
 and thy discourse such as may shew that 
 thou dost not affect to talk, nor affectedly 
 j to be silent; and in both thy conversation 
 j and talk, be always careful to give good 
 counsel, and good example. 
 
 Practise patience, yet know when to be 
 moved; God, while He commands in us 
 mercifulness towards others, doth not forbid 
 us the defence of ourselves; it is not safe 
 to forgive a wrong where it will encourage 
 any further to wrong thee ; if he be sorry 
 that hath offended thee, forgive it; if he 
 boast of it, punish him that he may be 
 sorry for it : impunity makes many bold, 
 sometimes the conniving at one fault is the 
 cause of many. 
 
 Let not the abuse of any thing make thee 
 
 condemn the thing ; account not every thing 
 
 ill which the superstition or errors of any 
 
 j have made ill to them ; for as there is a good 
 
 6 o
 
 ) O 
 
 92 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 use of sin, for so God uses it, so there is a 
 sinful use of what is good ; yet neither is the 
 evil less evil, because God useth it well ; nor 
 doth that which is good become evil by our 
 evil use. Let it be thy commendations and 
 wisdom to bring good things to their right 
 use, not to fling them away because some 
 abuse them ; if we shall allow the use of 
 nothing which the idolatry or superstition 
 of others doth profanely abuse, we shall 
 neither have Churches, nor Scriptures, nor 
 God Himself. 
 
 The good counsel which thou givest to 
 others, first follow thyself; and the faults 
 which thou reprovest in others, first mend 
 in thyself: it is the ill custom of the world, 
 that for the most part men neither do what 
 they teach, nor mend what they find fault 
 with; it is indeed a harder matter to do 
 well, than to direct well: he that cannot 
 shoot himself, may give aim, therefore know- 
 ledge of goodness is more general than prac- 
 tice, because the one is an ordinary act of the 
 understanding, and of a natural man, but to 
 
 o o
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 93 
 
 the other is required a supernatural help: 
 think it no praise to thee then that thou 
 knowest what it is to do well ; or when 
 others do amiss, that thou art able to direct 
 those that go wrong, but that thou dost 
 follow those directions thyself. 
 
 Let nothing come from thee either in thy 
 discourse or actions, that may not beseem 
 thee; for though haply it were not ill 
 meant, yet it may be ill construed ; others 
 see not thy heart, and therefore judge of 
 thee by what they see ; to avoid therefore 
 the censure of others, do nothing which thou 
 thyself wouldest censure in another. 
 
 Think no calling disgraceful though never 
 so mean, it is the condition of our present 
 state to eat our meat with the sweat of our 
 brows; even the pure state of Adam had 
 somewhat to do : God never allowed idleness 
 to any ; the angels in heaven are employed 
 even in heaven, where there is nothing but 
 rest, yet there is no idleness. Wherefore hath 
 God given us ability and parts, but to em- 
 ploy them ? In labour there is not only 
 
 6 c
 
 94 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 comfort, but profit; in idleness there is not 
 only beggary, but sin; nay, a double sin; 
 for he robs God of the glory of those parts, 
 and his neighbour of the benefit of them, 
 by not using them. God, which hath pro- 
 mised us a blessing in our callings, hath 
 threatened a punishment to our idleness. 
 Ye know the servant was condemned for 
 hiding his talent. 
 
 Modesty is the greatest ornament of a 
 woman, more than jewels or clothes, nay, 
 more than extreme wit or beauty : these 
 latter are sometimes a sword against the 
 owner, but the other always a buckler: a 
 grave and strict carriage is a stronger denial 
 of temptation than words, and doth at once 
 teach ill minds what to expect, and what to 
 do. Let thy behaviour and countenance be 
 such as may make wicked minds blush to be 
 uncivil, not only to thee, but before thee. 
 Scorn no company, not the meanest, but be 
 not fond of any. Use no familiarity to any, 
 which strangers may think too much, or 
 which may encourage another to look for 
 
 O
 
 O 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 95 
 
 more : be sober without coyness, and affable 
 without fondness. Avoid pride and levity, 
 yet think it a commendation rather to be 
 censured as strange, than wanton. 
 
 Have ever the same mind to God ward, 
 sick, and in health ; do not purpose amend- 
 ment of life only on condition that thou 
 mayest amend in thy health ; do not forget 
 those promises when thou art well, which 
 thou wert so free of when thou were sick ; 
 he who doth only promise well when he is 
 visited, and not endeavour the performance 
 of those promises when he is well, is in 
 a more dangerous estate after his recovery 
 than before ; whereas he who is constant 
 to goodness when he is in health, is ready 
 for death before sickness, and in sickness 
 desires his recovery only that he may longer 
 glorify God, not promise only to glorify God 
 on condition he may recover. 
 
 Be content to hear another's praises and 
 thine own faults with patience; hate no man 
 for telling of thy errors to thyself, and be 
 not forward to tell of any man's to other 

 
 o o 
 
 96 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 men; he which tells thee privately of thy 
 fault, desires thy amendment ; if thou pub- 
 licly tellest, and blazest another's, thou de- 
 sirest his disgrace, which as it is already thy 
 sin, so it will be thy discredit. 
 
 Be no make-bate, nor an entertainer of 
 those that are ; thou art guilty not only of j 
 those sins which thou dost, but which thou 
 dost approve : think thy neighbour's welfare 
 and calamity thine own, though not in the 
 participation, yet in the compassion ; not 
 religion, but goodnature requires this, that 
 being members of the same body, if one 
 member be glorified, the other members 
 should rejoice with it. 
 
 Eternal life, as it is but one where, in j 
 God, so to it there is but one way, by 
 godliness; to the Holy of holies there is 
 no entrance without holiness; other ways 
 there are, but they lead to other ends. The 
 Epicures made pleasure their way, which 
 too many do still : other philosophers made 
 moral virtue their way, (few now do so 
 much,) but yet neither did the one's plea- 
 
 o o
 
 o. 
 
 MEDITATIONS. 97 
 
 sures begin in virtue, nor the other's virtue 
 end in true pleasure. He that seeks for the 
 world to come in this, looks for an infinite in 
 finite; the pleasures and commodities, &c. of 
 this life, are neither the earnests nor the 
 means of the next. It is the fault of these 
 times, that men study rather their advance- 
 ment and profit, than their souls, as if present 
 happiness did lead to the future ; such may 
 do well to find out a new heaven, if they 
 can, they will never find out a new way to 
 the old. 
 
 Many things are good in themselves, yet 
 remember that their goodness to us consists 
 much in our good use of them, yea, even 
 the goodness of God Himself; for however 
 infinitely good in Himself, patient, merciful, 
 &c. yet if I abuse that goodness, it is occa- 
 sion to me of infinite evil; as where the 
 stomach is ill affected, the meat is offensive. 
 If God bestow good things on thee, let not 
 thy sin alter the property, (the property, 
 I say, not of the nature,) for it is still good 
 in itself, that by thy means is not so to thee; 
 
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 98 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 thus riches are said to be an impediment in the 
 way to heaven; not that in wealth there is 
 more evil, but that it brings with it more 
 temptations to evil. It is said, hardly shall 
 ihose which have riches enler into the kingdom 
 of God. Yet what is more hard to be done, 
 it is more praise to do; and if God have 
 blessed thee with wealth, and thy abuse do 
 not alter it from a blessing, thou wilt find 
 thy abundance not only strengthen thy 
 way to heaven, but enlarge thy reward, 
 because there is then more praise of being 
 good when thou hast had more opportunities 
 (it may be invitements) to be evil. 
 
 Do not tell a lie to procure a benefit, much 
 less to do a wrong. Hate no man's virtues, 
 no not thine enemies, and imitate no man's 
 faults; be not so much a parasite to any 
 as to magnify his errors, much less to follow 
 them; do not for sinister respects do or 
 approve that, which but for that, thou would 
 condemn ; be not a broker, nor drive a trade 
 in sin ; consider that God is able to advance 
 thee without these; consider that all those 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 99 
 
 and all the world cannot advance thee with- 
 out God. 
 
 When thou rememberest that thou art born 
 in sin, be careful to repent of that, not add 
 more ; if thou art not able to answer for the 
 sins thou art born in, what will become of 
 thee for those thou hast lived in? Thou art 
 bad enough by nature, do not make thyself 
 worse by custom in sin. Let it be thy grief 
 that thou dost bring sin with thee into the 
 world, and let it be thy care not to add any 
 more sins to it whilst thou art in the world ; 
 that thou art born in sin, is enough to damn 
 thee ; if thou goest on carelessly and obsti- 
 nately to live in sin, it will be impossible to 
 save thee. Consider that as the sword hung 
 ! over the flatterer's head but by a hair, so 
 thou hangest over hell but by a hair, by the 
 slender thread of this life; if the thread 
 break before thou repentest, down thou fall- 
 est into everlasting destruction. 
 
 Be so affected to temporal things, as that 
 they hinder not thy affections to heavenly ; 
 consider that they are an argument of imper- 
 
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 100 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 fection, not of difference; that he is not more 
 a man that commands all the world, than he 
 which hath nothing , and besides, that how- 
 ever they be in a kind requisite for thy 
 present being, yet they do no way simply 
 i conduce to thy happiness, inasmuch as in 
 | heaven, where only we shall be happy, we 
 ! shall be without them ; in the mean time, if 
 thou dost want some of them, consider it is 
 an argument of an imperfect state to be 
 subject to wants ; or if thou hast them, that 
 it is no less argument of imperfection to 
 have need of them. And therefore let all 
 i earthly indigencies minister rather a medi- 
 tation of thy frailty, than a matter of dis- 
 content ; that nothing befals tliee but what 
 is proper to thy present condition, and that 
 when this present shall end, none of these 
 shall befal thee. 
 
 G
 
 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 BY THE LORD BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 
 
 ABOVE all things endeavour to preserve in 
 thy mind worthy thoughts of God. Never 
 take His Name into thy mouth without an 
 inward reverence. And let the words of His 
 mouth be dearer to thee than thousands of 
 gold and silver. And remember always that 
 God is as good as He is great ; and that no 
 man who does His will, and suffers for well- 
 doing., shall go unrewarded. God is indeed 
 Almighty, but His power does not over-top 
 His goodness, nor incline Him to severity. 
 " Thy power is the beginning of righteous- 
 ness, and because Thou art the Lord of all, 
 
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 102 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 it maketh Thee to be gracious unto all b ." 
 And consider what the same author adds, 
 " Thou mastering Thy power judgest with 
 equity, and ordered us with great favour. 
 For Thou mayest use power when Thou 
 wilt ." So it is, " As His Majesty is, so is 
 His mercy." 
 
 Meditate often upon the Divine benefits, 
 consider their number, and the peculiar ad- 
 juncts which commend them to thee. Thy 
 being, life, liberty, health, and all the con- 
 veniences of life are entirely owing to God's 
 bounty. Very many are the blessings of im- 
 munity ; such as are freedom from sickness, 
 great and severe pains, extreme poverty and 
 disgrace. But who can express the benefits 
 which are spiritual, which God bestows? He 
 halh given His Son to die, promised His Spirit 
 to help, made known His laws to direct us, 
 propounded eternal life to reward and encou- 
 rage our obedience. God gives thee time to 
 repent, affords the means of grace, the hope of 
 glory. Think how miserable thou wouldest 
 
 * Wisd. xii. 16, 18. Ecclus. ii. 18. 
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 MEDITATIONS. 103 ! 
 
 be without these, how wretched they are that 
 never had them, or that have foregone them. 
 Here is a large field for thy meditation, here 
 is enough to excite thy praise, and silence 
 thy complaints. 
 
 Add to this that God bestows these benefits 
 not only without a motive and any desert of 
 ours, but continues them to them who deserve 
 amiss. That God neither fears nor needs us. 
 That He would be, and be happy, if we were 
 not at all, or were miserable. It is in His 
 power to destroy us, and He may justly 
 deprive us of His benefits. Dwell upon these 
 thoughts, they will lead to repentance. 
 " And say not, His mercy is great, He 
 will be pacified for the multitude of my 
 sins: for mercy and wrath come from Him, 
 and His indignation resteth upon sinners d ." 
 
 Distinguish carefully between the means 
 and the end of religion. The means of reli- 
 gion are the reading, and hearing, and medi- 
 tating upon the word of God, public and 
 private prayer, receiving the Sacraments, &c. 
 d Ecclus. v. 6. 
 
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 104 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 But the end of religion is the change of 
 our life and temper here, and the ultimate 
 end, the salvation of our souls hereafter. 
 Never think thyself a proficient in religion 
 till thou hast gained the end of it; when 
 thou art turned from pride, covetousness, and 
 sensuality, &c. and art become humble, hea- 
 venly-minded, chaste, and temperate, then 
 thou mayest be said to have profited by re- 
 ligion. In the use of all the means of religion 
 use great diligence and care. The best remedy 
 will not remove a disease unless it be taken 
 with care, and retained with good govern- 
 ment. We are not bettered by the means of 
 religion because we are negligent in the use 
 of them. " Keep thy foot when thou goest 
 into the house of God e ." Prepare thyself for 
 the service of God, attend with great rever- 
 ence, unite all thy scattered thoughts, and do 
 not forget what thou hast been about. 
 
 Remember that God will not be mocked ; 
 that it is the heart of the worshipper which 
 he regards. And thy account hereafter will 
 e Eccl. v. 1. 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 105 
 
 be very heavy if thou be not much better 
 under the many advantages of becoming so. 
 We are never safe till we love Him with our 
 whole heart whom we pretend to worship. 
 " Froward thoughts separate from God, and 
 into a malicious soul wisdom shall not 
 enter V 
 
 Next to that duty we owe to God, we stand 
 obliged to our superiors. It is not for nothing 
 that the Holy Scriptures conjoin the fear of 
 God, and honouring the king, and that the 
 honour which we owe to our parents follows 
 next in the Decalogue, upon the duties we 
 owe to God. We are to honour the king as 
 God's substitute, and ministers as His mes- 
 sengers, and both them and our natural 
 parents for His sake as well as in obedience 
 to Him. To these we must give a cheerful 
 obedience, and obey them in all things which 
 God hath not forbid. Rebellion and dis- 
 obedience are heinous offences, and speak 
 a great contempt of God Himself. " He 
 that forsaketh his father is a blasphemer, 
 f Wisd. i. 3, 4. 
 
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 106 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 and he that angereth his mother is cursed 
 
 of Gods." 
 
 Do not willingly afflict or grieve any man, 
 nor put him to shame. Shew always a great 
 compassion to the afflicted, comfort and assist 
 them with all thy might who are in sorrow 
 and most destitute. It is a great imitation 
 of God to assist the desolate and friendless. 
 " Deliver him that sufFereth wrong from the 
 hand of the oppressor, and be not faint-hearted 
 when thou sittest in judgment. Be as a father 
 unto the fatherless, and instead of an husband 
 unto their mother. So shalt thou be as the 
 Son of the Most High, and He shall love thee 
 more than thy mother doth 1 '." 
 
 " Neglect not to give alms'." Dare to trust 
 God who hath promised to repay thee. Lay 
 aside for the poor a constant stock as thou art 
 able. He spake a great truth who said, "No man 
 is a better merchant than he that lays out his 
 time upon God, and his money upon the poor." 
 Remember that thy Lord and Master went 
 about doing good. And that it is better to 
 g Ecclus. iii. 16. h Ib. iv. 9, 10. ! Ib. vii. 10. 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 107 
 
 i give than to receive. And therefore " let 
 not thine hand be stretched out to receive, 
 and shut when thou shouldest give k ." 
 
 " Buy the truth, and sell it not '." Pursue 
 it diligently and examine things strictly. 
 Error stalks about the world in the mantle 
 of truth. Be careful neither to impose a 
 falsity, nor yet to be imposed upon. We 
 may justly suspect those men who will not 
 permit us to examine. We are obliged to 
 " prove all things m ." It is justly to be feared 
 that he sells bad wares, who is not willing to 
 expose them by a clear light. " Strive for 
 the truth unto death, and the Lord shall fight 
 for theeV Shew thy love to truth by thy 
 sincerity in all thy words and professions. 
 Be always plain and open, and never pretend 
 what thou dost not mean. Abhor a lie as a 
 great blot upon human nature, and the great- 
 est reproach and dishonour. For so it is, 
 " Clear and round dealing is the honour of 
 man's nature, whereas a lie faceth God, and 
 
 k Ecclus. iv. 31. ' Prov. xxiii. 23. m 1 Thess. 
 v. 21. n Ecclus. iv. 28. 
 
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 108 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 shrinks from men." Truth is always one and 
 
 the same, and so we must be. No temptation 
 
 ought to draw us from it. It was said by one, 
 
 ; that it "is heaven upon earth to have a man's 
 
 1 mind move in charity, rest in Providence, and 
 
 turn upon the poles of truth." And the Wise- 
 
 1 man says, " Let not mercy and truth forsake 
 
 ' thee ; bind them about thy neck, write them 
 
 upon the table of thine heart ." 
 
 Be always mean in thine own eyes. Thou 
 canst not be otherwise if thou knowest thy- 
 self; to do this is the first step to wisdom. 
 He that knows not himself will be but very 
 i little the better for his knowing other things; 
 \ whatever thou knowest, thou hast no cause 
 to be puffed up: for as there are more things 
 thou canst not do, than what thou canst, so 
 ' thou art ignorant of more, and more weighty 
 things, than thou knowest. " Hardly do we 
 . guess aright at things that are upon earth, 
 j and with labour do we find the things that 
 are before us, but the things which are in 
 heaven, who hath searched out p ?" 
 
 Prov. iii. 3. P Wisd. ix. 16. 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 109 
 
 Do not vehemently desire any worldly 
 thing. A mean condition is always most safe, 
 and hath most of quiet. God only knows 
 what is fit for all His creatures, and does 
 always what is best. Barely to live is a great 
 blessing, and may serve to prevent our com- 
 plaints. If thou hast lived well thou hast no 
 great cause to complain, because nothing can 
 make a good man miserable. Thou hast lived 
 amiss, what a blessing is it that thou art still 
 suffered to live when thou art not fit to die ? 
 " Wherefore doth a living man complain 1 * ?" 
 Great gifts and places are charged with great 
 accounts, and he who desires them hath a vain 
 mind. " A very little is sufficient for a man 
 well nurtured, and he fetcheth not his wind 
 short upon his bed r ." Remember this also, 
 that " mercy will soon pardon the meanest, 
 but mighty men shall be mightily tor- 
 mented *." And therefore, " Seek not of 
 the Lord preeminence, nor of the king the 
 seat of honour 1 ." 
 
 Lam. iii. 39. r Ecclus. xxxi. 19. 
 9. Ecclus. vii. 4. 
 
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 110 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 Make it thy great care to clear thy con- 
 science, and ease thy mind. In doubtful 
 matters advise, and if thy mind be loaded 
 with guilt, do not think to ease thyself by 
 wine and company. These may divert the 
 sense of thy grief for a while, but will not 
 remove the cause. Confess thy sin to God, 
 and humble thy soul before Him ; and if 
 thou needest farther advice towards the re- 
 storing thy peace, and perfecting thy repent- 
 ance, impart thy grief to a friend, or thy 
 spiritual guide. There is no evil to be com- 
 pared to that of a conscious and wounded 
 mind. " Give me any plague but the plague 
 of the heart u ." 
 
 Live at peace with all the world, and let it 
 be a great part of thy care and study to be 
 quiet. But be very careful in making choice 
 of an intimate friend and counsellor. " Be 
 at peace with many, nevertheless have but 
 one counsellor of a thousand"." 
 
 Make choice of a friend who may be thy 
 daily monitor. There is great need of a wise 
 Ecclus. xxv. 13. " Ib. vi. 6. 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. Ill 
 
 and faithful one. And " whoso feareth the 
 Lord shall direct his friendship aright. For 
 as he is, so shall his neighbour be also y ." 
 
 A wise choice being made, the friendship 
 is to be observed inviolable. " Forsake not 
 an old friend 1 ." 
 
 Thou wilt hardly arrive to any great per- 
 fection, unless thou have a faithful friend, or 
 a bitter enemy, said one of the ancients. A 
 faithful friend to admonish thee when thou 
 doest amiss, or a violent enemy to reproach 
 thee. 
 
 Avoid the conversation of that man whom 
 thou findest apt to speak ill of others. He 
 that does this is to be shunned as a pest. 
 
 Speak evil of no man. A nd if thou knowest 
 any evil of another, yet never think thyself at 
 liberty to divulge it, but rather tell him of it 
 thyself. 
 
 Put a fair interpretation upon every action 
 of thy neighbour that is capable of it. There 
 are many things may look ill, which upon exa- 
 mination will not be found to have any evil in 
 T Ecclus. vi. 17. Ib. ix. 10. 
 
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 112 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 them. " Charity thinketh no evil." But 
 detraction is the work of the devil. Be 
 always more prone to be an advocate than 
 an accuser. One speaks a God-like temper, 
 the other a diabolical. Do not imitate the 
 Devil, and think it enough to declaim against 
 him. Consider this, that "when the ungodly 
 curseth Satan, he curseth his own soul"." 
 
 Making reflections on the faults of others, 
 is generally a fruitless thing, it is often at- 
 tended with mistakes, and involves men in 
 sin. When we find it so hard to amend 
 ourselves, we may well esteem it a very 
 unseemly thing with bitterness to inveigh 
 against our brother. 
 
 Remember that every other man partakes 
 of the Divine Image, and of that nature which 
 our Lord did not disdain to take upon Him. 
 That He shares in the same nature with thy- 
 self, and is endued with an immortal part. 
 This should teach us humanity and civility 
 to all men. He that derides, and wrongs 
 the meanest man, reproacheth his Maker. 
 a Ecclus. xxi. 2?. 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 113 ' 
 
 " Whoso mocketh the poor, reproacheth his 
 Maker : and he that is glad at calamities, 
 shall not be unpunished 1 '." 
 
 Converse with others so as thou mayest do 
 or receive good. Conversation is very im- 
 provable. Take care that it be not unprofit- 
 able to thyself and others. 
 
 When any thing is said amiss, or done 
 indecently in company, never deride the 
 weakness or folly of thy brother. 'Twill 
 be great charity to direct him for the future, 
 and wisdom to avoid ourselves what we mislike 
 in another. To deride him is great inhumanity, 
 and a breach of good manners ; to admonish 
 is an act of kindness and friendship. 
 
 In company where a dispute is raised, be 
 not forward to engage and declare thy mind. 
 Above all things have a care of an intempe- 
 rate heat. Debate with all calmness, and as a 
 lover of truth. Be well content to be contra- | 
 dieted, and if the question be of little use or j 
 moment, matter not who hath the last word. I 
 Whatever it be thou art concerned in, be con- : 
 b Prov. xiv. 31. xvii. 5. 
 
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 1 14 MEDITATIONS, 
 
 tent to deliver thyself with the hardest argu- 
 ments, and the softest words. 
 
 Rather choose to discourse of things than of 
 persons. Avoid all that discourse which tends 
 to the praise of thyself. If thou canst not 
 avoid the speaking of others, choose to speak 
 well of them, and rather defend than accuse. 
 Have a care of all detraction, and avoid a 
 backbiting tongue : it is easy to offend, but 
 hard to make restitution. " To slip upon a pave- 
 ment is better than to slip with the tongue'." 
 He is never safe that converseth with a back- 
 biter, or alloweth himself in that sin. " A 
 backbiting tongue hath disquieted many. 
 Whoso hearkeneth unto it, shall never find 
 rest, and never dwell quietly. The stroke of 
 the whip maketh marks in the flesh, but the 
 stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones. Many 
 have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not 
 so many as have fallen by the tongue d ." 
 
 Be conscious to thyself of no other design 
 in keeping company, but the doing some 
 good to thy neighbour, or learning some 
 
 c Ecclus. xx. 18. d Ib. 14, 16, 17, 18. 
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 MEDITATIONS. 115 
 
 good from him. This will in great measure 
 preserve thee from the faults which too often 
 attend upon conversation. 
 
 Seek the acquaintance of a good and vir- 
 tuous man : the benefits thereof are un- 
 speakable. But yet be careful not to despoil 
 thyself, and of thine own judgment, nor pin 
 thy faith upon another's sleeve. " Be con- 
 tinually with a godly man whom thou know- 
 est to keep the commandments of the Lord, 
 whose mind is according to thy mind, and will 
 sorrow with thee if thou shalt miscarry." But 
 then consider well what follows, " Let the 
 counsel of thine own heart stand : for there 
 is no man more faithful unto thee than it. 
 For a man's mind is sometimes wont to tell 
 him more than seven watchmen that sit above 
 in an high tower'." 
 
 Do not defer the doing that which must be 
 done. Our life is uncertain, and he that does 
 not now do well, it is to be feared he never 
 will. We may not expect a good old age 
 will succeed a riotous youth. " If thou hast 
 Ecclus. xxvii. 12, 13, 14. 
 
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 116 MEDITATIONS. 
 
 gathered nothing in thy youth, how canst 
 
 thou find any thing in thine age f ?" 
 
 Never commit that sin against which thou 
 hast confessed and bewailed : it is dangerous 
 to tread over the same steps. " He that 
 washeth himself after the touching of a dead 
 body, if he touch it again, what availeth his 
 washing ? So is it with a man that fasteth 
 for his sins, and goeth again and doeth the 
 same. Who will hear his prayer, or what 
 doth his humbling profit him ? ?" 
 
 Choose a good course of life, and custom 
 will render it easy. Think nothing hard 
 which others have done; nothing unsup- 
 portable which others have borne. Set be- 
 fore thee the best examples ; " Be not 
 curious in unnecessary matters 1 '." Be con- 
 fident of this, that thou wilt find more joy 
 in crucifying thy lusts than any man ever 
 did in gratifying them. Dare to be tho- 
 roughly good, and nothing shall harm thee. 
 
 Think often of death and a future judg- 
 ment. Have the same apprehension of things 
 f Ecclus. xxv. 3. S Ib. xxxiv. 25, 26. h Ib. iii. 23. 
 
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 MEDITATIONS. 117 
 
 now, that thou wilt have when thou art 
 passing into another world. " Whatsoever 
 thou takest in hand, remember the end, 
 and thou shalt never do amiss'." 
 
 ' Ecclus. vii. 36. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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