As for worldly matters, his love and esteem to them was so little, as no man can more ambitiously seek, than he did earnestly endeavour the resignation of an Ecclesiastical dignity, which he was possessor of. But God permitted not the accomplishment of this desire, having ordained him his instrument for re-edifying of the Church belonging thereunto, that had lain ruinated almost twenty years. The reparation whereof, having been uneffectually attempted by public collections, was in the end by his own and some few others' private free-will-offerings successfully effected. With the remembrance whereof, as of an especial good work, when a friend went about to comfort him on his death-bed, he made answer, 66 It is a good work, if it be sprinkled with the blood of Christ:" otherwise than in this respect he could find nothing to glory or comfort himself with, neither in this nor in any other thing. And these are but a few of many that might be said, which we have chosen to premise as a glance to some parts of the ensuing book, and for an example to the Reader. We conclude all with his own Motto, with which he used to conclude all things that might seem to tend any way to his own honour, "Less than the least of God's mercies." [NICHOLAS FERRAR.] LORD, MY FIRST FRUITS PRESENT THEMSELVES TO THEE; PERIRRHANTERIUM. THOU, whose sweet youth and early hopes enhance Beware of lust; it doth pollute and foul The holy lines cannot be understood. How dare those eyes upon a Bible look, Much less towards God, whose lust is all their book! B Wholly abstain, or wed. Thy bounteous Lord If God had laid all common, certainly Man would have been the encloser: but since now God hath impaled us, on the contrary Man breaks the fence, and every ground will plough. O what were man, might he himself misplace! Sure to be cross he would shift feet and face. Drink not the third glass, which thou canst not tame, It is most just to throw that on the ground, He that is drunken may his mother kill The drunkard forfeits Man, and doth divest Shall I, to please another's wine-sprung mind, If reason move not Gallants, quit the room; Stay at the third cup, or forego the place. Yet, if thou sin in wine or wantonness, Boast not thereof; nor make thy shame thy glory. Frailty gets pardon by submissiveness; But he that boasts, shuts that out of his story: He makes flat war with God, and doth defy With his poor clod of earth the spacious sky. Take not His name, who made thy mouth, in vain : When thou dost tell another's jest, therein Play not away the virtue of that name, [tame. The cheapest sins most dearly punish'd are; If thou wilt die, the gates of hell are broad: |