II Oh, how fhall Words with equal Warmth That glows within my ravish'd Heart? . But thou can'ft read it there. III. Thy Providence my Life fuftain'd, IV. To all my weak Complaints and Cries, 'Ere yet my feeble Thoughts had learnt V. Unnumber'd Comforts to my Soul From whence those Comforts flow'd. VI. When in the flipp'ry Paths of Youth VII. Thro' hidden Dangers, Toils, and Deaths, And thro' the pleafing Snares of Vice, More to be fear'd than they. VIII. When VIII. When worn with Sickness, oft hast thou IX. Thy bounteous Hand, with worldly Blifs, X. Ten thousand thoufand precious Gifts XI. Thro' ev'ry Period of my Life, XII. When Nature fails, and Day and Night Divide thy Works no more, My ever-grateful Heart, O Lord, Thy Mercy hall adore. XIII. Thro' all Eternity to thee There There is nothing in itself more excellent than Religion; but to raife Quarrels and Difputes about it, is to difhonour it. It is admirable to me, that that which was defign'd to make us happy in another World, fhould, by its Divifions, make us moft miferable in this; and that what was ordain'd for the faving of Men's Souls, fhould be perverted to the taking away their Lives. A found Faith is the best Divinity; a good Confcience the best Law, and Temperance the beft Phyfick. The best way to keep out wicked Thoughts, is, always to be employ'd in good ones: Let your Thoughts be where your Happiness is, and let your Heart be where your Thoughts are; fo, tho' your Habitation be on Earth, your Conversation will be in Heaven. Make ufe of Time, if thou loveft Eternity: Know, Yesterday cannot be recall'd; To-morrow cannot be affur'd; To-Day is only thine, which, if once loft, is loft for ever. Confider the Shortness of your Life, and Certainty of Judgment; the great Reward for the Good, and fevere Punishment for the Bad; therefore make even with Heaven by Repentance at the End of every Day, and fo you shall have but one Day to repent of before your Death. Honours may leave their Owners, Riches may Affume fwift Wings, and quickly fly away: Pleafure, like Lightning, but falutes our Eyes, With one bright Flash, and then falls fick and dies; But Learning, and the Knowledge of rare Arts, That Man the most enjoys, that most imparts; Endeavour, therefore, that your Breast and Brain The best of Learning's Treasures may retain. For a Man to be endowed with Learning, and Knowledge in the ufeful Arts and Sciences, deG ferves ferves Commendation; but for a Man to employ fuch Endowments to the Honour of God, and the Service of his Prince and Country, is highly commendable. He that would be before hand with the World, must be so with his Business; 'tis not only ill Management, but argues a great deal of Sloth, to defer that till To-morrow, which ought to be done To-day. No Pleasure is deny'd to the painful Perfon. By Ufe and Labour Man may be brought to a new Nature; for as the sweetest Rose grows upon the sharpest Prickle, so the hardest Labours bring forth the fweetest Profit. The Rudiments of Arithmetick are very fignificant Leffons to us; by our Birth we have our Being; Youth is Addition; Manhood, Multiplication; Old Age, Substraction; and Death, Di vifion. We ought not to difcover the Imperfections of a Hufband before his Wife; of a Father before his Children; of a Lover in Company with his Miftrefs, nor of Mafters in Presence of their Scholars; for it touches a Man to the Quick, to be rebuked before those whom he defires fhould think honourably of him. A conftant and moderate Sobriety is much better than violent Abftinences, made by Fits, and mingled with many Intermiffions. You will never better remember your felf, than when you shall think that fome Day you must die. The Confideration of Death is admirably fruitful; for it teaches us, what we are now; it fhews us, what we shall be one Day, and inftructs us, what we ought to do during the Courfe of this Life: In fine, Death is the most exact Rule of Men's Lives, and the Contemplation thereof does them more good than they imagine to themselves. Learning Learning is the only Ornament and Jewel of Man's Life, without which he cannot attain to any manner of Preferment in a Common-Wealth. Antifthenes the Philofopher being asked, what he got by his Learning? Answered, That he could talk with himself; he could live alone, and needed not to go abroad,. and be beholden to others for Delight. It was juftly laid of Sir John Mason, that Serioufness is the best Wisdom; Temperance the best Phyfick, and a good Confcience the best Estate. When News came to King Anaxagoras of the Death of his Son, at which it was thought he would have been much troubled, he only calmly replied, I know that I begat him mortal. King Artaxerxes being almoft ready to perifh for Thirst, was constrained to drink puddle Water, and protested, He never drank Wine with half that Delight, wherewith he now relished this fil thy Water. To the hungry Soul every bitter Thing is fweet, in a Time of Neceffity, a little feems much, and that which is bad appears very good. Cato was fo grave, fo wife, so good a Man, that none durft commit any Sin in his Prefence, whence it grew to be a proverbial Caveat among the Romans one to another, Take heed what you do, Cato fees you.' O how fhould Chriftians ftand in Awe of the all-feeing God, and fay to their own Hearts, and one to another, 'Take heed of your Ways, for the Lord looks on you!' If any fpeak ill of thee, confider whether he has Truth on his Side; and if so, reform thyself, that his Cenfures may not affect thee. The Way to filence Calumny, is to be always exercised in fuch Things as are Praife-worthy. Seneca mentions a noble Saying of Demetrius, That nothing would be more unhappy than a • Man that had never known Affliction; and comG& ⚫ pares |