with the Loadftone, ever turneth to the North Pole, with the Foot thereof to the South Pole; touched with the one Side turneth Eastward, with the other Side Weftward.

Q. Which is the Principal of all Diseases?

A. Some fay the Plague is Principal of all Difeafes, as War is the Head of all Calamities; yet Gluttony kills more than either the Plague, Famine, or Sword; for though all love their Healths, yet many betray it this way, especially they whofe Fare is their Snare; whofe Healths are their Sicknefs, and whofe Wars are their Dinners; for more fuch have been deftroyed by naked and flattering Venus, than by armed and ireful Mars.

Q. Who were the most lafcivious Belly-Gods, that Hillory makes mention of?

A. Sardanapalus, whofe Belly was his God; Vitellius, who had served unto him at one Feast two thousand Fishes, and feven thousand Birds; Heliogabalus, who at one Supper was ferv'd with fix thoufand Oftritches; Maximinianus, who frequently eat forty Pounds of Flefh in a Day, and would drink five Gallons of Wine; Sminderidas, when he rode a Suitor to Gliftines's Daughter, took with him a great Number of Cooks, Fowlers, and Fishers; this Sminderidas brag'd, that he was fo given to Meat, Wine, and Sleep, that he had not feen the Sun either rifing or fetting for twenty Years. The Story whereof I repeat not for Imitation, but Deteftation, as being a Thing odious to God, hateful to Man, burthenfome to Nature, the Root of all Evil, and Decay of every Virtue for by too much Feeding the fubtile Parts are darkened, and turbulent Fumes do weaken the Understanding. And therefore a Poet wittily obferves,

Fat Paunches make lean. Pates, and dainty Bits, Make rich the Ribs, but bankrupt quite the Wits.

And

And therefore faith another Poet.

If thou a long and healthful Age require,
Put Bounds unto thy gluttonous Defire.

For otherwife thou shalt be a Harbour for Diseases, a Subject for the Phyfician and Mifery, and therefore, for thy Health and Profit, embrace Abftinence and Temperance; For Temperance will tell thee, a little in the Morning is enough, at Noon you may dine heartily; but a little at Night is too much.

Q. What Art is that which makes ufe of the vileft Things in the World?

A. Phyfick, which makes ufe of Scorpions, Toads, Flies, Wafps, Serpents, Earwigs, and fuch like; nothing to our Apprehenfion, never fo feemingly vile, but ferves for fome Ufe. Pope Alexander the 1Vth. difputed on a Time at his Table, whether the Common-wealth were better to have many Phyficians, or to be without? Some faid, to be without For fix hundred Years was Rome without, and never in better Health; but his Holiness affirmed, he thought otherwife, for if there were no Phyficians, the World would scarce contain her People.

Q. In how many Forms doth a Phyfician appear to his Patient ?

A. In these three: Firft, in the Form of a fkilful Man, when he promiseth Help. Secondly, in the Form of an Angei, when he performs it. Thirdly, in the Form of a Devil, when he asks his Reward; and therefore it is the Phyfician's Rule, To take their Fee while the Sick Hand gives it.

But if Difeafes thou haft none,
Let thy Phyfician then alone;

For

For he thereby may purge thy Purse,
And make thy Body ten times worse.

Q. What Means did Philip, King of Macedon, ufe that he might not forget his Mortality?

A. He had every Morning a Page which awakened him with thefe Words, Remember, Sir, you are a Man?

Philip, King of Macedon,

Was daily rous'd and call'd upon,
By a fhrill Page, whole Bon jours ran,
Remember, Sir, you are a Man?

Q. Why did Godfrey of Bollogne, when he took upon him the Title of King of Jerufalem, refufe to be crown'd King?

A. Because he judg'd himself unworthy to wear a Crown of Gold, where his Lord and Saviour was crown'd with Thorns. Such was the Humility of great Men in former Times. Thus we read of Saladine, Emperor of the Turks, that at his Death he caused a black Shirt to be fixed on a Spear and carried round his Camp, with this Proclamation, "This black Shirt is all that Saladine, Emperor of "the Turks, and Conqueror of the Eaft, after all "his Victory and Succefs, carried with him to "the Grave."

Q. What were the two Thieves Names that were crucified with Chrift?

A. Difmas the happy, and Gismas the wretched, according to the Verfe,

Difmas the happy to repent, tho' late,

For tho at laft his Sorrow was yet true; Gifmas, that dy'd in his moft wretched State, Was the unhappy, that no Mercy knew.

Q. What Difference is there between a Thief and a Slanderer?

A.

A. They are almost the fame.

One Steals my Goods, the other my good Name, One lives in Scorn, the other dies in Shame.

The Paffion of Detractors blinds them in fuch a Manner, that they fee not thofe Virtues in good Men which all others do; but imagine they fee Crimes, which exist only in their own Imagination; but whenever Calumny thus attacks them, God fupports them, and the Angels protect them, because they prefer Innocence and Godliness to every Thing else whatsoever. Plato the Philofopher, being told he had many Enemies which fpoke ill of him; 'tis no Matter for that, faid he, I will live fo as none fhall believe them. Think it no Part of thy Business, curiously to pry into other Men's Faults, but narrowly infpect the Errors of thine own Life: It is much better to amend one Fault in ourselves, than to find an hundred Faults in another. Speak not well of any undefervedly, that's fordid Flattery. Speak not well of thy felf, tho' never fo deferving, that's vainglory; but value more a good Confcience, than a good Commendation. Let not what is talk'd of thee ever trouble thee, for an ill Report makes no Body an ill Man. Be careful to do nothing that may deferve to be ill fpoken of, and then let it ne yer trouble thee to be ill fpoken of undefervedly. Speak not cenforiously of thy Superiors, nor fcornfully of thy Inferiors, nor boàftingly of thyself. Accuftom not thy Mouth to too much Speaking: and before thou fpeakeft confider; let not your Tongue run before Reafon and Judgment bid it go: If the Heart doth not premeditate, the Tongue muit neceffarily precipitate. Speak not in high Commendation of any Man before his Face, nor cenfure any Man behind his back; If thou knoweft any Thing good of him, tell it unto others, if

any.

any Thing ill, tell it privately and prudently to himself.

God is the Patron and Protector of virtuous and gracious Souls, and though they meet with envious Haters, Perfecutors, and Detractors, he highly exalts them in the Efteem of others, who honour Virtue wherever they meet with it, and refpect it by so much the more as it is perfecuted and oppreffed by the Wicked and Ungodly, knowing that God will in his due Time, fooner or later, crown all those who fuffer for Righteoufnefs fake.

God, by his divine Providence, in all Ages, hath taken Care of them that are his, and hath promised that he will be present with them in Affliction, and that they fhall never want the Affiftance and Comfort of the holy Spirit; and that therefore they ought not to fear the Wrath of Men, nor the Calumnies of wicked People against them, forafmuch as all those would but make them find God more prefent with, and ready to help them, in all their Difficulties, and Neceffities whatsoever.

The Saints of old have confidered the Miracle of the Burning Bush, which was not confumed, as a true Emblem of the People of God, who com monly are afflicted in this World, as the Ifraelites were by Pharaoh, and yet are not confumed by thofe Flames which encompass them on every Side, as having God in the Midit, who keeps the Fire of Afflictions from confuming them, and makes it ferve to render them more pure and fhining.

We fee by the Sufferings of Job, that God in this World doth often exercise the best of Men, with the hardesft Tryals and Afflictions; whereas wicked Men, on the contrary, enjoy abundance of Profperity, and do rather abound with all outward Bleffings, than groan under the Burthen of Miseries and Calamities.

The Primitive Saints have been endued with extraordinary Courage, which has greatly appeared