PART I.

SECT. X.

Have no

by-ends.

tuous superstructions have commonly generous foundations, dive into thy inclinations, and early discover what nature bids thee to be, or tells thee thou may'st be. They who thus timely descend into themselves, and cultivate the good seeds which nature hath set in them, prove not shrubs but Cedars in their generation; and to be in the form of the best of the Bad, or the worst of the Good, will be no satisfaction unto them.

Make not the consequence of Virtue the ends Plain virtue. thereof. Be not beneficent for a name or Cymbal of applause, nor exact and just in Commerce for the advantages of Trust and Credit, which attend the reputation of true and punctual dealing; for these Rewards, though unsought for, plain Virtue will bring with her. To have other by-ends in good actions sowers Laudable performances, which must have deeper roots, motives, and instigations, to give them the stamp of Virtues.

SECT. XI.

Law of thy

country,

not the non ultra of thy

honesty.

Let not the Law of thy Country be the non ultra of thy Honesty; nor think that always good enough which the Law will make good. Narrow not the Law of Charity, Equity, Mercy; joyn Gospel Righteousness with Legal Right; be not a mere Gamaliel in the Faith, but let the Sermon in the Mount be thy Targum unto the Law of Sinah.

SECT. XII. Live by old Ethicks and the classical Rules Morality not ambulatory. of Honesty. Put no new names or notions upon Authentick Virtues and Vices. Think

ethicks.

one age are not Vices in another; or that Virtues, PART I. which are under the everlasting Seal of right Reason, may be Stamped by Opinion. And No new therefore, though vicious times invert the opinions of things, and set up a new Ethicks against Virtue, yet hold thou unto old Morality; and rather than follow a multitude to do evil, Ex. xxiii. 2. stand like Pompey's Pillar conspicuous by thy self, and single in Integrity. And since the worst of times afford imitable Examples of Virtue, since no Deluge of Vice is like to be so general but more than eight will escape; eye well those Heroes who have held their Heads above Water, who have touched Pitch Ecclus. xiii. and not been defiled, and in the common Con- 1. tagion have remained uncorrupted.

absurd

Let Age, not Envy, draw wrinkles on thy SECT. XIII. cheeks; be content to be envy'd, but envy not. Envy, an Emulation may be plausible, and Indignation depravity. allowable; but admit no treaty with that passion which no circumstance can make good. A displacency at the good of others because they enjoy it, though not unworthy of it, is an absurd depravity, sticking fast unto corrupted nature, and often too hard for Humility and Charity, the great Suppressors of Envy. This surely is a Lyon not to be strangled but by Hercules himself, or the highest stress of our minds, and an Atom of that power which subdueth all things Phil. iii. 21. unto it self.

SECT. XIV.

Humility,

Owe not thy Humility unto humiliation from adversity, but look humbly down in that State

owe not to

Be

PART I. not thy own shadow longer than that of others, nor delight to take the Altitude of thy self. patient in the age of Pride, when Men live by short intervals of Reason under the dominion of Humor and Passion, when it's in the Power of every one to transform thee out of thy self, and run thee into the short madness. If you cannot imitate Job, yet come not short of Socrates, and those patient Pagans who tired the Tongues of their Enemies, while they perceived they spit their malice at brazen Walls and Statues.

SECT. XV.

Forgiveness

to be total. Eph. iv. 26.

SECT. XVI.

crowning

grace.

Let not the Sun in Capricorn go down upon thy wrath, but write thy wrongs in Ashes. Draw the Curtain of night upon injuries, shut them up in the Tower of Oblivion, and let them be as though they had not been. To forgive our Enemies, yet hope that GOD will punish them, is not to forgive enough; to forgive them our selves, and not to pray GOD to forgive them, is a partial piece of Charity forgive thine enemies totally, and without any reserve, that however GOD will revenge thee.

:

While thou so hotly disclaimest the Devil, Charity the be not guilty of Diabolism. Fall not into one name with that unclean Spirit, nor act his nature whom thou so much abhorrest; that is to accuse, calumniate, backbite, whisper, detract, or sinistrously interpret others; degenerous depravities, and narrow minded vices, not only below St. Paul's noble Christian, but Aristotle's true Gentleman. Trust not with some

PART I.

i. 26.

so read with less fear that Stabbing Truth, that in company with this vice thy Religion is in vain. St. James Moses broke the Tables without breaking of the Ex. xxxii. Law; but where Charity is broke, the Law it self 19. is shattered, which cannot be whole without Love, which is the fulfilling of it. Look humbly Rom. xiii. upon thy Virtues, and though thou art Rich 10. in some, yet think thy self Poor and Naked without that Crowning Grace, which thinketh 1 Cor. xiii. 4, no evil, which envieth not, which beareth, hopeth, believeth, endureth all things. With these sure Graces, while busy Tongues are St. Luke xvi. 24. crying out for a drop of cold Water, mutes may be in happiness, and sing the Trisagion Rev. iv. 8. in Heaven.

&c.

strait

However thy understanding may waver in SECT, XVII. the Theories of True and False, yet fasten the Fasten the rudder of thy Rudder of thy Will, steer strait unto good, and will; steer fall not foul on evil. Imagination is apt to rove, unto good. and conjecture to keep no bounds. Some have run out so far, as to fancy the Stars might be but the light of the Crystalline Heaven shot through perforations on the bodies of the Orbs. Others more ingeniously doubt whether there hath not been a vast tract of Land in the Atlantick Ocean, which Earthquakes and violent causes have long ago devoured. Speculative Misapprehensions may be innocuous, but immorality pernicious: Theorical mistakes and Physical Deviations may condemn our Judgments, not lead us into Judgment; but perversity of Will, immoral and sinfull enormities

PART I. pursue us unto Judgment, and leave us viciously miserable.

SECT. XVIII.

Bid early defiance to thy rooted vices.

SECT. XIX. Be substantially great;

Bid early defiance unto those Vices which are of thine inward Family, and having a root in thy Temper plead a right and propriety in thee. Raise timely batteries against those strong holds built upon the Rock of Nature, and make this a great part of the Militia of thy life. Delude not thy self into iniquities from participation or community, which abate the sense but not the obliquity of them. To conceive sins less, or less of sins, because others also transgress, were morally to commit that natural fallacy of Man, to take comfort from Society, and think adversities less, because others also suffer them. The politick nature of Vice must be opposed by Policy, and therefore wiser Honesties project and plot against it; wherein notwithstanding we are not to rest in generals, or the trite Stratagems of Art. That may succeed with one which may prove successless with another: there is no community or common-weal of Virtue; every man must study his own oeconomy, and adapt such rules unto the figure of himself.

Be substantially great in thy self, and more than thou appearest unto others; and let the World be deceived in thee, as they are in the Lights of Heaven. Hang early plummets upon the heels of Pride, and let Ambition have but an Epicycle and narrow circuit in thee. Measure not thy self by thy morning shadow, but by the