DAILY THOUGHTS: OR A MISCELLANY OF MEDITATIONS, Holy & Humane.  
The third Edition much enlarged,  
By Jos: Henshaw, Dr of Divinity.  
LONDON, Printed by W. H. for T. A. and are to be sold by G.B. at his shop in S. Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleetstreet, 1651.   

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 publish 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 holy Meditation of those truths which are already received in the Church, than in making themselves, or showing themselves able to defend them; not that I would commend an ignorant devotion to any, or desire men to know less good, but more to practise that good which they know; nor turn Religion into disputation, but turn their disputation into action, and obedience; they shall find in the last day that it is holiness, not 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 Gods will shall be justified: men while they spend their time in disputing what they should do, they 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.  
IOS: HENSHAW.   

Daily Thoughts.  

MAke the Word of God the Rule, and God himself the Pattern of all thy actions; contemplate God and thyself; what He is, what He requires thee to be, like Him in a degree, though not a perfection; in a perfection 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 profitable: be sparing of oaths and promises, and perform both: eat jests in holy things, and abhor lies though in jest: speak to the capacities, 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 but thyself, speak well of all men till thou 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 the remembrance 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 breathed 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 thy bubble, when I die,  
Like to a bubble, let me ascend on high.   

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 an other ●owre,  
For I am gathered by the owner's hand;  
Since I am so, why am I so corrupt,  
That do not know how soon I shall be plucked   

But of all Flowers, most of all me thinks,  
Resembled in the Marigold am I;  
And like the Marigold that wakes and winks,  
Still as it sees the Sun, am borne and die;  
But her's my comfort, with that flower when  
The Sun appeareth, I shall blow again.    

AFfect not to set out thyself to the world, nor 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 shouldst be, then 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 supposest thyself defective; be ready rather to give, then 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; stifle sin in the first warmth and quickening, before it shape too fare: a twig may be 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 perfection 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 wise, then to be thought wise by those that are ignorant: be studious rather of being able, then 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 knowledge of truth thyself, then lazily to take it up from others.   

IN Religion examine, but not broach opinions; ever incline to Antiquity, and suspect novelty; in middle things 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; not upbraid others with the kindnesses thou dost for them, nor forget the 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, not change but upon good reason, not obstinate against reason; not believe every report, not to report every thing thou believest; not grant every thing which thou canst not answer, but suspect rather thine own insufficiency that cannot defend it, then cry down the matter as not to be defended.   

BE sparing of thy commendations, especially of thyself; commend no man undeservedly, that is flattery; not thyself, though never so deserving, it is vain glory.   

DO not admire or applaud what thou understandest not; do not seem to understand where thou dost not; it is better to acknowledge 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 report, but be ambitious only of a good conscience; 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 resorme thyself first, let other men's fins rather be the subject of thy grief, than of thy discourse; so speak of other 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 countenance 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 need mending.   

SAy nothing but what thou meanest, and promise nothing but what thou art able; not to intent 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 frult in any, nor reporoachfully publish it; but rather by a hiddenand obliqne way to insinuate his error to him, than detractingly to blaze it; seek not the advancement of thine own wit by another man's folly; not always comply with the fortune, and censure him that is down, not event, nor condemn that as unadvisedly taken which succeeds ill.   

PUt not off devotion and the Duties of Religion with want of leisure; nor the needy, and duties of charity with want of ability; in both, though never so straightened, thou mayest do somewhat, though the less; a sigh or a grow in the one, and a cup of cold water in the other thou thou canst not be without.   

WHen thou promisest, think thou mayest be taken at thy word; be nothing in a word; be nothing in a compliment, 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, be 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 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 commendations; to think obedience a virtue, not servitude, and that it is not the least mastery, so fare to command one's self, as to be contented to submit to the command of others.   

DO courtesies for others as gifts, not looking for requital; receive courtesies of others a 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, nor 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, which is not thine own; not slightly and undervaluingly to speak of other men's virtues, and not at all of their vices; not to think superciliousness majesty, or a grave reservedness wisdom, as if thou wouldst be therefore thought wise, because thou sayest little; not 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 good counsel; be slow in believing ill of any, but slower in speaking 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 Judge: not measure the sentence by the relation: not sell judgement, 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 unseasonable meekness; I know not which is worse, to be angry unjustly, or not to be justly angry; if by the first thou mayest wrong an innocent person, by the other thou makest a guilty: sometime to be silent at it, is to encourage a fault; it may be a due chiding would reform that offence which takes heart with sufferance.   

Affirm not any thing out of humour, or because thou hast affirmed it; it is a greater disparagement to stand in a lie then 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 wouldst not be singular, then because thou likest it, & as may show 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 business, 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 Gods will even when it crosseth thine: cheerfully to pass over crosses, yet to take notice of them: to be patiented, but not without sense: to be sorrowful but not without hope: not to grow great by corruption, nor to grow proud with greatness; nor 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 of this World without any great change of thyself; he that is contented ever with what he is, makes himself happy without a fortune.   

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: old and young, there are graves of all sizes: to endeavour therefore rather to procure eternal life, than to prolong this: and use means rather to sweeten death, then to defer it.   

Learn not to think of the things of this world as of things of continuance: and to use the things of this World, not as an owner, but a Stward: so thou wilt be neither loath 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 of that good which thou dost, though undeserved, 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 him 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 underservedly, or do ill unawares.   

LEt thy discourse be neither light nor unseasonable; such as may call either thy goodness in question, or thy judgement: if thou canst not speak well, say nothing: so it 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 upon thy good parts: and 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 example of others, and be careful not to make others worse with thine; do nothing in which thou would'st not be imitated: and imitate nothing which thou knowest is not fit to be done; it is a fault to do what thou shouldst not, it is none, to learn what thou shouldst 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 mayst 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: account 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 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 by 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 in aught  
So to be, then to be thought;  
'Tis weakness to eschew the scar.  
N●t 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.   

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 contented with what thou hast, in as much 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 give no occasion to any to think otherwise, and give the glory of both to God, both of thy good parts, and their good opinion.   

EVery morning take leave of the things of this world, as thingking thou mayst part with them before night: and every night to examine the employment of that day, as thinking thou mayst account for it before morning: he that is providing 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: detractingly to aggravate another's fault, is to make it thine own.   

BUfie 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.   

BEE 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, 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 fort ears 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 goodness of these is not measured by what is done, but by what mind we do it with; Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently; there is that curse upon negligent doing, which upon unwilling leaving of it undone is not; there is little difference between not doing what thou shouldest, and not doing it as thou shouldest; to do thy duty for show only, or in show only, is to do thy duty, and be still undutiful: if that which thou dost be right, if the mind with which thou dost it be not so, all is wrong, and thou forfeitest 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 amendment of thine own faults, let that be thy study; not think any sin less because it is hid: remember that to him that shall judge theo it is open, and that in the last day God will not measure his judgement by ours, the day of judgement will condemn many a man whom we have quitted.   

DO not practise Religion in show only, yet show it in thy practice; think no sin little; nor no good which thou dost great, it is from the acceptance of God that it is good at all: hope for, but not challenge 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 not attain to perfection on earth, yet aim at it.   

LAbour not only to know what thou shouldst 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, then to grow rich: give no bribes to procure an unjust thing, nor take none to do one: and if thou art in the place of judicature, remember 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 that are accustomed to carry burdens, are less sensible of the weight: and if thou dost 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 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's the misery, that thou hast lost thy feeling in regard of sin, but not of punishment.   

FIx thy desires upon such things as may not shame thee in the obtaining; and compassethy 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 be evil, thou shamest the end by the way; and shamest thyself in the end.   

Think no sin little, and make it not great by iteration: 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, may fester to a Gangreen: by how much that in which thou sinnest is less, by so much thy sin is the greater, that wouldst 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 continual misery.   

STudy rather to make thyself fir 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 groweth great by buying, doth likely continue that greatness by selling.   

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 wouldst do, but what thou art able to do: think not frugality a disparagement, nor outrun thyself 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 moneys: lest while thou wouldst buy other friends, thou sell God; come to promotion, if thou canst by friends, not by money: if thou deservest it not, thou wrongest others: if thou 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 intention and mind: inward goodness without outward shows of it, is like a Tree without fruit, useless: and outward shows of goodness, without inward sincerity, is like a Tree without heart, liveless; that thou art good inwardly in thy heart, is thine own comfort: that thou dost ontwardly profess this goodness in thy life, is others benefit; thou thyself art not the better for that goodnesse 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 profession 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 rather in profitable language, than curious; by this, happily, 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; disallow thyself some things which thou mayest do, but nothing which thou oughtest to do: give no liberty to thy self 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 they may not hinder thee in the things thou art commanded.   

Promise's nothing which may prejudice thee in 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 performance by his promise.   

Accounted it the greatest knowledge truly to know thy self; and the greatest conquest to subdue thyself: not give way to thine own lusts; not boast of thine own parts: to do nothing that is ill, nor vainegloriously 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) gins at home; it was Christ's to S. Peter, Art thou converted? strengthen the Brethren, but first be converted himself; he may happily 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 wouldst wish to recall: and do nothing which thou shalt need to repent: condemn nothing in a humour; nor maintain nothing out of faction; 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 passed 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 himself can talk Scripture: Charity consists not barely in knowing, or discoursing of what is 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 amy rather find thee fitted for God, than fit thee; and so order thy estate, and thy soul in thy health, that when death comes thy mayest have nothing to do but to die.   

IN point of reformation, first pluck out thy own More: spend not thy time in exhorting others to the keeping of the Commandments, and break them thyself; measure not thy goodness by another's want of it: nor measure thy want of goodness by 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 enough; God who works in us both to will and to do, doth in some case accept the will for the deed.   

REckon nothing which thou hast, thine own; nor nothing which thou dost, 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 deficiency 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 themselves, others are not recovered, but with expense and danger; and the same sickness is not removed with the same ease in 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 sickness 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 continuance: 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 set led humours do not easily ftirre; though the means are the same, yet while the subjects 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 nor enough that the word be the same, if the hearers be not; as 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 withal. Sodom would have repent with those means which Corazin did not; in thine 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.   

REnember that as there is ●…e death which thou must prepre to meet, so there is another death which thou must study to avoid, the death of the soul; the natural death consists 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 tou 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 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;  
Left in heaven thou have less,  
(If any) for this happiness;  
Seldom have I known  
To have Heavens more than one;  
All the pleasures of this life  
They are useful, but 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 i'll;  
Oh JEHOVAH, but with thee,  
Is there true felicity,  
All this sublunary treasure  
Yield but counterfeit of pleasure;  
Silken cares, Kings of clouts;  
Full of torments, fears, and doubts;  
Trifles, dangers, baited books,  
Sha' dove's, only shape and looks,  
Of what we call: worse than naughts?  
Snares; temptation, if not faults;  
Whether it be birth, 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 borror,  
And then Dives is the poorer;  
When the 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 thy se●f a task,  
A beggary, for thus to be  
Is the greatest poverty:  
All thou hast is on the score,  
What is that but to be poor?  
Add to this, it doth not last;  
And happiness is torment, passed.  
It may be present, so thy host  
Is but may be at the 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 desired, is common to beasts; in civil actions be led by thy reason, not by thy appetite; in divine action, by Religion; and do nothing that may forfeit either thy reason or thy honesty: measure the goodness of things by their lawfulness not by their profit; nor be drawn to do ill for advantage: not intent thy particular good, with the forfeiture of the genreall.   

IN religion publish nothing which thou datest not stand to; nor libel against the truth: if thou think it is not the truth, why dost thou publish it? if thou thinkest it is the 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 lie; 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 spoken of, and undeser vedly, is neither thy fault, nor alone thy case; Christ himself was thought a Wine bibber: and Saint 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 condemn 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 wouldeft hear better: Parcit cognatis maculis similis fera: the Devil doth not accuse his own: if thou wert one if them they would speak more favourably: be careful to be clean to God, what ever thou art to the world, and be slow in soiling and blacking others: if they are not so clean as thou couldst wish, their foulness be to themselves: let them be never the fouler for thy mouth: they that are forward in censuring and accusing others, are usually such themselves.   

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 subservient 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 obstinately to persevere in things; to hear others judgements besides thine own, and if right, to submit to them; not to think it a disparagement, that there are wifer 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 it 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 fare intent thy profit as that thou still subject it to your religion; not make thy commodity the stern of the 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 strait, not by that which is more crooked: the rule of goodness is God's Word, not other men's deeds: not to measure the straightness 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 himself by some debauchedness, he will seem a sober man: in the day of judgement, God will not examine thee by what others were, but by what thou wert commanded to be.   

Pled not for licentiousness of life, under liberty of conscience; as if Christian liberty consisted in doing what they lift: 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 life; that the merits of our Redeemer hath obtained; not that the Commandments of God should not still be observed; but that though not sufficient observing of them, should not be imputed.   

MAke not other men's sins thine by imitating them; nor thine, other men's, by teaching of them, do nothing in which thou wouldst not be followed; follow nothing of which thou canst not well justify the doing.   

AFfect not too much business, especially 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 overdo; 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 acquaintance: 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 to cease to be a good Christian, that thou mayest be thought a good companion.   

BE displeased with nothing which God doth, and as near as thou canst, do nothing wherewith God is displeased, do all thou dost as in God's presence, and speak all as 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 dost is not by thine own power; it is the mercy of God that moves him to do for us; that inables us to do that which pleaseth him.   

Accounted that good which is lawful, not which is profitable: and endeavour rather to serve God then 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 neighbour.   

NOt repiningly to complain of thy sufferings 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 punishment, not be.   

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 be 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 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 repentance 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 it too late: he that puts off his amendment with hope of living, loseth eternal life in a presumption of this.   

Intent rather the effecting of a public good, than a particular, for by intending 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 what ever is beneficial to the whole, cannot be prejudicial to the parts: so than thou being a member of the whole in performing a general good, even by that thou art so fare 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 bow much it is good to more, and dost 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 goodness, that thou shouldst 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 changes; every change is a kind of death, in as much 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 his self 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 loath to change, is to contradict what thou dost: 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 ornament, do not thou make it a snare: why shouldest thou have cause to wish that thou hadst been ill favoured: show 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 others eyes, let it be thy care to make thy self 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 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 dost 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 safe.  
'Tis the mind that makes a fault,  
Else such things would not be naught;  
He that can (and is no ly●…)  
Sport and talk without a fire;  
Can be courteous, can be kind,  
And not kindle in his mind;  
And can touch a woman's skin  
As his own, not stir within:  
Doth salute without delight,  
And more would not, if he might,  
Nor scarce that; whom thus to bill  
Manners treacheth, not his will:  
Nor with hand, nor lip, nor eye,  
Doth commit aduliery;  
But see and salute each other  
Woman as he doth his mother;  
As the Nurse's harmless kiss  
To her child is, such is his,  
Without pleasure, without taste,  
With a mind, a thought as chaste  
As Turtle; till thy mind be such,  
Do nor look, nor sport, nor touch,  
Or at least till this thou can,  
Sport, and talk, and play with man;  
Not with woman, for ●f fair,  
Thou wilt findk, 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's seen, not what is meant:  
Then until all minds be such  
Think a look, a smile to much.   

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 show that thou art willing to requite a courtesy where thou art able: and show that thou art able to revenge a wrong (if thou canst) though thou art not willing; so by showing that thou couldst revenge this, thou wilt happily prevent another; and by not revenging it thou wilt prove thyself better than thou showst; for to revenge a wrong done is to do a wrong to God; so thou wilt be guilty of doing that which thou complainest of, and therefore unjustly complainest of that which thou thyself dost.   

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 the grace of God capable of the greatest: think often upon Christ's death, it will sweeten thine; and account it his, he accounts it so: he died not for himself, but for thee, and if thou live not to thyself, but to him, than 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 commendations of thy goodness, that thou mightest and wouldst 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.   

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 burdensome 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  which thou wearest, were the clothing of some beast, or the labour of some Worm, or at the best, of a man like 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 hid those parts which thou art ashamed to show, not adorn that inner part which doth truly show thee: therefore to be so much a Christian to prefer that part which thou hast common with Christ in respect of his humane 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 beawed 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: commendations of former goodness is a provocation 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 ever out of heaven.   

BE employed only in such ways as thou wouldst not blush to be met in: Thamar goes disguised, when to play the harlot: tell nothing of another which thou wouldst not have told him: believe nothing of another which thou mayest not tell: do not construe seriously what is spoken but in jest, and forbear 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 feign 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 dost 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 Caiphas his house; with 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 without a great deal of care you will communicate with their sin: With the froward thou wilt learn frowardness: he that goes to the meetings 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 dooro, sometime at thy Table; whatsoever thou givest to Christ in his members, he will one day give bacl 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 careful to do no 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 abosolution, 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 other; s God hath promised his blessing to the thing, not to the person; the sacrifices of Elies' 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, After their say do ye; we must follow their sayings whose deeds we may not; thou mayest not refuse the word of God from any, if they teach what they should, though they do not what they teach, the wickedness of the messenger doth not abate the power of the means, as the intemperance and debauchedness 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 how much to make thy life longer, but better; consider that the longer thou art here, 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 wouldst have God look upon thine; be good to all, God is so; but with a difference; Especially to the household of faith; cherish no sin in thyself, and countenance none in another: acquaint 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  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 though thy body be not yet in heaven, let thy heart be there.   

LEt thy first care be to be good thyself, thy next care to make others so: be not a Christian in show only, yet in every thing show 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.  

He is the true and real Christian whose  
Most holy words are seconded with deeds;  
Who lives Religion over, and well knows  
Christianity consists not all in creeds;  
Pinns not his life, nor faith to others sleeve,  
Believes what's writ, and lives as he believes.   

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, to, 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 deboise  
Is good, not of necessity, but choice.   

That makes not opportunity his bawd;  
(Occasion sometime doth invite a sin)  
To may and will not, is the Christians laud;  
He's guilty that is out and would be in;  
But being tempted, or but not withstood  
Not to be evil it a double good.   

That can revenge a wrong, but doth forbear it,  
And to be slow to malice, is not sloth;  
Speaks only what is truth, but will not swear it;  
Nor second every trisle with an oath;  
That likes no vice though followed with a throng  
Who measure truth by voices doth it wrong.   

Some good he doth, yet said 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, & he will mend his pace:  
Mean time God likes the will, & in his Son  
What we would do, is in 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 to.   

You'll say them Christianity is hard,  
What good was ever easy? where the gains  
Are greatest, likely there the way is barred;  
Double renown is bad with double pains:  
Who so doth follow Christ, doth pitch a field,  
'Tis less praise not to fight, than not to yield.   

Worldly advancements are not had with case;  
And want is the inheritance of sloth:  
Wouldst thou do less for heaven than for these?  
'Tis fit who would have one, he should have both  
The gain with hardness, thus it is les hard;  
The danger's great, and 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 deservest it: be more sorry that it is true, then 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, not sometimes from faults: he is the best man that errs seldomest, he is more than a man that never errer.   

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 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 that 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 persons 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.   

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 not wrong. wink at those wrongs that are unvillingly done thee, God doth so, and measures what we do by what we mean to do: he that shot at a mark and killed a man, by the Law of God was not held a murderer: God works in us both to will and to do, as he doth sometimes accept the will for the deed; so be 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 thineenemy; or that accounts every error an injury; he must have no friends, that will have a friend with no faults: make no man thine 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 means; think not to partake of what God hath promised, but by doing in some measure what he hath commanded: though 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 towards him.   

DO nothing which is ill, nor every thing which is lawful; measure not thy liberty by the lawfulness of the thing, but the expediency; 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 sometime 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 not at all: for as it is flattery of speak that good of another which is false: so it is detraction, to speak that ill of another unnecessarily which is true.   

FOrgive the wilful injuries of any, yet tell him of them, by showing him of his fault, thou showest him his duty; do not love him less for it, but trust him less: but if he be thoroughly sorry for it: be thou thoroughly satisfied; God asks no more for thine: consider 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 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 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 show goodness, and teach it.   

BEE good without much noise: be provident without perplexedness: be merry without lightness: be bountiful without waist: live to the benefit of all, but to the service only of God.  

If now thou act not perfect yet with these,  
(As where is there perfection here below)  
Yet they may do enough to make thee please,  
God accepts what we can, for what me own;  
Whilst thou endeavour'st to be what though shouldst,  
If thou want'st power, 'tis enough tho wouldst.   

The clearest water is not free from mud;  
The Sun is not exempted from ●…lips;  
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 a height,  
And we are good, but not without a scar;  
All things are like ourselves, a mixture, than  
God doth not look that we should not be men.    
FINIS.  
GLORIA DEO.