Qui violat Rosam, spinis Coronabitur.  
 crowned Tudor rose Qui Violat Rosam, Spinis Coronabitur. 
Sanguine sub nimiâ languet, Rosa tincta colore  
sic luget proprio; purpurat ora rubor:  
En! Phoebi reditum madesacta liquore precatur  
sub Caroli radiis ut micet illa sui.    

AN Entertainment OF Solitariness: OR, The Melting of the SOUL, by Meditations, and the pouring of it out by Prayers.  
By Sir RICHARD TEMPEST, Knight and Baronet.  — Sine me liber ibis in Vrbem. 
Printed in the year 1649.   

TO His dear Brothers, Nicholas Tempest, and Thomas Tempest, Esquires.  
Dear Brothers,  
IN you I have enjoyed the happy freedoms and privileges of friendship which consociate the remotest regions of men's hearts with the participation of their mutual thoughts. I communicate to you now these Conceptions (the Companions of my solitariness) that notwithstanding the Press is debauched, yet by the quick passage of it, you might participate of my thoughts at this distance; whereby in part I might turn my Loneness into Company and Conversation. And though the accidents of the time have violently snatched you from me, whereby you have changed your freedom for restraint; yet all the unpleasing passages of Fortune, or her most plausible Courtships work nothing upon a mind, seated on that firm resolution, to be true to GOD, the King, and his friend the very Heathen could say, Commit thyself to an honest & just action, as to a tutelar God. Those minds alone that are not raised above the trifles and vanities of the world, feel the tyranny of passion and adversity; others, who lie not level with its injuries, carry a happiness in their own breasts, which tents as it were, they can set down in any condition or place, & be happy in Saint Paul named no one state wherein he could be content; but had learned, in what state soever, to be content: & certainly, such a state of mind only as is agreeable to the traverses of the world, considering every thing as it is in its own alterable nature, and withal making use of the prerogative of the Soul, which is above any created thing, can fix or settle in man's life a felicity, which all men so earnestly court, and so few obtain; many presenting their service to that Mistress of all men's Souls, out of vainglory, or covetousness, or worldly interest; she being the most quicksighted Lady, which will not confer her favours on any, but who are truly enamoured with itself; God himself being that essential Eternity, who is alone to be loved for himself.  Questò e il vero geiore che nasce dà virtu dopò il soffrire. 
From Amsterdam, Decemb. 20. 1648. Your faithful Brother, Rich: Tempest.   

To the Reader.  
HE who sacrificeth his Virtue to the genius of the Times, shall find its favours not so durable, as the reward of his Vice is certain; one may go smiling, or fearless, to destruction; the affections of deceived minds, change nothing the nature of the evils incurred; there is a fixed unalterable nature of good, which accidents of fortune and events communicable to good or bad actions, cannot change nor subvert: success dazzles the vulgar eye; and minds that undertook the service of Virtue, for the love they bore its rewards, no longer adore the beauty of the other, than their lower minds are bribed with the petty satisfactions to their inferior interests. It's the most contemptible slavery of the mind, to pin its value and esteem of justice upon the sleeve of fortune; there being nothing truly fixed and permanent, but sacred Virtue, which men so readily forsake for every thing that of its self naturally makes progress to change (a necessary mutability and alteration adhering to the nature of all other things.) By the communication of these thoughts, the times are not courted, choosing rather to dote upon the foam falling from the jaws of Cerberus; they being such as Tacitus notes sometime to happen out, wherein is a certain ruin for those who hold with duty; and wherein one might justly resume the demand of that Orator, who being applauded by the vulgar, asked his friend, what ill he had spoke? These papers choose rather to be as miserable as ever the merry Poets could make any, by their threatened judgements and witty condemnations, aut piper aut thus. It will be a loathsome thing to stay behind all that, to which destruction is threatened; when as with all their protestations, pecuniary and sanguinary prodigality, in stead of bringing home the Golden Fleece, which is that addition of Wealth, Honour, and Power, to the King and his people, they have only used them all as means to make them most miserable, by the destroying of what is glorious and worthy. The Kingdom is touched (as I may say) with Monarchy: and though the Needle is by a violent hand set to contrary Point of the Compass, and by the contrary winds of Factions they attempt to sail to Utopian & fancied Governments yet usque recurret, the Needle will not stand but to it's beloved Pole. All miserable practices upon the healthful constitution of our dear Mother. But alas! who would grieve truly for thee, must let his veins bleed purple tears, to deliver thy tender breasts dearest Mother, from the desperate hands of thy cruel and bloody executioners.  
Vale.   

The melting of the SOUL, etc.  

On Sundays, Holy days, and Fasting days.  
HE whose mind remains in the power of Reason, and Religion, order his outward observances so, that they may be the transitory Hieroglyphics of his inward piety. They are unmannerly Devotions, which neglect the Injunctions of the Church, concerning the time, place, and manner of them: since every action is invested with such circumstances, and hath such formalities annexed to them, the gravity and solemnity of enjoined Ceremony will suit better with regular zeals, than the garbs and forms private fancies would put on them.  
Thy holy Word, O Lord, is the Sun, which by casting its beams on the figures and distinctions of the Church's Dial, points out and orders to us the times of our lives.  
Some Religions wear only the finer Livery of Sundays, others love to appear attended with the sadder train of Fasting days. When I consult with the Church, I find both enjoined; and when I advise with my own nature, I find them suited to the two principal affections in man, Joy, and Grief: Let not my service of thee, O Lord, be misshapen in its parts; but what I do to please thee, let it be guided by thee.  
There is such a confederacy between the soul and the body, they do so mutually operate one upon another, that even those restraints put upon our appetites, quicken and make active the motions of the soul: for when the body its organ is distempered, it retorts and shoots backward its indispositions to the mind; (our thoughts sometimes condensed into the corporeal delights of the sense; sometimes rarified into the pure abstracted pleasures of the spirit.)  
And since bodily abstinence aides and contributes aptitude to the mind, for diviner receptions; let me follow the wisdom of thy methods, Lord, who by the Church's directions, of their Fasts to precede our Festivals, teacheth us, humility goes before glory, repentance and mortification before true joy.  
But now, alas! the outward and material Temples are made to mourn in their own ashes, while the living ones rejoice over the ruins of Zion. The loosenesses and indulgences of this Age, rather bears a proportion with the Religion of the Ottomans, than exhibits Sacrifices pleasing to the most Holy One. They cashiering all strict observances, as fetters and bonds to their more free Genius, are misled by their own evil spirits in a wilderness of Opinions.  
The observing these signal days, turns our devotions into the known and vulgar Character, which the world by our practice (as it were) may read. Our memory charges the Times with good or bad events happening in them; not but those good or ill qualities adhere to the things done in those Times, (Time being only the measure of motion) upon whose score we retain the remembrance of what things pleasing, or displeasing, have befallen us.  
To quarrel at the observation of Times, is to quarrel at the holy and devout Exercises at such times usually performed; whence we see so easy a slide in many, from the contempt of the time, to neglect the humble and pious practices of the other: To take away the set Days, set Prayers, and set Patrimony of the Church, is to make the Church contemptible, their lives dissolute, and their devotions profane.  
The Magnificats of hearts, divinely in love, and the heavenly wealth of an openhanded Charity, makes these day's prospect so glorious; and in this respect, they are enlightened with no vulgar Ray, nor doth the Sun shine with any common beams.  
The Heathens marked their fortunate days with white, or precious stones; but we must observe these with white and spotless actions, by which they will prove so to us: Our miserable Times we becloud either over again with our griefs, and distrusts, or else add to them the feathers of vanity, to make them more insensibly fly away; (the two excesses of our life) too jocular Vanities, or too sad Dejections.  
But from the heights of these days, do our souls take their Aethereal flights, and range themselves in the Quires of Angels, while they bear part with them, in their Allelujahs.  
Lord grant, that by the continued practice of these Heavenly Attempts, the chain of my mortality being broke, I may get wing, and fly to thee; and that constantly reaching my hands to thee from these days, which are the upper steps of the Ladder of my Life, next to Heaven, thou mayest at last reach forth thy hand, and receive me.   

Morning Thoughts.  
Darkness no sooner gives way to the approach of the Sun, but the whole Theatre of Nature seems to smile; the Clouds put on their severall-coloured Habits; the Musical inhabitants of the Groves warble forth the Air in varied and delightful tones of harmony; the Flowers draw forth their several flames and beauties, offering sweet incense from their fragrant bosoms; all mists and fogs break up and vanish; and that which before dissembled so bright a lustre, hath lost it in the light of the Sun. And now my senses loosened from the soft chains of sleep, enjoy the prospect of the glory of the Heavens, the pleasant view of the Woods, Fields, Rivers: but as there be Groves, and Caves, where the Sun hath not access; so my Body is that Cave, where, without the beam of Reason, to discern the causes and effects of those works I externally behold, it is still in darkness; nay, I shall still continue so, if with the reflext beam of Reason I look not into myself, and see what habits and affections my Soul wears, and what belongs to me, in respect of duties and several relations without: nay, I am still in darkness, if I behold not with the eye of Faith the Son of Righteousness arising (as it were) out of the immense Ocean of his Goodness and Mercy, darting into my Soul the glorious rays of his Truth and Goodness; then doth my little World rejoice, and my flesh rejoices in the living Lord; then are all my affections, the Birds in my little Grove, tuned with his praise; then doth each thought wear a several Livery of its Maker's praise, put on from the contemplation of his several works; then are all the false splendours of Vanity obscured, the mists and fogs of Passion break up and vanish; then do the flowers of Virtue salute him with that lustre and odour he himself bestowed on them; some yielding their sweets at a distance, as the tender Virtues of Mercy, Compassion, Liberality; others impart not their fragrancy, till bruised and crushed, as the Virtues of Patience, and Constancy: And now, Lord, my imprisoned Soul beholds thy beams, through the chinks as it were of thy Creatures; but a full vision of thy presence is reserved for the state of Glory.  
Let my mind so feed on thy Works, that they be digested into thy praise; and let me look out so constantly through these Crannies, at the rays of thy Goodness, Wisdom, and Power, that at last my spark may be swallowed up in the immensity of thy light.   

Evening Thoughts.  
Heaven's sable Curtains being dtawn, Darkness makes all things alike: the feathered Musicians of the Wood repose their aerial spirits amidst the leavy Groves; a silent horror seems to possess all places, while those Silver-footed Nymphs, that by so many wind arrive at the watery arms of Neptune, send forth their pleasant murmurs louder, not drowned with greater noise: if the Sun hath set in a Cloud, it hath presaged storms to the ensuing day.  
I find a resemblance in my lesser World, of Night's Livery, when I wink the World into Darkness; by which, all beauties lose their distinctions; all lie lovingly together in the bosom of sleep, and agree in their obedience to these soft injunctions, and delightful commands of Nature. Here the Miser is pleasantly robbed of his store, and the miserable man of his sense of being poor. The ambitious man leaves to court Greatness, and is content with the ordinary favours of Morpheus: the Lover lays aside the sweet tortures of his Amours, and solaces himself only in the dusky embraces of sleep: the Soldier, in making his passage to the gates of vocal Fame, ceases to invite Death, and is here content with its image.  
Now do our senses, which are the Birds that make the Music in man's little Grove, shroud themselves under the downy wings of sleep. Thus doth Death equalise all things only for a longer time; in its habitations a quiet horror seems to dwell, where all lie lovingly in the bosom of their Mother Earth, silently crept under the soft Cover of Ashes; where our divided parts revel in their loosened motions, which had before been crowded together in our sickly composures. I lie merrily down in my Bed, though I expect to rise again, to resume the burden of all my fears, hopes, and griefs, the constant attendants of my life; and yet look sadly and mournfully upon the Grave, my corruption belonging to the maintaining of the order of the Universe; where, at my next rising, much gayer clad than before, I shall awake to immortality and endless joy: with the eye of Reason I can look through the glory of the world, and behold Vanity, and Oblivion; with the eye of Faith I can look through Oblivion and Corruption itself, and behold Glory and Eternity. Now I find, how many things do not (that are esteemed in popular judgements to) make one happy; how little they contribute towards it, to me alone, till I be mixed with those people, and take pleasure in those Opinions.  
We entertain with true and real passions the Scenical compositions of the Stage; there being in man's life Plays, not acted, but lived; solemn fictions, not feigned, but believed. Men now acknowledge their own Natures, whom Precept had taught to regulate themselves all day, and familiarly own the impressions Nature hath charactered on them.  
Now doth the ever-running streams of God's favours, which run over our hard and stony hearts, speak louder to us, not drowned with the noise of worldly thoughts. If the Sun hath gone down in the clouds of our envy and malice, it presages future storms of passions to our life.  
And now, Lord, I will seek him in my Bed, whom my Soul loves: Let me find thee, in the rest thou givest my Soul from Sin and Vanity, in the sleep thou givest my affections, they being all quietly reposed in thee; and thus I rest on thee, more than on where I lie.   

The Arraignment of the Heart.  
I Thought I had so well surveyed this little piece of Earth, that I had known every turning and winding in it: but, since I had a holy purpose betrayed to some easy temptation, I suspected that there was something yet undiscovered. Whereupon, calling my Travel, Study, and Observation thither, I found a strange Labyrinth, which the thread of my Reason was too short to unwind me out of; I found it so encircled with the Serpentine wind of Sin, so encompassed with those flexuous embraces, that I perceived Vanity entering under the conduct of its adversary, apt to glory in the contempt of Glory, and grow proud in the lowest debasing myself: and upon demand of Reason for any good, it would inform me, That it owed its original to some secret passion, which would untitle it again.  
There is nothing but darkness, and wander, here; so that I perceive, O Lord, I was more secure than safe, since I lodged here such deceitful guests, that answered at the light knock of every idle passion. I desired to have discovered my heart to thee, but found it first necessary, that thou shouldst discover it to me; where was such a wilderness of Passions, such rocks of Pride, such Maeanders of Deceits, and perplexed paths of contradictory motions, that it mocked my past endeavours, and taught me to know, that other things might be in the light to me, yet I in darkness to myself. And since thy sacred Spirit hath dictated to me, that it is desperately wicked and inscrutable, I arraign it before thy Throne, as that corrupt Fountain, whence hath flowed those bitter streams of Vanity, which hath overflowed my life; and here, where my natural life first gins, my spiritual death first arises. I beg of thee, my God, another Creation, first, of a clean heart; and that than thy sacred Spirit would move upon the face of these waters, and form this Chaos into that beauty, and order, where thou wouldst have thy own Power and Wisdom manifested: breathe forth thy heavenly Light into my Soul, and to the considerations of my heart, cause a distinction between the Night of Sin, to be feared; and the Light of Truth, to be desired; make a separation in me, betwixt heavenly and earthly thoughts; let the other be superior and predominant over these; dispose all here into form and fruitfulness; plant the flowers of virtue, which being fed with the Manna-drops of thy Grace, they may communicate their grateful properties of colour and odour to others: 'Cause the Lights thou hast set in my little World, to shine clearer, that every of them may have their several and proper influences upon the course of my life: When the Sun of thy Word shines out, let all other Lights be obscured; however, let that thy other Light of Reason rule the darker part of my life; let the lesser Lights of Opinion (whose motions, though they be erratic, yet do operate upon our actions) keep such place and distance, that they hinder not the general harmony of the Fabric. That part which denominates my Species, make new in me; that part form after thy own Image; and give it command over the beasts of the field, that Reason may subdue the wildness of my affections. And now, Lord, let all the motions of this Piece turn upon the poles of thy Commands; let it be centred in the obedience to thy will, that there it may find a constant Sabbath, and Rest. This is the regeneration of this lesser World; element it, Lord, with the fire of thy heavenly love, surround it with the holy breathe of thy blessed Spirit: Let constancy and solid fixnesse be in my ways, let the current of all my thoughts empty themselves into the Ocean of the infinity of thy goodness and glory: And yet, Lord, this World could not stand a moment, if thou didst not behold it through thy Son. It's the desire of my heart to entertain thee: as thou art the author of that desire, be thou also the granter of it. I know, a heart being filled with any thing, denies access to another; I am full of myself, grant me to deny myself, to be emptied of myself: for here it is, that the pleasures and trifles of the World hold intelligence, and correspondence, in themselves not so forcible, but as they flatter my understanding, or affection, with apt pretences.  
When Perseus in his Expedition was to kill the Serpent, he had a Lookingglass given him, wherein he was to behold the Serpent, as he should strike at him, and not to look upon itself; and we shall kill the Serpents of outward temptations, if we look at their figures, presented in the Glass of our thoughts, and there destroy them in their images, received in our hearts.  
Lord, do thou possess my heart, that it may possess thee; that it may receive thee, receive it; thou art within all things, not included: let me find thy infinite Power, in the extension of thy Mercy, and not in thy Justice; let me put off myself: myself, is my ways, my customs, affections; thy promise is, for protecting us in thy ways. When I seek to have my own image represented back again to me more beautiful from the Glass of popular Opinions, courting Fame, or Applause; when I for fear or flattery neglect to do my duty to thee my God, or man, then am I in my own ways, seeking Death in the errors of my life. I give thee, Lord, that one syllable thou desirest, my (heart;) begging the exchange of another for it (Love:) But because I am a very bubble, which howsoever it be blown into some curious-coloured Hemisphere, by some good inspirations, yet the least ruffling wind from abroad makes evaporate: And though I be wound up to some holy resolutions by the finger of thy Spirit, yet without thy constant assistance, I should relapse, and fall into looseness and dejectedness; therefore I beg of thee my Heart again, that thou wouldst before the conveyance of it pass, give it me under the custody of thy Grace, sealed up by thy blessed Spirit, that no sinful Passion within, nor outward Glory, nor Beauty, the solicitors of Vanity, do ever break it up.   

Deceit doth debase our Nature, and false Policy destroy Governments.  
MAn, that Noble Coin, which bears the Image of the King of Heaven, is so debased with the alloy of his own imaginations, that it will not pass. Lord, thou art one undivided simple essence, and requirest Truth in the inward parts, and spirits, wherein there is no guile: Wherefore thou hast taught us, that under the form of Children, we obtain the Kingdom of Heaven; by the revocation of which innocent and contemptible part of our lives, the value is brought down of all those false Wares men have fraughted their minds with, in the voyage of this life; those false Opinions, deluded Affections, which do create to men their joys and fears. We shall find, Deceit hath underminded all the little structures of Delight men have builded out of Fancy, while Opinions are entertained in the Soul, which bear not the lawful impression of Truth, but the counterfeit stamp of their own affection. Truth is the only firm Basis of man's content and happiness, the images of the things themselves, as they be in their own natures, received as it were into the Glass of the mind; settle there that which we call Truth, when there is a conformity betwixt the things and our minds: but when man vitiates and distorts his mind with wrong and erroneous apprehensions of those things, then are our minds a Magic Glass, which shows us the images of things that are not. Thus are men's griefs Panic, and their joys personate.  
Those tears of Alexander were as ridiculous, which the report of another part of the World yet unconquered, drew from him, as of that poor woman, whom the Philosopher saw weeping for her Pitcher she had broke.  
Man mingling his deceived conceptions with the things themselves, frights himself with that Vizard he himself bestows on things, which in themselves are natural, orderly, and necessary. Waters that at the Fountain head are pure and sweetly tasted, in their subterraneous passage beget new and foreign tastes. What a Maze doth humane nature tread in? How many are the Cozenages of his affections? Man, as it were in the Tyring-roome of his fancy, bestows his several Dresses and Attires on things, which he on the Stage of the world really counts for such as he hath clothed them for. Thus are all things made to bear the Livery of his imaginations, and are accepted back again into the affections, according to the richness of the habits he made them fine with.  
Folly, saith Erasmus, hears itself ill spoke of even amongst the most foolish: and many would entertain with laughter the story of that fool, who leapt and danced, because he thought all the ships that came into the harbour were his own; when perhaps no less Comical would their own Mirths prove, which are drawn (perhaps) from the esteem of some things, which serve to make a great part of their lives seem pleasant to them, which having their worth viewed in the light of Reason, would be found not sufficient to yield such a warmth and influence, to warm or recreate their deluded affections at. Some are overflowed with a deluge of tears, for that, which to another hath no such ugly Character stamped on it. Opinion is sufficient to move passion, and Opinion many times rises from the bare shows of things; and yet the impressions are no less violent and strong which Opinion retorts on us, than what comes from things in themselves ill. Beauty is a glorious Ray, which might raise our thoughts to the Creator of Lights, who is Beauty itself; and wherein the Mind might take as much content, with due reflections on the Giver, as in any other sparks of that omnipotent brightness communicated to the Creature. Honour is that badge, whereby they will honour Virtue: Wealth is a bank against the flow in of the necessities of this life. Yet all these befool our loves, and cheat our affections; they not being brought in by the trials and examinations of Reason, but by the secret motions and recommendations of Passion: for Beauty, by the Hyperbole and excess of my thoughts, is made another thing to me than it is; being only those clouds whither the Sun of men's wit send their beams to gild.  
Thus, when we would immortalize the objects of our Earthborn wishes, or make Earthly Beauties Divine; then, by this disproportion are our unsatisfied affections betrayed to Repentance, being it must be recalled from the height and rate it had carried the thing too: or if one, in stead of true Virtue and Merit, fall in love with vulgar Breath, and Court that Echo, being as much taken with those airy reverberations, as Narcissus was with the watery reflection, seeking for that rich Ore of happiness in other men's souls, which he would have coined into respect and observances of him; what doth he, but (as Solomon saith) possess the wind? Or if one admire too much that Idol of vulgar minds, Wealth, thinking the felicity of it consists in the abundance; when as that Divine Aphorism delivers, More than what is necessary, the owner hath but to behold it with his eyes. Men augment their joys from the greatness of their wealth, as they do their fears from the greatness of the appearance of his danger. All the Ocean strikes a terror in the mind of him like to be drowned, when less than a Tun would serve the turn. Or if the whole Air, that incompasseth the Globe, were infected, one should add the consideration of the vastness of that, to increase his sorrow, whereas he could suck in no more than what conferred to his own mortality. Oh, that my ways were directed with a Line, the Line of thy Word! there being no other Guide out of this intricacy and perplexedness of our own natures.  
Man was, from the hand of the most glorious Workman, set on the solid Basis of integrity and justice, and is now crumbled away into trifles, minute-deceits, which hath weakened the solidity of this best piece of the Creation. Truth is that noble prey man's Soul is in the inquest after; and to have it, in stead of realities, stored only with masks and outward forms, it dishonours our natures, makes them unhappy and miserable.  
The morality of the Heathen, puts out of countenance the late Religions of our time: How generous, and how becoming a worthy mind, was the advice of that Orator to his friend Atticus, than Governor of a Province? Whom instructing first with the qualities and natures of the men he had to deal with, their dispositions, their ends, how fare he might trust some, how fare make use of others; then dissuades him from Anger, there being nothing more ugly, than to add bitterness and sharpness of Fury to Power and Command. Afterward, that he be sure, that in all his carriage he should let the Native see, through his constant readiness to aid them, and to do justice, he placed his glory in their security; and looked upon their prosperity, as the fruits of his prudence, and his good conduct of their affairs: then, saith he, will they obey you, with the resignation of their wills, as to a father. At last he concludes, that he should be sure to let integrity, and justice, and wisdom, be the foundation of his honour and greatness; haec sint fundamenta dignitatis tuae: But now, in stead of thoughts enlarged to take care of the public, their Purses are only to take Money in private. Shall they be able, by the faint rays of Nature, to copy fairer pieces of Virtue, and truer Glory, than this Age, by the advantages of their supernatural Lights, can afford any examples of? Who doth not look upon, with grave respect, these Relics, these yet standing Pieces, not wind; which shows, how magnificent a structure man was? Who can but honour the gallantry of the manners of the old Romans? Who being called to defend their Country, command their Armies, either to oppose foreign enemies, or appease domestic insurrections; they desired only, that they might have, during their absence from home, occasioned by the Wars, their Ploughs and Stocks preserved, and that they might return to the pleasures and contents of their former Country lives, indemnified in their estates, having discharged their obligation to the public.  
But how different are the endeavours of men in this age? they being all employed, not as in the champion region of the Commonwealth, but in the enclosures of their own particular respects. Frugality is that Virtue which stands between unpleasing Taxes, and Gabels, and the people's hate. Justice is like the Sun in the Sphere of Government, it gives life and light to all: Prudence exercise, a Virtue different from the other, not contrary.  
The civil Forts, and Strengths of Kingdoms, are politic Axioms of Conservation, drawn out of the bowels of Reason, and Experience; which to neglect, were to let go to ruin those banks which hindered the invasion of a sea of public calamity. Thus is that golden Sceptre, to which every one did bow, while it was supported with Justice and Prudence, broke into a numberless company of inferior Policies; in stead of those great Luminaries, every one goes about with the dim Lights of their little Plots, to enlighten the dark corners of their private designs. So fare, Lord, as we withdraw ourselves from the Rule and Law thou hast confined our actions in, so fare we lessen and degenerate; in stead of the advancement and exaltation of their natures, they debase it and becrampe it: there is no progress made, but with all our labour and pains shall be found only to have gone so fare on one side. Thou art Wisdom and Righteousness; in the one, be thou the light of my eyes; in the other, the guide of my life: let me not, Lord, turn aside to deceit, but look well to my paths.   

Of Constancy and Perseverance.  
Constancy is that Atlas which upholds man's little World; without which, it is but a piece of contingency, casual disorderly motions, a world of Atoms. And yet, Lord, such are the contrary and irregular courses of my life, that I add to the outward vicissitudes of the world, the inconstant motions of my own breast. The greater world is full of divers and different operations, and motions of Nature, yet a Cosmical harmony of the Universe is maintained through all the diversity of those workings; and man, while his actions are concentric, and are proportioned to the Rule of those several Laws God governs us by, he translates the harmony of Nature to his own thoughts, they all constantly moving in their proper Orbs. I thought I had been so consolidated within myself, I could have found none of these unconstancies; so compacted with Precepts and Rules, so fortified by Experience and Discourse, that all such variations had been excluded; but, Lord, I perceive myself all in pieces, involved, discomposed: How soon are my devouter resolves made a Trophy to my innate corruptions, and increase the victories of my more imperious nature? In bravery of Discourse, and fineness of Contemplation, the whole Globe is sometime trampled on, the brags of Wealth and Glory despised; and yet, as if I were not Commander of this small extension of Earth, I find my high-flowne thoughts brought down to the lure of some contemptible Vanity; and that Earth which I even now trod upon, trampling o'er my Soul and its affections.  
The Heathens made brave descriptions of Virtues; they designed and curiously deciphered those heavenly Bodies, but knew not one foot of the way into them. Who can but honour their gallant expressions? The height and liveliness of their contemplations? How magnificent are they in their language, when they with that pomp of rich discourse go to set Reason in its Throne, giving it the Sceptre and command over the passions? And among all the glorious structures of Virtue they have made, with what state and majesty do they lead their Readers to that invincible, Fortress of Constancy, seated on a Rock? Here promising, that all the storms of affliction shall break and ruin upon't. The Stoic gravely invites your Hand to go into his Bark, to sail to happiness in, sending Challenges to Fortune; assuring you, by the prerogative of their Doctrines, a shelter from all its storms.  Impavidum ferient ruina. 
Who can but admire the heights and transcendencies of their Souls? Their Pens well feathered with wit and expression, flying home to the mark of most men's desires, Wealth, Honour, Beauty, and with that Mercuries Rod condemning them to the Earth; and again, a tougher Will, contesting with Poverty, Disgrace, Losses, disabling them to make us miserable. These are the rallyed Forces of men's defeated Reasons, the recollected sparks of man's weakened Understanding, which may yield a warmth to our dark and frozen Natures. And yet for all the vaunts of Philosophy, our composures are loosened; man's Nature got a fall in the Cradle, and in stead of a complete Building, there remain but the ruins of one.  
It's wisdom to come out of a ruinous house: I desire, Lord, to come out of myself, self-love, selfe-confidence; let it be my strength, to cleave to thee.  
Error will sometimes seek to get a lustre to it, from its pretences to this Virtue: How many seem to chide the slow progress of their Soul, for not using more wings to fly to those imaginary Crowns their deluded zeals were put in hope of? Constancy in suffering being no infallible sign of Truth. Slaves can suffer to admiration, and some by custom, as Patiens Lacedaemon.  
Fix, Lord, this volatile matter, untangle this raveled piece of thine, and give me such a conformity betwixt my practice and resolves; such good thoughts, and such a constant execution of them, that in the chain of my life, the latter link of Grace may join to that of Glory; lest by any interruption, or discontinuance, breaking some one of them, I fall into Torment.   

Considerations in Travel.  
HE who contents himself only with as much as he can behold with his eye; the stateliness of Building, the outward garb of the People, the rich Livery Nature hath bestowed on their Soil; seems to receive such a kind of satisfaction, as one should have from getting to be able to read a different Character, or Letter, without ever caring for the sense or meaning contained in them. Out of Nature's Alphabet, by the several positions as it were of its Letetrs, and dispositions of its outward qualities, all things are thus diversified in form and shape: but if one would study intellectual satisfactions, he must penetrate deeper; consider the complexions of the people, and see what influence they have had upon their Laws, they being framed by Reasons proportioned to them: to see what influence the Laws have upon the people, in Protection, Wealth, and Peace, for they were framed for the surest defence and procurement of these, by the people: to see how the tide of their Wealth ebbs or flows, running in the veins of their Trading; how it may be diverted, how stopped: to see whether they carry in their own bosom the seeds of their ruin, parties, and faction, and the prevalency of these at Court, and how these operate upon their Counsels; how they stand in fear or assurance of Allies, or Neighbours, and upon what grounds and interests.  
Thus may you view, as it were, the whole frame of Government in motion; a lively representation of it taken from the practic, and not a flourishing description of an imaginary Commonwealth; like a Picture drawn only for Beauty's sake, by the observation of their several dispositions; what they own to their tempers, their several framing, and mouldings up; what to Discipline, and Virtue: one will be better able to get acquaintance of himself, to follow the advice of the Socratical Oracle: to observe in the French a conversation easy and facile, whose first familiarity is such, that he hath left himself no power to go beyond it, overflowing with the prodigal excess of a verbal humanity. On the other side of the Hills, a people wise at home, and conversible abroad; in themselves considerative, and in conversation agreeable. The Dutch, as if that divine spark, his Soul, were drowned in its moist Lodging, not able to make any departures from himself; not having a carriage so fortified with ceremonies, and respects; not given to Caresses and Courtlike applications, but only such observances, as may make them know he believes none is better than another; their humours fitted and siding with equality, whereby they have been easier cast into the mould of a State. In the French, what advantages their suddenness and first violent motions afford, in execution of Commands. The Dutch hath his slowness made up, and aided, by conjunction of Counsels; as if Nature did still incline them to the remedy of their Constitutions, by a constant communication of their thoughts and deliberations; their excellency being like that which hath not its esteem from the parts simply considered, but from the totum compositum. The Italians are fine and acquaint in their Counsels, but difficult to put in practice: what is taken from practice, is easiliest turned into practice again; there being so much difference many times betwixt the relation of things in Books, and the things themselves, as is betwixt a Journey in open daylight, and such a one as Virgil describes a wand'ring by the uncertain and changing lights of the Moon, in gloomy Woods:  
Quale sub incertam Lunam,  
Est Iter in sylvis.   

Of Opinions in Religion.  
THe Church hath always been vexed with Opinions; some, witty and speculative; others, gross and ugly ones. Religion is called the Mystery of our Salvation; and yet how conversant is it made in the toils of wit? Ingeniosa res est, jam esse Christianum; Syllogismi sustinent Ecclesiam. Words serve to beget Questions, wherein great wits, employed for Victory, leave the Readers eyes lost, in that pitch, wherein their high flights had Lessoned them; they decking Divinity up with the feathers of humane Learning, to be able to soar in the subtle air of Controversy.  
When Ambition or Profit hath turned the edge of an Heretics wit on one side, to maintain an Heresy; how ingeniously doth he wander in the shades of Antiquity? uncharitably wresting Texts of Scripture, diligently weeding the Fathers, making up a solid Body of a Discourse, well-spirited with wit and invention; where is hard nicety, elaborate thinness, weak fineness. These are curious Models, which conform not to the Prototype, but are delicate contextures of the Arts of Reasoning. They needed not to have retrived an old Opinion of a new world, since they might have found a new world of Opinions, filled with the air of Fancy, surrounded with the Ocean of Error. As in Philosophy, by their new Theories, they have made, as it were, spurious and false Globes; that even that sportive Genius of Ovid comes nearer the truth of the World's Creation, than some of their chief Dictator's in the Schools: So in Divinity, which should be the pure white innocent Queen of our Souls, breathing upon them the soft and gentle gales of Joy, Peace, and Love; now they have made her like a Scylla, girt about with barking Monsters, full of loud and litigious Questions and Disputes. They have drawn (as it were) upon the heavenly Body of Theologie false and supposed Lines; new motions, fabulous and imaginary: yet though it be beautiful in its native Dress, and needs not the advantage of any foreign Luster, yet it disdains not to be attended on by its pure and intellectual servant Learning; many times explaining itself in its notions, and using its help for Confutation, Distinction, and Explanation. There are deep Abysmes contained in its most familiar expressions, which are but the condiscentions and applications, as it were, to our capacities: there is a profound simplicity in its plainest positions; and that sentence, Whom God loves he chastiseth, makes misery itself Rhetorical. If it be too familiar with artificial discussions, in a few descents, or Genealogies of Arguments, it forgets its heavenly birth, and begets affinity with Reason. All Arguments move upon the forms of speech, Syllogism, they are the Products of Reason; and by a succession of Propositions, the Conclusion at last being become so fare removed from that which originally begot them, that it many times hath not only lost the similitude of favour, but hath altered its inward nature.  
Some late Philosophers have proved, that Syllogisms are not sufficient to evince Physical Verities, but that the subtleties even of Nature's workings evade it subtle forms; how much more Sacred Divinity, which lies not level with Reason? It being no more able to fathom or reach its transcendencies and sublimities, than a little thread can by the arm of man be thrown about the heavenly Pole; seeing it can be proved by Reason, that Religion is above it, and to be left to men's beliefs.  
Boetius saith excellently well, That Reason, to see the truth of those things, must go out of itself; and that the mind should be lifted up to the height of that supreme intelligence, which should there behold what in itself it cannot; that is, how certain and determinate prevision may go before the uncertain events of things. He who is the Truth, and the Light, though not comprehended by the darkness of the World, conversed with men on Earth in the depth of humility, in the exactness of obedience, in the constant practice of each holy Virtue. There is a pure and heavenly Light annexed to the devout aspirations of the Soul; for the blind eye of the mind doth not know how to look up to the God of glory, if he from above shine not upon it with the inward beams of his Grace: and though Light descends from above, from the Father of Lights, yet a holy innocence, and true humility, sends clearer Lights of Knowledge up to the brain, than any speculations can send down the warmth of Charity to the heart: for the Son of God (the Light itself) descended, covered as it were with humility, and the heart is the seat of it; and so that inaccessible Light is conveyed to us, in the dark cover and habits of Humiliations. One may employ the brain with lofty and airy Contemplations, and yet let his Soul slip away, for want of Charity, which is the Soul of Religion; by the infusion of which we are animated, and spiritually live. Religion is a practical Syllogism, whose premises go for nothing, if there be not the active conclusion of well-doing.  
Therefore, Lord, while others cannot agree, in what order to range and rank good works, and Faith; let it be my Faith, that the doing of thy will is necessary; and thy will is, our holiness, and the practice of good works; and make it part of my works, to pray for Faith and the increase of it. Grant, Lord, that while others cannot agree about the manner of thy Coming, that my heart may be so taken up with the Faith and joy of thy beloved presence, that it give not my head leisure curiously to question the manner of it.  
These are the sweet Composures, the blessed Reconciliations, when the disputes of good things are swallowed up in the heavenly fruition & executions of them; in this calm Harbour doth the Vessel of a Soul, tossed with the winds of Controversy, safely reside.  
And now, Lord, the Ship of thy Church, tossed amidst the furious waves of Controversies, seems to stand in danger of Ruin: but we know, the Gates of Hell have all their powers here defeated, though we cry in the tenderness of our passions; Master, carest thou not that we perish?  
It is not so easy to give a Reason of some Opinions in the Church, sitting in one's Study, as to go abroad, and see that great fabric of Power, and the vast Treasures, which are built upon the foundation of this nice school-divinity: if the Church seem to seek in some Doctrines, it's but occasioned, as the Fever of that sick man in Martial was, who was only sick, to take occasion to show the bravery of his householdstuff:  Faciunt hanc stragula febrim. 
Error is many times more magnificent in its structures than Truth; yet, as its Gates, perhaps, may be more gilded, and shine more gaudily, yet they are like that Door of Sleep in Virgil; the fine one being that which let out all the false Dreams, while Truth had its passage out of those that were plainer.  
Reformation in Religion is like distilled waters, which being too much endeavoured to be heightened, being once at their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they relapse and lose of their spirit and force; and men's spirits not knowing where they have deserted that Centre and point of Truth, which should have fixed them, stagger and reel in the circumference and round of their own fancies.  
Religion fires men's hearts with holy zeal, making them mourn, as it were, in the dissolutions and ashes of their past sins; but it's no incendiary, to delight in those of Towns and Cities. Religion proclaims a holy War against Sin, and Vice, but never blows the Trumpet of Sedition. Religion exacts from its subjected hearts, homage to the King of Power, but disclaims all earthly Crowns; My Kingdom (saith he) is not of this world. Religion hath its power, and force, to the destruction of its enemies; but he hath said, it should be with the word of his mouth, and that the wrath of man fulfils not the justice of God. Religion is like the Sun, it gives light and life to all, while it keeps its own heavenly course; but being made to incline to earthly ends, it causes a conflagration. What ever good effects are produced from any false or erroneous Religions, it's by virtue of those Opinions and Tenets mixed with it, that bear a conformity to Truth; and what ill actions seem to flow, or be occasioned from the true Religion, they are the effects of those erroneous Opinions, that they have mingled with their Divinity, and bear a proportion with the malignity of man's nature, rather than the others parity.  
Let me not seek, Lord, thy living Word among the dead acts of natural Reason, neither in the Calentures of unruly Zeals, nor from among the Glories, Wealth, and Ends men have on Religion; but let my Soul suck from the breasts of my Mother, Truth and Salvation, thy Church converting thy Word to my food, and nourishment.   

Of enjoyment of Pleasure.  
Music sounds best to one in the dark, because no other outward object distracts his attention: and to hear the Music of those Precepts delivered against Pleasure, one must shut up from his eye the delightful objects of the sense; which other ways would (perhaps) steal away his thought. Yet this is only a remedy fitted for the weakness of the eye, which so readily recommends to the mind the flattering Courtships of these Courtesans of the Sense. But to fortify and strengthen the mind against them, it's better to view them all in the light, looking upon them with the eye of Reason; and there, all their false splendours would not show so brave. He who hath conversed with them most freely, hath soon found, that their inward dispositions, and qualities, give not him leave to live so happily in their enjoyment, as their outward beauty flattered him with the hopes of: he hath soon pierced through that thin and pleasing rind wherewith they are covered, and tastes of them as they be, in their own natures; where he finds anxiety, unsatisfied melancholy, diseases, decay of fortune. But to let alone those ingenious invectives and stoical raylings against Pleasure, commending them to a common place; one may observe of it, that most men love to be wise by their own experience. Man's nature is so poor and indigent a thing of itself, that it turns it self every where to seek satisfaction; and it's the wisdom of Nature, delightfully to draw us to perform its actions: she hath annexed a Pleasure to the use of our senses, that otherwise it would be a troublesome thing to maintain our lives; that great Blessing of, Go and multiply, so much depending of it. Pleasure may make its soft impressions upon our yielding sense, and it's to put off our species, to be insensible of them. Some would make man another thing than he is, by robbing him of his affections; Pleasures, say they, would convert him into strange and foreign shapes; and some of the Philosophers, for a remedy, would convert him into a stone; as if he must endure the transmutations of the Poet, and act his Metamorphosis.  
The sharp and finest edges of Pleasure side with Virtue, and Temperance; while they perish upon the ruins of their satiated and plenary fruitions; and as long as they make no greater sound in the curious instrument of man than suits with the harmony of his sublimer motions, they help the Music: but if their greater noise drown the voice of Reason, or the higher faculties of the Soul, they become lovers of Pleasures, more than lovers of God.  
Let all thy blessings, Lord, thy Methods, and Works, make stairs for my Soul, to ascend to thy right hand, where are Pleasures for evermore.   

A Contemplation on our Saviour's hanging on the Cross.  
NOw am I freed from the noise of Passions, whilst with one look they are struck dumb. Now am I delivered from the Tyranny of insulting affections, whilst in him crucified they behold their own death. The glories and pomp of the world have lost their pretences, whilst the Son of Glory and Power suffered, clothed with the frail garment of humane nature, In this blessed shade, no poisonous Vice will live; the Serpent of Pride will not endure the look of the true Brazen Serpent, to see him humbled to the death of the Cross; Envy flies hence, to see him suffer for his enemies.  
And now not left to, but freed from myself, my frozen and congealed heart gins to melt and thaw, dissolving into tears, weeping for its sins, for which I see my Saviour's heart to bleed. Here I sit, and bathe the wings of my Soul (my affections) in the flames of Gods holy love; and whilst the fire burns below in my heart, my eyes boil over above with fervent streams: here, in devout ecstasies, my Soul loses itself, in those ravishments of divine love: I go out of myself, in wonderment, not able to comprehend it; but joyfully throw myself into those depths, desiring to be comprehended by it. The joys of a Soul divinely in love, border upon those inexpressible ones above; for they swallow one up, in their profound immensities, and leave no capacity for Reason to marshal them up, in words and expressions; the Wards, as it were, of that Key being no way fitted, to open the Lock of the mysteries of this Love; but leaves men's Souls holily inebriated and over-flowed with the deluge of Pleasures and Joys; I becoming rather theirs, than they mine, being turned all to Joy and Love.  
And now my Soul being melted with the meditation of thy Passion, let it be poured out to thee in Confessions; let the beams of thy own transcendent Love be reflected back again from my heart, upon the face of others; that thus shining one to another, and all receiving our Lights from thee, may at last be fixed in thy own Court, for ever filled with the beams of the joy of thy presence.  
Let others sit in the Chair of subtle Controversy, while I sit at the feet of my Saviour, in meditation of his Passion: Let others boast of their false Retreats, their Groves, and Eliziums; while under the shades of thy sharp and thorny Crown my Soul rejoices; nay, while in those shades which Crosses and Afflictions shall cast upon my life, in conformity to my Saviour's suffering, my Soul rejoices.   

A Contemplation upon a retired life.  
THe Poets sometimes gratify the largeness of man's Soul with their lofty flights, writing to immortality; and in the excess of their fancy, converse with Deities, tumbling among the Stars with jove: and anon, let the motions of their Spirits down again, to view the contents of moderate and private fortunes. Thus we see sometime the Scene of the greatest men's lives altered; now representing you the prospect of Armies, Triumphs of Victories, Grandeur of State, the glory of Courts, Camps, and Cities; anon, in their rooms, succeeding Groves and pleasant Rivers private Walks, Discourses of the World's Vanities, Experiments of Nature, and such Companions of solitariness: When all the swell of Pride and vain Opinions are fall'n, and Nature freed from those affectations it hath got abroad, it acknowledgeth itself, it's own Bends and inclinations. A life led according to Nature, is the real enjoying of things themselves: but if according to Art and Opinion, its like as in Pictures; they view things drawn well to the Life, representations of Love, Honour, and Virtue; yet nothing but Colours, that lose their glories by men's nearer approaches. The joys of an active life are more agreeable to Nature, moving in the Sphere of Virtue, than any recessions from society can afford, whose privilege can only be, to think Virtue. The masculine power of the mind is not beholding to places for their satisfactions; but what is the true and real dignity of one place before another, by an intellectual Chemistry he can extract, and translate to his own mind their preeminencies. There can in no place be wanting Groves, Rivers, singing of Birds; our bodies are a shady Grove, where our Souls sit contemplating; the Music of the Birds without, are all God's creatures, which, as it were, in so many diversified Notes do sweetly sing their Maker's praise; the Rivers, are that flux wherein all humane things are, Times, Persons, Things, which by a succession of their corruptible and alterable parts, do still keep up that current. These thoughts are, as it were, the better Genius, which attends the Lakes: without which, their retirements are but the refuges of men's sickly humours; where they begin to live of their malady, rather than to cure it; and do only sacrifice the fumes of melancholy, for that incense of service, which they own as a tribute for their being.  
Those that would make loanenesse acceptable, by advising men, as through a Prospective, to behold the greatness of Structures, and bravery of Courts, through the humility of a Cottage, do make one's deluded fancy the ground of their content, imagining that he still enjoys those things, which commonly so swells men's minds, that they cannot with that evenness of judgement taste those purer pleasures, which arise from the observation of Nature, making as it were his Disease his Cure; the immoderate esteem of the other having so vitiated his , that he can relish nothing else, though it be by the proxy of the fancy.  
Lord, give me jacobs' Dreams, that my very imaginations may represent things as Ladders, whereon I may see thy Goodness, Wisdom, and Power descending, our Allelujahs ascending.   

Considerations on these Times.  
ALL this goodly Fabric is broke up, 
The mischiefs of a Civil War.  and disbanded; the Elements of it rudely blended, and hurled together: that which was high, becoming low; and that which was low, becoming high. The towering Eagle is shot by an Arrow made of the same Tree, where he had built his Imperial Nest; and in that Red Sea of Blood, with which Pride and Faction hath overflowed this Island, is the Sun of Justice and Religion almost set: men growing only politic in Ruin, and witty in Destruction, the best means applied to the worst ends; the vigour and strength of the Commonwealth consumed on a Disease.  
A Civil War once but named, what evils throng not into our conquered imaginations? How doth our unhappy Country feast the eyes of their enemies with the numerous funerals of its own Children? What cruel Opinions are entertained, residing as Tigers in the breasts of men, to which must be offered the Victimes and Sacrifices of their dearest Countrymen? What monsters of new Faiths lodge in their breasts, that thus devour and pray upon the tender Virgins, I mean the ancient integrity and candour of their dispositions? How do they dabble in one another's blood? searching one another's bowels, as if like poisonous Scorpions they should be bruised, to yield an oil to cure the poison given by their own stings. 
Of 〈◊〉 War   
A foreign War is like Lightnings in the Sky, which purifies and cleanses those upper Regions; but then Nature keeps its station: whereas if the Elements themselves, of which this World consists, should make a War together, that must needs bring a dissolution. If men saw no reason for it, it's enjoined their beliefs, That a House divided cannot stand. Oh miserable Triumph of our Ruin! Oh woeful Pomp of our Destruction! How all things wear the Livery of Mourning! There may you discern Justice in its sable Weeds, so fare gone in Melancholy, scarce ever to be seen abroad; here Religion in a corner weeping, grieved to see, that they have so long, like Whifflers, kept the Door of the Church against the coming in of strangers, till all the Church is become full of strange Opinions; and that they never more take care to appear honest and good men, than when most especially they intent to deceive: in another place, the Laws wildly running about, and lamenting, yet so loud, that all take notice of it.  
And now, as in Orpheus' Theatre, upon the ceasing of this Music of the Laws, men return to their frenzies and factions; 
Men consult not with reason, but with partion.  they do not debate, examine, and resolve, but follow, adhere, and combine: Sequere post me, is the Motto of the Times; every one taking notice of the Sign, where he hath taken up his Lodging; ranging themselves in several Boxes, which bear some outward Badge of the Faction. The people's minds with the fire of Zeal, and the heat of these Troubles, being become fluid, and melted, are cast in the several Moulds that witty Contrivers had fashioned: The vulgar spirits, which make up the multitude, to preserve their beloved Chattels, are prepared to side with parties, since that begets support and countenance; and that he should be a prey to both, without being a party to one. Thus every thing is embraced, to which Ambition, armed with Power, can make its way: Quisque deliberate de partibus, de summa nemo.  
The wisdom of later times consisted in witty diversions of these Troubles; 
The wisdom of later times to divert troubles▪ saith Bacon.  whereby the many evils threatening the Commonwealth were clearly shunned. An example whereof, we find in former times, in the people of Capua; who being resolved to have their Governors no longer to rule over them, one who being well thought of by the people, and intending to oblige the Senators, used thus his power he had with them: he tells the Senators, if they would follow his advice, he would save them; whereupon they consented all to be locked up in a room, and thither he brings the people, pretending he had got them into that posture, to sacrifice them all to their furies (for the people will ever be deceived:) but he desired of them, before they proceeded to execution, they would choose from among themselves, who should have the others places: They, divided by their particular affections, and several judgements, were brought to put in practice the punishment they intended the others, upon themselves; falling into so great difference and contentions: To prevent which, they all cried, to have the former Senators released, and restored.  
Though the care of former times did keep this humour low, yet, 
The misery of this, to buckle with them  like original sin, it was always sprouting into action.  
If in the natural body any malignant humour be predominant, it presently confounds that harmony of health, which consists in an equal and just temperature of the humours: so in the civil Body, if those that are lovers of the Commonwealth grow inferior in number to those affecting change, it's like the healthful temperature disordered by a prevailing noxious humour: it's the misery of these present times, to encounter with this obstinate Mass of the matter. What evils happen through the remedy, is like sickness occasioned by Physic; and yet many times Potions are entertained with worse faces than a Consumptions And such is the nature of some Sickness, to flatter the party into the opinion, that it is his only delight; and so subtly mingles itself with their bloods, that the other purple streams of Nature seem to usurp their azure channels.  
There be in all things circumstances, and outward accidents, which mock the Politician's Counsels, which are governed by the highest Providence, and, like the Kingdom of Heaven, comes not by observation; yet here we may view the parties upon the Stage, and see how the Scene is laid.  
The Presbyterian shows you out of the Word, a Government of the Church, which is Christ's own Kingdom, which ought to be superior to all other Powers and Jurisdictions; and saith, its lawful by Arms to impose it upon the Magistrate, in case he refuse: his practice hath seconded his Opinion.  
The Independent grows angry at it, that any restraint of the Spirit should be used; and saith, its liberty of Conscience, he can prove it out of the Bible: it's that he hath fought for, and will have.  
The Cavalier admonishes every man to return to the obedience of the King, and the Laws made by the consent of the free people of England.  
A fourth cries out, 
Forainers foresaw this, and helped to cast in these seeds and principles, upon which they contrived our ruin.  they are all Heretics; and these Divisions are Judgements light upon them, for departing from their Mother-Church.  
The Matter being thus prepared, the Spark would easily be procured: And thus are our men placed just in that posture, our enemies desire to play their Game in.  
Our witty Adversaries, by a penetrating insight into the constitution of this State, have long since contrived our Ruin upon those very Principles this War hath begun upon, and may be continued: Those ingenious artificers of our Ruin, dexterously applying their active to passives; and by electing fit instruments, aptly working upon the several parties, have contrived our dissolution. Though other peccant humours have flowed in, and the ambitious practices of great ones yielded their malignant aspects, yet the grand matter of the Disease lay within: and that sharp humour in the Body of the Kingdom being set on fire, hath turned it into a Fever.  
They knew well the complexion of our Country, (which is now made too sanguine) as appears by that Draught of our Ruin, delineated by the Pen of Campanella; who, though shut up in his Cloister, had enlarged his mind to the consideration of all Crowns: And writing to the King of Spain, how he might so treat with every Kingdom and Republic, that taking hold of the advantages the things themselves afforded, he might become Monarch of the West part of the World: And concerning the affairs of these Islands, he adviseth thus: That the King of Spain should send to King james of Scotland, to promise him his assistance to the Crown of England, in case of oppositions; and to get back from him engagements, for the advancement of the Catholic Religion; or at least not to disturb his Plate-Fleet by Sea, wherein their Shipping (saith he) is so powerful: and at the same time to send his Emissaries abroad, which should refresh in the people of England's minds the remembrance of the former animosities betwixt the two Nations; and to sharpen and sour the minds of the Nobility, to insinuate to them, That the King coming into England, would bestow his Places, Honours, and Preferments, upon his Countrymen, to their under-valuing and disrespect; as also in Parliament, that it be assured the Bishops, if the King were admitted once into England, he would bring along with him the Presbytery of Scotland, to their destruction: Then by witty Florentines, on purpose maintained at Brussels, to negotiate here with the most eminent of the Nobility that were Catholics, promising each of them a part (the one not knowing of his negotiation to the other) that they should be the Heads of his party, in the Divisions which would happen among them.  
Thus, saith the witty Politic, you shall sow the feeds of an immortal War among them; that by their continual Distractions, they will not be able to hinder you, in your Designs upon others: or at last, the parties grown desperate in Arms, shall divide the Kingdom into little Principalities, whereby at last they will turn your prey.  
Thus do they enjoy all our heats and Calentures, and at those fires which are given in our Wars, bring to maturity their Design of our Ruin; while each party seeks to support itself with Counsels, and Strength, separated from that of the public.  
Is there less danger, 
The fruits of these Wars no other than they designed.  if this be practised by a nearer State? Perhaps, with the ingredients of many more fine and well-layed Plots. The Moon hath greater influence upon the Earth than the other Planets; not by reason of its magnitude, as vicinity. Let them be phlegmatic, and have no Design; stupid, and have no brain; (and can we think so of them, whose malice is as active as their constitution?) yet we force upon them the enjoyment of their Ambitions; they suffer our heats to tire us.  
What is the fruit of all the Blood, and Treasure, which the full Purses, and the wanton veins of England have lavished out? Doth not the present posture of things represent us in such a condition, as they foresaw we should fall in? The King in Prison, the Church in Schism, the Country in Oppression, the City in Faction: new armed men daily springing up from those Dragon's teeth, which are so artificially sown among us. They do not only with the nimble dashes of their Pen, seek to deface as it were, with one blot, all the fair and flourishing Letter of this Government, but with Arms do lay in dust what bravely reared his head with glory to the Sky. Do they not meditate of Cantonizing? And to resume the same Power they have pulled down, and maintain it by the same Arms with which they have destroyed the other. Is not that fair and goodly Mirror, which used to represent the beautiful image of the Commonwealth, broke into several pieces, each of which represent several faces? Is not that Mould wherein our Laws were cast, used only now for to have instruments of War forecast in? Doth not every day the Case grow more perplexed and intricate? New knots, which the most cunning hand will be never able dextrously to undo, except they be cut; and the necessity of the Sword must double upon us our former injuries. Is it not truly observed, that Arms once raised, turn to many uses, which at first were never thought of?  
And thus our misery, like Proteus, begets every day new forms and shapes. The farther we send our eyes, to look what will become of these Divisions; do we not lose them in those vast depths of Misery and Ruin, in that Gulf of Destruction, we do precipitate ourselves into? Is not the fire only likely to be quenched with the Ruins of the House?  
One may seek England in England, and not find it, 
The present condition of the Government unestablisht.  as touching its Laws and Constitutions; the Government being like a Ship that is almost covered with billows, scarce visible, yet in being, the outward adventitious condition of the thing only altered: And whether it shall be brought into the Port of Peace, or it must find in those vast gapings and yawnings of the Sea, a liquid Grave; Heaven only is the Insuring Office.  
The people do not apprehend the Reason, and Wisdom of those Laws, by the benefit whereof, they had their lives and estates secured; till by the neglect of them, the effects thereof fall upon them, in Oppressions, Injuries, and Wrongs; and till, in the utter extremities of Misery, they learn the causes of men's entering first into Society.  
If men make use of their prerogative, and that part wherein men excel their fellow Creatures, they will find there is no way imaginable to hinder the corruption of a State, but by the reducement of it to its principles; for every State, drawn within its proper Rules and Laws, is strong, like the Tortoise, within its self: but if through abuse, in time, they wander out of themselves, into other practices, they become weak and obnoxious.  
A State founded upon Principles, proportioned and fitted for a War, finds itself unsupported in a Peace; and when that which was the ground of the others upholding, is taken away, it of itself vanishes.  
It's a visual delusion, to think the Land goes from us, when we put off from the Land; the Shore hath not left the Boat, but the Boat the Shore: the Kingdom is founded in a Monarchy, in the person of the King the supreme Authority.   

Of Books and Learning.  
THe Cabinet wherein the Pearl of Knowledge is contained, receives ornament and augmentation; the Pearl itself not enlargement, or advantage, but in the beauty is bestowed on its outward case. Words and expressions convey Knowledge to us, and the various compoundings of men's Conceits are infinite, and men are glorious and splendid in the Arts of Speech: but as words are multiplied by the divers setting and joining of Letters, so are Books grown numerous by the multiforme and different deliveries of the things understood in Nature; that one may justly resume that ingenious Complaint, That Books are increased, but not Learning. The account of men's Travels into the remotest parts of Arts and Sciences, are exact and full; and for every one who have only by a Compendium viewed the Confines of some of them, to write a Relation of his Journey, is to fill the world with imperfect Diaries of their junior sallies and excursions: and if he would avoid running upon things already performed, and gain a glory, Quâ se quoque possit tollere humo, he must venture for a new Discovery, by which the conversation of the intellectual world may be truly enlarged. The most observing eye will hardly bring any thing from our neighbour Countries, Spain, or France, which hath escaped the industrious scrutinies of former Travellers; but those who fly over the flowery fields of Learning, upon the wing of sublimer inquiries, and return well laden with the Nectar of true Knowledge, and Science, to the Hives of Learning, make their Professions as much beholding to them, as they are to their Professions; live nobly of their own Labours; not like Drones, idly conversing still with the performances of others. Error now covers the Press with its sable wings, and useth that privilege only to enlarge its commerce with the world, being enabled with more celerity to hold a speedier intelligence with the souls of men: such a swarm of misshapen Pamphlets flying every where, up and down, like Bats, that loves the Night; which, upon the return of the Sun, become condemned to ccrners: And grant, Lord, that the Sun of Majesty, which thou hast set in the Sphere of our Government, by his sudden appearing again in our Horizon; those Birds of the Night, unto whose eyes those Royal Beams are mortal, may go to those places whereto Darkness is banished.  
The Schools swell, as if they had reached the highest Link of Knowledge; contrary to the opinion of those, who thought that they were all placed above their too modest Reasons, and that nothing was to be known. Some nobler wits have with the arms of their reason extended the Empire and command of man's understanding over Nature, beyond the limits of any extant Authors, using the Motto of that great Emperor, Plus ultra; while others have been ready to apply to these, as some did to the martial expeditions of the other beyond Hercules' Pillars, presenting a Crab, with the Motto of Plus citrà. Certainly, true Science is a solid thing, and carries one rather to the bottom & depth of things, than lifts one up in airy estimations, like that false Knowledge mentioned by Saint Paul, accompanied with that flatuous quality: Therefore, a little to lay down their Plumes, and lay aside the swelling opinions of the complete and full enjoyments of the means of Knowledge, without provoking Academic rage, they may cast their eye, what esteem one of their most Learned had of their auxiliary & instrumental Arts, in one of their Methods he takes, 
Hooker,  That it will keep men from growing over-wise; and that however this Age carries the name of a Learned Age, yet if men had the right help and aid of Arts added to their reasons, wherewith their inquiries might be advantaged, they should as fare go beyond the learnedst man now, as the learnedst man now doth a child. One was handsomely commended for his conversing with the Laws and Methods of Nature, while others lost themselves in a wilderness of notions, and art of Methods: 
Reliqui cum Vlysse promundum vagantur,  
Tu cum Penelope domi moranis.   
The Understanding is like a Lookingglass, which represents the images of things set before it: The ways and Arts of Empire and Governments presented there, Creates the intellectual pictures of those things, which begets that Science which is called Polities: and when by the prerogative of man's Mind, which can look into itself, and see its self, all its passions, affections, and how these command each other, and how Reason, them; then are the internal images of those things represented in that Crystalline Glass: which notions constitute that Science, named Ethics; man, as it were by a reflexed beam of Reason, made visible to himself. When the Prospect is altered, and the motions and course of the Heavens are contemplated; the Laws of Nature imposed upon those heavenly Bodies being understood, frames there that knowledge of Astronomy: and when the Mind descends and views the lower Globe, there doth the description of the lower Globe lively made, in the understanding, become that Science of Geographie. Truer knowledge is acquired, by the inspection into the Book of Nature, and the things themselves, than by the things themselves, or the Book of Nature, can be known, by looking only into the understanding; for the truth of those things are without: the things themselves are truth, which being understood, become so too in the understanding. Therefore many are ingenious, in giving reasons of Nature's workings, framed only by their active fancies, and prescribe other imagined ways and Laws, than really Nature is governed by; who do, as it were, in stead of relating a true History, make a Romance, and tell the adventures of some fabulous Hero: it belonging to the Poets, to mould the World over again by fiction; to the Philosopher, to understand the true World.  
All Learning, is but Reason; and it, applied to the Consideration of several things, beget several Names: as the Sea saluting the coasts of Spain, is called the Spanish Sea; and leaving that for Ireland, begets the name of the Irish Sea: though men have been so desirous, for ostentation of Art, to set out each part and portion of Knowledge so admirable, for curiosity of method, and terms, that it almost (by the circumscription of the Rules set about it) hath forgot its affinity with the rest. Knowledge got from the things rhemselves, do settle the Mind in the true value and esteem of every thing; but that which is got-from Man himself, and so many Books, by a disproportion they bear with the things, do benight the Understanding, and fill the Mind with mistaken passions: The attaining such degrees in Knowledge, and Learning, puts men in the same condition, as if they had seen no farther than the third or fourth days work of the Creation; whereas he that attains more, still is presented to him what is more glorious, and saw not before; till in the end he attain the full view of the Oeconomie of this great Fabric, and make the true use of God's works, by admiring his infinite Power, and Goodness; resting on which, is the Souls true Sabbath.   

Of the vicissitude of Things.  
IT is observed by a late Philosopher, that there be certain Idols begot in the minds of men; some, arising out of their own individual tempers; others, out of the imperfections of our common nature: whence many (saith he) conceit to themselves a more perfect circular method in the motions of the Heavens, than indeed the nature of those Bodies will admit; man being apt to imagine all things after an exact order, conceived within himself. Thus do they err against the Changes and Revolutions, with which all things labour, who fancy a more constant process of things than is suitable to the altering disposition of all things. The elements are in continual transmigration, and alternative conversions; their qualities form our constitutions, and our bodies, which have affinity with their fellow creatures, act upon our minds; that inspired part of us being able to plead no immunity or exemption, from suffering from its earthly Tabernacle; though by the light of it, it can discern the mutability of all other things, and by the strengths and advantages it acquires from Reason and experience, can from its own height look down upon all things inferior to its immortality. The Sun, according to its approaches, and retreats, makes all things bud, flourish, and decay: every thing finds their periods and dissolutions, by the force and power of that Law imposed on it; the whole frame of Nature is in motion, a constant course of Nature in its several revolutions, Se sequiturque fugitque. Arts, humours, opinions, have their returns; the same conduct in Princes, whether it be to act by violence, or by counsel; the same general genius in the people, whether the Belgians revolt under the Romans, or the Spaniards.  
Invention of things, like some Rivers, sometime appear in one place; and then emptying themselves into the earth, have travelled undiscovered, into places fare remote. Every age in part sees the fulfilling of those Prophecies of Wars, Earthquakes, Plagues; the Scene as it were still renewed to the succeeding spectators, by the turning and rolling this great Piece about; This age shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.  
Governments, as well as the World, contain in the matter of them appetites of dissolution, but are overcome by form, Law, and order: you shall not tread the Stage of any Kingdom, but can afford in its Histories the prospect of its affairs diversified with the barren Hills and Rise of Seditions and Rebellions, and again falling into the fruitful Valleys and Flats of Peace and Tranquillity. To recover of a Sickness, is to grow young again, saith the Physician; and bad Humours in a State discharged, is in order to convalescence, or long duration of Empire. Upon this Theatre of the general vicissitude of things appears the execution of Divine Judgements, and the wonderful methods of Providence; there being many times a Labyrinth in the dispensations of it, to the humbling the proud reasons of men. Make me, Lord, obey thee, in the executing thy Commands, though I find a reluctancy in my Will; and also to believe thee, though I find a repugnancy in my Understanding. It's our affections we ought to have a care of, and not so much a disposing and ordering outward things, which can procure our Contents. Boetius hath elegantly described those Fetters and Chains, wherewith our affections make us undergo the torture of Fortune's Wheel:  
Sed quisquis pavidus pavet, vel optat  
Quod non sit stabilis, suique juris;  
Abjecit clypeum, locoque, motus  
Nectit, quâ trahi queat catenam.   
FINIS.   

ERRATA.  
PAge 46. wind, read ruined.  
P. 76. to seek, r. sick.  
P. 80. parity, r. purity.  
P. 80. acts, r. arts.  
P. 91. morions, r. motions.