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Pearls of Thought, 
 
 RELIGIOUS AXD PHILOSOPHICAL, 
 
 Gathered from i 
 
 Old Authors. 
 
 • * 
 
 "All men r.ro bnsy seeking' 'goodly pearls,' — one would be rich, 
 another would be learned, another wonld be beloved : but the majority 
 are imposed upon, and take up with counterfeits for pearls. A man 
 may buy his pearl too dear, but not that pearl of great price — which is 
 everlasting happiness-" — Jeremy Taylou. 
 
 New York : 
 Delisser & Procter, 508 Broadway. 
 1859. 
 
?Nn 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, m the year 1858. 
 
 By Stanford & Delisser, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 
 for the Southern District of New York. 
 
 / " . * ( ■ . . > * r> f ' > i '■ . J 
 
RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL, 
 
 Gathered from 
 
 "All men aro busy seeking 'goodly pearl3,' — one -would be rich, 
 another would be learned, another would be beloved : but the majority 
 are imposed upon, and take up with counterfeits for pearls. A man 
 may buy his pearl too dear, but not that pearl of great price — which ia 
 everlasting happiness." — Jeeemy Taylox. 
 
 New York : 
 
 1859. 
 
Entered, according 1 to Act of Congress, m the year 1S58. 
 
 By Stanford Si Delissf.r, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United State* 
 for the Southern District of New York. 
 
Apology. 
 
 %zi ii!L:'<r a tat-." — .tsxifT TaK.:s.. 
 
 Oxe of the worthies of olden time — 
 Arthur "Warwick — possessed and im- 
 proved many more "spare minutes" 
 in Lis days of quiet contemplation than 
 it is possible for us to secure, if even 
 we had the disposition, in these stirring 
 times. As an incentive in this direc- 
 tion, the following gleanings from the 
 old nelds of sacred literature and learn- 
 ing have been garnered up. Old books, 
 like old wines, have often been found 
 the better for their age ; so the lover oi 
 good books, when in quest of choice lit- 
 erarv aliment, usual.lv consults the 
 
4 Apology. 
 
 oracles of yore — the masters of our 
 English prose and poesy. A quiet 
 corner in a library, or some sequester- 
 ed by-path, free from the turmoil of city 
 life, and the strife of tongues, are the 
 fitting places for the companionship of 
 a volume like the present. Thus to con 
 over these piquant and quaint passages 
 of patient thought, and pious medita- 
 tion, one can scarcely fail of deriving 
 pleasure and profit by communing with 
 such philosophic minds. 
 
 Of the multitudes who willingly sur- 
 render themselves to the sweet enchant- 
 ment of the " world's great dramatist," 
 few, comparatively, delight to pore 
 over the majestic pages of our Shaks- 
 peare in theology — to catch the inspi- 
 ration of his "thought sublime," or seek 
 to be instructed by his profound and 
 sagacious teaching, or soothed by his 
 divine philosophy. Sacred learning is 
 among the most elevating and pure of 
 
Apology. 5 
 
 intellectual pursuits, — it qualifies us for 
 both worlds ; and these thoughts, max- 
 ims, and aphorisms, are among its spoils. 
 Many a suggestive thought, long bur- 
 ied in the dusty folios of the schoolmen, 
 is thus exhumed, and rendered fertile 
 of interest to many appreciative minds. 
 Our "pearls" have been collected from 
 the writings of such authors as Jeremy 
 Collier, Owen Feltham, Bishop Hall, 
 Thomas Fuller, Sir Thomas Browne, 
 John Donne, Francis Quarles, Pascal, 
 Fenelon, Jeremy Taylor, &c. 
 
 To meditative minds, these " Pearls 
 of Thought " will supply material for 
 reflection, and all such will reverently 
 and lovingly cherish these relics of the 
 past with grateful regard. Odd intervals 
 of time cannot be devoted to better pur- 
 pose than to these suggestive passages 
 — while their variety constitutes them 
 an epitome of good things — a library 
 in miniature. Those who can appre- 
 
6 Apology. 
 
 ciate the gift, will be inclined to adopt 
 the words of good old Bishop Hall : 
 " Blessed be God, who hath set up so 
 many clear lamps in his church ; none 
 but the wilfully blind can 'plead dark- 
 ness : and blessed be the memory of 
 those, his faithful servants, who have 
 left their blood, their spirits, their lives 
 in these precious pages, and have will- 
 ingly wasted themselves into these en- 
 during monuments to give light to 
 others." F. S. 
 
Pearls of Thought. 
 
 Meditation. 
 Meditation is a busy search in the 
 store-house of fantasy for some ideas 
 of matters, to be cast in the moulds oi 
 resolution into some forms of words or 
 actions; in which search, when I have 
 used my greatest diligence, I find this 
 in the conclusion, that to meditate on 
 the best is the best of meditations ; and 
 a resolution to make a good end, is a 
 good end of my resolution. 
 
 Arthur WancicJc. 
 
 The Church. 
 We see in a jewellers shop, that, as 
 there are pearls, and diamonds, and 
 
Pearls of Thought. 
 
 other precious stones, there are files, 
 cutting instruments, and many sharp 
 tools for their polishing; and while 
 they are in the work-house, they are 
 continual neighbors to them, and come 
 often under them. The Church is 
 God's jewel; his work-house, where 
 his jewels are polishing for his palace 
 and house ; and those he especially es- 
 teems, and means to make most re- 
 splendent, he hath oftenest his tools 
 upon. Leighton. 
 
 Humility. 
 Nothing procures love, like humility; 
 nothing hate, like pride. The proud 
 man walks among daggers pointed 
 against him ; whereas the humble and 
 the affable have the people for their 
 guard, in dangers. To be humble to 
 our superiors, is duty ; to our equals, 
 courtesy ; to our inferiors, generosity ; 
 and these, notwithstanding their lowli- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 
 
 ness, carry such a sway as to command 
 men's hearts. Owen Feltham. 
 
 Love and Prayer. 
 He who loves little, prays little ; he 
 
 who loves much, prays much. 
 
 Austin. 
 
 Divine Inspiration. 
 
 Ahe we inspired? Yes, without 
 doubt ; but not as the prophets and 
 apostles. Without the actual inspira- 
 tion of the Spirit of Grace we can nei- 
 ther do, nor will, nor think any good ; 
 but we continually stifle the inspiration. 
 God never ceases to speak, but the 
 noise of the creatures without, and of 
 our passions within, deafens us, and 
 
 hinders us from hearing him. 
 
 Fenelon. 
 
 Divine Life. 
 
 The secret mysteries of a divine life 
 
 — of a new nature — of Christ formed in 
 
 our hearts, — they cannot be written or 
 
10 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 spoken. A painter that would draw a 
 rose, though he may furnish some like- 
 ness of it in figure and color, yet he 
 can never paint the scent and fragran- 
 cy, — or if he would draw a flame, he 
 cannot put a constant heat into his 
 colors ; he cannot make his pencil drop 
 a sound. Neither are we able to en- 
 close in words and letters the life, soul, 
 and essence of any spiritual truths, and, 
 as it were, to incorporate it in them. 
 
 Cudworth. 
 
 Time. 
 
 Time is like a river, in which metals 
 and solid substances are sunk, while 
 chaff and straws swim upon the surface ! 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 Good Conscience. 
 
 A good conscience within will be 
 
 always better to a Christian than health 
 
 to his navel, and marrow to his bones ; 
 
 it will be an everlasting cordial to his 
 
Pearls of Thought. 11 
 
 heart ; it will be softer to him than a 
 bed of down. A good conscience is 
 the best looking-glass of heaven. 
 
 Cudworth. 
 
 Repentance. 
 Repentance is the key that unlocks 
 the gate wherein sin keeps man a pris- 
 oner. It is the aqua vitse to fetch 
 again to itself the fainting soul. 
 
 Feltham. 
 
 Circumspection. 
 
 Man is like a watch : if evening and 
 morning he is not wound up with 
 prayer and circumspection, he is un- 
 profitable and false ; or serves to mis- 
 lead. Hid. 
 Faith and Works. 
 
 They are but infidel-Christians whose 
 faith and works are at war against each 
 other. Faith which is right, can no 
 more forbear from good works, than 
 can the sun to shed abroad its glorious 
 
12 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 beams, or a body of perfumes to dis- 
 pense a grateful odour. Ibid, 
 
 Prayer, 
 
 Prayer is ever profitable : at night 
 it is our covering ; in the morning it 
 is our armour. Prayer should be the 
 key of the day, and the lock of the 
 night. Prayer sanctifies all our actions. 
 He is listed in God's service and pro- 
 tection, who makes it his first work to 
 be enrolled by prayer, under the stand- 
 ard of the Almighty. He carries an 
 assistant angel with him for his help, 
 who begs his benediction from above ; 
 and without it he is lame and unarmed. 
 
 Ibid, 
 False Ambition. 
 
 It is the over-curious ambition of 
 many to be best, or to be none ; if they 
 may not do so well as they would, they 
 will not do so well as they may. Pride 
 is the greatest enemy to reason, and 
 
Pearls of Thought. 13 
 
 discretion the greatest opposite to pride. 
 I see great reason to be ashamed of my 
 pride, but no reason to be proud of my 
 shame. Arthur Warwick. 
 
 Contentment, 
 I should marvel that the covetous 
 man can still be poor, when the rich 
 man is still covetous, but that I see a 
 poor man can be content, when the 
 contented man is only rich; the one 
 wanting in his store, whilst the other 
 is stored in his wants. I see, then, we 
 are not rich or poor by what we pos- 
 sess, but by what we desire. Ibid. 
 
 Hypocrisy. 
 Hypocrisy desires to seem good ra- 
 ther than to be so ; honesty desires to 
 be good, rather than seem so. The 
 worldlings purchase reputation by the 
 sale of desert ; wise men buy desert 
 with the hazard of reputation. I would 
 
14 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 do much to hear well, more to deserve 
 well, and rather lose opinion than mer- 
 it. It shall more joy me that I know 
 myself what I am, than it shall grieve 
 me to hear what others report me. I 
 had rather deserve well without praise, 
 
 than do ill with commendation. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Sorrow for Sin. 
 As is a wound to the body, so is a 
 sinful body to the soul ; the body en- 
 dangered till the wound be cured, the 
 soul not sound till the body's sin be 
 healed, and the wound of neither can 
 be cured without dressing, nor dressed 
 without smarting. Let my wound 
 smart by dressing, rather than my 
 body die ; let my body smart by cor- 
 rection, rather than my soul perish. 
 
 im. 
 
 The Christian's Course. 
 Each true Christian is a night trav- 
 eller; his life — his walk, Christ — his 
 
Pearls of Thought. 15 
 
 way, and heaven — his home. His walk 
 painful, his way perfect, his home 
 pleasing. I will not loiter, lest I come 
 short of home ; I will not wander, lest 
 I come wide of home, but be content 
 to travel hard and be sure I walk 
 right, so shall my safe way find its end 
 at home, and my painful walk make 
 my home welcome. Hid. 
 
 Remorse. 
 He that will not flee from the occa- 
 sions and allurements of sin, though 
 they may seem never so pleasant to the 
 eye or sweet to the taste, shall find 
 them in the end to be more sharp than 
 vinegar, more bitter than wormwood, 
 more deadly than poison. Brooks. 
 
 The Will of God. 
 ^TorxD we learn from Christ himself, 
 in what the will of our Master consists, 
 let us contemplate it in the whole tenor 
 
16 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 of his instruction and wonderful life. 
 Did he fulfil that will by pompous and 
 formal displays of superior wisdom, — 
 by austere and arrogant pretensions to 
 superior righteousness, — by solicitude 
 for ritual observances, — by dogmatism 
 upon abstruse speculation. — by a super- 
 cilious contempt of ignorance, or a fero- 
 cious intolerance of error { No : but 
 the will of God ; such, at least, as was 
 that which he exemplified is to be found 
 in lessons of virtue attractive from their 
 simplicity, impressive from their ear- 
 nestness, and authoritative from the 
 miraculous evidence which ace 
 panied them: in habits of hum: 
 without meanness, and of meekness 
 without pusillanimity : in unwearied 
 endeavours to console the afflicted, to 
 soften the prejudiced, and to encourage 
 the sincere; in unshaken firmness, to 
 strip the mask from pharisaical hypo- 
 crites, and to quell the insolence of 
 
Pearls of Thought, 17 
 
 dictatorial and deceitful guides : in 
 kindness to his followers, in forgiveness 
 to his persecutors, in works of the most 
 unfeigned and unbounded charity to 
 man. and in a spirit of the purest and 
 most sublime piety to his Father and 
 his God. Parr. 
 
 Knowledge of Christ. 
 I hate taken much pains to know 
 every thing that was esteemed worth 
 knowing amongst men ; but, with all 
 my disquisitions and readings, nothing 
 now remains with me, to comfort me, 
 at the close of life, but this passage of 
 St. Paul : "It is a faithful saying, and 
 worthy of all acceptation, that Chris: 
 Jesus came into the world to save sin- 
 ners :' to this I cleave, and herein I 
 tind rest Selden. 
 
 Religious Progress. 
 It is some hope of goodness not to 
 g:ow worse : it is a part of badness nor 
 
Pearls of Thought. 
 
 to grow better. I will take heed of 
 quenching the spark, and strive to kin- 
 dle a fire. If I have the goodness I 
 should, it is not too much ; why should 
 I make it less ? • If I keep the goodness 
 I have, it is not enough ; why do I not 
 make it more ? He never was so good 
 as he should be, that doth not strive to 
 be better than he is ; he never will be 
 better than he is, that doth not fear to 
 be worse than he was. Ibid. 
 
 Virtue. 
 Virtue is not a mushroom that 
 springeth up of itself in one night, 
 when we are asleep or regard it not ; 
 but a delicate plant that groweth slow- 
 ly and tenderly, needing much pains 
 to cultivate it, much care to guard it, 
 much time to mature it. Neither is 
 vice a spirit that will be conjured away 
 with a charm, slain by a single blow, 
 or despatched by one stab. Who, 
 
Pearls of Thought. 19 
 
 then, will be so foolish as to leave the 
 eradicating of vice, and the planting in 
 of virtue, into its place for a few years 
 ,or weeks? Yet he who procrastinates 
 his repentance and amendment grossly 
 does so ; with his eyes open, he abridg- 
 es the time allotted for the longest and 
 most important work he has to perform ; 
 he is a fool. Barrow. 
 
 Communion with God. 
 A monarch vested in gorgeous habil- 
 iments is far less illustrious than a 
 kneeling suppliant ennobled and adorn- 
 ed by communion with God. Consider 
 how august a privilege it is when an- 
 gels are present, when Cherubim and 
 Seraphim encircle with their blaze the 
 throne, that a mortal may approach 
 with unrestrained confidence and con- 
 verse with heaven's dread Sovereign. 
 Oh ! what honour was ever conferred 
 like this. When a Christian stretches 
 
20 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 forth his hands to pray, and invokes 
 his God, in that moment he leaves be- 
 hind him all terrestrial pursuits, and 
 traverses on the wings of intellect the 
 realms of light ; he contemplates celes- 
 tial objects only, and knows not of the 
 present state of things during the pe- 
 riod of his prayer, provided that prayer 
 
 be breathed with fervency. 
 
 Chrysostom. 
 
 The pious man and the atheist always 
 talk of religion : the one speaks of what 
 he loves, and the other of what he 
 
 fears. ' Montesquieu. 
 
 A Holy Life. 
 What availeth knowledge without 
 the fear of God % An humble ignorant 
 man is better than a proud scholar, 
 who studies natural things, and knows 
 not himself. The more thou knowest, 
 the more grievously thou shalt be judg- 
 ed. Many get no profit by their la- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 21 
 
 bour, because they contend for knowl- 
 edge rather than for a holy life ; and 
 the time shall come when it shall more 
 avail thee to have subdued one lust than 
 
 to have known all mysteries. 
 
 Taylor. 
 
 Death. 
 
 A dying but immortal being, on the 
 verge of eternity, is as solemn a spec- 
 tacle as the world can furnish. A 
 hundred tender ties are then about to 
 be severed. The delusions of the world 
 are over ; it can promise nothing more. 
 It has done its utmost, and the total 
 sum is vanity of vanities. Its shadowy 
 joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, cares 
 and possessions, are now light as a 
 feather weighed against the universe : 
 and however once esteemed, can no 
 longer pain or please, agitate or engage 
 the immortal, who is bidding them an 
 eternal farewell. The past is nothing ; 
 but the future opens a tremendous, and, 
 
22 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 if true support be wanting, a heart-ap- 
 palling prospect. New scenes — a new 
 and untried world — an eternity vast, 
 boundless, and endless — joy without 
 mixture, or pain without relief — the 
 mansions of light and glory, or the" 
 dark dungeons of despair — the welcome 
 of angels, or the yell of demons — and 
 the smile or the frown of the infinite 
 Judge. P8m> 
 
 Divine Influences. 
 Not more necessary are constant 
 supplies of water to the growth of 
 vegetation in the sultry regions of the 
 East, than the influences of divine 
 truth to the existence of human happi- 
 ness. If a tree, planted by the margin 
 of a refreshing river, is proof against 
 the heat of the sun, or the unfavourable- 
 ness of seasons, he, also, who into a 
 well-prepared heart, receives continual 
 infusions of religious wisdom, is flour- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 23 
 
 ishing and happy amidst all the incon- 
 veniences of life. J&b> 
 
 Christian Duty. 
 
 Christianity is hard, but grateful 
 
 and happy. I contemn the difficulty, 
 
 when I respect the advantage. The 
 
 greatest labours that have answerable 
 
 requitals, are less than the least that 
 
 have no regard. Believe me, when I 
 
 look to the reward, I would not have 
 
 the work easier. It is a good Master 
 
 whom we serve, who not only pays, but 
 
 gives ; not after the proportion of our 
 
 earnings, but of hia own mercy. 
 
 Hall. 
 Christ's Yoke. 
 
 " My burden is light," said the bless- 
 ed Redeemer. A light burden indeed, 
 which carries him that bears it. I have 
 looked through all nature for a resem- 
 blance of this, and I seem to find a 
 shadow of it in the wings of a bird, 
 which are indeed borne by the crea- 
 
24 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 tore, and vet support her flight towards 
 heaven. Bernard. 
 
 Death. 
 As death is the total change of life, 
 every change is the death of some part; 
 sickness is the death of health ; sleep- 
 ing, of waking ; sorrow, of joy ; impa- 
 tience, of quiet; youth, of infancy; 
 age, of youth. All things which follow 
 time, and even time itself, at last, must 
 die. s Taylor. 
 
 A godly man's comforts and griev- 
 ances are alike hid from the world. 
 
 Sibbs. 
 Repentance. 
 
 Repentance is not like the summer- 
 fruit, lit to be taken a little, and in 
 their own time ; it is like bread, the 
 provision and support of life, the enter- 
 tainment of every day ; but it is the 
 bread of affliction to some, and the 
 bread of carefulness to all ; and he that 
 
P ■; a .- b ■:■-" T\ : uo 1 . 4 . 
 
 preaches this with the _: safest - ^verity, 
 
 it mar be, takes the liberty of an ene- 
 :■■-. but he gives the counsel and the 
 
 assistant ::' a fr:en:i. H ■ " 
 
 Silf-Ccxciit. 
 
 in an ruber's c:nceit. be u;t wise in 
 thine owne : he that trusts to his owne 
 
 ~isl::::e, proclaimes bis owne folly; 
 he is truly wise, and shall appear 
 
 that hath folly enough :o be thought 
 not worldly wise, or wis!:::: enough to 
 see his :™ne folly. Quarles. 
 
 Theology. 
 Thz:l:.tT is the rnpresse of the 
 
 *■**■ r 
 
 r* 
 
 ::*■"" c:uu- 
 
 : :•— :y : pu-osopuy ner secretary ; 
 :ra:es her mabls :■: houyar: the 
 h veruues the lafiies of her be fi- 
 ber: t:ea:r is her :ha:u:; erlaiue ; 
 
26 
 
 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 true joy and endlesse pleasure are her 
 courtiers ; plenty her treasurer ; pov- 
 erty her exchequer ; the temple is her 
 court : if thou desire accesse to this 
 greate majesty, the way is by her cour- 
 tiers ; if thou hast no power there, the 
 common way to the soveraigne is the 
 secretary. Quarles. 
 
 Prayer. 
 
 Pkayer is a haven to the shipwreck- 
 ed mariner, an anchor to them that are 
 sinking in the waves, a staff to the 
 limbs that totter, a mine of jewels to 
 the poor, a security to the rich, a healer 
 of diseases, and a guardian of health. 
 Prayer at once secures the continuance 
 of our blessings, and dissipates the 
 cloud of our calamities. O blessed 
 prayer! thou art the unwearied con- 
 queror of human woes, the firm foun- 
 dation of human happiness, the source 
 of ever-during joy, the mother of Phil- 
 osophy. The man who can pray truly. 
 
Pearls of Thought. 27 
 
 though languishing in extremest indi- 
 gence, is richer than all beside ; whilst 
 the wretch who never bowed the knee, 
 though proudly seated as monarch of 
 nations, is of all men most destitute. 
 
 Chrysostom. 
 
 Spiritual Influences, 
 Theke is no holiness, if thou, Lord, 
 withdraw thy presence; no wisdom 
 profiteth if thy Spirit cease to direct ; 
 no strength availeth without thy sup- 
 port; no chastity is safe without thy 
 protection; no watchfulness effectual, 
 when thy holy vigilance is not our 
 guard. For no sooner are we left to 
 ourselves, than the waves of corruption 
 rush upon us, and we sink and perish ; 
 but if thou reach forth thy omnipotent 
 hand, we walk upon the sea and live. 
 In our own nature we are unsettled as the 
 sand upon the mountain ; but in thee 
 we have the stability of the throne in 
 
28 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 heaven. We are cold and insensible 
 as darkness and death ; but are kindled 
 with light and life by the holy fire of 
 thy love. Thomas a Kempis. 
 
 Life Checkered. 
 As the rose-tree is composed of the 
 sweetest flowers, and the sharpest 
 thorns ; as the heavens are sometimes 
 overcast — alternately tempestuous and 
 serene — so is the life of man inter- 
 mingled with hopes and fears, with 
 joys and sorrows, with pleasures and 
 with pains. Burton. 
 
 Objectors to the Gospel. 
 To reject the gospel because bad 
 men pervert it, and weak men deform 
 it, and quarrel about it, and bigoted 
 men look sour on others and curse 
 them, because they do not agree in 
 every tittle among themselves, displays 
 the same folly as if a person should cut 
 
Pearls of Thought. 29 
 
 down a tree, bearing abundance of de- 
 licious fruit, and furnishing a refresh- 
 ing shade, because caterpillars disfig- 
 ured the leaves, and spiders made 
 their webs among the branches. 
 
 Bogue. 
 Advice. 
 
 Advice is like snow, the softer it 
 falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the 
 deeper it sinks into the mind. 
 
 Coleridge. 
 
 Religion. 
 Religion will always make the bitter 
 waters of Marah wholesome and pala- 
 table, but we must not think it contin- 
 ually will turn water into wine, be- 
 cause it once did. Warlurton. 
 
 The Narrow Way. 
 The kingdom of heaven is not to be en- 
 tered but by violence : it must be taken, 
 as it were, by assault, like a besieged 
 place. The gate is straight and narrow ; 
 
30 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 we must bow, we must bend, we must 
 make ourselves little to gain admit- 
 tance. The great gate which opens 
 wide, and is passed by multitudes, leads 
 to perdition. All broad and smooth 
 ways are dangerous. Woe to us when 
 the world favors us, and our life seems 
 void of trouble. Crosses and difficul- 
 ties are the surest marks of the way to 
 heaven. Let us be aware, therefore, of 
 going on with the multitude, and let us 
 seek traces of the few ; let us follow 
 the footsteps of the saints along the 
 craggy paths of repentance ; climbing 
 over the rocks, seeking secure places 
 in the sweat of our face. Femlon. 
 
 Envy. 
 Envy, like a cold poison, benumbs 
 and stupifies ; and thus, as if conscious 
 of its own impotence, it folds its arms 
 in despair, and sits cursing in a corner 
 When it conquers it is commonly in 
 
Pearls of Thought. 31 
 
 the dark ; by treachery and undermin- 
 ing, by calumny and detraction. Envy 
 is no less foolish than detestable ; it is 
 a vice which they say keeps no holi- 
 day, but is always in the wheel, and 
 working upon its own disquiet. 
 
 Jeremy Collier. 
 
 God. 
 There is a beauty in the name ap- 
 propriated by the Saxon nations to the 
 Deity, unequalled except by his most 
 venerated Hebrew appellation. They 
 call him " God," which is literally " The 
 Good." The same word thus signifying 
 the Deity and his most endearing 
 quality. Sharon Turner* 
 
 Worthy Fame. 
 I love and commend a true good 
 fame, because it is the shadow of Vir- 
 tue — not that it doth any good to the 
 body which it accompanies, but it is 
 an efficacious shadow ; and, like that 
 
32 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 of St. Peter, cures the diseases of oth- 
 ers. Cowley. 
 
 Mental Elevation. 
 A nobleness and elevation of mind, 
 together with firmness of constitution, 
 gives lustre and dignity to the aspect, 
 and makes the soul, as it were, shine 
 through the body. Jeremy Collier. 
 
 Christian Counsel. 
 
 Next to the immediate guidance of 
 God by his Spirit, the counsel and en- 
 couragement of virtuous and enlight- 
 ened friends afford the most powerful 
 aid in the encounter of temptation, and 
 in the career of duty. Eolert Hall. 
 
 Good Men. 
 
 Good men are the stars — the planets 
 — of the age wherein they live, and 
 illustrate the times. God did never 
 let them be wanting in the world : as 
 Abel for an example of innocency ; 
 
 J 
 
Pearls of Thought. 33 
 
 Enoch of purity ; Noah of trust in 
 God's mercies ; Abraham of faith ; and 
 so of the rest. Ben Jonson. 
 
 Self-Esteem. 
 He that holds himself in reverence 
 and due esteem, both for the dignity 
 of God's image upon him, and for the 
 price of his redemption, which he 
 thinks is visibly marked upon his fore- 
 head, accounts himself both a fit per- 
 son to do the noblest and godliest deeds, 
 and much better worth than to deject 
 and defile, with such a debasement and 
 pollution as sin is, himself so highly 
 ransomed and ennobled, to a new 
 friendship and filial relation with God. 
 
 John Milton. 
 
 Impenitence. 
 There is a greater depravity in not 
 repenting of sin when it has been com- 
 mitted, than in committing it at first. 
 To deny, as Peter did, is bad ; but not to 
 3 
 
34 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 weep Utterly ', as he did, when we have 
 denied, is worse. Payson s 
 
 Self-Control. 
 To arrest an importunate appetite, to 
 silence the clamor of a passion, and to 
 repel an assault upon our virtue, are 
 noble instances of force, and handsome 
 proofs of temper and discretion. 
 
 Jeremy Collier. 
 
 Brevity of Life. 
 Look upon thy burning taper, and 
 there see, the embleme of thy life : the 
 flame is thy soule,the wax (if never so well 
 tempered) can but last his length ; and 
 who can lengthen it ? if ill-tempered, it 
 shall waste the faster, yet last his length ; 
 an open window shall hasten either ; an 
 extinguisher shall put out both. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 True Honor. 
 God hath so ordered it that honour 
 is naturally consequent on the honour- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 35 
 
 ing Him. God hath made goodness a 
 noble and stately thing ; hath impressed 
 on it that beauty and majesty which 
 commands an universal love and vene- 
 ration, which strikes presently both a 
 kindly and an awful respect into the 
 minds of all men. Power may be 
 dreaded, riches may be courted, wit 
 and knowledge maybe admired; but 
 only goodness is truly esteemed and 
 honoured. Barron. 
 
 Value of Time. 
 Make use of time, if thou lovest 
 eternity ; know, yesterday cannot be 
 recalled, to-morrow cannot be assured : 
 to-day is only thine ; which if thou 
 procrastinate, thou losest ; which lost, 
 is lost forever ; one to-day is worth two 
 to-morrows. Bn en iridic?: . 
 
 Sincere Friendship. 
 Convey thy love to thy friend, as an 
 arrow to the marke, to stick there, not 
 
36 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 as a ball against the wall, to rebound 
 back to thee ; that friendship will not 
 continue to the end, that is begun for 
 an end. Ibid. 
 
 Humility. 
 
 If thou desire the love of God and 
 man, be humble ; for the proud heart, 
 as it loves none but itselfe, so it is be- 
 loved of none, but by itselfe, the voice 
 of humility is God's musick, and the 
 silence of humility is God's rhetorick. 
 Humility enforces, where neither virtue 
 nor strength can prevaile, nor reason. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 
 Choice of Friends. 
 Antisthenes used to wonder at those 
 who were curious in buying but an 
 earthen dish, to see that it had no 
 cracks nor inconveniences, and yet 
 would be careless in the choice of 
 friends — to take them with the flaws 
 of vice. Surely a man's companion is 
 
Pearls of Thought. l d1 
 
 a second genius to sway him to the 
 o*00 d or bad. Oicen Feltham. 
 
 to 
 
 The Soul's Heraldry. 
 All those discourses which have been 
 written of the soul's heraldry will not 
 blazon it so well as itself will do ; when 
 we turn our eyes in upon it, it will soon 
 tell us its royal pedigree and noble ex- 
 traction, by those sacred hieroglyphics 
 which it bears upon itself. 
 
 Smith's Discourses. 
 
 Contentment. 
 
 Compare what thou hast not with 
 what thou hast, and see which is better. 
 This will keep thee from trouble for 
 what thou wantest, and thy desires 
 shall not disquiet thee. Thou art poor, 
 but thou art well, and hast id any- 
 good friends; or, perhaps, thou hast 
 none; but thou hast all the host of 
 heaven — the sun, moon, and stars, and 
 
38 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 all the elements, and the providence of 
 God, and the charity of all well dis- 
 posed people, as much as another man : 
 thou mayest walk in thy neighbour's 
 fields, yea, even in thy enemies' ground, 
 and enjoy all the pleasures of the morn- 
 ing, and recreate thyself with all the 
 sweet odours, and behold the beauty of 
 all God's creatures, and delight in that 
 which God delights in — why shouldst 
 thou be so distracted ? Patrick. 
 
 The Triumphs of Piety. 
 No triumphs are comparable to those 
 of piety — no trophies so magnificent 
 and durable as those which victorious 
 faith erecteth ; they do far surpass the 
 most famous achievements of pagan 
 heroes. Barrow. 
 
 The Divine Decrees. 
 Then we shall easily be led into this 
 scriptural hypothesis of the Divine de- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 39 
 
 crees — viz., that as He decreed from all 
 eternity to send His Son to be the Sa- 
 viour of the world, so He then also 
 determined that as many as should 
 believe on Him should be saved, and 
 such as did not so, should be damned ; 
 and then, what if we should find it to 
 follow, from the nature of God's omni- 
 science, that he must foreknow the in- 
 dividual persons that shall be saved or 
 damned ? Or, from the nature of His 
 determinations, that only such and no 
 other can be saved — namely, those He 
 hath decreed to it : yet then it will be 
 evidently to no purpose to gaze up to 
 God's decrees : for then, whatever hath 
 been written in the archives of heaven, 
 it is certain it cannot contradict this — 
 that if I believe and repent, and become 
 a good and holy man, I shall be saved, 
 or otherwise I shall be damned; and 
 then all is plain before me, for in this 
 case I have nothing further to do but 
 
40 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 to make use of the means of grace 
 which God affords me, and to look into 
 my own heart and life for my evidences 
 of heaven. Goodman. 
 
 Good and Evil. 
 In many cases it is very hard to fix 
 the bounds of good and evil, because 
 these part, as day and night, which are 
 separated by twilight. Whichcot. 
 
 Opportunity. 
 
 A great deal of time is contracted 
 in opportunity — which is the flower of 
 time. Ibid. 
 
 Book of Nature. 
 
 God hath given to mankind a com- 
 mon library, his creatures ; and to every 
 man a proper booke, himself, being an 
 abridgement of all the others, if thou 
 reade with understanding, it will make 
 thee a great master of philosophy, and 
 a true servant of the divine Autkour : if 
 thou but barely reade, it will make thee 
 
Pearls of Thought. 41 
 
 thy own wise man, and the authour's 
 foole. Quarles. 
 
 Use of Rebuke. 
 If any speak ill of thee, flee home 
 to thy owne conscience, and examine 
 thy heart : if thou be guilty, it is a just 
 correction ; if not guilty it is a faire in- 
 struction : make use of both, so shalt 
 thou distill honie out of gall, and out 
 of an open enemy, create a secret 
 friend. find. 
 
 Spiritual Progression. 
 Chbist has taught us the true way of 
 ascending ; he first descended and then 
 ascended. These were Christ's ascen 
 sions: — He ascended unto the mount 
 to pray and to teach ; he ascended the 
 cross to weep, the cross to suffer ; and, 
 after all, he ascended to heaven to 
 reign in glory. These are the true de- 
 grees of ascending. Firstly, we must 
 ascend to prayer: secondly, we must 
 
42 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 ascend the mount to learn the way to 
 blessedness: thirdly, we must ascend 
 the mount to contemplate of glory, as 
 he did when he went to be transfigured : 
 fourthly, we must ascend upon our 
 carnal appetites to weep for our sins : 
 fifthly, we must ascend unto the cross 
 to be crucified unto the world : and so, 
 last of all, we shall ascend in good 
 time, by the grace of God, to rejoice 
 with Christ in glory. To all this, saith 
 St. Bernard, may be annexed this short 
 form of ascending : — First we must as- 
 cend to our heart — that is, to the know- 
 ledge of ourselves : then, in our heart 
 — that is, to acknowledge our own in- 
 firmities : next, from our heart — that 
 is, from the love of ourselves: and, 
 last of all, above our heart — that is, to 
 the love of Christ. Sutton. 
 
 Indolence. 
 Rather do nothing to the purpose, 
 than be idle, that the Devill may finde 
 
Pearls of Thought. 43 
 
 thee doing ; the bird that sits is easily 
 shot, when fliers 'scape the fowler ; 
 idlenesse is the dead sea that swallows 
 all vertues, and the selfe made sepul- 
 cher of a living man ; the idle man is 
 the devill's hireling; whose livery is 
 rags, whose diet and wages are famine, 
 and diseases. Ibid. 
 
 Detection of Sin. 
 He who sins against men may fear 
 discovery, but he who sins against God 
 is sure of it. Jones, of Xayland. 
 
 Pride. 
 As thou desirest the love of God 
 and man, beware of pride ; it is a tu- 
 mour in thy minde that breaks and 
 poysons all thy actions ; it is a worm 
 in thy treasure which eates and mines 
 thy estate ; it loves no man, is beloved 
 of no man ; it disparages vertue in an- 
 other by detraction ; it disre wards 
 
44 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 goodnesse in itselfe, by vain glory ; the 
 friend of the flatterer, the mother of 
 envy, the nurse of fury, the band of 
 luxury, the sinne of devils, and the 
 devill in mankind : it hates superiors, it 
 scorns inferiors, it ownes no equals ; in 
 short, till thou hate it, God hates thee. 
 
 Quarles. 
 True Repentance. 
 
 True repentance consists in the heart 
 being broken for sin, and broken from 
 sin. Some often repent, yet never re- 
 form ; they resemble a man travelling a 
 dangerous path, who frequently starts 
 and stops but never turns back. 
 
 Thornton. 
 Censure. 
 
 Bee not censorious, for thou know'st 
 not whom thou judgest; it is a more 
 dextrous errour to speak well of an 
 evill man, than ill of a good man ; and 
 safer for thy judgment to be misled by 
 simple charity than uncharitable wis- 
 
r 
 
 Pearls of Thought, 45 
 
 dome : lie may taxe others with privi- 
 lege that hath not in himselfe, what 
 others may taxe. Quarles. 
 
 The Bitterness of Six. 
 
 He that hath tasted the bitterness of 
 sin will fear to commit it ; and he that 
 hath felt the sweetness of mercy will fear 
 to offend it. Charnock. 
 
 A Holy Life. 
 
 A holy life, spent in the service of 
 God, and in communion with Him, is, 
 without doubt, the most pleasant and 
 comfortable life that any man can live 
 in this world. JtfelanctJion. 
 
 Worldly Pleasures. 
 Pleasures, like the rose, are sweet 
 but prickly ; the honey doth not coun- 
 tervail the sting, all the world's de- 
 lights are vanity, and end in vexation; 
 like Judas, while they kiss, they betray. 
 I would neither be a stoic nor an epi- 
 
46 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 cure — allow of no pleasure, nor give 
 way to all ; they are good sauce, but 
 naught to make a meal of. I may use 
 them sometimes for digestion, never for 
 food. Bp* HenshaiD) 1640. 
 
 Maliciousness. 
 The malicious man is so much no 
 man's foe as his own ; for while he is 
 out of charity with others, God is so 
 with him ; if he loved himself he would 
 not hate his brother. I will love all 
 men for His sake that made them ; but 
 the Christian, because he is God's son, 
 I will love him doubly — for his own 
 sake — for his Father's sake. Ibid. 
 
 Death and Life. 
 As he cannot rise again the resurrec- 
 tion of the body, that doth not first die 
 the death of the body, no more can he be 
 born the birth of the soul, that doth not 
 first die the death of sin. It is neces- 
 sary that he which will be born twice, , 
 
Pearls of Thought. 47 
 
 should die once while he lives, and he 
 that will once rise the resurrection of 
 life should die twice. That I may live 
 ever, I will die daily. Tbid. 
 
 The Poison of Sin. 
 Sustne is a basiliske, whose eyes are 
 full of venome, if thy eye of thy soule 
 see her first, it reflects her own poyson 
 and kills her: if she see thv soule un- 
 seen, or seen too late with the poyson, 
 she kills thee ; since therefore thou 
 canst not escape thy sinne, let not thy 
 sinne escape thy observation. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 
 Worldly Loss. 
 As there is no worldly gaine, without 
 some losse, so there is no worldly losse 
 without some gaine. If thou hast lost 
 thy wealth, thou hast lost some trouble 
 with it ; if those are degraded from thy 
 honour, thou art likewise freed from 
 the stroke of envie ; if sicknesse hath 
 
48 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 blurred thy beauty, it hath delivered 
 thee from pride. Set the allowance 
 against the losse, and thou shalt find 
 no losse great; he loses little or no- 
 thing, that reserves himself. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 Choice of Friends. 
 Deliberate long before thou conse- 
 crate a friend ; and when thy iinpar- 
 tiall judgement concludes him worthy 
 of thy bosome, receive him joyfully, 
 and entertaine him wisely ; impart thy 
 secrets, boldly, and mingle thy thoughts 
 with his ; he is thy very selfe ; and use 
 him so ; if thou firmly think him faith- 
 ful, thou makest him so. Ibid. 
 
 Death. 
 There is nothing more certain than 
 death, nothing more uncertain than the 
 time of dying. 1 will therefore be 
 prepared for that at all times, which 
 may come at any time, must come at 
 one time or another. I shall not hasten 
 
Pearls of Thought. 49 
 
 my death by being still ready, but 
 sweeten it. It makes me not die the 
 sooner, but the better. Warwick. 
 
 Circumspection. 
 So live with men as considering al- 
 ways that God sees thee : so pray to 
 God, as if every man heard thee. Do 
 nothing which thou woulclst not have 
 God see done. Desire nothing, which 
 may either wrong thy profession to ask, 
 or God's honour to errant. EensJiaw. 
 
 o 
 
 The Bible. 
 These is such fulness in that Book 
 that oftentimes it says much by saying 
 nothing; and not only its expressions 
 but its silences are teaching, like the 
 dial in which the shadow as well as the 
 light informs us. Boyle. 
 
 Impenitence. 
 It is the greatest of all sins always 
 to continue in sin. For where the cus- 
 3 
 
50 
 
 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 torn of sinning waxeth greater, the 
 conscience for sin grows the less ; it is 
 easier to quench a spark than a fire. 
 
 Warwick. 
 True Prayer. 
 The speech of the tongue is best 
 known to men ; God best understands 
 the language of the heart. The heart 
 without the tongue may pierce the ears 
 of heaven, the tongue without the heart 
 speaks an unknown language. No 
 marvel, then, if the desires of the poor 
 are heard, when the prayers of the 
 wicked are unregarded. I had rather 
 speak three words in a speech that 
 God knows, than pray three hours in a 
 
 language that he understands not. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Resolution and Reformation. 
 Resolution without action is a sloth- 
 ful folly, action without resolution is a 
 foolish rashness. First know what is 
 good to be done, then do that good, 
 
Pearls of Thought. 51 
 
 being known. If forecast be not bet- 
 ter than labour, labour is not good 
 without forecast ; I would not have my 
 actions done without knowledge, nor 
 against it. Ibid. 
 
 Friendly Rebuke. 
 It is the folly of affection not to rep- 
 rehend my erring friend, for fear of 
 his anger : It is the abstract of folly to 
 be angry with my friend for my error's 
 reprehension. I were not a friend, if I 
 should see my friend out of the way, 
 and not advise him : I were unworthy 
 to have a friend, if he should advise 
 me (being out of the way) and I be 
 angry with him. Bather let me have 
 my friend's anger, than deserve it. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Contentment. 
 There is no estate of life so happy in 
 this world, as to yield a Christian the 
 perfection of content : and yet there is 
 
52 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 no state of life so wretched in this 
 world, but a Christian must be content 
 with it. Though I can have nothing 
 here that may give me true content, yet 
 I will learn to be truly contented here 
 with what I have. Warwick. 
 
 Religion and Reason. 
 Nature bids me love myself, and 
 hate all that hurt me : reason bids me 
 love my friends, and hate those that 
 envy me ; religion bids me love all and 
 hate none. Nature showeth care, rea- 
 son wit, religion love. Nature may in- 
 duce me, reason persuade me, but reli- 
 gion shall rule me. I will hearken to 
 nature in much, to reason in more, to 
 religion in all. H>M* 
 
 The Christian's Course. 
 Nature hath sent me abroad into 
 the world, and I am every day travel- 
 ling homeward. If I meet with store 
 
Pearls of Thought. 53 
 
 of miseries in my way, discretion shall 
 teach me a religious haste in my jour- 
 ney. And if I meet with pleasures, 
 they shall pleasure me only by putting 
 me in mind of my pleasures at home, 
 which shall teach me to scorn these as 
 worse than trifles. I will never more 
 reckon a troublesome life a curse, but a 
 blessing. A pleasant journey is dear 
 bought with the loss of home. iW& 
 
 Duties. 
 Observed duties maintain our credit, 
 but secret duties maintain our life. 
 
 Flat el. 
 
 The Pharisee and Publican. 
 
 I cannot see two sawyers work at 
 the pit but they put me in mind of the 
 Pharisee and the Publican; the one 
 casts his eye upward, whilst his actions 
 tend to the pit infernal: the other 
 standing with a dejected countenance, 
 whilst his hands and heart move up- 
 
54 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 ward. It is not a shame to make show 
 of our profession, so we truly profess 
 what we make show of; but of the two 
 I had rather be good, and not seem so, 
 than seem good, and not be so. 
 
 Warwick, 
 
 Fleeting Pleasures. 
 I see when I follow my shadow it 
 flies me, when I fly my shadow it fol- 
 lows me. I know pleasures are but 
 shadows, which hold no longer than 
 the sunshine of my fortunes. Lest then 
 my pleasures should forsake me, I will 
 forsake them. Pleasure most flies me 
 when I most follow it. Ibid. 
 
 Sense and Reason. 
 Our senses mislead our reason by 
 false impressions, and reason also has 
 its revenge by retorting the same trick 
 on our senses. The passions of the soul 
 disturb the senses, and excite impres- 
 sions; and thus our two sources of 
 
Pearls of Thought. 55 
 
 knowledge mutually lie and deceive 
 each other. Pascal. 
 
 Profession and Possession. 
 An outward profession, however 
 plausible, will not do without corre- 
 sponding actions. How much better is 
 it to have a peaceful sense of my own 
 wretchedness and a humble waiting 
 upon God for sanctifying grace, than to 
 talk much and appear to he somebody 
 in religion. Oxcen. 
 
 Ignorance of God. 
 ^Ve must not wonder that men do 
 so little for God, and that the little they 
 do, costs them so dear : they know him 
 not : scarcely do they believe that He 
 is. The belief they have of Him, is 
 rather a blind deference to the authori- 
 ty of public opinion, than a lively and 
 distinct conviction of the Divinity. 
 They have no notion of God, except as 
 an unknown something, and at a great 
 
56 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 distance from us ; they look upon Him 
 as a severe Being who makes great de- 
 mands upon us, who thwarts our incli- 
 nations, who threatens us with mighty 
 evils, and against whose terrible judg- 
 ments it is necessary to take some precau- 
 tions. These are the thoughts of those 
 who reflect seriously on religion, and 
 who are, notwithstanding, a very small 
 number. Such a one does but fear Him 
 without loving Him. Those who do but 
 fear, know not God, for Cl God is love." 
 
 Fenelon. 
 Thoughts. 
 Thoughts! whence do they arise? 
 what stuff are they made of? and what 
 vigour is it that gives them such an 
 instantaneous production ? They are 
 conceived in full maturity, and step 
 into perfection at first. They scorn 
 the gradation of bodies and the heavy 
 successions of motion. They gain the 
 race at a start, outstretch the speed of 
 
Pearls of Thought. 51 
 
 gunpowder, and distance light and 
 lightning. Thoughts take up no room. 
 When they are right, they afford a 
 portable pleasure, which one may tra- 
 vel with, without any trouble or in- 
 cumbrance. Collier. 
 
 Reason and Sense. 
 The lower your senses are kept, the 
 better you may govern them. Appe- 
 tites are commonly like two buckets, 
 when one is at the top, the other is at 
 the bottom. Now, of the two, I had 
 rather the reason-bucket should be up- 
 permost. The senses are some of them 
 so mean, they relish scarcely any thing 
 but what they beg for. Ibid. 
 
 Reflection. 
 A man may as well expect to grow 
 stronger by always eating, as wiser by 
 always reading. Too much overchar- 
 ges nature, and turns more into disease 
 
58 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 than nourishment. It is thought and 
 digestion which make books servicea- 
 ble, and gives health and vigour to the 
 mind. Collier. 
 
 Selfishness. 
 To be of a touchy, a peevish and a 
 persecuting humour; to be quick in 
 discovering a fault, and ready to spring 
 out into revenge ; to kindle and rage 
 like gunpowder at the least spark, are 
 signs that we are perfectly wrapt in 
 our own interests, and are overgrown 
 with selfishness and conceit. loid. 
 
 Fortitude. 
 To live only to nurse up decays, to 
 feel pain and to wait upon diseases, is 
 somewhat troublesome; but to bear 
 sickness with decency is a noble in- 
 stance of fortitude. He that charges 
 an enemy does not show himself more 
 brave than he that grapples handsome- 
 ly with a disease. To do this without 
 
Pearls of Thought. 59 
 
 abject complaints, without rage and 
 expostulation, is a glorious combat. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Afflictions. 
 The more we fear crosses, the more 
 reason have we to think that we need 
 them. We ought to judge of the vio- 
 lence of our disease by the violence of 
 the remedies which our Spiritual Phy- 
 sician prescribes for us. Fenelon. 
 
 Moderation. 
 He that would relish success to pur- 
 pose, should keep his passions cool, and 
 his expectations low; and then it is 
 possible that his fortune might exceed 
 his fancy; for an advantage always 
 rises by surprise ; and is almost always 
 doubled by being unlooked for. 
 
 Mental Faculty. 
 The operations of the mind are so pe- 
 culiar, so foreign to all the appearances 
 
60 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 of nature, that it is hard to assign them 
 a proper original. Without thinking, we 
 
 can have no sense of being ; and with it 
 we are — we cannot tell what ; so that the 
 same faculty seems to make us acquaint- 
 ed with, and strangers to ourselves. 
 
 Little Sins. 
 Little sins do greatly deface the 
 image of God in the soul. Adam was 
 at first created according to the simil- 
 itude and likeness of God : he had the 
 Divine Portraiture drawn upon his 
 soul by the creating finger of the Al- 
 mighty; and yet we see how little a 
 sin defaced it, and spoiled him of all 
 his glory. In curious pictures a small 
 scratch is a great deformity. Certain- 
 ly the image of God is such a curious 
 piece of workmanship, that the least 
 scratch or flaw in it, by the least sin, 
 deforms and turns that which before 
 was the image of God, into the image 
 of the devil. 
 
Pearls of Thought. 61 
 
 There are more beyond comparison 
 that perish and go down to hell by the 
 commission of little sins, than by those 
 that are more notorious and infamous. 
 Here perisheth the hypocrite and here 
 the formal professor : here perisheth 
 your honest, civil, neighbourly man, 
 that is so fair and upright in his deal- 
 ing, that you can see nothing that is 
 gross and scandalous by him. Oh ! 
 but yet the blood of their precious and 
 immortal souls runs out and is spilt for 
 ever, through those insensible wounds 
 that little sins do make. Hopkins, 1666. 
 
 Christians like Stars. 
 It has been observed that those are 
 the fixed stars that tremble most. So 
 Christians, who are fixed immoveably 
 in the unchangeable love of God, are 
 as stars fixed to the heavens in their 
 orbs ; yet they are most of all in trepi- 
 dation and trembling, when they reflect 
 
62 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 upon themselves, and think that, in- 
 stead of being stars in heaven, they 
 might have been firebrands in hell. 
 Hopkins, 1666. 
 Prayer. 
 
 He who prays as he ought will en- 
 deavour to live as he prays. He that 
 can live in sin, and abide in the ordi- 
 nary duties of prayer, never prays as 
 he ought. A truly gracious praying 
 frame is utterly inconsistent with the 
 love of any sin. Owen. 
 
 Thankfulness. 
 Many favours which God giveth us 
 ravell out for want of hemming, through 
 our own unthankfulness ; for though 
 prayer purchaseth blessings, giving 
 praise doth keep the quiet possession 
 of them. Thomas Fuller. 
 
 Self-Inspection. 
 One hour of solitude passed in sin- 
 cere and earnest prayer, or the conflict 
 
Pearls of Thought. 63 
 
 with and conquest over a single pas- 
 sion or bosom sin, will teacli us more 
 of thought, will more effectually awak- 
 en the faculty, and form the habit of 
 refaction, than a year's study in the 
 schools without them. Coleridge. 
 
 Fear of Man. 
 He that unduly fears man, cannot 
 truly fear God ; and he that lives much 
 in the fear of God, will not regard over- 
 much what man can do unto him ; the 
 want of faith is the root of all such fear, 
 which becomes less and less, as faith 
 gathers strength and increases in the 
 soul. Ambrose Serle. 
 
 Character. 
 It is with our faculties, as with our 
 affections : what first seizes holds fast. 
 It is a vulgar theme that man is a com- 
 pound of contrarieties, which breed a 
 restless struggle in his nature, between 
 flesh and spirit, the beast and the an- 
 
64 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 gel, earth and heaven, ever weighed 
 down and ever bearing up. During 
 which conflict the character fluctuates ; 
 when either side prevails, it is then 
 fixed for vice or virtue. And life, 
 from different principles takes a dif- 
 ferent issue. It is the same in regard 
 to our faculties. Sense at first besets 
 and overbears the mind. The sensible 
 appearances are all in all : our reason- 
 ings are employed about them : our 
 desires terminate in them : we look no 
 farther for realities or causes : till in- 
 tellect begins to dawn, and cast a ray 
 on this shadowy scene. Berkeley. 
 
 Soul and Body. 
 I cannot comprehend why any one, 
 who admits the union of the soul and 
 body, should pronounce it impossible 
 for the human nature to be united to 
 the divine, in a manner ineffable and 
 incomprehensible by reason. Neither 
 
Pearls of Thought. 65 
 
 can I see any absurdity in admitting, 
 that sinful man may become regener- 
 ate or a new creature, by the grace of 
 God reclaiming him from a carnal life 
 to a spiritual life of virtue and holiness. 
 And since the being governed by sense 
 and appetite is contrary to the happi- 
 ness and perfection of a rational crea- 
 ture, I do not at all wonder that we 
 ' are prescribed self-denial. Ibid. 
 
 Indolence. 
 Sloth makes all things difficult, but 
 industry all easy; he that riseth late 
 must trot all day, and shall scarcely 
 overtake his business at night; while 
 laziness travels so slowly that poverty 
 soon overtakes him. FranMin % 
 
 Hope. 
 Never quit your hopes. Hope is 
 often better than enjoyment. It is cer- 
 tainly a very pleasant and healthy pas- 
 5 
 
Pearls of Thought. 
 
 sion. A hopeless person is deserted by 
 himself, and he who forsakes himself 
 is soon forsaken by his friends and for- 
 tune. Berkeley. 
 Prayer and Desire. 
 
 Wotjldest thou know the lawful- 
 nesse of the action which thou desirest 
 to undertake? Let thy devotion re- 
 commend it to divine blessing ; if it be 
 lawfull, thou shalt perceive thy heart 
 encouraged by thy prayer ; if unlaw- 
 fullj thou shalt finde thy prayer dis- 
 couraged by thy heart. That action is 
 not warrantable, which either blushes 
 to begge a blessing, or having succeed- 
 ed, dares not present thanksgiving. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 Praise and Blame. 
 
 If evill men speake good, or good 
 men evill of thy conversation, examine 
 all thy actions, and suspect thyselfe. 
 But if eville men speake eville of thee, 
 hold it as thy honour, and by way of 
 
Pearls of Thought. 67 
 
 thankefulnesse, love them, but upon 
 condition, that they continue to hate 
 thee. Ibid. 
 
 Meditation. 
 Meditation* is the life of the soule ; 
 action is the soule of meditation ; hon- 
 our is the reward of action : so medi- 
 tate, that thou mayst do ; so do, that 
 thou mayst purchase honour : for which 
 purchase, gives God the glory. Ibid. 
 
 Divine Manifestations. 
 God is a declaratory Deity. The 
 whole year is to His saints a continual 
 Epiphany — one day of manifestation. 
 In every minute that strikes upon the 
 bell is a syllable — nay, a syllogism 
 from God. God translates Himself in 
 particular works — nationally and per- 
 sonally. If I be covetous, God will 
 tell me that heaven is a pearl, a treas- 
 ure : if cheerful and affected with 
 mirth, that heaven is all joy : if ambi- 
 tious and hungry of preferment, that 
 
68 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 heaven is all glory: if sociable and 
 conversible, that it is a communion of 
 saints. Bonne. 
 
 Angels. 
 
 The starry heaven is but as it were 
 the floor or pavement of a heaven 
 above it, the supreme or highest heav- 
 en, which is by consent of nations the 
 place of the Almighty's most especial 
 presence : all men by a kind of natural 
 instinct, with minds, eyes, and hands 
 lifted up, directing thither their prayers 
 to God; and can we fancy that the 
 universal King hath no servants to 
 wait on Him in His presence-chamber, 
 when we see so many paying their de- 
 votion to Him at so great a distance 
 here below? Natural reason, there- 
 fore, directs and leads us to an acknowl- 
 edgment that there are certain intelli- 
 gent creatures in the upper world, who 
 as they are more remote from the dregs 
 of matter wherein we are immersed. 
 
Pearls of Thought. 69 
 
 so tliey are of a more pure, refined, and 
 excellent substance, and as far exceed- 
 ing us in their way of understanding 
 and glorifying the supreme God, as 
 they are of nearer admission to the 
 place where His glory is in the most 
 especial manner manifested ; and these 
 are they who in our sacred writings are 
 known by the name of Angels. Bull. 
 
 Fame. 
 ZSTor is the desire of fame so vain as 
 divers have rigidly imagined : fame 
 being (when belonging to the living) 
 that which is more gravely called a 
 steady and necessary reputation ; and 
 without it, hereditary power, or ac- 
 quired greatness, can never quietly 
 govern the world. ? Tis of the dead a 
 musical glory, in which God, the Au- 
 thor of excellent goodness, vouchsafes 
 to take a continual share : for the re- 
 membered virtues of great men are 
 
70 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 chiefly such of Ms works (mentioned 
 by King David) as perpetually praise 
 him : and the good fame of the dead 
 prevails by example, much 'more than 
 the reputation of the living, because 
 the latter is always suspected by our 
 envy, but the other is cheerfully al- 
 lowed and religiously admired : for 
 admiration (whose eyes are ever weak) 
 stands still, and fixes its gaze upon 
 great things acted far off ; but, when 
 they are near, walks slightly away as 
 from familiar objects. Fame is to our 
 sons a solid inheritance, and not un- 
 useful to remote posterity ; and, to our 
 reason, 'tis the first, though but a little, 
 taste of eternity. Davenant 
 
 Honesty of Purpose. 
 
 Let thy conversation with men be 
 
 sober and sincere ; let thy devotion to 
 
 God be dutifull and decent ; let the one 
 
 be hearty, and not haughty, let the 
 
Pearls of Thoun : 71 
 
 ;-:• be humble and not homely ; e 
 live with men as if God saw thee, so 
 men heard thee. 
 
 Enchiridion, 
 
 We are not Our Own. 
 If thou owest thy whole selfe to thy 
 for thy creation, what hast thou 
 Left to pay for thy redemption, that 
 [leap as thy creation? In 
 thy creation, he gave thee thy selfe, 
 and by thy selfe to him; in thy re- 
 demption hee gave himselfe to thee, 
 and through him restored thee to thy 
 selfe; thou art given and restored: now 
 what : "rest thou unto thy God ? if thou 
 hast paid all thy debts, give him the 
 snrnlnsa^e. and :hou hast merited. 
 
 Ibid. 
 Conversation. 
 Ijs thy rae take heed what 
 
 thou Bf eakeet, to whome thou speakest, 
 how thou speakesr. and when thou 
 
72 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 speakest: what thou speakest, speak 
 truly, when thou speakest, speak wise- 
 ly. A fool's heart is in his tongue ; but 
 a wise man's tongue is in his heart. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 Abstinence. 
 If thou wouldst preserve a sound 
 body, use fasting and walking; if a 
 healthful soule, fasting and praying; 
 walking exercises the body, praying 
 exercises the soule, fasting cleanses 
 both. K>id. 
 
 The Christian. 
 
 If you desire to have his picture, 
 here it is : the true gentleman is one 
 that is God's servant, the world's mas- 
 ter, and his own man; his virtue is his 
 business — his study his recreation — 
 contentedness his rest — and happiness 
 his reward: God is his Father — the 
 Church is his mother — the saints his 
 brethren — all that need him his friends 
 — and heaven his inheritance : religion 
 
Pearls of Thought. 73 
 
 '•• his mistress — piety and justice her 
 iadiea oi honour — devotion is his chap- 
 lain — chastity his chamberlain — sobri- 
 ety his butler — temperance his cook — 
 
 hospitality his housekeeper — prudence 
 his steward — charity his treasure — pie- 
 ty his mistress of the' house — and dis- 
 cretion the porter to let in and out as 
 is most fit. Thus is his whole family 
 made up of virtues, and he the master 
 of his family. He is necessitated to 
 take the world in his way to heaven; 
 but he walks through it as fast as he 
 can, and all his business by the way is 
 to make himself and others happy. 
 Take him all in two words — he is a 
 a man and a Christian. Clement Ellis. 
 
 Malice. 
 To do another man a diskindness, 
 merely because he has done me one, 
 serves to no good purpose and to many 
 evil ones : for it contributes nothing to 
 the reparation of the first injury (it 
 
74 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 being impossible that the act of any 
 wrong should be rescinded, though the 
 permanent effect may) ; but, instead of 
 making up the breach of my happiness, 
 it increases the objects of my pity, by 
 bringing a new misery into the world 
 more than was before ; and occasions 
 fresh returns of malice, one begetting 
 another, like the encirclings of disturb- 
 ed water ; till the evil becomes fruitful 
 and multiplies into a long succession, a 
 genealogy of mischiefs. 
 
 Xorris of Bemerton. 
 
 Faith and Works. 
 There is the same analogy and con- 
 nection between our intentions and our 
 actions, as there is betwixt faith and 
 good works. If we have faith and are 
 destitute of good works, this is a dead 
 faith: if we perform good works, and 
 are destitute of true faith, those works 
 are unprofitable. If we fast, pray, 
 mortify our bodies, give alms to the 
 
Pearls of Thought. 75 
 
 poor, renounce the pleasures and diver- 
 sions of the world, and have not faith, 
 we may possibly receive our reward at 
 the hands of men, but we shall have 
 no recompense for them before God ; 
 because He approves of no works but 
 what are entire, sincere, and in their 
 kind perfect ; and those which are done 
 without faith want that integrity, truth, 
 and perfection, which they ought to 
 have : and, on the other side, if we 
 have faith but do not show it by works 
 worthy of a true believer, we shall not 
 be justified in the sight of God. We 
 are in the true way, but we do not 
 walk in that way — we have the foun- 
 dation, but we build nothing upon that 
 foundation — the root of the matter is 
 in us, but we bring forth no fruit. 
 
 Bp. Smalbridge* 
 
 Obedience. 
 Let the ground of all thy religious 
 actions be obedience, examine not why 
 
76 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 it is commanded, but observe it because 
 it is commanded. True obedience nei- 
 ther procrastinates nor questions. 
 
 Quarles. 
 Frequent Prayer. 
 
 Pray often, because thou sinnest al- 
 ways; repent quickly, lest thou die 
 suddenly. He that repents it, because 
 he wants power to act it, repents not of 
 a sin till he forsakes not ; he that wants 
 power to actuate his sin, hath not for- 
 saken his sin, but his sin him. Mid. 
 
 Life a Dream. 
 Recall to your imagination what 
 you so lately beheld and admired. All 
 vanished like a dream ! — gone into air, 
 into the dust, and into dead masses ! It 
 is amazing to think what an infinity of 
 pleasing objects have perished; so soon 
 perished and gone ! Just as yesterday 
 the fair profusion was here ; now it is 
 no more to us than the earliest beauty 
 
Pearls of Thought. 77 
 
 of Eden. It is gone, and for ever gone ! 
 never to be that beauty again — that 
 is, identically. The change is as if 
 some celestial countenance had for a 
 while beamed in smiles on the earth, 
 but were now averted to some other 
 world; and then the earth had no 
 power to retain the glory and beauty ; 
 they disowned and left it ; and left us 
 on the bare ground over which the 
 vision of enchantment had been spread. 
 
 John Foster. 
 
 Parental Deportment. 
 So behave thyselfe among thy chil- 
 dren, that they may love and honour 
 thy presence : be not too fond, lest they 
 fear thee not : be not too bitter, lest 
 they fear thee too much, too much fa- 
 miliarity will embolden them, too little 
 countenance will discourage them, so 
 carry thyselfe, that they may rather 
 fear thy displeasure, than thy correc- 
 
78 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 tion, when thou reprovest them, doe it in 
 season, when thou correctest them, doe it 
 not in passion : as a wise child makes a 
 happy Father, so a wise Father makes 
 a happy child. Quarles. 
 
 Benefits of Adversity. 
 No man is more miserable than he 
 that hath no adversity ; that man is not 
 tried whether he be good or bad ; and 
 God never crowns those virtues which 
 are only faculties and dispositions ; but 
 every act of virtue is an ingredient 
 into reward — God so dresses us for 
 heaven. Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 Angelic Beings. 
 It seems we are led not only by rev- 
 elation but by common sense, observ- 
 ing and inferring from the analogy of 
 visible things, to conclude there are in- 
 numerable orders of intelligent beings 
 more happy and more perfect than 
 
Pearls of Thought. 79 
 
 man, whose life is but a span, and 
 whose place upon this earthly globe is 
 but a point in respect of the whole 
 system of God's creation. "We are 
 dazzled, indeed, with the glory and 
 grandeur of things here below, because 
 we know no better. But I am apt to 
 think, if we knew what it was to be an 
 angel for one hour, we should return to 
 this world, though it were to sit on the 
 brightest throne in it, with vastly more 
 loathing and reluctance than we would 
 now descend into a loathsome dungeon 
 or sepulchre. Berkeley. 
 
 Mystery or Creation. 
 "We are perfectly ignorant how the sun 
 was formed, how the planets were pro- 
 jected at the creation, how they are still 
 retained in their orbits by the power of 
 gravity; but we admit, notwithstand- 
 ing, that the sun was formed, that the 
 planets were then projected, and that 
 
80 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 they are still retained in their orbits. 
 The machine of the universe is in the 
 hand of God. He can stop the motion 
 of any part, or the whole of it, with 
 less trouble and less danger of injuring 
 it, than you can stop your watch. 
 
 Bp. Watson. 
 
 Human Aspirations. 
 All lower natures find their highest 
 good in semblances and seekings of 
 that which is higher and better. All 
 things strive to ascend, and ascend in 
 their striving. And shall man alone 
 stoop? Shall his pursuits and desires, 
 the reflections of his inward life, be 
 like the reflected image of a tree on 
 the edge of a pool, that grows down- 
 ward, and seeks a mock heaven in the 
 unstable element beneath it, in neigh- 
 bourhood with the slim water-weeds 
 and oozy bottom-grass, that are yet 
 better than itself and more noble, in as 
 
Pearls of Thought. 81 
 
 5, are preferable to slu 
 
 ken for substances i So ! it i 
 be a higher good to make you hi 
 While you labour for any thing below 
 your proper humanity, you seek a hai 
 py life in the region of death. 
 
 Ixcessant Changes. 
 Behold! through a vast tract of sky 
 before us, the mighty Atlas rears his 
 lofty head, covered with snow above 
 the clouds. Beneath the mountain's 
 :'■; :»t, the rocky country rises into hills, 
 a proper basis of the ponderous mass 
 -e. where huge embodied rocks he 
 piled one upon another, and seen; to 
 prop the high arch of heaven. See ! with 
 what trembling steps poor mankind 
 tread the narrow brink of the deep pre- 
 cipices ; from whence with giddy horror 
 they look down, mistrusting even the 
 lkI which tears them : whilst thev 
 
82 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 hear the hollow sound of torrents un- 
 derneath, and see the ruin of the im- 
 pending rock ; with falling trees which 
 hang with their roots upwards, and 
 seem to draw more ruin after them. 
 Here thoughtless men, seized with 
 the newness of such objects, become 
 thoughtful, and willingly contemplate 
 the incessant changes of the earth's 
 surface. They see, as in one instant, 
 the revolutions of past ages, the fleet- 
 ing forms of things, and the decay of 
 even this our globe; whose youth and 
 first formation they consider, while the 
 apparent spoil and irreparable breaches 
 of the wasted mountain show them the 
 world itself only as a noble ruin, and 
 make them think of its approaching 
 period. Shaftesbury. 
 
 Power of Temptation. 
 I ksow from experience that habit 
 can, in direct opposition to every con- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 83 
 
 viction of the mind, and but little 
 aided by the elements of temptation, 
 induce a repetition of the most unwor- 
 thy actions. The mind is weak where 
 it has once given way. It is long be- 
 fore a principle restored can become as 
 firm as one that has never been moved. 
 It is as in the case of the mound of a 
 reservoir: if this mound has in one 
 place been broken, whatever care has 
 been taken to make the repaired part 
 as strong as possible, the probability is 
 that, if it give way again, it will be in 
 that place. Foster. 
 
 Virtue. 
 Certainly virtue is like precious 
 odors, most fragrant when they are 
 crushed ; for prosperity doth best dis- 
 cover vice, but adversity doth best 
 discover virtue. If you listen even to 
 David's harp, you shall hear as many 
 hearse-like airs as carols ; and the pen- 
 cil of the Holy Spirit hath laboured 
 
84 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 more in describing the afflictions of 
 
 Job than the felicities of Solomon. 
 
 Bacon . 
 Prayer. 
 
 1 Okatto est clavis diei, et sera noc- 
 tis, ? — Prayer is the key of the day, and 
 lock of the night. And we should 
 every day begin and end, bid ourselves 
 good-morrow, and good night with 
 prayer. This will make our labour 
 prosperous, and our rest sweet. 
 
 Lord Berkeley, 1670. 
 
 Way of Life. 
 
 If the way to heaven be narrow, ft 
 is not long ; and if the gate be strait, 
 it opens into endless life. Beveridge. 
 
 Deformity. 
 Mock not at those who are mis- 
 shapen by nature. A poor man is a 
 picture of God's own making, but set 
 in a plain frame, not gilded ; a deform- 
 ed man is also His workmanship, but 
 
Pearl* / \ ht. 
 
 drawn with even lines and lr 
 
 colors. Their souls have been the 
 
 chapels of sanctity, whose bodies have 
 
 the r q :alls of deformity. 
 
 Fuller. 
 
 Repentant:. 
 TTith the same height of desire thou 
 hast sinned, with the like depth of sor- 
 row thou mnst repent ; thou that hast 
 sinned to-day, deferre not thy rej snt- 
 ance till to-morrow : he that hath prom- 
 ised pardon to thy repentance, hath 
 not promised life till thou repent. 
 
 Quarles. 
 Fear of Evil. 
 
 If evils come not, then our fears are 
 
 . vain, 
 And if they do, fear but augments the 
 pain. Thomas More. 
 
 Life's Journey. 
 !M!axe philosophy thy journey, theol- 
 ogy thy journey's end: philosophy is 
 a pleasant way, but dangerous to him 
 
8(5 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 that either tires or retires : in this jour- 
 ney, it is safe neither to loiter, nor to 
 rest, till thou hast attained thy jour- 
 ney's end: he that sits down a philoso- 
 pher, rises up an atheist. 
 
 Time. 
 Even such is Time, that takes on trust, 
 
 Our youth, our joys, our all we have, 
 And pays us but with age and dust, 
 Who in the dark and silent grave, 
 When we have wander'd all our ways, 
 
 Shuts up the story of our days ! 
 But from this earth, this grave, this dust, 
 My God shall raise me up, I trust. 
 
 Eauiglu 
 
 Despair. 
 Despair antedates a misfortune, and 
 torments a man before his time. It 
 preys upon the vitals, like Prometheus' 
 vulture, and eats out the heart of all 
 other satisfactions. It cramps the 
 powers of nature, and cuts the sinews 
 
..... 
 
 f enterprise I i r un- 
 
 • i st, mo] : x I saw my mid i tun :- i - 
 k of fate gned 
 
 : ] I y nc sesaty. Tol 
 less imj : 3sTI Ifi is the way to make 
 
 it so. How many feasible 
 
 I .■■■;■ mig mied flu High lespondency, 
 
 and been strangled in the birth 
 sowai 
 
 Emulation. 
 Kmittjitmbi k 
 H k enl .-. •..:". g - - ithal : it 
 3 i man within the terms :: hon- 
 our, and makes the contest ::: _ 
 
 n I gen a as He strives - : excel, 
 but it is t y raising himself, not bv de- 
 pressing anothei 
 
 Imm i yunrr, 
 Dm more we sink intc the infirm 
 
 Be. the nearer tvc 
 
88 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 youth. All people are young in the 
 other world. That state is an eternal 
 spring, ever fresh and flourishing. 
 Xow, to pas 3 from midnight into noon 
 on the sudden ; to be decrepit one 
 minute, and all spirit and activity the 
 next, must be an entertaining change. 
 To call this dying is an abuse of lan- 
 guage. ^&*& 
 
 FoRGIVEXESS. 
 
 Hath any wronged thee ? be bravely 
 reveng'd : sleight it, and the work's 
 begun ; forgive it, and 'tis finisht ; he 
 is below himselfe that is not above an 
 inj ur v. En eh ir id ion. 
 
 Courage. 
 Courage, by keeping the senses qui- 
 et, and the understanding clear, puts 
 us in a condition to receive true intel- 
 ligence, to make just computations 
 upon danger, and pronounce rightly 
 upon that which threatens us. Inno- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 89 
 
 cence of life, consciousness of worth, 
 and great expectations are the best 
 foundations of courage. These ingre- 
 dients make a richer cordial than youth 
 can prepare. They warm the heart at 
 eighty, and seldom fail in operation. 
 
 Collier. 
 Intemperance. 
 When a man drinks hard, the blood 
 boils over, and the passions rise and 
 grow mutinous. In such a dangerous 
 juncture the guards should be doubled, 
 and twice as much sense summoned in 
 as would serve for an ordinary occa- 
 sion. ZS"ow, to part with one's reason, 
 when we have need of as much more, 
 if we could get it, is like breaking the 
 compass, and throwing the pilot over- 
 board in a storm. Ibid. 
 
 Christian Progress. 
 You must hold intercourse with God, 
 or your soul will die. You must walk 
 
90 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 with God, or Satan will walk with yon. 
 Ton mnst grow in grace, or yon will 
 lose it ; and yon cannot do this but by 
 appropriating to this object a due por- 
 tion of your time, and diligently em- 
 ploying suitable means. Cecil. 
 
 Death. 
 Death is a port, whereby we pass to j oy ; 
 Life is a lake, that drowneth all in pain ; 
 Death is so near, it ceaseth all annoy : 
 Life is so livid, that all it yields is vain. 
 And as by life to bondage man was 
 
 brought, 
 Even so likewise by death was freedom 
 
 wrought. Ewl of Surrey. 
 
 Patience under Injuries. 
 Hath any wounded thee with inju- 
 ries ? meet them with patience ; hastie 
 words rankle the wound, soft language 
 dresses it, forgivenesse cures it, and 
 oblivion takes away the scarre. It is 
 
Pearls of Thought. 91 
 
 more noble, by silence to avoid an in- 
 jury, than by argument to overcome 
 it. Enchiridion. 
 
 Resurrection. 
 As for the resurrection of the dead, 
 I do not conceive it so very contrary to 
 the analogy of nature, when I behold 
 vegetables left to rot in the earth, rise 
 up again with new life and vigour ; or 
 a worm, to all appearance dead, change 
 its nature, and that, which in its first 
 being crawled on the earth, become a 
 new species, and fly abroad with wings. 
 
 Berkeley. 
 
 Our Heavenly Home. 
 Let us consider that Paradise is 0111 
 country, as well as theirs ; and so we 
 shall begin to reckon the Patriarchs as 
 our fathers. Why do we not, then, 
 hasten and run, that we may behold 
 our country, and salute our parents? 
 A great multitude of dear ones is there 
 
92 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 expecting us ; a vast and mighty crowd 
 of parents, brothers and children, se- 
 cure now of their own safety, anxious 
 yet for our salvation, longs that we may 
 come to their sight and embrace — to 
 that joy which will be common to us 
 and to them — to that pleasure expected 
 by our celestial fellow-servants, as well 
 as ourselves — to that full and perpetual 
 felicity. Bede. 
 
 Instability. 
 Be not instable in thy resolutions, 
 nor various in thy actions, nor incon- 
 stant in thy affections; so deliberate, 
 that thou mayst resolve; so resolve, 
 that thou mayst performe ; so per- 
 forate, that thou mayst persevere : mu- 
 tability is the badge of infirmity. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 
 Love of our Neighbour. 
 Love thy neighbour for God's sake, 
 and God for his owne sake, who cre- 
 ated all things for thy sake, and re- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 93 
 
 med thee for his me r cy sake: if 
 thy love hath any orher object, it is 
 
 false love : if thy object have any other 
 end. it is selfe love. Ibid. 
 
 Meditation. 
 
 All endeavours aspire to eminency: 
 all eniinencies do be^et an admiration. 
 And this makes me believe that con- 
 templative admiration is a large par: 
 of the worship of the Deity. Nothing 
 can carry us so near to God and heaven 
 as this. The mind can walk beyond 
 the sight of the eye ; and (though in a 
 cloud; can lift us into heaven while we 
 live. Meditation is the soul's perspec- 
 tive glass : whereby, in her long re- 
 move, she discerneth God, as if lie 
 were nearer hand. Feltham. 
 
 Aspiration. 
 
 I have seen a lark rising from his 
 bed of grass and soaring upwards, sing- 
 
94 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 ing as he rises, and in hopes to get to 
 Heaven and climb above the clouds ; 
 but the poor bird was beaten back with 
 the loud sighing of an eastern wind, 
 and his motion made irregular and in- 
 constant, descending more at every 
 breath of the tempest than all the vi- 
 brations of his wings served to exalt 
 him till the little creature was forced 
 to sit down and pant, and stay till the 
 storm was overpast ; and then it made 
 a prosperous flight ; for then it did rise 
 and sing, as if it had learned music 
 and motion from some angel as he 
 passed some time through the air. So 
 is the prayer of the good man when 
 agitated by any passion. He fain 
 would speak to God, and his words are 
 of this earth, earthy ; he would look to 
 his Maker, but he could not help seeing 
 also that which distracted him, and a 
 tempest was raised and the man over- 
 ruled ; his prayer was broken and his 
 
Pearls of Thought. 95 
 
 thoughts were troubled, and his words 
 ascended to the clouds, and the wan- 
 dering of his imagination recalled them, 
 and in all the fluctuating varieties of 
 passion they are never like to reach 
 God at all. But he sits him down and 
 sighs over his infirmity, and fixes his 
 thoughts upon things above, and for- 
 gets all the little vain passages of this 
 life, and his spirit is becalmed, and his 
 soul is even and still, and then it softly 
 and sweetly ascends to heaven on the 
 wings of the Holy Dove, and dwells 
 with God, till it returns, like the use- 
 ful bee, loaded with a blessing and the 
 dew of heaven. Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 Goodness. 
 Goodness, like the river Nile, over- 
 flows its banks to enrich the soil, and 
 to throw plenty into the country. 
 Goodness is generous and diffusive : it 
 is largeness of mind and sweetness of 
 
96 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 temper — balsam in the blood, and jus- 
 tice sublimated to a richer spirit. Good- 
 ness is justice and somewhat more. 
 Goodness is modest and sincere, inof- 
 fensive and obliging : it ruffles and dis- 
 turbs nobody, nor puts any thing to 
 pain without necessity. Collier. 
 
 Intellectual Pleasures. 
 
 Intellectual pleasures are of a no- 
 bler kind than any others. They be- 
 long to beings of the highest order. 
 They are the inclinations of heaven, 
 and the entertainments of the Deity. 
 
 Ibid. 
 Improvement of Time. 
 
 The hours of a w T ise man are length- 
 ened by his ideas, as those of a fool are 
 by his passions. The time of the one 
 is long, because he does not know what 
 to do with it ; so is that of the other, 
 because he distinguishes every moment 
 of it with useful or amusing thoughts ; 
 
Pearls of Thought. 97 
 
 or in other words, because the one is 
 always wishing it away, and the other 
 always enjoying it. Addison. 
 
 Wages of Six. 
 The wages that sin bargains for with 
 the sinner are, life, pleasure, and profit ; 
 but the wages it pays him with are, 
 death, torment, and destruction. He 
 that would understand the falsehood 
 and deceit of sin, must compare its 
 promises and its payments together. 
 
 Dr. South. 
 Selfishness. 
 He that is sensible of no evil but 
 what he feels, has a hard heart ; and 
 he that can spare no kindness from 
 himself, has a narrow soul. Collier. 
 
 Fear of Death. 
 Chpjst feared to die that thou mio-ht- 
 est not fear to die, but mightest trust 
 in Him who raised Jesus from the dead 
 
 7 
 
98 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 on the third day. Put thy trust in 
 Him alone, Christian, despair not 
 for any weakness of thine. Ogerius. 
 
 The Cross. 
 The cross is the concord of Scrip- 
 tures, and, as it were, the boundary 
 and border-land of old and new things. 
 The cross confederates heaven and 
 earth: the cross re-joins men and an- 
 gels in the unanimity of their ancient 
 concord. The cross is the death of 
 vice, and the fountain and life of all 
 virtue. The cross is the courage of 
 those that are fighting bravely; the 
 recovery of those that are fallen ; the 
 crown of those that are victorious. 
 The cross subjects us to a momentary 
 death, and recompenses us with eternal 
 life. Peter Damiani. 
 
 Holy Scripture. 
 What else is Holy Scripture but a 
 letter from the Almighty God to his 
 creature. The King of heaven, the 
 
Pearls of Thought. 99 
 
 Lord of men and of angels, has sent 
 you a letter to conduct you to eternal 
 life, and yet you delay to read it zeal- 
 ously. Learn the mind of God in the 
 word of God. Gregory of Borne. 
 
 Perfect through Suffering. 
 By the bitter cup of sorrow we attair 
 to glory. Let him who has attained tc 
 the dignity of a friend of God, look on 
 himself as he is in himself, and on the 
 gifts received as something sublime, 
 exalted above himself. Ibid. 
 
 Affection. 
 Let the foundation of thy affection 
 be vertue, then make the building as 
 rich, and as glorious as thou canst, if 
 the foundation bee beauty, or wealth, 
 and the building vertue, the foundation 
 is too weak for the building, and it will 
 fall. Happy is he, the pallace of whose 
 affection is founded upon vertue, walled 
 
100 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 with riches, glazed with beauty, and 
 roofed with honour. Enchiridion. 
 
 Besetting Sin. 
 Every man's own besetting sin is the 
 tempest. You love God ; you walk 
 upon the sea ; the swellings of this 
 world are under your feet. When your 
 heart fluctuates with the desire of sin, 
 call on the divinity of Christ, that you 
 may conquer that desire. Anselm. 
 
 Preservative against Sin. 
 
 A heart in heaven will be a most 
 excellent preservative against sin. It 
 will keep the heart well employed. 
 When we are idle, we tempt the devil 
 to tempt us : as careless persons make 
 thieves. Baxter, 
 
 Penalties of Poverty. 
 
 The necessitous man has neither 
 hands, lips, nor understanding, for his 
 own or his friend's use. He is slighted 
 
Pearls of thought. 101 
 
 in men's conversation, overlooked in 
 their assemblies, and repulsed from 
 their doors. In a word, after all you 
 can say of a man, conclude that he is 
 rich, and you have made him friends ; 
 nor have you utterly overthrown a man 
 in the world's opinion, till you have 
 said — he is poor. Steele. 
 
 Ignoranxe. 
 
 So long as thou art ignorant, be not 
 asham'd to learn : he that is so fondly 
 modest, not to acknowledge his own 
 defects of knowledge, shall in time be 
 so foully impudent to justifie his own 
 ignorance ; ignorance is the greatest of 
 all infirmities, and, justified, the chiefest 
 of all follies. Quarles. 
 
 Good Actions. 
 
 God never accepts a good inclination 
 instead of a good action, where that 
 action may be done ; nay, so much the 
 contrary, that if a good inclination be 
 
102 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 not seconded by a good action, the 
 want of that action is thereby made so 
 much the more criminal and inexcus- 
 able. A good inclination is but the 
 first rude draught of virtue ; but the 
 finishing strokes are from the will, 
 which, if well disposed, will by degrees 
 perfect ; if ill disposed, will by the su* 
 perinduction of ill habits, quickly de- 
 face it. South. 
 Moral Warfare. 
 The moral warfare which every ra- 
 tional and accountable creature has to 
 sustain, pregnant with consequences 
 which reach to eternity, possesses an 
 intrinsic and essential importance, to- 
 tally independent of the magnitude of 
 the events, or the publicity and splen- 
 dour of the scenes to which it is at- 
 tached. The moral history of a beg- 
 gar, which faithfully revealed the inte- 
 rior movements of his mind, and laid 
 open the secret causes which contrib- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 103 
 
 iited to form and determine his charac- 
 ter, might enlarge and enlighten the 
 views of a philosopher. Robert Hall. 
 
 Close of Life. 
 The last act of life is sometimes like 
 the last number in a sum, ten times 
 greater than all the rest. Collier. 
 
 Personal Responsibility. 
 He that has the business of life at 
 his disposal, and has nobody to account 
 to for his minutes, but God and himself, 
 may, if he pleases, be happy without 
 drudging for it. He needs not flatter 
 the vain, nor be tired with the imperti- 
 nent, nor stand to the courtesy of 
 knavery and folly. He needs not 
 dance after the caprice of a humourist, 
 nor bear a part in the extravagance of 
 another. His fate does not hang upon 
 any man's face ; a smile will not trans- 
 port him, nor a frown ruin him ; for his 
 
104 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 fortune is better fixed than to float upon 
 the pleasure of the nice and changeable. 
 
 Collier. 
 Modesty of Learning. 
 
 Learning gives us a fuller convic- 
 tion of the imperfections of our nature ; 
 which, one would think, might dispose 
 us to modesty: for the more a man 
 knows, the more he discovers his igno- 
 rance. Ibid. 
 Object of Life. 
 
 Life was given for noble purposes, 
 and therefore we must not part with it 
 foolishly. It must not be thrown up 
 in a pet, nor sacrificed to a quarrel, nor 
 whined away in love. Ibid. 
 
 Life Fleeting. 
 Life, like an ill-gotten estate, con- 
 sumes insensibly, in despite of all im- 
 aginable frugality. Infancy is a state 
 of hope, and has the tenderness of pa- 
 rents, or the compassion of strangers 
 to support it. Youth, like a blossom, 
 
Pearls of Thought. 105 
 
 gives us beauty in hand and fruit in 
 prospect; but age grows worse and 
 worse upon the progress, sinks deeper 
 in sorrow and neglect, and has no 
 relief to expect but the grave. 
 
 Collier. 
 Christianity. 
 
 If ever Christianity appears in its 
 power, it is when it erects its trophies 
 on the tomb : when it takes up its 
 votaries where the world leaves them, 
 and fills the breast with immortal 
 hope in dying moments. Robert Hall. 
 
 Pleasure. 
 Pleasure is pursued where it seems 
 most renounced, and aimed at even 
 in self-denial. All voluntary poverty, 
 all the discipline of penance, and the 
 mortifications of religion are underta- 
 ken upon this view* A good man is 
 contented with hard usage at present, 
 that he may take his pleasure in the 
 
106 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 other world. In short, to dispute the 
 goodness of pleasure is to deny experi- 
 ment, and contradict sensation, which 
 is the highest evidence. Robert Hall. 
 
 The Mind. 
 
 The mind, by a sort of natural magic, 
 raises the ghost of a departed pleasure, 
 and makes it appear without any de- 
 pendence upon space or time. This al- 
 most omnipresence of an advantage, is 
 a circumstance of value ; it gives op- 
 portunity for use and repetition, and 
 makes it so much the more one's own. 
 
 Ibid. 
 Pleasantry. 
 
 An inoffensive pleasantness is a good 
 quality to improve friendship. It enli- 
 vens conversation, relieves melancholy, 
 and conveys advice with better success 
 than naked reprehension. This gilding 
 the pill reconciles the palate to the pre- 
 scription, without weakening the force 
 
Pearls of Thought. 107 
 
 of the ingredients ; and he who can 
 cure by recreation, and make pleasure 
 the vehicle of health, is a doctor in 
 good earnest. Robert Hall. 
 
 True Courage. 
 Tkue courage is the result of reason- 
 ing. A brave mind is always impreg- 
 nable. Resolution lies more in the 
 head than in the veins, and a just sense 
 of honour and of infamy, of duty and 
 of religion, will carry us further than 
 all the force of mechanism. Collier. 
 
 Wealth. 
 "Wealth is a rank soil, in which, un- 
 less carefully managed, the weeds will 
 quickly spring up, overtop the plants 
 and choke the grain. Ibid. 
 
 National Religion. 
 It is an infallible signe of approach- 
 ing mine in a Republick when religion 
 is neglected, and her establisht ceremo* 
 

 l08 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 tries interrupted, the joy of Jerusalem 
 depends upon the peace of Sion. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 Wanton Jests. 
 
 Wanton jests make fools laugh, and 
 wise men frown. Scoff not at the nat- 
 ural defects of any which are not in 
 their power to amend. O 'tis cruelty 
 to beat a cripple with his own crutches. 
 No time to break jests when the heart- 
 strings are about to be broken. He 
 that will lose a friend for a jest, de- 
 serves to die a beggar by the bargain. 
 Thomas Fuller. 
 
 Human Impotency. 
 O Loed, take my heart, for I cannot 
 give it ; and when thou hast it, oh keep 
 it, for I cannot keep it for thee : and save 
 me in spite of myself, for Jesus Christ's 
 sake. Fenelon. 
 
 Repentance. 
 
 If I may be permitted to drop one tear 
 as I enter the portals of the city of God, 
 
Pearls of Thought. 109 
 
 it will be at taking an eternal farewell of 
 that beloved and profitable companion 
 — Bepentance. Rowland Hill. 
 
 Angelic Ministeries, 
 Ouf. walls of flesh, that close our souls, 
 
 God knew how weak, and gave 
 A farther guard, even every man, an 
 
 angel guide to save. 
 And men for us he angels, while they 
 
 work our souls to save. Warner. 
 
 Constant Prayer. 
 
 The seeking of God should be the 
 prologue to all our affairs ; we are en- 
 joined first to pray, and then deter- 
 mine : " Thou shalt make thy prayer 
 unto him; thou shalt also decree a 
 thing, and it shall be established unto 
 thee." The interesting Providence in 
 our concerns is the highway to success. 
 The reason we miscarry is because we 
 consult not God, but determine without 
 
110 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 him, and then we have no reason to 
 complain of him for not prospering our 
 way when we never commended our 
 affairs to his conduct. Charnocfo 
 
 Repentance of Sin. 
 So often as thou rememberest thy 
 sinnes without griefe, so often thou re- 
 peatest those sinnes for not grief eing : 
 he that will not mourne for the evill 
 which he hath done, gives earnest for 
 the evill he means to doe, nothing can 
 asswage that fire which sinnes hath made, 
 but only that water which repentance 
 hath drawne. Quarles. 
 
 Judicious Silence. 
 He cannot be wise that speaks much, 
 or without sense, or out of season ; nor 
 be known for a fool that says nothing. 
 It is a great misery to be a fool ; but 
 this is still greater, that a man cannot 
 be a fool but he must show it. It were 
 well for such a one if he could be 
 taught to conceal his foolishness, but 
 
Pearls of Thought. Ill 
 
 then there would be no fools. He is 
 not a fool that hath unwise thoughts, 
 but he that utters them. Even con- 
 cealed folly is wisdom. And some- 
 times wisdom uttered is folly ; while 
 others care how to speak, my care shall 
 be how to hold my peace. Sail. 
 
 Confession. 
 
 When thy tongue and heart agree 
 not in confession, that confession is not 
 agreeable to God's pleasure: he that 
 confesses with his tongue, and wants 
 confession in his heart, is either a vaine 
 man, or an hypocrite : he that hath 
 confession in his heart, and wants it in 
 his tongue, is either a proud man, or a 
 timorous. Ibid' 
 
 Idleness. 
 
 Idleness is more troublesome to a 
 good mind than to do nothing : for, beside 
 the furtherance of our estate, the mind 
 doth both delight and better itselfe with 
 
112 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 exercise. There is this difference, 
 then, betwixt labour and idleness, la- 
 bour is a profitable and pleasant trou- 
 ble, but idleness is a trouble both un- 
 profitable and comfortless. Sail. 
 
 Simplicity and Purity. 
 Simplicity and purity are the two 
 wings by which a man is lifted up 
 above all earthly things. Simplicity is 
 in the intention ; purity in the affec- 
 tion. Simplicity tends to God, purity 
 apprehends and tastes him. 
 
 Thomas a Kernels. 
 
 Memory. 
 Overburthen not thy memory to 
 make so faithfull a servant a slave. 
 Remember Atlas was weary. Have 
 as much reason as a camell, to rise 
 when thou hast thy full load. Memory, 
 like a purse, if it be over full that it 
 cannot shut, all will drop out of it. 
 Take heed of a gluttinous curiositie to 
 
Pearls of Thought. 113 
 
 feed on many things, lest the greedi- 
 nesse of the appetite of thy memory 
 spoyl the digestion thereof. Spoyl not 
 thy memory with thine own jealousie, 
 nor make it bad by suspecting it. 
 How canst thou find that true which 
 thou wilt not trust i Marshal thy no- 
 tions into a handsome method. One 
 will carrie twice more weight, trust and 
 packt up in bundles, than when it lies 
 untowardly flapping about his shoulders. 
 
 Fuller. 
 Bad Company. 
 Sir Peter Lely made it a rule never 
 to look at a bad picture, having found 
 by experience that whenever he did so, 
 his pencil took a hint from it. Apply 
 this to bad books and bad company. 
 
 Reconciliation. 
 If thou hast wrong'd thy brother in 
 thought, reconcile thee to him in 
 thought; if thou hast offended him in 
 
114 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 words, let thy reconciliation be in 
 words ; if thou hast trespassed against 
 him in deeds, by deeds be reconciled 
 to him ; that reconciliation is most kindly 
 which is most in kind. Quarles. 
 
 Good Deeds. 
 When thy hand hath done a good 
 act, aske thy heart if it be w r ell done : 
 the matter of a good action is the deed 
 done : the form of a good action is the 
 manner of the doing, in the first, anoth- 
 er hath the comfort, and thou the glory, 
 in the other, thou hast the comfort, and 
 God the glory : that deed is ill done 
 wherein God is no sharer. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 Beauty. 
 
 Gaze not on beauty too much, lest it 
 blast thee ; nor too long, lest it blind 
 thee ; nor too near, lest it burn thee ; if 
 thou like it, it deceives thee ; if thou 
 love it, it disturbs thee ; if thou 
 lust after it, it destroys thee ; if vertue 
 
Pearls of Thought. 115 
 
 accompany it, it is the heart's paradise ; 
 if vice associate it, it is the soule's 
 purgatory ; it is the wise man's bone- 
 fire — the foole's furnace. Enchiridion. 
 
 Greatness of God. 
 
 Thixke of God. (especially in thy de- 
 votion) in the abstract, rather than the 
 concrete, if thou conceive him good, 
 thy finite thoughts are ready to termi- 
 nate that good in a conceived subject; 
 if thou thinke him great, thy bounded 
 conceipt is apt to cast him into a com- 
 prehensible figure : conceive him, there- 
 fore, a diffused goodnesse without qual- 
 ity, and represent him an incomprehen- 
 sible greatnesse without quantity. 
 
 " Ibid. 
 True Religion. 
 
 If thou and true religion be not as 
 ret met ; or met unknowne ; by these 
 markes thou shalt discover it. First, it 
 is a religion that takes no pleasure in 
 
116 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 the expense of blood. Secondly, it is 
 a religion, whose tenets crosse not the 
 booke of truth. Thirdly, it is a reli- 
 gion, that takes most from the creature, 
 and gives most to the creatour. If such 
 a one thou meet with, assure thy selfe 
 it is the right, and therefore professe it 
 in thy life, and protect it to thy death. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 Pity. 
 When thou seest misery in thy bro- 
 ther's face, let him see mercy in thine 
 eye ; the more the oyle of mercy is 
 poured on him by thy pity, the more 
 the oyle in thy cruse shall be encreas- 
 ed by thy pity. HM* 
 
 Virtue and Vice. 
 If thou takes paines in what is good, 
 the paines vanish, the good remaines, 
 if thou take pleasure in what is evill, 
 the evill remaines, and the pleasure 
 vanishes ; what art thou the worse for 
 
Pearls of Thought. 117 
 
 paines, or the better for pleasure, when 
 both are past. Enchiridion. 
 
 Fear of Sinning. 
 To tremble at the sight of thy sinne, 
 makes thy faith the lesse apt to tremble ; 
 the devils beleeve and tremble, because 
 they tremble at what they beleeve ; 
 their beliefe brings trembling; thy 
 trembling brings beliefe. Ibid. 
 
 Dangerous Friendships. 
 With three sorts of men enter no 
 serious friendship : the ingratefull man, 
 the multiloquious man. the coward : the 
 first cannot prize thy favours : the second 
 cannot keep thy couhsell : the third dare 
 not vindicate thy honour. Ibid, 
 
 Self- Scrutiny. 
 Eeade not bookes alone, but men, 
 and amongst them chiefly thy self e : if 
 thou find anything questionable there, 
 
118 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 use the commentary of a severe friende, 
 rather than the glosse of a sweete-lipt 
 flatterer ; there is more profit in a dis- 
 tastefull truth, than deceitfull sweet- 
 nesse. Enchiridion. 
 
 How Life is Fed. 
 
 The birds of the aire die to sustaine 
 thee ; the beasts of the fields die to 
 nourish thee, the fishes of the sea die 
 to feed thee. Our stomack are their 
 common sepulcher. 
 
 Good God ! with how many deaths 
 are our poor lives patent up ? how full 
 of death is the life of momentary man ? 
 
 Quarles. 
 Economy of Time. 
 
 If thou desire the time should not 
 passe too fast, use not too much pas- 
 time: thy life in jollity blazes like a 
 tapour in the wind : the blast of hon- 
 our wastes it, the heat of pleasure 
 melts it; if thou labour in a painfull 
 calling, thou shalt be lesse sensible of 
 
Pearls of Thought. 119 
 
 the fleet of time, and sweetlier satisfied 
 at the time of death. Quartet. 
 
 God — Alpha and Omega. 
 God is Alpha and Omega in the 
 great world ; endeavour to make him 
 so in the little world ; make him thy 
 evening epilogue, and thy morning 
 prologue, practice to make him thy 
 last thought at night when thou sleep- 
 est ; and thy first thought in the morn- 
 ing when thou awakest ; so shall thy 
 fancy be sanctified in the night, and 
 thy understanding rectified in the day, 
 so shall thy rest be peacefull, thy la- 
 bours prosperous, thy life pious, and 
 thy death glorious. Ibid. 
 
 Sinful Habits. 
 Be not too slow in the breaking of a 
 sinfull custome, a quick courageous res- 
 olution is better than a graduall deli- 
 beration : in such a combate, he is the 
 
120 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 bravest souldier that layes about him 
 without feare or wit. Wit pleades ; 
 feare disheartens; he that would kill 
 Hydra, had better strike off one neck 
 than five heads ; fell the tree and the 
 branches are soon cut off. 
 
 Quarles. 
 
 Love of God. 
 If thou enjoy est not the God of love, 
 thou canst not obtaine the love of God, 
 neither untill then canst thou enjoy a 
 desire to love God, nor relish the love 
 of God ; thy love to God is nothing but 
 a faint reflection of God's love to thee ; 
 till he please to love thee, thy love can 
 never please him. Ibid. 
 
 Moderation. 
 If thou hast any businesse of conse- 
 quence in agitation, let thy care be 
 reasonable, and seasonable ; continuall 
 standing bent weakens the bow ; too 
 hasty drawing breaks it. Put off thy 
 
Pearls of Thought. 121 
 
 cares with thy clothes ; so shall thy 
 rest strengthen thy labour ; and so shall 
 thy labour sweeten thy rest. Quarks. 
 
 Approbation of God. 
 If thou hope to please all, thy hopes 
 are vaine ; if thou feare to displease 
 some, thy feares are idle. The way to 
 please thyselfe is not to displease the 
 best ; and the way to displease the best, 
 is to please the most ; if thou canst 
 fashion thyselfe to please all, thou shaft 
 displease him that is all in all. 
 
 Hid. 
 
 Renunciation* of Sin. 
 
 If thou would'st be justified, acknowl- 
 edge thy injustice: he that confesses 
 his sinne, begins his journey to salva- 
 tion; he that is sorry for it mends his 
 pace ; he that forsakes it, is at his jour- 
 nie's end. Enchiridion. 
 
 Self-Control. 
 The way to subject all things to thy- 
 selfe, is to subject thyselfe to reason; 
 
122 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 thou shalt governe many, if reason 
 governe thee : wouldst thou be crown- 
 ed the monarch of a little world? com- 
 mand thyselfe. Enchiridion. 
 
 Knowledge and Faith. 
 Thy ignorance in unrevealed myste- 
 ries, is the mother of a saving faith ; 
 and thy understanding in revealed 
 truths, is the mother of a sacred knowl- 
 edge ; understand not therefore that 
 thou maist beleeve, but beleeve that 
 thou maist understand ; understanding 
 is the wages of a lively faith, and faith 
 
 is the reward of an humble ignorance. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Pride and Charity. 
 
 Pride is the ape of charity, in show, 
 
 not much unlike ; but somewhat fuller 
 
 of action. In seeking the one, take 
 
 heed thou light not upon the other: 
 
 they are two parallels ; never but 
 
 asunder: charity feeds the poore, so 
 
Pearls of Thought. 123 
 
 does pride ; charity builds an hospital!, 
 so does pride : in this they differ : char- 
 ity gives her glory to God ; pride takes 
 her dory from man. Quarles. 
 
 Benefactions. 
 
 "What thou givest to the poore, thou 
 securest from the thiefe, but what thou 
 withholdest from his necessity, a thiefe 
 possesses. God's exchequer is the 
 poore man's box : when thou strikest a 
 tally, he becomes thy debtor. 
 
 Enchiridion. 
 
 Neglect of the Soul. 
 " Two things a master commits to his 
 servant's care," saith one, " the child 
 and the child's clothes." It will be but 
 a poor excuse for the servant to say at 
 his master's return, sir, here are all the 
 child's clothes neat and clean, but the 
 child is lost ! Much so will be the ac- 
 count that many will give to God of their 
 
124 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 souls and bodies at the great day. Lord 
 here is my body, I was very careful for 
 it, I neglected nothing that belonged to 
 its content and welfare ; but for my 
 soul, that is lost and cast away forever. 
 I took little care and thought about it. 
 
 Flavel. 
 
 Death — Life. 
 Two hands across the breast 
 
 And work is done, — 
 Two pale feet crossed in rest, 
 
 The race is run : — 
 Two eyes with coin-weights shut, 
 
 And all tears cease, — 
 Two lips where grief is mute, 
 And wrath at peace, 
 So pray we ofttimes mourning our lot ; 
 God in His kindness answereth not! 
 
 Two hands to work addressed, 
 
 Aye for His praise ! — 
 Two feet that never rest, 
 
 Walking his ways : — 
 
Pearls of Thought. 125 
 
 Two eyes that look above, 
 Still through all tears, — 
 Two lips that speak but love, 
 Never more fears : — 
 § So cry we afterwards, low on our knees : 
 Sj Pardon those erring prayers, Father — 
 i hear these ! Anon. 
 
 Mercy. 
 Let us take heed ; for mercy is like 
 a rainbow which God set in the clouds 
 to remember mankind ; we must never 
 look for it after night, and it shines not 
 in the other world. If we refuse mercy 
 here, we shall have justice to eternity. 
 
 Bp. Taylor. 
 
 Earthly Treasure. 
 If thou hide thy treasure upon the 
 earth, how canst thou expect to find it 
 in heaven % Canst thou hope to be a 
 sharer where thou hast reposed no 
 stocke? "What thou givest to God's 
 glory, and thy soule's health, is laid up 
 
126 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 in heaven, and is only thine ; that alone, 
 which thou exchangest, or hidest upon 
 earth is lost. Enchiridion. 
 
 To-Day — To-Morrow. 
 
 Rabbi Eliezer said, "Turn to God 
 one day before your death." His dis- 
 ciples said, " How can a man know the 
 day of his death ? " He answered them, 
 "Then you should turn to God to-day ; 
 perhaps you may die to-morrow ; thus 
 every day will be employed in return- 
 ing. 
 
 Use of Affliction. 
 
 If any hard affliction hath surprized 
 thee, cast one eye upon the hand that 
 sent it, and the other upon the sin that 
 brought it : if thou thankfully receive the 
 message, he tfiat sent it will discharge 
 the messenger. Enchiridion. 
 
 Slander. 
 Let thy tongue take counsell of one 
 eye, rather than of two ears ; let the 
 
Pearls of Thought. 
 
 newes thou reportest be ratlier stale 
 than false, lest thou be branded with 
 the name of liar. It is an intolerable 
 dishonour to be that which only to be 
 called so, is thought worthy of a stabbe. 
 
 Quarles. 
 
 Heavenly Mindedness. 
 
 If we would become heavenly mind- 
 ed, we must let the imagination realize 
 the blessedness to which we are moving 
 on. Let it calm you and ennoble you, 
 and give you cheerfulness to endure. 
 
 Let us think much of rest, the rest 
 which is not of indolence, but of pow- 
 ers in perfect equilibrium ; the rest 
 which is deep as summer midnight, yet 
 full of life and force as summer sun- 
 shine, the Sabbath of eternity. 
 
 Robertson. 
 
 The Uxregenerate. 
 The Scriptures define all unregene- 
 rate persons as dead in trespasses and 
 
128 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 sins, — to urge the specious plea, there- 
 fore, that because a man is not notori- 
 ously wicked, he need not seek the sal- 
 vation that is in Christ, is as absurd as 
 to deck a dead body with flowers, and 
 then to insist upon its being a living 
 person. Anon. 
 
 Self-Go verxment. 
 When we are alone, we have our 
 thoughts to watch, in the family our 
 tempers, in company our tongues. 
 
 Hannah More. 
 
 Charity. 
 I will tell you why charity seems to 
 be signified by the oil. The Apostle 
 says, "I show unto you a way above 
 the rest. Though I speak with the 
 tongue of men, and of angels, and have 
 not charity, I am become as sounding 
 brass or a tinkling cymbal.'' This, i. e. 
 charity, is that way above the rest, 
 which is with good reason signified by 
 
PearU ■-/ The ught. 12 
 
 ve all liqi 
 
 :\ and pour in oil upon it, 
 
 and the oil will swim above. Pour in oil, 
 
 in water upon it, the oil will swim 
 
 : o keep the usual order, it 
 
 be uppermost; if yon change the 
 
 order, it will still be uppermost; charity 
 
 failettL ■>"• -^ , 
 
 Study c? the Scriptures. 
 b read the Word of God, we study 
 it, we hear it, we know more of it per- 
 ha] - than our neighbours do, but to ac- 
 cept it, to believe it, to yield ourselves 
 up to it, to live according to it, to feed 
 v\ : n it, to know, and act afi knowing, 
 that ,; man doth not live by bread alone, 
 but by svery woi . that proceedeth out 
 of the month ::' Be 1 :'* this, and only 
 this, will make all that nearness, and 
 all that knowledge, the blessing that it 
 should be, that it may be, that it 
 
 ml - it is to be turned into a curse 
 
130 Pearls of Thought, 
 
 instead of a blessing, and bring us into 
 a miserable likeness with tlie lost apos- 
 tle. -Dr. Mdberly. 
 Christian Charity. 
 Let the love of your brethren be as 
 a fire within you, consuming that sel- 
 fishness that is so contrary to it and is 
 so natural to men; let it set your 
 thoughts on work to study how to do 
 others good : let your love be an active 
 love intense within you, and extending 
 itself in doing good to the souls and 
 bodies of your brethren as they need 
 and you are able. LeigMon. 
 
 Virtue. 
 The lofty mountain of virtue is of 
 quite a contrary make to all other 
 mountains. In the mountains of the 
 earth the skirts are pleasant, but the 
 tops rough ; whereas the skirt of the 
 mountain of virtue is harsh, but the 
 top delicious. He who studies to come 
 
Pearls of Thought. 131 
 
 at it, meets in his first step nothing but 
 stones, briers, and thistles ; but the 
 roughness of the way diminishes as he 
 proceeds in his journey, and the plea- 
 sure of it increases, until at length on 
 the top he finds nothing but beautiful 
 flowers, choice plants and crystal foun- 
 tains. Tillotson. 
 
 The Christian. 
 jSo man is so happy as a real Chris- 
 tian ; none so rational, so virtuous, so 
 amiable. How little vanity does he 
 feel, though he believes himself united 
 to God ! How far is he from abjected- 
 ness when he ranks himself with the 
 worms of the earth ! Pascal. 
 
 Happiness Found only in God. 
 There is nothing substantial and sat- 
 isfactory but the Supreme Good : in it, 
 the deeper we go, and the more largely 
 we drink, the better and happier we 
 are ; whereas, in outward acquirements. 
 
132 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 \ 
 
 if we could attain to the summit and 
 perfection of them, the very possession 
 with the enjoyment palls. LangJwrne. 
 
 Meditation on Truth. 
 It is not hasty reading but seriously 
 meditating, upon holy and heavenly 
 truths, that makes them prove sweet 
 and profitable to the soul. It is not 
 the bee's touching on the flowers that 
 gathers honey, but her abiding for a 
 time upon them and drawing out the 
 sweet. It is not he that reads most, but 
 he that meditates most on divine truth 
 that will prove the choicest, wisest, 
 strongest Christian. Sail. 
 
 Religion. 
 A conscience void of offence before 
 God and man is an inheritance for eter- 
 nity. Religion, therefore, is a necessary, 
 an indispensable element in any great 
 human character. There is no living 
 
Pearls of Thought. 133 
 
 without it. Religion is the tie that con- 
 nects man with his Creator and holds 
 him to his throne. If that tie is sun- 
 dered or broken, he floats away, a 
 worthless atom in the universe ; its 
 proper attractions all gone, its destiny 
 thwarted, and its whole future nothing 
 but darkness, desolation, and death. A 
 man with no sense of religious duty is 
 he whom the Scriptures describe in so 
 terse but terrific a manner as "living 
 without God in the world." Such a man 
 is out of his proper being, out of the 
 circle of all his duties, out of the circle 
 of all his happiness, and away — far, far, 
 away, from the purposes of his crea- 
 tion. Webster. 
 
 The Virtuous. 
 If men knew what felicity dwells in 
 the cottage of a virtuous man, how 
 sound he sleeps, how quiet his rest, 
 how composed his mind, how free from 
 care, how easy his position, how joyful 
 
134 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 his heart, they would never admire the 
 noises, the throngs of passions, and the 
 violence of unnatural appetites that fill 
 the house of the luxurious and the 
 heart of the ambitious. Taylor. 
 
 The Soul. 
 We may compare the soul to a linen 
 cloth: it must he first washed, to take 
 off its native hue and color, and to 
 make it white ; and afterwards it must 
 be ever and anon washed to preserve 
 and keep it white. South. 
 
 Procrastination. 
 
 Be wise to-day ; ? tis madness to defer ; 
 
 Xext day the fatal precedent will plead ; 
 
 Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out ot 
 
 life. Young. 
 
 Affliction. 
 
 The truly great and good £91 (/Miction 
 
 bear a countenance more princely than 
 
 they are wont ; for it is the temper of 
 
Pearls of Thought. 135 
 
 the highest hearts, like the palm-tree, 
 to strive most upwards when it is most 
 burdened. 8. P. Sidney. 
 
 Virtue. 
 There is but one pursuit in life which 
 it is in the power of all to follow, and 
 of all to obtain. It is subject to no dis- 
 appointments, since he that perseveres, 
 makes every difficulty an advancement, 
 and every contest a victory ; — and this 
 is the pursuit of virtue. Colton. 
 
 Resurrection Reflected in Nature. 
 When I see the heavenly sun buried 
 under earth in the evening of the day, 
 and in the morning to find a resurrec- 
 tion to his glory, why (think I) may not 
 the sons of heaven, buried in the earth, 
 in the evening of their days, expect the 
 morning of their glorious resurrection ? 
 Each night is but the past day's funeral, 
 and the morning his resurrection ; why 
 
136 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 then should our funeral sleep be other 
 than our sleep at night? "Why should 
 we not as well awake to our resurrec- 
 tion, as in the morning? I see night is 
 rather an intermission of day than a 
 deprivation, and death rather borrows 
 our life of us than robs us of it. Since, 
 then, the glory of the sun finds a resur- 
 rection, why should not the sons of 
 glory ? Warwick. 
 
 The World's Favor Worthless. 
 I see corruption so largely rewarded, 
 that I doubt not but I should thrive 
 in the world, could I get but a dispen- 
 sation for my conscience for the liberty 
 of trading. A little flattery would get 
 me a great deal of favour, and I could 
 buy a world of this world's love, with 
 the sale of this little trifle honesty. 
 Were this world my home, I might 
 perhaps be trading: but alas, these 
 merchandise yield less than nothing in 
 
Pearls of Thought. 137 
 
 heaven. I would willingly be at quit 
 with the world, but rather at peace 
 with my conscience. The love of men 
 is good, whilst it lasteth ; the love of 
 God is better, being everlasting. 
 
 Warwick. 
 
 Charity. 
 Nothing truly can be termed my own 
 But what I make my own by using well. 
 Those deeds of charity which we have 
 
 done 
 Shall stay forever with us ; and that 
 
 wealth 
 "Which we have so bestowed we only 
 
 keep: 
 The other is not ours. Middleton. 
 
 Moral Consciousness. 
 As I see in the body, so I know in 
 the soul, they are oft most desperately 
 sick who are least sensible of their dis- 
 ease ; whereas he that fears each light 
 wound for mortal, seeks a timely cure, 
 
138 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 and is healed. I will not reckon it my 
 happiness, that I have many sores, but 
 since I have them, I am glad they 
 grieve me. I know the cure is not the 
 more dangerous, because my wounds 
 are more grievous ; I should be more 
 sick if 1 pained less. Warwick. 
 
 Jesus. 
 
 The name of Jesus is not only light, 
 but also food ; it is likewise oil, without 
 which all the food of the soul is dry : it 
 is salt, unseasoned by which whatever 
 is presented to us is insipid ; it is honey 
 in the mouth, melody in the ear, joy 
 in the heart, medicine to the soul ; and 
 there are no charms in any discourse in 
 which his name is not heard. 
 
 Bernard. 
 Charity. 
 
 It is not good to speak evil of all 
 whom we know bad: it is worse to 
 judge evil of any who may prove good. 
 
 
Pearls of Thought. 139 
 
 To speak ill upon knowledge, shows a 
 want of charity ; to speak ill upon sus- 
 picion shows a want of honesty. I will 
 not speak so bad as I know of many : I 
 will not speak worse than I know of 
 any. To know evil by others, and not 
 speak it, is sometimes discretion : to 
 speak evil by others, and not know it, 
 is always dishonesty. Warwick 
 
 Saying and Doing. 
 There is many a good divine that 
 cannot learn his own teaching. It is 
 easier to say, this do, than to do it. 
 When, therefore, I see good doctrine 
 with an evil life, I may pity the one, 
 but I will practise only the other. The 
 good sayings belong to all, the evil ac- 
 tions only to their authors. Ibid. 
 
 Evil Company. 
 There is no security in evil society 
 where the good are often made worse, 
 
140 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 the bad seldom better; for it is the 
 peevish industry of wickedness to find, 
 or make a fellow. It is like they will 
 be birds of a feather that used to flock 
 together. For such commonly doth 
 their conversation make us, as they are 
 with whom we use to converse. I can- 
 not be certain not to meet with evil 
 company, but I will be careful not to 
 keep with evil company. Warwick. 
 
 Seeing — Believing. 
 
 As faith is the evidence of things not 
 seen, so things that are seen are the 
 perfecting of faith. I believe a tree 
 will be green, when we see him leaf- 
 less in winter ; I know he is green when 
 I see him flourishing in summer. 
 
 It was a fault in Thomas not to be- 
 lieve till he did see : it were a madness 
 in him not to believe when he did see. 
 Belief may sometime exceed reason, 
 not oppose it : and faith be often above 
 
Pearls of Thought. 141 
 
 , not against it. Thus whilst faith 
 doth assure me that I eat Christ effectu- 
 ally, sense must assure me that I taste 
 bread really. For though I oftentimes 
 see not those tilings that I believe, vet I 
 must still believe those things that I see. 
 
 Warn 
 
 Dissimulation. 
 
 It is no small fault to be bad, and 
 
 seem so ; it is a greater fault to seem 
 good and not be so. The cloak of dis- 
 ilation is a main part of the gar- 
 ment spotted with the nesh ; a vice thus 
 covered is worse than a naked offence. 
 There is no devil to the hypocrite. 
 
 Hid. 
 Christian* Humility. 
 
 Consedee the sanctity, the loftiness 
 and the lowliness of the Christian spirit. 
 The pagan philosophers have sometimes 
 raised themselves above the rest of men, 
 by a more temperate mode of life, and by 
 sentiments which had a distant conform 
 
142 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 itywith the gospel. But they never ac- 
 knowledged humility as a virtue, nor 
 was it indeed compatible with that class 
 of virtues which they inculcated. It 
 was reserved for Christianity to com- 
 bine qualities, which till then appeared 
 irreconcileable, and to teach mankind 
 that humility is so far from being in- 
 compatible with other virtues, that 
 without it, all other virtues are but 
 vices and defects. Pascal 
 
 Man's Immortality. 
 The immortality of the soul is a 
 subject in which we are all so deeply 
 and intimately concerned, that it ar- 
 gues the most stupid insensibility not 
 to make it the constant object of our 
 reflections. All our actions and all our 
 thoughts must take such different direc- 
 tions, according as we cherish or reject 
 the hope of eternity, that it is impossi- 
 ble to act or determine rightly, unless 
 
Pearls of Thought. 143 
 
 we regulate our conduct and decisions 
 by a continual reference to this main 
 and primary question. Pascal 
 
 Religion and Reason. 
 Piety is very different from super- 
 stition. To suffer piety to degenerate 
 into superstition, is to destroy its essen- 
 tial character. But at the same time, 
 there is nothing so truly reasonable, as 
 to exclude reason from the province of 
 faith ; and nothing so truly irrational, 
 as to lose sight of reason in things 
 which are not necessarily of faith. 
 The two excesses are equally dangerous 
 — to shut out reason, or to make it all 
 in all. Faith tells us what the senses 
 cannot tell, but it never contradicts 
 them ; it is above and not against rea- 
 son." Ibid. 
 
 Little Sins. 
 As I am fearful to act great sins, so 
 I will be careful to avoid small sins. 
 
144 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 He that contemns a small fault com- 
 mits a great one. I see many drops 
 make a shower : and what difference is 
 it, whether I be wet either in the rain or 
 in the river, if both be to the skin ? There 
 is small benefit in the choice,whether we 
 go down to hell by degrees, or at once. 
 
 Warwick. 
 
 Feigned Humility. 
 How cunningly doth the prince of 
 darkness take on him the form of an 
 angel of light ! How often have seem- 
 ing saints proved devils ! even in those 
 things (lightly) most faulty, which they 
 make a show of being most free from : 
 some more proud of being thought 
 plain than a flaunting gallant in his 
 new fashion. Others refusing a de- 
 served commendation, only with a de- 
 sire to be commended for refusing it : 
 the one hating pride with a more proud 
 hatred, the other shunning praise with 
 a greater vain glory. It is bad to have 
 
Pearls of Thought. 145 
 
 vices, worse to dissemble them. Plato 
 possessed his rich bed with less pride 
 than Diogenes trampled on it. 
 
 Warwick. 
 
 Self-Praise. 
 
 I will not much commend others to 
 themselves, I will not at all commend 
 myself to others. So to praise any to 
 their faces is a kind of flattery ; but to 
 praise myself to any is the height of 
 folly. He that boasts his own praises, 
 speaks ill of himself, and much dero- 
 gates from his true deserts. It is wor- 
 thy of blame to affect commendation. 
 
 Hid. 
 Vain Glory. 
 
 Popular applause and vulgar opin- 
 ion may blow up and mount upward 
 the bubble of a vain glorious mind, till 
 it burst in the air and vanish ; but a 
 wise man builds his glory on the strong 
 foundation of virtue, without expecting 
 or respecting the vulgar props of vulgar 
 
146 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 opinion. I will not neglect what every 
 one thinks of me : for that were impu- 
 dent dissoluteness. I will not make it my 
 common care to hearken how I am 
 cared for of the common sort, and be 
 over solicitous what every one speaks 
 of me; for that were a toilsome vanity. 
 I may do well and hear ill, and that's 
 a kingly happiness. Warwick. 
 
 Cheerfulness in Age. 
 As oft as I hear the robin red-breast 
 chant it as cheerfully in September, 
 the beginning of winter, as in March, 
 the approach of the summer, why 
 should not we (think I) give as cheerful 
 entertainment to the hoary frosty hairs 
 of our age's winter, as to the primroses 
 of our youth's spring ! Why not to the 
 declining sun in adversity, as (like Per- 
 sians) to the rising sun in prosperity ? 
 I am sent to the ant to learn industry ; 
 to the dove to learn innocency ; to the 
 serpent to learn wisdom ; and why not 
 
Pearls of Thought. HI 
 
 to this bird to learn equanimity and 
 . n-ce ; and to keep the same tenor 
 of my mind's quietness, as well at the 
 approach of calamity's winter, as of 
 the spring of happiness I Warwick. 
 
 Never too Late to Mend. 
 As it is never too soon to be good, so 
 is it never too late to amend : I will 
 therefore neither neglect the time pre- 
 sent, nor despair of the time past. If I 
 had been sooner good, I might perhaps 
 have been better; if I am longer bad 
 I shall (I am sure) be worse. That I 
 have stayed a long time idle in the 
 market-place deserves reprehension ; 
 but if I am late sent into the vineyard, 
 I have encouragement to work, "I will 
 give unto this last as unto thee.'' 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Context. 
 Content is the mark we all aim at, 
 
 the chief good and top of felicity, to 
 
148 Pearls of Thought, 
 
 which all men's actions strive to ascend : 
 but it is solely proper to God's wisdom 
 to engross all true content into his own 
 hand, that he may sell it to saints by 
 retail, and enforce all men to buy it of 
 him, or want it. Hence is it, that a 
 godly man, in his mean estate, enjoys 
 more content in God, than a king or 
 emperor in his earthly glory and mag- 
 nificence. I will then strive to pur- 
 chase me a patent of content from Mm 
 that hath the monopoly thereof : and 
 then, if I have little in estate, I shall 
 have much in content. Warwick. 
 
 Daily Duties. 
 My morning haunts are where they 
 should be, at home ; not sleeping, or 
 concocting the surfeits of an irregular 
 feast, but up and stirring ; in winter, 
 often ere the sound of any bell awake 
 men to labour, or to devotion ; in 
 summer, as oft with the bird that first 
 
Pearls of Thought. 149 
 
 rises, or not much, tardier, to read good 
 authors, or cause them to be read, till 
 the attention be weary, or memory 
 have its full freight ; then with useful 
 and generous labours preserving the 
 body's health and hardiness, to render 
 lightsome, *clear, and not lumpish obe- 
 dience to the mind, to the cause of re- 
 ligion and our country's liberty. 
 
 Milton. 
 Daily Reckoning. 
 After my later meal, my thoughts 
 are slight : only my memory may be 
 charged with her task of recalling what 
 was committed to her custody in the 
 day : and my heart is busy in examin- 
 ing my hands and mouth, and all other 
 senses of that day's behaviour. And 
 now the evening is come, no tradesman 
 doth more carefully take in his wares, 
 clear his shopboard, and shut his win- 
 dows than I would shut up my thoughts 
 and clear my mind. That student shall 
 
150 Pea+rls of Thought. 
 
 live miserably, which like a camel lies 
 down under his burden. All this done, 
 calling together rny family, we end the 
 day with God. Bp. Hall 
 
 Sabbath Duties. 
 Such are my common days ; but 
 God's day calls for another respect. 
 The same sun arises on this day, and 
 enlightens it ; yet because the Sun of 
 Righteousness arose upon it, and gave 
 a new life unto the world in it, and 
 drew the strength of God's moral pre- 
 cept unto it, therefore justly do we 
 sing with the psalmist : This is the day 
 which the Lord hath made. Now I 
 forget the world, and in a sort myself; 
 and deal with my wonted thoughts, as 
 great men use, who, at sometimes o± 
 their privacy, forbid the access of all 
 suitors. Prayer, meditation, reading, 
 hearing, preaching, singing, good con- 
 ference, are the businesses of this day, 
 
Pearls of Thought. 151 
 
 which I dare not bestow on any work 
 or pleasure, but heavenly. Bp. Hall. 
 
 Morning Devotions. 
 
 I would ever awake with God : my 
 first thoughts are for Him who hath 
 made the night for rest, and the day for 
 travail ; and hath blessed both. If my 
 heart be early seasoned with his pre- 
 sence, it will savour of him all the day. 
 
 Ibid. 
 Studies. 
 
 After some whiles meditation, I 
 walk up to my masters and compan- 
 ions, my books : and sitting down 
 amongst them with the best content- 
 ment, I dare not reach forth my hand 
 to salute any of them, till I have first 
 looked urj to heaven, and craved favour 
 of him to whom all my studies are duly 
 referred : without whom I can neither 
 profit nor labour. After this, after no 
 over great vanity, I call forth those 
 
152 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 which may best fit my occasions, 
 wherein I am not too scrupulous of 
 age : sometimes I put myself to school 
 to one of these ancients, whom the 
 church hath honoured with the name 
 of fathers; whose volumes I confess 
 not to open without a secret reverence 
 of their holiness and gravity :— some- 
 times to their later doctors, which 
 want nothing but age to make them 
 classical : always to God's book : — that 
 day is lost, whereof some hours are not 
 improved in those divine monuments : 
 others I turn over out of choice : these 
 out of duty. $P- Z aU - 
 
 The Covetous Man. 
 The covetous person lives as if the 
 world were made altogether for him, 
 and not he for the w T orld ; to take in 
 everything, and to part with nothing. 
 Charity is accounted no grace with 
 him, nor gratitude any virtue. The 
 
Pearls of Thought. 153 
 
 cries of the poor never enter into his 
 ears ; or if they do, he has always one 
 ear readier to let them out than the 
 other to take them in. In a word, by 
 his rapines and extortions, he is always 
 for making as many poor as he can, but 
 for relieving none whom he either finds 
 or makes so. So that it is a question, 
 whether his heart be harder or his fist 
 closer. In a word, he is a pest and a 
 monster: greedier than the sea, and 
 barrener than the shore. South. 
 
 A Simile. 
 Ix a quiet bend of the river, over- 
 shadowed by trees, in a sequestered 
 and rocky nook, little troubled by the 
 foot of man, I disturbed a solitary heron, 
 grey and motionless as the mossy stone 
 on which he stood. Startled by my 
 step, the stately bird took wing, and, 
 circling slowly round, seemed reluctant 
 to quit its haunt. Looking into the 
 
154 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 deep water, I saw a lily spreading its 
 pure white blossoms. So looked the 
 infant Moses in his rushy bed. 
 
 Thomas Fuller. 
 
 Pleasures in Religion. 
 The pleasure of the religious man is 
 an easy and portable pleasure, such a 
 one as he carries about in his bosom, 
 without alarming either the eye or the 
 envy of the world. A man putting all 
 his pleasures into this one, is like a 
 traveller's putting all his goods into 
 one jewel; the value is the same, and 
 the convenience greater. South. 
 
 Recollection in Religion. 
 Recollection is the life of religion. 
 The Christian wants to know no new 
 thing, but to have his heart elevated 
 more above the world, by secluding 
 himself from it as much as his duties 
 will allow, that religion may effect its 
 great end, by bringing its sublime 
 
Pearls of Thought. 155 
 
 hopes and prospects into more steady 
 action on the mind. Cecil. 
 
 Moral Beauty. 
 
 As amber attracts a straw, so does 
 beauty admiration, which only lasts 
 while the warmth continues ; but vir- 
 tue, wisdom, goodness, and real worth, 
 like the loadstone, never lose their power. 
 These are the true graces which, as the 
 poet feigns, are linked and tied hand in 
 hand, because it is by their influence 
 that human hearts are so firmly united 
 to each other. Burton, 
 
 Humility. 
 Archbishop Usher was a man of dis- 
 tinguished learning, piety, and dili- 
 gence. The following circumstance 
 will show that his humility equalled his 
 other valuable endowments : — A friend 
 of the Archbishop frequently urged him 
 to write his thoughts on Sanctification^ 
 which at length he engaged to do : but a 
 
156 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 considerable time elapsing, the perform- 
 ance of his promise was unfortunately 
 claimed. The Bishop replied to this pur- 
 pose : " I have not written, and yet I 
 cannot charge myself with a breach of 
 promise, for I began to write ; but when 
 I came to treat of the new creature 
 which God formeth by his own spirit in 
 every regenerate soul, I found so little 
 of it wrought in myself that I could 
 speak of it only as parrots, or by rote, 
 but without the knowledge of what I 
 might have expressed ; and, therefore, 
 I durst not presume to proceed any 
 farther upon it." Upon this, his friend 
 stood amazed to hear such an humble 
 confession from so grave, holy, and em- 
 inent a person. The Bishop then added*: 
 " I must tell you, we do not well un- 
 derstand what sanctification and the 
 new creature are. It is no less than 
 for a man to be brought to an entire 
 resignation of his own will to the will 
 
Pearls of Thought. 157 
 
 of God ; and to live in the offering up 
 of his soul continually in the flames of 
 love, as a whole burnt-offering to Christ; 
 and oh, how many who profess Chris- 
 tianity are unacquainted, experimental- 
 ly, with this work upon their souls." 
 
 Anon. 
 Humility. 
 
 Humility cannot be degraded by hu- 
 miliation. It is its very character to 
 submit to such things. There is a con- 
 sanguinity between benevolence and 
 humility. They are virtues of the same 
 stock. BurJce. 
 
 Modesty. 
 
 Modesty is to merit, as shades to 
 figures in a picture, giving it strength 
 and beauty. Bw.yer. 
 
 Social Intercourse. 
 From social intercourse are derived 
 some of the highest enjoyments of life. 
 Where there is a free interchange of 
 
158 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 sentiments, the mind acquires new ideas; 
 and by a frequent exercise of its powers 
 the understanding gains fresh vigor. 
 
 Addison. 
 True Knowledge. 
 The end of learning is to know God, 
 and out of that knowledge to love him 
 and to imitate him, as we may the near- 
 est by possessing our souls of true vir- 
 tue. Milton. 
 
 Hypocrisy in Religion. 
 It is the greatest madness to be a 
 hypocrite in religion. The world will 
 hate thee because a Christian even in 
 appearance ; and God will hate thee 
 because so only in appearance; and 
 thus, having the hatred of both, thou 
 shalt have no comfort in either. 
 
 Bishop Hall. 
 
 Rules of Living. 
 Hugh Peters, an English preacher 
 of the seventeenth century, left as a 
 
Pearls of Thought. 
 
 159 
 
 legacy to Ins daughter, in the year 
 1660, some rules of living, of which 
 other persons would reap the benefit, if 
 they would conform to his excellent 
 standard. Whosoever would live long 
 and blessedly, let him observe these fol- 
 lowing rules, by which he shall attain 
 that to which he desireth. Let thy 
 Thoughts be Divine, awful, godly. 
 Talk Little, honest, true. 
 
 Works Profitable, holy, charitable. 
 
 Manners Grave, courteous, cheerful. 
 Diet Temperate, convenient, frugal 
 
 Apparel Sober, neat, comely. 
 Will Confident, obedient, ready. 
 
 Sleep Moderate, quiet, seasonable. 
 
 Prayers Short, devout, often, fervent. 
 
 Recreation Lawful, brief, seldom. 
 Memory Of death, punishment, glory. 
 
 Dead Sinners. 
 A poor sinner lies in his sins as Peter 
 did in his chains, fast asleep, though a 
 warrant was signed for his execution 
 
160 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 the next day ; but the Spirit in the 
 Word awakens him as the angel did 
 Peter. Flavel 
 
 The Body. 
 
 The body is the soul's house, its "be* 
 loved habitation — where it was born, 
 and hath lived ever since it had a be- 
 ing, and in which it enjoyed all its 
 comforts. Upon this account the Apos- 
 tle calls it the soul's home, (TTe are at 
 home in the body. — 2 Cor. 5.) TTe may 
 Bay of manv gracious souls, thev pav a 
 dear rent for the house they dwell in. 
 
 Ibid. 
 The Heart. 
 
 The heart of man is his worst part 
 before it be regenerated, and the best 
 afterwards : it is the seat of principles 
 and the foundation of actions. The eye 
 of God is, and the eye of the Christian 
 ought to be. principally fixed upon it. 
 The keeping of the heart is a work that 
 is never done till life is ended. Heart- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 161 
 
 neglect is a leak in the bottom — no 
 heavenly influences, however rich, abide 
 in that soul. The mind is to the heart, 
 as the door to the house : what comes 
 into the heart, comes in through the un- 
 derstanding, and truths sometimes go 
 no further than the entry, and never 
 penetrate into the heart. -JW& 
 
 Heart-work. 
 
 Heajit-work is hard work indeed. 
 To shuffle over religious duties with a 
 loose and heedless spirit, will cost no 
 great pains ; but to set thyself before 
 the Lord, and tie up thy loose and vain 
 thoughts to a constant and serious at- 
 tendance upon him — this will cost thee 
 something. Ibid. 
 
 Prayer* 
 
 AVe do not know the power of prayei 
 
 — the might, the strength, that can 
 
 prevail with God, himself. He has 
 
 committed to us, and commanded us to 
 
 11 
 
162 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 use, this wondrous engine of power: 
 but we are slow of heart, and weak in 
 faith to believe His word, and so fail to 
 receive the full blessing it is designed 
 to impart. Anon. 
 
 Soul and Body. 
 The soul and body are as strings of 
 two musical instruments, set exactly at 
 one height ; if one be touched, the other 
 trembles. They laugh and cry, are sick 
 and well together. Flavel 
 
 Human Reason. 
 Polished steel will not shine in the 
 dark ; no more can reason, however re- 
 fined or cultivated, shine efficaicously, 
 but as it reflects the light of Divine 
 truth shed from heaven. Foster. 
 
 Godliness. 
 Godliness is the tendency of the 
 mind towards God, and is exercised in 
 believing in Him : loving and fearing 
 
Pearls of Thought. 163 
 
 him — holding communion with him, 
 and employing ourselves in his service, 
 and consecrating all that we do to his 
 honor. c/ay. 
 
 Scepticism. 
 
 "When once infidelity can persuade 
 men that they shall die like beasts, they 
 will soon be brought to live like beasts 
 also. South. 
 
 Perseverance. 
 
 Here is encouragement to persever- 
 ance, that Jesus Christ, our Head, is 
 already in heaven. If the head be 
 
 above water the body cannot drown. 
 
 Flavel. 
 
 ,The Goodness of God. 
 "Wherever we direct our eyes, wheth- 
 er we reflect them inward upon our- 
 selves, we behold God's goodness to 
 occupy and penetrate the very root and 
 centre of our beings ; or extend them 
 abroad toward the things about us, we 
 may perceive ourselves enclosed wholly, 
 
164 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 and surrounded with his benefits. At 
 home we find a comely body framed 
 by his curious artifice, various organs 
 fitly proportioned, situated and tem- 
 pered for strength, ornament, and mo- 
 tion, actuated by a gentle heat, and in- 
 vigorated with lively spirits, disposed to 
 health, and qualified for a long endur- 
 ance : subservient to a soul endued with 
 divers senses, faculties, and powers, apt 
 to enquire after, pursue and perceive 
 delights and contents. Or when we 
 contemplate the wonderful works of 
 nature, and walking about at our lei- 
 sure, gaze upon this ample theatre of the 
 world, considering the stately beauty, 
 constant order and sumptuous furniture 
 thereof ; the glorious splendor and 
 uniform motion of the heavens, the 
 pleasant fertility of the earth : the curi- 
 ous figure and fragrant sweetness of 
 plants, the exquisite frame of animals, 
 and all other amazing miracles of na- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 1G5 
 
 ture, wherein the glorious attributes of 
 God (especially his transcendent good- 
 ness) are most conspicuously displayed, 
 (so that by them not only large ac- 
 knowledgments, but even congratula- 
 tory hymns, as it were, of praise, have 
 been extorted from the mouths of Aris- 
 totle, Pliny, Galen, and such like men, 
 never suspected of excessive devotion) : 
 then should our hearts be affected with 
 thankful sense, and our lips break forth 
 into his praise. Isaac Barrow. 
 
 Idleness. 
 Idleness is the dead sea that swal- 
 lows up all virtues, and the self-made 
 sepulchre of a living man. The idle 
 man is the devil's urchin whose livery 
 is rags, and whose diet and wages are 
 famine and disease. !&& 
 
 Self-Deception. 
 Most men in the world, who perish 
 eternally, perish for prevaricating with 
 
166 Pearls of Thought, 
 
 themselves, and not living up to the 
 judgment and resolves of their own 
 knowledge ; they miss of their way to 
 heaven, not because they do not know 
 it, but because they know it and will 
 not choose it. Stwtik 
 
 Profession not Practice. 
 Profession is only the' badge of a 
 Christian, belief the beginning, but 
 practice is the nature, and custom the 
 perfection. For it is this which trans- 
 lates Christianity from a bare notion 
 into a real business ; from useless spec- 
 ulations into substantial duties, and 
 from an idea in the brain into an exist- 
 ence in the life. An upright conversa- 
 tion is the bringing of the general theo- 
 rems of religion into the particular 
 instances of solid experience ; and, if 
 it were not for this, religion would exist 
 nowhere but in the Bible. The grand 
 deciding question at the last day will 
 
Pearls of Thought. 167 
 
 be, not, "What have you said ! or, What 
 have you believed i but, What have 
 you done more than others ? South. 
 
 The Sure Foundation. 
 
 This, therefore, I affirm, that he who 
 places his Christianity only in his heart, 
 and his religion in his meaning, has 
 fairly secured himself against a discov- 
 ery in case he should have none ; but 
 yet, for all that, shall, at the last, find 
 his portion with those who indeed have 
 none. And the truth is, those who are 
 thus intentionally pious, do, in a very 
 ill and untoward sense, verify that phil- 
 osophical maxim, that what they so 
 much pretend to be chief and first in 
 their intention, is always last, if at all, 
 in the execution. 
 
 The result of all that I have said, or 
 can say, is, that every spiritual builder 
 would be persuaded to translate his 
 foundation from the sand to the rock, 
 
168 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 and not presume upon Christ as his 
 Saviour, till by a full obedience to his 
 laws he has owned him for his sover- 
 eign. And this is properly to believe 
 in him; this is truly to build upon 
 a rock ; even that rock of Ages, upon 
 which every one that wears the name 
 of Christ must by an inevitable dilem- 
 ma either build or split. South. 
 
 Men's Hearts. 
 We may stand and knock at men's 
 hearts till our own ache, but no open- 
 ing till Christ come. He can fit a key 
 to all the cross wards of the will, and 
 with sweet efficacy open it, and that 
 without any force or violence to it 
 
 Flacel. 
 
 Abuse of Terms. 
 One of the most powerful instruments 
 of vice, the most fatal of all its poi- 
 soned weapons, is the abuse of words, 
 by which good and bad feelings are 
 
Pearls of Thought. 169 
 
 blended together, and its deformity 
 concealed from an apparent alliance to 
 some proximate virtue. Prodigality 
 and dissipation are liberality and high 
 spirit ; covetousness, frugality ; flat- 
 tery, good breeding. As society ad- 
 vances in civilization the power of this 
 engine does not diminish. 
 
 Basil Montagu. 
 
 Ideas. 
 Bred to think, as well as to think by 
 rote, we furnish our minds as we fur- 
 nish our houses — with the fancies of 
 others, and according to the mode and 
 age of our country; we pick up our 
 ideas and notions in common conversa- 
 tion, as in schools. BolingbroTce. 
 
 Principles. 
 How lightly soever some men may 
 speak of notions, yet so long as the sou] 
 governs the body, men's notions must 
 
170 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 influence their actions, more or less, as 
 they are stronger or weaker; and to 
 good or evil, as they are better or 
 worse. Berkeley. 
 
 Industry. 
 
 If industry is no more than habit, 
 'tis at least an excellent one. If you 
 ask me which is the real hereditary sin 
 of human nature, do you imagine I 
 shall answer pride, or luxury, or ambi- 
 tion, or egotism ? No — I shall answer 
 indolence. What conquers indolence, 
 will conquer all the rest. Indeed, all 
 good principles must stagnate without 
 mental activity. Zimmerman. 
 
 Knowledge. 
 I esty no man that knows more 
 than myself, but pity them that know 
 less. Sir T. Broicne. 
 
 Death. 
 We are born, it is said, with the 
 seed or principles of dissolution in our 
 
Pearls of Thought . 171 
 
 frame, which continue to operate from 
 our birth to our death ; so that in this 
 sense we may be said to i% die daily." 
 Death, therefore, is not so much a lay- 
 ing aside our old bodies, (for this we 
 have been doing all our lives.) as ceas- 
 ing to assume new ones. Did Locke 
 determine rightly, when he made per- 
 sonal identity to consist in conscious- 
 
 fiessf Anon. 
 
 Memory. 
 TTithout memory the judgment must 
 be unemployed, and ignorance must be 
 the consequence. Pliny says it is one 
 of the greatest gifts of nature. 
 
 Montaigne. 
 Conscience. 
 
 Conscience is a dangerous thing, — it 
 makes a man a coward, — a man cannot 
 steal, but it checks him. It is a blus- 
 tering, shame-faced-spiritjthat mutinies 
 in a man's bosom ; it fills one with obsta- 
 cles ; it beggars any man that keeps it ; 
 
172 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 it is turned out of towns and cities for 
 a dangerous thing; and every man 
 that means to live well, endeavors to 
 trust to himself, and live without it. 
 
 Shafapeare. 
 Consciousness. 
 
 Consciousness is the immediate knowl- 
 edge which the mind has of its sensa- 
 tions and thoughts, and in general of all 
 its present operations. "We cannot 
 properly be said to be conscious of our 
 own existence; it being only suggested 
 to us by those sensations and operations 
 ef which we are conscious. 
 
 Wollaston. 
 Choice of Books. 
 
 An old Latin proverb bids us beware 
 of the man of one book ; thereby teach- 
 ing that a single author, well studied, is 
 better than many, superficially perused. 
 There is great force in this maxim, if 
 the solitary book be one that discusses 
 great principles, and contains in it the 
 
Pearls of Thought. 173 
 
 seed-truths of human conduct. Sir 
 Alexander Johnstone, when acting as 
 Governor of Ceylon, was greatly sur- 
 prised at the acumen displayed by a 
 native juryman in a trial for murder. 
 The testimony was full and explicit 
 concerning tl^e guilt of the defendant, 
 and the judge was about to charge the 
 jury accordingly, when one of their 
 number, a Cingalese farmer, requested 
 leave to examine the witnesses. He 
 had them brought in, one by one, and 
 cross-examined them so ably as to elicit 
 the fact, that they were perjured con- 
 spirators, and in fact the very authors 
 of the crime which they were charging 
 upon another. Admiring the intelli- 
 gence of the juryman, the Governor in- 
 quired what had been his studies. He 
 replied that he had never read but one 
 book, and that was the " Organon" of 
 Aristotle. This he had made the com- 
 panion of all his leisure hours. Still 
 
174 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 more astonished at this assertion, ho 
 made farther inquiry as to the existence 
 of such a treatise in the Cingalese 
 tongue, and ascertained that the Portu- 
 guese, when first settled in Ceylon, 
 translated Aristotle's Organon from the 
 original Greek into the Cingalese dia- 
 lect, and that this farmer owned a copy 
 of that old version. He had thoroughly 
 disciplined his mind by the study of it. 
 
 Anon. 
 Fluency of Speech. 
 The common fluency of speech in 
 many men, and most women, is owing 
 to a scarcity of matter and a scarcity of 
 words ; for whoever is a master of lan- 
 guage and has a mind full of ideas, will 
 be apt in speaking, to hesitate upon the 
 choice of both ; whereas common speak- 
 ers have only one set of ideas, and one 
 set of words to clothe them in ; and 
 these are always ready at the mouth : 
 so people come faster out of a church 
 
Pearls of Thought. 115 
 
 when it is almost empty, than when a 
 crowd is at the door. Swift. 
 
 Men Seldom Reason. 
 Man is not a reasoning animal ; the 
 best you can predicate of him is, that 
 he is an animal capable of reason, and 
 this, too, we take upon old tradition: 
 for it has not been my fortune yet to 
 meet, I will not say with any one man, 
 but I may safely say with any one order 
 of men, who ever did reason. 
 
 Warburtorts Letters. 
 
 Momentous Questions. 
 
 Do I prayerfully peruse the Divine 
 Scriptures, daily ? 
 
 Do I believe in the infinite merits 
 and love of Christ ? 
 
 Do I heartily and habitually repent 
 of all my conscious sins ? 
 
 Do I desire holiness as ardently as I 
 desire happiness ? 
 
176 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 What fruits of Faith do I bear? 
 
 Do I daily strive to deny flesh and 
 sense, take up my Cross and aim to fol- 
 low Christ ? 
 
 Do I hourly seek to avoid all occa- 
 sions of sin, and is the temper of my 
 mind habitually like the example of my 
 Saviour ? Anon. 
 
 Self-Love. 
 The motives of the best actions will 
 not bear too strict an inquiry. It is 
 allowed that the cause of most actions, 
 good or bad, may be resolved into the 
 love of ourselves ; but the self-love of 
 some men inclines them to please others ; 
 and the self-love of others is wholly 
 employed in pleasing themselves. This 
 makes the great distinction between vir- 
 tue and vice. Swift. 
 
 Liberty. 
 Libekty is to the collective body, 
 what health is to every individual body. 
 
Pearls of Thought. 177 
 
 Without health, no pleasure can be 
 
 tasted by man ; without Liberty, no 
 happiness can be enjoyed by society. 
 
 B ol in qb voice. 
 
 Of Abuses. 
 There is a time when men will not 
 suffer bad things because their ances- 
 tors have suffered worse. There is a 
 time when the hoary head of inveter- 
 ate abuse will neither draw reverence 
 nor obtain protection. Burke, 
 
 Error. 
 A max should never be ashamed to 
 own he has been in the wrong, which 
 is but saying in other words, that he is 
 wiser to-day than he was yesterday. 
 
 Pope. 
 Brains and Reasoning. 
 
 Ix my opinion the brain has a very 
 
 unpromising aspect for such a business, 
 
 (thinking.) It looks like an odd sort of 
 
 bog for fancy to paddle in. When I 
 
 12 
 
178 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 see people tread sense out of mud, as 
 they do eels, then I may be inclined to 
 believe that brains and reasoning are 
 of a kin. In the mean time I desire to 
 be excused. Jeremy Collier. 
 
 Ignorance. 
 It is impossible to make people un- 
 derstand their ignorance ; for it re- 
 quires knowledge to perceive it; and 
 therefore he that can perceive it, hath it 
 not. Bishop Taylor. 
 
 Manners Contagious. 
 It is certain, that either wise bearing, 
 or ignorant carriage, is caught, as men 
 take diseases, one of another; there- 
 fore, let men take heed of their com- 
 pany. ShaJcspeare. 
 
 Of Abilities. 
 
 The abilities of man must fall short 
 
 on one side or other, like too scanty a 
 
 blanket when you are a-bed; if you 
 
 pull it upon your shoulders, you leave 
 
Pearls of Thought. 179 
 
 your feet bare ; if you thrust it down 
 upon your feet, your shoulders are un- 
 covered. Sir W. Temple. 
 
 Happiness. 
 That all who are happy are equally 
 happy, is not true. A peasant and a 
 philosopher may be equally satisfied, 
 but not equally happy. Johnson. 
 
 Beauty. 
 Beauty, though it is a pretty varnish, 
 yet is of a frail constitution, liable to 
 abundance of accidents, and is but a 
 short-lived blessing at the best. 
 
 Jeremy Collier. 
 
 The Double-minded. 
 Leaex to be one man ; that is, learn to 
 live and act alike, for while we act from 
 contrary principles, sometimes give, and 
 sometimes defraud; sometimes love, 
 and sometimes betray; sometimes are 
 devout, and sometimes careless of God, 
 
180 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 this is to be two men, which is a fool- 
 ish aim, and always ends in a loss of 
 pains. No ! says wise Epictetus ; learn 
 to be one man ; thou mayest be a good 
 man, or thou mayest be a bad man, and 
 that to the purpose ; but it is impossi- 
 ble that thou shouldst be both. And 
 here the Philosopher tiad the happiness 
 to fall in exactly with the notion of the 
 text : — Te cannot serve two masters. 
 
 Bean Young. 
 
 Aids to Religion. 
 
 Lord, with what care hast thou begirt 
 us round, 
 
 Parents first season us; then school- 
 masters 
 
 Deliver us to laws ; they send us bound 
 
 To rules of reason, holy messengers, 
 
 Pulpits and Sundays ; sorrow dogging 
 sin, 
 
 Affections sorted, anguish of all sizes ; 
 
 Line nets and stratagems, to catch us 
 in; 
 
Pearls of Thought, 181 
 
 Bibles laid open ; millions of surprises; 
 
 Blessings beforehand, ties of grateful- 
 ness ; 
 
 The sound of glory ringing in our ears; 
 
 Without, our shame ; within, our con- 
 sciences ; 
 
 Angels and Grace ; eternal hopes and 
 fears. 
 
 Yet all these fences, and their whole 
 array, 
 
 One cunning bosom sin blows quite 
 away. Herbert. 
 
 Christian Evidences. 
 Christian practice, as an evidence 
 to a man's own-self of the sincerity of 
 his religion, is much to be preferred to 
 any discoveries or exercises of grace 
 whatever, that begin and end in con- 
 templation. Sincerity in religion con- 
 sists in setting God highest in the heart, 
 in choosing him above all things. But 
 a man's actions are the proper trial 
 
182 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 what a man's heart prefers. To forsake 
 all for Christ in heart, is the very same 
 thing as to have a heart to forsake all 
 for Christ; but certainly the proper 
 trial whether a man has a heart to for- 
 sake all for Christ's sake, is his being 
 actually put to it, actually doing it 
 when other things come in competition 
 with it, or so far as called to it. God- 
 liness consists not in a heart to intend 
 to do the will of God, but in a heart to 
 do it. Jonathan Edwards. 
 
 Character the Test of Religion. 
 There is, indeed, a mighty work to 
 be done ere we die ; that of resisting 
 the desires and the habits of nature, till 
 they are at least vanquished, if not ex- 
 terminated; that of transmuting the 
 character of earth which we have at the 
 first, into the character of heaven which 
 we must acquire afterwards, else heaven 
 we never shall reach. The distance, 
 
Pearls of Thought. 183 
 
 great as it is between the two states, 
 must be traversed on this side of death, 
 or we shall never attain a state of bless- 
 edness on the other side of death. 
 
 Chalmers. 
 
 Probation. 
 This life is a state of probation and 
 exercise like to that (which prefigured 
 and represented it) of God's people in 
 the wilderness, wherein God leadeth us 
 through many difficulties and hazards, 
 in many wants and hardships, to hum- 
 ble and prove us, in order to the fitting 
 
 us for another more happy state. 
 
 Barrow. 
 
 Repentance and Faith. 
 It is not so easy, nor so common a 
 thing to repent and believe, as igno- 
 rant, presumptuous sinners do imagine. 
 By the time you have learnt what is 
 needful ta be learnt for a sound repent- 
 ance, a saving faith, and a holy life, 
 you w r ill find that you have far greater 
 
184 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 business with God than with all the 
 world. Baxter. 
 
 Danger of Prosperity. 
 It is the bright day that brings forth 
 the adder. Think of God when the 
 tempter says, "All this will I give 
 thee." Trust not the insolvent world ; 
 it has cheated every creditor that ever 
 trusted it ; and it will cheat you. 
 
 Hannah More. 
 Self-Denial. 
 To think of religion in any other 
 sense, than as a state of self-denial, is 
 knowing nothing at all of it: for its 
 whole nature is to direct us by a light, 
 and knowledge, and wisdom from God ; 
 which is all contrary to the darkness, 
 ignorance, and folly of our natures. 
 
 Law. 
 Accusations of Conscience. 
 
 Upon me lies a burden whjch I can- 
 not shift upon any other human crea- 
 ture — the burden of duties unfulfilled, 
 
Pearls of Thought. 185 
 
 words unspoken, or spoken violently 
 and untruly ; of holy relationships neg- 
 lected; of days wasted forever; of evil 
 thoughts once cherished, which are ever 
 appearing as fresh as when they were 
 first admitted into the heart ; of talents 
 cast away ; of affections in myself, or 
 in others, trifled with ; of light within 
 turned to darkness. So speaks the con- 
 science ; so speaks, or has spoken, the 
 conscience of each man. Maurice, 
 
 Moral Insensibility. 
 Astonishing fact, that what all man- 
 kind acknowledge the greatest, they 
 care about the least ; as first, on the 
 summit of all greatness, the Deity. 
 " 'Tis acknowledged he reigns over all, 
 is present always here, prevails in each 
 atom and each star, observes us as an 
 awful Judge, claims infinite regard, is 
 supremely good — What then? Why, 
 think nothing at all about him ! 
 
186 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 "There is Eternity; you have lived, 
 perhaps, thirty years; you are by no 
 means entitled to expect much more 
 life ; you, at the utmost, will soon, very 
 soon die ; What follows? Eternity! a 
 boundless region ; inextinguishable life : 
 myriads of mighty and strange spirits ; 
 vision of God, glories, horrors. What 
 then ? Why, think nothing at all about 
 it ! " John Foster. 
 
 Fame. 
 
 The way to fame, is like the way to 
 heaven, through much tribulation. 
 
 Sterne. 
 Choice of Books. 
 
 Some books are to be tasted ; others 
 to be swallowed, and some few to be 
 chewed, and digested: that is, some 
 books are to be read only in parts: 
 others to be read, but not curiously, and 
 some few to be read wholly and with 
 diligence and attention. Some books, 
 also, may be read by deputy, and ex- 
 
Pearls of Thought, is; 
 
 tracts made oi them by others ; but 
 that would be only in the less impor- 
 tant and meaner sort of books ; else dis- 
 tilled books are like common distilled 
 waters, flashy things. &** 
 
 Faith and Works. 
 Faith and works are as necessary to 
 the spiritual life of the Christian, as 
 soul and body are to our life as men : 
 for faith is the soul of religion and 
 works the body. Colton. 
 
 Physiognomy. 
 What can be more significant than 
 the sudden flushing and confusion of a 
 blush, than the sparklings of rage, and 
 the lightnings of a smile I The soul is, 
 as it were, visible upon these occasions ; 
 the passions ebb and flow in the cheeks ; 
 and are much better distinguished in 
 their progress than the change of the air 
 in a weather-glass. A face well fur- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 
 
 rushed out by nature, and a little disci- 
 plined, has a great deal of rhetoric in it. 
 A graceful presence bespeaks accept 
 ance, gives a force to language, and 
 helps to convince by look and posture. 
 Jeremy Collier. 
 
 Mental Activity. 
 As the fire-fly shines only when on 
 the wing, so it is with the human mind 
 — when at rest, it darkens. Anon. 
 
 Indecision. 
 To be always intending to live a new 
 life, but never to find time to set about 
 it, is as if a man should put off eating 
 and drinking from one day to another, 
 till he is starved and destroyed. 
 
 TilloUon. 
 
 Leisure Hours. 
 There is room enough in human life 
 to crowd almost every art and science 
 in it. If we pass " no day without a 
 
Pearls of Thought. 189 
 
 line " — visit no place without the com- 
 pany of a book — we may with ease 
 fill libraries, or empty them of their 
 contents. The more we do, the more 
 we can do ; the more busy we are, the 
 more leisure we have ; and it is an old 
 maxim — " He hath no leisure w r ho useth 
 it not." Eazlitt. 
 
 Our Divine Redeemer. 
 When he had not where to lay his 
 head, he was not the less " God over all, 
 blessed forever." When, w r earied, he 
 rested on Jacob's w T ell, the pillars of 
 heaven and the foundations of the earth 
 rested securely on his sustaining power. 
 And never did he give so splendid a 
 proof that he was indeed the Life, as 
 when he died. For the mystery and 
 the marvel which angels desired to look 
 into was, how he by any possibility 
 could die. Had he been fallen and 
 sinful, and thus incapable of escaping 
 death, there could have been no mys- 
 
190 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 tery, nothing strange in the matter. 
 But they knew not all the extent of his 
 power, they knew not that he had the 
 keys of hell and of death, and that re- 
 belling as they were against heaven, 
 they were still completely subject to 
 him, till they saw him tread the region 
 of mortality, and enter at his own plea- 
 sure, unsubdued, unharmed, and as a 
 conqueror, into their dreary domain. 
 Then indeed when he died did they 
 know, and for the first time know, in all 
 the extent of its meaning, that he was 
 the Life. In the depth of his humiliation 
 he was not less God, nor less powerful 
 and glorious, than in the height of his 
 exaltation. Nay, in his death he was 
 giving the most decisive proof of his 
 Godhead ; for he was showing that he 
 possessed a power which no mere crea- 
 ture can ever possess, a power to lay 
 down a life which had been forfeited 
 by no sin, was demanded of him by no 
 
Pearls of Thought. 191 
 
 laWj and could be taken of him by no 
 power. In dying lie proved himself to 
 be the Lord of life and death. When 
 crucified he was still the " Lord of 
 glory," not less, nor, to the intelligent 
 eye, less conspicuously, than when, as- 
 cending up on high, he led captivity 
 captive, and received gifts for men. It 
 is justly argued by Gregory iSTyssen, 
 that the humiliation of our Lord was a 
 much more splendid exhibition of his 
 divine power than the magnitude of the 
 heavens, the splendor of their lumina- 
 ries, the embellishments of the universe, 
 or the perpetual admiration of all na- 
 ture. Anon. 
 Prayer. 
 
 Fill up the void spaces of your time 
 with meditation and prayer. 
 
 They are the safest who are most in 
 their closets; who pray, not to be seen 
 of men, but to be heard of God. 
 
 It is a comfort to Christians apart to 
 
192 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 think their prayers meet before a throne 
 of grace ; and their persons shall meet 
 before a throne of glory. 
 
 There wants nothing but a believing 
 prayer to turn a promise into a per- 
 formance. 
 
 God is a great God, and therefore he 
 will be sought ; he is a good God, and 
 therefore he will be found. 
 
 The breath of prayer comes from the 
 life of faith. 
 
 "Whatever you want, go to God by 
 faith and prayer, in the name of Christ, 
 and never think his delays are denials. 
 
 They that spend their days in faith 
 and prayer, shall end their days in 
 peace and comfort. J- Mason. 
 
 Choice of Books. 
 As it is evident that no one can learn 
 all things perfectly, it seems best for a 
 man to make some pursuit his main ob- 
 ject; first, according to his calling; 
 secondly, his natural bent / or, thirdly, 
 
fp"" 
 
 'Pearls of Thought. 193 
 
 his opportunities. Then let him get a 
 slight knowledge of what else is worth 
 it, — regulated in his choice by the same 
 three circumstances ; which should also 
 determine, in a great measure, where 
 an elementary and where a superficial 
 knowledge is desirable. Wheafley. 
 
 God and the World. 
 This, I say, is the sum and force of 
 our Saviour's argument, in pursuit of 
 which, we are to observe, that there 
 are two things which offer themselves 
 to mankind, as rivals for their affec- 
 tions, to wit, God and the world, the 
 things of this present life and of the 
 future. And the whole strength of our 
 Saviour's discourse bears upon this 
 supposition, that it is impossible for a 
 man to fix his heart upon both. Xo 
 man can make religion his business and 
 the world too : no man can have two 
 chief goods. 
 13 
 
194 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 Nevertheless, let men rest assured 
 of this, that God has so ordered the 
 great business of their eternal happi- 
 ness, that their affections must still be 
 the forerunners of their persons; the 
 constant harbingers appointed by God 
 to go and take possession of those glori- 
 ous mansions for them; and conse- 
 quently, that no man shall ever come 
 to heaven himself, who has not sent his 
 heart thither before him. For where 
 this leads the way, the other will be 
 sure to follow. Robert South. 
 
 Imitation. 
 
 Imitation is the sincerest of flattery. 
 
 Cotton. 
 Knowledge of God. 
 
 We may truly conceive of God, 
 though we cannot fully conceive of 
 him. "We may have right apprehen- 
 sions of him, though not an exact com- 
 prehension of him. 
 
Pearls of Thought, 195 
 
 Xothing is great enough for him to 
 admire, who is infinite Majesty ; nothing 
 is mean enough for him to despise, who 
 is infinite Mercy. 
 
 What pleaseth God should please us, 
 
 because it pleaseth God. 
 
 A sight of God begins a saint on 
 
 earth, and perfects him in heaven. 
 
 Mason. 
 
 Of Repentance. 
 
 Repentance begins in the humilia- 
 tion of the heart, and ends in the refor- 
 mation of the life. 
 
 Though we vrank power to repent, yet 
 we do not want means to repent, nor 
 power to use these means. 
 
 He that repents of sin as sin, doth 
 implicitly repent of all sin. 
 
 Let not sinful pleasures prevent god- 
 ly sorrows. 
 
 An humble confession of sin brings 
 shame to ourselves, but glory to God. 
 
 If we put oil our repentance to 
 
196 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 another day, we have a day more to 
 repent of, a day less to repent in. 
 
 If we study to honor God, we cannot 
 do it better than by confessing our sins, 
 and laying ourselves low at the feet of 
 Christ. 
 
 Godly sorrow is the sorrow of love ; 
 the melting of the heart : Love is the 
 pain and pleasure of a mourning heart. 
 
 Mason. 
 Thoughts for the Closet. 
 
 The soul is the life of the body. Faith 
 is the life of the soul. Christ is the life 
 of faith. 
 
 Afflictions may buzz and hum about 
 the believer, like bees that have lost 
 their sting: but thev can never hurt 
 him. 
 
 Prosperous providences are, for the 
 most part, a dangerous state to the soul. 
 The moon never suffers an eclipse but 
 at the full. 
 
 Many graceless hearts are like chil- 
 
Pearls of Thought 
 
 197 
 
 dren's tops, which will go no longer than 
 they are whipped. 
 
 The more any renewed heart tastes 
 the sweetness of communion with God, 
 by so much more it is disposed for uni- 
 ty and peace with his people. Flavel 
 
 False Doctrine. 
 Of two evils, it is, perhaps, less in- 
 jurious to society, that a good doctrine 
 should be accompanied by a bad life, 
 than that a good life should accompany 
 or lend its support to a bad doctrine. 
 For the sect, if once founded, will sur- 
 vive the founder. Cotton. 
 
 Vice and Virtue. 
 Vice stings us even in our pleasures, 
 but virtue consoles us even in our pains. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Pilgrim-Life of the Christian. 
 If men are pilgrims and life a journey 
 — the Christian pilgrimage far surpasses 
 
198 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 all others — in the goodness of the road, 
 the beauty of the prospects, the excel- 
 lence of the company, and in the vastly 
 superior accommodations which await 
 the traveller at the end of his journey. 
 
 Colton. 
 
 Repentance. 
 The slightest sorrow for sin is suffi- 
 cient, if it produce amendment — the 
 greatest is insufficient, if it do not. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Subjection of our Passions. 
 Strong as our passions are, they may 
 be starved into submission, and con- 
 quered without being killed. Ibid. 
 
 The Mind. 
 He that doubts the existence of mind, 
 by doubting, proves it. Ibid. 
 
 The Penalties of Vice. 
 The martyrs to vice far exceed the 
 martyrs to virtue, both in endurance 
 
Pearls of Thought. 199 
 
 and in number; so blinded are we by 
 our passions, that we suffer more to be 
 damned than to be saved. Golton. 
 
 The Head and Heart. 
 Faults of the head are punished in 
 this world, those of the heart in anoth- 
 er ; but as most of our vices are com- 
 pound, so also will be their punishment. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Mental Destitution. 
 He that has no resources of mind, is 
 more to be pitied than he who is in 
 want of necessaries for the body, and 
 to be obliged to beg our daily happi- 
 ness from others, bespeaks a more 
 lamentable poverty than that of him 
 who begs his daily bread. Ibid. 
 
 Mental Influence. 
 Some men of a secluded and studious 
 life, have sent forth from their closet or 
 their cloister, rays of intellectual light 
 
200 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 that have agitated courts, and revo- 
 lutionized kingdoms; like the moon 
 which, though far removed from the 
 ocean, and shining upon it with a 
 serene and sober light, is the chief 
 cause of all those ebbings and Sowings 
 which incessantly disturb that world of 
 waters. Colton. 
 
 The True Christian. 
 
 The Christian is a man, and more; 
 an earthly saint, an angel clothed in 
 flesh, the only lawful image of his 
 Maker and Redeemer ; the abstract of 
 God's church on earth ; a model of 
 heaven, made up in clay; the living 
 temple of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 For his disposition, it hath in it as 
 much of heaven as his earth may make 
 room for. 
 
 He were not a man, if he were quite 
 free from corrupt affections ; but these 
 he masters, and keeps in with a strait 
 hand, and if at any time they grow 
 
Pearls of Thought. 201 
 
 testy and headstrong, he breaks them 
 with a severe discipline, and will rather 
 punish himself than not tame them. 
 He checks his appetite with discreet, 
 but strong denials, and forbears to 
 pamper nature, lest it grows wanton 
 and impetuous. He walks on earth, 
 but converses in heaven, having his 
 eye fixed on the invisible world, and 
 enjoying a sweet communion with God 
 his Saviour. While all the rest of the 
 world sits in darkness, he lives in a per- 
 petual light. Bishop Hall 
 
 Value of the Soul. 
 
 Who can fix the adequate price to a 
 human soul i " What shall it profit a 
 man if he gain the whole world and 
 lose his own soul ! or what shall a man 
 give in exchange for his soul { " 
 
 The principles of ordinary arithmetic 
 all fail here, and we are constrained to 
 say that, He alone who paid the ran- 
 
202 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 som for sinners, and made the souls of 
 men his purchased possession, can com- 
 prehend and solve the arduous ques- 
 tion. They are indeed bought with a 
 price ; but are not redeemed with cor- 
 ruptible things, as silver and gold, but 
 with the precious blood of Christ, as of 
 a lamb without blemish and without 
 spot. We shall only ascertain the value 
 of a soul, when we shall be fully able 
 to estimate the worth of a Saviour. 
 
 Zegh Richmond. 
 
 Temptation. 
 If you would not be foiled by tempta- 
 tion, do not enter into a dispute with 
 Satan. When Eve began to argue the 
 case with the serpent, the serpent was 
 too hard for her ; the devil, by his logic, 
 disputed her out of Paradise. Satan 
 can mince sin, make it small, and var- 
 nish it over, and make it look like vir- 
 tue. Satan is too subtle a sophister to 
 
Pearls of Thought. 203 
 
 hold an argument with him. Dispute 
 not, but fight. If you enter into a par- 
 ley with Satan, you give him half the 
 victory. Anon. 
 
 Spiritual Blindness. 
 "We say of the blind man, from whom 
 the visible world is shut out, that he is 
 poorer by half the world than the man 
 who sees. O ye spiritually blind, ye, 
 indeed, are poorer than we by a whole 
 world. TholucTc. 
 
 Evidence of Grace. 
 "To be amended by a little cross, 
 afraid of a little sin, and affected by a 
 little mercy, is a good evidence of grace 
 in the soul." Anon. 
 
 Christian Graces. 
 Our service to God must not be in 
 outward works and scenes of religion, 
 it must be something by which we be- 
 come like to God ; the divine preroga- 
 
204 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 tive must extend beyond the outward 
 man ; nay, even beyond the mortifica- 
 tion of corporeal vices ; the Spirit of 
 God must enter in, and mollify all our 
 secret pride, and ingenerate in us, a 
 true humility, and a Christian meekness 
 of spirit, and a divine charity. 
 
 Jeremy Taylor, 
 Mercy. 
 Mercy is like the rainbow which 
 God set in the heavens as a remem- 
 brancer to man. We must not look 
 for it after night ; it shines not in the 
 other world. If we refuse mercy here, 
 we must have justice in eternity. 
 
 Ibid. 
 Heavenly-Mindedness. 
 
 Let the mantle of worldly enjoyment 
 hang loose about you, that it may be 
 safely dropped when death comes to 
 carry you into another world. When 
 the fruit is ripe it falls off the tree easi- 
 ly. So when a Christian's heart is truly 
 
Pearls of Thought. 205 
 
 weaned from the world, tie is prepared 
 for death. A heart disengaged from 
 the world is a heavenly one, and then 
 we are ready for heaven when our 
 heart is there before us. Anon. 
 
 The Subjection of the Body. 
 The Christian is justified and filled 
 with all good, and made a true son of 
 God, by faith alone. Yet while he re- 
 mains upon earth in this mortal state, 
 he must keep his body in subjection, 
 and perform those duties which result 
 from an intercourse with his fellow- 
 creatures. Here, then, it is, in the 
 Christian scheme, that works are to be 
 placed ; here it is that sloth and indo- 
 lence are forbidden ; and here the con- 
 vert is bound to take care that, by fast- 
 ing, watching, labor, and other suitable 
 means, his body be so exercised and 
 subdued to the spirit, that it may obey 
 and conform to the inward and new 
 
206 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 man, and not rebel and obstruct the 
 operations of faith, as it is naturally in- 
 clined to do, if not restrained. For the 
 inward man, being created after the 
 image of God, by faith rejoices through 
 Christ, in whom he possesses so great 
 treasure; and hence his only employ- 
 ment and delight are to serve God free- 
 ly in love. Luther. 
 
 Life Like a River. 
 Bishop Heber, upon departing for 
 India, said, in his farewell sermon : — 
 " Life bears us on like the stream of a 
 mighty river. Our boat at first goes 
 down the mighty channel — through the 
 playful murmuring of the little brook, 
 and the willows upon its glassy borders. 
 The trees shed their blossoms over our 
 young heads, the flowers on the brink 
 seem to offer themselves to our young 
 hands; we are happy in hope, and 
 grasp eagerly at the beauties around 
 
Pearls of Thought. 207 
 
 us ; the stream hurries on, and still our 
 hands are empty. Our course in youth 
 and in manhood is along a wider, deep- 
 er flood, and amid objects more striking 
 and magnificent. We are animated 
 by the moving picture of enjoyment 
 and industry passing us ; we are excited 
 by our short-lived enjoyments. The 
 stream bears us on, and joys and 
 griefs are left behind us. We may be 
 shipwrecked, but we cannot be de- 
 layed ; for, rough or smooth, the river 
 hastens towards its home, till the roar 
 of the ocean is in our ears, and the 
 waves beneath our feet, and the floods 
 are lifted up around us, and we take 
 our leave of earth and its inhabitants, 
 until of our further voyage there is no 
 witness save the Infinite and Eternal." 
 
 Idleness. 
 Some one in casting up his accounts, 
 put down a very large sum per annum 
 
208 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 for his idleness. But there is another 
 account more awful than that of our 
 expenses, in which many will find that 
 their idleness has mainly contributed 
 to the balance against them. From its 
 very inaction, idleness ultimately be- 
 comes the most active cause of evil ; — 
 as a palsy is more to be dreaded than a 
 fever. Fuller. 
 
 Pride. 
 
 There is a paradox in pride — it 
 makes some men ridiculous, but pre- 
 vents others from becoming so. Ibid. 
 
 Free-Thinkers. 
 Some Sciolists have discovered a 
 short path to celebrity. Having heard 
 that it is a vastly silly thing to believe 
 every thing, they take it for granted 
 that it must be a vastly wise thing to 
 believe nothing. They, therefore, set 
 up for free-thinkers ; but their stock in 
 trade is, that they are free from think 
 
Pearls of Thought. 209 
 
 ing. No persons make so large a de- 
 mand against the reason of others, as 
 those who have none of their own ; as 
 a highwayman will take greater liber- 
 ties with our purse than our banker. 
 
 Fuller. 
 
 The Ills of Life. 
 Theee are three modes of bearing the 
 ills of life: by indifference, w 7 hich is 
 the most common; by philosophy, 
 which is the most ostentatious ; and by 
 religion, which is the most effectual ; for 
 it is religion alone that can teach us to 
 bear them with resignation. Ibid. 
 
 Watchfulness. 
 How vain to hear much, but to re- 
 tain little, and practise less ! How 
 vain to excite in our hearts sacred and 
 holy emotions, unless we are afterwards 
 careful to close the outlet by diligent 
 reflection and prayer, and so preserve 
 it unspotted from the world ! Neglect 
 
210 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 this, and the strength and spirit of de- 
 votion evaporate, and leave only a 
 lifeless froth behind. Anon, 
 
 Hope and Experience. 
 Hope is a prodigal young heir, and 
 experience is his banker ; but his drafts 
 are seldom honored, since there is often 
 a heavy balance against him, because 
 he draws largely on a small capital, is 
 not yet in possession, and if if he were, 
 would die. Fuller. 
 
 Faith and Practice. 
 We should act with as much energy 
 as those who expect every thing from 
 themselves ; and we should pray with 
 as much earnestness as those who ex- 
 pect every thing from God. Ibid. 
 
 Following Providence. 
 If in a dark business we perceive 
 God to guide us by the lantern of his 
 providence, it is good to follow the 
 
Pearls of Thought. 2.11 
 
 light close, lest we lose it by lagging 
 behind. Fuller. 
 
 Life a Shadow. 
 Nothing survives but the mass of hu- 
 man life ; and that not blended as be- 
 fore, but each one as several and apart 
 as if none lived before God but he only. 
 And so of all the course and history of 
 the world ; all is either passed or pass- 
 ing away ; nothing remains but the 
 record of human life, in the book of 
 the Eternal, and the stream of undy- 
 ing spirits which is ever issuing from 
 among us into the world unseen. And 
 thus it is that all that is real in the 
 world is ever passing out of it ; tarry- 
 ing for a while in the midst of shadows 
 and reflections, and then, as it were, 
 melting out of sight. Manning. 
 
 Grave Thoughts. 
 To smell to a turf of fresh earth is 
 wholesome for the body ; no less are 
 
212 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 thoughts of mortality cordial to the 
 soul. Earth thou art, and unto earth 
 shalt thou return. Fuller. 
 
 Procrastination in Religion. 
 Men are ever beguiling themselves 
 with the dream that they shall be one 
 day what they are not now ; they bal- 
 ance their present consciousness of a 
 low worldly life, and of a mind heavy 
 and dull to spiritual things, with the lazy 
 thought that some day God will bring 
 home to them in power the realities of 
 faith in Christ. So men dream away 
 their lives in pleasures, sloth, trade, 
 or study. Who is there that has not 
 at some time secretly indulged the 
 soothing flattery, that the staid gravity 
 of age, when youth is quelled, or the 
 leisure of retirement, when the fret of 
 busy life is over, or, it may be, the in- 
 evitable pains and griefs which are 
 man's inheritance, shall one day break 
 
Pearls of Thought. 213 
 
 up in his heart the now sealed fountain 
 of repentance, and mate, at last, his 
 religion a reality ? Who has not al- 
 layed the uneasy consciousness of a 
 meagre religion with the hope of a fu- 
 ture change? Who has not thus been 
 mocked by the enemy of man ? 
 
 Manning. 
 Thankfulness. 
 My honest scholar, to incline you the 
 more to thankfulness, let me tell you 
 that, although the prophet David was 
 guilty of many deadly sins, yet he was 
 said to be a man after God's own heart, 
 because he abounded more with thank- 
 fulness than any other that is mentioned 
 in Holy Scripture, as may appear in his 
 book of Paslms ; where there is such 
 a commixture of his confessing of his 
 sins, and un worthiness, and such thank- 
 fulness for God's pardon, and mercies, 
 as did make him to be accounted even 
 bv God himself to be a man after His 
 
214 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 own heart. I will tell you, scholar. I 
 have heard a grave divine say that God 
 has two dwellings — one in heaven, and 
 the other in a meek and thankful heart. 
 
 Walton. 
 Moderation. 
 jModekation is the silken string run- 
 ning through the pearl chain of all 
 virtues. Fuller. 
 
 Curiosity. 
 CufwIosity is a kernel of the forbid- 
 den fruit, which still sticketh in the 
 throat of a natural man, sometimes to 
 the danger of his choking. iW& 
 
 Contentment. 
 It is one property which, they say, 
 is required of those that seek the phi- 
 losopher's stone, that they must not do 
 it with any covetous desire to be rich ; 
 for otherwise they shall never find it. 
 But most true it is, that whosoever 
 would have this jewel of contentment, 
 
P>:arls of Th, 215 
 
 (which turns all into gold, y 
 into weal;--, must c >me with minds di- 
 gested of all ambitious and eovet 
 
 thoughts, else are they never likely to 
 obtain it. FuV.* \ 
 
 What Makes a Max ? 
 Thz longer I live the more certain I 
 am that the great difference etween 
 men. the great and the insiguiueant. is 
 energ — horn, sit le determination — an 
 honest yurrose once hxed — and then 
 the victory. That quality will do any 
 thing that can he dm:e in the world : 
 and no talents, no circumstances, no 
 opportunity will make a two-legged 
 creature without it. 
 
 Thz Two Lives. 
 
 BEArnxrL is old age— I eautiiul is the 
 
 slow-drt :;:mg. mellow autumn of a rich 
 
 and glorious summer. In the old : 
 
 Nature has fulfilled her work : she 
 
 rith the fruits o: a well- 
 
216 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 spent life ; and, surrounded by his 
 children's children, she rocks him softly 
 away to a grave to which he is follow- 
 ed with blessings. 
 
 God forbid we should not call it 
 beautiful, but not the most beautiful. 
 There is another life, hard, rough, and 
 thorny, trodden with bleeding feet and 
 aching brow ; the life of which the 
 cross is the symbol ; a battle which no 
 peace follows this side the grave, which 
 the grave gapes to finish before the 
 victory is w r on ; and, strange that it 
 should be so, this is the highest life of 
 man. Look along the great names of 
 history ; there are none whose life has 
 been other than this. Anon. 
 
 Domestic Happiness. 
 
 The soul of domestic felicity depends, 
 
 in a high degree, upon the character of 
 
 woman. As well may we look for 
 
 6pring and summer without sunshine 
 
Pearls of Thought, 217 
 
 and showers, as to expect a truly happy 
 family, without the full development 
 of those affectionate and delicate sensi- 
 bilities which make the crowning glory 
 of the female character — not as we 
 sometimes find it — but, as it should 
 be ; and as proper development will 
 make it. Anon. 
 
 The Sabbath. 
 The Sabbath is the golden clasp 
 which binds together the volume of 
 the week. Longfellow. 
 
 Excesses of Youth. 
 The excesses of youth are drafts upon 
 old age, payable with interest, about 
 thirty years after date. Colton. 
 
 Sensuality. 
 If sensuality be our only happi- 
 ness, we ought to envy the brutes; 
 for instinct is a surer, shorter, safer 
 guide to such happiness, than reason. 
 
218 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 Seneca asks, Who would so unman 
 himself, could he have all the pleasures 
 in the world for the asking, as to ac- 
 cept them, and desert his soul, and be- 
 come a perpetual slave to his senses ? 
 
 Colton. 
 Self-Conceit. 
 
 None are so seldom found alone, and 
 are so soon tired of their own company, 
 as those coxcombs who are on the best 
 terms with themselves. Ibid. 
 
 The Enthusiast. 
 The enthusiast has been compared 
 to a man walking in a fog ; every thing 
 immediately arround him, or in con- 
 tact w T ith him, appears sufficiently clear 
 and luminous ; but beyond the little 
 circle, of which he himself is the cen- 
 tre, all is mist, error, and confusion. 
 Charity is contented with exhortation 
 and example, — to persuade rather than 
 persecute ; but zeal has usually more of 
 
Pearls of Thought. 219 
 
 pride, and love of victory, rather than 
 of truth. Colton. 
 
 On Belief. 
 He that will believe only what he 
 can fully comprehend, must have a 
 verv lon^ head, or a verv short creed. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Time and Eternity. 
 He that will often put eternity and 
 the world before him, and who will 
 dare to look steadfastly at both of them, 
 will find that the more often he con- 
 templates them, the former will grow 
 greater and the latter less. Ibid. 
 
 Worldly Difficulties. 
 This world cannot explain its own 
 difficulties, without the assistance of 
 another. Ibid. 
 
 Human Applause. 
 There are two things which ought 
 to teach us to think meanly of human 
 
220 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 glory; the very best have had their 
 calumniators — the very worst their 
 panegyrists. Colton. 
 
 Fame. 
 
 Fame is an undertaker that pays but 
 little attention to the living, but be- 
 dizens the dead, furnishes out their 
 funerals, and follows them to the 
 grave. Ibid. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 Poetry has been to me its own " ex- 
 ceeding great reward;" it has multi- 
 plied and refined my enjoyments ; it 
 has soothed my affliction ; it has en- 
 deared solitude ; it has given me the 
 habit of wishing to discover the good 
 and the beautiful in all that meets and 
 surrounds me. Coleridge. 
 
 The Art of Learning. 
 The chief art of learning, is to at- 
 tempt but little at a time. The widest 
 excursions of the mind are made by 
 
Pearls of Thought. 221 
 
 short flights, frequently repeated ; the 
 most lofty fabrics of science are formed 
 by the continued accumulation of sin- 
 gle propositions. LocJce 
 
 Tears and Laughter. 
 God made both tears and laughter, 
 and both for kind purposes ; for as 
 laughter enables mrrth and surprise 
 to breathe freely, so tears enable sor- 
 row to vent itself patiently. Tears 
 hinder sorrow from becoming despair 
 and madness, and laughter is one of 
 the very privileges of reason, being 
 confined to the human species. Anon. 
 
 Love. 
 Love is an alchymist that can trans- 
 mute poison into food. Cotton. 
 
 Divine Providence. 
 To discover the proofs of a Divine 
 Providence only in extraordinary cases, 
 is to betray our ignorance and weak- 
 
222 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 ness. In the ordinary course of nature 
 we daily behold a thousand things, 
 worthy in every respect, of our notice 
 and admiration. The preservation of 
 our life, considering the variety of 
 causes and effects which combine to 
 produce it, is not less astonishing than 
 the resurrection of the dead. The only 
 difference is that the one happens but 
 seldom, whereas we are daily witnesses 
 of the other, which, being so common 
 a phenomenon, does not attract our at- 
 tention, or sufficiently excite our ad- 
 miration. The union of my soul and 
 body, their reciprocal and continual 
 action on each other, are incomprehen- 
 sible, and do not depend either on my 
 own will or power. The beating of 
 the pulse, and the circulation of the 
 different fluids are uninterruptedly car- 
 ried on, without my being able to con- 
 tribute to them in the smallest degree. 
 Every thing convinces me that my 
 
Pearls of Thought. 223 
 
 
 
 faculties, my condition, and the dura- 
 tion of my being, are not dependent on 
 my own pleasure. It is tlie Lord, who, 
 by his secret and absolute power, pre- 
 serves me in strength, motion, and ex- 
 istence. Sturm. 
 
 God's Glory in Creation. 
 Why are the works of God so splen- 
 did ? Why is there such magnificence 
 in every thing we see ? Why do we 
 behold such multifarious, such num- 
 berless beauties, each object surpassing 
 the other, and clothed with charms 1 
 peculiar to itself? Why do I every 
 where find new subjects of admiration 
 and astonishment ? For this reason : 
 that I may never cease to admire and 
 adore that great Being, who is infi- 
 nitely greater, more sublime, and more 
 magnificent than any of the objects 
 which he has presented to my senses ; 
 that I might be led to this reflection: 
 
224 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 If the works are so perfect, how glori- 
 ous must be the maker of them ! If 
 the beauty of that which he has created 
 is inexpressibly great, infinitely greater 
 must be that Being who surveys all 
 creation at a single glance. The more 
 my mind is here expanded and enlarg- 
 ed by contemplating the greatest of all 
 Beings, the more will it be capable of 
 comprehending his grandeur and ma- 
 jesty in a future state. Sturm. 
 
 Our Intellectual Nature. 
 We suppose that we carry our mo- 
 ral nature to another world, why not 
 our intellectual nature ? — further, why 
 not our acquirements ? Is it probable 
 that a man who has scorned here all 
 advantages for commune with the 
 works of God, is at once to be en- 
 lightened, as if he had done his duty 
 to the intelligence within him or about 
 him ? It may be noticed that, as far 
 
Pearls of Thought. 225 
 
 as we can discern, the same physical 
 laws govern the most distant parts of 
 creation as those which prevail here. 
 Moreover, what we call Nature, or 
 Providence, is thrifty as w r ell as liberal 
 — has apparently given to man no more 
 faculty than he fully needs. May not 
 a similar divine frugality — perhaps an 
 essential element for the furtherance of 
 life, and the development of energy — 
 pervade creation? Friends in Council. 
 
 Cherished Thoughts. 
 A iiA^ has something in himself to 
 meet troubles and difficulties, small or 
 great, who has stored in his mind some 
 of the best things which have been said 
 about troubles and difficulties. More- 
 over, the loneliness of sorrow is there- 
 by diminished. It need not be feared 
 that a man whose memory is rich in 
 such resources, will become a quoting 
 pedant. Often the sayings which are 
 
226 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 dearest to our hearts, are least frequent 
 on our lips ; and those great ideas 
 which cheer men in their direct strug- 
 gles, are not things which they are 
 likely to inflict by frequent repetition 
 upon those they live with. There is a 
 certain reticence with us as regards any 
 
 thing we deeply love. 
 
 Friends in Council. 
 
 Folly of Affectation. 
 
 Contentment abides with truth. And 
 
 you will generally suffer for wishing to 
 
 appear other than you are ; whether it 
 
 be richer, or greater, or more learned. 
 
 The mask soon becomes an instrument 
 
 of torture. Ibid. 
 
 Good Thoughts. 
 In the course of our reading, we 
 should lay up in our minds a store of 
 goodly thoughts in well- wrought words, 
 which should be a living treasure of 
 knowledge always with us, and from 
 
~ 
 
 Pearls of Thought. 227 
 
 which, at various times, and amidst all 
 the shifting of circumstances, we might 
 be sure of drawimg some comfort, guid- 
 ance, and sympathy. 
 
 Friends in Council. 
 
 Self- Control. 
 Wouidest thou that thy flesh obey 
 thy spirit I then let thy spirit obey thy 
 God. Thou must be governed, that 
 thou mayest govern. Augustine. 
 
 Company. 
 The company in which you will im- 
 prove most, will be the least expensive 
 to vou. Washington. 
 
 Conscience. 
 Labor to keep alive in your breast 
 that little spark of celestial fire, called 
 conscience. Ib&. 
 
 Religion and Reason. 
 Religion is as necessary to reason, 
 as reason is to religion: the one cannot 
 
228 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 exist without the other. A reasoning 
 being would lose his reason, in attempt- 
 ing to account for the great phenomena 
 of nature, had he not a Supreme Be- 
 ing to refer to : if there had been no 
 God, mankind would have been oblig- 
 ed to imagine one. Washington. 
 
 Thinking. 
 Thinking is the least exerted privi- 
 lege of cultivated humanity. Evene. 
 
 Calumny. 
 To persevere in one's duty and be 
 silent, is the best answer to calumny. 
 
 Ibid. 
 Doubting Christians. 
 
 Professed Christians often get into 
 a morbid state of mind about their 
 personal salvation. The best cure yet 
 offered for this disease is to transfer 
 our solicitude from ourselves, and set 
 bravely to work for the salvation of 
 others. When we are incited to act for 
 
Pearls of Thought. 229 
 
 God, all fears of his love to us at once 
 cease. Anon. 
 
 The Zealous Christian. 
 I have had occasion to observe that 
 a warm blundering man does more for 
 the world than a frigid wise man. 
 One who gets into a habit of inquiring 
 about proprieties, and expediencies, and 
 occasions, often spends his whole life 
 without doing any thing to purpose. 
 
 Cecil. 
 Religion and the State. 
 "Whilst just government protects all 
 m their religious rites, true religion af- 
 fords government its surest support. 
 
 Washington. 
 
 The Obstinate Man. 
 An obstinate man does not hold 
 opinions, but they hold him ; for when 
 he is once possessed of an error, it is 
 like a devil, only cast out with great 
 difficulty. Whatsoever he lays hold 
 
230 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 on, like a drowning man, he never 
 loses, though it but help to sink him 
 the sooner. Butler. 
 
 Consolation. 
 Before affliction is digested, consola- 
 tion ever comes too soon ; and after it 
 is digested, it comes too late ; there is 
 but a mark between these two, as fine 
 almost as a hair, for a comforter to 
 take aim at. Sterne. 
 
 Tempers. 
 As we call our first language our 
 mother tongue, so we may as justly 
 call our first tempers our mother tem- 
 pers ; and perhaps it may be found 
 more easy to forget the language, than 
 to part entirely with those tempers we 
 learned in the nursery. Law. 
 
 Honor. 
 He is worthy of honor, who willeth 
 the good of every man ; and he is much 
 
Pearls of Thought. 231 
 
 unworthy thereof, who seeketh his own 
 profit, and oppresseth others. Cicero. 
 
 Soul Emblems. 
 The soul on earth is an immortal guest, 
 Compelled to starve at an unreal feast ; 
 A spark that upward tends by nature's 
 
 force, 
 A stream diverted from its parent 
 
 source ; 
 A drop dissevered from the boundless 
 
 sea, 
 A moment parted from eternity ; 
 A pilgrim panting for a rest to come, 
 An exile anxious for his native home. 
 
 More. 
 
 Christian Grace Communicated. 
 Christians are like the several flow- 
 ers in a garden, that have each of them 
 the dew of heaven, which being shaken 
 with the wind, they let fall at each 
 other's roots, whereby they are jointly 
 
232 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 nourished, and become nourish ers of 
 each other. Bunyan. 
 
 Two Interesting Sights. 
 Ln" our world there are two very in- 
 teresting sights, — the one is that of the 
 young disciple entering the church 
 militant ; the other, that of the old 
 disciple about to join the church tri- 
 umphant. Anon. 
 
 Infidelity — Its Cause. 
 When a man is opposed to Chris- 
 tianity, it is because Christianity is 
 opposed to him. Ball. 
 
 Believe and Live. 
 O how unlike the complex works of 
 
 man, 
 Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered 
 
 plan! 
 No meretricious graces to beguile, 
 No clustering ornaments to clog the 
 
 pile; 
 
Pearls of Thought. 233 
 
 From ostentation as from weakness 
 
 free, 
 It stands like the cerulean arch we see, 
 Majestic in its own simplicity. 
 Inscribed above the portals from afar, 
 Conspicuous as the brightness of a 
 
 star, — 
 Legible only bv the light they give, 
 Stand the soul-quickening words — Be- 
 lieve and live ! Covper. 
 
 Feeling and Reason. 
 
 The heart of man is older than his 
 head : the first-born is sensitive but 
 blind — his younger brother has a cold, 
 but all-comprehensive glance. The 
 blind must consent to be led by the 
 clear-sighted, if he would avoid falling. 
 
 Ziegler. 
 God our Guard. 
 
 Ah me ! how many perils do unfold 
 The righteous man, to make him daily 
 fall; 
 
234 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 Were not that heavenly grace did him 
 
 behold, 
 And steadfast truth acquit him out of 
 
 all. Spenser. 
 
 Good and III Fortune. 
 Uninterrupted sunshine would parch 
 our hearts ; we want shade and rain to 
 cool and refresh them. Anon. 
 
 Adversity. 
 Sweet are the uses of adversity, — 
 Which, like the toad, ugly and ven- 
 omous, 
 Wears yet a precious jewel in its head. 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 Character. 
 Actions, looks, words, steps, form the 
 alphabet by which you may spell char- 
 acter. Laxater. 
 Flattery. 
 Flattery is often a traffic of mutual 
 meanness, where, although both par- 
 
Pearls of Thought. 235 
 
 ties intend deception, neither are de- 
 ceived. Colton. 
 Friendship. 
 Let friendship creep gently to a 
 height ; if it rush to it, it may soon 
 run itself out of breath. Fuller. 
 
 Monuments. 
 Tombs are the clothes of the dead ; 
 a grave is but a plain suit, and a 
 rich monument is one embroidered. 
 Tombs ought in some sort to be propor- 
 tioned, not to the wealth, but to the 
 deserts of the party interred. The 
 shortest, plainest, and truest epitaphs 
 are best. When a passenger sees a 
 chronicle written on a tomb, he takes 
 it in trust some great man lies buried 
 there, without taking pains to examine 
 who it is. I say also the plainest ; for 
 except the sense lie above ground, few 
 will trouble themselves to dig for it. 
 Lastly, it must be true, not as in some 
 
236 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 monuments, where the red veins in 
 the marble may seem to blush at the 
 falsehood written on it. He was a 
 witty man that first taught a stone to 
 speak, but he was a wicked man that 
 taught it first to lie. A good memory 
 is the best monument ; others are sub 
 ject to casualty and time ; and we 
 know that the Pyramids themselves, 
 doting with age, have forgotten the 
 power of their founders. Let us be 
 careful to provide rest for our souls, 
 and our bodies will provide rest for 
 themselves. Thomas Fuller. 
 
 Goodness. 
 
 True goodness is like the glow-worm, 
 it shines most when no eyes, except 
 those of heaven, are upon it. Anon. 
 
 Sic Vita. 
 Like to the falling of a star, 
 Or as the flights of eagles are ; 
 
Pearls of Thought. 237 
 
 ,0r like the fresh spring's gaudy hue, 
 Or silver drops of morning dew ; 
 Or like a wind that chafes the blood, 
 Or bubbles whiHi on water stood : — 
 E'en such is man, whose borrowed 
 
 light 
 Is straight called in and paid to-night. 
 The wind blows out, the bubble dies ; 
 The spring entombed in autumn lies ; 
 The dew dries up, the star is shot ; 
 The flight is past — and man forgot ! 
 Dr. Henry King. 
 
 Free Will. 
 We have a power to suspend the 
 prosecution of this or that desire ; this 
 seems to me the source of all liberty ; 
 in this seems to consist that which is 
 improperly called Free Will. Locke. 
 
 The Daily Struggle. 
 If we keep not God's grace that He 
 giveth us — if we do not continually 
 
238 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 and daily reform ourselves, and with, 
 all diligence fashion our lives after His 
 life, it is but right that we lose again 
 that which we have lmeived. But if 
 we abide in Him through faith, then 
 hard and unprofitable things are light 
 and possible to us ; for in Him that 
 strengthened us we may do all things. 
 
 Cover dale. 
 
 Man's Medley. 
 In soul he mounts and flies, in flesh he 
 
 dies. 
 He wears a stuff, whose thread is coarse 
 
 and round, 
 But trimmed with curious lace, and 
 
 should take place 
 After the trimming, not the stuff and 
 
 ground. 
 Not that he may not here taste of the 
 
 cheer ; — 
 But as birds drink, and straight lift up 
 
 their head, 
 
Pearls of Thought. 239 
 
 So must he sip, and think of better 
 
 drink 
 He may attain to after he is dead. 
 Yet e'en the greatest may be reliefs, 
 Could he but take them right, and in 
 
 their ways. 
 Happy is he whose heart hath found 
 
 the art 
 To turn his double pains to double 
 
 praise. Herbert 
 
 Humility and Pride. 
 Humility is truth, and Pride a lie : 
 the one glorifies God, the other dis- 
 honors him. Humility makes men to 
 be like angels, Pride makes angels to 
 become devils. Taylor. 
 
 A Good Man. 
 He is a good man who grieves rather 
 for him that injures him, than for his 
 own suffering ; who sooner shows mer- 
 cy than anger ; who offers violence to 
 
240 Pearls of Thought. 
 
 I 
 
 his appetite, in all things endeavoring 
 to subdue the flesh to the spirit. This 
 is an excellent abbreviative of the 
 whole duty of a Christian. Taylor. 
 
 Feigned Humility. 
 He saw a cottage with double coach- 
 house, 
 A cottage of gentility ; 
 And the devil did grin, for his darling 
 sin — 
 Is Pride that apes humility. 
 
 Coleridge. 
 
 The Mind. 
 The Mind is heaven-born, and comes 
 immediately out of the hands of God ; 
 so that to speak properly, we are 
 nearer related to the Supreme Being 
 than to father and mother. Collier. 
 
I N 
 
 D E 
 
 X . 
 
 PAGH 
 
 
 Ambition, False 
 
 
 12 
 
 Advice 
 
 . 
 
 
 29 
 
 Afflictions 
 
 
 
 59, 134 
 
 Angels 
 
 • 
 
 
 68 
 
 Abstinence . 
 
 
 
 . 72 
 
 Adversity, Benefits of 
 
 . 
 
 
 78 
 
 Angelic Beings 
 
 
 
 78 
 
 Aspiration 
 
 . 
 
 
 93 
 
 Affection 
 
 
 
 99 
 
 Actions, Good 
 
 . 
 
 
 101 
 
 Angelic Ministries 
 
 
 
 . 109 
 
 Approbation of God 
 
 . 
 
 
 121 
 
 Afflictions, Use of 
 
 
 
 126 
 
 Abuse of Terms 
 
 # 
 
 
 168 
 
 Abuses 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 Abilities 
 
 . 
 
 
 178 
 
 Aids to Religion 
 
 
 
 . 180 
 
 Accusations of Conscience 
 
 
 184 
 
 Art of Learning 
 
 
 
 220 
 
 Affectation, Folly of 
 
 . 
 
 
 226 
 
 Adversity 
 
 
 
 234 
 
 Bible, the 
 
 
 
 49 
 
 Besetting Sin 
 
 • 
 
 
 100 
 
 Bad Company 
 
 
 
 113 
 
 Beauty 
 
 1 
 
 . 1 
 
 14, 179 
 
242 Index. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Benefactions 
 
 . 123 
 
 Body, the 
 
 160 
 
 Brains and Reasoning 
 
 . 177 
 
 Body, subjection of . 
 
 205 
 
 Belief 
 
 . 219 
 
 Believe and Live . 
 
 232 
 
 Church, the 
 
 7 
 
 Circumspection 
 
 11, 49 
 
 Contentment . 
 
 13, 37, 51, 214 
 
 Christian's Course, the 
 
 . 14, 52 
 
 Christ, Knowledge of 
 
 17 
 
 Communion with God 
 
 19 
 
 Christian Duty 
 
 23 
 
 Christ's Yoke 
 
 23 
 
 Christian Counsel . « 
 
 32 
 
 Censure 
 
 44 
 
 Christians like Stars 
 
 61 
 
 Character 
 
 63 
 
 Conversation 
 
 71 
 
 Christian, the 
 
 72, 131 
 
 Courage .... 
 
 88 
 
 Christian Progress . 
 
 89 
 
 Cross, the 
 
 98 
 
 Close of Life . 
 
 . 103 
 
 Christianity 
 
 105 
 
 Constant Prayer 
 
 . 109 
 
 Confession 
 
 111 
 
 Charity, 
 
 . 128,137, 138 
 
 Christian Charity 
 
 130 
 
 Cheerfulness in Age . 
 
 . 146 
 
 Content .... 
 
 147 
 
 Covetous Man, the . 
 
 . 152 
 
 Conscience 
 
 . 171, 227 
 
 Consciousness 
 
 . 172 
 
Index. 
 
 243 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Choice of Books . . . 172,, 186, 192 
 
 Christian Evidences . 
 
 . 181 
 
 Character, a Test 
 
 182 
 
 Christian Graces 
 
 , 203 
 
 Curiosity ..... 
 
 214 
 
 Cherished Thoughts . 
 
 , 225 
 
 Company ..... 
 Calumny .... 
 
 227 
 , 228 
 
 Consolation .... 
 
 230 
 
 Christian, the Zealous 
 
 229 
 
 Christian Grace communicated . 
 
 231 
 
 Character .... 
 
 234 
 
 Divine Inspiration 
 
 Divine Life .... 
 
 9 
 9 
 
 Death ... 21, 24, 48, 
 
 90, 110 
 
 Divine Influences 
 
 22 
 
 Divine Decrees, the 
 
 38 
 
 Death and Life . 
 
 46 
 
 Duties ..... 
 
 53 
 
 Divine Manifestations 
 
 67 
 
 Deformity .... 
 
 84 
 
 Despair ..... 
 
 Dangerous Friendships . 
 
 Death— Life ..... 
 
 86 
 117 
 
 124 
 
 Dissimulation .... 
 
 141 
 
 Daily Duties .... 
 
 148 
 
 Daily Reckoning .... 
 
 149 
 
 Dead Sinners .... 
 
 159 
 
 Double-minded .... 
 
 179 
 
 Danger of Prosperity 
 Divine Redeemer 
 
 184 
 189 
 
 Domestic Happiness .... 
 Divine Providence 
 
 216 
 
 221 
 
 Doubting Christians • 
 
 22S 
 
 ^ ... 
 
 i 
 
244 Index. 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Envy .... 
 
 30 
 
 Emulation . 
 
 87 
 
 Economy of Time 
 
 118 
 
 Earthly Treasure 
 
 . 125 
 
 Evil Company 
 
 139 
 
 Error 
 
 . 177 
 
 Evidence of Grace 
 
 203 
 
 Excesses of Youth 
 
 . 217 
 
 Enthusiast, the . 
 
 218 
 
 Emblems, Soul 
 
 . 231 
 
 Faith and Works 
 
 . 11, 74, 187 
 
 Fame, worthy 
 
 31 
 
 Friendship, sincere . 
 
 35 
 
 Friends, choice of 
 
 36, 48 
 
 Fortitude . . 
 
 58 
 
 Fear of Man 
 
 63 
 
 Fame 
 
 . 69, 186, 220 
 
 Frequent Prayer . • 
 
 76 
 
 Fear of Evil . 
 
 85 
 
 Forgiveness 
 
 88 
 
 Fear of Death 
 
 97 
 
 Fear of Sinning . 
 
 117 
 
 Fluency of Speech . 
 
 . 174 
 
 False Doctrine 
 
 197 
 
 Free-Thinkers 
 
 . 208 
 
 Faith and Practice 
 
 210 
 
 Following Providence 
 
 . 210 
 
 Feeling and Reason 
 
 233 
 
 | Flattery . 
 
 . 234 
 
 Fortune, good and ill • . 
 
 234 
 
 Friendship 
 
 235 
 
 Free Will . 
 
 . 237 
 
 Feigned Humility 
 
 i . , 
 
 . 240 
 
Index. 
 
 245 
 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Good Conscience . 
 
 10 
 
 Gospel, Objectors to . 
 
 28 
 
 God ... 
 
 . 31, 119 
 
 Good Men 
 
 32 
 
 Good and Evil 
 
 40 
 
 God, Ignorance of 
 
 55 
 
 Goodness . 
 
 95 
 
 Good Deeds . 
 
 . 114 
 
 Greatness of God 
 
 115 
 
 Godliness 
 
 . 162 
 
 Goodness of God 
 
 163 
 
 God and the World . 
 
 193 
 
 God, Knowledge of 
 
 194 
 
 Grace, Evidence of . 
 
 . 203 
 
 Graces, Christian . 
 
 203 , 
 
 Grave Thoughts 
 
 . 211 
 
 God's Glory in Creation . 
 
 223 
 
 Good Thoughts 
 
 . 226 
 
 Goodness . 
 
 236 
 
 God our Guard 
 
 . 233 
 
 Humility , 
 
 8, 36, 155, 157 
 
 Hypocrisy 
 
 13 
 
 Holy Life 
 
 20, 45 
 
 Hope 
 
 65 
 
 Honesty of Purpose 
 
 70 
 
 Human Aspirations . 
 
 80 
 
 Heavenly Home, our 
 
 91 
 
 Holy Scripture 
 
 98 
 
 Human Impotency 
 
 108 
 
 Happiness Found only in God 
 
 . 131 
 
 Heavenly-Mindedness 
 
 . 127, 204 
 
 Happiness . . . 
 
 131, 179 
 
 Humility, Christian 
 
 141 
 
 Humility, Feigned . . 
 
 144, 240 
 
 
 
246 Index. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1 Hypocrisy in Religion 
 
 . 158 
 
 Heart, the 
 
 160 
 
 Heart-Work . 
 
 . 161 
 
 Human Reason . 
 
 162 
 
 Head and Heart 
 
 . 199 
 
 Hope and Experience 
 
 210 
 
 Human Applause 
 
 . 219 
 
 Honor 
 
 230 
 
 Humility and Pride . 
 
 . 239 
 
 Impenitence . 
 
 . 33, 49 
 
 Indolence 
 
 42, 65 
 
 Incessant Changes 
 
 81 
 
 Immortality 
 
 87 
 
 Intemperance 
 
 89 
 
 Instability 
 
 92 
 
 ] Intellectual Pleasures 
 
 96 
 
 Improvement of Time 
 
 96 
 
 Ignorance 
 
 101, 178 
 
 Idleness . 
 
 111, 165, 207 
 
 Ideas 
 
 . 169 
 
 ! Industry . 
 
 170 
 
 Indecision 
 
 . 188 
 
 Imitation . 
 
 194 
 
 Ills of Life, the 
 
 . 209 
 
 1 Infidelity — its Cause 
 
 232 
 
 Judicious Silence . 
 
 110 
 
 Jesus 
 
 . 138 
 
 Knowledge of Christ . 
 
 . 17 
 
 Knowledge and Faith 
 
 122 
 
 Knowledge . 
 
 . 170 
 
 Knowledge of God 
 
 194 
 
Index. 247 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Love and Prayer . • 9 
 
 Life Checkered . 
 
 
 28 
 
 Life, Brevity of 
 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 Little Sins . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 60, 143 
 
 Life, a Dream 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 76 
 
 Life's Journey . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 85 
 
 Love of our Neighbor 
 
 
 
 
 
 92 
 
 Life, Object of 
 
 
 
 
 
 104 
 
 Life, Fleeting 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 104 
 
 Life, how Fed 
 
 
 
 
 
 118 
 
 Love of God . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 120 
 
 Liberty . 
 
 
 
 
 
 176 
 
 Leisure Hours 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 188 
 
 1 Life like a River . 
 
 
 
 
 
 206 
 
 Life a Shadow 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 211 
 
 Learning, Art of . , 
 
 
 
 
 
 220 
 
 i Love . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 221 
 
 Meditation 
 
 
 
 
 
 7, 67, 93 
 
 Mental Elevation 
 
 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 Maliciousness 
 
 
 
 
 
 46 
 
 Moderation . 
 
 
 
 
 . 5< 
 
 ), 120, 214 
 
 Mental Faculty . 
 
 
 
 
 
 59 
 
 Malice 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 73 
 
 Mystery of Creation 
 
 
 
 
 
 79 
 
 Moral Warfare 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 102 
 
 Modesty of Learning 
 
 
 
 
 
 104 
 
 Mind, the 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 5, 198, 240 
 
 Memory . 
 
 
 
 
 
 112, 171 
 
 Mercy 
 
 
 
 
 
 125, 204 
 
 • Meditation of Truth 
 
 
 
 
 
 132 
 
 Moral Consciousness . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 137 
 
 Man's Immortality 
 
 
 
 
 
 141 
 
 Morning Devotions . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 151 
 
 Moral Beauty 
 1 
 
 
 
 155 
 
248 Index. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Modesty- 
 
 . 157 
 
 Men's Hearts 
 
 168 
 
 Men seldom Reason . 
 
 . 175 
 
 Momentous Questions 
 
 175 
 
 Manners Contagious . 
 
 . 178 
 
 Moral Insensibility 
 
 185 
 
 Mental Activity 
 
 . 188 
 
 Mental Destitution 
 
 199 
 
 Mental Influence 
 
 . 199 
 
 Monuments 
 
 235 
 
 Man's Medley 
 
 . 238 
 
 Man, a Good 
 
 239 
 
 Narrow Way, the 
 
 29 
 
 Nature, Book of 
 
 40 
 
 National Religion . . 
 
 107 
 
 Neglect of the Soul . 
 
 . 123 
 
 Never too late to mend . 
 
 147 
 
 Opportunity . 
 
 40 
 
 Obedience 
 
 75 
 
 Our Intellectual Nature 
 
 . 224 
 
 Obstinate Man 
 
 229 
 
 Prayer . . 12, 26, 5( 
 
 ), 62, 84, 161, 191 
 
 Piety and Atheism 
 
 20 
 
 Piety, Triumphs of . 
 
 38 
 
 Pride .... 
 
 . 43, 208 
 
 Pharisee and Publican 
 
 53 
 
 Pleasures, Fleeting 
 
 54 
 
 Profession and Possession 
 
 55 
 
 Prayer and Desire 
 
 66 
 
 Praise and Blame 
 
 66 
 
 Parental Deportment 
 
 77 
 
 Power of Temptation 
 
 82 
 s 
 
Index. 249 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Patience under Injuries ... 90 
 
 Perfect through Suffering 
 
 99 
 
 Preservative against Sin . 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 Penalties of Poverty . 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 Personal Responsibility . 
 
 
 
 103 
 
 Pleasure 
 
 
 
 105 
 
 Pleasantry 
 
 
 
 106 
 
 Pity . 
 
 
 
 116 
 
 Pride and Charity 
 
 
 
 122 
 
 Procrastination 
 
 
 
 134 
 
 Pleasures in Religion 
 
 
 
 154 
 
 Perseverance 
 
 
 
 163 
 
 Profession not Practice . 
 
 
 
 166 
 
 Principles 
 
 
 
 169 
 
 Probation 
 
 
 
 183 
 
 Physiognomy 
 
 
 
 187 
 
 Pilgrim-Life 
 
 
 
 197 
 
 Passions, Subjection of 
 
 
 
 198 
 
 Penalties of Vice . 
 
 
 
 198 
 
 Procrastination in Religion , 
 
 
 
 212 
 
 Poetry 
 
 220 
 
 Repentance . 11, 24, 44, 
 
 85, 108, 195, 198 
 
 Remorse . 
 
 15 
 
 Religious Progress . 
 
 IT 
 
 Religion . 
 
 . 29, 132 
 
 Resolution and Reformation 
 
 50 
 
 Rebuke, friendly . 
 
 51 
 
 Religion and Reason 
 
 . 52, 143, 227 
 
 Reason and Sense 
 
 57 
 
 Reflection 
 
 57 
 
 Resurrection 
 
 91 
 
 Repentance of Sin . 
 
 . 110 
 
 Reconciliation 
 
 113 
 
 Renunciation of Sin .... 121 
 
 L . — - — _ 1 
 
250 Index. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Rebuke, Use of . 
 
 Resurrection reflected 
 
 
 . 135 
 
 Recollection in Religion 
 
 
 
 154 
 
 Rules of Living 
 
 
 
 . 158 
 
 Repentance and Faith 
 Religion and the State 
 
 
 
 183 
 . 229 
 
 Sin, Sorrow for . 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 Self-Conceit . 
 
 
 
 25, 218 
 
 Spiritual Influences 
 Self-Esteem . 
 
 
 
 27 
 33 
 
 Self-Control 
 
 
 
 34, 121, 227 
 
 Soul's Heraldry, the . 
 Spiritual Progression 
 Sin, Detection of 
 
 
 
 . 37 
 
 41 
 43 
 
 Sin, the Bitterness of 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 Sin, the Poison of 
 
 
 
 47 
 
 Sense and Reason 
 
 
 
 54 
 
 Selfishness 
 
 
 
 58, 97 
 
 Self-Inspection 
 Soul and Body 
 Simplicity and Purity 
 Self-Scrutiny . 
 Sinful Habits 
 
 
 
 62 
 64, 162 
 
 112 
 . 117 
 
 119 
 
 Slander 
 
 
 
 . 126 
 
 Self-Government . 
 
 
 
 128 
 
 Study of the Scriptures 
 Soul, the . 
 
 
 
 . 129 
 134 
 
 Saying and Doing 
 Seeing — Believing 
 Self-Praise 
 
 
 
 . 139 
 
 140 
 
 . 145 
 
 Sabbath Duties . 
 
 
 
 150 
 
 Studies 
 
 
 
 . 151 
 
 Simile, a . 
 
 
 
 153 
 
 Social Intercourse 
 
 . 157 
 
Index. 251 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Skepticism .... 163 
 
 Self-Deception 
 
 
 . 165 
 
 Sure Foundation . 
 
 
 
 
 167 
 
 Self-Love 
 
 
 
 
 . 176 
 
 Self-Denial 
 
 
 
 
 184 
 
 Soul, Value of 
 
 
 
 
 . 201 
 
 Spiritual Blindness 
 
 
 
 
 203 
 
 Subjection of the Body 
 
 
 
 
 . 205 
 
 Sabbath, the 
 
 
 
 
 217 
 
 Sensuality 
 
 
 
 
 . 217 
 
 Soul Emblems 
 
 
 
 
 231 
 
 Sights, Two .Interesting 
 
 
 
 
 . 232 
 
 Sic Vita . 
 
 
 
 
 236 
 
 Struggle, the Daily . 
 
 
 
 
 . 237 
 
 Time 
 
 
 
 
 10, 86 
 
 Theology 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 True Honor 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 Time, Value of 
 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 Thoughts . 
 
 
 
 
 56 
 
 Thankfulness 
 
 
 
 
 62, 213 
 
 True Courage 
 
 
 
 
 107 
 
 True Religion 
 
 
 
 
 . 115 
 
 To-Day — To-Morrow 
 
 
 
 
 126 
 
 True Knowledge 
 
 
 
 
 . 158 
 
 Thoughts for the Closet 
 
 
 
 
 196 
 
 True Christian, the . 
 
 
 
 
 . 200 
 
 Temptation 
 
 
 
 
 202 
 
 The Two Lives 
 
 
 
 
 . 215 
 
 Time and Eternity 
 
 
 
 
 219 
 
 Tears and Laughter . 
 
 
 
 
 . 221 
 
 Thinking . 
 
 
 
 
 228 
 
 Tempers 
 
 
 . 230 
 
 Use of Rebuke 
 
 
 41 
 
252 
 
 Index. 
 
 Use of Affliction . 
 Unregenerate, the 
 Virtue 
 
 Virtue and Vice 
 Virtuous, the 
 Vain-Glory . 
 Vice, Penalties of 
 Value of the Soul 
 
 Win of God, the . 
 Worldly Pleasures 
 "Worldly Loss 
 We are not our own 
 Way of Life, the . 
 Wages of Sin 
 Wealth . 
 Wanton Jests 
 World's Favor, the 
 Watchfulness 
 What makes a Man 
 Worldly Difficulties 
 
 PAGE 
 126 
 
 127 
 
 18, 83, 130, 135 
 116, 197 
 133 
 145 
 198 
 201 
 
 15 
 
 45 
 
 47 
 
 71 
 
 84 
 
 97 
 
 107 
 
 108 
 
 136 
 
 209 
 
 215 
 
 219 
 
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