JAMES K.MOFFITT 
 
 PAULINE FORE MOFFITT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 GENERAL LIBRARY, BERKELEY 
 
."01d Souhh"- BOSTON 
 
f 
 
 SOME FRUITS OF 
 SOLITUDE 
 
 

 R 
 
 enrv-. 1 
 
SOME FRUITS OF SOLITUDE 
 IN REFLECTIONS & MAXIMS 
 
 By William Penn 
 
 With an Introduction 
 
 by Edmund Gosse 
 
 LONDON 
 FREEMANTLE &P CO. 
 
 MCMI 
 
GIFT 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction by Edmund Gosse ix 
 
 Fac-simile of Original Title-Page . . . xxiii 
 The Author s Preface ..... xxv 
 
 PART I 
 
 Ignorance ...... , i 
 
 Education . . . . . . .2 
 
 Pride 6 
 
 Luxury .... 10 
 
 Inconsideration . . . . . .n 
 
 Disappointment and Resignation . . .11 
 Murmuring . . . . . . .12 
 
 Consciousness . . . . . .13 
 
 Bounds of Charity . . . . .15 
 
 Frugality or Bounty . . . . .16 
 
 Discipline . . . . . . .17 
 
 Industry . . . . . . .17 
 
 Temperance . . . . . . .18 
 
 Apparel . . . . . . .20 
 
 Right Marriage . . . . . .22 
 
 Avarice ....... 23 
 
 Friendship ....... 29 
 
 Qualities of a Friend ..... 30 
 
 Caution and Conduct . , , . 3 1 
 
 346 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Reparation . . . . . . .32 
 
 Rules of Conversation . . . . 33 
 
 Eloquence . . . . . . 35 
 
 Temper ....... 36 
 
 Truth ........ 36 
 
 Justice . ...... 37 
 
 Secrecy ....... 37 
 
 Complacency ...... 37 
 
 Shifts . . 38 
 
 Interest . . . . . . -38 
 
 Inquiry ....... 39 
 
 Right-timing ...... 39 
 
 Knowledge . ...... 40 
 
 Wit 41 
 
 Obedience to Parents ..... 42 
 
 Bearing ....... 43 
 
 Promising ....... 43 
 
 Fidelity ....... 44 
 
 Master 45 
 
 Servant ....... 46 
 
 Jealous ....... 47 
 
 Posterity 48 
 
 A Country Life ... 49 
 
 Art and Project ...... 50 
 
 Industry . . . . . . .51 
 
 Temporal Happiness . . . . 52 
 
 Respect . . . . . .54 
 
 Hazard . . . . . . -55 
 
 Detraction 56 
 
 V| 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Moderation .... 57 
 
 Trick 58 
 
 Passion ....... 59 
 
 Personal Cautions . . . . .61 
 
 Ballance ....... 62 
 
 Popularity . . . . . . -65 
 
 Privacy . . . . . . -65 
 
 Government . . . . 66 
 
 A Private Life . . . . . 73 
 
 A Publick Life 75 
 
 Qualifications . . . . 75 
 
 Capacity ....... 75 
 
 Clean Hands ...... 76 
 
 Dispatch ....... 77 
 
 Patience ....... 78 
 
 Impartiality ....... 79 
 
 Indifferency . . . . . . .82 
 
 Neutrality . . ... . . .82 
 
 A Party " 83 
 
 Ostentation . . . . . . .84 
 
 Compleat Virtue . . . . . 85 
 
 Religion . . . . . . .86 
 
 PART II 
 
 Introduction . . . . . .109 
 
 The Right Moralist . . . . . 1 1 1 
 
 The World s Able Man . . . .114 
 
 vii 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Wise Man 122 
 
 Of the Government of Thoughts . . 1 24 
 
 Of Envy 128 
 
 Of Man s Life 130 
 
 Of Ambition . . . . . 131 
 
 Of Praise or Applause . . . . .132 
 
 Of Conduct in Speech . . . . .134 
 
 Union of Friends . . . . . .136 
 
 Of being Easy in Living . . . 1 37 
 
 Of Man s Inconsiderateness and Partiality . 139 
 Of the Rule of Judging . . . .140 
 
 Of Formality . . . . . . .143 
 
 Of the mean Notion we have of God . .143 
 Of the Benefit of Justice .... 145 
 
 Of Jealousy . . . . . . 147 
 
 Of State 148 
 
 Of a Good Servant . . . . .149 
 Of an immediate Pursuit of the World . .150 
 Of the Interest of the Publick in our Estates . 152 
 The Vain Man . . . . . 155 
 
 The Conformist . . . . . 1 57 
 
 The Obligations of Great Men to Almighty 
 
 God 158 
 
 Of Refining upon other Men s Actions or 
 
 Interests . . . . . .163 
 
 Of Charity 165 
 
 Vlll 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 little " Enchiridion" as its author called />, 
 this compendium of cheerful rules for the conduct 
 of life^ has become so completely forgotten that London 
 was scoured for a long time in vain before a copy 
 could be found on which to base the present essay. Yet it 
 was once^ and for a long time continued to be^ among the 
 most popular of books. During the eighteenth century^ it 
 was seldom out of print ^ and abundant editions of it in the 
 British Museum testify to the solace which its fortifying 
 maxims supplied to generation after generation of men and 
 women. Oddly enough^ it was in the year when its 
 century of existence was rounded off- in 1793 that its 
 latest regular re-issue occurred^ but even in the nineteenth 
 century it was printed several times. Now, however ^ the 
 poppy seemed to be finally scattered over its pages , and 
 b ix 
 
Fruits of Solitude 
 
 " Some Fruits of Solitude " to have been gathered to the 
 storehouse of oblivion, when an enchanter has come, and 
 wakened the delicate dead thing into life. 
 
 The publication of Robert Louis Stevenson s " Letters " 
 has revealed the fact that he was a warm admirer of the 
 "Fruits of Solitude" He met with the little book at a 
 critical moment of his own career , in December 1879, 
 while he was wandering disconsolately in the streets of 
 San Francisco., convalescent after a very dangerous illness^ 
 yet " still somewhat of a mossy ruin" and doubtful 
 in what spirit to face the world again. To the exile ^ with 
 his hopes re-excited^ his spirits grown buoyant^ his moral 
 fibres tightened by hardship and fear , the small book of 
 Penns maxims came with what seemed a direct message 
 from heaven. Stevenson was singularly moved by the 
 "Fruits of Solitude" which he picked up ignorantly on 
 the stall of a San Francisco bouquiniste, and the depth 
 of his emotion was proved by its durability. Two years 
 afterwards he gave that particular copy of the book to 
 Mr Horatio F. Brown, with these words : 
 
 "If ever in all my human conduct* I have done a 
 better thing to any fellow-creature than handing on to 
 
Introduction 
 
 you this sweet, dignified, and wholesome book, I know I 
 shall hear of it on the last day. To write a book like 
 this were impossible ; at least one can hand it on, with a 
 wrench, one to another. My wife cries out and my own 
 heart misgives me, but still here it is" 
 And in a later letter to the same friend : 
 " / hope, if you get thus far, you will know what an 
 invaluable present I have made you. Even the copy was 
 dear to me, printed in the colony that Penn established, 
 and carried in my pocket all about the San Francisco 
 streets, read in street-cars and ferry-boats, when I was 
 sick unto death, and found in all times and places a peace 
 ful and sweet companion. But I hope, when you shall 
 have reached this note, my gift will not have been in vain ; 
 for while, just now, we are so busy and intelligent, there is 
 not the man living no, nor recently dead that could put, 
 with so lovely a spirit, so much honest, kind wisdom into 
 words" 
 
 Stevenson had intended to make this book and its author 
 the subject of one of his critical essays. In February 
 1880 he was preparing to begin it. But the sickness unto 
 death, of which he speaks in the letter above quoted, turned 
 
 xi 
 
Fruits of Solitude 
 
 his thoughts in other directions. In April of the same year, 
 he is still " waiting for Penn," but the great changes in his 
 fortune and duty , of which we know, immediately intervened, 
 and carried him off to other latitudes and other work. He 
 never found the opportunity to discourse to us about the 
 book which he loved so much. But it has left an indelible 
 stamp on the tenor of his moral writings. The philosophy 
 of R. L. S., as revealed to us from 1 879 onwards, is 
 tinctured through and through with the honest, shrewd, 
 and genial maxims of Penn. Courage and common-sense, 
 a determination to win an honourable discharge in 
 the bankrupt business of human life, a cheerfulness 
 in facing responsibility, these were qualities which 
 Stevenson possessed already, but in which he was marvel 
 lously strengthened by commerce with "Some Fruits of 
 Solitude." So the little Quakerish volume has a double 
 claim upon us, -for itself, so clean and sensible and manly 
 a treatise, and for its illustrious student and "sedulous 
 ape," our admirable R. L. S. 
 
 That "Some Fruits of Solitude" was written by William 
 Penn has never, so far as I know, been doubted, and there 
 seems no reason to question the fact. As, however, the 
 
 xii 
 
Introduction 
 
 bibliographical authorities attribute the little book to Penn 
 as confidently as though he had publicly owned it, it seems 
 fair to say that there is little or no external evidence of his 
 authorship. T he first edition, which was licensed on the 
 2^th of May 1693, is anonymous, and so are all the 
 subsequent reprints until quite modern times. It was not 
 until 1718, and after the Jirst part had been many times 
 re-issued, that the " More Fruits of Solitude" which has 
 ever since been treated as a continuation by the same hand, 
 made its earliest appearance. But it would almost seem 
 as though there were evidence as to Penns authorship of 
 this latter, which did not exist as to the former, since the 
 editor of Penns " Select Works" in 1 77 1 , says that the 
 title " More Fruits " shows that there was " a former 
 work of the same nature" It does so, of course ; but how 
 came the editor of 1771 to make so strange a remark, if 
 he had the double work before him ? Finally, there was 
 printed as lately as 1875 the following maxim, said 
 to have been discovered written on a plain half -sheet of 
 paper : 
 
 "He is a wise and a good man, too, that knows 
 his original and end ; and answers it by a life that is 
 
 xiii 
 
Fruits of Solitude 
 
 adequate and corresponds therewith. There is no creature 
 fallen so much below this as man ; and that will augment 
 his trouble in the day of account, for he is an account 
 able creature. I pray God his Maker to awaken him to a 
 just consideration thereof, that he may find forgiveness of 
 God, his Maker and Judge. WM. PENN." 
 
 This is exactly in the manner of " More Fruits," for 
 which it is difficult to believe that it was not written, and 
 may be taken as an important evidence of the authorship of 
 that book. In 1726 was published a work of Penns, 
 called " Fruits of a Father s Love," which had a certain 
 likeness in subject to the little volumes here reprinted ; this 
 was described as " The advice of William Penn to his 
 children, relating to their civil and religious conduct" It 
 was often reprinted, and from 1 790 onwards usually 
 appears bound up with the " Fruits of Solitude." There is 
 even another treatise, bearing the same title, " Fruits of a 
 Father s Love" and opening with the words, " My dear 
 Wife and Children" whereas that first published in 1726 
 begins " My dear Children." These works and their 
 tangled bibliography need not, however, detain us, for they 
 
 xiv 
 
Introduction 
 
 are totally distinct from the subject of the present reprint. 
 Inhere are several French translations of the latter^ but 
 they throw no light on the question of authorship. 
 
 It is, finally^ to be remarked that very considerable 
 differences exist between the text as printed in 1693 and 
 onwards^ and that substituted in 1718. The earliest 
 editions are full of positive blunders and misprints^ and 
 contain substantially less matter than what is now the 
 standard text. The fact that the latter appears in the 
 year when " More Fruits " was first given to the public^ 
 leads us to suppose that both were printed in 1718 from a 
 revised MS. of the author s. In the present reprint it is 
 the text 0/^1718, not of 1693, which is given. 
 
 If we turn to the book itself^ we find not very much 
 which can aid us in conjecturing the exact date of its 
 composition. It must have been written between 1665, 
 before which date Penn cannot have seen the " Reflexions 
 et Maximes" and 1693, when the volume was licensed. 
 T^he author blesses God for his retirement. He has been 
 forcibly withdrawn from the world^ and never had so 
 much leisure in all his life before. He reviews his career , 
 and admits that he has been lavish of his time. He does 
 
 xv 
 
Fruits of Solitude 
 
 not consider that he has " been the worst or the idlest man 
 in the world, nor is he the oldest," William Penn, born 
 on the i \th of October 1 644, was still in his forty-ninth 
 year when " Some Fruits of Solitude " was licensed. He 
 had enjoyed a large number of forced opportunities of 
 retirement ; he had languished in quite a number of 
 celebrated gaols. An enumeration of these opportunities 
 may be worth giving. Penn went to prison for a few 
 days in 1667, for publicly professing himself a Quaker. 
 For publishing his attack on the Athanasian Greed, 
 " A Sandy Foundation shaken" he was committed to the 
 Tower from December 1668 to July 1669. There he 
 wrote not only his celebrated arraignment of " hat- 
 honour " in the shape of the once popular treatise, called 
 " No Cross, No Crown" but three other controversial 
 pamphlets. There was neither time nor temper on that 
 occasion for optimistic maxims upon the conduct of life. 
 In September 1670, Penn was committed to Newgate "for 
 speaking in Gracechurch Street" as a friendly jury per 
 sisted in putting it, but he was released a few days later. 
 Finally, in February 1671, he was arrested while address- 
 ing a Quakers meeting in Wheeler Street, and was thrown 
 
 xvi 
 
Introduction 
 
 into prison again , this time for six months. Here was an 
 opportunity for writing maxims., and yet I do not believe 
 that the tempestuous young man, who was only twenty- 
 seven still, was ripe enough to form such grave and serene 
 refections as Jill the " Fruits of Solitude " 
 
 During the reign of James II. , as every one knows, 
 William Penn enjoyed an extreme, and, it must be ad 
 mitted a somewhat equivocal popularity at court. The 
 king allowed no interference with the foibles of his 
 eccentric Quaker friend, and he confirmed him in the 
 vast and vague seigneury of Pennsylvania. Penn in 
 dulged in no enforced retirement during the reign of 
 James II. But when the Stuart fell, and particularly 
 later, after the Battle of Beechey Head, the exiled kings 
 close friend was not unnaturally suspected of holding corre 
 spondence with him, and it became discreet for Penn to dis 
 appear for a while. There was a warrant out against 
 him, and he was almost captured as he returned (January 
 1 6, 1690) from George Fox s funeral ; but he escaped, 
 and for several months he continued in hiding. Nor was 
 he perfectly reinstated until after his appearance before 
 William III. in Council in the autumn of 1693. Here, 
 c xvii 
 
Fruits of Solitude 
 
 then, as I believe , we have the approximate date of these 
 little treatises, written, not in the agitated vicissitudes of 
 Penris fiery youth, but in his advanced middle life ; not in 
 prison, but in the Sussex homestead to which he noiselessly 
 withdrew after the apparition of the French Fleet in the 
 Channel in 1690. 
 
 The form of " Some Fruits of Solitude " is wholly due 
 to the influence of La Rochefoucauld s famous compendium 
 of sentences, the vogue of which was at its height in 
 England when Penn wrote. Even the title of Penns 
 work closely imitates that of his French model, since what 
 are " Reflexions ou Sentences et Maximes Morales " in La 
 Rochefoucauld become " Reflections and Maxims relating 
 to Conduct " in his English follower. The movement in 
 France towards the production of short, bright sentences, 
 each containing one idea, and each individually effective in 
 its keenness and conciseness, had reached a climax soon 
 after the English Restoration. There had grown up in 
 France a feeling that the phrase must be reduced to sim 
 plicity of shape, must be relieved of its parenthetical flaps 
 and appendages, and must produce a sharp and precise 
 effect. Madame de Sable and Jacques Esprit had laid 
 
 xviii 
 
Introduction 
 
 down the form of the maxim , but it needed genius ^ it needed 
 the extraordinary art and wit of the great Duke of La 
 Rochefoucauld to bring the new conception to the birth in a 
 perfectly finished and current shape. His " Maximes" 
 after having been pirated at Amsterdam in 1 664, found 
 their proper issue in Paris in 1665, and they became at 
 once the model of all sententious and oracular aphorisms. 
 
 It was in England that La Rochefoucauld *s influence 
 was more instantly felt than anywhere else out of France. 
 The " Maximes " contributed greatly to the formation of an 
 improved English taste ^ and to a final breaking up of the 
 lumbering construction of the national prose , with its coiled \ 
 interminable sentences. In 1 670, too^ came, in France -, the 
 " Pensees " of Pascal, in 1687 the " Caracteres " of La 
 Eruyere ; here in London people of quality and tempera 
 ment might converse with the epigrammatic Saint Evre- 
 mond. All these influences were more or less fairly at 
 work on William Penn^ when he wrote " T /ie Fruits of 
 Solitude." But^ if we are right in supposing that this took 
 place in the early years of the reign of William ///., // is 
 curious to note that at the very same time a scholar of La 
 Rochefoucauld still closer than Penn was writing Maxims ; 
 
 xix 
 
Fruits of Solitude 
 
 this was Halifax, whose " Thoughts and Reflections" 
 though not printed until 1750, were certainly composed 
 between 1690 and 1695. But Penn is as far removed 
 from Halifax as Halifax from their common model. La 
 Rochefoucauld is the very living spirit of negative and sar 
 castic wit. In his lapidary art malignity is the polishing 
 powder which completes the work. In that of Halifax 
 common-sense reigns supreme, the trimming skill of the 
 perfect man of the world, without illusion, without malice. 
 But in that of Penn all is absolute rose-colour, and we 
 may be allowed to fear that La Rochefoucauld would have 
 hastened to repudiate a disciple who had learned so little of 
 the hollowness and bitterness of life. 
 
 For life was not bitter to Penn. He combats the cynical 
 attitude throughout. His heart is on his sleeve ; he will 
 take you aside, although he sees you for the first time, and 
 tell you everything. Nothing is more amusing than Penns 
 rooted dislike to reserve ; " they are next to unnatural," he 
 says, " that are not communicable." Nor has he any 
 Joible for political prudence ; he had, we must presume, a 
 limited sympathy with Halifax. " Men must be saved in 
 this world by their want of faith" says the cautious 
 
 xx 
 
Introduction 
 
 Trimmer ; but Penn hotly replies^ " A cunning man is a 
 kind of lurcher in politics" On the whole ^ in these as in 
 his other utterances^ we see Penn revealed as a man of no 
 great subtlety or finesse d esprit, but as an honest and 
 shrewd observer of life^ Quakerish^ utilitarian^ optimistic. 
 He does not often rise so high as in the section called 
 " Union of Friends " (which I suspect went home with 
 peculiar force to R. L. ), but he seldom sinks. The 
 reader^ if he finds his attention flagging in " Some Fruits" 
 must push on to " More Fruits" which ^ in my opinion^ are 
 sounder , juicier^ and grown against a sunnier wall of 
 experience than their forerunners. But all are delicate , 
 and the little basket which holds them will be found \ as 
 Stevenson said^ " in all times and places a peaceful and 
 sweet companion" 
 
 EDMUND GOSSE. 
 
 XXI 
 
Some Jfrutte of Solitube 
 
 IN 
 
 REFLECTIONS 
 
 MAXIMS, 
 
 Relating to the 
 
 CONDUCT 
 
 OF 
 
 Human Life. 
 
 In Two PARTS. 
 
 Sbe Seventh JE&ition. 
 
 LONDON: 
 Printed and Sold, by the Affigns of 
 y. Sow/e, at the Bible in George- 
 Yard, Lombard-Street , 1718. 
 
THE PREFACE 
 
 TJEADER, This Enchiridion, I present thee with, 
 ^^ is the Fruit of Solitude: A School few care to 
 learn z/z, tho None instructs us better. Some Parts of 
 it are the Result of serious Reflection : Others the 
 Flashings of Lucid Intervals : Writ for private Satis 
 faction , and now published for an Help to Human 
 Conduct. 
 
 The Author blesseth God for his Retirement, and 
 kisses that Gentle Hand which led him into it: For 
 though it should prove Barren to the World^ it can never 
 do so to him. 
 
 He has now had some Time he could call his own ; a 
 Property he was never so much Master of before : In 
 which he has taken a View of himself and the World ; 
 and observed wherein he hath hit and mist the Mark ; 
 What might have been done^ what mended^ and what 
 d xxv 
 
The Preface 
 
 avoided in his Human Conduct : Together with the 
 Omissions and Excesses of others, as well Societies 
 and Governments, as private Families, and Persons. 
 And he verily thinks, were he to live over his Life again, 
 he could not only, with God s Grace, serve Him, but his 
 Neighbour and himself, better than he hath done, and 
 have Seven Years of his Time to spare. And yet 
 perhaps he hath not been the Worst or the Idlest Man 
 in the World ; nor is he the Oldest. And this is the 
 rather said, that it might quicken Thee, Reader, to lose 
 none of the Time that is yet thine. 
 
 There is nothing of which we are apt to be so lavish as 
 of Time, and about which we ought to be more solicitous ; 
 since without it we can do nothing in this World. Time 
 is what we want most, but what, alas ! we use worst ; 
 and for which God will certainly most strictly reckon 
 with us, when Time shall be no more. 
 
 It is of that Moment to us in Reference to both Worlds, 
 that I can hardly wish any Man better, than that he 
 would seriously consider what he does with his Time : 
 How and to What Ends he Employs it; and what 
 Returns he makes to God, his Neighbour and Himself for 
 
 xxvi 
 
The Preface 
 
 it. Will he neer have a Leidger for this ? This, the 
 greatest Wisdom and Work of Life. 
 
 To come but once into the World, and Trifle away our 
 true ILnjoyment of it, and of our selves in it, is lamentable 
 indeed. This one Refection would yield a thinking 
 Person great Instruction. And since nothing below Man 
 can so Think ; Man, in being Thoughtless, must needs 
 fall below himself. And that, to be sure, such do, as are 
 unconcerned in the Use of their most Precious Time. 
 
 This is but too evident, if we will allow our selves to 
 consider, that there s hardly any Thing we take by the 
 Right End, or improve to its just Advantage. 
 
 We understand little of the Works of God, either in 
 Nature or Grace. We pursue False Knowledge, and 
 Mistake Education extreamly. We are Violent in our 
 Affections, Confused and Immethodical in our whole 
 Life ; making That a Burthen, which was given for 
 a Blessing ; and so of little Comfort to our selves or 
 others : Misapprehending the true Notion of Happiness, 
 and so missing of the Right Use of Life, and Way of 
 happy Living. 
 
 And till we are perswaded to stop, and step a little 
 
 xxvii 
 
The Preface 
 
 aside, out of the noisy Crowd and Incumbering Hurry 
 of the World^ and Calmly take a Prospect of Things, it 
 will be impossible we should be able to make a right 
 Judgment of our Selves or know our own Misery. But 
 after we have made the just Reckonings which Retire 
 ment will help us to, we shall begin to think the World 
 in great measure Mad, and that we have been in a sort of 
 Bedlam all this while. 
 
 Reader, whether Young or Old, think it not too soon 
 or too late to turn over the Leaves of thy past Life : 
 And be sure to fold down where any Passage of it may 
 affect thee ; And bestow thy Remainder of Time, to 
 correct those Faults in thy future Conduct ; Be it in 
 Relation to this or the next Life. What thou wouldst do, 
 if what thou hast done were to do again, be sure to do 
 as long as thou livest, upon the like Occasions. 
 
 Our Resolutions seem to be Vigorous, as often as we 
 reflect upon our past JLrrors ; But, Alas ! they are apt 
 to flat again upon fresh Temptations to the same Things. 
 
 The Author does not pretend to deliver thee an Exact 
 Piece ; his Business not being Ostentation, but Charity. 
 Tis Miscellaneous in the Matter of it, and by no means 
 
 xxviii 
 
The Preface 
 
 Artificial in the Composure. But it contains Hints, that 
 may serve thee for Texts to Preach to thy Self upon, 
 and which comprehend Much of the Course of Human 
 Life : Since whether thou art Parent or Child, Prince or 
 Subject, Master or Servant, Single or Married, Publick 
 or Private, Mean or Honourable, Rich or Poor, Pros 
 perous or Improsperous, in Peace or Controversy, in 
 Business or Solitude ; Whatever be thy Inclination or 
 Aversion, Practice or Duty, thou wilt find something not 
 unsuitably said for thy Direction and Advantage. Accept 
 and Improve what deserves thy Notice ; The rest excuse, 
 and place to account of good Will to Thee and the whole 
 Creation of God. 
 
 XXIX 
 
Some jfruits of Solitube 
 
 IN 
 
 REFLECTIONS f MAXIMS 
 
 3Qnorance 
 
 1. It is admirable to consider how many 
 Millions of People come into, and go out 
 of the World, Ignorant of themselves, and 
 of the World they have lived in. 
 
 2. If one went to see Windsor -Castle, 
 or Hampton-Court^ it would be strange not 
 to observe and remember the Situation, the 
 Building, the Gardens, Fountains, &c. that 
 make up the Beauty and Pleasure of such a 
 Seat ? And yet few People know themselves ; 
 No, not their own Bodies, the Houses of their 
 Minds, the most curious Structure of the 
 World ; a living walking Tabernacle : Nor 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 the World of which it was made, and out of 
 which it is fed ; which would be so much 
 our Benefit, as well as our Pleasure, to know. 
 We cannot doubt of this when we are told 
 that the Invisible Things of God are brought 
 to light by the Things that are seen ; and 
 consequently we read our Duty in them as 
 often as we look upon them, to him that is 
 the Great and Wise Author of them, if we 
 look as we should do. 
 
 3. The World is certainly a great and 
 stately Volume of natural Things ; and may 
 be not improperly styled the Hieroglyphicks 
 of a better : But, alas ! how very few Leaves 
 of it do we seriously turn over ! This ought 
 to be the Subject of the Education of our 
 Youth) who, at Twenty, when they should be 
 fit for Business, know little or nothing of it. 
 
 ie&ucatfon 
 
 4. We are in Pain to make them Scholars, 
 but not Men ! To talk, rather than to know, 
 which is true Canting. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 5. The first Thing obvious to Children is 
 what is sensible ; and that we make no Part 
 of their Rudiments. 
 
 6. We press their Memory too soon, and 
 puzzle, strain and load them with Words and 
 Rules ; to know Grammer and Rhetoric^ 
 and a strange Tongue or two, that it is ten 
 to one may never be useful to them ; Leaving 
 their natural Genius to Mechanical and Physi 
 cal^ or natural Knowledge uncultivated and 
 neglected ; which would be of exceeding Use 
 and Pleasure to them through the whole 
 Course of their Life. 
 
 7. To be sure, Languages are not to be 
 despised or neglected. But Things are still 
 to be preferred. 
 
 8. Children had rather be making of Tools 
 and Instruments of Play ; Shaping^ Draw 
 ing, Framing^ and Building^ &c. than getting 
 some Rules of Propriety of Speech by Heart : 
 And those also would follow with more 
 Judgment, and less Trouble and Time. 
 
 9. It were Happy if we studied Nature 
 
 3 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 more in natural Things ; and acted according 
 to Nature ; whose Rules zxz few, plain and 
 most reasonable. 
 
 10. Let us begin where she begins, go her 
 Pace, and close always where she ends, and 
 we cannot miss of being good Naturalists. 
 
 11. The Creation would not be longer a 
 Riddle to us : The Heavens, Earth, and 
 W^aters, with their respective, various and 
 numerous Inhabitants : Their Productions, 
 Natures, Seasons, Sympathies and Anti 
 pathies ; their Use, Benefit and Pleasure, 
 would be better understood by us : And an 
 eternal W^isdom, Power, Majesty and Good 
 ness, very conspicuous to us, thro those 
 sensible and passing Forms : The World 
 wearing the Mark of its Maker, whose Stamp 
 is everywhere visible, and the Characters 
 very legible to the Children of Wisdom. 
 
 12. And it would go a great way to 
 caution and direct People in their Use of 
 the World, that they were better studied and 
 known in the Creation of it. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 13. For how could Man find the Con 
 fidence to abuse it, while they should see the 
 Great Creator stare them in the Face, in all 
 and every Part thereof? 
 
 14. Their Ignorance makes them insen 
 sible, and that Insensibility hardy in misusing 
 this noble Creation, that has the Stamp and 
 Voice of a Deity every where, and in every 
 Thing to the Observing. 
 
 15. It is pity therefore that Books have 
 not been composed for Youth^ by some 
 curious and careful Naturalists^ and also 
 Mechanic k.S) in the Latin Tongue, to be 
 used in Schools, that they might learn 
 Things with Words : Things obvious and 
 
 familiar to them, and which would make 
 the Tongue easier to be obtained by them. 
 
 1 6. Many able Gar diners and Husband 
 men are yet Ignorant of the Reason of their 
 Calling ; as most Artificers are of the Reason 
 of their own Rules that govern their excel 
 lent Workmanship. But a Naturalist and 
 Mechanick of this sort, is Master of the 
 
 5 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Reason of both, and might be of the Practice 
 too, if his Industry kept pace with his Specu 
 lation ; which were very commendable ; and 
 without which he cannot be said to be a 
 complete Naturalist or Mechanick. 
 
 17. Finally, if Man be the Index or Epi- 
 tomy of the World, as Philosophers tell us, we 
 have only to read our selves well to be learned 
 in it. But because there is nothing we less 
 regard than the Characters of the Power that 
 made us, which are so clearly written upon us 
 and the World he has given us, and can best 
 tell us what we are and should be, we are 
 even Strangers to our own Genius : The 
 Glass in which we should see that true in 
 structing and agreeable Variety, which is to 
 be observed in Nature, to the Admiration of 
 that Wisdom and Adoration of that Power 
 which made us all. 
 
 pri&e 
 
 1 8. And yet we are very apt to be/W/ of 
 our selves, instead of Him that made what 
 
 6 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 we so much value ; and, but for whom we 
 can have no Reason to value our selves. For 
 we have nothing that we can call our own ; 
 no, not our selves : For we are all but Ten 
 ants^ and at Will too, of the great Lord of 
 our selves, and the rest of this great Farm^ 
 the World that we live upon. 
 
 1 9. But methinks we cannot answer it to 
 our Selves as well as our Maker, that we 
 should live and die ignorant of our Selves, 
 and thereby of Him and the Obligations we 
 are under to Him for our Selves. 
 
 20. If the worth of a Gift sets the Obliga 
 tion, and directs the return of the Party that 
 receives it ; he that is ignorant of it, will be 
 at a loss to value it and the Giver, for it. 
 
 2 1 . Here is Man in his Ignorance of him 
 self. He knows not how to estimate his 
 Creator, because he knows not how to value 
 his Creation. If we consider his Make, and 
 lovely Compositure ; the several Stories of his 
 lovely Structure. His divers Members, their 
 Order, Function and Dependency : The In- 
 
 7 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 struments of Food, the Vessels of Digestion, 
 the several Transmutations it passes. And 
 how Nourishment is carried and defused 
 throughout the whole Body, by most innate 
 and imperceptible Passages. How the 
 Animal Spirit is thereby refreshed, and with 
 an unspeakable Dexterity and Motion sets 
 all Parts at work to feed themselves. And 
 last of all, how the Rational Soul is seated 
 in the Animal, as its proper House, as is the 
 Animal in the Body : I say if this rare 
 Fabrick alone were but considered by us, 
 with all the rest by which it is fed and com 
 forted, surely Man would have a more reverent 
 Sense of the Power, Wisdom and Goodness 
 of God, and of that Duty he owes to Him 
 for it. But if he would be acquainted with 
 his own Soul, its noble Faculties, its Union 
 with the Body, its Nature and End, and the 
 Providences by which the whole Frame of 
 Humanity is preserved, he would Admire 
 and Adore his Good and Great God. But 
 Man is become a strange Contradiction to 
 
 8 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 himself ; but it is of himself ; Not being by 
 Constitution, but Corruption such. 
 
 22. He would have others obey him, even 
 his own kind ; but he will not obey God, 
 that is so much above him, and who made 
 him. 
 
 23. He will lose none of his Authority ; 
 no, not bate an Ace of it : He is humorous 
 to his Wife, he beats his Children, is angry 
 with his Servants, strict with his Neighbours, 
 revenges all Affronts to Extremity ; but, alas, 
 forgets all the while that he is the Man ; and 
 is more in Arrear to God, that is so very 
 patient with him, than they are to him with 
 whom he is so strict and impatient. 
 
 24. He is curious to wash, dress and per 
 fume his Body, but careless of his Soul. The 
 
 one shall have many Hours, the other not so 
 many Minutes. This shall have three or 
 four new Suits in a Year, but that must wear 
 its old Cloaths still. 
 
 25. If he be to receive or see a great Man, 
 how nice and anxious is he that all things 
 
 B 9 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 be in order ? And with what Respect and 
 Address does he approach and make his 
 Court ? But to God, how dry and formal 
 and constrained in his Devotion ? 
 
 26. In his Prayers he says, Thy Will be 
 done : But means his own : At least acts so. 
 
 27. It is too frequent to begin with God 
 and end with the World. But He is the 
 good Man s Beginning and End ; his Alpha 
 and Omega. 
 
 28. Such is now become our Delicacy, that 
 we will not eat ordinary Meat, nor drink 
 small, pall d Liquor ; we must have the best, 
 and the best cook d for our Bodies, while our 
 Souls feed on empty or corrupted Things. 
 
 29. In short, Man is spending all upon a 
 bare House, and hath little or no Furniture 
 within to recommend it ; which is preferring 
 the Cabinet before the Jewel, a Lease of 
 seven Years before an Inheritance. So absurd 
 a thing is Man, after all his proud Pretences 
 to Wit and Understanding. 
 
 10 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Jnconsi&eration 
 
 30. The want of due Consideration is the 
 Cause of all the Unhappiness Man brings 
 upon himself. For his second Thoughts 
 rarely agree with his first, which pass not 
 without a considerable Retrenchment or 
 Correction. And yet that sensible Warning 
 is, too frequently, not Precaution enough for 
 his future Conduct. 
 
 31. Well may we say our Infelicity is of 
 our selves ; since there is nothing we do that 
 we should not do, but we know it^ and yet 
 do it. 
 
 ^Disappointment anfc IResignatfon 
 
 32. For Disappointments^ that come not 
 by our own Folly, they are the Tryals or 
 Corrections of Heaven : And it is our own 
 Fault, if they prove not our Advantage. 
 
 33. To repine at them does not mend the 
 Matter : It is only to grumble at our Creator. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 But to see the Hand of God in them, with an 
 humble Submission to his Will, is the Way 
 to turn our W^ater into W^ine^ and engage 
 the greatest Love and Mercy on our side. 
 
 34. We must needs disorder our selves, if 
 we only look at our Losses. But if we con 
 sider how little we deserve what is left, our 
 Passion will cool^ and our Murmurs will turn 
 into Thankfulness. 
 
 35. If our Hairs fall not to the Ground, 
 less do we or our Substance without God s 
 Providence. 
 
 36. Nor can we fall below the Arms of 
 God, how low soever it be we fall. 
 
 37. For though our Saviour s Passion is 
 over, his Compassion is not. That never 
 fails his humble, sincere Disciples : In him, 
 they find more than all that they lose in the 
 World. 
 
 fIDurmurinQ 
 
 38. Is it reasonable to take it ill, that any 
 Body desires of us that which is their own ? 
 
 12 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 All we have is the Almighty* s: And shall 
 not God have his own when he calls for it ? 
 
 39. Discontentedness is not only in such 
 a Case Ingratitude, but Injustice. For we are 
 both unthankful for the time we had it, and 
 not honest enough to restore it, if we could 
 keep it. 
 
 40. But it is hard for us to look on things 
 in such a Glass, and at such a Distance from 
 this low World ; and yet it is our Duty, 
 and would be our Wisdom and our Glory to 
 do so. 
 
 Consciousness 
 
 4 1 . We are apt to be very pert at censur 
 ing others^ where we will not endure advice 
 our selves. And nothing, shews our Weak 
 ness more than to be so sharp-sighted at 
 spying other Mens Faults, and so purblind 
 about our own. 
 
 42. When the Actions of a Neighbour are 
 upon the Stage, we can have all our Wits 
 about us, are so quick and critical we can 
 
 3 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 split an Hair, and find out every Failure and 
 Infirmity : But are without feeling, or have 
 but very little Sense of our own. 
 
 43. Much of this comes from /// Nature, 
 as well as from an inordinate Value of our 
 selves : For we love Rambling better than 
 home, and blaming the unhappy, rather than 
 covering and relieving them. 
 
 44. In such Occasions some shew their 
 Malice, and are witty upon Misfortunes ; 
 others their Justice, they can reflect a pace : 
 But few or none their Charity ; especially if 
 it be about Money Matters. 
 
 45. You shall see an old Miser come forth 
 with a set Gravity, and so much Severity 
 against the distressed, to excuse his Purse, that 
 he will, e er he has done, put it out of all 
 Question, That Riches is Righteousness with 
 him. This, says he, is the Fruit of your 
 Prodigality (as if, poor Man, Covetousness were 
 no Fault) Or, of your Projects, or grasping after 
 a great Trade : While he himself would have 
 done the same thing, but that he had not the 
 
 H 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Courage to venture so much ready Money out 
 of his own trusty Hands, though it had been 
 to have brought him back the Indies in return. 
 But the Proverb is just, Vice should not cor 
 rect Sin. 
 
 46. They have a Right to censure, that 
 have a Heart to help : The rest is Cruelty, 
 not Justice. 
 
 BounDs of Cbarits 
 
 47. Lend not beyond \ky Ability, nor refuse 
 to lend out of thy Ability ; especially when it 
 will help others more than it can hurt thee. 
 
 48. If thy Debtor be honest and capable, 
 thou hast thy Mony again, if not with En- 
 crease, with Praise : If he prove insolvent, 
 don t ruin him to get that, which it will not 
 ruin thee to lose : For thou art but a Stew 
 ard, and another is thy Owner, Master and 
 Judge. 
 
 49. The more merciful Acts thou dost, 
 the more Mercy thou wilt receive ; and if 
 with a charitable Imployment of thy Temporal 
 
 15 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Riches, thou gainest eternal Treasure, thy 
 Purchase is infinite : Thou wilt have found 
 the Art of Multiplying indeed. 
 
 Jfrugalftt? or Bounty 
 
 50. Frugality is good, if Liberality be 
 join d with it. The first is leaving off super 
 fluous Expences ; the last bestowing them to 
 the Benefit of others that need. The first 
 without the last begins Covetousness ; the last 
 without the first begins Prodigality : Both 
 together make an excellent Temper. Happy 
 the Place where ever that is found. 
 
 51. Were it universal, we should be Cur d 
 of two Extreams, Want and Excess : and 
 the one would supply the other, and so bring 
 both nearer to a Mean ; the just Degree of 
 earthly Happiness. 
 
 52. It is a Reproach to Religion and 
 Government to suffer so much Poverty and 
 Excess. 
 
 53. Were the Superfluities of a Nation 
 
 16 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 valued, and made a perpetual Tax or Bene 
 volence^ there would be more Almshouses 
 than Poor ; Schools than Scholars ; and 
 enough to spare for Government besides. 
 
 54. Hospitality is good, if the poorer sort 
 are the Subjects of our Bounty ; else too near 
 a Superfluity. 
 
 Discipline 
 
 55. If thou wouldst be happy and easie in 
 thy Family, above all things observe Discipline. 
 
 56. Every one in it should know their 
 Duty ; and there should be a Time and 
 Place for every thing ; and whatever else 
 is done or omitted, be sure to begin and end 
 with God. 
 
 57. Love Labour : For if thou dost not 
 want it for Food, thou mayest for Physick. 
 It is wholesom for thy Body, and good for 
 thy Mind. It prevents the Fruits of Idleness, 
 which many times comes of nothing to do 
 c 17 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 and leads too many to do what is worse than 
 nothing. 
 
 58. A Garden, an ^laboratory, a Work 
 house, Improvements and Breeding, are 
 pleasant and profitable Diversions to the Idle 
 and Ingenious : For here they miss 111 
 Company, and converse with Nature and 
 Art ; whose Variety are equally grateful and 
 instructing ; and preserve a good Constitution 
 of Body and Mind. 
 
 temperance 
 
 59. To this a spare Diet contributes much. 
 Eat therefore to live, and do not live to eat. 
 That s like a Man, but this below a Beast. 
 
 60. Have wholesome, but not costly Food, 
 and be rather cleanly than dainty in ordering 
 it. 
 
 6 1. The Receipts of Cookery are swelfd 
 to a Volume, but a good Stomach excels 
 them all ; to which nothing contributes 
 more than Industry and Temperance. 
 
 62. It is a cruel Folly to offer up to Osten- 
 
 18 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 tation so many Lives of Creatures, as make 
 up the State of our Treats ; as it is a prodigal 
 one to spend more in Sawce than in Meat. 
 
 63. The Proverb says, That enough is as 
 good as a Feast : But it is certainly better, if 
 Superfluity be a Fault, which never fails to 
 be at Festivals. 
 
 64. If thou rise with an Appetite, thou art 
 sure never to sit down without one. 
 
 65. Rarely drink but when thou art dry ; 
 nor then, between Meals, if it can be avoided. 
 
 66. The smaller the Drink, the clearer the 
 Head, and the cooler the Blood ; which are 
 great Benefits in Temper and Business. 
 
 67. Strong Liquors are good at some 
 Times, and in small Proportions ; being 
 better for Physick than Food, for Cordials 
 than common Use. 
 
 68. The most common things are the most 
 useful ; which shews both the Wisdom and 
 Goodness of the great Lord of the Family of 
 the World. 
 
 69. What therefore he has made rare, 
 
 19 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 don t thou use too commonly : Lest thou 
 shouldest invert the Use and Order of things ; 
 become Wanton and Voluptuous ; and thy 
 Blessings prove a Curse. 
 
 70. Let nothing be lost, said our Saviour. 
 But that is lost that is misused. 
 
 71. Neither urge another to that thou 
 wouldst be unwilling to do thy self, nor do 
 thy self what looks to thee unseemly, and 
 intemperate in another. 
 
 72. All Excess is ill : But Drunkennesses 
 of the worst Sort. It spoils Health, dis 
 mounts the Mind, and unmans Men : It 
 reveals Secrets, is Quarrelsome, Lascivious, 
 Impudent, Dangerous and Mad. In fine, 
 he that is drunk is not a Man : Because he 
 is so long void of Reason, that distinguishes 
 a Man from a Beast. 
 
 Hpparel 
 
 73. Excess in Apparel is another costly 
 Folly. The very Trimming of the vain 
 World would cloath all the naked one. 
 
 20 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 74. Chuse thy Cloaths by thine own Eyes, 
 not anothers. The more plain and simple 
 they are, the better. Neither unshapely, nor 
 fantastical ; and for Use and Decency, and 
 not for Pride. 
 
 75. If thou art clean and warm, it is 
 sufficient ; for more doth but rob the Poor, 
 and please the Wanton. 
 
 76. It is said of the true Church, the Kings 
 Daughter is all glorious within. Let our Care 
 therefore be of our Minds more than of our 
 Bodies, if we would be of her Communion. 
 
 77. We are told with Truth, that Meekness 
 and Modesty are the Rich and Charming 
 Attire of the Soul : And the plainer the 
 Dress, the more Distinctly, and with greater 
 Lustre, their Beauty shines. 
 
 78. It is great Pity such Beauties are so 
 rare^ and those of JexebePs Forehead are so 
 common : Whose Dresses are Incentives to 
 Lust ; but Bars instead of Motives, to Love 
 or Vertue. 
 
 21 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 IRiQbt HDarriage 
 
 79. Never Marry but for Love ; but see 
 that thou lov st what is lovely. 
 
 80. If Love be not thy chief est Motive, 
 thou wilt soon grow weary of a Married 
 State, and stray from thy Promise, to search 
 out thy Pleasures vs\ forbidden Places. 
 
 8 1 . Let not Enjoyment lessen^ but augment 
 Affection ; it being the basest of Passions to 
 like when we have not^ what we slight when 
 we possess. 
 
 82. It is the difference betwixt Lust and 
 Love, that this is fixt, that volatile. Love 
 grows, Lust wastes by Enjoyment : And the 
 Reason is, that one springs from an Union 
 of Souls ^ and the other from an Union of Sense. 
 
 83. They have Divers Originals, and so 
 are of different Families : That inward and 
 deep^ this superficial ; this transient, and that 
 parmanent. 
 
 84. They that Marry for Money cannot 
 
 22 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 have the true Satisfaction of Marriage ; the 
 requisite Means being wanting. 
 
 8 5 . Men are generally more careful of the 
 Breed ot their Horses and Dogs than of their 
 Children. 
 
 86. Those must be of the best Sort, for 
 Shape, Strength, Courage and good Conditions: 
 But as for these, their own Posterity, Money 
 shall answer all Things. With such, it makes 
 the Crooked Streight, sets Squint-Ryes Right, 
 cures Madness, covers Folly, changes ill Condi 
 tions, mends the Skin, gives a sweet Breath,re- 
 pairs Honours, makes Young, works Wonders. 
 
 87. O how sordid is Man grown ! Man, 
 the noblest Creature in the World, as a God 
 on Earth, and the Image of him that made it ; 
 thus to mistake Earth for Heaven, and worship 
 Gold for God ! 
 
 avarice 
 
 88. Covetousness is the greatest of Monsters, 
 as well as the Root of all Evil. I have once 
 seen the Man that dyed to save Charges. W hat! 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Give Ten Shillings to a Doctor, and have an 
 Apothecary s Bill besides, that may come to I 
 know not what! No, not he : Valuing Life less 
 than Twenty Shillings. But indeed such a Man 
 could not well set too low a Price upon him 
 self ; who, though he liv d up to the Chin in 
 Bags, had rather die than find in his Heart to 
 open one of them, to help to save his Life. 
 
 89. Such a Man is felo de se, and deserves 
 not Christian Burial. 
 
 90. He is a common Nusance, a Weyer cross 
 the Stream, that stops the Current : An Ob 
 struction, to be remov d by a Purge of the Law. 
 The only Gratification he gives his Neigh 
 bours, is to let them see that he himself is as 
 little the better for what he has, as they are. 
 For he always looks like Lent ; a Sort of Lay 
 Minim. In some Sense he may be compar d 
 to Pbaroaffs lean Kine^or all that he has does 
 him no good. Hejcommonly wears his Cloaths 
 till they leave him, or that no Body else can 
 wear them. He affects to be thought poor, to 
 escape Robbery and Taxes : And by looking 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 as if he wanted an Alms, excusing himself from 
 giving any. He ever goes late to Markets, to 
 cover buying the worst : But does it because 
 that is cheapest. He lives of the Offal. His 
 Life were an insupportable Punishment to 
 any Temper but his own : And no greater 
 Torment to him on Earth, than to live as 
 other Men do. But the Misery of his Plea 
 sure is, that he is never satisfied with getting, 
 and always in Fear of losing what he cannot 
 use. 
 
 9 1 . How vilely has he lost himself, that 
 becomes a Slave to his Servant ; and exalts 
 him to the Dignity of his Maker ? Gold is 
 the God, the Wife, the Friend of the Money- 
 Monger of the World. 
 
 92. But in Marriage do thou be wise ; 
 prefer the Person before Money, Vertue before 
 Beauty, the Mind before the Body : Then 
 thou hast a W^ife, a Friend, a Companion, a 
 Second Self > one that bears an equal Share 
 with thee in all thy Toyls and Troubles. 
 
 93. Chuse one that Measures her satisfac- 
 D 25 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 tion, Safety and Danger, by thine ; and of 
 whom, thou art sure, as of thy secretest 
 Thoughts : A Friend as well as a Wife, which 
 indeed a Wife implies : For she is but half a 
 Wife that is not, or is not capable of being 
 such a Friend. 
 
 94. Sexes make no Difference ; since in 
 Souls there is none : And they are the Subjects 
 of Friendship. 
 
 95. He that minds a Body and not a Soul, 
 has not the better Part of that Relation ; and 
 will consequently want the Noblest Comfort 
 of a Married Life. 
 
 96. The Satisfaction of our Senses is low, 
 short, and transient : But the Mind gives a 
 more raised and extended Pleasure, and is 
 capable of an Happiness founded upon Reason ; 
 not bounded and limited by the Circum 
 stances that Bodies are confin d to. 
 
 97. Here it is we ought to search out our 
 Pleasure, where the Field is large and full of 
 Variety, and of an induring Nature : Sickness, 
 Poverty or Disgrace, being not able to shake it, 
 
 26 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 because it is not under the moving Influences 
 of Worldly Contingences. 
 
 98. The Satisfaction of those that do so is 
 in well-doing^ and in the Assurance they have 
 of a future Reward : That they are best loved 
 of those they love most, and that they enjoy 
 and value the Liberty of their Minds above 
 that of their Bodies ; having the whole Creation 
 for their Prospect, themost Noble and Wonder 
 ful Works and Providences of God, the His 
 tories of the Antients, and in them the Actions 
 and Examples of the Vertuous ; and lastly, 
 themselves^ their Affairs and Family^ to exer 
 cise their Minds and Friendship upon. 
 
 99. Nothing can be more entire and with 
 out Reserve ; nothing more zealous, affection 
 ate and sincere ; nothing more contented and 
 constant than such a Couple ; nor no greater 
 temporal Felicity than to be one of them. 
 
 100. Between a Man and his Wife nothing 
 ought to rule but Love. Authority is for 
 Children and Servants ; yet not without 
 Sweetness. 
 
 2 7 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 101. As Love ought to bring them to 
 gether, so it is the best Way to keep them 
 well together. 
 
 1 02. Wherefore use her not as a Servant, 
 whom thou would st, perhaps, have serv d 
 Seven Years to have obtained. 
 
 103. An Husband and Wife that love and 
 value one another, shew their Children and 
 Servants, That they should do so too. Others 
 visibly lose their Authority in their Families 
 by their Contempt of one another ; and teach 
 their Children to be unnatural by their own 
 Example. 
 
 104. It is a general Fault, not to be more 
 careful to preserve Nature in Children ; who, 
 at least in the second Descent, hardly have the 
 Feeling of their Relation ; which must be an 
 unpleasant Reflection to affectionate Parents. 
 
 105. Frequent Visits, Presents, intimate 
 Correspondence and Intermarriages within 
 allowed Bounds, are Means of keeping up the 
 Concern and Affection that Nature requires 
 from Relations. 
 
 28 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 3frien&6bip 
 
 1 06. Friendship is the next Pleasure we 
 may hope for : And where we find it not at 
 home, or have no home to find it in, we may 
 seek it abroad. It is an Union of Spirits^ a 
 Marriage of Hearts^ and the Bond thereof 
 Vertue. 
 
 10 7. There can be no Friendship where 
 there is no Freedom. Friendship loves &free 
 Air, and will not be penned up in streight 
 and narrow Enclosures. It will speak freely^ 
 and act so too ; and take nothing ill where 
 no ill is meant ; nay, where it is, twill easily 
 forgive, and forget too, upon small Acknow 
 ledgments. 
 
 1 08. Friends are true Twins in Soul ; they 
 Sympathize in every thing, and have the 
 Love and Aversion. 
 
 109. One is not happy without the other, 
 nor can either of them be miserable alone. 
 As if they could change Bodies^ they take 
 
 29 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 their Turns in Pain as well as in Pleasure ; 
 relieving one another in their most adverse 
 Conditions. 
 
 no. What one enjoys, the other cannot 
 Want. Like the Primitive Christians, they 
 have all things in common, and no Property 
 but in one another. 
 
 (Dualities of a Jrienb 
 
 in. A true Friend unbosoms freely, ad 
 vises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, 
 takes all patiently , defends couragiously, and 
 continues a Friend unchangeably. 
 
 112. These being the Qualities of a Friend, 
 we are to find them before we chuse 
 one. 
 
 113. The Covetous, the Angry, the Proud, 
 the Jealous, the Talkative, cannot but make 
 ill Friends, as well as the False. 
 
 114. In short, chuse a Friend as thou dost 
 a Wife, //// Death seperate you. 
 
 115. Yet be not a Friend beyond the 
 
 3 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Altar: But let Virtue bound thy Friendship: 
 Else it is not Friendship, but an Evil Con 
 federacy. 
 
 1 1 6. If my Brother or Kinsman will be 
 my Friend, I ought to prefer him before a 
 Stranger, or I shew little Duty or Nature to 
 my Parents. 
 
 117. And as we ought to prefer our Kin 
 dred in Point of Affection, so too in Point of 
 Charity , if equally needing and deserving. 
 
 Caution ant) Contwct 
 
 1 1 8. Be not easily acquainted, lest finding 
 Reason to cool, thou makest an Enemy instead 
 of a good Neighbour. 
 
 119. Be Reserved, but not Sour ; Grave, 
 but not Formal; Bold, but not Rash; Humble, 
 but not Servile; Patient, not Insensible; Con 
 stant, not Obstinate ; Chearful, not Light: 
 Rather Sweet than Familiar ; Familiar^ than 
 Intimate ; and Intimate with very few, and 
 upon very good Grounds. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 1 20. Return the Civilities thou receivest, 
 and be ever grateful for Favours. 
 
 IReparation 
 
 121. If thou hast done an Injury to 
 another, rather own it than defend it. One 
 way thou gainest Forgiveness, the other, thou 
 doubl st the Wrong and Reckoning. 
 
 122. Some oppose Honour to Submission: 
 But it can be no Honour to maintain, what 
 it is dishonourable to do. 
 
 123. To confess a Fault, that is none, out 
 of Fear, is indeed mean : But not to be afraid 
 of standing in one, is Brutish. 
 
 124. We should make more Haste to Right 
 our Neighbour, than we do to wrong him, 
 and instead of being Vindicative, we should 
 leave him to be Judge of his own Satisfaction. 
 
 125. True Honour will pay treble Dam 
 ages, rather than justifie one Wrong by another. 
 
 126. In such Controversies, it is but too 
 common for some to say, Both are to blame^ to 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 excuse their own Unconcernedness^ which is a 
 base Neutrality. Others will cry, They are 
 both alike ; thereby involving the Injured with 
 the Guilty, to mince the Matter for the 
 Faulty, or cover their own Injustice to the 
 wronged Party. 
 
 127. Fear and Gain are great Perverters 
 of Mankind, and where either prevail, the 
 Judgment is violated. 
 
 IRules of Conversation 
 
 128. Avoid Company where it is not 
 profitable or necessary ; and in those Occa 
 sions speak little^ and last. 
 
 129. Silence is Wisdom, where Speaking 
 is Folly ; and always safe. 
 
 130. Some are so Foolish as to interrupt 
 and anticipate those that speak, instead of 
 hearing and thinking before they answer ; 
 which is uncivil as well as silly. 
 
 131. If thou thinkest twice before thou 
 
 E 33 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 speakest once, thou wilt speak twice the 
 better for it. 
 
 132. Better say nothing than not to the 
 Purpose. And to speak pertinently, con 
 sider both what is fit, and when it is fit 
 to speak. 
 
 133. In all Debates, let Truth be thy Aim, 
 not Victory, or an unjust Interest : And en 
 deavour to gain, rather than to expose thy 
 Antagonist. 
 
 134. Give no Advantage in Argument, 
 nor lose any that is offered. This is a Benefit 
 which arises from Temper. 
 
 135. Don t use thy self to dispute against 
 thine own Judgment, to shew Wit^ lest it 
 prepare thee to be too indifferent about what 
 is Right : Nor against another Man, to vex 
 him, or for meer Trial of Skill ; since to 
 inform^ or to be informed, ought to be the 
 End of all Conferences. 
 
 136. Men are too apt to be concerned for 
 their Credit, more than for the Cause. 
 
 34 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Eloquence 
 
 137. There is a Truth and Beauty in 
 Rhetorick ; but it oftener serves / // Turns 
 than good ones. 
 
 138. Elegancy 5 is a good Meen and Address 
 given to Matter, be it by proper or figurative 
 Speech : Where the Words are apt, and Allu 
 sions very natural. Certainly it has a moving 
 Grace : But it is too artificial for Simplicity, 
 and oftentimes for Truth. The Danger is, 
 lest it delude the Weak, who in such Cases 
 may mistake the Handmaid for the Mistress, 
 if not Error for Truth. 
 
 139. Tis certain Truth is least indebted 
 to it, because she has least need of it, and 
 least uses it. 
 
 140. But it is a reprovable Delicacy in 
 them that despise Truth in plain Cloths. 
 
 141. Such Luxuriant* have but false Ap 
 petites ; like those Gluttons, that by Sawces 
 
 force them, where they have no Stomach, and 
 
 35 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Sacrifice to their Pallate, not their Health : 
 Which cannot be without great Vanity, nor 
 That without some Sin. 
 
 temper 
 
 142. Nothing does Reason more Right, 
 than the Coolness of those that offer it : For 
 Truth often suffers more by the Heat of its 
 Defenders, than from the Arguments of its 
 Opposers. 
 
 143. Zeal ever follows an Appearance of 
 Truth, and the Assured are too apt to be 
 warm ; but tis their weak side in Argument ; 
 Zeal being better shewn against Sin, than 
 Persons or their Mistakes. 
 
 ftrutb 
 
 144. Where thou art Obliged to speak, be 
 sure speak the Truth : For Equivocation is 
 halfway to Lying, as Lying, the whole way 
 to Hell. 
 
 36 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Justice 
 
 145. Believe nothing against another but 
 upon good Authority : Nor report what may 
 hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to 
 others to conceal it. 
 
 Secrec? 
 
 146. It is wise not to seek a Secret, and 
 honest not to reveal one. 
 
 147. Only trust thy j^and another shall 
 not betray thee. 
 
 148. Openness has the Mischief^ though 
 not the Malice of Treachery. 
 
 Complacency 
 
 149. Never assent meerly to please others. 
 For that is, besides Flattery, oftentimes Un 
 truth ; and discovers a Mind liable to be 
 servile and base : Nor contradict to vex 
 others, for that shows an / // Temper, and 
 provokes, but profits no Body. 
 
 37 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Sbifts 
 
 150. Do not accuse others to excuse thy self; 
 for that is neither Generous nor Just. But 
 let Sincerity and Ingenuity be thy Refuge, 
 rather than Craft and Falsehood : For Cunning 
 borders very near upon Knavery. 
 
 151. Wisdom never uses nor wants it. 
 Cunning to Wise, is as an Ape to a Man. 
 
 3nterest 
 
 152. Interest\&& the Security, tho not the 
 Virtue of a Principle. As the World goes 
 tis the surer side ; For Men daily leave both 
 Relations and Religion to follow it. 
 
 153. Tis an odd Sight, but very evident. 
 That Families and Nations, of cross Religions 
 and Humours, unite against those of their own, 
 where they find an Interest to do it. 
 
 154. We are tied down by our Senses to 
 this World ; and where that is in Question, 
 
 38 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 it can be none with Worldly Men, whether 
 they should not forsake all other Considera 
 tions for it. 
 
 155. Have a care of Vulgar Errors. 
 Dislike, as well as Allow Reasonably. 
 
 156. Inquiry is Human; Blind Obedi 
 ence, Brutal. Truth never loses by the 
 one, but often suffers by the other. 
 
 157. The usefulest Truths are plainest : 
 And while we keep to them, our Differ 
 ences cannot rise high. 
 
 158. There may be a Wantonness in 
 Search, as well as a stupidity in Trusting. 
 It is great Wisdom equally to avoid the 
 Extreams. 
 
 159. Do nothing improperly. Some are 
 Witty, Kind, Cold, Angry, Easie, Stiff, 
 Jealous, Careless, Cautious, Confident, Close, 
 Open, but all in the wrong Place. 
 
 39 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 1 60. It is ill mistaking where the Matter 
 is of Importance. 
 
 161. It is not enough that a thing be 
 Right, if it be not jit to be done. If not 
 Imprudent, tho Just, it is not advisable. 
 He that loses by getting, had better lose 
 than get. 
 
 Iknowlebge 
 
 162. Knowledge is the Treasure^ but 
 Judgment the Treasurer of a Wise Man. 
 
 163. He that has more Knowledge than 
 Judgment, is made for another Mans use 
 more than his own. 
 
 164. It cannot be a good Constitution, 
 where the Appetite is great and the Diges 
 tion is weak. 
 
 165. There are some Men like Dictionaries; 
 to be lookt into upon occasions, but have no 
 Connection, and are little entertaining. 
 
 1 66. Less Knowledge than Judgment will 
 always have the advantage upon the Injudi 
 cious knowing Man. 
 
 40 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 167. A Wise Man makes what he learns 
 his own^ tother shews he s but a Copy^ or a 
 Collection at most. 
 
 Wit 
 
 1 6 8. Wit is an happy and striking way of 
 expressing a Thought. 
 
 169. Tis not often tho it be lively and 
 mantling, that it carries a great Body with 
 it. 
 
 170. Wit therefore is fitter for Diversion 
 than Business, being more grateful to Fancy 
 than Judgment. 
 
 171. Less Judgment than Wit, is more 
 Sale than Ballast. 
 
 172. Yet it must be confessed, that Wit 
 gives an Edge to Sense, and recommends it 
 extreamly. 
 
 173. Where Judgment has Wit to express 
 it, there s the best Orator. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 beMence to parents 
 
 1 74. If thou wouldest be obeyed, being a 
 Father ; being a Son, be Obedient. 
 
 175. He that begets thee, owes thee ; and 
 has a natural Right over thee. 
 
 176. Next to God, thy Parents-, next 
 them, the Magistrate. 
 
 177. Remember that thou art not more 
 indebted to thy Parents for thy Nature, than 
 for thy Love and Care. 
 
 178. Rebellion therefore in Children, was 
 made Death by God s Law, and the next Sin 
 to Idolatry, in the People ; which is renounc 
 ing of God, the Parent of all. 
 
 179. Obedience to Parents is not only our 
 Duty, but our Interest. If we received our 
 Life from them, We prolong it by obeying 
 them : For Obedience is the first Command 
 ment with Promise. 
 
 1 80. The Obligation is as indissolvable as 
 the Relation. 
 
 42 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 1 8 1. If we must not disobey God to obey 
 them ; at least we must let them see, that 
 there is nothing else in our Refusal. For 
 some unjust Commands cannot excuse the 
 general Neglect of our Duty. They will be 
 our Parents and we must be their Children 
 still : And if we cannot act for them against 
 God, neither can we act against them for 
 ourselves or anything else. 
 
 Bearing 
 
 182. A Man in Business must put up many 
 Affronts, if he loves his own Quiet. 
 
 183. We must not pretend to see all that 
 we see, if we would be easie. 
 
 184. It were endless to dispute upon 
 everything that is disputable. 
 
 185. A vindictive Temper is not only 
 uneasie to others, but to them that have it. 
 
 promising 
 
 1 8 6. Rarely Promise: But, if Lawful, 
 constantly perform. 
 
 43 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 187. Hasty Resolutions are of the Nature 
 of Vows ; and to be equally avoided. 
 
 1 8 8. I will never do this, says one,j>/ does 
 it: I am resolved to do this, says another; 
 but flags upon second Thoughts : Or does 
 it, tho awkwardly, for his Word s sake : As 
 if it were worse to break his Word, than to 
 do amiss in keeping it. 
 
 189. Wear none of thine own Chains ; 
 but keep free, whilst thou art free. 
 
 1 90. It is an Effect of Passion that Wisdom 
 corrects, to lay thy self under Resolutions that 
 cannot be well made, and must be worse per 
 formed. 
 
 191. Avoid all thou canst to be Entrusted: 
 But do thy utmost to discharge the Trust thou 
 undertakest : For Carelessness is Injurious, if 
 not Unjust. 
 
 192. The Glory of a Servant is Fidelity ; 
 which cannot be without Diligence, as well 
 as Truth. 
 
 44 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 193. Fidelity has Enfranchised Slaves, 
 and Adopted Servants to be Sons. 
 
 194. Reward a good Servant well : And 
 rather quit than Disquiet thy self with an 
 ill one. 
 
 flDaater 
 
 195. Mix Kindness with Authority ; and 
 rule more by Discretion than Rigour. 
 
 196. If thy Servant be faulty, strive rather 
 to convince him of his Error, than discover 
 thy Passion : And when he is sensible, for 
 give him. 
 
 197. Remember he is thy Fellow-Creature^ 
 and that God s Goodness, not thy Merit, has 
 made the Difference betwixt Thee and Him. 
 
 198. Let not thy Children Domineer over 
 thy Servants : Nor suffer them to slight thy 
 Children. 
 
 199. Suppress Tales in the general : But 
 where a Matter requires notice, encourage 
 the Complaint, and right the Aggrieved. 
 
 200. If a Child, he ought to Entreat, and 
 
 45 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 not to Command ; and if a Servant, to comply 
 where he does not obey. 
 
 20 1. Tho there should be but one Master 
 and Mistress in a Family, yet Servants should 
 know that Children have the Reversion. 
 
 Servant 
 
 202. Indulge not unseemly Things in thy 
 Master s Children, nor refuse them what is 
 
 fitting : For one is the highest Unfaithful 
 ness^ and the other, Indiscretion as well as 
 Disrespect. 
 
 203. Do thine own Work honestly and 
 chearfully : And when that is done, help thy 
 Fellow ; that so another time he may help 
 thee. 
 
 204. If thou wilt be a Good Servant, thou 
 must be True ; and thou canst not be True 
 if thou Defraud "st thy Master. 
 
 205. A Master may be Defrauded many 
 ways by a Servant : As in Time, Care^ Pains^ 
 Money ^ Trust. 
 
 46 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 206. But, a True Servant is the Contrary : 
 He s Diligent, Careful, Trusty. He Tells no 
 Tales, Reveals no Secrets, Refuses no Pains: 
 Not to be tempted by Gain, nor aw d by 
 Fear, to Unfaithfulness. 
 
 207. Such a Servant, serves God in serving 
 his Master ; and has double Wages for his 
 Work, to wit. Here and Hereafter. 
 
 Jealous 
 
 208. Be not fancifully Jealous : For that 
 is Foolish ; as, to be reasonably so, is Wise. 
 
 209. He that super fines up another Man s 
 Actions, cozens himself, as well as injures 
 them. 
 
 210. To be very subtil and scrupulous in 
 Business, is as hurtful, as being over-confident 
 and secure. 
 
 211. In difficult Cases, such a Temper is 
 Timorous ; and in dispatch Irresolute. 
 
 212. Experience is a safe Guide : And a 
 Practical Head, is a great Happiness in 
 Business. 
 
 47 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 posterity 
 
 213. We are too careless of Posterity ; not 
 considering that as they are, so the next 
 Generation will be. 
 
 214. If we would amend the World, we 
 should mend Our selves; and teach our 
 Children to be, not what we are, but what 
 they should be. 
 
 215. We are too apt to awaken and turn 
 up their Passions by the Examples of our 
 own ; and to teach them to be pleased, not 
 with what is best, but with what pleases best. 
 
 2 1 6. It is our Duty, and ought to be our 
 Care, to ward against that Passion in them, 
 which is more especially our Own Weakness 
 and Affliction : For we are in great measure 
 accountable for them, as well as for our 
 selves. 
 
 217. We are in this also true Turners of 
 the W^orld upside down : For Money is first, 
 and Virtue last, and least in our care. 
 
 4 8 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 218. It is not How we leave our Children, 
 but What we leave them. 
 
 219. To be sure Virtue is but a Supple 
 ment, and not a Principal in their Portion 
 and Character : And therefore we see so 
 little Wisdom or Goodness among the Rich, in 
 proportion to their Wealth. 
 
 H Country tILife 
 
 220. The Country Life is to be preferred; 
 for there we see the Works of God ; but in 
 Cities little else but the Works of Men : And 
 the one makes a better Subject for our Con 
 templation than the other. 
 
 221. As Puppets are to Men, and Babies 
 to Children, so is Man s Workmanship to 
 God s : We are the Picture^ he the Reality. 
 
 222. God s Works declare his Power , 
 Wisdom and Goodness ; but Man s Works, for 
 the most part, his Pride^ Folly and Excess. 
 The one is for use^ the other, chiefly, for 
 Ostentation and Lust. 
 
 G 49 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 223. The Country is both the Philosopher s 
 Garden and his Library^ in which he Reads 
 and Contemplates the Power, Wisdom and 
 Goodness of God. 
 
 224. It is his Food as well as Study ; and 
 gives him Life^ as well as Learning. 
 
 225. A Sweet and Natural Retreat from 
 Noise and Talk, and allows opportunity 
 for Reflection, and gives the best Subjects 
 for it. 
 
 226. In short, tis an Original, and the 
 Knowledge and Improvement of it, Man s 
 oldest Business and Trade, and the best he 
 can be of. 
 
 Hrt an& project 
 
 227. Art^ is Good, where it is beneficial. 
 Socrates wisely bounded his Knowledge and 
 Instruction by Practice. 
 
 228. Have a care therefore of Projects: 
 And yet despise nothing rashly, or in the 
 Lump. 
 
 229. Ingenuity^ as well as Religion, some- 
 
 5 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 times suffers between two Thieves ; Pre 
 tenders and Despisers. 
 
 230. Though injudicious and dishonest 
 Projecters often discredit Art, yet the most 
 useful and extraordinary Inventions have 
 not, at first, escap d the Scorn of Ignorance ; 
 as their Authors, rarely, have cracking of 
 their Heads, or breaking their backs. 
 
 231. Undertake no Experiment, in Specu 
 lation, that appears not true in Art ; nor 
 then, at thine own Cost, if costly or hazard 
 ous in making. 
 
 232. As many Hands make light Work, 
 so several Purses make cheap Experiments. 
 
 233. Industry^ is certainly very commend 
 able, and supplies the want of Parts. 
 
 234. Patience and Diligence^ like Faith, 
 remove Mountains. 
 
 235. Never give out while there is Hope; 
 but hope not beyond Reason, for that shews 
 more Desire than Judgment. 
 
 5 1 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 236. It is a profitable Wisdom to know 
 when we have done enough : Much Time 
 and Pains are spared, in not flattering our 
 selves against Probabilities. 
 
 {Temporal Ibappiness 
 
 237. Do Good with what thou hast, or it 
 will do thee no good. 
 
 238. Seek not to be Rich, but Happy. 
 The one lies in Bags, the other in Content: 
 which Wealth can never give. 
 
 239. We are apt to call things by wrong 
 Names. We will have Prosperity to be 
 Happiness, and Adversity to be Misery ; 
 though that is the School of Wisdom, 
 and oftentimes the way to Eternal Happi 
 ness. 
 
 240. If thou wouldest be Happy, bring 
 thy Mind to thy Condition, and have an 
 Indifferency for more than what is sufficient. 
 
 241. Have but little to do, and do it thy 
 self: And do to others as thou wouldest 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 have them do to thee : So, them canst not fail 
 of Temporal Felicity. 
 
 242. The generality are the worse for their 
 Plenty : The Voluptuous consumes it, the 
 Miser hides it : Tis the good Man that 
 uses it, and to good Purposes. But such 
 are hardly found among the Prosperous. 
 
 243. Be rather Bountiful^ than Expensive. 
 
 244. Neither make nor go to Feasts^ but 
 let the laborious Poor bless thee at Home in 
 their Solitary Cottages. 
 
 245. Never voluntarily want what thou 
 hast in Possession ; nor so spend it as to 
 involve thyself in want unavoidable. 
 
 246. Be not tempted to presume by Success: 
 For many that have got largely, have lost 
 all, by coveting to get more. 
 
 247. To hazard much to get much, has 
 more of Avarice than Wisdom. 
 
 248. It is great Prudence both to Bound 
 and Use Prosperity. 
 
 249. Too few know when they have 
 Enough ; and fewer know how to employ it. 
 
 53 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 250. It is equally adviseable not to part 
 lightly with what is hardly gotten, and not 
 to shut up closely vfaati. flows in freely. 
 
 251. Act not the Shark upon thy Neigh 
 bours ; nor take Advantage of the Ignorance, 
 Prodigality or Necessity of any one : For that 
 is next door to Fraud, and, at best, makes 
 but an Unblest Gain. 
 
 252. It is oftentimes the Judgment of God 
 upon Greedy Rich Men, that he suffers them 
 to push on their Desires of Wealth to the 
 Excess of over-reaching, grinding or oppres 
 sion, which poisons all the rest they have 
 gotten : So that it commonly runs away as 
 fast, and by as bad ways as it was heap d up 
 together. 
 
 IReapect 
 
 253. Never esteem any Man, or thy self, 
 the more for Money ; nor think the meaner of 
 thy self or another for want of it : Vertue 
 being the just Reason of respecting, and the 
 want of it, of slighting any one. 
 
 54 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 254. A Man like a W^atch^ is to be valued 
 for his Goings. 
 
 255. He that prefers him upon other 
 accounts, bows to an Idol. 
 
 256. Unless Virtue guide us, our Choice 
 must be wrong. 
 
 257. An able bad Man, is an ill Instru 
 ment, and to be shunned as the Plague. 
 
 258. Be not deceived with the first ap 
 pearances of things, but give thy self Time 
 to be in the right. 
 
 259. Show, is not Substance : Realities 
 Govern Wise Men. 
 
 260. Have a Care therefore where there 
 is more Sail than Ballast. 
 
 261. In all Business it is best to put no 
 thing to hazard : But where it is unavoidable, 
 be not rash^ butjirm and resigned. 
 
 262. We should not be troubled for what 
 we cannot help : But if it was our Fault, let 
 
 55 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 it be so no more. Amendment is Repentance, 
 if not Reparation. 
 
 263. As a Desperate Game needs an able 
 Gamester, so Consideration often would pre 
 vent, what the best skill in the World Cannot 
 Recover. 
 
 264. Where the Probability of Advantage 
 exceeds not that of Loss, Wisdom never 
 Adventures. 
 
 265. To Shoot well Flying is well ; but to 
 Chose it, has more of Vanity than Judgment. 
 
 266. To be Dextrous in Danger is a Virtue ; 
 but to Court Danger to show it, is Weakness. 
 
 Detraction 
 
 267. Have a care of that base Evil Detrac 
 tion. It is the Fruit of Envy, as that is of 
 Pride ; the immediate Offspring of the Devil: 
 Who, of an Angel, a Lucifer, a Son of the 
 Morning, made himself a Serpent, a Devil, a 
 Beelzebub, and all that is obnoxious to the 
 Eternal Goodness. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 268. Vertue is not secure against Envy. 
 Men will Lessen what they won t Imitate. 
 
 269. Dislike what deserves it, but never 
 Hate : For that is of the Nature of Malice ; 
 which is almost ever to Persons, not Things, 
 and is one of the blackest Qualities Sin 
 begets in the Soul. 
 
 flDo&eratfon 
 
 270. It were an happy Day if Men could 
 bound and qualifie their Resentments with 
 Charity to the Offender : For then our Anger 
 would be without Sin, and better convict and 
 edifie the Guilty ; which alone can make it 
 lawful. 
 
 271. Not to be provok d is best : But if 
 mov d, never correct till the Fume is spent ; 
 For every Stroke our Fury strikes, is sure to 
 hit our selves at last. 
 
 272. If we did but observe the Allowances 
 our Reason makes upon Reflection, when our 
 Passion is over, we could not want a Rule 
 
 H 57 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 how to behave our selves again in the like 
 Occasions. 
 
 273. We are more prone to Complain than 
 Redress, and to Censure than Excuse. 
 
 274. It is next to unpardonable, that we 
 can so often Blame what we will not once 
 mend. It shews, we know, but will not do 
 our Master s Will. 
 
 275. They that censure, should Practice: 
 Or else let them have the first stone, and the 
 last too. 
 
 276. Nothing needs a Trick but a Trick; 
 Sincerity loathes one. 
 
 277. We must take care to do Right 
 Things Rightly : For a just Sentence may be 
 unjustly executed. 
 
 278. Circumstances give great Light to 
 true Judgment, if well weigh d. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 passion 
 
 279. Passion is a sort of Fever in the 
 Mind, which ever leaves us weaker than it 
 found us. 
 
 280. But being, intermitting to be sure, 
 tis curable with care. 
 
 281. It more than any thing deprives us 
 of the use of our Judgment ; for it raises a 
 Dust very hard to see through. 
 
 282. Like Wine, whose Lees fly by being 
 joggd, it is too muddy to Drink. 
 
 283. It may not unfitly be termed the Mob 
 of the Man, that commits a Riot upon his 
 Reason. 
 
 284. I have sometimes thought, that a 
 Passionate Man is like a weak Spring that 
 cannot stand long locKd. 
 
 285. And as true, that those things are 
 unfit for use, that can t bear small Knocks, 
 without breaking. 
 
 286. He that won t hear carft Judge ^ and 
 
 59 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 he that can t bear Contradiction, may, with 
 all his Wit, miss the Mark. 
 
 287. Objection and Debate Sift out Truth, 
 which needs Temper as well as Judgment. 
 
 288. But above all, observe it in Resent 
 ments, for their Passion is most Extravagant. 
 
 289. Never chide for Anger, but Instruc 
 tion. 
 
 290. He that corrects out of Passion, raises 
 Revenge sooner than Repentance. 
 
 291. It has more of Wantonness than Wis 
 dom, and resembles those that Eat to please 
 their Pallate^ rather than their Appetite. 
 
 292. It is the difference between a Wise 
 and a Weak Man ; This Judges by the Lump^ 
 that by Parts and their Connection. 
 
 293. The Greeks used to say, all Cases are 
 governed by their Circumstances. The same 
 thing may be well and ill as they change or 
 vary the Matter. 
 
 294. A Man s Strength is shewn by his 
 Bearing. Eonum Agere , & Male Pati^ Regis 
 
 est. 
 
 60 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 personal Cautions 
 
 295. Reflect without Malice but never 
 without Need. 
 
 296. Despise no Body, nor no Condition; 
 lest it come to be thine own. 
 
 297. Never Rail nor Taunt. The one is 
 Rude, the other Scornful, and both Evil. 
 
 298. Be not provoked by Injuries, to com 
 mit them. 
 
 299. Upbraid only Ingratitude. 
 
 300. Haste makes Work which Caution 
 prevents. 
 
 301. Tempt no Man; lest thou^// for 
 it. 
 
 302. Have a care of presuming upon After- 
 Games : For if that miss, all is gone. 
 
 303. Opportunities should never be lost, 
 because they can hardly be regained. 
 
 304. It is well to cure, but better to pre 
 vent a Distemper. The first shows more 
 Skill, but the last more Wisdom. 
 
 61 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 305. Never make a Try a I of Skill in 
 difficult or hazardous Cases. 
 
 306. Refuse not to be informed : For 
 that shews Pride or Stupidity. 
 
 307. Humility and Knowledge in poor 
 Cloaths, excel Pride and Ignorance in costly 
 Attire. 
 
 308. Neither despise, nor oppose, what 
 thou dost not understand. 
 
 Ballance 
 
 309. We must not be concerned above the 
 Value of the thing that engages us ; nor 
 raised above Reason, in maintaining what we 
 think reasonable. 
 
 310. It is too common an Error, to invert 
 the Order of Things ; by making an End of 
 that which is a Means, and a Means of that 
 which is an End. 
 
 311. Religion and Government escape not 
 this Mischief: The first is too often made a 
 Means instead of an End ; the other an End 
 instead of a Means. 
 
 62 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 312. Thus Men seek Wealth rather than 
 Subsistence ; and the End of Cloaths is the 
 least Reason of their Use. Nor is the satis 
 fying of our Appetite our End in Eating, so 
 much as the pleasing of our Pallate. The 
 like may also be said of Building, Furniture, 
 &c. where the Man rules not the Beast, and 
 Appetite submits not to Reason. 
 
 313. It is great Wisdom to proportion our 
 Esteem to the Nature of the Thing : For as 
 that way things will not be undervalued, so 
 neither will they engage as above their intrin- 
 sick worth. 
 
 314. If we suffer little Things to have 
 great hold upon us, we shall be as much trans 
 ported for them, as if they deserv d it. 
 
 315. It is an old Proverb, Maxima bella ex 
 levissimis causis : The greatest Feuds have 
 had the smallest Beginnings. 
 
 316. No matter what the Subject of the 
 Dispute be, but what place we give it in our 
 Minds : For that governs our Concern and 
 Resentment. 
 
 6 3 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 317. It is one of the fatalest Errors of our 
 Lives, when we spoil a good Cause by an ill 
 Management : And it is not impossible but 
 we may mean well in an /// Business; but 
 that will not defend it. 
 
 318. If we are but sure the End is Right, 
 we are too apt to gallop over all Bounds to 
 compass it ; not considering that lawful Ends 
 may be very unlawfully attained. 
 
 319. Let us be careful to takey ^/ ways to 
 compass just Things ; that they may last in 
 their Benefits to us. 
 
 320. There is a troublesome Humour some 
 Men have, that if they may not lead, they will 
 not follow ; but had rather a thing were never 
 done, than not done their own way, tho 
 other ways very desirable. 
 
 321. This comes of an over-fulness of our 
 selves ; and shows we are more concern d for 
 Praise, than the Success of what we think a 
 good Thing. 
 
 64 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 popularity 
 
 322. Affect not to be seen, and Men will 
 less see thy Weakness. 
 
 323. They that shew more than they are, 
 raise an Expectation they cannot answer ; 
 and so lose their Credit, as soon as they are 
 
 found out. 
 
 324. Avoid Popularity. It has many Snares, 
 and no real Benefit to thy self ; and Uncer 
 tainty to others. 
 
 privacy 
 
 325. Remember the Proverb, Bene qui 
 latuit^ bene vixit. They are happy that live 
 Retiredly. 
 
 326. If this be true, Princes and their 
 Grandees, of all Men, are the unhappiest : 
 For they live least alone: And they that must 
 be enjoyed by every Body, can never enjoy 
 themselves as they should. 
 
 327. It is the Advantage little Men have 
 i 65 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 upon them ; they can be Private^ and have 
 leisure for Family Comforts, which are the 
 greatest worldly Contents Men can enjoy. 
 
 328. But they that place Pleasure in Greedi 
 ness^ seek it there : And we see Rule is as much 
 the Ambition of some Natures, as Privacy is 
 the Choice of others. 
 
 (government 
 
 329. Government has many Shapes : But 
 tis Sovereignty^ tho not Freedom, in all of 
 them. 
 
 330. Rex & Tyrannus are very different 
 Characters : One rules his People by Laws, 
 to which they consent ; the other by his 
 absolute Will and Power. That is call d 
 Freedom^ This Tyranny. 
 
 331. The first is endangered by the Ambi 
 tion of the Popular^ which shakes the Consti 
 tution : The other by an ill Administration, 
 which hazards the Tyrant and his Family. 
 
 332. It is great Wisdom in Princes of both 
 
 66 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 sorts, not to strain Points too high with their 
 People : For whether the People have a 
 Right to oppose them or not, they are ever 
 sure to attempt it, when things are carried 
 too far ; though the Remedy oftentimes proves 
 worse than the Disease. 
 
 333. Happy that King who is great by 
 ^Justice, and that People who are free by 
 Obedience. 
 
 334. Where the Ruler is Just, he may be 
 strict ; else it is two to one it turns upon him : 
 And tho he should prevail, he can be no 
 Gainer, where his People are the Losers. 
 
 335. Princes must not have Passions in 
 Government, nor Resent beyond Interest and 
 Religion. 
 
 336. Where Example keeps pace with 
 Authority, Power hardly fails to be obey d, 
 and Magistrates to be honour d. 
 
 337. Let the People think they Govern 
 and they will be Govern d. 
 
 338. This cannot fail, if Those they 
 Trust, are Trusted. 
 
 67 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 339. That Prince that is Just to them in 
 great things, and Humours them sometimes 
 in small ones, is sure to have and keep them 
 from all the World. 
 
 340. For the People is the Politick Wife 
 of the Prince, that may be better managed 
 by Wisdom, than ruled by Force. 
 
 341. But where the Magistrate is partial 
 and serves ill turns, he loses his Authority 
 with the People ; and gives the Populace 
 opportunity to gratifie their Ambition : And 
 to lay a Stumbling-block for his People to fall. 
 
 342. It is true, that where a Subject is 
 more Popular than the Prince, the Prince is 
 in Danger : But it is as true, that it is his 
 own Fault: For no Body has the like Means ^ 
 Interest or Reason^ to be popular as He. 
 
 343. It is an unaccountable thing, that 
 some Princes incline rather to \*tfeard than 
 lovd; when they see, that Fear does not 
 oftener secure a Prince against the Dissatis 
 faction of his People, than Love makes a 
 Subject too many for such a Prince. 
 
 68 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 344. Certainly Service upon Inclination is 
 like to go farther than Obedience upon Com 
 pulsion. 
 
 345. The Romans had a just Sense of this, 
 when they plac d Optimus before Maximus^ 
 to their most Illustrious Captains and Cesars. 
 
 346. Besides, Experience tells us. That 
 Goodness raises a nobler Passion in the 
 Soul, and gives a better Sense of Duty than 
 Severity. 
 
 347. What did Pharaoh get by increasing 
 the Israelites Task ? Ruine to himself in the 
 End. 
 
 348. Kings, chiefly in this, should imitate 
 God : Their Mercy should be above all their 
 Works. 
 
 349. The Difference between the Prince 
 and the Peasant^ is in this World : But a 
 Temper ought to be observed by him that has 
 the Advantage here, because of the Judgment 
 in the next. 
 
 350. The End of every thing should direct 
 the Means : Now that of Government being 
 
 69 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 the Good of the whole^ nothing less should be 
 the Aim of the Prince. 
 
 351. As often as Rulers endeavour to 
 attain just Ends by just Mediums^ they are 
 sure of a quiet and easy Government ; and 
 as sure of Convulsions, where the Nature 
 of things are violated, and their Order over- 
 rul d. 
 
 352. It is certain. Princes ought to have 
 great Allowances made them for Faults in 
 Government ; since they see by other People s 
 Eyes, and hear by their Ears. But Ministers 
 of State^ their immediate Confidents and In 
 struments, have much to answer for, if to 
 gratifie private Passions, they misguide the 
 Prince to do publick Injury. 
 
 353. Ministers of State should undertake 
 their Posts at their Peril. If Princes over 
 rule them, let them shew the Law^ and 
 humbly resign : If Fear Gain or Flattery 
 prevail, let them answer it to the Law. 
 
 354. The Prince cannot be preserved, but 
 where the Minister is punishable : For 
 
 70 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 People, as well as Princes, will not endure 
 Imperium in Imperio. 
 
 355. If Ministers are weak or ill Men, and 
 so spoil their Places, it is the Prince s Fault 
 that chose them : But if their Places spoil 
 them, it is their own Fault to be made worse 
 by them. 
 
 356. It is but just that those that reign by 
 their Princes, should suffer for their Princes : 
 For it is a safe and necessary Maxim, not to 
 shift Heads in Government, while the Hands 
 are in being that should answer for them. 
 
 357. And yet it were intolerable to be a 
 Minister of State, if every Body may be 
 Accuser and Judge. 
 
 358. Let therefore the false Accuser no 
 more escape an exemplary Punishment, than 
 the Guilty Minister. 
 
 359. For it profanes Government to have 
 the Credit of the leading Men in it, sub 
 ject to vulgar Censure ; which is often / // 
 grounded. 
 
 360. The Safety of a Prince, therefore 
 
 7 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 consists in a well-chosen Council : And that 
 only can be said to be so, where the Persons 
 that compose it are qualified for the Business 
 that comes before them. 
 
 361. Who would send to a Taylor to 
 make a Lock, or to a Smith to make a Suit 
 ofCloathsf 
 
 362. Let there be Merchants for Trade, 
 Seamen for the Admiralty, Travellers for 
 Foreign Affairs, some of the Leading Men of 
 the Country for Home-Business, and Common 
 and Civil Lawyers to advise of Legality and 
 Right: Who should always keep to the strict 
 Rules of Law. 
 
 363. Three Things contribute much to 
 ruin Governments ; Looseness, Oppression 
 and Envy. 
 
 364. Where the Reins of Government are 
 too slack, there the Manners of the People 
 are corrupted : And that destroys Industry, 
 begets Effeminacy, and provokes Heaven 
 against it. 
 
 365. Oppression makes a Poor Country, 
 
 7* 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 and a Desperate People, who always wait an 
 Opportunity to change. 
 
 366. He that ruleth over Men, must be just , 
 ruling in the Fear of God, said an old and a 
 wise King. 
 
 367. Envy disturbs and distracts Govern 
 ment, clogs the Wheels, and perplexes the 
 Administration : And nothing contributes 
 more to the Disorder, than a partial dis 
 tribution of Rewards and Punishments in the 
 Sovereign. 
 
 368. As it is not reasonable that Men 
 should be compell d to serve ; so those that 
 have Employments should not be endured to 
 leave them humorously. 
 
 369. Where the State intends a Man no 
 Affront, he should not Affront the State. 
 
 a private life 
 
 370. A private Life is to be preferr d ; the 
 Honour and Gain of publick Posts, bearing 
 no proportion with the Comfort of it. The 
 K 73 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 one is free and quiet ^ the other servile and 
 noisy. 
 
 3 7 1 . It was a great Answer of the Shunamite 
 Woman, / dwell among my own People. 
 
 372. They that live of their own, neither 
 need, nor often list to wear the Livery of the 
 Publick. 
 
 373. Their Subsistance is not during 
 Pleasure; nor have they patrons to please 
 or present. 
 
 374. If they are not advanced, neither can 
 they be disgraced. And as they know not 
 the Smiles of Majesty, so they feel not 
 the Frowns of Greatness ; or the Effects of 
 Envy. 
 
 375. If they want the Pleasures of a Court, 
 they also escape the Temptations of it. 
 
 376. Private Men, in fine, are so much 
 their own, that paying common Dues, they 
 are Sovereigns of all the rest. 
 
 74 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 H pttbltcfc Xifc 
 
 377. Yet the Publick must and will be 
 served ; and they that do it well, deserve 
 publick Marks of Honour and Profit. 
 
 378. To do so, Men must have publick 
 Minds, as well as Salaries ; or they will serve 
 private Ends at the Publick Cost. 
 
 379. Governments can never be well ad 
 ministered, but where those entrusted make 
 Conscience of well discharging their Place. 
 
 Qualifications 
 
 380. Five Things are requisite to a good 
 Officer; Ability, Clean Hands, Dispatch, 
 Patience and Impartiality. 
 
 Capacity 
 
 381. He that understands not his Employ 
 ment, whatever else he knows, must be unfit 
 
 75 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 for it, and the Publick suffers by his In- 
 expertness. 
 
 382. They that are able, should be just 
 too ; or the Government may be the worse 
 for their Capacity. 
 
 Clean 1ban&0 
 
 383. Covetousness in such Men prompts 
 them to prostitute the Publick for Gain. 
 
 384. The taking of a Bribe or Gratuity^ 
 should be punished with as severe Penalties, 
 as the defrauding of the State. 
 
 385. Let Men have sufficient Salaries, and 
 exceed them at their Peril. 
 
 386. It is a Dishonour to Government, 
 that its Officers should live of Benevolence ; 
 as it ought to be Infamous for Officers to 
 dishonour the Publick, by being twice paid 
 for the same Business. 
 
 387. But to be paid, and not to do Busi 
 ness, is rank Oppression. 
 
 76 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 2>f$patcb 
 
 388. Dispatch is a great and good Quality 
 in an Officer ; where Duty, not Gain, excites 
 it. But of this, too many make their private 
 Market and Overplus to their Wages. Thus 
 the Salary is for doing^ and the Bribe for 
 dispatching the Business : As if Business 
 could be done before it were dispatched : 
 Or what ought to be done, ought not to 
 be dispatched : Or they were to be paid 
 apart, one by the Government, t other by 
 the Party. 
 
 389. Dispatch is as much the Duty of an 
 Officer, as doing ; and very much the Honour 
 of the Government he serves. 
 
 390. Delays have been more injurious than 
 direct Injustice. 
 
 391. They too often starve those they dare 
 not deny. 
 
 392. The very Winner is made a Loser , 
 because he pays twice for his own ; like those 
 
 77 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 that purchase Estates Mortgaged before to 
 the full Value. 
 
 393. Our Law says well, to delay Justice 
 is Injustice. 
 
 394. Not to have a Right, and not to 
 come at it, differs little. 
 
 395. Refuse or Dispatch is the Duty and 
 Wisdom of a good Officer. 
 
 patience 
 
 396. Patience is a Virtue every where; but 
 it shines with great Lustre in the Men of 
 Government. 
 
 397. Some are so Proud or Testy, they 
 won t hear what they should redress. 
 
 398. Others so weak, they sink or burst 
 under the weight of their Office, though 
 they can lightly run away with the Salary 
 of it. 
 
 399. Business can never be well done, that 
 is not well understood : Which cannot be 
 without Patience. 
 
 78 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 400. It is Cruelty indeed not to give the 
 Unhappy an Hearing^ whom we ought to 
 help: But it is the top of Oppression to 
 Browbeat the humble and modest Miserable, 
 when they seek Relief. 
 
 401. Some, it is true, are unreasonable 
 in their Desires and Hopes: But then we 
 should inform, not rail at and reject them. 
 
 402. It is therefore as great an Instance of 
 Wisdom as a Man in Business can give, to be 
 Patient under the Impertinencies and Con 
 tradictions that attend it. 
 
 403. Method goes far to prevent Trouble 
 in Business: For it makes the Task easy, 
 hinders Confusion, saves abundance of Time, 
 and instructs those that have Business de 
 pending, both what to do and what to hope. 
 
 3mpartialit$ 
 
 404. Impartiality^ though it be the last, is 
 not the least Part of the Character of a good 
 Magistrate. 
 
 79 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 405. It is noted as a Fault, in Holy 
 
 even to regard the Poor: How much more 
 the Rich in Judgment? 
 
 406. If our Compassions must not sway us; 
 less should our Fears, Profits or Prejudices. 
 
 407. Justice is justly represented Elind^ 
 because she sees no Difference in the Parties 
 concerned. 
 
 408. She has but one Scale and Weight^ 
 for Rich and Poor, Great and Small. 
 
 409. Her Sentence is not guided by the 
 Person, but the Cause. 
 
 410. The Impartial Judge in Judgment, 
 knows nothing but the Law : The Prince no 
 more than the Peasant, his Kindred than a 
 Stranger. Nay, his Enemy is sure to be upon 
 equal Terms with his Friend, when he is 
 upon the Bench. 
 
 411. Impartiality is the Life of Justice, as 
 that is of Government. 
 
 412. Nor is it only a Benefit to the State, 
 for private Families cannot subsist comfort 
 ably without it. 
 
 80 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 413. Parents that are partial, are ill obeyed 
 by their Children ; and partial Masters not 
 better served by their Servants. 
 
 414. Partiality is always Indirect, if not 
 Dishonest : For it shews a Eyass where 
 Reason would have none ; if not an Injury , 
 which Justice every where forbids. 
 
 415. As it makes Favourites without 
 Reason, so it uses no Reason in judging of 
 Actions : Confirming the Proverb, The Crow 
 thinks her own Bird the fairest. 
 
 416. What some see to be no Fault in one, 
 they will have Criminal in another. 
 
 417. Nay, how ugly do our own Failings 
 look to us in the Persons of others, which yet 
 we see not in our selves. 
 
 418. And but too common it is for some 
 People, not to know their own Maxims and 
 Principles in the Mouths of other Men, when 
 they give occasion to use them. 
 
 419. Partiality corrupts our Judgment 
 of Persons and Things, of our selves and 
 others. 
 
 L 8l 
 
f 
 
 Reflections and Maxims 
 
 420. It contributes more than any thing 
 to Factions in Government, and Fewds in 
 Families. 
 
 421. It is prodigal Passion, that seldom 
 returns till it is Hunger-bit^ and Disappoint 
 ments bring it within bounds. 
 
 422. And yet we may be indifferent, to a 
 Fault. 
 
 423. Indifference is good in Judgment, 
 but bad in Relation^ and stark nought in 
 Religion. 
 
 424. And even in Judgment, our Indiffer- 
 ency must be to the Persons^ not Causes : 
 For one, to be sure, is right. 
 
 (neutrality 
 
 425. Neutrality is something else than 
 Indifferency ; and yet of kin to it too. 
 
 426. A Judge ought to be Indifferent, and 
 yet he cannot be said to be Neutral. 
 
 82 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 427. The one being to be Even in Judg 
 ment, and the other not to meddle at all. 
 
 428. And where it is Lawful, to be sure, 
 it is best to be Neutral. 
 
 429. He that espouses Parties, can hardly 
 divorce himself from their Fate ; and more 
 
 y#//with their Party than rise with it. 
 
 430. A wise Neuter joins with neither ; 
 but uses both, as his honest Interest leads 
 him. 
 
 431. A Neuter only has room to be a 
 Peace-maker : For being of neither side, he 
 has the Means of mediating a Reconciliation 
 of both. 
 
 a party 
 
 432. And yet, where Right or Religion 
 gives a Call^ a Neuter must be a Coward or 
 an Hypocrite. 
 
 433. In such Cases we should never be 
 backward ; nor yet mistaken. 
 
 434. When our Right or Religion is in 
 question, then is the fittest time to assert it. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 435. Nor must we always be Neutral 
 where our Neighbours are concerned : For 
 tho Medling is a Fault, Helping is a Duty. 
 
 436. We have a Call to do good, as often 
 as we have the Power and Occasion. 
 
 437. If Heathens could say, Tf^e are not 
 born for our selves ; surely Christians should 
 practise it. 
 
 438. They are taught so by his Example, 
 as well as Doctrine, from whom they have 
 borrowed their Name. 
 
 Ostentation 
 
 439. Do what good thou canst unknown; 
 and be not vain of what ought rather to be 
 felt, than seen. 
 
 440. The Humble, in the Parable of the 
 Day of Judgment, forgot their good Works ; 
 Lord, when did we do so and so? 
 
 441. He that does Good, for Good s sake, 
 seeks neither Praise nor Reward ; tho sure 
 of both at last. 
 
 8 4 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Complcat IDirtue 
 
 442. Content not thy self that thou art 
 Virtuous in the general : For one Link being 
 wanting, the Chain is defective. 
 
 443. Perhaps thou art rather Innocent than 
 Virtuous, and owest more to thy Constitu 
 tion, than thy Religion. 
 
 444. Innocent, is not to be Guilty : But 
 Virtuous is to overcome our evil Inclinations. 
 
 445. If thou hast not conquered thy self in 
 that which is thy own particular Weakness, 
 thou hast no Title to Virtue, tho 5 thou art 
 free of other Men s. 
 
 446. For a Covetous Man to inveigh 
 against Prodigality, an Atheist against Idola 
 try, a Tyrant against Rebellion, or a Lyer 
 against Forgery, and a Drunkard against 
 Intemperance, is for the Pot to call the Kettle 
 black. 
 
 447. Such Reproof would have but little 
 Success ; because it would carry but little 
 Authority with it. 
 
 85 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 448. If thou wouldest conquer thy Weak 
 ness, thou must never gratify it. 
 
 449. No Man is compelled to Evil ; his 
 Consent only makes it his. 
 
 450. Tis no Sin to be tempted, but to be 
 overcome. 
 
 451. What Man in his right Mind, would 
 conspire his own hurt? Men are beside 
 themselves, when they transgress their Con 
 victions. 
 
 452. If thou would st not Sin, dont Desire ; 
 and if thou would st not Lust, dont Embrace 
 the Temptation : No, not look at it, nor think 
 of it. 
 
 453. Thou would st take much Pains to 
 save thy Body : Take some, prithee, to save 
 thy Soul. 
 
 IReliQion 
 
 454. Religion is the Fear of God ^ and its 
 Demonstration on good Works ; and Faith is 
 the Root of both : For without Faith we 
 
 86 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 cannot please God, nor can we fear what we 
 do not believe. 
 
 455. The Devils also believe and know 
 abundance : But in this is the Difference, 
 their Faith works not by Love, nor their 
 Knowledge by Obedience ; and therefore they 
 are never the better for them. And if ours 
 be such, we shall be of their Church, not of 
 Christ s: For as the Head is, so must the 
 Body be. 
 
 456. He was Holy, Humble, Harmless, 
 Meek, Merciful, &c. when among us ; to 
 teach us what we should be, when he was 
 gone. And yet he is among us still, and in 
 us too, a living and perpetual Preacher of 
 the same Grace, by his Spirit in our Con 
 sciences. 
 
 457. A Minister of the Gospel ought to 
 be one of Chris? s making, if he would pass 
 for one of Christ s Ministers. 
 
 458. And if he be one of his making, he 
 Knows and Does as well as Believes. 
 
 459. That Minister whose Life is not the 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Model of his Doctrine, is a Eabler rather 
 than a Preacher ; a i^uack rather than a 
 Physician of Value. 
 
 460. Of old Time they were made Mini 
 sters by the Holy Ghost : And the more that 
 is an Ingredient now, the fitter they are for 
 that Work. 
 
 461. Running Streams are not so apt to 
 corrupt ; nor Itinerant^ as settled Preachers : 
 But they are not to run before they are 
 sent. 
 
 462. As they freely receive from Christ, 
 so they give. 
 
 463. They will not make that a Trade, 
 which they know ought not, in Conscience^ 
 to be one. 
 
 464. Yet there is no fear of their Living 
 that design not to live by it. 
 
 465. The humble and true Teacher meets 
 with more than he expects. 
 
 466. He accounts Content with Godliness 
 great Gain, and therefore seeks not to make a 
 Gain of Godliness. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 467. As the Ministers of Christ are made 
 by him, and are like him, so they beget 
 People into the same Likeness. 
 
 468. To be like Christ then, is to be a 
 Christian. And Regeneration is the only 
 way to the Kingdom of God, which we pray 
 for. 
 
 469. Let us to Day, therefore, hear his Voice, 
 and not harden our Hearts ; who speaks to us 
 many ways. In the Scriptures, in our Hearts, 
 by his Servants and his Providences: And the 
 Sum of all is HOLINESS and CHARITY. 
 
 470. St. James gives a short Draught of 
 this Matter, but very full and reaching, Pure 
 Religion and undejiled before God the Father, 
 is this, to visit the Fatherless and the Widows 
 in their Affliction, and to keep our selves un 
 spotted from the World. Which is compriz d 
 in these Two Words, CHARITY and PIETY. 
 
 471. They that truly make these their 
 Aim, will find them their Attainment ; and 
 with them, the Peace that follows so excellent 
 a Condition. 
 
 M 89 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 472. Amuse not thy self therefore with the 
 numerous Opinions of the World, nor value 
 thy self upon verbal Orthodoxy^ Philosophy^ 
 or thy Skill in Tongues^ or Knowledge of the 
 Fathers ; (too much the Business and Vanity 
 of the World) But in this rejoyce, That thou 
 knowest God^ that is the Lord^ who exerciseth 
 loving Kindness^ and Judgment^ and Right 
 eousness in the Earth. 
 
 473. Publick Worship is very commendable, 
 if well performed. We owe it to God and 
 good Example. But we must know, that 
 God is not tyed to Time or Place, who is 
 every where at the same Time : And this 
 we shall know, as far as we are capable, if 
 where ever we are, our Desires are to be with 
 him. 
 
 474. Serving God, People generally confine 
 to the Acts of Publick 23\& Private Worship: 
 And those, the more zealous do oftener re 
 peat, in hopes of Acceptance. 
 
 475. But if we consider that God is an 
 Infinite Spirit^ and, as such, every where ; 
 
 90 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 and that our Saviour has taught us, That he 
 will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth ; 
 we shall see the shortness of such a Notion. 
 
 476. For serving God concerns the Frame 
 of our Spirits, in the whole Course of our 
 Lives ; in every Occasion we have, in which 
 we may shew our Love to his Law. 
 
 477. For as Men in Battle are continually 
 in the way of shot, so we, in this World, are 
 ever within the Reach of Temptation. And 
 herein do we serve God, if we avoid what we 
 are forbid, as well as do what he commands. 
 
 478. God is better served in resisting a 
 Temptation to Evil, than in many formal 
 Prayers. 
 
 479. This is but Twice or Thrice a Day ; 
 but That every Hour and Moment of the 
 Day. So much more is our continual Watch^ 
 than our Evening and Morning Devotion. 
 
 480. Wouldst thou then serve God ? Do 
 not that alone^ which thou wouldest not that 
 another should see thee do. 
 
 481. Don t take God s Name in vain, or 
 
 91 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 disobey thy Parents, or wrong thy Neigh 
 bour, or commit Adultery, even in thine 
 Heart. 
 
 482. Neither be vain, Lascivious, Proud, 
 Drunken, Revengeful or Angry : Nor Lye, 
 Detract, Backbite, Over-reach, Oppress, De 
 ceive or Betray : But watch vigorously against 
 all Temptations to these Things ; as knowing 
 that God ^present, the Overseer of all thy 
 Ways and most inward Thoughts, and the 
 Avenger of his own Law upon the Disobe 
 dient, and thou wilt acceptably serve God. 
 
 483. It is not reason, if we expect the 
 Acknowledgments of those to whom we are 
 bountiful, that we should reverently pay ours 
 to God, our most magnificent and constant 
 Benefactor? 
 
 484. The World represents a Rare and 
 Sumptuous Palace, Mankind the great Family 
 in it, and God the mighty Lord and Master 
 of it. 
 
 485. We are all sensible what a stately 
 Seat it is : The Heavens adorned with so 
 
 92 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 many glorious Luminaries ; and the Earth 
 with Groves, Plains , Valleys, Hills, Fountains, 
 Ponds, Lakes and Rivers ; and Variety of 
 Fruits, and Creatures for Food, Pleasure and 
 Profit. In short, how Noble an House he keeps, 
 and the Plenty and Variety and Excellency of 
 his Table ; his Orders, Seasons and Suitableness 
 of every Time and Thing. But we must be as 
 sensible, or at least ought to be, what Careless 
 and Idle Servants we are, and how short and 
 disproportionable our Behaviour is to his Bounty 
 and Goodness : How long he bears, and often 
 he reprieves w&& for gives us : Who, notwith 
 standing our Breach of Promises, and re 
 peated Neglects, has not yet been provokd to 
 break up House, and send us to shift for our 
 selves. Should not this great Goodness raise 
 a due Sense in us of our Undutifulness, and 
 a Resolution to alter our Course and mend 
 our Manners ; that we may be for the future 
 more worthy Communicants at our Master s 
 good and great Table ? Especially since it 
 is not more certain that we deserve his Dis- 
 
 93 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 pleasure than that we should feel it, if we 
 continue to be unprofitable Servants. 
 
 486. But tho God has replenisht this 
 World with abundance of good Things for 
 Man s Life and Comfort, yet they are all but 
 Imperfect Goods. He only is the Perfect Good 
 to whom they point. But alas ! Men cannot 
 see him for them, tho they should always see 
 him In them. 
 
 487. I have often wondered at the un- 
 accountableness of Man in this, among other 
 things ; that tho he loves Changes so well, 
 he should care so little to hear or think 
 of his last^ great^ and best Change too, if he 
 pleases. 
 
 488. Being, as to our Bodies, composed of 
 changeable Elements^ we with the World, are 
 made up of, and subsist by Revolution : But 
 our Souls being of another and nobler Nature, 
 we should seek our Rest in a more induring 
 Habitation. 
 
 489. The truest end of Life, is, to know 
 the Life that never ends. 
 
 94 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 490. He that makes this his Care^ will find 
 it his Crown at last. 
 
 491. Life else, were a Misery rather than 
 a Pleasure, a Judgment^ not a Blessing. 
 
 492. For to Know^ Regret and Resent ; to 
 Desire^ Hope and Fear more than a Beast, and 
 not live beyond him, is to make a Man less 
 than a Beast. 
 
 49 3. It is the Amends of a short and trouble 
 some Life, that Doing well y and Suffering / //, 
 Entitles Man to One Longer and Better. 
 
 494. This ever raises the Good Man s 
 Hope, and gives him Tastes beyond the other 
 World. 
 
 495. As tis his Aim^ so none else can hit 
 the Mark. 
 
 496. Many make it their Speculation, but 
 tis the Good Man s Practice. 
 
 497. His Work keeps Pace with his Life, 
 and so leaves nothing to be done when He 
 Dies. 
 
 498. And he that lives to live ever, never 
 fears dying. 
 
 95 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 499. Nor can the Means be terrible to him 
 that heartily believes the End. 
 
 500. For tho 5 Death be a Dark Passage, 
 it leads to Immortality, and that s Recom- 
 pence enough for Suffering of it. 
 
 501. And yet Faith Lights us, even through 
 the Grave^ being the Evidence of Things not 
 seen. 
 
 502. And this is the Comfort of the Good, 
 that the Grave cannot hold them, and that 
 they live as soon as they die. 
 
 503. For Death is no more than a Turn 
 ing of us over from Time to Eternity. 
 
 504. Nor can there be a Revolution with 
 out it ; for it supposes the Dissolution of 
 one form, in order to the Succession of 
 another. 
 
 505. Death then, being the Way and Con 
 dition of Life, we cannot love to live, if we 
 cannot bear to die. 
 
 506. Let us then not cozen our selves with 
 the Shells and Husks of things ; nor prefer 
 Form to Power, nor Shadows to Substance : 
 
 96 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Pictures of Bread will not satisfie Hunger, 
 nor those of Devotion please God. 
 
 507. This World is a Form ; our Bodies 
 are Forms ; and no visible Acts of Devotion 
 can be without Forms. But yet the less 
 Form in Religion the better, since God is a 
 Spirit : For the more mental our Worship, 
 the more adequate to the Nature of God; 
 the more silent^ the more suitable to the 
 Language of a Spirit. 
 
 508. Words are for others, not for our 
 selves : Nor for God, who hears not as Bodies 
 do ; but as Spirits should. 
 
 509. If we would know this Dialect ; we 
 must learn of the Divine Principle in us, 
 As we hear the Dictates of that, so God 
 hears us. 
 
 510. There we may see him too in all his 
 Attributes ; Tho but in little, yet as much 
 as we can apprehend or bear : for as he is in 
 himself, he is incomprehensible, and dwelleth 
 in that Light which no Rye can approach. 
 But in his Image we may behold his Glory ; 
 
 N 97 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 enough to exalt our Apprehensions of God, 
 and to instruct us in that Worship which 
 pleaseth him. 
 
 511. Men may Tire themselves in a Laby 
 rinth of Search, and talk of God : But if we 
 would know him indeed, it must be from the 
 Impressions we receive of him ; and the softer 
 our Hearts are, the deeper and livelier those 
 will be upon us. 
 
 512. If he has made us sensible of his 
 Justice, by his Reproof ; of his Patience, by 
 his Forbearance ; of his Mercy, by his For 
 giveness ; of his Holiness, by the Sanctification 
 of our Hearts through his Spirit ; we have 
 a grounded Knowledge of God. This is Ex 
 perience, that Speculation ; This Enjoyment, 
 that Report. In short, this is undeniable 
 Evidence, with the realities of Religion, and 
 will stand all Winds and Weathers. 
 
 513. As our Faith, so our Devotion should 
 be lively. Cold Meat won t serve at those 
 Repasts. 
 
 514. It s a Coal from God s Altar must 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 kindle our Fire : And without Fire, true 
 no acceptable Sacrifice. 
 
 515. Open thou my Lips, and then^ said 
 the Royal Prophet, My Mouth shall praise 
 God. But not till then. 
 
 516. The Preparation of the Heart, as well 
 as Answer of the Tongue, is of the Lord : 
 And to have it, our Prayers must be power 
 ful, and our Worship grateful. 
 
 517. Let us chuse, therefore, to commune 
 where there is the warmest Sense of Religion ; 
 where Devotion exceeds Formality, and Prac 
 tice most corresponds with Profession; and 
 where there is at least; as much Charity as Zeal : 
 For where this Society is to be found, there 
 shall we find the Church of God. 
 
 518. As Good, so 111 Men are all of a 
 Church ; and every Body knows who must 
 be Head of it. 
 
 519. The Humble^ Meek^ Merciful^ Just^ 
 Pious and Devout Souls are everywhere of 
 one Religion ; and when Death has taken off 
 the Mask^ they will know one another, tho 
 
 99 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 the divers Liveries they wear here makes 
 them Strangers. 
 
 520. Great Allowances are to be made of 
 Education, and personal Weaknesses : But 
 tis a Rule with me, that Man is truly 
 Religious, that loves the Persuasion he is 
 of, for the Piety rather than Ceremony of 
 it. 
 
 521. They that have one End, can hardly 
 disagree when they meet. At least their 
 concern in the Greater, moderates the value 
 and difference about the lesser things. 
 
 522. It is a sad Reflection, that many 
 Men hardly have any Religion at all ; and 
 most Men have none of their own : For that 
 which is the Religion of their Education, and 
 not of their Judgment, is the Religion of 
 Another , and not Theirs. 
 
 523. To have Religion upon Authority, 
 and not upon Conviction, is like a Finger 
 Watch) to be set forwards or backwards, as 
 he pleases that has it in keeping. 
 
 524. It is a Preposterous thing, that 
 
 100 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Men can venture their Souls where they 
 will not venture their Money : For they will 
 take their Religion upon trust, but not trust 
 a Synod about the Goodness of Half a 
 Crown. 
 
 525. They will follow their own Judg 
 ment when their Money is concerned, what 
 ever they do for their Souls. 
 
 526. But to be sure, that Religion can 
 not be right, that a Man is the worse for 
 having. 
 
 527. No Religion is better than an Un 
 natural One. 
 
 528. Grace perfects, but never sours or 
 spoils Nature. 
 
 529. To be Unnatural in Defence of 
 Grace, is a Contradiction. 
 
 530. Hardly any thing looks worse, than 
 to defend Religion by ways that shew it has 
 no Credit with us. 
 
 531. A Devout Man is one thing, a 
 Stickler is quite another. 
 
 532. When our Minds exceed their just 
 
 101 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Bounds, we must needs discredit what we 
 would recommend. 
 
 533. To be Furious in Religion, is to be 
 Irreligiously Religious. 
 
 534. If he that is without Bowels, is not a 
 Man ; How then can he be a Christian ? 
 
 535- It were better to be of no Church, 
 than to be bitter for any. 
 
 536. Bitterness comes very near to Enmity, 
 and that is Beelzebub ; because the Perfection 
 of Wickedness. 
 
 537- A g oo d End cannot sanctijie evil 
 Means ; nor must we ever do Evil, that 
 Good may come of it. 
 
 538. Some Folks think they may Scold, 
 Rail, Hate, Rob and Kill too ; so it be but 
 
 for God s sake. 
 
 539. But nothing in us unlike him, can 
 please him. 
 
 540. It is as great Presumption to send our 
 Passions upon God*s Errands, as it is to palli 
 ate them with God s Name. 
 
 541. Zeal dropped in Charity, is good, 
 
 102 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 without it good for nothing: For it devours 
 all it comes near. 
 
 542. They must first judge themselves, 
 that presume to censure others : And such 
 will not be apt to overshoot the Mark. 
 
 543. We are too ready to retaliate , rather 
 than forgive, or gain by Love and Informa 
 tion. 
 
 544. And yet we could hurt no Man that 
 we believe loves us. 
 
 545. Let us then try what Love will 
 do : For if Men did once see we Love 
 them, we should soon find they would not 
 harm us. 
 
 546. Force may subdue, but Love gains : 
 And he that forgives first , wins the Lawrel. 
 
 547. If I am even with my Enemy, the 
 Debt is paid ; But if I forgive it, I oblige him 
 for ever. 
 
 548. Love is the hardest Lesson in Chris 
 tianity ; but, for that reason, it should be 
 most our care to learn it. Difficilia qu<z 
 Pulchra. 
 
 103 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 549. It is a severe Rebuke upon us, that 
 God makes us so many Allowances, and 
 we make so few to our Neighbour : As 
 if Charity had nothing to do with Religion ; 
 Or Love with Faith, that ought to work 
 by it. 
 
 550. I find all sorts of People agree, what 
 soever were their Animosities, when humbled 
 by the Approaches of Death : Then they for 
 give, then they pray for, and love one another: 
 Which shews us, that it is not our Reason, 
 but our Passion, that makes and holds up the 
 Feuds that reign among men in their Health 
 and Fulness. They, therefore, that live near- 
 est to that which they should die, must 
 certainly live best. 
 
 551. Did we believe a final Reckoning 
 and Judgment ; or did we think enough 
 of what we do believe, we would allow more 
 Love in Religion than we do ; since Religion 
 it self is nothing else but Love to God and 
 Man. 
 
 552. He that lives in Love lives in God y 
 
 104 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 says the Beloved Disciple : And to be sure a 
 Man can live no where better. 
 
 553. It is most reasonable Men should 
 value that Benefit, which is most durable. 
 Now Tongues shall cease, and Prophecy 
 fail, and Faith shall be consummated in 
 Sight, and Hope in Enjoyment ; but Love 
 remains. 
 
 554. Love is indeed Heaven upon Earth ; 
 since Heaven above would not be Heaven 
 without it : For where there is not Love ; 
 there is Fear : But perfect Love casts out 
 Fear. And yet we naturally fear most to 
 offend what we most Love. 
 
 555. What we Love, we ll Hear; what 
 we Love, we ll Trust ; and what we Love 
 we ll serve, ay, and suffer for too. If you 
 love me (says our Blessed Redeemer) keep my 
 Commandments. Why ? Why then he ll 
 Love us ; then we shall be his Friends ; then 
 he ll send us the Comforter ; then whatsoever 
 we ask, we shall receive ; and then where 
 he is we shall be also^ and that for ever. 
 
 o 105 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Behold the Fruits of Love; the Power ^ Fer- 
 tue^ Benefit and Beauty of Love ! 
 
 556. Love is above all ; and when it pre 
 vails in us all, we shall all be Lovely, and 
 in Love with God and one with another. 
 
 Amen. 
 
 FINIS 
 
 1 06 
 
PART II 
 
THE INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 READER 
 
 T^HE Title of this TREATISE shows, there was a 
 former of the same Nature ; and the Author hopes 
 he runs no Hazard in recommending both to his Reader s 
 Perusal. He is well aware of the low Reckoning the 
 Labours of indifferent Authors are under , at a Time 
 when hardly any Thing passes for current, that is not cal 
 culated to flatter the Sharpness of contending Parties. He 
 is also sensible^ that Books grow a very Drug, where they 
 cannot raise and support their Credit^ by their own Useful 
 ness ; and how far this will be able to do //, he knows 
 not; yet he thinks himself toller ably safe in making it 
 publick^ in three Respects. 
 
 First, That the Purchase is small, and the Time but 
 little, that is requisite to read it. 
 
 Next, Though some Men should not find it relish d high 
 
 109 
 
The Introduction 
 
 enough for their finer Wits, or warmer Pallats, it will 
 not perhaps be useless to those of lower Flights, and who 
 are less engaged in publick Heats. 
 
 Lastly, The Author honestly aims at as general a 
 Benefit as the Thing will bear ; to YOUTH especially, 
 whether he hits the Mark or not : And that without the 
 least Ostentation, or any private Regards. 
 
 Let not Envy misinterpret his Intention, and he will be 
 
 accountable for all other Faults. 
 
 VALE. 
 
 no 
 
flDore jfruits of Solitube 
 
 BEING 
 
 THE SECOND PART OF 
 
 REFLECTIONS & MAXIMS 
 
 TRfgbt HDoraliat 
 
 1 . A RIGHT Moralist, is a Great and Good 
 Man, but for that Reason he is rarely to be 
 found. 
 
 2. There are a Sort of People, that are 
 fond of the Character, who, in my Opinion, 
 
 have but little Title to it. 
 
 3. They think it enough, not to defraud a 
 Man of his Pay, or betray his Friend ; but 
 never consider, that the Law forbids the 
 one at his Peril, and that Virtue is seldom the 
 Reason of the other. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 4. But certainly he that Covets, can no 
 more be a Moral Man, than he that Steals ; 
 since he does so in his Mind. Nor can he 
 be one that Robs his Neighbour of his Credit, 
 or that craftily undermines him of his Trade 
 or Office. 
 
 5. If a Man pays his Taylor, but De 
 bauches his Wife ; Is he a current Moral 
 ist? 
 
 6. But what shall we say of the Man that 
 Rebels against his Father, is an /// Husband^ 
 or an Abusive Neighbour ; one that s Lavish 
 of his Time, of his Health, and of his Estate, 
 in which his Family is so nearly concerned ? 
 Must he go for a Right Moralist, because he 
 pays his Rent well ? 
 
 7. I would ask some of those Men of 
 Morals, Whether he that Robs God and 
 Himself too, tho he should not defraud his 
 Neighbour, be the Moral Man ? 
 
 8. Do I owe my self Nothing ? And do 
 I not owe All to God ? And if paying what 
 we owe, makes the Moral Man, is it not 
 
 112 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 fit we should begin to render our Dues, 
 where we owe our very Beginning ; ay, 
 our All? 
 
 9. The Compleat Moralist begins with 
 God y he gives him his Due, his Heart^ his 
 Love, his Service; the Bountiful Giver of 
 his Well-Beings^^ well as Being. 
 
 10. He that lives without a Sense of this 
 Dependency and Obligation, cannot be a 
 Moral Man, because he does not make his 
 Returns of Love and Obedience ; as becomes 
 an honest and a sensible Creature : Which 
 very Term Implies he is not his own ; and 
 it cannot be very honest to mis-imploy 
 another s Goods. 
 
 1 1 . But can there be no Debt, but to a 
 fellow Creature ? Or, will our Exactness in 
 paying those Dribling ones, while we neglect 
 our weightier Obligations, Cancel the Bonds 
 we lie under, and render us right and thor 
 ough Moralists ? 
 
 12. As Judgments are paid before Eonds^ 
 and Bonds before Bills or Book-Debts^ so the 
 
 p 113 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Moralist considers his Obligations according 
 to their several Dignities. 
 
 In the first Place, Him to whom he owes 
 himself. Next, himself ] in his Health and 
 Livelihood. Lastly, His other Obligations, 
 whether Rational or Pecuniary ; doing to 
 others, to the Extent of his Ability, as he 
 would have them do unto him. 
 
 13. In short, The Moral Man is he 
 that Loves God above All, and his Neigh 
 bour as himself, which fulfils both Tables at 
 once. 
 
 Worl& e able flDan 
 
 14. It is by some thought, the Character 
 of an Able Man, to be Dark and not Under- 
 stood. But I am sure that is not fair Play. 
 
 15. If he be so by Silence, tis better ; but 
 if by Disguises, tis insincere and hateful. 
 
 1 6. Secrecy is one Thing, false Lights is 
 another. 
 
 17. The honest Man, that is rather free, 
 
 114 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 than open, is ever to be preferred; especially 
 when Sense is at Helm. 
 
 1 8. The Glorying of the other Humour is 
 in a Vice: For it is not Humane to be Cold^ 
 Dark and Unconversable. I was a going to 
 say, they are like Pick-Pockets in a Crowd, 
 where a Man must ever have his Hand on 
 his Purse ; or as Spies in a Garrison, that if 
 not prevented betrays it. 
 
 1 9. They are the Reverse of Human Nature, 
 and yet this is the present World s Wise Man 
 and Politician : Excellent Qualities for Lap 
 land^ where, they say, Witches, though not 
 many Conjurors, dwell. 
 
 20. Like Highway-Men , that rarely Rob 
 without Vizards^ or in the same Wigs and 
 Cloaths, but have a Dress for every Enter- 
 prize. 
 
 21. At best, he may be a Cunning Man, 
 which is a sort of Lurcher in the Politicks. 
 
 22. He is never too hard for the Wise 
 Man upon the Square^ for that is out of his 
 Element, and puts him quite by his Skill. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Nor are Wise Men ever catch d by him, but 
 when they trust him. 
 
 23. But as Cold and Close as he seems, he 
 can and will please all, if he gets by it, though 
 it should neither please God nor himself at 
 bottom. 
 
 24. He is for every Cause that brings 
 him Gain, but Implacable if disappointed of 
 Success. 
 
 25. And what he cannot hinder, he will 
 be sure to Spoil, by over-doing it. 
 
 26. None so Zealous then as he, for that 
 which he cannot abide. 
 
 27. What is it he will not, or cannot do, 
 to hide his true Sentiments. 
 
 28. For his Interest, he refuses no Side or 
 Party ; and will take the Wrong by the Hand, 
 when t other won t do, with as good a Grace 
 as the Right. 
 
 29. Nay, he commonly chooses the Worst ^ 
 because that brings the best Bribe : His Cause 
 being ever Money. 
 
 30. He Sails with all Winds , and is never 
 
 116 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 out of his Way, where any Thing is to be 
 had. 
 
 31. A Privateer indeed, and everywhere 
 a very Bird of Prey, 
 
 32. True to nothing but himself ] and false 
 to all Persons and Parties, to serve his own 
 Turn. 
 
 33. Talk with him as often as you please, 
 he will never pay you in good Coin ; for tis 
 either False or dipt. 
 
 34. But to give a False Reason for any 
 Thing, let my Reader never learn of him, no 
 more than to give a Brass Half-Crown for a 
 good one : Not only because it is not true, 
 but because it Deceives the Person to whom it 
 is given ; which I take to be an Immorality. 
 
 35. Silence is much more preferable, for 
 it saves the Secret, as well as the Person s 
 Honour, 
 
 36. Such as give themselves the Latitude of 
 saying what they do not mean, come to be 
 errant ^Jockeys at more Things than one ; but 
 in Religion and Politicks^ tis most pernicious. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 37. To hear two Men talk the Reverse 
 of their own Sentiments, with all the good 
 Breeding and Appearance of Friendship 
 imaginable, on purpose to Cozen or Pump 
 each other, is to a Man of Virtue and Honour^ 
 one of the Melancholiest, as well as most 
 Nauseous Things in the World. 
 
 38. But that it should be the Character 
 of an Able Man, is to Disinherit Wisdom^ 
 and Paint out our Degeneracy to the Life, 
 by setting up Fraud, an errant Impostor^ in 
 her Room. 
 
 39. The Tryal of Skill between these two 
 is, who shall believe least of what t other 
 says ; and he that has the Weakness , or good 
 Nature to give out first^ (viz. to believe any 
 Thing t other says) is look d upon to be 
 TricKd. 
 
 40. I cannot see the Policy , any more than 
 the Necessity, of a Man s Mind always giving 
 the Lye to his Mouth, or his Mouth ever 
 giving the false Alarms of his Mind : For no 
 Man can be long believed, that teaches all 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Men to distrust him; and since the Ablest 
 have sometimes need of Credit, where lies 
 the Advantage of their Politick Cant or 
 Banter upon Mankind ? 
 
 41.1 remember a Passage of one of Queen 
 fLIizabetKs Great Men, as Advice to his 
 Friend; The Advantage, says he, I had upon 
 others at Court, was, that I always spoke as 
 I thought, which being not believed by them, 
 I both preservd a good Conscience, and 
 suffered no Damage from that Freedom : 
 Which, as it shows the Vice to be Older than 
 our Times, so that Gallant Man s Integrity, 
 to be the best Way of avoiding it. 
 
 42. To be sure it is wise, as well as 
 Honest, neither to flatter other Men s Sen 
 timents, nor Dissemble and less Contradict 
 our own. 
 
 43. To hold ones Tongue, or speak Truth, 
 or talk only of indifferent Things, is the 
 Fairest Conversation. 
 
 44. Women that rarely go Abroad without 
 Vizard-Masks, have none of the best Reput- 
 
 n 9 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 ation. But when we consider what all this 
 Art and Disguise are for, it equally heightens 
 the Wise Man s Wonder and Aversion : Per 
 haps it is to betray a Father, a Brother, a 
 Master, a Friend, a Neighbour, or ones own 
 Party. 
 
 45. A fine Conquest! what Noble Grecians 
 and Romans abhorr d: As if Government 
 could not subsist without Knavery, and that 
 Knaves were the Usefullest Props to it; tho 
 the basest, as well as greatest, Perversion of 
 the Ends of it. 
 
 46. But that it should become a Maxim , 
 shows but too grossly the Corruption of the 
 Times. 
 
 47. I confess I have heard the Stile of a 
 Useful Knave, but ever took it to be a silly 
 or a knavish Saying; at least an Excuse for 
 Knavery. 
 
 48. It is as reasonable to think a Whore 
 makes the best Wife, as a Knave the best 
 Officer. 
 
 49. Besides, Employ ing Knaves, Encourages 
 
 I2O 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Knavery instead of punishing it ; and Alienates 
 the Reward of Virtue. Or, at least, must 
 make the World believe, the Country yields 
 not honest Men enough, able to serve 
 her. 
 
 50. Art thou a Magistrate ? Prefer such 
 as have clean Characters where they live, and 
 of Estates to secure a just Discharge of their 
 Trusts ; and are under no Temptation to 
 strain Points for a Fortune : For sometimes 
 such may be found, sooner than they are 
 Employed. 
 
 5 1 . Art thou a Private Man ? Contract 
 thy Acquaintance in a narrow Compass, 
 and chuse Those for the Subjects of it, that 
 are Men of Principles ; such as will make 
 full Stops, where Honour will not lead 
 them on ; and that had rather bear the dis 
 grace of not being thorow Paced Men, than 
 forfeit their Peace and Reputation by a base 
 Compliance. 
 
 Q 121 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 THIUse flDan 
 
 52. The Wise Man Governs himself by 
 the Reason of his Case, and because what he 
 does is Best: Best, in a Moral and Prudent, 
 not a Sinister Sense. 
 
 53. He proposes just Ends, and employs 
 \hzfairest zn&probablest Means and Methods 
 to attain them. 
 
 54. Though you cannot always penetrate 
 his Design, or his Reasons for it, yet you 
 shall ever see his Actions of a Piece, and his 
 Performances like a Workman: They will 
 bear the Touch of Wisdom and Honour, as 
 often as they are tryed. 
 
 55. He scorns to serve himself by Indirect 
 Means, or be an Interloper in Government, 
 since just Enterprises never want any Just 
 Ways to succeed them. 
 
 56. To do Evil, that Good may come of 
 it, is for Bunglers in Politicks, as well as 
 Morals. 
 
 122 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 57. Like those Surgeons, that will cut off 
 an Arm they can t cure, to hide their Ignor 
 ance and save their Credit. 
 
 58. The Wise Man is Cautious, but not 
 cunning; Judicious, but not crafty; making 
 Virtue the Measure of using his Excellent 
 Understanding in the Conduct of his Life. 
 
 59. The Wise Man is equal, ready, but 
 not ojficiotts ; has in every Thing an Eye to 
 Sure Footing : He offends no Body, nor easily 
 is offended, and always willing to Compound 
 for Wrongs, if not forgive them. 
 
 60. He is never Captious, nor Critical; 
 hates Banter and Jests : He may be Pleasant, 
 but not Light; he never deals but in Sub 
 stantial Ware, and leaves the rest for the 
 Toy Pates (or Shops) of the World ; which 
 are so far from being his Business, that they 
 are not so much as his Diversion. 
 
 6 1. He is always for some solid Good, 
 Civil or Moral; as, to make his Country 
 more Virtuous, Preserve her Peace and Liberty, 
 Imploy her Poor, Improve Land, Advance 
 
 123 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Trade, Suppress Vice, Incourage Industry, 
 and all Mechanick Knowledge ; and that 
 they should be the Care of the Government, 
 and the Blessing and Praise of the People. 
 
 62. To conclude: He is Just, and fears 
 God, hates Covetousness, and eschews Evil, 
 and loves his Neighbour as himself. 
 
 f the <5ov>ernment of 
 
 63. Man being made a Reasonable, and so 
 a Thinking Creature, there is nothing more 
 Worthy of his Being, than the Right Direction 
 and Employment of his Thoughts ; since upon 
 This, depends both his Usefulness to the 
 Publick, and his own present and future 
 Benefit in all Respects. 
 
 64. The Consideration of this, has often 
 obliged me to Lament the Unhappiness of 
 Mankind, that through too great a Mixture 
 and Confusion of Thoughts, have been hardly 
 able to make a Right or Mature Judgment of 
 Things. 
 
 124 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 65. To this is owing the various Uncer 
 tainty and Confusion we see in the World, and 
 the Intemperate Zeal that occasions them. 
 
 66. To this also is to be attributed the 
 imperfect Knowledge we have of Things, and 
 the slow Progress we make in attaining to a 
 Better ; like the Children of Israel that were 
 
 forty Years upon their Journey, from Egypt 
 to Canaan, which might have been performed 
 in Less than One. 
 
 67. In fine, tis to this that we ought to 
 ascribe, if not all, at least most of the Infeli 
 cities we Labour under. 
 
 68. Clear therefore thy Head, and Rally, 
 and Manage thy Thoughts Rightly, and thou 
 wilt Save Time, and See and Do thy Business 
 fFell; for thy Judgment will be Distinct, 
 thy Mind Free, and the Faculties Strong and 
 Regular. 
 
 69. Always remember to bound thy 
 Thoughts to the present Occasion. 
 
 70. If it be thy Religious Duty, suffer 
 nothing else to Share in them. And if any 
 
 125 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Civil or Temporal Affair, observe the same 
 Caution, and thou wilt be a whole Man to 
 every Thing, and do twice the Business in 
 the same Time. 
 
 71. If any Point over-Labours thy Mind, 
 divert and relieve it, by some other Subject, 
 of a more Sensible, or Manual Nature, rather 
 than what may affect the Understanding ; for 
 this were to write one Thing upon another, 
 which blots out our former Impressions, or 
 renders them illegible. 
 
 72. They that are least divided in their 
 Care, always give the best Account of their 
 Business. 
 
 73. As therefore thou art always to pursue 
 the present Subject, till thou hast mastered it, 
 so if it fall out that thou hast more Affairs 
 than one upon thy Hand, be sure to prefer 
 that which is of most Moment, and will least 
 wait thy Leisure. 
 
 74. He that Judges not well of the Impor 
 tance of his Affairs, though he may be always 
 Busy, he must make but a small Progress. 
 
 126 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 7 5 . But make not more Business necessary 
 than is so; and rather lessen than augment 
 Work for thy self. 
 
 76. Nor yet be over-eager in pursuit of any 
 Thing; for the Mercurial too often happen 
 to leave Judgment behind them, and some 
 times make Work for Repentance. 
 
 77. He that over-runs his Business, leaves 
 it for him that follows more leisurely to take 
 it up; which has often proved a profitable 
 Harvest to them that never Sow d. 
 
 78. Tis the Advantage that slower Tem 
 pers have upon the Men of lively Parts, that 
 tho they don t lead, they will Follow well, 
 and Glean Clean. 
 
 79. Upon the whole Matter, Employ thy 
 Thoughts as thy Business requires, and let 
 that have Place according to Merit and 
 Urgency ; giving every Thing a Review and 
 due Digestion, and thou wilt prevent many 
 Errors and Vexations, as well as save much 
 Time to thy self in the Course of thy Life. 
 
 127 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 f 
 
 80. It is the Mark of an ill Nature, to 
 lessen good Actions, and aggravate ill Ones. 
 
 8 1 . Some men do as much begrutch others 
 a good Name, as they want one themselves ; 
 and perhaps that is the Reason of it. 
 
 82. But certainly they are in the Wrong, 
 that can think they are lessened, because 
 others have their Due. 
 
 83. Such People generally have less Merit 
 than Ambition, that Covet the Reward of 
 other Men s ; and to be sure a very ill Nature, 
 that will rather Rob others of their Due, than 
 allow them their Praise. 
 
 84. It is more an Error of our Will, than 
 our Judgment: For we know it to be an 
 Effect of our Passion, not our Reason ; and 
 therefore we are the more culpable in our 
 Partial Estimates. 
 
 85. It is as Envious as Unjust, to under 
 rate another s Actions where their intrinsick 
 
 1*8 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Worth recommends them to disengaged 
 Minds. 
 
 86. Nothing shews more the Folly, as well 
 as Fraud of Man, than Clipping of Merit and 
 Reputation. 
 
 87. And as some Men think it an Allay to 
 themselves, that others have their Right ; so 
 they know no End of Pilfering to raise their 
 own Credit. 
 
 88. This Envy is the Child of Pride, and 
 Misgives, rather than Mistakes. 
 
 89. It will have Charity, to be Ostentation; 
 Sobriety, Covetousness ; Humility, Craft, 
 Bounty, Popularity: In short, Virtue must 
 be Design^ and Religion, only Interest. Nay, 
 the best of Qualities must not pass without 
 a JBllt to allay their Merit and abate their 
 Praise. Basest of Tempers ! and they that 
 have them, the Worst of Men ! 
 
 go. But Just and Noble Minds Rejoice in 
 other Men s Success, and help to augment 
 their Praise. 
 
 91. And indeed they are not without a 
 R 129 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Love to Virtue, that take a Satisfaction in 
 seeing her Rewarded, and such deserve to 
 share her Character that do abhor to lessen 
 it. 
 
 f ffoan e Xife 
 
 92. Why is Man less durable than the 
 Works of his Hands, but because This is not 
 the Place of his Rest ? 
 
 93. And it is a Great and Just Reproach 
 upon him, that he should jix his Mind where 
 he cannot stay himself. 
 
 94. Were it not more his W^isdom to be 
 concerned about those Works that will go 
 with him, and erect a Mansion for him 
 where Time has Power neither over him 
 nor it ? 
 
 95. Tis a sad Thing for Man so often to 
 miss his Way to his Eest^ as well as most 
 Lasting Home. 
 
 130 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 f ambition 
 
 96. They that soar too high, often fall 
 hard-, which makes a low and level Dwelling 
 preferrable. 
 
 97. The tallest Trees are most in the 
 Power of the Winds^ and Ambitious Men of 
 the Blasts of Fortune. 
 
 98. They are most seen and observed, and 
 most envyed: Least Quiet, but most talk d 
 of, and not often to their Advantage. 
 
 99. Those Buildings had need of a good 
 Foundation, that lie so much exposed to 
 Weather. 
 
 100. Good Works are a Rock^ that will 
 support their Credit; but 111 Ones a Sandy 
 Foundation that Yields to Calamities. 
 
 i or. And truly they ought to expect no 
 Pity in their Fall, that when in Power had 
 no Bowels for the Unhappy. 
 
 102. The worst of Distempers ; always 
 Craving and Thirsty, Restless and Hated : 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 A perfect Delirium in the Mind : Insuffer 
 able in Success, and in Disappointments most 
 Revengeful. 
 
 f praise or applause 
 
 103. We are too apt to love Praise^ but 
 not to Deserve it. 
 
 104. But if we would Deserve it, we must 
 love Virtue more than That. 
 
 105. As there is no Passion in us sooner 
 moved, or more deceivable, so for that 
 Reason there is none over which we ought 
 to be more Watchful^ whether we give or 
 receive it : For if we give it, we must be 
 sure to mean it, and measure it too. 
 
 1 06. If we are Penurious^ it shows Emula 
 tion^ if we exceed, Flattery. 
 
 107. Good Measure belongs to Good 
 Actions ; more looks Nauseous, as well as 
 Insincere ; besides, tis a Persecuting of the 
 Meritorious, who are out of Countenance to 
 
 ^ what they deserve. 
 
 132 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 1 08. It is much easier for him to merit 
 Applause, than hear of it : And he never 
 doubts himself more, or the Person that 
 gives it, than when he hears so much of it. 
 
 109. But to say true, there needs not many 
 Cautions on this Hand, since the World is 
 rarely just enough to the Deserving. 
 
 no. However, we cannot be too Circum 
 spect how we receive Praise : For if we 
 contemplate ourselves in a false Glass, we 
 are sure to be mistaken about our Dues ; and 
 because we are too apt to believe what is 
 Pleasing, rather than what is True, we may 
 be too easily swell d, beyond our just Propor 
 tion, by the Windy Compliments of Men. 
 
 in. Make ever therefore Allowances for 
 what is said on such Occasions, or thou Ex- 
 posest, as well as Deceivest thy self. 
 
 112. For an Over- value of our selves, 
 gives us but a dangerous Security in many 
 Respects. 
 
 113. We expect more than belongs to us ; 
 take all that s given us though never meant 
 
 33 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 us ; and fall out with those that are not as 
 full of us as we are of our selves. 
 
 114. In short, tis a Passion that abuses 
 our Judgment, and makes us both Unsafe and 
 Ridiculous. 
 
 115. Be not fond therefore of Praise, but 
 seek Virtue that leads to it. 
 
 1 1 6. And yet no more lessen or dissemble 
 thy Merit, than over-rate it : For tho 
 Humility be a Virtue, an affected one is 
 none. 
 
 f Con&uct in Speecb 
 
 117. Enquire often , but Judge rarely^ and 
 thou wilt not often be mistaken. 
 
 1 1 8. It is safer to Learn, than teach ; and 
 who conceals his Opinion, has nothing to 
 Answer for. 
 
 119. Vanity or Resentment often engage 
 us, and tis two to one but we come off 
 Losers ; for one shews a Want of yudgment 
 and Humility^ as the other does of Temper 
 and Discretion. 
 
 34 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 1 20. Not that I admire the Reserved ; for 
 they are next to Unnatural that are not Com 
 municable. But if Reservedness be at any 
 Time a Virtue, tis in Throngs or ///Company. 
 
 121. Beware also of Affectation in Speech ; 
 it often wrongs Matter^ and ever shows a 
 blind Side. 
 
 122. Speak properly, and in as few Words 
 as you can, but always plainly ; for the End 
 of Speech is not Ostentation, but to be under 
 stood. 
 
 123. They that affect Words more than 
 Matter, will dry up that little they have. 
 
 124. Sense never fails to give them that 
 have it, Words enough to make them under 
 stood. 
 
 125. But it too often happens in some 
 Conversations, as in Apothecary-Shops^ that 
 those Pots that are Empty ^ or have Things of 
 small Value in them, are as gaudily Dressed 
 and Flour ish V, as those that are full of precious 
 Drugs. 
 
 126. This Labouring of slight Matter with 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 flourished Turns of Expression, is fulsome, 
 and worse than the Modern Imitation of 
 Tapestry, and East-India Goods, in Stuffs 
 and Linnens. In short, tis but Taudry Talk, 
 and next to very Trash. 
 
 IDinion of 
 
 127. They that love beyond the 
 cannot be separated by it. 
 
 128. Death cannot kill, what never dies. 
 
 129. Nor can Spirits ever be divided that 
 love and live in the same Divine Principle ; 
 the Root and Record of their Friendship. 
 
 130. If Absence be not Death, neither is 
 theirs. 
 
 131. Death is but Crossing the World, as 
 Friends do the Seas ; They live in one 
 another still. 
 
 132. For they must needs be present, 
 that love and live in that which is Omni 
 present. 
 
 133. In this Divine Glass, they see Face 
 
 136 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 to Face ; and their Converse is Free, as well 
 as Pure. 
 
 134. This is the Comfort of Friends, that 
 though they may be said to Die, yet their 
 Friendship and Society are, in the best Sense, 
 ever present, because Immortal. 
 
 Qf being J6a0? in %tt>in0 
 
 135. Tis a Happiness to be delivered from 
 a Curious Mind, as well as from a Dainty 
 Palate. 
 
 136. For it is not only a Troublesome but 
 Slavish Thing to be Nice. 
 
 137. They narrow their own Freedom 
 and Comforts, that make so much requisite to 
 enjoy them. 
 
 138. To be Easy in Living, is much of 
 the Pleasure of Life : But difficult Tempers 
 will always want it. 
 
 139. A Careless and Homely Breeding is 
 therefore preferable to one Nice and Deli 
 cate. 
 
 140. And he that is taught to live upon a 
 s 37 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 little^ owes more to his Father s Wisdom, 
 than he that has a great deal left him, does 
 to his Father s Care. 
 
 141. Children can t well be too hardly 
 Bred : For besides that it Jits them to bear 
 the Roughest Providences, it is more Mascu 
 line^ Active and Healthy. 
 
 142. Nay, tis certain, that the Liberty of 
 the Mind is mightily preserved by it : For 
 so tis served, instead of being a Servant, in 
 deed a Slave to sensual Delicacies. 
 
 143. As Nature is soon answered, so are 
 such satisfied. 
 
 144. The Memory of the Ancients is 
 hardly in any Thing more to be celebrated, 
 than in a Strict and Useful Institution of 
 Youth. 
 
 145. By Labour they prevented Luxury 
 in their young People, till Wisdom and 
 Philosophy had taught them to Resist and 
 Despise it. 
 
 146. It must be therefore a gross Fault to 
 strive so hard for the Pleasure of our Bodies, 
 
 138 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 and be so insensible and careless of the Free 
 dom of our Souls. 
 
 f flDan s 3ncon0i&eratene00 an& 
 partiality 
 
 147. Tis very observable, if our Civil 
 Rights are invaded or incroach d upon, we 
 are mightily touch* d^ and Jill every Place with 
 our Resentment and Complaint ; while we 
 suffer ourselves, our Better and Nobler Selves, 
 to be the Property and Vassals of Sin, the 
 worst of Invaders. 
 
 148. In vain do we expect to be delivered 
 from such Troubles, till we are delivered from 
 the Cause of them, our Disobedience to God. 
 
 149. When he has his Dues from us, it 
 will be time enough for Him to give us ours 
 out of one another. 
 
 150. Tis our great Happiness, if we could 
 understand it, that we meet with such Checks 
 in the Career of our worldly Enjoyments, lest 
 we should Forget the Giver, adore the Gift, 
 
 139 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 and terminate our Felicity here, which is not 
 Man s ultimate Bliss. 
 
 151. Our Losses are often made Judgments 
 by our Guilt , and Mercies by our Repentance. 
 
 152. Besides, it argues great Folly in Men 
 to let their Satisfaction exceed the true Value 
 of any Temporal Matter : For Disappoint 
 ments are not always to be measured by the 
 Loss of the Thing, but the Over-value we 
 put upon it. 
 
 153. And thus Men improve their own 
 Miseries, for want of an Equal and Just 
 Estimate of what they Enjoy or Lose. 
 
 154. There lies a Proviso upon every 
 Thing in this World, and we must observe 
 it at our own Peril, viz. To love God above 
 
 , and Act for Judgment , the Last I mean. 
 
 f tbe IRule of 3u&0ing 
 
 155. In all Things Reason should prevail: 
 Tis quite another Thing to be stiff than 
 steady in an Opinion. 
 
 140 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 156. This may be Reasonable, but that is 
 ever Wilful. 
 
 157. In such Cases it always happens, that 
 the clearer the Argument, the greater the 
 Obstinacy, where the Design is not to be 
 convinced. 
 
 158. This is to value Humour more than 
 Truth, and prefer a sullen Pride to a reason 
 able Submission. 
 
 159. Tis the Glory of a Man to vail to 
 Truth ; as it is the Mark of a good Nature to 
 be Easily entreated. 
 
 1 60. Beasts Act by Sense, Man should by 
 Reason^ else he is a greater Beast than ever 
 God made : And the Proverb is verified, The 
 Corruption of the best Things is the worst 
 and most offensive. 
 
 1 6 1. A reasonable Opinion must ever be 
 in Danger, where Reason is not Judge. 
 
 162. Though there is a Regard due to 
 Education, and the Tradition of our Fathers, 
 Truth will ever deserve^ as well as claim the 
 Preference. 
 
 141 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 163. If like Theophilus and Timothy , we 
 have been brought up in the Knowledge of 
 the best Things, tis our Advantage: But 
 neither they nor we lose by trying their 
 Truth; for so we learn their, as well as its 
 intrinsick Worth. 
 
 1 64. Truth never lost Ground by Enquiry, 
 because she is most of all Reasonable. 
 
 165. Nor can that need another Authority, 
 that is Self-evident. 
 
 1 66. If my own Reason be on the Side of 
 a Principle, with what can I Dispute or with 
 stand it ? 
 
 167. And if Men would once consider 
 one another reasonably, they would either 
 reconcile their Differences, or more Amicably 
 maintain them. 
 
 1 68. Let That therefore be the Standard, 
 that has most to say for itself; Tho of that 
 let every Man be Judge for himself. 
 
 169. Reason, like the Sun^ is Common to 
 All ; And tis for want of examining all by 
 the same Light and Measure, that we are not 
 
 142 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 all of the same Mind : For all have it to that 
 End, though all do not use it So. 
 
 f formality 
 
 170. Form is Good, but not Formality. 
 
 171. In the Use of the best of Forms there 
 is too much of that I fear. 
 
 172. Tis absolutely necessary, that this 
 Distinction should go along with People in 
 their Devotion; for too many are apter to 
 rest upon What they do, than How they do 
 their Duty. 
 
 173. If it were considered, that it is the 
 Frame of the Mind that gives our Perform 
 ances Acceptance, we would lay more Stress 
 on our Inward Preparation than our Out 
 ward Action. 
 
 f tbe mean IRotion we bave of 
 
 <5o& 
 
 174. Nothing more shews the low Con 
 dition Man is fallen into, than the unsuitable 
 
 143 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Notion we must have of God, by the Ways 
 we take to please him. 
 
 175. As if it availed any Thing to him 
 that we performed so many Ceremonies and 
 external Forms of Devotion, who never 
 meant more by them, than to try our 
 Obedience, and, through them, to shew us 
 something more Excellent and Durable be 
 yond them. 
 
 176. Doing, while we are Undoing, is 
 good for nothing. 
 
 177. Of what Benefit is it to say our 
 Prayers regularly, go to Church, receive the 
 Sacraments, and may be go to Confessions 
 too ; ay, Feast the Priest, and give Alms to 
 the Poor, and yet Lye, Swear, Curse, be 
 Drunk, Covetous, Unclean, Proud, Revenge 
 ful, Vain and Idle at the same Time ? 
 
 178. Can one excuse or ballance the other ? 
 Or will God think himself well served, where 
 his Law is Violated? Or well used, where 
 there is so much more Shew than Substance ? 
 
 179. Tis a most dangerous Error for a 
 
 144 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Man to think to excuse himself in the Breach 
 of a Moral Duty, by a Formal Performance 
 of Positive Worship; and less when of Human 
 Invention. 
 
 1 80. Our Blessed Saviour most rightly and 
 clearly distinguished and determined this 
 Case, when he told the Jews, that they were 
 his Mother, his Brethren and Sisters, who 
 did the Will of his Father. 
 
 f tbe Benefit of Justice 
 
 1 8 1. Justice is a great Support of Society, 
 because an Insurance to all Men of their 
 Property : This violated, there s no Security, 
 which throws all into Confusion to recover it. 
 
 182. An Honest Man is a fast Pledge in 
 Dealing. A Man is Sure to have it if it be 
 to be had. 
 
 183. Many are so, meerly of Necessity : 
 Others not so only for the same Reason: 
 But such an honest Man is not to be thanked, 
 and such a dishonest Man is to be pityd. 
 
 T I 45 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 184. But he that is dishonest for Gain, is 
 next to a Robber, and to be punish d for 
 Example. 
 
 185. And indeed there are few Dealers, 
 but what are Faulty, which makes Trade 
 Difficult, and a great Temptation to Men of 
 Virtue. 
 
 1 8 6. Tis not what they should, but what 
 they can get: Faults or Decays must be 
 concealed : Big Words given, where they 
 are not deserved, and the Ignorance or 
 Necessity of the Buyer imposed upon for 
 unjust Profit. 
 
 187. These are the Men that keep their 
 Words for their own Ends, and are only Just 
 for Fear of the Magistrate. 
 
 1 8 8. A Politick rather than a Moral 
 Honesty ; a constrained, not a chosen Justice: 
 According to the Proverb, Patience per Force, 
 and thank you for nothing. 
 
 189. But of all Justice, that is the great 
 est, that passes under the Name of Law. A 
 Cut-Purse in Westminster - Hall exceeds ; 
 
 146 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 for that advances Injustice to Oppression, 
 where Law is alledged for that which it 
 should punish. 
 
 f Jealous? 
 
 190. The Jealous are Troublesome to 
 others, but a Torment to themselves. 
 
 19 1. Jealousy is a kind of Civil War in 
 the Soul, where Judgment and Imagination 
 are at perpetual Jars. 
 
 192. This Civil Dissension in the Mind, 
 like that of the Body Politick, commits great 
 Disorders, and lays all waste. 
 
 193. Nothing stands safe in its W^ay : 
 Nature^ Interest^ Religion^ must Yield to 
 its Fury. 
 
 194. It violates Contracts^ Dissolves 
 Society^ Breaks Wedlock^ Betrays Friends 
 and Neighbours. No Body is Good, and 
 every one is either doing or designing them 
 a Mischief. 
 
 195. It has a Venome that more or less 
 rankles wherever it bites : And as it reports 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Fancies for Facts, so it disturbs its own 
 House as often as other Folks. 
 
 196. Its Rise is Guilt or /// Nature, and 
 by Reflection thinks its own Faults to be 
 other Men s; as he that s over-run with the 
 Jaundice takes others to be Yellow. 
 
 197. A Jealous Man only sees his own 
 Spectrum, when he looks upon other Men, 
 and gives his Character in theirs. 
 
 f State 
 
 198. I love Service, but not State ; One 
 is Useful, the other is Superfluous. 
 
 199. The Trouble of this, as well as 
 Charge, is Real; but the Advantage only 
 Imaginary. 
 
 200. Besides, it helps to set us up above 
 our selves, and Augments our Temptation to 
 Disorder. 
 
 20 1. The Least Thing out of Joint, or 
 omitted, make us uneasy : and we are ready 
 to think our selves ill served, about that 
 which is of no real Service at all : Or so 
 
 148 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 much better than other Men, as we have the 
 Means of greater State. 
 
 202. But this is all for want of Wisdom, 
 which carries the truest and most forceable 
 State along with it. 
 
 203. He that makes not himself Cheap 
 by indiscreet Conversation, puts Value 
 enough upon himself every where. 
 
 204. The other is rather Pageantry than 
 State. 
 
 f a <5oo& Servant 
 
 205. A True, and a Good Servant, are 
 the same Thing. 
 
 206. But no Servant is True to his 
 Master, that Defrauds him. 
 
 207. Now there are many Ways of De 
 frauding a Master, as, of Time, Care, Pains, 
 Respect, and Reputation, as well as Money. 
 
 208. He that Neglects his Work, Robs his 
 Master, since he is Fed and Paid as if he did 
 his Best ; and he that is not as Diligent in 
 
 149 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 the Absence, as in the Presence of his Master, 
 cannot be a true Servant. 
 
 209. Nor is he a true Servant, that buys 
 dear to share in the Profit with the Seller. 
 
 210. Nor yet he that tells Tales without 
 Doors ; or deals basely in his Master s Name 
 with other People ; or Connives at others 
 Loyterings, Wasteings, or dishonourable 
 Reflections. 
 
 211. So that a true Servant is Diligent^ 
 Secret^ and Respectful: More Tender of his 
 Master s Honour and Interest, than of his 
 own Profit. 
 
 212. Such a Servant deserves well, and if 
 Modest under his Merit, should liberally feel 
 it at his Master s Hand. 
 
 f an immediate pursuit of 
 tbe iratorU) 
 
 213. It shews a Depraved State of Mind, 
 to Cark and Care for that which one does 
 not need. 
 
 150 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 214. Some are as eager to be Rich, as 
 ever they were to Live : For Superfluity^ as 
 for Subsistance. 
 
 215. But that Plenty should augment 
 Covetousness, is a Perversion of Providence ; 
 and yet the Generality are the worse for 
 their Riches. 
 
 2 1 6. But it is strange, that 0/</Men should 
 excel : For generally Money lies nearest 
 them that are nearest their Graves: As if 
 they would augment their Love in Propor 
 tion to the little Time they have left to enjoy 
 it : And yet their Pleasure is without Enjoy 
 ment, since none enjoy what they do not use. 
 
 21 7. So that instead of learning to leave 
 their great Wealth easily, they hold the 
 Faster ^ because they must leave it : So Sordid 
 is the Temper of some Men. 
 
 2 1 8. Where Charity keeps Pace with Gain, 
 Industry is blessed : But to slave to get, and 
 keep it Sordidly , is a Sin against Providence, 
 a Vice in Government^ and an Injury to 
 their Neighbours. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 219. Such are they as spend not one Fifth 
 of their Income, and, it may be, give not one 
 Tenth of what they spend to the Needy. 
 
 220. This is the worst Sort of Idolatry, 
 because there can be no Religion in it, nor 
 Ignorance pleaded in Excuse of it ; and that 
 it wrongs other Folks that ought to have a 
 Share therein. 
 
 f tbe Jntereat of tbe publicfc 
 in our Eetatea 
 
 221. Hardly any Thing is given us for 
 our Selves^ but the Publick may claim a Share 
 with us. But of all we call ours, we are 
 most accountable to God and the Publick for 
 our Estates : In this we are but Stewards, 
 and to Hord up all to ourselves is great 
 Injustice as well as Ingratitude. 
 
 222. If all Men were so far Tenants to the 
 Publick, that the Superfluities of Gain and 
 Expence were applied to the Exigencies there 
 of, it would put an End to Taxes, leave 
 
 152 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 never a Beggar, and make the greatest Bank 
 for National Trade in Europe. 
 
 223. It is a Judgment upon us, as well as 
 Weakness, tho 5 we won t see it, to begin at 
 the wrong End. 
 
 224. If the Taxes we give are not to 
 maintain Pride, I am sure there would 
 be less, if Pride were made a Tax to the 
 Government. 
 
 225. I confess I have wondered that so 
 many Lawful and Useful Things are Excised 
 by Laws, and Pride left to Reign Free over 
 them and the Publick. 
 
 226. But since People are more afraid of 
 the Laws of Man than of God, because their 
 Punishment seems to be nearest : I know not 
 how Magistrates can be excused in their 
 suffering such Excess with Impunity. 
 
 227. Our Noble English Patriarchs as well 
 as Patriots, were so sensible of this Evil, that 
 they made several excellent Laws, commonly 
 called Sumptuary, to Forbid, at least Limit 
 the Pride of the People ; which because the 
 
 u 153 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Execution of them would be our Interest 
 and Honour, their Neglect must be our just 
 Reproach and Loss. 
 
 228. Tis but Reasonable that the Punish 
 ment of Pride and Excess should help to 
 support the Government, since it must other 
 wise inevitably be ruined by them. 
 
 229. But some say, // ruins Trade ^ and 
 will make the Poor Burthensome to the 
 Publick ; But if such Trade in Consequence 
 ruins the Kingdom, is it not Time to ruin 
 that Trade ? Is Moderation no Part of 
 our Duty, and Temperance an Enemy to 
 Government ? 
 
 230. He is a Judas that will get Money 
 by any Thing. 
 
 231. To wink at a Trade that effeminates 
 the People, and invades the Ancient Dis 
 cipline of the Kingdom is a Crime Capital, 
 and to be severely punish d instead of being 
 excused by the Magistrate. 
 
 232. Is there no better Employment for 
 the Poor than Luxury ? Miserable Nation! 
 
 54 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 233. What did they before they fell 
 into these forbidden Methods ? Is there 
 not Land enough in England to Cultivate, 
 and more and better Manufactures to be 
 Made ? 
 
 234. Have we no Room for them in our 
 Plantations^ about Things that may augment 
 Trade^ without Luxury ? 
 
 235. In short, let Pride pay^ and Excess 
 be well Excised: And if that will Cure the 
 People, it will help to Keep the Kingdom. 
 
 IDain flDan 
 
 236. But a Vain Man is a Nauseous 
 Creature : He is so full of himself that he 
 has no Room for any Thing else, be it never 
 so Good or Deserving. 
 
 237. Tis / at every turn that does this, 
 or can do that. And as he abounds in his 
 Comparisons^ so he is sure to give himself 
 the better of every Body else ; according to 
 the Proverb, All his Geese are Swans. 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 238. They are certainly to be pityM that 
 can be so much mistaken at Home. 
 
 239. And yet I have sometimes thought 
 that such People are in a sort Happy, that 
 nothing can put out of Countenance with 
 themselves, though they neither have nor 
 merit other People s. 
 
 240. But at the same Time one would 
 wonder they should not feel the Blows they 
 give themselves, or get from others, for this 
 intolerable and ridiculous Temper ; nor shew 
 any Concern at that which makes others 
 blush for, as well as at them, (viz.) their 
 unreasonable Assurance. 
 
 241. To be a Man s own Fool is bad 
 enough, but the Vain Man is Every Eodys. 
 
 242. This silly Disposition comes of a 
 Mixture of Ignorance^ Confidence^ and Pride; 
 and as there is more or less of the last, so it is 
 more or less offensive or Entertaining. 
 
 243. And yet perhaps the worst Part of 
 this Vanity is its Unteachableness. Tell it 
 any Thing, and it has known it long ago ; 
 
 156 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 and out-runs Information and Instruction, or 
 else proudly puffs at it. 
 
 244. Whereas the greatest Understandings 
 doubt most, are readiest to learn, and least 
 pleas d with themselves ; this, with no Body 
 else. 
 
 245. For tho they stand on higher Ground, 
 and so see farther than their Neighbours, 
 they are yet humbled by their Prospect, since 
 it shews them something, so much higher and 
 above their Reach. 
 
 246. And truly then it is, that Sense shines 
 with the greatest Beauty when it is set in 
 Humility. 
 
 247. An humble able Man is a Jewel worth 
 a Kingdom : It is often saved by him, as 
 Solomons Poor Wise Man did the City. 
 
 248. May we have more of them^ or less 
 Need of them. 
 
 be Conformist 
 
 249. It is reasonable to concur where Con 
 science does not forbid a Compliance ; for 
 Conformity is at least a Civil Virtue. 
 
 57 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 250. But we should only press it in 
 Necessaries^ the rest may prove a Snare and 
 Temptation to break Society. 
 
 251. But above all, it is a Weakness in 
 Religion and Government, where it is carried 
 to Things of an Indifferent Nature, since 
 besides that it makes Way for Scruples, 
 Liberty is always the Price of it. 
 
 252. Such Conformists have little to boast 
 of, and therefore the less Reason to Reproach 
 others that have more Latitude. 
 
 253. And yet the Latitudinarian that I 
 love, is one that is only so in Charity ; for 
 the Freedom I recommend is no Scepticism 
 in Judgment, and much less so in Practice. 
 
 Gbe Obligations of (Breat flDen to 
 HlmiQbt? <5o& 
 
 254. It seems but reasonable, that those 
 whom God has Distinguish dirQTR others; by 
 his Goodness, should distinguish themselves 
 to him by their Gratitude. 
 
 158 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 255. For tho he has made of One Blood 
 all Nations, he has not rang d or dignified 
 them upon the Level^ but in a sort of Sub 
 ordination and Dependency. 
 
 256. If we look upwards, we find it in the 
 Heavens, where the Planets have their several 
 Degrees of Glory, and so the other Stars of 
 Magnitude and Lustre. 
 
 257. If we look upon the Earth, we see it 
 among the Trees of the Wood, from the Cedar 
 to the Br -amble ; in the Waters among the 
 FtsA, from the Leviathan to the Sprat ; in 
 the Air among the Birds ^ from the Ragle to 
 the Sparrow ; among the Beast s, from the 
 Lyon to the Cat ; and among Mankind it 
 self, from the King to the Scavenger. 
 
 258. Our Great Men, doubtless, were de 
 signed by the Wise Framer of the World for 
 our Religious^ Moral and Politick Planets ; for 
 Lights and Directions to the lower Ranks of 
 the numerous Company of their own Kind, 
 both in Precepts and Examples ; and they are 
 well Paid for their Pains too, who have the 
 
 59 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Honour and Service of their fellow Creatures, 
 and the Marrow and Fat of the Earth for 
 their Share. 
 
 259. But is it not a most unaccountable 
 Folly, that Men should be Proud of the 
 Providences that should Humble them ? Or 
 think the Better of themselves, instead of 
 Him that raised them so much above the 
 Level ; or in being so in their Lives, in Return 
 of his Extraordinary Favours. 
 
 260. But it is but too near a-kin to us, to 
 think no further than our selves, either in the 
 Acquisition, or Use of our Wealth and 
 Greatness ; when, alas, they are the Prefer 
 ments of Heaven, to try our Wisdom, Bounty 
 and Gratitude. 
 
 261. Tis a dangerous Perversion of the 
 End of Providence to Consume the Time, 
 Power and Wealth he has given us above 
 other Men, to gratify our Sordid Passions, 
 instead of playing the good Stewards, to the 
 Honour of our great Benefactor, and the 
 Good of our Fellow-Creatures. 
 
 160 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 262. But it is an Injustice too ; since those 
 Higher Ranks of Men are but the "Trustees of 
 Heaven for the Benefit of lesser Mortals, who, 
 as Minors^ are intituled to all their Care and 
 Provision. 
 
 263. For though God has dignified some 
 Men above their Brethren, it never was to 
 serve their Pleasures, but that they might 
 take Pleasure to serve the Publick. 
 
 264. For this Cause doubtless it was, that 
 they were raised above Necessity or any 
 Trouble to Live, that they might have more 
 Time and Ability to Care for Others : And 
 tis certain, where that Use is not made of 
 the Bounties of Providence, they are Im- 
 bezzeird and Wasted. 
 
 265. It has often struck me with a serious 
 Reflection, when I have observed the great 
 Inequality of the World ; that one Man 
 should have such Numbers of his fellow Crea 
 tures to Wait upon him, who have Souls to 
 be saved as well as he; and this not for 
 Business, but State. Certainly a poor Em- 
 
 x 161 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 ployment of his Money, and a worse of their 
 Time. 
 
 266. But that any one Man should make 
 Work for so many ; or rather keep them 
 from fFork, to make up a Train, has a Levity 
 and Luxury in it very reprovable, both in 
 Religion and Government. 
 
 267. But even in allowable Services it has 
 an humbling Consideration, and what should 
 raise the Thankfulness of the Great Men 
 to him that has so much better d their 
 Circumstances, and Moderated the Use of 
 their Dominion over those of their own 
 Kind. 
 
 268. When the poor Indians hear us call 
 any of our Family by the Name of Ser 
 vants^ they cry out, JPhat^ call Brethren 
 Servants! We call our Dogs Servants, but 
 never Men. The Moral certainly can do 
 us no Harm, but may Instruct us to 
 abate our Height, and narrow our State 
 and Attendance. 
 
 269. And what has been said of their 
 
 162 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 Excess may in some measure be apply d to 
 other Branches of Luxury, that set ill Ex 
 amples to the lesser World, and Rob the 
 Needy of their Pensions. 
 
 270. GOD Almighty Touch the Hearts of 
 our Grandees with a Sense of his Distinguished 
 Goodness, and that true End of it; that they 
 may better distinguish themselves in their 
 Conduct, to the Glory of Him that has thus 
 liberally Preferr d them, and the Benefit of 
 their fellow Creatures. 
 
 IRefining upon otbcr fIDen s actions 
 or 3ntere0t0 
 
 271. This seems to be the Master-Piece ot 
 our Politicians : But no Body shoots more at 
 Random, than those Refiners. 
 
 272. A perfect Lottery, and meer Hap- 
 Hazard. Since the true Spring of the Actions 
 of Men is as Invisible as their Hearts ; and 
 so are their Thoughts too of their several 
 Interests. 
 
 163 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 273. He that judges of other Men by him 
 self, does not always hit the Mark, because 
 all Men have not the same Capacity, nor 
 Passions in Interest. 
 
 274. If an able Man refines upon the Pro 
 ceedings of an ordinary Capacity, according 
 to his own, he must ever miss it : But much 
 more the ordinary Man, when he shall pre 
 tend to speculate the Motives to the Able 
 Man s Actions : For the Able Man de 
 ceives himself by making t other wiser than 
 he is in the Reason of his Conduct ; and the 
 ordinary Man makes himself so, in presuming 
 to judge of the Reasons of the Abler Man s 
 Actions. 
 
 275. Tis in short a Wood^ a Maze ; and 
 of nothing are we more uncertain, nor in any 
 Thing do we oftener befool our selves. 
 
 276. The Mischiefs are many that follow 
 this Humour, and dangerous : For Men 
 Misguide themselves, act uponfa/se Measures ^ 
 and meet frequently with mischievous Dis 
 appointments. 
 
 164 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 277. It excludes all Confidence in Com 
 merce ; allows of no such Thing as a Prin 
 ciple in Practice ; supposes every Man to act 
 upon other Reasons than what appears, and 
 that there is no such Thing as a Straight- 
 ness or Sincerity among Mankind : A Trick 
 instead of Truth. 
 
 278. Neither, allowing Nature or Religion; 
 but some Worldly Fetch or Advantage : The 
 true, the hidden Motive to all Men to act 
 or do. 
 
 279. Tis hard to express its Uncharitable- 
 ness^ as well as Uncertainty; and has more of 
 Vanity than Benefit in it. 
 
 280. This Foolish Quality gives a large 
 Field, but let what I have said serve for this 
 Time. 
 
 f Cbarit? 
 
 281. Charity has various Senses, but is 
 Excellent in all of them. 
 
 282. It imports; first, the Commiseration 
 
 165 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 of the Poor, and Unhappy of Mankind, 
 and extends an Helping-Hand to mend 
 their Condition. 
 
 283. They that feel nothing of this, are 
 at best not above half of Kin to Human 
 Race ; since they must have no Bowels , which 
 makes such an Essential Part thereof, who 
 have no more Nature. 
 
 284. A Man, and yet not have the Feeling 
 of the W^ants or Needs of his own Flesh and 
 Blood ! A Monster rather ! And may he 
 never be suffered to propagate such an un 
 natural Stock in the World. 
 
 285. Such an Uncharitableness spoils the 
 best Gains, and two to one but it entails a 
 Curse upon the Possessors. 
 
 286. Nor can we expect to be heard of 
 God in our Prayers, that turn the deaf Ear 
 to the Petitions of the Distressed amongst 
 our fellow Creatures. 
 
 287. God sends the Poor to try us, as well 
 as he tries them by being such : And he 
 that refuses them a little out of the great deal 
 
 1 66 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 that God has given him, Lays up Poverty in 
 Store for his own Posterity. 
 
 288.1 will not say these Works are Meri 
 torious ^ but dare say they are Acceptable^ and 
 go not without their Reward : Tho 5 to 
 Humble us in our Fulness and Liberality too, 
 we only Give but what is given us to Give 
 as well as use ; for if we are not our own^ 
 less is that so which God has intrusted us 
 with. 
 
 289. Next, CHARITY makes the best Con 
 struction of Things and Persons^ and is so far 
 from being an evil Spy, a Back-biter, or a 
 Detractor, that it excuses Weakness^ extenuates 
 Miscarriages, makes the best of every Thing; 
 forgives every Body^ serves All^ and hopes to 
 the End. 
 
 290. It moderates Extreams, is always for 
 Expediences^ labours to accommodate Differ 
 ences, and had rather Suffer than Revenge : 
 And so far from Exacting the utmost Far 
 thing^ that it had rather lose than seek her 
 Own Violently. 
 
 167 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 291. As it acts Freely, so. Zealously too; 
 but tis always to do Good, for it hurts no 
 Body. 
 
 292. An Universal Remedy against Dis 
 cord, and an Holy Cement for Mankind. 
 
 293. And lastly, 5 Tis Love to God and 
 the Brethren, which raises the Soul above all 
 worldly Considerations ; and, as it gives a 
 Taste of Heaven upon Earth, so tis Heaven 
 in the Fulness of it hereafter to the truly 
 Charitable here. 
 
 294. This is the Noblest Sense Charity 
 has, after which all should press, as that 
 more Excellent Way. 
 
 295. Nay, most Excellent ; for as Faith, 
 Hope and Charity were the more Excellent 
 Jt^ay that Great Apostle discovered to the 
 Christians, (too apt to stick in Outward 
 Gifts and Church Performances] so of that 
 better Way he preferred Charity as the best 
 Part, because it would out-last the rest, and 
 abide for ever. 
 
 296. Wherefore a Man can never be a 
 
 168 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 true and good Christian without Charity, 
 even in the lowest Sense of it : And yet he 
 may have that Part thereof, and still be none 
 of the Apostle s true Christian, since he tells 
 us, That tho we should give all our Goods 
 to the Poor, and want charity (in her 
 other and higher Senses) /"/ would profit us 
 nothing. 
 
 297. Nay, tho 5 we had All Tongues, All 
 Knowledge, and even Gifts of Prophesy, and 
 were Preachers to others ; ay, and had Zeal 
 enough to give our Bodies to be burned, yet 
 if we wanted charity, it would not avail us 
 for Salvation. 
 
 298. It seems it was his (and indeed ought 
 to be our) Unum Necessarium, or the One 
 Thing Needful, which our Saviour attributed 
 to Mary in Preference to her Sister Martha, 
 that seems not to have wanted the lesser 
 Parts of Charity. 
 
 299. Would God this Divine Virtue were 
 more implant Wand diffused among Mankind, 
 the Pretenders to Christianity especially, and 
 
 Y 169 
 
Reflections and Maxims 
 
 we should certainly mind Piety more than 
 controversy^ and Exercise Love and com 
 passion instead of censuring and Persecut 
 ing one another in any Manner whatsoever. 
 
 FINIS 
 
 170 
 
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