ΖΩΟΤΟΜΙ'Α, OR, OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT MANNERS OF THE ENGLISH: Briefly Anatomising the Living by the Dead.  
WITH AN USEFUL DETECTION OF THE MOUNT BANKS of both Sexes.  
By Richard Whitlock, M. D. Late Fellow of All-Souls College in OXFORD.  
LONDON, Printed by Tho. Roycroft, and are to be sold by Humphrey Moseley, at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1654.   

The Explication of the Frontispiece.  
TH' Experienced Sceptre of the Preaching King,  
And Sermon of Paul's Cross, both show what THING  
(Compared with Heaven) this empty world would prove,  
If once Ripped up. Is here ought worth your Love?  
Bewitched Admirers! View each Region,  
The Vain, the Vexing, and the Loathsome One.  
No; He, and That●s above, which only can  
Full Ravishments afford the Soul of Man.  
If aught that's worth your Souls, or Love you find  
I'th' World below, call us Dissecters blind.   


ZOOTOMIA▪ or A Moral Anatomy of the Living by the Dead▪ in Observations Essays▪ &c▪  
Valla  
〈◊〉  
Stercus  
Seneca  
Plutarch  
Quam Mundi Illecebris Vacuum quam Triste Cadarer? Cuius tres Tentres, Stercus, Texatio, ●ana,    

To his Ingenious, knowing Friend, THE AUTHOR.  

THy Sharp, but Gentle Pen reforms the Age,  
Where Vice is thy Disclosure, not thy Rage.  
The Guilty, naked laid, will dread thy Name,  
Not for the Lash they feel, but for the Shame.  
Ills thus unmasked by thee, will fright us more,  
By looking Ugly, then by being Sore.   

Thy Characters so circumstance each sin,  
As 't not Described, but had Embowelled been,  
The Knife, joined with the Pencil, glories here:  
As thou both Limner, and Dissector were.  
He that shows Gild her Face, shows but her skin;  
He that will show her F●ul, shows her within.   

Some maze their Thoughts in Labyrinths, and thus  
Invoke no Reader, but an Oedipus.  
But whilst Revealed Sense we find in you,  
You write to th' Understanding, not the Clew.  
So Theseus through the winding Tower was led  
By Ariadne's Beauty, more than Thread.    

TO HIS INGENIOUS FRIEND THE AUTHOR, Concerning these his Endeavours.  
SIR,  
IF your Book did depend wholly on my Judgement of it, I would say, that in Truth, for Wit, Learning, and Variety of matter, put into a handsome Dress, you have exceeded any Writer in this kind which I have yet met with; nor should I doubt to say thus much in Verse before it, if it were not for two Reasons: The one is, that the Rudeness of the place where I dwell, and my weekly Thoughts compelled to size themselves to a plain Country Congregation, have abated much of that Fancy which should do honour, either to your Book or myself. The other is, that if I could write well, yet all my public Poetry hath, and still is, objected to me as a piece of Lightness, not befitting the Profession or Degree of,  
Your faithful Friend, J. maine. Novemb. 1. 1653.   

The Titles of the distinct Discourses.  

THe honest Adamite, page 17  
Ambidexter, p. 25  
Of Books, or the best Furniture, 236  
The false Balance, 282  
Commendable Carelessness, 28  
The faithful Chirurgeon, 384  
The Chaire-Man, 319  
The thriving Craft, 34  
The wise Cha●man, 264  
The sad Descant, 31  
The Do little, Worthless, 30  
The Valentinian Doctor, 101  
The fifth Element, or of Detraction, 444  
The g●and Experiment, 548  
The Quacking Hermaphrodite, 45  
The best Husband●y, 294  
The Blots of History, 268  
Th● grand Impertinent, 308  
A Dissection of self-killers, 109  
Lives Abbreviates, 4  
Learning's Apology, 138  
The Levellers, 419  
Mercies Hyperbole, 37  
The happy Match, 192  
Malchus, or Misconstruction, 1  
The Magnetic Lady, 321  
Man's two Elements, 395  
The las●ing Monument, 408  
Of Music, 480  
Parlour Divinity, ●6  
The People's Physician. 62  
Of Printing, 227  
Poetry's Defence and Excellence, 467  
Of Painting, 487  
The Divine Prospective, 535  
The ov●r Rate, 10  
The best Revenge, 39  
Reasons Independency, 207  
A Lecture on Readers, 461  
False Reformations Shipwreck 494  
The grand Schismatic, or Suist, 357  
The unguarded Tree of Life, 515  
The commanded Tree of Knowledge, 527  
Fabula Vitae, 8  
The politic Wether glass, 275.    

The Preface, or an Antidote for Authors, against the Poison of Asps.  
INstructions (Courteous Reader) that render the Design and Purpose of the Work, may well be styled an Essay upon the Author, and as it were Contents, of him, no less than the Book; and so may well supply the room of a Dedicatory Epistle to some protecting Eminence, or of courting Apologies, like forlorn hopes first sent out to set upon the Benevolence of Readers. That Acquaintance of Readers with the Contents of the ensuing Chapter might insinuate a Candidness, I am induced to believe, because with well-Meaners even good Meanings and Aims in Authors atone their Failings. Instead of other kinds of Epistles, take therefore this Anatomy of the Anatomy, (the Book itself) by way of a Preface; and so not tied to the shortness usual of Epistles; it may serve for an Essay on men's Publications of Themselves by writing, and more especially on mine. I shall not here trouble thee with the Burden of many Epistles to tell thee this Qualecunque (whatsoever it shall deserve to be called) was midwived into the Light by Importunity of Friends, or fear of Antedated Impressions; (with such like Apologies for increasing the Number of Scribblers) no, it ventured willingly into the world: if it increase the trifles of the Press, I dare excuse it from adding to the Gild: it was rather destined to save its Reputation by crowding in somewhat less unprofitable, less mischievous, than the Press daily issueth forth in these Pamphleting Days, bringing forth (to say true) little else then Trifles or Invectives. The Things I present are nove dicta, etsi non nova, (according to Vincentius Lyrinensis) Observations if not quite new, yet in a new dress; and as new things are acceptable, so among them nothing more than new clothes. The Old Saw, Nil dictum quod non dictum prius, proveth all writings to be but various Descant on plainer Rudiments; or if you will, but the Anagramms, the Alphabet, and Transposition of men's various Collections from Men or Books. Such are the Materials of this; one End whereof was my rehearsal in the School of the world▪ the same that stirred up Juvenal, 
Semper ego Auditor tantum?—  And what is that Rehearsal, but doing of good by Tongue, Life, or Pen, or all. I am not delivered from it by either of those two Arguments, either the Number, or Excellency of Printed Labours.  
1. Not from the Number; that of S. chrysostom beareth me out; which take in Latin, (not its original) as more easy and fashionable: A Scribendi Munere Nos Scriptorum copia non avocet, vigeat potius, & provocet: bonos libros qui conscribit, Retia Salutis pandit, let not the number (saith he) of books discourage, but provoke our Writings; he that writeth good books spreadeth Nets of Salvation. Cornelius A Lapide counteth them requisite, ad Dei Magnificentiam, & plenam Rerum universitatem, reckoning them among those works that glorify our Heavenly Father, and fill the world as ornamentally, nay, usefully as many other things.  
2. Then for the excellence of books already writ, or that Eximium quid Re, sive modo & Methodo scribendi, somewhat excellent in matter, manner, or method of writing (which A Lapide requireth in Writers) even the fear of this is lessened by that of Seneca. Qui ante nos ista moverunt non Domini sed Duces sunt; patet omnibus veritas, nondum est occupata; multum ex illa etiam futuris relictum est. Former Writers Lord it not over our Endeavours, but lead them; all Truth is not engrossed, after Ages shall travel her Terra incognita, her undiscovered parts: Never did Momus himself require all should write best. To those that write better I shall do the courtesy of a foil; from those that write worse, receive the courtesy that I do. I know not but that it is commendable enough to make the same the Cannon of our writings, the Apostle doth of Actions, Phil. 4. 8. Finally my brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, any praise, think of these things. He that hitteth on either of these writeth excusably, if not commendably, though I think it better may be termed a thing more commendable, than to pass over the Stage of the World as a Mute, leaving no Testimony that he lived (much less lived to the end of his Creation) his Being to be found no where but in the Church-book: where it may be, many of the same name make even that but confusedly known. And if I should own that which many Writers dissemblingly decline (and one of the best ingenuously owneth) I mean an Aim at a good Esteem (little or much) for my desires of doing Posterity good, it is but ingenuous Nature's desire. The confirmation of my assertion I cannot leave out in either Language. 
An erit qui velle recuset  

[Pers. satire.]  Os populi meruisse? & cedro digna locutus  
Linquere, nec Scombros metuentia carmina, necthus.  
Non ego cum scribo, si forte quid aptius exit,  
Laudari metuam; neque enim mihi cornea fibra est.  Which take in English from that inimitable Imitator, and Translator Mr. Holliday. 
For doth there breathe a man that can reject  
A general praise? and his own lines neglect?  
Lines worth immortal Cedars recompense,  
Near fearing new sold Fish, nor Frankincense.  
When I myself do write, if from my Brain  
Doth flow by greatest chance some happy strain,  
(For 'tis by chance) my heart is not so hard,  
So horny, as to fear the due Reward  
Of deserved Fame.—   
How hypocritical the declination of this Fame is let Cicero tell us, Tuscul. Quaest. 1. Quid nostri Philosophi? in his ipsis libris quos scribunt de contemnenda Gloria, sua Nomina inscribunt. Our very Philosophers (saith he) that write of contemning Fame, set their Names to their Books; which they would not, if they were such Decliners of a Fame as they pretend. But it is not only a natural desire, but Canonical obedience, (as our Fame may be subordinate to our maker's Glory) to that Apocryphal Text, Ecclesiasticus 41. 12. Have regard to thy good Name, a good Life is but for a few days, but a good Name endureth for ever. A Charge seconded by that Canonical Injunction in the above mentioned place; If there be any virtue, any praise, etc. If Pliny's Counsel may be heard, he will tell us, Tanto magis quicquid est temporis futilis & caduci, si non datur Factis (nam horum Materia in aliena manu) certè studiis proferamus: & quatenus nobis denegatur diu vivere, relinquamus aiiquid quo nos vixisse testemur. By how much (saith he) our short time escapeth Exploits, let us spin it out in Studies; and since we cannot live long, let us leave some lasting Testimony that we have lived. This why I write at all, now why I write thus: I must use Mountaignes' Apology in his Essay of Books; I make no doubt (saith he) but I handle many Themes that are far better handled in the scattered works of able Writers: But my intent was not to beat my Brains in the Acquisition even of Knowledge itself that was too difficult; Nor have I what came easily among Authors or Observations to my understanding; what conduceth to living or dying well, that I communicate. To say true, I find Mountaignes' palate (and not quite without judgement) pretty general among Readers of most Ages; and because his words are very significant, take them in his own language. Je aime en generall les livres, qui usent les sciences, non ceux qui les dressent. I love, saith he, books that make use of Sciences, not compile them into their Geneticall, or analytical Parcels. Authors (to say true) are more Thumbed that are variously useful, than those Embodyers of Arts in Cancellos suae Methodi, into the limits of their proper Method: useful I confess they are, but wanting the Dulce, Pleasure of variety, and convenience of more contracted brevity: the pains of reading them is seldom bestowed on them, especially if they swell into Tomes of that bigness, that he that can have no leisure, dareth not look on them, and he that will have none, careth not. I know not, how but as Montaigne saith of himself, Tracts of a continued Thread are tedious to most Fancies, which of itself indeed is of that desultory nature, that it is pleased with Writings like Irish Bogs, that it may leap from one variety to another, than tread any beaten Path. Among many kinds of writings I find Plutarch's most inviting Imitation for the form, (call them Discourses, Essays, or what you will) nor behind any for matter; if mixed sometimes with those Mucrones Sermonum, Enlivening Touches of Seneca, full of smart Fancy, solid sense and accurate reason: such like Pieces compiled by able Penmen out of Plutarch's fullness and Seneca's quickness, would undoubtedly fill the mouth of the most gaping Expectaltee among Readers. Seneca's brevity alone in some things (as Controversies, etc.) might make good that slander on him, that he did frangere Pondera Rerum Minutijs erborum, crumble the weight of Points. But for Hints of Descant he hath dealt with us, I must confess, as he saith of another, Cupiditatem imitandi fecit, spem abstulit. Their fiery liveliness hath enkindled a desire of imitation, and their accurateness hath damped all hopes of performance. And that in this I write not (as the Age discourseth) private spirited Opinions, take the confirmation of our english Divine Seneca, Bishop Hall, who saith, never any Heathen writ more Divinely, never any Philosopher more probably. For my using these so frequently, I propounded this end to myself, even to shame our Christian dulness, and slow Proficiency under the Brightness of our advantageous Light, by making us hear the Symphony of the outward Court of Nature agreeing with the inner Choir of divine Penmen; for what can we be able to say for our selves? neither knowing, nor following our divine Light, so far as some Heathen seem to have progressed in both Knowledge and Practise moral. Then why for Politics I make Tacitus my Text, I need give no other reason than this, never any better cast Practice into Precept, or made History Politics in fuller and closer Observations. To write Controversies, engages their Authors to the censure of Factions and Parties; All things being so now under dispute, that they will not leave us that Nos nihil scire out of question (saith Seneca) not allow us to know that we know nothing: I chose therefore a way most comprehensive, and least distasteful to the quarrel some world, to handle Observables according to their Nature, or my liesure; some larger, some more contracted: the matter of them, if you will, is somewhat of that nature, my Lord Bacon calls Satyra Seria, a serious Satire, an endeavour harder to forbear than undertake, saith the Poet. 
Difficile est Satyram non scribere; nam quis iniquae  
Tam patiens Urbis, tam ferreus, ut teneat se?  Or if you will, they are what he elsewhere calleth Jnteriora Rerum, Endeavours (in the Observables of life) to discover and detect the more inward deceits of men or things, and to strip them of their Appearances. That I on this Score term it an Anatomy of the Living by the Dead, or of Practical Errors (though in the particulars I decline the Nauseating of a continued Allegory) doth not much misrepresent my purpose; while in the latitude of my Discourses (and according to the destined Bulk of this Tract) I deliver my Judgement (made out of the seriousness of others, or casualties of my own Observations) of men's misapprehendings, or things Misapprehensions, whereby the Glitter of things oft passeth for Gold, while some things enduring touch (but dull to the eye) arise not to an Esteem equal with counterfeits, as in nothing more appears than our Opinion of the World and its Desirables in gross, dreaming of life in a Carcase, and of Perpetuity in a blast; and having high conceits of our vain Projects, dear ones of our vexations, and doting ones of falsely admired. Contemptibles. But come we to particulars, and it is undeniable but that there are in (even the most familiar) Passages between man and man, neglected (but on enquiry easily discoverable) false Principles, Errors and causes of Miscarriage, and in many things inner parts unobserved by the careless world, Errores, Vulgi, vulgar Errors reaching to the Morals of men as well as their Philosophy; the substance of these Discourses the Poet giveth you most fully. 
Quicquid agunt homines, Votum, Timor, Ira, voluptas,  
Gaudia, Discursus, Nostri est Farrago libelli.  
Et quando uberior vitiorum Copia?  Which take englished from Sir Robert Stapyltons' ingenuous Translation. 
What men do, their hopes, fears, distastes,  
Sports, Fates, the Medley is our Book presents▪  
And when was sin more fruitful?  They are Collections many of them more from men than books, in which latter we seldom meet with live, and particular presentments of men's Principles and Actions; indeed Poets do it best, and among them the Dramatic, the form of them I owe as little to Books; for I must truly acknowledge I did not so much as cast my Eye on Books of the like nature (without it were my Lord Bacon's Interiora Rerum) till they were compiled, and then chiefly to avoid Actum agere, writing the same things, at least in the same manner; not out of presumption of my own Abilities to go alone, without their help, but out of an Idiosyncrasis (or particular Temper) of my Fancy, (unblamable or commendable, I determine not) to which Imitation is an unpleasing Confinement, and (I know not how) more laborious than Invention. That some of these are mixed with Divinity, the Title assureth you: nor am I ashamed to profess it, since it is without Intrusion into the Office of those Secretaries of Heaven, to whom are committed the more Mysterious Oracles of our Credenda, Creed; Errors of Faith I leave to those (sufficient for such things) to correct, but Errors of life I know not why we should not amend in each other. That some of them are not only mixed, but are professedly Essays in Divinity, transgresseth not the Nature or Laws of this kind of writing in mixed discourses, and I am sure to serious Souls will not be unwelcome; since all Writings (as well as Actions) are but Trifles in comparison of what referreth to Eternity. Nor will it be an Apology only, but (with such) a commendations, to say I propounded that end Seneca giveth us in charge, haec aliis dic, ut dum dicis, audias; ipse scribe, ut dum scripseris legas, Epist. 89. Give serious advice to others that thou mayest be thine own Auditor, and write profitable for thine own perusal. As for being serious in Discourses with Posterity (such are Pennings for the public view) let it seem as misshapen or uncouth as it will to Antic Fancies; I am sure printed vanity is double unprofitableness; to be Fool, or Knave in Print doth but double the Blot. Useful Scripts, or Writers Seneca giveth (I am sure) a higher Character of, than of many other things, or men; that some (which would be counted the world's wise ones) set so high a price on. Si hoc mecum, si hoc cum Posteris loquor, non videor tibi plus prodesse quam? cum ad vadimonium Advocatus descenderem, etc. mihi crede, qui nihil agere videntur majora agunt; humana, divinaque simul tractant. While I discourse (saith he) these things with myself, and Posterity, do not I profit more than if I voted in the Senate, pleaded before a Judge? etc. believe it, though useful Employments of the Pen may seem idle Enterprises, it is far above many Employments, falsely (if compared) counted weighty. The youngest of us I am sure may say as Seneca, premit a Tergo Aeternitas (etsi non Senectus) & obijcit annos inter vana studia consumptos: tanto magis urgeamus, & Damna Aetatis male exactae labor resarciat. Eternity (though not old Age) pulls us by the Sleeve, and upbraideth the misspending of our former years in vain and fruitless Studies, and calls on us to redeem them by some labours for the good of ourselves and others. The whole Tenor of this Piece is persuasion of others, nor a less obliging myself. For Books (Seneca saith) are Bills of our Hands to the world; and indeed I think them more, being little less than Vows to God before men, and to men promises before God of a mindfulness of our Vow made in Baptism of Renouncing the world's vanities, that by nothing more have got into our Affections, than by an Erroneous Estimate of the real Worth of things, or undiscerning the fallacious insides that appear when things are stripped. If any among these Observations seem Paradoxical to Credulous Ignorance (that swalloweth Traditions for Truths) or distasteful to the Guilty, according to Marshal. 
Ecce rubet quidam, pallet, stupet, oscitat, odit,  
Hoc volo; nunc nobis carmina nostra placent.  
— At what we say,  
One blushes, or looks pale, is ill at ease,  
Amazed, takes pet; why now our Verses please.  If either of these I say, I have my End; one main end of my writing being (like Diogenes his going into the Theatre against the throng of people coming out) to let the World know I think not as she thinketh, and yet think never the worse of myself; Erasmus assuring me it is bona pars sapientiae nosse stultas vulgi cupiditates & absurdas Opiniones: A good step in Prudence to know and dislike the foolish desires and absurd Opinions of the Vulgar. In controversies I descent without Peremptoriness or uncharitableness, and will Salve the deepest Gashes of Detraction, or prejudice against my boldness in dissenting, with that conclusion of Servius his book of the weapon salve: Quae sanctissimi viri & doctissimi firma rataque sanxerunt, ea solum in nostra Dissertatione firma rataque sunto. What the Learned and Religious assent to (and no other) in our Writings shall have so much of Obligation over any man's assent, as thereunto to stand in full force and virtue. As for Exactness of writing on any Subject in Poetic heights of Fancy, or Rhetorical Descants of Application, I leave to the Endeavourers in both those noble Studies, whose profession it is to spend the vigour of their Conceptions on a Theme, to speak as never any before, and if possible to damp the imitation of Posterity. For my own part I may say, as Lipsius in his Epistlse; Rationem meam scribendi scire vis? fundo, non scribo, nec id nisi in Calore & interno quodam Impetu, haud aliter quam Poetae. Would you know (saith he) my manner of writing? it is a kind of voluntary Tiding of, not Pumping for; Notions flowing, not forced; like Poets unconstrained Heats and Raptures: such is mine, rather a running Discourse than a Grave-paced Exactness; having in them this Formality of Essays (as Sir W. Cornwallyes saith of his) that they are Trials of bringing my hand and Fancy acquainted in this using my Paper, as the Painter's Boy a Board he blurs with Trials. I may say in my defence as another before me, Sicut in magna sylva boni venatoris est Feras quam plurimas indaganter capere, nec cuiquam culpae suit non omnes cepisse: As in Hunting he is the best Huntsman that catcheth most, and not bad because he catcheth not all: To comprehend all, or most can be said on any of these Themes, I profess not; no, I fear that of Ludovicus Vives, in attempts ad ultimum Naturae straining our Abilities, Ingenia supra vires aspirantia infra Mediocritatem subsidunt: Wits that fly above the Sphere of their Activity, fall beneath ordinary performances; and were I one of such Labourers in vain, I should never please myself, but still be at his fault that could never take Manum de tabula, his Hand off, but was still mending disliking, interlining, & it may be at last corrected all with a Sponge: (I have much a do to forbear it now myself) it was the fault of Protogenes (as Apelles accuseth him) Qui nimia peccarat diligentiâ, who offended with too peevish diligence; a fault they blame Paulus Aemilius Veronensis with, of whom it is said, nunquam sibi satisfaciebat, sed quoties sua recognoscebat, diceres opus non correctum, sed aliud. He never was pleased with his own work; if he went to correct it, you would say it were a new, not reformed piece: As for my Quotations (which in the Judgements of some are dashed (like Pedigrees) with a vix ea nostra voco— scarce worth being called our own) I have on purpose confirmed some of my Descants (as well as at first I had them thence hinted) from such able Pens as are unquestionable. All Writings are but Hints, Descant, or Confirmation; if any be our own, it may well enough satisfy Expectation from any Single (unless singular) Author. He is a useful Servant to Truth that serveth her by either, though not by all. Besides such is the peevishness of present times, Contemporaries speaking even the words of the Ancients, have no Authority, unless they disown them by Citation: my Citations are from that Principle of doing as I would be done by, doing my Reader Service by a Reference to some useful Bock (or part of it) that may recompense his perusal of mine. I have myself sometimes been more beholding to some Books for another's Sense, than their own. The like may befall this. As for my declining in many places Grammatical Translations, it is to bring the Sense nearer my Purpose in our own Idiom; and where I do not translate, (or differently) to my Remembrance I have endeavoured to continue the Sense, that the several Languages need not trouble the english Reader so much as a Parenthesis. For the Pleasantness of some of these Tell-truths, let the world excuse me, if I play with my Vexations, and turn my Experienced Torture to Delight, as knowing no better Revenge on (no nor Cure of) vulgar Stupidity, (specially in Concernments of Physic, and their own Health) than— Ridentem dicere verum, to tell them Truths pleasantly, since it is the constant humour of the people to love the Jig better, than any good or serious part of the Play. Lastly for Detraction and Censure (the Hydra all Authors must encounter) it is more my scorn than fear, and aught to be to any Venturer abroad into public view; or else he may lie open to such disheartenings, as become not the confidence requisite to these undertake. The rarest Antidote (not only against the Venom, but very Hissing of this Hydra) that I meet with. I am Debtor to our English Bernard; for in his Epistle before the third Century of Meditations, Those thoughts which our Experience hath found comfortable and fruitful to ourselves, should with neglect of all censures be communicated to others; the concealment whereof (methinks) can proceed from no other ground but Timorousness or Envy. Wherefore Horace his Resolution may become serious Writers. 
— Valeat res ludicra, si me  
Palma negata macrum, donata reddit opimum.  
— I le ne'er write Toys,  
If I must pine or thrive on th'vulgar Noise.   
If Author's Carp (were not my Principle of Charity otherwise) I could momize and cavil at Matter or Form (more or less I believe) of their Labours: at my own I am sure I can and do (it may be where they do not) yet think not myself unstaved so much to any one's Curiosity, as to correct and still mend, like a total Alteration. If they be not Authors, I value not their telling Bellarmine, he lies, when possibility of answer is denied him. As for any either Perfunctory Reader, or too severe Censurer (free of the Company of Pishmongers) that Pisheth at any thing not exact, either in it self, or in compliance with his Humour; I answer, the Stationer (my Porter) mistook the delivery of the Letter (my Book) for it was directed only to the Candid Interpreter of modest Endeavours, not Exacter of Impossibles, or unseemlies; viz. Perfection as the one, and to general Compliance as the other. To all gaping Expectaltees (that look for more than here they are like to find) my Book replieth with this its motto; not quaint, but useful; or, not rare but honest, at least in the Author's judgement and Intention; and I will use the words of an Ingenuous Author of our own, being so apt to my purpose: I like much better to do well, than talk well, choosing rather to be beloved than admired, aspiring to no more height than the comfort of a good conscience, and doing good to some, harm to none. If my Essays speak thus, they speak as I would have them. Thus far he, as fit as if he spoke for me of any thing amongst them. I will likewise add what Walafridus Strabo de rebus Ecclesiasticis said. 
Si quid in hoc (Lector) placet, assignare memento  
Id Domino: quicquid displicet, hocce mihi.  
If any thing that's good i'th'Book you see,  
Ascribe to God; but what distastes, to me.   
I know there is not any one Devil compasseth the Earth more than that Erasmus speaketh of: Adeo nunc in omnes & omnia, per universum Orbem grassatur comitata furiis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ut non sit tutum ullum emittere Librum nisi Satellitio munitum. The Devil Calumny (saith he) against all men, and all things, doth so rage in these days, that it is not safe setting out any thing unguarded. If the integrity of the End may plead for the Matter or Form of this Book, I may hope absolution; its chief Design being to double the guards of the Negligent, that suffer erroneous mis-judging to surprise their Inadvertency: or to awaken the lazy drowsiness of others that are loath to be roused out of Errors pleasing dream; and to correct the vanity of most, that spend their time or thoughts on impertinencies, besides, or below the noble end their souls were destined for. For two lengths I must insert these short Apologies: the one of some of these following Discourses, the other of this Preface: the former need deter no man, if he be of my mind, with whom the flatness, or sharpness of an Author, is in stead of Rests. indisposedness in my self, or a dull period in an Author maketh me turn down the leaf, (if my business do not) as well as any Division of Sections or Chapters, etc. by much the younger brothers of writing itself, and even in sacred Writ but of (almost) modern Authority. Again, the nature of this kind of writing is like free speeches in the Parliament of Parnassus, or Liberavi Animams, whose length or shortness is from the Author's sense, not any stint of Rule, or Order. For the length of the other, (this Preface) its Name were enough, if we follow the Allegory of a Porch and Building,: I have, I am sure, come far short of Solomon's proportion of twenty to sixty, as it is observed by that Secretary to Wit, Reverend Dr. Donne: or if, Reader, thou be in the number of such as account Epistles, and Prefaces material part of a Book. And now I am excusing the Books Geometry, give me leave to excuse its unexpected bulk, and thickness, from mere mistake that my writing had not been so close. But I write not this, nor the Book, to any curious in the shapes & outsides of Books, or that think it necessary to a Books handsomeness, (as well as womans) to be slender in the waste; but it is now past cure, and must venture abroad with all its faults, material, or in printing; which may be more than should, by reason of my distance from the Press. Some principal Erratas are mentioned; the rest, an ordinary English Critic may correct in his reading. I shall therefore conclude with letting thee know, what Reader I slight, and what I honour, in the words of Erasmus, in his Enchiridion Militis Chistiani: 

Nil moror aut laudes, levis aut convitia vulgi:  
Pulchrum est vel doctis, vel placuisse Piis:  
Spe quoque majus erit, mihi si contingat utrumque   

The flouts or th' praise o'th' vulgar I not weigh,  
If Learned or Pious men content I may:  
But O! if both, a Joy unhoped 't would be.    
The good, and good will of thee (if thou be either of these) is the Desire and Endeavour of Thy true honourer, R. W.   

Decas 1.  

MALCHUS, OR MISCONSTRUCTION.  
men's Words, 
Observ. 1.  or Report of their Actions, have fared hard, since Misprision, and Envy have dealt with Men, as Peter with Malchus; cut off their right Ears. Affections always cut off one, (and too oft the right.) We seldom reserve our Ear for the strangers, (much ●esse the Enemies) Relation: but Envy and Prejudice always interpret worse, than Babel's Brick-layers.  
He that is a bold Reprover of, or Dissenter from the World's Dotages, passeth for a Surly, Michaiah, or Cy●●call Dioge●●s. He that is prudentially quiet under grand Alterations, is a Temporizer, a Weathercock. He that but moveth a Reprieve for Liberty, or Religion, is a Troubler of Israel, A Mutinier, not fit to live. He that is not as Ceremonious as the whole Book of Leviticus, or Durandus his Rationale, is a Nonconformist: and He that believeth some Ceremonies, (though not commanded,) the necessary Cloths of Devotion, or reckoneth them in the Number of Circumstances, without which no Action can be individuated; He that thus thinketh, is a Popish, and a Prelatical Formalist. He that spiteth in the Church is irreverent, and He that will not set his Horse there, is needlessly Scrupulous. He that Boweth to the Altar, is Idolatrous; and He that will not, (Cacar S● L' Altar, according to the Italian Proverb) untruss on it, is Superstitious.  
He that forbeareth Wine for the same reason another drinketh it, his Health, He is precisely unsociable. He that useth it to that other use God allotted it, to exhilarate, or drinketh not all his Wine before the Salt is taken away, and only for Digestion: Such a one is a Drunkard, A Sot, etc. Or if between Meals, if it be not Poculum Fraudis, rather than Charitatis, Some Bargain (alias overreaching Cup,) He is an Ill-Husband, and such like aspersions. Thus fareth the Golden Mean through the misconstruction of the Extremes. Well tempered Zeal is lukewarmness, Devotion is Hypocrisy, Charity Ostentation, Constancy Obstinacy, Gravity Pride, Humility Abjection of Spirit; and so go through the whole Parish of Virtues, where Misprision and Envy are Gossips, be sure the Child shall be nicknamed: What better resolve in this Case, to steer the Prudent Man, than that of Persius? 
— Nec Te quaesiveris extra.   
I will not make Hue and Cry after myself abroad in the misjudging World, 
Pers. Sat. 1  nor care what they think, or say of Me, so it be not deservedly ill; their good opinion, if general, is either hardly, or ill got. A good Repute in the Hamlet, or little Dorp of the good, is ●ame enough. I say, among those Few that understand the Canons of Actions, and the every-way-Circumstantiated Individuations of mine. He that faileth in either, hath nothing of Justice, but its Blindness, in the Emblem, not its Ears, but (as I said,) one, and that his right cut off. From his mouth can I look for any but Sinister Interpretations of Me, and my Actions? can I but male audire apud male audientem, hear ill with Him, that cannot hear well? since bad Ears admit not good Reports.   

The Abbreviates of LIFE.  

Observ. 2.  IF to make away, or give away our Lives differ not much, most Men deserve the Name of Seneca's, or Selfe-Destroyers: at least, Abridgers of their Lives. While they Term away their Days in Obsequious services of others, not allowing Themselves a Day's vacation, scarce an Hours. Nemo se sibi vindicat, 
S●nec. de brev. vit. 2.  sed Alius in Alium consumitur. (saith that incomparable Master of the Sentences, Seneca) No man Husbandeth himself, but vainly, or bufily, Prodigals Himself out on others. What is the Complaint of those Pressed, or Votier wearers out of great Men's Thresholds, is the Fault of Grandees and Patrons, as well as Clients: the Proud, or Busy Patron is not of harder Access, than we are to ourselves; none of them but at some time or other, 
Ib.  it may be, will afford thee Audience. Et Tu non inspicere Te unquam, non audire dignatus es; Saith the same Author; Thou never afford Thyself A look, nor an Eare.  
And would you know the weighty concernments that hinder us; Persius will tell you in his Satire 5. 
Mercibus hic Italis mutat sub Sole recenti  
Rugosum Piper, & pallentis Grana Cumini:  
Hic Satur irriguo mavult turgescere Somno:  
Hic Campo indulget: hunc Alea decoquit: Ille  
In venerem est putris: Sed cum Lapidosa Chiragra  
Fregerit Articulos, veteris Ramalia Fagi,  
Tunc crassos transisse Dies, Lucemque Palustrem  
Et Sibi jam Seri vitam ingemuere relictam.   
And because these Serious Affairs are not confined to Italy alone, but have been seen, and daily are, in England; hear that equalling Translator, Mr. Holiday, tell you them in English. 
— One his Mind doth give  
To Merchandizing, and with care doth run  
Out to the East under the rising Sun,  
To get rough Pepper, and pale Cummin Seed  
For Roman Wares. Another loves to feed  
His Panch, and then Swell with distilling Sleep.  
A third doth Mars field wrestlings duly keep.  
A fourth turns Bankrupt, by the desperate Die.  
A fifth grows rotten by his Venery.  
But when the knotty Hand-gout has once broke  
Their Joints, as th' Boughs of some decayed Oak,  
Anger and Grief do then begin a strife  
Within them for their base, and dirty life  
Now spent: when now, but now too late, they look  
Upon the Life They wretchedly forsook.   
Nor are these the Complaints of an Epi●●re only, but of the worlds bu●ie great ones themselves; as Seneca de brevit▪ vit●●. c. 4. Potentissimis, & in altum sublatis Hominibus excidere voces videbis, quibus otium optent, laudent, omnibus bonis suis praeferant. How oft may you hear Them of the upper End of the World, commend the leisure, Quiet, and pleasure of less busied Lives? What a more Regulated course therefore it were, to afford Vacations to circuit Thyself in, to give Thy Conscience a Day of hearing, and to make vexing Cares, vain Delights, unsatisfiable Desires, needless Courtships, with other such Thiefs of time, not only to wait without, but to come in to their Trial. 
Senec. de de brev. Vit. c. 1.  Doubtless the Verdict would be: non accepimus brevem vitam, sed fecimus: not Destiny, but thankless business, or fruitless Idleness, hath shortened our Lives. Would you project an Elixir, that might lengthen them, even to an Immortality; hear Seneca: Qui Sapientia vacant, soli v●vunt, nec enim suam tantum Aetatem ●uentur, sed omne Aevum suo adijciunt? haec una Ratio extendende Mortalitatis: de brevit vitae, cap. 14. & 15.  
They only Live (saith He) that truant least from Wisdoms School, as living not only their own, but all the former Ages, etc. In the future there may be something for such to hope, nothing to fear: thus may a Man be young in years, & old in hours: whereas some old Men are Semper pueri, non bis, always Children, not twice; and that in Age, as well as abilities: for Seneca's Oracle is most true: Illorum brevissima, ac Sollicitissima Aetas est, Qui Praeteritorum obliviscuntur, Praesentia negligunt, de Futuro timent: de brevit. vitae c. 15. Their Lives are short, the Calendars whereof are divided into these three Columns, Forgetfulness, or Ignorance of Times past, Neglect of the Present, and Fears of Future.   

Fabula Vitae.  
AMong the many Apothegms of Octavius Caesar, 
Observ. 3.  his Epilogue-like Speech on his Deathbed was more meriting, than commanding Applause, when He asked, Ecquid iis videretur Mimum vitae Commode egisse. Whether he had handsomely acted his Part on the Stage of the World, and commanded their Plaudite. Saying.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Edite strepitum vosque omnes cum Gaudio applaudite.  
Sueton. Octau: Caes. Let me have then your loud and cheerful Plaudite; it is no unuseful Metaphor, to call Life a Histrionical Presentment; as in that, not the Part chose, but appointed, must be acted; so in Life He is a true Actor, and Plaudit-meriting Roscius, that lives his part Suitably, to strut in Rags, or Crawl in Robes, equally transgress Decorum, an humble Deportment, and the low receiving condition keep it; Awful Accents, and reserved State become the trusties of Power and Justice. Look what Part Providence hath allotted Thee, and act it submissively, Suitably, as Persius excellently. 
— Quem Te Deus esse  
Jussit, & humanâ qua Parte Locatus es in Re,  
Disce—  
Whom God hath made Thee, and in what Degree  
And state of life he here hath placed Thee.   
What faileth of either, will appear Ridiculous, if not Monstrous; as they do, that either Quarrel at their Part set Them, because they were not their own choosers: or leap out of one part into another: from making Heels, to jump to prescribe Pills for the Head; from the Trade of making Canvas, to leap to speaking Fustian in the Pulpit, are break of Ranks that neither the Discipline of Nature, nor the Lord of Hosts doth tolerate: and in the Scene of Life are Antics, not Action: or if Actings, of no part but the fools, as lastly do those that observe not Decorum in their Part set them. Correspondence and Proportion are both the Beauty, and Harmony of Actions, as well as of the World: it were as absurd to sing Catches on the Ladder, as Psalms at Revels. Do therefore, as Thou art, and be thy Part Comical, or Tragical; Thy Exit will be Glorious.   

The Over Rate.  

Observ. 4.  MAny things owe the height of their Esteem to Low spiritedness, (con●●●●da miramur) et Nobis ut Pueris om●● Ludricum in Pretio est. Seneca saith, that we bestow wonder on Contemptibles, and value Toys, is only from so much of Child, as is left in Men: that Judgement is in its Nonage, and cannot write Man, that thinketh Riches consist in the Patrimony, and not Soul endowments: it is Rustic simplicity to take the gayest Courtier for the King; or esteem Men not according to Gods, but their Tailor's making: it is by the servile Mind, that Honour is too much honoured. The wise Rater of things, as they weigh in the Sanctuaries Balance, and Reasons, will obey the Powers over Him, but not admire them into an a Apotheosis, Deifying of them; or leave out the sicut in their Dij estis, consider them only as Gods. not GOD himself; nor give that adoration to one Ray, (and that a weak one) of the Deity, that of Power, due only to that conjunction of Wisdom, Power and goodness immeasurably; it being the Divine Majesty's Pre●rogative to have Goodness, Wisdom, Power, unseparable; a Trinity seldom combined on Earth. Oft times both Bad and Fools bear sway; an experiment enough to cheapen the Price of overvalued honours in others; or in its Incentives of ambition in ourselves. Men would not buy a petite and small Authority of the small continuance of some three or four years, with the unwearied Cares, broken sleeps, slavish Resignations of quiet security, and contentments of life, of 40. or. 50. precedent years. How vainly do some no sooner slip from the Tyranny of the Ferula, but lay a plot for the managing the Sword of Power.  
Rate Men as Moneys, according to their stamp: the more of that image they were first stamped with, you see, the more esteem them: the more I find of the Attributes of the Architype, the Deity, the more real worth I may justly set on any man. We see what love and reverence they challenge scattered; Goodness or wisdom even divorced find men's minds tributary of respect: Goodness with simplicity hath love: wisdom, though but knavery, men afford so many grains of esteem, as to term partednesse, and cunning: but the conjunction is that alone, that centereth all of men's respect, love, esteem, or what you will call it, into that comprehensive, called Reverence.  
Thus therefore rate men, nay thus thyself; cast up thy worth according to what thou wilt yield in that Day, when the great Lapidary (God) maketh up his jewels when neither clothes, Inheritance, Beauty, Honours, no nor Parts (separated from Piety) will be admitted into the Scale. Would we know whence, Verus re●rum honor cecidit, 
Ep. 115.  the just Market of things fell, it was, saith Seneca, Ex quo Pecunia in honore esse caepit: Worth hath been under-rated, ever since Wealth hath been overvalued; the question is now changed, not qualis, but quanti; men and things are not esteemed to what they are, but what they will yield; none observeth that rule, Cum voles veram Hominis inire estimationem & scire qualis sit, nudum inspice; ponat patrimonium, ponat honores, 
Ep. 76.  & alia Fortunae mendacia, Judge of men, as Hipparchia took Cratetes the Philosopher, stripped: or as Horse-Coursers, Horses, without their Trappings; without Estates, Honours, or such cheats of Fortune, belying men into the esteem of the vulgar.  
In sum, their usefulness public (and that is prudential Honesty or Valour) or more contracted and private, and that is Friendship, is all the inherent real worth of any man; as to Men: (to their Maker all their worth is imputative, through that man Christ Jesus.) What there wanteth of ability of Parts, or will to do good, they want of Price: the latter, I confess, doth higher rate men. For as with Beggars we quarrel most with their laziness, so do we with idle abilities. Worthy Sir then, we see, is frequently by Flattery misbestowed on Wealth, or Power. I will search neither men's Shop-books, nor the Heralds for their worth, much less the Mercers. He is hard put to it, that oweth it to Beasts, or the Silkworm; and for my part, I owe my Hat or Knee no more to the Skins, than the Beasts. The thing called Fine, is more duly the unborrowed praise of the Lily of the Field, than solomon's in all his glory. Give me the Worth the Plunderer cannot finger; nothing truly deserving the title of Mea, mine, but what (as Bias) mecum porto; I must trouble no Porter but myself. At this rate were men esteemed, Fools would not be admired, Knaves would be scorned, the wise and honest Man would be heightened to his just and deserved esteem. The vaunter of Pedigrees, the successful Knave, nor the Golden Ass, would not have that over-rate upon them still, which they had first from rustic Ignorance, or ●bject servility.   

The Guard; or, Defence against Surprise.  
AS I owe not Misery the service to meet it, 
Observ. 5.  by pensive fears; so keeping that Inn of common, and humane frailty, I may expect it as my Guest: he that doth so, is not surprised by it, as by an enemy: Sickness, Poverty, Exile, Death, (and what the effeminate world calleth evil,) by expectation lessen the terror of their visors, and by such familiarity is bred contempt of their threats or power. It is discretion to look on good things, or bad, but as guests; so the one doth not too nearly intimate itself into my friendship, nor doth the other alarm my fears. He that too closely embraceth Transitories, is much the worse for them; for their departure causeth a rent in his constancy: Good is the Philosopher's rule, Accedant, non adhaereant nobis, (saith Seneca) & sine ullâ laceratione nostri discedant: 
Ep. 74.  Let them approach us, not stick to us; or allow them the vicinity of our Garments, not Pro●cimity of our skin: it is less pain to be stripped than flayed. As for evil Things, look on them but as Lodgers, (though as unwelcome as Free-quarterers) the expectation of their coming will lessen thy trouble at their presence; and to consider the shortness of their abode, will recover thy impatience to a healthful quiet. Among many distempers of mind, avoid peremptoriness of desires, or love to things, or men; it overvalueth their presence, and imbitters their departure. I know scarce any better Physic, than out of the shop of that same Apothecary of the Soul, (to his Contemporary Paul, and Divines, I reserve the title Physician;) it is this: 
Senec. cur bonis mal. fiant.  Quamvis magna varietate, singul●rum vita videtur distingui, summa in unum venit, Accepimus Peritura Perituri: Let the difference be what it will, between Palaces and Cottages, they are the decaying Tenements of more decaying Tenants; either our backs are on these sublunary enjoyments, or theirs are on us. Indifference therefore is the truest constancy; and none so constant as that changeable He, that neither desireth, nor feareth change; but is Admetus utrumque paratus. Socrates' his face may be the copy of the resolved countenance; which was always noted to be the same at his coming home, as going abroad, what weather soever happened in his fortunes or affairs. Christians then sure much less (being placed Vulgati supra commercia Mundi, above the Region of fear) need cloud their brows, in the most blustering storms of the lower world, (to whom the shipwreck of death is a prize above all the Incomes of life.   

The honest Adamite.  
HE that said, 
Obser. 6.  Totus Mundus agit Histrionem, the whole world are but Stage-Players, was a wise Spectator of the Plays of life, called business, and of its Actors. The whole crowd of those we converse with, 
Tacit. Hist, 1.  what are they? but a company of Mummers disguised in all they do or say: Vices are dissembled, virtues but acted; they are one thing in their retirement, another on the stage of public view. Palamtum claressecreta, male audiunt.  
In the Church they would cousin (if possible) God with shows of zeal, in the Shop their Neighbours with Protests of good Usage; Thus blinding the World with Jewish Pharisaisme, and Protestant Cozenage. Thus many times long Prayers become but grace before Meal, to some Widows House, or Orphan's Portion. Diagoras took Herculeses Statue, to make his Broth seeth, (scoffingly calling it his thirteenth Labour;) what else doth the Hypocrite or Politician, with his Idol, the show of Religion, but make his Pot seeth, and bring about his Designs? What cloak doth Knavery wear, when it goeth abroad, but Friendships? What are the commerces of Men, but courteous Cousenages? Your humble Servant Cheats, believe me, (if not Renounce me,) lies; O modest Vice! that darest not appear abroad naked; beholding to officious Hypocrisy, to cover thy Nakedness: whereas the truly Honest man, and that cometh nearest the first Innocence, weareth only its Robes; (which was a commendably shameless Nakedness) nor covereth its Purposes with one Rag out of Hypocrisies, or Policies Wardrobe. He is neither in honesty, nor Religion Haereticall, that in his Politics, and Dealings, is an Adamite.   

The desirable Reputation.  
TO contemn Fame is but a security of doing ill; 
Obser. 7. Erasmus in Apotheg. p. 112. 86.  to fear it, or court it, a necessity, and a misery verifying that of Diogenes, Qui Oratores & caeteros omnia ad gloriam facientes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellabat, ter Homines: He called Orators, and all such Traffickers for fame, thrice men; and that in Homer's sense, who maketh man and miserable Synonyma's. He that would not be thought good, careth not for being so; Contemptu famae, contemni virtutes, saith Tacitus, he that contemneth a good Report, despiseth the goodness deserving it. He that would be thought good by all, can appear so but to the worst, nor is so to any; he that is thought so by the best, shall confute the most: Good actions may silence slander, where they gain not applause: the best resolution is to take virtue with a sweet or ill scented breath; the first is hers naturally, the later more the fault of the medium or corrupted air, than hers: With a sweet breath she may be pleasanter; but with an ill, more meritorious, since, Regium est malè audire cum benè feceris, it is Kingly to be ill spoken of for good deeds, was the saying of one (doubtless) resolutely constant to such actions, as went under the great Seal of Virtue. 
Ovid. 4. fast.  
Conscia mens Recti, Famae Mendacia ridens.  
A Mind upright,  
That Fame's flams slight.   
A well-grounded self-justification, scorning the dispraise of the vulgar, (which is Omnis honestae rei malus judex, whose commendation is not authentic enough to call Persons or Actions good; nay such infamy hath its delight, (saith the sententious Moralist) Non vis esse justus sine Gloriâ? 
Ep. 113▪  at me hercules, saepè justus esse debes cum infamiâ, at tunc si sapis, ma●a opinio benè parta delectat. Wilt thou not be just without glory? thou must ofttimes be content to be ill spoken of for being so; and thou knowest not the pleasure of a well-got ill report. They that place honour in honorante, honour in the bestower, exile it as well from our care as power. That passage through good and bad report, (if not discovered) gone through by that great Adventurer for Heaven, (the Apostle Paul) leadeth to a Haven of such inward rest, as feareth not the blasts of misprision, nor the mire and dirt the wicked in their ragings cast up: One Echo sounded from that Murus Aheneus, brazen wall, of an upright conscience, surpasseth all the Jingles of Fame: nay after death, often martyred names, (as well as men) are Calendared, even to an unquestionable repute of merit, and that in those faithful Registers of impartial History. The living may be Tenants at will to reputation; but it is the possession of the dead: and when the Grave dust is flung on our Chronicles, envy itself cannot blur them. Animis hominum manet, in Aeternitate Temporum Fama rerum, (saith Tacitus of Agricola:) While some are buried in oblivion, others in the memories of men survive even Posterity. Stamp therefore thy actions in the mint of virtue, and the time will come, when their Fame shall be currant in the Court of Honour, among those (Qui scribunt legenda) that write things worth the perusal, thy (facta scribenda) History-deserving deeds shall be filled, to their merited perpetuity. Suppose; they be not here, which thou feelest not; they are recorded against that Day, when will be read the History of the world parcell'd out into Lives, every one reading over his own: Some whereof will prove Panegyrics, others Inditements. And now we have lighted on that solid Reputation, (for only That deserveth that name) will have an Eugè taum & bellè, (as the Poet) from the mouth of wisdom, and Justice itself; not from that (Turbida Roma) Rout, that cryeth up one thing to day, another to morrow: 
* Tacit. Hist. quip eod Die diversa pari certamine postulaturis  This steady praise, is the flight and aim of truly noble souls; do, (or write, or both,) something that may meet with applause at that Day, from God, Angels and Men, when the applause of value Herod's shall be as he was, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, wormeaten, and (almost without a Metaphor) what remaineth of the empty world's applause, shall be eaten up by the worm of conscience: that for thy fame. Now for thy Reputation, which is but thy living fame, as one excellently, 
* Senec. de Clem. c. 19  Quid pulchrius quam vivere optantibus cunctis? Et si paululum valetudo titubaverit, non excitare Spem Hominum, sed metum.  
What more desirable, then to live the people's wish, not fear? and by thy passing Bell to sadden, or affright, not rejoice them, as for a Deliverance: whereas with Some, Men observe the Thracian Rule, who weep at their children's Birth, and feast at their Funeral: So we might mourn at some men's births (were we all Astrologers) not as those Thracians, because they are borne to misery, but because a misery is borne to us: and rejoice at their death, not because they are taken from evil to come, but because an Evil is taken from those that are to come. But the good man understood, liveth beloved, and dyeth lamented: he hath more mourners at his Funeral then acquaintance: Whereas the 
* Tacit. Hist. 1. v●lut ad predendum sataliter electos  Ominously borne, may have many in Blacks, but few in mourning: whose Mother's fruitfulness hath made many Childless, bringing forth not so much a Man-child, as manslayer: and whose Father, though otherwise never so innocent, is guilty of Antoninus his only crime, Hoc solo Patriae, quod genuit, nocuit, murdering his Country by one single act of Generation. When such a one, I say, satisfieth the wishes of the living, by their own dying, there is a sadness on people, as when some calamity forsaketh them; indeed a joy at their Funerals as at Triumphs, allayed only with this true grief, that it fell out no sooner: They never doing so good a deed before to their Country as to die: As Ausonius of Otho. Hoc solum fecit nobile, quod perijt.  
Repute, or Fame than we see are more at our own disposals then our Fortunes: if bad among good, our fault; if good among bad men, our fault no less. And since 'tis so hard (in Commonwealths, nothing less than Platonic) to obtain it steady or lasting; aim more at a good one, then great one: or if a great one be thy aim, let it be such a one, as may hold good among the more numerous and uniform of the other World; where it shall have the greatness of duration added: ample it shall be, as the approbation of that glorious Theatre can make it: unchangably lasting as Eternity. For thy Repute, while in this medley World, thus regulate thyself: Let thy Actions be justified by the Square of Religion and Justice; then say (as a Poet as justly confident) 'Tis good, and if you'll lik't you may: it not being Arrogance, but well becoming Confidence to scorn the injurious World, when it denyeth merit its due. I would not be good on the Salary of its praise, nor shall their scorn spoil good purposes in their conception, by damping my resolutions, or by frights abortive their execution, or smother my joy at their birth.  
IF the Philosopher's School found two Handles, a sufferable and unsufferable to every thing done or said by Men, or commanded by Providence, (So Seneca will have all events, Non tam accidentia quam Imperata, not Lottery, but Orders from the Supreme power:) We cannot but (on the improvement of Christianity) confess, that nothing hath an unsufferable, because not an unuseful Handle to be taken by. He that hath course Fare, hath more to boast on (it may be) in his stomach, relishing each Crust, like the various pleasing Manna. when the Gluttons dainties are but as meat before Idols, Ecclesiasticus 30. 19 or as Meat set upon a Grave, Verse 18. or if tasted, no pleasanter than nauseating Quails. Hast thou Enemies? Look on them as Discoverers of thee, more than thy selfe-love, or thy flattering friends will discover. Lingering sickness hath its acceptable Handle, by preparing; and inchoate mortifications lessening the horror of (that must-be-done) Dying. What is wanting then to our serenity, and calmness of mind, but an ambodexter acception of Occurrences; since all may be resolved into Banquet, or Physic: What is not pleasant, may be useful; and therefore aught to be acceptable.   

Infallibility minced.  
THe modesty of the Scribes and Pharisees, 
Obser. 10.  accuseth the Arrogance of our Scribblers, and Divinity-Mongers (now the largest Corporation) They left the Prerogative of teaching as having authority, to him that alone spoke as never man spoke. Among us what more familiar phrase in Controversies, Admonitions, and Discourses of any nature, then, I think so: I would not do so: My opinion is? Which used, leaving out a reason, proveth no small reason against a Wise man's Assent; for if it be a truth, that he that for himself, adviseth only with himself, hath a Fool his adviser; in Counsel, or definitive sentence on Controversies, where I think is all the Premises, A Fool said it, must needs be the Conclusion. How vainly do we make the Enclosure of Infallibility to the Papal Chair, Antichristian? yet make Infallibility minced (as I may term it) into severals, and private Interpretation the Canon of our own and other men's belief: In point of Authority, take no more to thy self, than thou wilt allow any other: Give more to many others, than thou wilt to any one, and especially thyself. To swim against the stream is harder than to sail: he that would stem the Tide, had need of a good Gale: let strength of reason make thee Dissent; and for thy Assent, authority of most, best may be thy Reason, where other Persuasives are silent. Allow Writers the privilege of a Jury, where Number addeth weight to the Verdict: else why may not the Judge judge of the fact, as well as the Law? He that will believe none but himself, let him give others leave to be of the same mind: and his reason and judgement shall keep still of private authority, as well as Interpretation; and his I think so, shall meet with a Nemo credidit, No body else doth.   

The power of Prayer:  
NO Poet durst have fetched his Fancy so far, 
Obser. 11.  as to call Prayer the Manacles of the Almighty, had not God himself (in a Line strong next to Prayer) confessed it: when he saith to Moses, Let me alone: O powerful Privilege allowed poor Man! that the Almighty's Justice must take out Commission, for Execution, from the Intercession of his Saints: if Moses hold not his Tongue, God cannot move his Hands. O blessed obstructer of Justice! I will never doubt thy Power in procuring Mercy, that canst hinder a Provoked Deity, from proceeding to execution of A daring Worm.    

Decade 2.  

Commendable Carelessness.  
SElfe-vexations, 
The Politicians Pattern in Tacitus speaking of Galba will be a good one in this Case, Quia mutari non poterant comprobasse.  (which are most unpitied,) may by no way better be blown over, then by reckoning Impossibles not to concern our Desires; nor Vnavoydables our Fears; nor things past our Remedy, our vexing sorrow: (except sin:) to sit down and cry, because we are out of the way, is no step into it: to Curse at bad Casts is no part of the skilful, but impatient Gamester. Desire not what thou canst not attain; it was not the weakest part of the Fox to despise the Grapes he could not reach. Fear nothing thou canst not prevent; and for Things past, use their Remembrance, as thy instructive experiments, not renewers of thy Torment: follow the Comedians Comic carelessness, because Life is but a Game, Ita est vita Hominum, quasi cum ludas tesseris, si illud quod est maxime opus jactu, non cadit, illud quod cecidit forte, id Arte ut corrigas.  
Since Life is but as a Game at Tables, if the foregame be not to thy wish; neither whine nor Curse, but rouse thy care to an aftergame.   

Afflictions are Pursivants.  
THat Afflictions stay with us, 
Obse●. 2.  is commonly our own fault; they have their Errand to deliver, and we make them wait for a Hearing. Sometimes Let my People go, is their Message. Let thy Soul go from the Captivity of Satan, or drudging Taskings of the World, and serve the Lord thy God: obey their Message, and the Messenger shall be discharged. Sometimes they come to fetch away some Sin, let them have their Errand with them, and they are gone. Only when they come as Refiners of thy Dross, or gilders, (setters off) of thy Graces; wish not their Removeall: for it would be the greatest Cross, to be without one.   

The do Little, worth Little.  
A Do yra el Bevey, que no ara? 
Obser. 12.  Whither goeth the Ox that will not plow? The Spanish Proverb knocketh that Ox on the Head, that will not plow. Doubtless the wilfully Useless Man is better in the Earth, than on the Earth. Lazy unprofitableness must look for its Slaughter-house in the other World; if it take not a Newgate in the way here: if necessity betrayit not to such self-punishing courses, yet Idleness beckeneth to sins of a worse Nature. Upon the Couch of Idleness expect the Sins of Sodom. It was never a good world, since Employment was counted mechanic, and Idleness Gentility: Since Gentleman and Labourer took their Leaves.  
The ingenious German in this shameth the most of his Neighbourhood in Christendom, counting the Idle man, (no Edleman) no Gentleman; and therefore instruct their noblest borne in some Art, if not labour; it not being indeed Disparagement for the best blood to be acquainted with Sweat, out of a hot house, or without the help of a Diet Drink.   

The sad Descant.  
DEsque naci llove y cada Dia nace porque. 
Obser. 13.   
When first brought forth, we cry;  
Each Day brings forth its why.  
History affordeth examples of Souls Prophetic, at, and before their Death; but by this Spanish Proverb, Every one calculateth his Nativity (truer than Astrologers,) and sentenceth his own future fate, by crying at his Birth, not coming only from the Body's Monopathy, or sole suffering by change of its warm Quarters; but, (according to some) from Sympathy with the divining Soul, that knoweth itself for a Time banished from the Father of Spirits; (the God that gave it,) into a World elemented with Sin, and misery, the following Days being but Division, and Descant, on this plain Song Lachrymae, teeming with Causes of sorrow, if not for punishment, yet for Sin. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
If one Day prove a Mother, the other is a Stepmother, dying daily into the succession of each other.  
Mirth endeth in Dullness, if not Sadness; Grief again hath its intervals, the saddest notes their Pauses and Rests.  
The Sister's Web of our lives is chequered with Vicissitude, The whole piece proving but a medley of Light & Shadow. The one of these Mothers is welcome, the other we must not strike, nor by Impatience provoke. With thy good Days be cheerful; in thy bad Days be Serious, not sad; nothing we can suffer from without, being worth one minutes Disquiet of so noble a Thing, as the Soul, which then cometh nearest its Original, the nearer it cometh to Immutability. Let not therefore Sunshine Days betray thee to naked Security, or wanton forgetfulness of change, nor blustering ones so muffle thee up in a Mourning Cloak, as if thou wert following the Funeral of hope. 
Sperat infestis, metuit Secundis▪  
Alteram sortem, bene praeparatum  
Pectus: informs Hyemes reducit  
Jupiter idem  
Summovet—   
How doth Horace his Harp and david's agree? the one telleth us the same Power bringeth the Joys of the Spring, that sent the unwelcome hardships of Winter; the other assureth us, our sad Vespers are succeeded with the Comfort of Festivals. If grief lodge with us over night, Joy shall be our Day Guest. Well, since I must quarter the forces of two Garrisons, it will be prudence to dissemble the unwelcome of the one, and silently to welcome the other; not knowing which may at last get me into a sole subjection to them. He that will not be injured by either, must provide for both.   

The thriving Craft.  
THat golden-mouthed Father▪ was a rare Spokesman for the Almighty's Box, (such are the poor;) when he said, Nescis quod non tam propter Pauperes, quam impendentes, Deus instituit Eleemosynas, that God commanded Alms not so much for the Poors sake, as the good of the Rich; which with a slender Descant will appear. The Poor man getteth a corporal Refreshment, Raiment, or Food. The Rich, (if he keep his left Hand in Ignorance, and his right Hand in Actions of Liberality:) receiveth Interest, not only exceeding, but excelling the Principal. Thy Loan, (or rather Restitution▪) what is it but Coloured Earth and Dross? and thy Reward, (O Mercy rewarding its own Gifts! viz. The Alms, and the Mind to give,) beareth no imaginable Proportion, for a Cup of Cold Water, Waters of everlasting Life. For thy cast Clothes, the Robes of Christ's Righteousness; for thy Scraps, the Bread of Life▪ and that in fullness of Joy for ever more. chrysostom might well call this Nobilem Prodigalitatem▪ a Noble Prodigality, as another calleth Alms, Artem omnium Artium quaestuosissimam; An Art the most thriving of all Arts. It is so gainful, it is very hard to be honest in the exercise of it, that is sincere: (Sincerity being nothing but honesty towards God) without regarding our own Profit, more than our Brother's Necessity, or God's Command. Nay the Almighty often maketh present Payment, (knowing how hardly he can get credit from our Infidelity:) and even in temporals. Thy Bread cast upon the Waters; maketh better than East India Voyages; and returneth back to Thee Laden with Improvements. Thy Corn given to them, with whom all years are dear, (the Poor,) is more advantageous, than Corn sold in the greatest Dearth, even by a Monopolist. Such is the Mystery of this ●raft, (where God is Debtor, and Man Creditor,) that Present payment is the least, and worst: the Lender oweth more, than the Receiver. The Poor, (whose prayers are heard,) bestowing more than he receiveth; and his Box is more the Rich man's treasury, than his one: wouldst thou have a Policy on Heaven? (of thy uncertain Riches▪) make the Poor thy Ensurers.   

Parlour Divinity.  
OUr Table, is a Book, on which is written God's bounty, our Frailty and our Hopes: the first readeth Thankfulness, the second humble sobriety, the third Comfort. As for our Frailty, what rotten Tenements are our Bodies? that need Reparation twice in twelve hours: keep the wind from them, and children's Houses of Cards will stand longer. How do our Meals then upbraid our Designs? we repast as if to live but to day; (every Meal being but the renewing of our Lease for twelve Hours longer,) and we build as if to live for ever: but again for our Hopes. How is our living for ever assured? by the several Deaths of Creatures for thy use, receiving a kind of Resurrection to life, from their common Sepulchre, thy stomach. Look on thy full Table as a Mortuary of the dispeopled Elements; where their slain are huddled up, and all to extract Reparations of Life for thee. In their Progress behold thine, through Corruption to Resurrection: and fear not Death, that thus but dresseth Thee for Immortality.   

Mercy's Hyperbole.  
THe Reward of Afflictions, is the Hyperbole of Mercy: all we can suffer here, being not a moiety of our deservings; what infinite Mercy must that be, that maketh even our Punishments meritorious? for while Man suffereth for his sin, (if he suffer according to Gods will,) his sins increase not his Punishments, faster than these enhance his Glory hereafter. Patient bearing the chastisement, doth more please, than the fault did displease. Omnipotent Mercy! that thus workest good out of evil! Our Reward out of our punishment: Our pleasure for ever hereafter, out of thy Displeasure by us here. What is this? but to bestow on the Offender a Dignity for his deserved whipping? and to give the Thief A Paradise, for being crucified for his Robbery.  

Of the 2 d. Decade.  

Amigo di Bocca,  
Non vale una Estoppa.  
A Friend at the Bottle  
Not worth the Stople.   
THe contract of Souls and Minds, by Friendship, is not, (like Dutch Bargains) made in Drink. He whose Friendship reacheth no further than the Club, will no more do for thee, than pay for thee. How many Protestations of Love Swim in the Cups of Men? that will suffer thee to sink under any Adversity! Of all verities in Vino, in Wine, Veritas Amicitial, the truth of Friendship is not in it: give me the Love that is contracted out of some likeness of Minds, and conditions, that unlikeness of Fortune's cannot obliterate, that owneth a Friend, though his clothes be as old almost as his Friendship: and his condition as low as even Enemies could wish; that Friendship is worth little that continueth not to a (discreetly chose) object, though now worth nothing; as to the market of the World.  
That Friendship only will have no End, that in its first contracting had no by-End.    

The best Revenge.  
MAlice slighted looseth (as the Bee) with its sting its life; take notice of it, and thou makest thyself thy Enemies inferior. Nemo enim non eo, aquo contemptum se judicat, minor est: Confession of being hurt, 
An. 4.  maketh thy Enemy know he is revenged on thee. The Oracle of Policy (Tacitus) found a subtle Revenge, Injuriae spretae exolescunt, si irascaris, agnitae videntur: Slighted injuries die; whereas anger confesseth thy hurt, and therefore must needs increase thy adversaries content. A rule for politic Revenge ●o universal, that it reacheth even to the silencing of Scolds; there being questionless no better silencing of a Billingsgate noise, then with a Drum.  
Injurious spirits are oft galled with Arrows they shoot at others, if they stick not in the mark, they may recoil upon the Archer, Cum dolore caedentis solida feriuntur, Senec. de Ira. 3. 5. He that striketh a Wall may hurt his Knuckles. Christianity commandeth us to pass by injuries, and policy to let them pass by us: By the former we are lessoned to take no notice of the injurious, by the latter to take none of the injury; both, or either preserve us from injuring ourselves by disquiet: For would we revenge, then true is that Emblem of the coursed Hare and Greyhound with this Motto, Agitas, agitaris at ipse, thou troublest me, but art troubled thyself: Thy mind it may be is troubled, to vex thy Enemy in Body, Liberty, or Estate, etc. If we take notice of injuries by complaints, as we vex ourselves, we rejoice our Enemy: our tears are his Wine, our lamentation his song: That, Quicquid recipitur, recipitur in modum recipientis, things are as they are taken, is here most true. The weak mind being troubled, at what the resolved one, would slight, with that of the Philosopher, Deridet, sed non derideor, He derideth, but I am not mocked. Resentment is as it were the formality of an offence; if thou dost good for evil, thou makest a Bonfire on thy Adversaries head, sadder than firing his House; if thou takest no notice of the evil, his vexation is increased, and thy quiet not diminished. He was the wisest doubtless that said, Anger rested in the bosom of Fools: for by this Maxim, it is its own Torment, and the Offenders pleasure. If not Christian love of our Enemies, politic love of ourselves, will quiet Revengeful agitations: Since it is a doubt whether Sheepish meekness, or Womanish tenderness in apprehension of Injuries, do more double the assaults of Malice: the noble scorn that intimateth a sense with contempt, is that mean that placeth a man above Injuries: In the serenity of that (Superior pars mundi, & ordinatior ac propinqua sideribus, quae nec in Nubem cogitur, nec in tempestatem impellitur, etc.) upper part of the World, and orderly, nearest the Stars, it is neither cloudy nor tempestuous, That knoweth no mutiny of the Elements. They are lower-Region souls, that admit of heats and colds at the cross occurrences of businesses, or waywardness of Men; it is a Magnifico gate of spirit (as I may term it) not to mend, or slack our pace, for all the barking Curs, great or small; and was in King Antigonus, who overhearing (the great Provocation) slanderous railing, only bade them speak further off, lest the King should hear them. Another time lighting on free-tongued company, and afterwards guiding them, brought them into the Dirt, but helped one out, and bid him revile Antigonus that brought Him thither, but love Antigonus that brought him out. To conclude, Seneca's Rule is good, Aut Potentior, aut imbecillior Te laesit; si imbecillior, parce illi, si Potentior parce Tibi, If the Injury be from Peers, or Inferiors, spare them; if from thy Superiors, spare thyself, so shalt thou reap in the one, the Honour of a forgiving Spirit; in the other, (besides the Noble, and lawful Revenge of scorn;) provide for thy calm security, which thy Enemy would disuiet, and for anger or thoughts of Revenge, think on the Philosopher's Dilemma. Vtrum aliquando desines, aut nunquam? will thou leave them off at all, or never? if at all, why not leave thy Anger, as well as that leave Thee? if never, judge what an unquiet life thou hast sentenced thyself to. Give therefore Injuries one of these Entertainments; either as a Christian Conquer them by forgiveness; or as a Politician, revenge them by contempt, that is, (as I said,) pass by them, or let Them pass by Thee.  

Observ. 10. of the 2 d. Decade.  
IT is a Pride, (that hath the vexing Nemesis and Vengeance of discontent, following it) to think, wish, or expect, Things to fall out according to our wills alone: as if we were of that grand Concernment, that it were some lapse in Providence, not to choose us Nature's Arbitratours, or Sole Disposers of Events: no it is an Oraculous Truth, that of EPICTETUS, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉;  
Latin it if you will with Marshal's golden Rule, Epigram lib. 
Quod sis esse velis, nihilque malis.  
Will Thy condition still,  
Whether a good one, or an ill.   
Wish Events according to the Canon of Vicissitude, or secret order of the grand Disposer, and thou shalt always have thy wish. This is that Lex Naturae, quae jubet Nos non tantum Deos nosse, sed sequi, & Accidentia non aliter excipere, quam Imperata; that Law of Nature teaching us not only to discourse of God, but to follow him with willing submission: Looking on all Events, not as Casualties, but Commands. Demetrius, that Heathens cheerful submission to the will of the Gods, shameth all our verbal Pater noster Parrots, (that say nothing oftener, and mean nothing seldomer, than, Thy will be done.) Seneca bringeth him in saying: I can complain of nothing O ye Gods! but that you would not let me know your Minds, for I had met this Calamity: Et maluissem afferre, quam tradere: I had rather have offered myself, or your Loves, then stay the Delivery upon Demand. This is that Temper and palate that gusteth, A Quodcunque evenerit optimum, What befalleth, best: and relisheth the Dish set before him, above all other. This Ductility of Spirit commendeth Men, as well as that other doth Metals, (it being not the least among the Commendations of Gold) and is indeed the true Philosopher's stone, turning all occurrences into its own Temper. Such a golden Complacency, as thereby Victory may be conquered, and Adversity made prosperous: for, will what befalleth, and befall what will.    
The end of the second Decade.   

THE Quacking Hermaphrodite, OR Petticoat Practitioner, Stripped and Whipped.  
ANd have at thy Coat old Woman, (or young,) whose knowledge is Simples, Practise the misapplying of them, Charity, Manslaughter, Creed, a Receipt-Book, and Library an Herbal. Since you will be learning Propria quae Maribus, Arts difficult enough for Men, still nibbling at forbidden knowledge, pray be not so angry at the reading of these Truths, (or if you be, it matters not,) as justly I was, at the writing hereof. And first let me tell you, I do not so much wonder you retain your Grandmother Eves Quality, (with this difference) she killed us all at one blow, and you kill us one by one, (as our excellent Poet said in another Case,) as that there are any, (nay so many,) that will Jugulum dare, be killed by the hands of a Woman. How easily might I here digress in Satire against Mountebanck-making Patients: from whose folly, Fools set up for Employment in a Profession that requireth as sufficient abilities, as any the fools Beard teacheth the young Barber his Trade. Were there not foolish Men, there would be no Cunning Women: but I return to the enquiry of the two things believed in you, Mrs▪ D. your skill, and your Good will; which when proved to be no more in these [hae Galeni] Heteroclite Physicians, (nam genus variant, for they change the Gender) than there is Frankincense in a closestools Contents, we shall I hope be as sick of these she Doctors as of their Physic, (and many Sextans know that is sickness to the purpose,) the Physician, and Physic being both simples, compounding the Destruction of the Credulous Patient.  
First for their skill, if it were Catechised in any part of that requisite knowledge, which distinguisheth the Physician from the Mountebank, (viz. the Diagnostic and disease-discovering Part,) all its Answers will be, it is a Surfeit, a Cold▪ an Ague, A Fever, A Consumption, and (neither of which they know any thing b●t the Nicknames) in neither can they pronounce any more, than that Waterologer in Dr. Heart's Anatomy of Urines, that sent his Patient word he was sick of a blind Ague. for to these know-nothings, all Diseases are occult, (it were to be wished their Ideas, and Descriptions▪ were undisputable among the Sophies themselves in Physic,) Their general information from their ignorant Latins concerning particular diseases, what is it? but He or She is taken (for sooth) for all the World as my Neighbour such a one was, to whom you did good quickly; but the water will show you more, (though the two main things it can show, is, that Waterologers are Knaves, and such Patient's Fools, that take the Urinal for an Oracle.) Well, this Meretrix the water my she Doctor, (sometimes no better,) takes to Confession, which after many shaking fits, to her skilful eyes confesseth a Distemper in the Blood, and it may be, it shall be called an Ague, and that is enough: no matter what Ague; call it any Thing but a Fever, (for should you say an Ague were a Fevers▪ the Doctress would have a shaking fit of Laughter at you presently, though as many of your Books do say so, as she hath Glasses or Galley Pots.) Well, the Seat of this Ague, and the Cause, she neither knoweth, nor careth to know. She and her Medicine regard them alike, their Remedies they apply, (as the Athenians dedicated that Altar, (Paul met with,) to the unknown God,) to an unknown Disease; and thereby prove themselves as skilful, as those were Religious. They are not much unlike blind Fencers, (indeed they kill surer) that should be famed for skill for casual hits, which doubtless they would not among Reasonable Men. What mad work it is to deal with unknown Diseases, let any Judge, whose experience tells them, that it is hard enough to grapple with those that are best known, (either in their own nature, or in their particular subjects.) Such Repairers of our ruined Tenements, our Bodies, work like Babel's workmen; that when a Trowel was called for, they brought a Brick: so these mistake the call of the Symptoms for the Call of the Disease. When they should mind the latter, they regard the former, principally or only: and when Nature calleth for Sweats, (which by endeavours of it oft she showeth, oh give him Cooling Juleps, Cordials are too hot; with such like nonsense do they Cure the Disease, but it is by killing the Patient. If Purge they think on, how preposterous are they? tell not them of Observations, and cautions for the beginning, Increase; State, or Declination of a Fever: if they consult with any rules, it shall be an Almanacs, if the Moon say Purge, or Bleed, the signs of the Infirmity and its Progress shall not guide them so much as the Signs in the Zodiac, and that Antic before Al●●anacks, that beginneth, Aries Head and Face, etc. which they have by Heart, or else they would give us leave to count them ignorant in deed, If they want sleep, through translation of the Peccant Humour to the Head; (without any Revulsion, derivation, or diversion, etc.) their Poppy water, and Syrup of Poppy, (that edged Tool in the hands of such Doctor Wiseacres) it may be shall come into Play, by which many times the matter is more fixed to the increase of their Patients Rave, or sleep is procured, which only the last Trumpet can wake; to say truth, a goodly Nap! And for the Critical motions of Nature, how adventurously do they check them hand over head? with their Cooling slops, their Syrup of Lemons, Sorrell, etc. Things useful in their orderly administration) But because the word Critical is Conjuring to our cunning Women, I may explain it by throws of a Woman in Travel, which the Critical Agony of Nature in acute Diseases doth somewhat resemble; and let them judge whether they would take her for a skilful Midwife should lay her Woman to sleep, or give her things to check her Throws, because they were painful. Such Physicians are our she Doctors, that some times preposterously administer Coolers in Fevers. It were endless and bootless to Reason them out of their Crosse-grained Methods, to whom Sense is a Riddle, and Reason, Paradox. Only this must necessarily follow, Hit or miss, must be the only Dance of these She Practitioners, and suspicious the success, where blind is their administration of Remedies; because to an unknown Disease, and especially (which is another grand miscarriage) where one Remedy shall serve not only the several Times of the same Distemper, but several Diseases, and distempers, scarce agreeing in appearance, how ever differing in Causes, and Subjects wherein they are; Sex Age, Constitution, etc. maketh no matter with them; Their Receipt-Book is as universally indifferent, as A Church-book; with this difference, in the one you may read People's beginnings; but in the other their End are virtually contained, as effects in their Causes. If Diascordium fail them, have at Mithridate, if that fail them, then Enter my Lady Kent's Powder; If that fail, toll the Bell; these must be given to all sorts, at any time, for any distemper, with this Apology, they are safe, they can do no hurt, if they do no good; (A Character I could wish true of either, the Physician or Physic) although apparent Mischief is done in letting slip the Opportunities of more proper courses, (by Evacuations, or proper Antidotes,) which are thus spent in doing often contrary, seldom good, and most commonly, nothing; by their delays dallying with violent Diseases, whose Assaults are Batteries and stormings, that admit not of Parleys. In more mild Diseases that have more Deliberation (than these Physicians,) their course doth as little regard Indications, or Instructions from the Disease, Causes, Patient, or Symptoms.  
What work will they make with a Sore eye? proceed it from hot or cold Cause, they have an Eye water, and that in the singular number, that shall make them (like the deceitful promises for Bats blood) see as well by night as Day, till the Patient can see nothing, but that his Physician was a Foole. To conclude, this Oneness of a Remedy (to speak in the Language of as arrant Ignoramuses as themselves) causeth singular Mischief in men's Bodies, while like the Ass or Mule in the Emblem, they strive to lighten Nature of her Burden all one way, be her burden Salt or Wool.  
The Emblem is Camerarius his, in his second Century Embl. 74. out of Plutarch's sol●rtia Animal. Tom. 3. p. 67. The Mule laden with Salt, accidentally touching the water with his Burden, was presently eased of it, the Salt melting away, making his observations (like these She Empyricks,) thought to do so, when laden with Wool; but to his heaviness found it otherwise, the wet increasing the weight of his Load, and after would suffer no Burden to touch the water: Whether the Ass' folly, or these Empyricks skill, be the Emblem of the other, is hard to say. The Folly of that Ass was by one experiment corrected, but the folly of these is daily repeated, notwithstanding the Knells of the Dead and Reasons of the Living, clamour their Conviction, and their pertinacious Ignorance: Malè cadentia iterum tentare libet: (to use Senecas' Phrase) will put again to Sea after many Shipwrecks.  
I could wish they would therefore at Length learn the Distich annexed to the Emblem in Camerarius. 
Lana Sali haud eadem est, neque Spong●a mersa sub undis:  
Discernit sapiens Res, quas confundit Asellus.  
In wetting Salt, and Wool, there's difference found.  
The Wise distinguish, what the Fools confound.   
Well, in the discerning part▪ and prescribing, their skill hath been a little enquired too (for an exact survey would swell into a Volume too vast.) Would you 〈◊〉 what's their care for Diet, (on which ●●● pocrates hath bestowed so many Aph●●●● mes,) they either think not of it, 〈◊〉 their one Aphorism for all: 〈…〉 what his Stomach servath him 〈◊〉 carelessness that bringeth Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to some, as the carelessness of the first ●●man in her Diet, did to us all; it was at first the sin, and now it is part of the punishment, for it increaseth the Sickness, and beckons Death to mend his Pace: but I hasten mine, to examine the second Article of People's Creed concerning our Petticoat Practitioners, that is their Good will. It is generally believed they do use their little or no skill in mere Charity, and for the good of such as will not, or cannot, go to these Chargeable Doctors, and Apothecaries. Whereas on stricter Scrutiny, this Benevolent Practice will appear to be begun in vain glory, and to end in injuriousness, and that to more than the Patient.  
1. How discernible is it, to be an Itch to be Counted somebody? how amply do they think themselves rewarded, to have it said, such a good Woman, Gentlewoman, or Lady, gave me that did me good when it had cost me, I will not say what on Doctors, and Apothecaries, what it costeth their Husbands in a year, in Glasses, Stills, Herbs, Coals, etc. to (cure I cannot say, but) cherish this Itch, their Purses can best answer: but no means can claw it off, while Pride sticketh to them as close as their skins. Were it merely to do good, on that Principle they might set themselves on more proper works, as making Shirts and Smocks for the Poor, and such like Managery of their Needle or Wheel, (Employments commendably within their own Sphere) for the good of the needy. I much doubt they, (that will send sometimes of their Syrup and Waters,) will scarce afford the Electuary of Beef, or the Cordial Julep of a mess of Broth to the empty Belly. I could allow them the cure of the Colic, and Wind, (coming from emptiness,) in the almost- starved Guts of the Poor. Nay if a Beggar would perhaps beg something for the Ache of his Teeth he shall have it, but nothing to set them a going. The fame of Curing them is greater, then of Comforting them, with Food, and that is the very principle of their Charity, of these liberal Shee-Doctors.  
The Physic of Alms I allow them, but am out of charity with their Alms of Physic (by their own hands:) with the former they may feed Christians, but with the latter they too often with Christians feed the Worms: Or if they would be charitable in this way, let them pay for the Physic of the poor, the noblest way of giving Physic, and will have its Fee from Heaven. Thus a Founder of an Hospital giveth more Physic than any Physician in the World. Thus doth Queen Elizabeth to this hour give Physic in Saint Thomas Hospital: in this way I wish the number of She or He Physicians increased: But let these other kind of Plentymongers (that wanton away their own or Husband's Moneys) know God hath made them Sempsters and Cooks of the poor, but not Physicians or Apothecaries: the neglect of the former, not clothing or feeding them, or the not visiting the poor when sick (yet that but as we visit those in Prison) they may one day hear of.  
But I dare warrant that Sex for ever being upbraided for two things; and those are, for not Preaching, and not prescribing (or Administering, but by directions of Physic) no more than for not professing all Trades that may supply the necessities of the poor, with a cast of their office, for not being their Brewers, Bakers, Draper's, &c. which are scorned as base and mechanic. But O how it sounds, to be called Mistress Doctor, a knowing Woman, a good Body, etc. Tickle them with such words, and they'll be at more charge on you in Syrups, Conserves, Waters, Powders, etc. then all the rest of their charity stretcheth to, towards the poor, in half a year Charity in its most justifiable dispensations, is too subject to have a smatch of ostentation; but in this way it is notoriously rank, there wants nothing but setting up their Bills.  
There is a virtuous, knowing, well-disposed Lady, Gentlewoman, or the like, that by God's blessing can cure all Diseases, from Aries, head and face, to Pisces, the Feet, with a Water and a Powder, shall cost them nothing, but their mentioning of her at Gossip, Funerals, at Church before Sermons, and the like opportunities of tattle: so that this famous Water or Powder (let it cost their Husbands what it will) must purchase them oil of Talk (for which some Women outdo the rarest Chemist) to lay, not so much on their Faces, as Fame: If this be not sounding louder, than Trumpets after their Medicinal Alms, (I am much mistaken, although though not before; and that is but vainglorious younger Brother: that Charity hath its Reward, that hath Boasting for her Usher, or waiting Woman. Well, we see what setteth our Shee Doctor and Apothecary a work, and who will pay the Bill may easily be conjectured, especially if we look on the Danger it endeth in, to the Patient, and Injury to other Professions, Sequestered by God, (and in that Sequestration confirmed by Policy,) for the good of Mankind, in continuing or restoring Health by that Mystery of Physic. 1 To the Patient their Purges and Vomits, how oft do they send the Soul out sooner than Disease: if the Seller be conscionable, (which is oft the desire of these simple Chapwomen,) the two pennyworth of Stybium, or of Jalap putteth the Patient into so sickly, if not dangerous, a Pickle, he scarce will be reconciled to Conscionable dealings again; Commend him to hard weight and Measure, or at least certain, in Physic: which our she Empiric is much to seek in. As much as will lie on a shilling, half Crown, or the like confused Rules they go by; and that with as little care, as if they were giving Carraway Comfits. Nay if they do keep to Book-Receipts, how apt are they to mistake, as He in Valerio la 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (in words at length) A dram for a Scruple of Hellebore: a Mistake of sad consequence, saith my Author, it had been, had not I been called for: and thence concludeth, Operari ex Libris absque cognition & solerti Ingenio periculosum est, without exquisite knowledge to work out of Books is most dangerous. How many 'scapes in the Printing of Books, which none but the skilful in the Nature of Medicines, in Re Medica; (as they term it) can correct? I will instance in the Woman's Book, the expert Midwife, where there is an Ounce (which is eight times as much) for a Dram, (in probability meant by the Author;) and that in the Latin; no marvel therefore if so in the Translation: it is in the Latin; (Ruffus in his own Language) page 21. (in mine.) R. Trochiscorum de Myrrah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 croci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etc. of Trochisces of Myrrh an Ounce, Saffron a dram, etc. for one Draught.  
Then for their mistake of Remedies themselves as well as directions, I will use no other Argument than [a minori ad Majus] from the less to the greater. It is very unlikely they should know Plants, etc. When they whose Profession it is (and skill it should be,) the Apothecaries themselves, both take, and receive (from Herbe-women.) Quid pro Quo, one thing for another, many, many Times. The inference of the danger to the Patient that may follow those mistakes, is so plain, I need spend no more pains, or time on it: only it will conclude thus much, that did the Country keep its Bills of Mortality, as the City doth, we might in both of them justle in Sheephysitians among the S. S. for a Disease, as surely killing as Surfeit, Stone, etc. or any other in the Bill. Behold, a Charity, not so much to the Patient, a unemployed Sextons, or Curates, that (like Lopez,) lie sick of a thin Stipend, and an everlasting Parish. Such a Physician in a Parish (any thing big) and the Bells shall scarce lie still. Landlords of Copy-holds (by lives) would feel the sweetness of their Neighbourhood too. Believe me they would be of no small use to purge a Commonwealth, without the expense of Hemp. Sicken a Malefactor with conviction, and mittimus him to the practice of a She Doctor, and you hear no more of him, he troubleth the Commonwealth no more: and all upon their own charitable Account and charge. It were not amiss if they had a College, shall I say, or Hall, (help me Invention!) no, Shambles erected for this Sisterhood of Physicians, whither any unequally Yoked might repair for Redress: The ill Wived, or ill Husbanded Wretches might here be comforted; or indeed any (to whom life itself is as bad as either of the former) might change, even a World, if weary of this: and were not this a charity? but to sum the danger of it without an Irony. I am confident a practising Rib shall kill more than the law-bone of an Ass; and a Quacking Dalilah, than a valiant Samson.   

CHARACTER 2. The People's Physician.  
IN nothing more doth that manyheaded (but slender-witted) judge, the Vulgar, betray their weakness of Judgement, than in their choice liking, or Admiration of their Divines, and Physicians. For their Divine commonly, let his Doctrine be new, and his Chin not old; and he is completely qualified. But would you know their Physician? (On whose skill though they venture no wagers on it, they will their lives) Them they will trust with those they would scarce trust for an Angel. And would you know the Attractions that are in him? Why,  
1. He is a Native with an Outlandish Name; A Renegado from some Trade, or Profession, he could not fadge with: By whose Dullness, no Mystery, but scorned to be Mastered: and bankrupt of all ways to live, He resolves to kill; but his Valour would not endure the way of kill Folk against their wills, but setteth on a slier way of feeding Himself, (and the worms too,) with bold, (because Lawless) and ignorant Adventures in Physic, in which, (after a Prenticeship to the Plague, or some Disease, so Epidemical, that his Miscarriages cannot be heard, for the Din of Knells) Opinion, and the commendations of poor inconsiderable People, (no more able to judge of worth, than to satisfy it;) maketh Him Free: (for I cannot afford him, the Title Graduates him, he doth handle a Liberal Art, (or Science) so Mechanically. And now He being to work too fast for the Grave-maker, or will by that Time he is furnished with necessaries for such Practice, his Tools and Impudence. As for his Tools, They are Books in the Mother Tongue. 1. Some Obsolet Anatomy, of whom we may say as Cardan of the Arabians skill in Anatomy in Praefat. Meth. Med. Mombrorum Hominis nec Formu●●, nec Situm▪ nec Numerum savum dereliquerunt.  
Out of which he learneth to miscall the parts of the Body, but in hard words (and those mistaken,) that sound to the wonder and cheating of much people: and believe it, this is none of the People's ordinary Physicians, for in many it matters not if they can read or write any thing but boasting Bills; wherein be sure S. begins Chirurgery, and F. Physic: or at most if his English Library can furnish him with but the confused Notions of some diseases, and he can but discourse them to fit all Waters: Their Patient is ready to admire and cry, right Sir, you have hit, (as it is hard but he may in reckoning the Symptoms, or pains that usually accompany distempers mingled, be they acute, or chronical) and He must be the only Man can cure Them. Is not this the usual Practice of Patients, to go from one Doctor to another, (in places that afford them choice) and to like none for sufficient, but him that by Chance, or undiscerned cunning in Questions, etc. hit upon any part of their Distemper. For, light on one, and most commonly, they will tell you the rest; though (poor simple souls) all they can tell, (which seldom but is more than the water) or their Doctor, (even when they choose wisely) is oft like enough to give the Disease its right Name. None passeth for able to cure, that smelleth not the disease (for so he may as soon, as see some) in the Urine, of which those That pass for most skilful, are on impartial Scrutiny, either Cheats, or Fools. For they that know most in Theory, or Practise of that boundless Orb of Physic, know these brackish waters of Urine, convey to none, or few faithful Discoveries, and therefore generally care as little for the Fame, as they trust in the certainty of this Waterology: the pronouncing upon it alone being as uncertain and conjectural, as Praescription would be dangerous: That if the Waterologer take his degree in a Congregation of sober and rational Physicians, the Title of it will be this in Sum, A dangerous Fool; and his habit we will borrow out of that 
* Doctor Harts Arraignment of Urines, c. 2 p 96. p. 86.  Jewish Apothecaries Shop Langius speaketh of in his Epistles. He had the picture of a fool at the entrance (doing as wise men do) laughing on an Urinal in his hand; and the Apothecary being asked by a Physician (than there with laughing) what it meant, he answered he had heard from his Father, and Grandfather, Physicians both; that such Physicians as would undertake to know and pronounce concerning Diseases, from the deceitful informations of Urine, were fools, in derision of whom he had made this Image his sign. So free and ingenuous confession of the Truth in this kind one should seldom hear among Christians, saith Forestus on this Story, but that the simpler sort of Christians may be converted to this jewish faith, (as wholesome for their bodies almost) as in spirituals their faith would be destructive of their Souls.) I shall insist somewhat on the Cheat of Waterologie, (a word though new, yet easily to be understood, thanks to another Cheat that rhimeth to it) and therefore I shall use it still, to signify this divining by Urines.) Latin it we cannot better then Forestus, nor bring a Sentence more apt to our purpose. Lib. 3. c. 2. [Plebei totam Medicinam in Stultiloquio Vrinae ponunt.] The common People place all Physic in foolish discourse on Urines.  
Now it will be no hard task to prove it a Cheat, and a dangerous one; for consider but the uncertainty of its best, and unsufficiency of the most Instructions, this Urinal Oracle is consulted for: and compare them with the wonders Waterologers from thence deliver to the credulous people, and we shall see on what a rotten and unsound Principle the people ground their Judgements of an able Physician; viz. this Ratio formalis, this formality and essence of so able a man (as they take it to be) to be able to afford twelve pennyworth of lies from an Urinal, to tell them by it any thing they can ask. View but what it can tell, and what they do tell by it, and believe it, and you will (good people) the less believe them.  
First it confesseth its insufficiency of Information, even in Fevers themselves; if you will hear its confession in Authorities, or examples, (more prevalent than Reasons, with such I would undeceive) In the Mouth of Forestus, it confesseth, that a burning Fever it could not discover in a Patient at the Hague (saith my Author) when I looked on his Water it was thin, white, and clear like Well-water, insomuch as I could never have guessed a burning Fever; till I came into the Room, touched his Pulse, and viewed his face. I than told them, not only he had a violent Fever, but that very Day being the seventh, and Critical, He would fall into a Dilirium, or Raving, and the next day die so, which came to pass. Well, We see we cannot tell by the water whether the house be on fire, it can as little tell whether there be a red Cross on it; I mean whether it be a malignant Fever, or the Plague itself, or no. Forestus his words shall maintain this seeming Paradox (to such as think a skilful Waterologer might as well see before, in the Urinal (as after we do in Death's Diurnal (the Bill of Mortality) how many would die of the Plague) 8 lib. 1. c. 4. Saep● in Peste Delphica expertus sum, quod cum Vrinae optimae spectarentur, ita ut vix Febrem indicarent, praeter spem tunc maximé morerentur. I have often found in the famous Pestilence at Delft, when the Urines were most laudable, the Patient's condition was most deplorable. For Authorities many could be heaped up▪ of learned Physicians putting least confidence in this Intelligencer, although in Fevers. But instar Omnium, take one quoted by an English Physician three hundred years since. I take (saith he) God and all the Saints in Heaven to witness, that (neither by skill, or Art, nor yet by use and long Experience in Practice) I could ever attain to any knowledge by the Urine, either in Conception, Quartans, falling Sickness, etc. Now if it fail in Fevers, the guests (though unwelcome) of the Veins and Arteries, those Channels, of the perpetual Tide, and Circulation; sure for Diseases out of those vessels, as Toothache, Gout, Scab, etc. it may as well tell us the Colour of the Patient's clothes, as their Infirmities, alone and single without any other information. Let Forestus speak (for the whole Jury against the certainty of this Oracle) and he affirmeth totidem verbis. [fallit in Hydrope, Morbis Pectoralibus, lib. 1. c. 4.] it is deceitful, saith he, in the Dropsy, Diseases of the Breast, Vomitings, Ulcers of the Throat, Fluxes of blood, etc. Which Author, if looked in▪ will more at large weaken the credit of Urine in its Information concerning Diseases. But now let us examine Her a little more privately, whether she can tell us any thing of Conception, and women's being with Child: this people hope these peevish Scollardicall Doctors (that will not let people believe Lies quietly) will grant Them, if A child may not be seen in the Urinal, than indeed the water can tell little, they will confess: But methinks I hear water complaining, as once the Moon did to Jupiter. Lucian wittily telleth us the Story, how the Moon made her complaints to Jupiter, that the Philosophers laid many things to her charge she was not guilty of; no grand Alteration here below, but (straight forsooth) she must be made Author of it: that ebbing and flowing of the Sea, the various weather, motion of humours in men's bodies, etc. with such like Imputations: she therefore desired Reparations of her Credit; and so may this Prophetess Urine; whereas she is slandered with being acquainted with the Actions of the Womb; She ingenuously confesseth she cannot truly inform the Sex of the Body it is made by: She knoweth neither Propria quae maribus, nor [Faemineo Generi] that there is any water can show the Breeches, or Petticoat; for which take Doctor Harts Authority and Reason in the first Book, cap. 5. Of the Anatomy of Urines. The Reason commonly alleged for the judgement of the Sex by the Urine, is, because Men are of hotter Constitution commonly, & therefore their Urines are of higher Colour, and because the Contents in women's Urine are more than men's, by reason of their sedentary life: though this must be understood Caeteris paribus, that is, A man of good and laudable constitution, using Diet answerable, both in quantity, and quality, and active: and a woman of a colder Complexion, of moderate Diet, lazy life, and avoiding hot Diet? but otherwise how weak a Conjecture is to be made from the Urine, daily Experience will show, many women's Waters being higher coloured than men's. Will not heat of the Liver, or Kidneys raise the colour? and Obstructions lessen Contents? Where is then our Judgement of the Sex? Bring the Water of such a one as Plautus his woman, that he saith, A Vintage would not suffice, and could out drink Rainbows, in his own Phrase, whose Vade mecum is an Aqua vitae Bottle; or a Widows that bewaileth her former Husband, over a Pot of good Ale; and cryeth, as this is my comfort, he was as good a man, (Peace be with him) as ever lay by woman! Bring this woman's Water, and the water of a man virtuously, or miserably abstemious, that is either temperate, or penurious, and our Pisse-Prophet may easily be deceived. And if the Sex cannot be discerned, let these Waterologers have a care, least on mistake they should pronounce A Common-council man with Child, or a Constable sick of the Mother: But if they will show Skill, let one try them with Aniseed Robin's water. Well, if the Sex cannot, much less can Conception be discerned, though it be part of the people's Creed, it may. A certain Practical Professor of Pisa in Italy (saith Scribonius, and a grave ancient Physician) was wont to say that such as trusted to this Prediction, in this case of Conception, were most of all deceived; and he never in his life time observed any such Urines in women with Child, as Avic●n describeth: and that moreover he had observed such contents in men's Urines. Of the same Opinion is Rondeletius, Mercurialis, Savanorola, Authors that have writ on purpose on Urines, and say as much as Reason can; For what is to be seen by the Urine, in which Number Roganus (not the least) saith thus, Lib. de causis Vrinar●m, c. 15. Such is the blockishness of some Physicians, as to be persuaded, women with Child make different Waters from them that are not; whereas the main difference is, that their Urines are more crude, than their own at another time, or others in Health: Hear in common, that it is like those that are troubled with Crudities: So that a Water of one with the greensickness, or with Child, may be like; thus far Roganus, Hear this good Women, that think your chamberpots contain more knowledge than yourselves, or than some of you would the world should know. I conclude these Authorities with the Example of Emericus, Doctor in Physic, and of the Chair at Vienna (mentioned by Doctor Hart, lib. c. 4. in his Anatomy of Urines, out of Cornarius) who found this belief of the people had tainted even a learned man, and his friend Rithamarus: who sending, or having his wife's Water to a Physician, that told him peremptorily his wife was with Child, he lessened his Esteem of this Emericus, because he thought no such matter, and was confident of it, till after preparation of Nurses, and other Necessaries, she dying, and on much persuasion dissected (at which Emericus was present) but found big with nothing but disappoinment of her Husband's preparations, and conviction of his Errors, which he ingenuously confessed then to this Doctor Emericus.  
Doctor Hart mentioneth another Gentlewoman's Water (not far from Northhampton) that was brought him, and was like a healthful young man's; but finding by circumstances it was a woman's, (not by the Water, he confesseth) he voteth her with Child, and got Credit by it, as it proved; but acknowledgeth it due more to chance than his skill, or any appearance in the Water. Innumerable were Instances of this Nature, but such is the sottishness of the common people, they will not stand out from believing a blind Waterologer (As I find in Forestus (de falso Vrinar. Judic: Lib. 2. c. 5. out of Euritius Cordus) Of a blind Jew richly arrayed sitting in his Chair, and giving peremptory Oracles on the Waters brought him (his Maid sitting by him, and suggesting divers things to him she got from the Patient) to the wonder of many Fools. And if you will believe the most of able Physicians in this matter, you will confess this blind Jew might see as much as any can see in it; without other Informations, for take it in its best information, and it signifieth nothing alone, without other signs, in regard (and let that Reason serve for all) one, and the same Water in Colour, Contents, and Substance, may signify divers things. In a kind of Neutrality of health, the Urine may be thin, pale, crude, and then can signify nothing but some erroneous Digestions: the same water may be made in a Fever, when Nature's Lamp is come almost to the Snuff; and Galen saith, such a one he never knew recover.  
Well, you have in some measure heard what the Ingenious can see in the Water; compare them now with the invisible appearances (as I may term them) that these Empirics (Male, or Female) make the people believe they can discern; and I leave it to you, to judge where the Cheat lieth: Take Forestus his own Character of them, Lib. 2. c. 3. What dare not these juggling Knaves babble in presence of the ignorant and unlearned people? If in giving their judgements, forsooth, they have not hit the nail on the head, then straight they have recourse to their lying Delusions of the simple Patient; pretending to see such things, as are in themselves contradictions to suppose: but because the Patient cannot confute, are by him believed; sometimes he telleth him the Stomach is fallen out of the place, and they will make no doubt to restore it again. Sometimes they tell them, (and all by the Water) they have little weals grown on the Liver, or stones in it as big as Reanes; or that it is wasted with venery, or drinking, or that the Brain is fallen close together, or that the Heart hath strange wheels, or bladders in it, 
— Risum teneatis Amici?  Laugh not but believe, good people, if you will take this for Poetry, not History, not for things done, but feigned. Take Forestus his Testimony, lib. 2. c. 3. A maid (saith he) bringing her Mistress' Water after some questions, told me her Mistress had had a Physician, who told her that her Liver wasted to the bigness of a Bean, but by his means it was growing again. But above others, a woman Physician (as the Fools term them) went farthest, persuading a Gentleman that his Liver was wasted (with his being an ill one, as to Wenching) and promised him to make him a new one; But right, or wrong, she got eighty Florins of him; whether the Ignorance or Impudence of the Sons and Daughters of the Father of Lies, be most, is hard to say; and whether madness, or folly give the greater tincture, to the Credulity of these simple Patients, the Representative of the People, under which number we shall find no small Fools, that in this matter of health, and life (not worth being wise for) are as simple as the simplest: do but hear what people have been persuaded to, and you will confess, the Credulity of the people out-runneth the impudent Lying of these water Oracles. When I was a Practitioner in Alcmare in Holland (saith my Author) being sent for to a Gentleman, there were some waters brought to me, among others, one by a woman, white, thin, transparent without Residence (all imperfectly) importing a Dropsy, demanding whether she had been long so, she told meyes, and she had been with a very famous Physician (as they called him.) This Rascal had told the poor woman, that she had a Tree growing in her belly (and had our Daphne had as strong an Imagination, and active, as she had belief, she had almost rooted in his Presence, and confirmed his words by Ovid's Metamorphosis) this Tree would kill her, he assured her, if his Potion did not spoil the growth of it, and all the Physicians in the World would do her no good. For his devilish Lie, and Potion, he had an Angel from this well- timbered Gentlewoman, to prevent her being sold to a Ship-Carpenter (as this Credulous Rib feared would be the end of her) But at last her Navel broke of itself, and the Tree was turned to water: But nothing is more common with Water-prophets, then to persuade people to things by their simplicity unrefutable: As that they are bewitched, and an evil tongue hath wronged them (if they would say, doth wrong them, it were truer) but they will under take to cure them: Why, if their Teeth do but ache, they cannot refute Mr. Doctor, but it is long of some evil tongue; or let them feel somewhat that troubleth them (that they know no more by what name to call, than this their Doctor) who therefore betaketh himself to such general Nicknames) if it go away, and they take but a little Syrup of Roses of them, they are as ready to give the Credit of the Cure to these Doctors, as their Impudence is ready to take it. Durst ever such Fellows obtrude such Impostures, if they did not see them take with people's easy Credulity? But then by Confederacy, what Tricks have these Pisse-phophets to cheat the people. Thus saith Forestus: an old Tr●t (that boasted of her Giftishnesse in Waterology) was wont to sit in her Chamber next the Street door, where she could here her Maid talk with the Patient, and overhear information enough for the Disease, and its Accidents; then must this Maid go to another corner of the house, and call her Mistress: but judge you whether she see the Disease, or hear it. But among others take that pleasant Story of those two Rogues in Dort, in the Low-Countries, related by the same Author, Lib. 2. c. 4. De falso Vrinarum Judicio. These Ramblers being at a low ebb in Cash, their bellies commenced Magistri Artium, Masters of Arts: and they set upon this Design. I will (saith the one to the other) be the Physician, and hang out an Urinal; thou shalt go to some drinking-house of greatest resort, and take occasion to extol this new Doctor for his Skill in Urines so far, that if divers men should make water in one Pot, he is able to tell you how many they were, and wager on it; but be sure thou give so many scores on the side of the Pot, as they be men that use it. The Project took, and he was cried up for the most famous Pisse-prophet ever heard of. Upon the like scores are people cheated into a belief the water can answer all questions. Forestus in chap. 5. of the same Book, had much ado to beat a woman off from believing he could tell her the Patiens Age by the water; for so a learned Physician told her, she said, that look how● many crosses were in the water, so many ten years the Patient had seen; until Forestus had told her there was never a cross in the water, and so her Husband was not ten years old: bid her put on her Spectacles and look, which when she did, and could see none, the Cause she perceived had failed her. The Clown in France would not let the Doctor alone, till he told him how many stairs (by the water) his Wife fell; he (out of the simplicity of the fellow, not water) having voted a fall the Maladies cause, the Doctor guessed some twelve, but being desired to look again, and plunged, was relieved by that Ingenium usual (Subitis Casibus) Wit at a dead lift, and asked him if there were all the water, and the Clown by good luck having spilt some, and confessing it, the Doctor told him the rest of the stairs were lost; which sendeth my Fellow home with wonder, and his mouth full of the Doctor's Praises: the Story is in the same Book, Chap. 5 but I will spend no more Ink against this Urine (as it is taken for an Oracle) Only wish people for their own good not to rate Physicians worth (either in ability, or honesty) for Tales out of the Urinal (which they might as well many times tell out of the Case) since there is not only Folly in believing them, but danger, and that with a witness, if they follow advise, or take Physic merely on the water's instruction. For which take one Story for all out of Forestus, lib. 3. c. 2. which doth handsomely vindicate Physicians, and acccuse Patients for their mischiefs they many times pull on their own heads: That when life is at Stake, will not afford to go to the charge of a Physicians visit, which Physicians of old counted absolutely necessary; what ever foolish and fordid Niggardlins' think in these days: doubtless the Writer of Ecclesiasticus was of another mind; he saith, 
Ecclesia cousin 1. 3 12. 1.  Give place to the Physician, for the Lord hath created him. Let him not go from thee, for thou hast need of him. That is not, let him not come at Thee, or send thy water and it will suffice, as Forestus descants on the place. But I return to the Story. A Miser in Delfe, in an intermitting Tertian, sent his Water to a Physician, otherwise able enough, who appointed him to purge, which he took in his fit, on which he fell into extremity; So as then he sent for another Physician from the Hague, who when he came, and hearing the sick man rail against the other Physician, desired to see the Bill, and liking it well, asked him whether he had been with him, or no; upon the Patients saying, no, this Can did and Ingenious Physician, smilingly replied, blame not your former Physician, nor his Physic, by him to good purpose appointed; but yourself for not taking it in the right time, which had he known fully your Condition (as by one visit he had better than by twenty Urinals) you had not erred in it, but had been better directed: With which Candid truth I seal up the gaping mouths of Admirers of Urine-prophets, or the slandering mouths of such as will not allow him for a Physician that seeth not Invisibles, or telleth not Impossibles, from this Deceiver the Urine; & I pass to the other qualifications of the people's Physician, which we will divide in Positive, and Negative; or if you will, into what will edify the people's expectation; and what it can spare in them.  
1. Their Positive Qualifications are precious ones (if examined) Talkative Ignorance, and brazen Impudence, which hath two fronts, its boasting one, and bold one. with the one they look back on strange feats and cures done by them, as hard to believe, as to perform; the other looketh forward, and for half in hand they will undertake Impossibles.  
1. Their Talkative Ignorance is a great setter off before the vulgar, if they can speak Oppilation and Obstruction of the Liver, or Spleen: Nay, if they misapply words (in themselves proper enough) never so nonsensically, they pass for fine Fellows; or if they can call a Paltis a cataplasm, obscuring common and ordinary things in terms of Art (which is all the use they make of such Terms) if they can, I say, go but so far, as to call the fit of an Ague, a Paroxysm, fits of the Mother, Hysterical fits, etc. my admiring Patient taketh him to be a great Schollard, able enough to suppose some that have more Books, or Degrees, so that his Nonsense be but fluent, and mixed with disparagement of the College, Graduated Doctors, or Book-learned Physicians, against which they bring in their High and mighty word Experience. O! their experience of this long standing is the only Abilities, cry they▪ Reason they call wrangling, or bookishness, (whereas it is well known on a Rational Scrutiny, that death is not more certain than that Proposition in Heurnius on Aphoris. Sect 1. 1. [Temerariae Experientiae finis certissima Mors] Death without question, is the event of immethodical Experience) yet this and such like discourse draweth out of their wondering Patients, I marry, Sir, you are in the right, you say very true, etc. and can you blame them, when they believe the largeness of their Experience, which they confirm by their second Qualification.  
2. Frontless Impudence, in its former part, or boasting of what they have done▪ If you will believe them, no Pitch-field ever slew, or wounded more than they have cured, and recovered: They have made death retreat, even when he hath assaulted furiously; and disappointed him of more Bits than Civil Wars have furnished him with for some space of years. They have even beckoned Souls back again, that have been some pretty part of their way from the Bodies. And this many (say they) can attest, and those no small ones; in several Countries, scarce a Court in Christendom, but they will slander with need of (and comfort by) their Help in some Disease or other: and the people believe all, take them for Traveled Physicians, when some of their Physic and Travel is much alike. They scarce know but a body may ride from Dover to Calais, for aught they know England may be walled round, and the Cinque Ports may be Sally Ports for aught they can tell; but our ordinary Patient cannot disprove their lying Chorography.  
2. But look on his other brazen Forehead, that looketh towards future undertake, and that is not one jot modester: For there is not a Disease Nature ever felt, but they have, or can cure, and will undertake with as much confidence, as if their recipes were mere Transcriptions from the Almightys fiats, for they will not only restore but create a new what is quite perished, as you have heard, new Livers, Lungs, Kidneys, etc. they will not doubt for somewhat in hand (always provided) Let Leases of Lives, of larger Date then Popish Indulgences; if you will believe them, you would take their Closets (Studies I cannot call them) to be Immortality Offices, or privy conveyances, to slip by death and that common appointment of all men, once to die. It is nothing with them, to undertake more than the modest Physician will promise, or the ablest can perform. Well, you have seen this people's Physician, quoad intra, what is in him? view him now [quo adextra] what he, is outwardly in the means he useth, and courses he taketh, to make good the Title of Doctor thrust upon him.  
1. First, for the means he useth, or his Shop (as I may term it) of Physic it hath as many Cheats in it as his Tongue, and yet [Populus vult decipi] the people love to be cheated. His Cauldron shall afford them a Catholic Syrup, or Drink, as general (and on as much reason compounded) as that same Jew's Emplastrum [de faeno (as he called it (made out of a Haycock; 
Cardan Med. mel. c. 8. 8.  for which he gave this Reason for the choice of such Materials, because there were all sorts of Plants mixed by Nature, and therefore sure there could not be a plaster for all intentions better. So these Physicians will have some Catholic Physic, which their Patients shall be sure to carry with them, what ever else they have: And this must be called [Arcanum] a Secret they will not discover.  
Then for the courses (Method they know none) they take in their Cures; how are they without rule? casual hits, misses, nothing more common with them then to begin at the wrong end of a Disease. Whereas Omnis curatio est vel canonica, vel coacta; as Hercules de Saxonia truly; all cure is either regular by Art, or irregular by constraint, it is all one to them; for most commonly Symptoms (though of no great-Importance) shall have their first Care: and indeed to these blind ignorant Patients, a cunning way of Insinuation; for on a little ease, they think the Cure begun, and what ever followeth they will call a Relapse, though they never set one foot forward truly to recovery. To bind presently in all sorts of Fluxes, is not more sad, than with them familiar: in Fevers, even Pestilential, they will satisfy the Patients thirst with cooling Juleps, be they never so improper for the Malignity Nature hath to struggle with, or unconcerning her assistance to resist. Cardan observed this Error when he delivered this Canon [modus medendi hujus morbi (Pestisscil.) permutandus, 
Meth. med. c. 39  naem calidis plus tollitur quam frigidis] and in their manner of cure how pertinaciously do they adhere to some customary course, without variation according to indication from Age, Sex, Nature of the Disease, and its motion Thus sometimes Eradicatives are omitted in the beginning requisite (as Cardan in cap. 15. of the former Book) as in violent motions of the matter, specially to the more noble parts; then how absurd to rest in Lenitives, as Cardan c. 14. ibid. Some places, saith one, customarily begin their Cures with Cassia; as at Venice, with Electuario lenitino, or de Sebesten, as at Ferrara, with Pills, Bowls, etc. the other extreme is irritare silentem morbum, as Heurnius saith, to give Physic (as they call it) where Diet might serve, or use strong, where gentle might serve; as excellently Heurnius [Frustra fatigant R●medijs aegros, qui victus Ratione Curari possunt] it is to no purpose to tyre Nature with unpleasing Remedies, when Diet might do the work. Now these busybodies go just contrary, rather than seem to do nothing, or not extort a Fee, or get something by their Physic, they will purge them right or wrong; far from Avicens tendernsse, who, it is said, wept when he prescribed a Purge. That being indeed true of Ayrerias [Nulla est ferme medicina quae non aliquam de viribus & partibus Corporis depraedatur] And in Preposterous Purges, much more is that true of Cardan, Meth. medend. c. 18. [Plus est quod adimitur eo Tempore ex virtute, quam materia. But what talk I of the wrong and cross courses of such Physician's practice, since it cannot be looked for, that these Empirical Amethodists should understand the order of Art, or the Art of order: how can they steer by the [Tutò, Citò, Jucundé] those three Sea marks guiding to the Haven of Healths, since they have neither the compass of Theory and Reason, or Rudder of experience (but broken and imperfect) without either of which, they must necessarily Shipwreck, or float in uncertainties. How can our People's Physician, that knoweth not one point in the compass, nor use of the Rudder, make a saving voyage, or steer, first by Tutò, that never adapteth his Remedies, or proportioneth them according to the age or constitution, but giveth a Child the quantity for a Potion, might serve it for a clyster, etc. If Nature slip this conflict with the Remedy (worse than the Disease) so; if not, why none could save them; that which they gave them hath done so many good; nay, they will not stick to say it never failed in any appointed to live; but their appointed time was come, which Art cannot go beyond, with such like put offs, for their Ignorance, or Rashness: and how can it be otherwise? since their Ignorance is as well in [Remedica] Medecines, as the Disease, or the Body. How ready are they to mistake their Guides, and read Opium, for Apium? Of which see more in Fuchsius de compositione Medicamentor. lib. 1. c. 4.  
Then for Citò, and speedy cure, they either cannot, or will not. Resolved upon the question so much must first be got out of the Patient, before they leave him. Then for Jucundè, pleasing or less distasteful; truly the Carter and Committee-man, must be fain to taste of the same Kettle: for variety of means their Art cannot, or Covetousness will not attempt. These and the like Imperfections, are the less wonder; if you look on what the people do not require in their Physician; which are next  
2. To be looked on: They require none of those things required by Hypocrates, in his Lex; Education even from youth. Natural Abilities advanced by Study, confirmed by experience, etc. No in this matter Pliny the Naturalist never writ a clearer Truth, Hâc solâ Artium evenit, quod Cuilibet se Medicum dicenti facile Credatur; cum sit periculum in nullo Mendacio majus; in this Art alone it cometh to pass, that any one but professing himself a Physician, is presently believed, though in nothing more is easy Credulity dangerous: Tell not them of Learning, Universities, or Degrees; slip but from any Profession some little while, and say it hath traveled, and it may pass for an able Physician: Or go but to any place where they are not known, and they may presently be styled Doctors. Never did people exact less time, or abilities for Professions, than they do for those that have to do with their Souls, or Bodies. Their Lawer, the older, the abler: the longer a Barrister, or at Inns of Court, the more Angels, and legs they shall have: but in the other two Professions, it is far otherwise. Let the Cobbler lay aside the Shoe-sole he is about, and he shall have the mending of their immortal Souls as soon entrusted with him as any grave Divine. Let the Tailor lay aside his Thimble, and but undertake to mend a stitch fallen in their Bodies, and they shall have money freer, and good words sooner than any Doctor of them all. Though men would not send their Kettle to a Carpenter, they will their Bodies: Nor though they would not send their Cart to mend to a Tinker, yet no Profession but shall have their Health to patch up: It is Lemnius his own words, [In exruendis Aedibus Architectum deligimus solertem, etc.] In other Professions (saith he) we seek the ablest; in building, the ablest Carpenter; in Navigation, the skilfullest Mariner, etc. [Curio in Morbis expugnandis, & sarciendà tuendaque Sanitate, trio●olares Circumforaneos & deliras Anus admittimus? quibus corpus nostrum trucidandum exponimus, etc. Lemnius, lib. 1. c. 17.] Why in removal of Diseases, in patching up our health, or preserving it, do we admit every worthless Quack, or doting old woman, or unconvicted Witch, etc. True is that of Pliny [Qui tunc fore Artes felices pronunciavit si de iis solum judicent ●asque tractent Artifices, earumque periti] It will never go well with Arts, till they are judged and handled only by the skilful, and judicious. If you would further see what Notes the people like for Physicians, read, and bless yourself, the Catalogue of excellent Qualifications Oberndorfius hath gathered together [Omnes qui sese falso Medici Titulo venditant, & insuper magno, funestoque Damno praxin exercent, Plerumque sunt sordida, & abjecta faex plebeculae, etc. detracta laruâ apparent Judaei scelerati, Christianorum sicarij, Monachi suae Professionis Desertores, sacrificuli, Parochi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc.] All that falsely usurp this Title of Physician, and practise it, to the sad cost of many; what are they but the Scum of the people, take off their Vizards, and underneath appear Wicked Jews, Murderers of Christians, Monks, abdicant of their orders, etc. Unlearned Chemists, conceited Paedagogues, dull Mechanics, Pragmatical Barbers, wand'ring Mountebancks, Cashiered Soldiers, indebted Tradesmen, Husbandmen that have been ill Husbands, Toothlesse-women, fuddling Gossips, and Chare-women, talkative Midwives, etc. In sum (saith he) Hominum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the scum of Mankind.  
So that Gonellas' Assertion to the marquis of Ferrara, was as truly asserted, as it was pleasantly demonstrated and related by Pontanus: it was thus. The Marquis ask Gonella, what profession He thought there were most of, in Ferrara; He answered; Physicians: knowest what thou sayest, saith the marquis, when thou knowest there are but three: but Gonella persisted in his Assertion even to a Wager, or forfeit. Next day counterfeiting (by going muffled) the Toothache, and standing in a public place, he heareth several Advisers, setteth down their Names, and Recipes, next day continuing so before the marquis himself, He had also his verdict what might do him good; after which he presenteth the marquis with a Catalogue of above three hundred Advisers, and his name in the Front; at sight of which, the marquis between blush and smile confessed he had lost.  
Thus far Lemnius out of Pentanus, but our times exceed Gonellas, the old Adages All are either Fools, or Physicians, is altered now from a Disjunctive, to a Conjunctive; for now every Fool is a Physician, if he can put the Ingredients of Po●tage but into form of a Bill, he is a learned Physician▪ and it is a rare secret, and most effectual Decoction. Their numbers are so increased▪ that I believe should there be any occasion of flinging up new works about the lines of communication, the company of cordwainers that were so many hundreds, would appear a Maniple, a handful, and make but a poor show in comparison of Practitioners of Physic, if they were enjoined to dig Trenches; indeed an employment, not much different from some of their business, any more than Grave making (which resembleth that Trenchmaking) and Grave-filling, at which their practice is pretty nimble.  
In this Nursery [Charlatanorum] of Charlatans', or Mountebanks (as Doctor Primrose justly calleth England) our division of the living is not so much into Physician, and Patient, as into well Physician, and sick Physician; it is no Paradox (such an Olla podrida are we grown to) to say, we cannot see Audience for Preachers, nor Patients for Physicians: Nor is it any wonder, since people require scarce any more qualifications, than to say, I have a Recipe that seldom faileth, and it hath done these and these Cures. Say you are a Physician, and hold in their esteem; pre●end but to experience, and no matter for reason: Nay, wear but a Doctor's Live●y, marry but a Chirurgeons widow, and the ones Service, and others Affinity, make you sufficient to know as much as their Relatives: but I turn my eye from the sore to the Chirurgeons, and those that should be Mend-alls, in the words and complaint of Fevinus [De Abusu Medicinae coercendo] for the cure of Physic itself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Micarum Fures plectuntur corpore, at hodie verorum Medicorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empiricis Manicularijs defertur. Grassatores, Sicarij, Latrones nec immerito capite mulctantur, sed Empiricorum carnificum caput civicà Coronà praecingitur; saeviens pestis qua fieri potest ratione a Regum, & Principum Aulis, & ab urbibus arcetur: veris autem Medicinae Pestibus liberrimi adit●s ad Reges, & urbès, etc. tolerante Senat●●, & connivente Rebup: quam miserabiles passim Lanienas sibi extruunt! which I will render in English, not for their sakes that should and may heal this Disease, in Policy, but for the stupid Generations sake that insensibly are abused, and the complaint of Fevinus I will make known to them, in sense nearest our purpose: it is this. That such as steal for bread are clapped in Irons; but now a days the Practice that alone belongeth to true Physicians, is manacled by Empyricks. Thiefs, and Murderers are justly punished with death, but these welcomed Murderers are in Authority and esteem with people. What care to keep the Plague from Court, or City? and the Plague of (the very Antidote) Physic, Quacking Mountebanks are admitted in the Bedchambers of great & small, compared with whom the Plague itself is Physic; and how large a shambles, and Butcherow (were they quartered near one the other) would such make? and all this connived at by the Senate and State itself. So far Fevinus; I wish the case had not been translated into England, before the Complaints came into England; but how unnatural and unsufferable this Toleration is, let Reason judge, which take in the most advantageous delivery of Poesy; and hear Persius' satire 5. 
Publica lex Hominum Naturaque continet hoc Fas, 
Persius' satire. 5.   
Vt teneat vetitos Inscitia deblis Actus,  
Diluis Helleborum, certus compescere puncto  
Nescius Examen? vetat hoc Natura Medendi.   
Take the sense without any loss, in that Originall-equalling Translator, Mr. Holiday. 
The Law of Man, and Nature doth deny  
Weak Ignorance the Privilege to try  
Forbidden things. 
Transl.  Dost thou mix Hellebore  
For a sick Patient, who ne'er tryd'st before  
To weight exactly to a Dram? The Art  
Of Physic bids thee not dare act this part.   
Most justly therefore might Camerarius in his Sylloge Memorabilium, Cent 1. §. 70. 
Beata ergò est ea Respublica (imò ea sola) in qua Istud Horatij verum.  
Navim agere Ignarus Navis timet, 
Horatius' Epist. lib. 1. Ep. 1.  Abrotanum Aegro  
Non audet, nisi qui didicit dare, quod Medicorum est  
Promittunt Medici; Tractant Fabrilia Fabri.   
That Commonwealth, yea that alone is happy, where that of Horace is true, lib. Epist. 2. 1. (thus near the sense.) 
The unskilful (more than Shipwreck) fears to guide  
A Ship, 
Transl.  to compound Physic the untried  
And simple dare not, Physics not for Fools  
To meddle with, each handle their own Tools.   
What Politics permitteth, or should in this case, hear Shopfius speak: [Ex legum Authoritate datur Redhibitio si quis fucum, etc.] Doth Law forbid a Fuller to meddle with dying? one Trade to encroach on another, be they never so near akin, (as I may say) and shall the practise of Physic alone he like the Spanish Trade, free for any? and if you will not punish them as Homicides, surely you that have the power will not endure Clippers of money. Such are these Physicians, as Forestus lib. 2. c. 3. wittily; only herein worse, saith he, they corrupt and deface Caesar's Image, but these the Image of God himself: the Mercenary Bandits (that will kill a man for twelve pence) in Italy may be of the same Corporation with these bold Homicides, only herein these latter outgo the former: They are hired by others, these by the Murdered People themselves; so that it is hard to say which are the greatest Murderers, the Patients, or the Physicians. To such kind of Quacks that Story in Agrippa may be well applied: when a great Contest in discourse had passed about the pre-eminence of the Lawyer, or Physician; one witty Arbitrator asked what was the order used at Executions, to have the Thief, or Executioner march first, answer being made, the Thief, he gave the pre-eminence to the Lawer, and appointed the Physician to follow, as the Executioner the Thief. But it is a blindness (generally) in People never cured, till the Grave dust is flung in their eyes; and from that Powder of Experience they too late find that their Judgements of a Physician were diseased (and that unto death) as well as their bodies, If you would hear more of this rare Physician and his Feats (for I am sick of him) inquire of sad Families, and merry Grave-makers, in a Churchyard Term.   

CHARACTER 3. The Valentian Doctor  
IS one that hath done his Exercises in Fees, or by some superior Fiat is created Doctor; but for the Participle Dectus (the Abilities requisite for the Profession) he may fling his new Worship's Cap at it: for he came to Doctor (it may be) per saltum, or say some years of Duncery spent in a Gown, never had any thing in him Magister Artium, but his belly; covetousness or necessity maketh him now turn Goldfinder. in a lesser volume (by how much close stools are less than those other Mines) that is Physician. He saw money might be got by the Profession, be he able or no; therefore his Degrees he is resolved to get: Doctor he will be, though but Doctor of Valentia: of whom the Italian Proverb saith, Doctor di Valenza, Longa Robba, Corta Scienza. So the Gown be long, no matter how short the Scholar. The two Elements of this Ape Doctor, (the Foil of deserving ones) are Pride, and Ignorance; by the 〈◊〉 he scorneth to join with any that writ● not Doctor, or is not of the College (though his understanding, or standing be above either in him) by the latter he often joineth with the Disease, contrary to the intention of Physic) to the patients becoming the Martyr of his Ignorance, and dying for the faith of his Abilities. He will talk little before the knowing Graduate, out of Ignorance, before the ungraduated Physician out of Pride; If to the patient alone, it is in a Language himself cannot construe, nor he would some should overhear. His Prescriptions are [Syllanae Proscriptiones] (as my Lord Bacon excellently) Sentences of death, rather than directories of Recovery, because made rather in set form, tedious and impertinent, more for show than propriety of application, to disease or Patient, to vary ex re nata, according to variety of occasion, is besides his Formulae Receptarum, Model of Receipts: He considereth not the parability, or Propriety of Medicines, it is not unusual with him to prescribe things out of use, or reach, or season, so his Bill may but make a show on the file, it mattereth not. He pretendeth to Magistralls, that none but his Apothecary and he must understand. He will put Nostrum, to Album Graecum (it may be he keepeth a Dog on purpose to make it, and then he may indeed) Pilulae de Tribus, or the like he wraps up in this blind Nostrum; and he, and his Apothecary must keep them for a Secret from the world (lest their Theft be betrayed) who together study all sordid ways, to keep the Nap on the Scarlet, and his Doctorship from being thread bear. Candid he is to no stranger, he will be sure to contradict Curtius; as Cardan relateth of one so called, a Physician in Venice, because he was a stranger, and practised amongst them, he was still crossed. If he prescribed hot Medicines, the other Physicians would prescribe cold, & omnia perturbabant, in all things they did thwart him: if the patient recovered, they cured him; but if he miscarried, Curtius killed him. Our Valentian Doctor is not more Laconic in his knowledge (as the Proverb before cited assureth us) than he is. He is like that Laco (in the Historian) in this peevish temper, of whom Tacitus saith, Consilij quamvis egregij quod non ipse afferret inimicus, & adversus peritos pervicax, Hist. 1. 10. p. 265. editione Lipsianâ. He was always an Enemy of the Counsel (though never so good) that he gave not himself; and an obstinate Crosser of men wiser than himself. A Disease in Physicians too common, as well as in Statesmen; as Doctor Primrose shall witness in his De Erroribus vulgi, c. 2. In genere autem notandum, majus impendere Aegrotantibus Periculum, ab omnibus profitentibus Medicinam, qui ea leviter imbuti, quam ab iis qui nihil omnino norunt: fiunt enim Audaces, Garruli, melioribus obganniunt, resistunt, atque illis sese praeferre aut saltem aequare gestiunt. More mischief cometh from such Smatterers in Physic, than those more ignorant, by reason they are more bold, talkative, and impertinently thwart the other, thereby endeavouring to equal or prefer themselves: And indeed our Valentian Doctors Credit is principally built on the disparagement of others: If he had been called sooner, or had the former Physician gone this, and this course, no doubt the Party might have recovered; the nature of the Disease being in itself benevolent enough, with such like easy practices of Detraction (which I count as easy as arrant railing, or profane wit, the two easiest labours of the Tongue or wit,) doth he patch up an esteem among the credulous vulgar. They are the very words of the forecited Author.  
Observavi in Quibusdam hanc malam consuetudinem, ut quicquid probe Medicus quisquam dixerit contradicunt, ut famam aliquam ex alieni nominis Ruina possint aucupari. I have seen many (saith he,) in a peevish crossenes, contradict what ever another Physician hath said, or done, though never so Judiciously Pertinent, that on the Ruins of another's Fame they might build their own. He is in short but an authorized Mountebank, that will speak good of none, and do good to few, and that by chance. Indeed I think this Ape Doctor might have done the Ape's cure, that the story mentioneth an Ape did on a Physician that lay dangerously sick, & his Servants, (perfect in that of the politic Directory, Tacit. Hist. 1. Servorum Manus subitis avidae, & tanquam apud Senem festinantes: catching what they could from no long continuing Master: The Ape in this imitating them, getteth the Doctor's Cap, and came and sat down by the Physician's bed side, which made him fall into such a Laughter, as broke his Aposteme, and occasioned his Recovery. Such a cure, and Magistral against Melancholy, beyond the Syrup, would our Dr. be no doubt in his Formalities: not but that degrees or fair trials of men's Abilities, are commendable Politic Shiboleths (discerning betwixt names, and things, that no ingenuous man will decline, or disparage, (whose, Conveniences suit with them.) but when such external Additions, are all the real worth; we may say of such A Formalist, claro sese deformat amictu, it is hard to say, whether the degree doth more misbecome him, or he dishonour it: for that of Dr. Primrose is an undeniable Truth; Non solet enim Qui hodie Doctor non est, cras scilicet futurus, repento fieri propterea doctior, neque si eo gradu abstineat, fiet Doctor quodam indoctior, lib. 1; the vulg. Erroribus c. 2. That is, He that writeth Dunce on the Vespers or Eve of his Doctorship, doth not alter his Copy, and go out Scholar next day, though he commence Dr. nor is he the less learned, or Physician, that hath not wrapped his Abilities in Scarlet, which often times blusheth for the ignorance it covereth, according to that following truth in the same Author, and Chapter. Plurimi enim Medicastri hujus Artis ignari, aut ea levissime imbuti, empto in peregrinis Academijs Doctoris Titulo, aut saltem, se emisse simulantes, & sic ementito Honore, superbi domum redeunt, ut Civium Sanguine, & Divitijs saginentur: which, because the fault is not confined to Italy, take in English; many Medicasters', pretenders to Physic, buy the degree of Doctor abroad, and come home and sell it for the Lives and Monies of their own Countrymen. As for the true Abilities of our Valentian Dr. his natural Philosophy, what is it, (if He have tasted of Aristotle's well,) but a Systeme of vulgar Errors? which he endeavoureth to maintain against all opposers, with a sic dicit Aristoteles, though, Quae dicit Aristoteles? what Aristotle doth say, is so much a question, that Charity must assign, which limb of the contradictions (frequent in his works,) is most probably his Opinion, and most agreeing to the sense of so great a Master of Reason as in himself, (Detraction itself will confess,) he was. But such Philosophers as this Dr. wrong an Author, (worthy of esteem for many things,) in misunderstanding his Truths; and themselves, in blindly believing the Errors of the compiler, or compiling of those works that bear his Name. It is I confess a Philosophy too general, to know too little, and believe too much: and for Physic, our Doctor is pertinaciously either a G●lenist, or Paracelsian, but he is too raw to be Judicious in either, too wilful to be a Conciliator▪ of both. His Ethics you have heard are Pride, and her Train, Scorn of others, admiring himself, and benefiting none, etc. so that here is scarce left any thing of this titular Motion, but the Cap and Scarlet, containing in THem, for Intellectuals, Ignorance; for Morals, Insolence.   

MEDICINAL Observations & Characters, Containing 1. A Live Dissection of Selfe-killers, and their Accessories, or of Patients and their Tenders. OR A Commentary on that part of Hypocrates his first Aphorism, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc.  
NOthing more ineffectualls, nothing more discredits the Physician's Endeavours, than the Patient's Practice, and Tenders unserviceableness. Hypocrates did well to front his axiomatical Experiments, (his book of Aphorisms) with the grand Miscarriages in the practice of most able Physicians, among which his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, including the Patient and attendants among the Causes, seemeth to arraign the Patient of self-destruction, and the loving discourtesy of Friends and Tenders, 
The Disease of Patient's Minds.  of kind hastening the Sick to a Cure of all diseases. They and the Diseases of the Minds of Patients continue, or end, their bodily infirmities too soon; to sum up which, would be a Nosography, and tract of Diseases as large as any, treating of the Body's distemper. I shall rank them therefore into such as precede, and go before they fall sick, such as accompany their sickness, and such as follow. Among the first are 1. Blindness in their Choice. 2. Lameness in their Address, by the first, to some Physicians they come too soon; by the latter they oft come to the best too late: the first may be one of those two Infirmities of sight, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dimness, that (contrary to that Patient of the grand Physician; 
Their Diseases preceding sickness.  that took Men for Trees,) taketh Trees for Men, or else-Heel makers, Carpenters, or such wooden Practitioners would never be taken for Physicians.  
2. The other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby they see afar off, but not at hand; So do men discern I know not what fitness in men that come from far, but in our own Countrymen they can see nothing but what is ordinary, in both proceeding from false principles of Judgement, and choice; and that either from themselves, or others.  

The●r Causes.  1. To themselves, novelty, and boasting are set up as great Arguments of Abilities.  
First, for Novelty; New-come is the only welcome to his Fancy: give him any that come but last Tide from Gravesend, come but now over in the Packet Boat, that hath but English enough to write, Me cure all these Diseases, par la Grace de God; Our Patient's head acheth presently, and he maketh all the haste home to piss, to send it to this All-Things (because nothing he can understand) who cured him, he saith, next under God; of that our Physicians were fain to fling their Caps at, and so soon, that he had not time to know the Disease, before it was cured. Whether this famous man keep to private practice, or mount, he taketh it ill of any of his Friends that will not be sick on purpose to send to him. O what a rare Country were this Island (cryeth he presently) if it had but as good Physicians as Remedies. He seeth none of his own Countrymen to be compared to your traveled outlandish man, who maketh nothing (to show his skill in curing of a Disease) to procure it on himself first, be it even the A La mode Pocks; and because People shall believe his Abilities, he can bring good witness he hath cured it twice, or thrice on himself. And who would not put his life in such a man's hands? especially if you knew what he hath done.  
2. And that it is the second false Principle, his easy credulity of brags, that take much with such easy Souls, that will believe him faster than he can lie, he will believe he cured the Emperor of A fistula, the King of France, of the evil; and that his Holiness hath not had a stool but by a Clyster by him administered, for whole months together. He doth verily think death is afraid of him, and sickness shuneth him where ever he cometh. He wondereth that Hippocras, or Gallon (ay, or Parcelsus either) be so much in, or among men's Books, and in so much credit with Gentlemen, and thinketh it merely unacquaintance with this rare Adventurer; that not only hath done more than modest Physicians will speak of, but will do more than Nature, or Sickness can puzzle him with.  
But then those Principles of choice that come by contagion are as bad. Our Patient it may be will not trust to his own Judgement in choice of his Physician; but the matter is little mended, for it may be he is as competent a Judge as my Cousin, or Ant, that told him of such a famous man, or than (the Oracle of Censure) such a good woman, yet pray let him hearken to her story. O, Sir! yonder is a man lately come (though it may be she have had forty Groats returned her (when she hath brought a Water to him) for to be perfect in her following Lecture) that I never knew his fellow (and I have carried Urinals this thirty years) She of her own knowledge knew of a Maid had like to have been with Child, had not he discerned her inclinations a little before in her water (and believe me, he that is a rare Waterologer, is no ordinary Coxcomb) he will tell us as much by a man's Water, as others by a Scheme of his Nativity; all the Diseases he hath had, and shall have, and that in his Fortunes as well as his Body: he can tell what Trade he is of by his working-days Water, and if he see his sabbath-days water, he will tell you what Religion he is of; but for a woman (known, or unknown) with Child, let not her send her Water to him, that would not have it known; he can tell whether the Father would have his name known, and for a need name it without saying Parish.  
Then for Diseases, he might wish his skill less, for he looseth many a Fee (for Visits) in regard he knoweth as much, and can prescribe to as much purpose, on sight of the Water, as without it, or on a Visit: He will tell you what Tooth it is that acheth, and for the place of the Disease, whether the Apoplexy of the Patient lie in the knee, or armpit, or any other part of the Body, within, or without: you would bless yourself to hear how skilful he is in that, the best Physicians are but little knowing in: he could almost make you an Almanac of your Diseases for the time to come of your life; when, what, where, and how they will take you, unless prevented; nay, he findeth out more in it, than any yet ever found in the Water. The Anatomy of man's body, parts, and use, he can teach by the Urine. Whether the Liver lie on the right side (as they call it) and Spleen on the other; whether the Kidneys be followed or single, and how many Hearts most men have (believe me, skill indeed) with such wonders, their Books speak not a word of. If I lay a dying, no man should be my Physician but Him: and can one, after all this, think you, find in his heart to send to any of the College, & one of these booklearn●d and Schollard-Doctors?  
But there is a more subtle contagion, that maketh a wiser sort (especially in their own conceit) misjudge; and that is blind success (else some Coaches would not be seen at some doors.) If any (whose practice in Physic is nothing but the Country dance, called Hit or Miss) hath cured some old grief (as they think) that was just now taking its leave, and by some slow Energy and virtue of a former course, just now thrust out of doors: even they that should be wiser, never examine what method or course hath been taken by the former or latter, but looketh on the departure of the Disease as routed by the daring undertake of the last comer; which if true, if done immethodically, is no more a rule for curing the same again (much less all other Diseases) than one Swallow bringeth a Summer, or can any more promise success again, than a blind man shooting at random can promise to hit the same place twice: Would men put on their considering caps (they might sooner put off their sick caps) and did but know (as Ingenious Physicians do) what a dangerous Syllogism mere experiments make, he would confess, that from having cured the same man, in the same case, by the same means, cannot be drawn argument or direction sufficient for the future, since the very time may so alter a man, that there must be variation allowed in the Remedy, for alteration of temper and constitution; nay, in the same Disease, what in the beginning may be remedy, in the state and vigour may be poison, and the same Potion that in its due place administered, may do the Patient good, in a wrong, may do the Heir or Executors good.  
He that setteth up upon no score but some Book of Receipts (experimented in some general mortality, where only their Hits, and not their Misses are observed) may make an excellent Physician for men condemned, bad Wives, Elder Brothers, tough Predecessors (in Offices or Means) all which are condemned in the wishes of their concerners, since that is true of Damascenus, Operari ex libris, absque cognition & solerti ingenio periculosum est: and for them that on bare and blind success make choice of such; none can wish them worse than their dear bought experience, or advise them better than to send first to the Parson, before to this Physician (indeed not unfit (according to an Institution of the Cannon Law, first to send to the Priest) if always observed.) And pray let the Scrivener come along (with that Sanicida Pensioner to the Sexton) only leave out that clause in the Will, Being in my right mind and perfect senses, etc. Or take that counsel, Ecclesiasticus 38. 11. Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flower: and make a fat offering, as not being: (As a dead man, saith the Margin.) And now abide the test of thy famous Physician's Recipe taken out of some Wormeaten Book, and with him as Catholic as the Roman Religion, or universal Medicine, and which hath without doubt (for some Generations) raised and kept up the price of black Cloth, and done Drapers, Parsons, and Sextons more good than the sick (but confident) submitters of themselves to this Empyricks cast of the die; for to no other can I liken or call such practice, or afford them any other name than Zandainelo's, with whose History (as their Character) I shall conclude the blindness of Patients. He was a famous Spanish Physician, to which Fame he thus arrived. He had all ordinary Diseases in one Paper, and Purges, Simples, and other Drugs in another: after he had visited any man, and felt his pulse, etc. He never desired they should tell him what they ailed, or where their pain lay; & prescribe nothing in the Patient's House, saying, Physicians should first study, and then prescribe: (this was spoke like neither Knave, or Foole●) and coming upon the paper of Infirmities, he let fall a die, and how many the chance was, so many Diseases the party had, but principally that whereon the die fell: the same he did on the paper where the remedies were, and prescribed that which the Die lighted on to be taken so many times as spots on the chance: if the sick were pained in the Head, he would discourse them into a persuasion it were in their Hand or Toe; he was very fortunate, and so famous; but on his death bed he confessed his course, with this Apology, Porque el dexaba en las Manos de Dios, etc. He left it to God and Fortune, to know the Disease and Remedy, whereas through Malice or Ignorance, others were the Death of many men.  

2d. Fault preceding.  But to come to the second preceding Fault of Patients, and that is Lameness of Address, the Physician is the last or late sent to, after trying this Body's Mithridate, that body's Cowslip water, another's Dragon water (with which they will do more Feats than St. George himself) another's Plaster for the Wrists, and when all will not do, than Mr. Doctor must be sent for, or it may be, (which is bad enough) they have tried nothing but what Nature can do, and after Days for Phlebotomy, or any requisite Purgation are past; and cold sweats begin to fright them, O then look out for some help: and so many times the Physician cometh so late, as but to share with the Patient in the Infamy of his Miscarriage, whom he beholdeth with his facies Hippocratica, his dead looks, enough to fright Physician, and Friends; he looketh (it may be) as if his Funeral Sermon were preached, and his four days in the Grave past, and the Doctor sent for, not so much to a Cure, as to try his skill in ante-dating resurrections: or if not quite so bad, yet it is so late, as little strength is left in Nature to actuate and assist the working of Remedys: but to proceed to the Diseases of Patients in their Sickness, but beside it, which is a vertigo, an inconstant demeanour.  

2 d. And now the Doctor is come, In their sickness.  let us see his entertainment: why it is with, welcome Sir. I made bold to trouble you: which I had done sooner, but that I thought it would have wore away: or at least my Neighbours Surfeit water (that hath done many good) might have saved any further trouble: and now the Doctor beginneth to be the Patient, such Trials of Patience do salute Him.  
1. Some would only know, whether he thinketh they shall withstand it or no. I would be loath, saith one, to Physic it too much. I hope it is but a cold, if I could but sweat or sleep, I doubt not but I shall do well.  
2. A second he would willingly take somewhat, but nothing but what is comfortable and you must not deny Him to make him sleep: he always, when he hath been ill, found nothing did Him so much good as Rest.  
Talk to him of any Vomit, or Purge, alas his Body is too weak, he never took any sick Physic in his life: and humbly conceiveth this no fit time to begin: and a Clyster, no though he die for it, he cannot think of it: if the Doctor will have patience, (as he must) the Patient wanteth but Pen and Ink, and he will prescribe his Physic, which at last must be some Cordial or strengthening (the Ludden of Them all,) what think you Sir of your what-sha' come Water and Diascord, sure it could not be amiss: by this time the Doctor's Trade is taken out of his hands, if he will underwrite his Patient's Bill, he may; if not, the Patient is sorry he troubled him, if he find any need of taking any thing else, he will send to him, he would willingly try a day or two further: and so paying his Patient, (the Doctor) a Fee (and well he deserveth for suffering by him, if not for doing any thing for him) and so farewell Master Doctor.  
3. A third, and most hopeful promiseth he will do any thing appointed, and nothing thing forbid but is constant to neither any course of Physic nor his Physician: whose Back is no sooner turned, or at least a Vomit or Purge taken, but he is weary of Physic, and welcome that Neighbour that balleth in his Ears, come, come, fall me to Kitchen Physic. I was just as you are, I never mended, till the Cook was my Physician. Well▪ the next visit, the Physician his welcome is colder, and then; Sir I took your Physic, but I find no benefit by it: I shall desire to refer myself to God, and strength of nature: I shall wait till my change come, to life or death; though indeed it is but his inconstancy waiteth the change of his Physician; and pretty tolerable that, if so well: it is oft the change of Physician for some Woman, either with too few Teeth, or too much tongue. Some good Neighbour that prideth it in charitable kill Folks. A complaint of Andreas Dudith in Schaltz. Ep. medicinales, Ep. 26. p. 32. Vetulae triobolares, quaedam etiam Matronae illustres in Polonia Medicinam faciunt plerumque stillatitijs suis quibusdam liquoribus, & Pulveribus, quibus si nihil proficitur, ut plerumque fit, ad medicos deferuntur, etc. That they may be accounted some body, and Do-goods; or pray send his Water to Burford, Darking, or Rigate, if that good neighbour have not so much skill, as good meaning; if not, try some men, so they be not Graduates (unless in some Nurse's Favour) and have no more Books than Doublets, nor Doublets than backs; no matter how obscure, or beggarly, if my Ant, or Kinswoman commended him, for what good (she was told by one that was told) he did to one in a sad condition, with a plain easy Medicine (too dear bought for the fetching) 'tis somewhat hot indeed in working, but fine, and cool in Operation.  
Well, this Panacea, this mend-all Medicine is taken, but now if it do not hit, and my Gentleman miscarry, how good are they to Ignorance! (that are ready enough to slander the rational Physician) and take off all blame, with, alas his time was come, I am sure this would have done good if any thing: but at the approach of whom must this Coarse bleed? or may not Melancthon (if he were Coroner) file the Patient on his Bill of selfe-executioners, according to his Rule, Qui barbara immanitate, & deploranda jnscitia contemnunt Praecepta sanitatis, Mortem & morbos ultro accersunt, Lib. de anima: Those that through their own barbarous ignorance contemn right courses to health do bring diseases and death upon themselves: and whence doth this wayward inconstancy come, but from ignorance, that periodical Diseases must have their times like Tides, and the fault is neither in the Physic or Physician, if nature be not as nimble as their wishes or hopes. And then for chronical Diseases of long continuance, how do they (by changing Physicians or Remedies unadvisedly) but begin a new Game, only the channel of their Fees a little diverted, but the current of Humours neither diverted nor drained: more patient under a course they would be, if they allowed Diseases their foot pace departure: which the French Proverb alloweth, Maladies (say they) viennent au cheval, retornent a pied, Sickness posteth to us, but crawleth from us: happy it were for Patients, honourable for Physician's success of their labours, if men would but truly deserve the name of Patients, when sickness is on them, if they would take counsel timely, and obey it patiently.  
Mercurialis complaineth in his Observations of the contrary, specially Melancholy men, qui plerumque Medicis molesti ut alia aliis adjungant, Consil. 53. Melancholy men are most troublesome to their Physicians, to have the course of their Physic changed. Nay, iis proprium, etc. saith Crato: Consil: 186. If things fall not out to their mind, and they have no present ease, it is the property of some, chiefly Melancholy men, saith he, to seek another, and another, and twenty one after another; all which promise cure, but perform confirmation of the Infirmity. And Janus Damascenus his Rule might somewhat allay the itch of changing Physicians. Qui plurimos consulit Medicos, plerumque in Errorem Singulorum cadit, He that consults with several Physicians, smarteth under the errors of each. And against change of Medicines (but on advise) harken to Montanus his Counsel, 31. Dum ad varia se conferunt, nullo prosunt, While they try all, they profit by none: What Herodotus saith of the Babylonians, (and some of other Nations) that when any was sick they brought him into the Marketplace, every one communicating his Experiment, thereafter the Patient regulated his cure) is familiar with us. Every Visitant is become a Physician; one that scarce knew any, but Crop-sicknesse, cryeth, no such Apothecary's Shop as the Sack-shop; Temperance he c●unteth a Consumption, and sober sleeps Introducters into Melancholy: No Disease but thirst, he saith, & no Recovery but quenching it. But I leave this Physician to a recanting Fever. Another he adviseth; take some Pills, and after that a Carduus Posset (or some two, or three things he hath taken) and I will warrant you. But above all, cometh me one with the worst advice of all; give him comfortable things, feed him with some Chicken, or Rabbits; let him eat what his Stomach serveth him for: he will not allow his Fever one fasting day, though it have almost made Ember week in his Vitals, & Naturals; & though as strictly commanded by Hypocrates, as ever Council commanded Lent, or Saints Eves to be observed. And too general is this loving mischief, of turning plain Fevers or Distempers into Surfeits; while according to the known reason they distract Nature, a Pepasmo ad Pepsin, from concocting of the matter of the Disease, to the digestion of these Juscula charitatis, slops of good will. Should a Patient be bound to give all his Advisers a Fee, he must quickly be removed (though an Alderman) to the Hospital, there to be sick sub forma Pauperis. I know no true reason of the length, or dodging of some Diseases (and chiefly Agues) than the inconstant harkening to (and use of) any remedy taught them: No that golden Rule of Montanus might save silver in their Purses, and easier renew the Lease of men's lives; were it embraced, and followed: it is in his 31. Counsel, for a noble Matron. Si curari vult, indigebit, diuturnâ Perseverantiâ & pertinaci Patientia● obediendo fidelibus Medicorum Consilijs, etc. If she will be cured, she must have lasting Perseverance, 
3dly. Patient's Disease after sickness.  pertinacious Patience, and obedience to the faithful advices of Physicians, etc. But I pass to the Disease of their Recovery, the Gout in their hands, that Marshal found in a Client. 

Litigat, & Podagra Diodorus, Flacce, laborat,  
Sed nil Patrono porrigit, haec chiragra est.   

No Fees for's Law? Diodorus Gout  
More lieth in his hands than feet, no doubt.    
And now our Patient hath gone through all his own cross Purposes, and Mis-behaviours, yet is of the mending hand (no, in his Body, I would say) for his Gratitude sickneth) all the ill humours of his body ad manus amandantur (as they term it) run into his hands; where such a Gout settleth, he cannot reach the Physician his hand (if you would never so fain) and such a costiveness hath seized his Purse, nothing but a Tax, and Suffimigium, or smell of Match (a strange course for costiveness) can loosen it, much less the Spirit of Gratitude (some drops whereof, all Chemistry can scarce promise us) And now methinks I hear the Parrot change his note, from a hundred pounds for a Boat, to give the Knave a Groat: and whereas at beginning, it may be twelve pence was little enough for casting the Water; now a few of them are too much for the cure. Which sordid Ingratitude is maintained by a worse (for this may fall upon Inabilities, but (that which the poorest may afford) they are now niggardly of good words) and a malevolent Palsy of their Tongues must make good this Gout of their hands; for what is their language now? but slandering all the Physician's care, by fathering the Cure on some other; if it be but a Neighbours Jelly of Hartshorn, or some comfortable Mess of somewhat or other they last took; what ease they found? it did them more good than all the Physic they had from the Doctor, or Apothecaries. How did a little Viol of the Syrup of Clove Gilly-flowres that I had from Mrs. such a one, how it refreshed me! I might have saved money in my Purse, and have been sooner well (for aught I know) had I harkened to my friends that bid me not meddle with these Doctors: But suppose he was obedient, and pretty orderly▪ and took little, or nothing but by the Doctor's directions; why then either he was quickly well, (which is worth double Praise, though not Fees) or longer under the Doctor's hands. What work doth the Sophistry of Ingratitude make with this Dilemma? If quickly well, it was but a small matter to do, or a small matter did it, scarce worth speaking of (much less paying for) if longer, he doubteth he took too much Physic; he might have been better if he had given over sooner. Nay (which is the loudest lie of all) some are not backward to impute their Recovery, to leaving off: a fine compendious way of thanking the Doctor's care, if not an Atheistical slighting of Medicines appointed by the Grand Physician, God himself, Ecclesiasticus▪ 38. 4. The short, and long is now no sight so unpleasing as their unsatisfied Doctor; his feet are cloven now, according to the Epigrammatist, 

Praemia cum poscit Medicus; vade Satan.  
Doctor's ill Angels are, that Golden Ask.    
When they are brought at last to some satisfaction, to Doctors and Apothecaries: What strange Topick, and Argument for Abatement do they use? that they never mention to Mercer, Brewer, Butcher; etc. I am a poor man, Sir, and have a charge of Children; persuasives the Chandler, and Alehouse would be deaf to. Nay, the length of the sickness (which implieth the longer attendance, and pains of Doctor, and Apothecary) shall be urged. I have been at great Expenses several ways in my sickness, and loss of time, etc. Such crosse-graind reasoning hath Ingratitude. They never use any of this stuff to their Sowgelder, or Farrier; only every penny bestowed on their own health they count lost, and flung away, and pray give the Doctor (thus used by your unworthiness) leave to think so too; and give him leave to repent the Cure, as having injured the World, in longer cumbering the ground with such cattle, though good man he is to be excused; without he should go to a Figureflinger, and know before hand how the Patient would behave himself after the Cure: he cannot tell it by the water (it were the best discovery the Water could afford) or his Charity blindeth him so (if it be to be discerned there (that he cannot believe such baseness under the visage of a man. And so I leave the Doctor sicker than the Patient, with the smell of Carcase and Carrion Gratitude: and I pass to the Accessories of this Manslaughter, 
Tenders Faults.  the Tenders (or Nurses, call them what you please) and their Faults. I doubt not but Hypocrates was wont to find sometimes his Patient's Window full of Cawdle-cups, or Porringers, or some Scraps of forbidden Chicken, Rabbits, or the like courteous mischiefs (out of their due time) which made him add this, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, attendants to the Aphorism of Indemnity, (as I may term it, for it saveth from blame, the honest and rational Endeavours of a Physician) for he found such Tenders that more loved their good Master, than sound Master; that is, that would humour him, so long as thereby they could keep him good to them, though mischievous to themselves: for what is all the care out of the Patient's Chamber, in the Apothecary's Shop, or Doctor's Study, if Errors be committed there, that may undo more in an hour, than can be set up again in a seven day's circuit? If their good Master will have cold Beer, he shall; alas what would you have him perish for thirst? and a little can do him no harm: If he will eat, they are glad to hear his Stomach is come to him; what will you starve him? he is now taking his leave of sickness, or Physic, now he can eat again: But the sad consequences Physicians know, and I leave to Patients sad experience, their best Eye-water.  
A second fault is to conceal the Faults, or Transgressions through the Patient's wilfulness, or some Visitant Practitioners Persuasions. Joan cometh it may be with somewhat in a Glass (under her Apron) that did her Husband good, when the Doctors had given him over (or rather he them) pray drink this, it can do no hurt, if it do no good (and a hundred to one but Popy-water (if not Syrup) is somewhat in it) Well, it may be when the Doctor cometh again, he findeth in his Patient some pretty Bedlam looks (if not tricks, after this preposterous Opiate) and nothing must be known what was done; they cannot tell what it should be without his want of sleep, or some Cold taken without their knowledge. And judge you, how men's lives are dallied with.  
To conclude, through the default of Physicians, the Theory of Physic is for the most part Conjecture, or Controversy, through the default of Patients, the practice is but Lottery; and that at both ends, either to get handsomely in, or crediblely out of: For the first Fortune, or (that which is as blind and unconstant) Opinio vulgi, Opinion of the vulgar, dispenceth Prizes to Ignorance, and Impudence; were it not so, a corner of a Street would not have more Patients than the best Physicians Hall. And any kind of fellow on two planks, and three Hoghsheads (as empty as his own) would not so easily cheat that Creature, quod vult decipi, that will be cozened (or it shall go hard) the common People: Nor would broken French or Italian, in a disguised Englishmans mouth (or broken English in an Outlandish man's) be more persuasive than Latin, or Greek, I, or the sobrest sense in their Mother Tongue; though from one, whose vigils for public good, and health have brought him low, that hath almost made himself a Sceleton, to preserve others from being an Anatomy; every drop from whose Pen is an extract from the Counsels of Kings, and Emperor's Physicians, Experience of former Centuries, and Improvements of their own. Yet such is the Lottery of entrance into Practice, that Fame, or some accidental Cure, must have a greater influence on his lift into Employment, than solid Merit: And then for the lottery, and hazards in getting out of any particular Employment, the mentioned Miscarriages in my former Discourse confirmeth. Against the first let the ingenuous Physician Antidote himself with that rational verity, A piu tristi Porci le meglior Pere, the sorriest Hog oft lighteth on the best Pear. But above all Recipe Ecclesiastes 9 11. and I will secure him proof against all disturbance at the blind Praeteritions and regardlessness of Fortune, or the Purblind Vulgar: the Receipt above mentioned is thus made up. I returned, and saw under the Sun, that the Race is not to the swift, nor the Battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet Riches to men of understanding, nor yet Favour to men of skill, but Time, and Chance happeneth to them all.  
Against the last if possible get that L●crensian Law enacted, which Aelian mentioneth in his various History, Lib. 2. 37. That they that drank Wine in their sickness, without the Physician's Prescription, were to die for it, though they recovered; or (if it must still be lawful for people to dispose of their lives according to their Mother-wit) get a nil conscire Sibi, a discharge from the Court of Conscience; that he neither winked at his Patient's Errors, or through Supine Drowsiness slipped into any himself, to the making of his Prescriptions, for life, and health as dreadful (as my Lord Bacon wittily) as Proscriptiones Syllanae, Sylla's Proscriptions to certain and speedy death. This doing, there will be less fear of the Courses bleeding, if he be invited to the Funeral, than at the following of some of the Mourners, whom we leave with the Coarse itself, for the Crowner to give in his Verdict of, and to answer for the Manslaughter, at ●east (if not worse) fearing they are never like to hear not guilty pronounced for them; but rather the largeness of the Bills of Mortality, filled on the score of them and such as they are. And now the Dissection is done, I will wash my hands in the Laver of Charity, with some good wishes for such, as scarce can wish well for themselves. I wish them mens sana in Corpore insano, Sound Judgements (in unsound Bodies) ● to guide their choice of their Aesculapius, but wish them a settled dislike of his Sister Circe's; by whom the Poets meant old women with more Receipts than hairs; or (which it may be are most) years, whom they signified, together with the Rabble of cunning woman, good woman, etc. (they call them that spend their Husbands I know not what, in Syrupes waters, and Salves (besides herbals) to set up the charitable Trade of Widdow-making, and Orphan-making. I say, when they made this Circe's Aesculapius his Sister, they intimated lately that the Creatures above mentioned, were Physicians Rivals in all Ages (it is my Lord Bacon's own Observation, Lib. 4. de Augmentat. Scientiarum. I wish him in the next place, nimbleness in his Recourse to help, but as much Slowness to groundless Change: This doing he may live out the days of his appointed time. At which, Patient, and Physic must make a stand, and where I must leave him, since even my wishes cannot bring him one step further.   

Learning's Apology.  
IN the shape of a Creature without Reason, the Tempter tempted us to Knowledge: In the shape of an Angel of Light, he would now bring in Darkness: At first the Liar told us we knew not enough; now he would persuade us we know too much: He would (nay did) insinuate in our first Parents undoing subtlety; now to their Children endeavoureth to commend a self-betraying innocence of the Dove, sequestered from (and therefore liable to) the subtlety of the Serpent: He is still endeavouring to bring Goodness and Piety into scorn with Learned men, or Learning into contempt with Good men. And since he first divorced knowledge and practice in our first Parents, he is loath they should ever marry again: in order to which design, how would he fain persuade men, Zion and College were profanely▪ coupled? and that the Jerusalem of God knew no such Building; no Universities necessary in new Canaan, where all the Lords people are Prophets: a consequence I confess true, were the Antecedent so, which I think sober Reason is not to believe was ever purposed should be, since such an universality of Prophesying would make it useless, being there would be none to be instructed. You may take away the pews, where all are Pulpitarians.  
But I shall contract that somewhat (a Discourse of this nature admitteth) that may be said in the defence of Learning, into these two inquiries: First, who and what have been against it: then who and what for it.  
The first place I find Learned men slighted in, was a Court indeed, but such a one whose Religion was Idolatry, and knowledge darkness: grosser then that, they felt (the Plague of their hearts and understandings contending with, and exceeding far the plague of their eyes) in this Court: the chief Enemy was a Dipper, Pharaoh (the first and last of Kings that were so, as the Red Sea can witness) he could not away with Moses skilled in all the Learning of the Egyptians, nor with eloquent Aaron; it is like his quarrel was, They were Seducers of the people, Incendiaries, Mutineers, Factious, with such like cavils ignorance hath invented against ability of Parts, or any pre-eminence in knowledge.  
A second famous Leader under the Prince of Darkness (whose quarrel no doubt this is) and opposer of any light Truth might receive, but from Heavens Bonfires (the Faggots of Martyrs) was Julian the Apostate, who outwitted all the persecutors of Christians, in shutting up the Schools of humane Literature from them, and banishing them the Universities; he knew there was no such Island to banish them to, as that of Silly; matriculate, or rather Garrison, Truth's Champions, in Dunce Tew, and he feared not the conviction of his own Apostasy, or of the Dotages of Paganism.  
To make up a third Officer in this Brigade, pray let that Pope be Listed, that made it a capital Crime and Heresy, so much as to name, in jest or earnest, the word Academia, University: it was Paul the second, that hearing his Uncle Eugenius was chosen Pope, changed his profession of Merchant, offered at Learning, but being dull, and of incurable blockishness (saith my Author) he became a hater of Virtue, and Learning, yet after arrived to the Popedom; by this triplicity of Enemies to Learning, we may guess its opposition proceedeth from any Spirit▪ but that third Person in the Sacred Trinity: one of whose Gifts (to say truth) it is; even but to construe Sense; For from that Cloven Tongue, descendeth the Gift of Languages, which to learning is but as the Porch to the Building: examining the kinds of its Enemies. They appear to be blind Zeal, mistaken Policy, or rustic Ignorance (so justly to be called even in the gentilest Contemner of it) what they are, and say, I shall present together.  
1. Among such as would persuade the world, Religion were too pure to mix with the Gentilism of Learning. The Heretic (guilty and conscientious to himself of Refutability) taketh place first. Remove the Smiths out of Israel, and fear never a Malleus Haereticorum, Hammer to break in pieces the Forgeries of Error, which then flourisheth, when Knowledge and Arts wither.  
2. A second sort of them, are the Impotent, or Lazy; such as cannot or will not reach at the Abilities of others, and therefore would have a level in Qualifications for preferment, or employment, and all because themselves can go no further▪ than such Orators (Quintilian at the end of Tacitus speaketh of) Equidem fatebor me in Quibusdam Antiquorum vix Risum, in Quibusdam vix Somnum tenere. When I read some▪ I can scarce forbear Laughter; when others▪ sleep. Or that in Horace de Arte Poetica, 
— Male si mandata loqueris,  
Aut dormitabo, aut ridebo.—  Their Storehouse holdeth forth nothing but one of those two Simples, Opium, or Apium Risus (as the Botanists call a Plant.) They bring their Auditors to that pass, they can scarce hold either their sides in, or eyes up; and whatsoever is not according to this Directory of dulness, is Popish, or Heathenish Learning. A sober Scholar (that maketh Hagar know her duty, and not o'retop her Mistress) that maketh his Learning serve his Religion is well used, if he scape with one of these Appellations. If any discourse happen in honour of Learning, presently they fall on that common place, how much mischief it may do without Grace (which none denyeth but the Atheist) and because it may do hurt, it shall by their consent do no good. If a man clothe his discourse in a Language that is not second hand English, or but one degree above the offensiveness of Caterwauling, why he is affected; if he preach so, he preacheth himself: they are rags of the Whore of Babylon, etc. As if there were no difference between speaking to a Congregation, and a Teem. Nay, I believe Banks his Horse was taught in better language, than some would have christian's taught. I know not how it cometh to pass, but many speak to God as they would not speak to men; and preach to men in courser phrase, than they would sell their Wares. Were some men's Petitions to men, as non-sensicall as their Prayers to God, they would need no other insurance of their denial than the reading them; and scorn with laughter, would be their best Entertainment. Some Justices of Peace are preached to, with more Impertinence, than their patience would endure from a Malefactor; it would trouble their Worships (and without any other Crime they would make the Offenders Mittimus) if he should ramble from the purpose (in answering their Interrogatories) as it may be, doth their Chaplain or Pastor from his Text: and I am sure such stuff (from a Boy in the School) as is tolerable (nay with some commendable) in the Church▪ would quickly make his Master set the Psalm Lachrymae to his Scholar. And thus they get Credit among some, for which at School they should have got a whipping. What is this, but to deliver the Message of the King of Kings, as if they came with words and phrase unaltered of some rubber of Horses heels, or some such Potentate as Massani●llo, whose Messengers, if they delivered only what he would dictate, must needs speak Mudd▪ and stinking Fish. But to reason with the cleanlinest Dull ones of them, if to speak in Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit, be to speak with no more study and deliberation than good men's discourses (to the edifying of one another) come to, Sermons may be called in, and each Family may take its own Tithe: Since every godly man's discourse is as much Sermon, & may be as effectual. I cannot therefore but believe Solomon requireth more in his Preachers than these do: for Ecclesiastes 12. 10. The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words▪ &c▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words as good as one would wish, such as would please and delight; to be upright, and true, (which is the latter part of the Verse) it seemeth is not all, though the main required in them; but they must be words sought out (not Extempore) and acceptable, they must not defy the Polishing of Art, but must be dressed in some taking Garb suitable to the Audience, Vtile dulci, Profit, and Pleasure must be the Preachers study, as well as the Poets: And whence such Dresses are to be had but from Learning's Wardrobes, I know not. Thus you see, some Railers against Learning are barking Curs against some other Dog that runneth away with the bone. And that this complaint is not singular, take Causinus his Character of them, lib. de forma Sacrae Eloquentiae, p. 739. Invenias enim, &c:  
2. Another Division under this blind Leader, lazy Ignorance, is that of the lazy Dispensers' of the word, whom the Industry of others doth vexingly upbraid. The people are not more niggardly towards God (that care not for offering any thing to him but what cost them nothing) than some of these are to the people: They will afford them nothing that costeth them any pains, and study; to buy Books, spendeth money, to read them, time, and truly they can afford neither; it is not worth while to neglect their other business, to provide better Provisions, since course fare will even do as well: Specially as these Cooks handle the matter, that have persuaded them their course Fare is the best (under that Notion of wholesome) and all other (but what they dress) to be mere Quelquechoses, made dishes of no nourishing. And thus while they exclaim against Preaching but once a Sabbath, they pretend themselves Enemies to that laziness they are most guilty of themselves, for they preach not in the whole year once, and some scarce in their lives: without such discourse may pass for preaching, that is civilly used when called prating. The greatest (if not all) the pains that they take being in the delivery; which are much like the pains a Porter taketh in an Errand from Paul's to Westminster: In God's Errand it may be they sweat, but it is with beating the Air, both with, and without a Metaphor; the industry of their arms, not heads, each Exercise shall testify: these are they Saint Hierome pointed at in that Character. Qui loqui nesciunt, tacere non possunt: docentque Scripturas quas non intelligunt, prius Imperitorum Magistri, quam Doctorum Discipuli. Epist. ad Demetriad. To speak they know not, and be silent they cannot, and Scriptures they understand not. They will Expound, they will be Teachers of the simple, before they have been the Scholars of the wise. Another Character of these lazy Ignorances' Causin giveth, with the Reason in the above mentioned place; which take at length, since a word of it must not be left out. Cum maximarum Artium sint imperiti, alieni Ingenij Florem aegris oculis intuentur, & malunt (quod cuique facilius est) bonas Disciplinas Contemnere, quam ad eas Ingenium cum multis qui in eo Pulvere a viris doctis ex●orbentur laboribus applicare, etc. Themselves being as ignorant as one would wish, envy the Abilities natural or acquired of others. And since to rail against Learning is nothing so great a task, as to attain it, they exercise their Mother wit against Fathers, Schoolmen, laborious Commentators, etc. or Sermons that smell of the Lamp; no, commend them to that Giftishness● can ex Manicis concionem excutere, Shake a Sermon out of their Gown sleeves, or at Church-door choose a Text though they there leave it, their Sermon coming not so near it, as the Pulpit is to the Porch; but remit such Rushers not into the Church only, but Pulpit, to the Philosophy School to be shamed. Epiclus in matters of less moment was of another mind; when having the same Object, (as our grave Divines have against their studied Embasys) that his Speeches to the people were still premeditated; 
Eras. Apoth. 335.  his brave answer was, Erubescerem optimo Jure, si tantae Multitudini consulens, dicerem ex Tempore; I might justly blush, if being to advise so great a Multitude, I should prate extempore. Hear this, and blush thou irreverent babbler, that railest against him that pondereth, what he saith to God, or for God, to men: And for hasty frequency of Preaching (that is not furnished from fullness) in the same School let them hear Pollio speak, who confessed, Commedè agendo factum est, ut saepè agerem, sed saepé agendo factum est ut minus commodé, By pleading well I came to plead often, but by often pleading I learned to plead worse; and Erasmus his reason is satisfying, Assiduitate nimia facilitas magis quam facultas, nec fiducia, sed Temeritas paratur. Preaching of the nature of discourse, for frequency, as well as easiness, may beget facility, but not ability.  
Well, we have seen the Pitiful who's, and in short the slender what's are against modest Learning in Religious Division; Let us see in the same who and what are for it; which if impartially compared, there might be some hopes, our Libraries might be repreived, and our Colleges unsequestred. And that Learning may be saved by the Book, she can bring that Book that shall not lose an Jota unperformed, 
1. Who for it. The 1. Penmen of God.  when the Heavens shall pass away, and the Elements melt; that Book of God, the store house of all Arts, were other Books lost: witness Valesius his Sacra Philosophia, and Alsteds' Triumphus Biblicus: as for Eloquence, this Book of God doth so much speak for it, that it speaketh in it, and by it. Let them give us leave to speak for that, God speaketh not only for, but by: if the holy Ghost thought fit to speak to the World made, as God the Father did to the World making, in Number, weight, and measure; Let the dull Battologist rail as long as he will against the Logodaedalus, the Ponderer and shaper of his Discourses, on such a serious Message, in so serious a Place. We may say of the Scripture, as Vincentius Lirinensis of less deserving Tertullian: Cujus tot pene verba, tot Sententiae, quot sensus, quot victoriae. Each word is a sentence, each Sentence, containing somewhat of that Copia rerum & verborum, Spring of Sense or Words, that Eloquence deriveth all her streams from. What choice and variety of Figures? What strength of Expressions? that transcend all humane Authors, you may taste by some Passages of sacred Writ; as that Job. 39 19 (speaking of the Horse) hast Thou Clothed his Neck with Thunder, an expression befitting the Majesty of the Speaker. What mighty lines hath Isaiah? How doth he set forth the Dis-proportion between God and his Creature, the World? in Isa 44. 12. 15. 22. read, and confess Demosthenes, and Cicero, but Stammerers at Eloquence; but low the highest Flight of the proudest Fancy. How are all Lyrics outgone by David's Harp and how do Salomon's Proverbs, (for contracted sense) worst Seneca? where is Their Conformity with this Book? that Count Silliness sufficiency, and prating Preaching. Shall that Book contain the choicest of Expressions; somewhat of most Arts? and in its Perspicuity Art, and Method couched? and shall it be a crime, humbly to creep after in Imitation of this rare Copy? Were the choicest Abilities chosen to pen the Prophecy of Christ, and shall any serve for his History? shall we deliver glad tidings, pitifully? must Gospel Preachers, (as the word is) make one sigh, or sick to hear them? so as sometimes it is the Auditor's passion, to hear their Saviour's so unworthily related; and it is hard to tell which would try our patience most, Jobs Messengers, or Christ's Must the bread of Life be ground only by the wind of every Doctrine? and whimsical Windmills? or by blind Horses in a Mill, and not by those streams that flow from those two Fountains of Learning, and (absit Invidia) true Religion? God forbid: no, the Endowments of the Evangelists and Apostles, were as great as any of Christ's forerunners, although for Oratory, some of them (when chosen,) were no abler than the Fish they traded in; and were every way fitter to catch Eels than Souls: but when called to fish for Men, they were endowed with suitable Abilities, and then no more remained Dunces, than unconverted sinners; so their very Enemies seem to confess in Acts 4. 13. perceiving these Unlearned Men to be such now, as it appeared they had been with Jesus. (But by the way this example of Christ's choosing illiterate men to this weighty Function of the Ministry, is no more our Directory to follow, than it is to choose such as we (if possible) knew Judasses' as he did, or men of notorious wickedness of life, because he had a Devil among his twelve Apostles.) You shall find Peter changing his stile he used, when he writ Piscator; now he layeth the wrestting of Saint Paul's Writings and other Scriptures to the charge of men unlearned, and (therefore) unstable; And such were some of you▪ blessed Apostles! true, but now they had conversed with him that could make them Commen●●able without Time, or Degrees; and make them Docti without being Doctores, learned, though not graduated. But look on him that is not ashamed of Learning, but confesseth his Education; and that is St. Paul: and do but hear him at the Bar, beating Tertullus at his own Weapon, when as all Tertullus his Oratory could then (no more than I believe it would now) not persuade any before whom he pleaded, so much as to wish themselves Orators rather than Judges (Learned rather then Powerful) in emulation of his able Tongue. Paul's Eloquence went so far, as to make the Judge tremble before his Prisoners, and almost glad to have changed Conditions. View his Writings, and see how deservedly he had the Title of the Irrefragable Apostle: so strong his Reasonings: how tart his Reproofs! winning his Exhortations! Paternal his Admonitions; Artificial in his plainness, convincing in his Obscurity: All the Accomplishments of a Divine or humane Penman were met in him. The other Apostles Writings how knit with one Methodical Thread of Persuasion, able to draw even Gain-sayers to assent! (as to Logical and analytical heads appears.) But before we come to the following Centuries, let us examine the Objected Probability of Paul's enmity to Learning. I count him by (no wise) Preachers mistaken, that think his Ironical Phrase, the foolishness of Preaching, doth countenance foolish Preaching; in which 1 Cor. 18. 19 he only declineth the reputed wisdom of Philosophy, to assist necessarily the confirmation of Articles of Faith: or that he disparageth serving (but sequestered or opposing) Philosophy, or Learning; which when separate from, or opposite to Faith, or Piety, is but a more guilty foolinesse; for that reason in the 25. verse: Aquinas on the place doth well distinguish between docere in sapienti● verbi, quomodocunque modo intelligatur, & uti Sapentia verbiin docendo, etc. Preaching in wisdom of words, and wise preaching of the word. The former he doth, saith Aquinas, that from Scholastic wisdom will have all, or the main props of his faith. Vtitur autem Sapentiâ, but he maketh a right use of such wisdom, that if he meet with any thing among the Philosophers, etc. that is Serviceable, he taketh it in obsequium Fidei, maketh it useful in explication, or application of divine Truths. But to proceed to the following Ages, Clement, Ignatius, Dionysius Areopagita, etc. prove the infancy of the Church Eloquent, and when she began to speak, spoke no less learned than her Opposers. In the second Century Justin Martyr, Tatianus, 
2. The Fathers in each Century.  Irenaeus, etc. as I find them Marshaled. In the third Tertullian, Origen (who it is said writ 6000. Books) Clemens Alexandrinus (the Christian Plutarch, as one calleth him) & quoddam Promptuarium mansuetioris literaturae; Minutius Foelix, Cyprian, who (Saint Austin saith) robbed the Egyptians of all their Gold, and Jewels, their Arts and Learning, when he joined himself to the Israel of God, and set forwards to the Heavenly Canaan. In the fourth, Basil, Nazianzen, chrysostom; with whose name (as the ablest Barrister in the cause of Heaven, the best Spokesman for Christ to his Spouse, and who was among the Fathers, as Paul among the Apostles for all manner of Abilities) I end the List of Champions for pious Learning, though thence downward afford many more. Even every Age hath had Champions for the Truth, armed at all points against Sophistry, and men qualified with all Abilities of Ambassadors for Heaven; that contented not themselves with good meanings towards Heaven, or holiness of life alone; to be all required in men chosen for such weighty Trusts, as the Oracles of God, by them to be defended, and explained only by the Scripture itself, and the private Interpretation of their own Conjectures, but used all helps of divine and humane Learning; of all whom we may use those words in Ecclesiasticus 44. verses 4. 6. 7. that they were leaders of the people by their Counsels, and by their Knowledge and Learning meet for the people, wise and eloquent in their Instructions, etc. and were the Glory of their times, verse 7. Come we now to the last and lastingest Friend Learning hath, and that is Reason; which (when it showeth the usefulness thereof in defence or persuasion of Truth) if it leave not its Opposers convinced, it will aggravate their Obstinacy, and argue their blindness incurable for it.  
1. 
●. What.  The usefulness of it in the defence of truth, see by Athanasius his want of it at one plunge against the Arrians, where his want of that part of it (which is the Languages more particularly) his skill in the Hebrew, put him to needless, & shifting distinctions. Whereas it is Proverbs the 8. 22. Wisdom was with God from the beginning (which wisdom by both is confessed to be meant Christ) And they urged the Septuagints Translation, Created me, and so denied the Divinity of Christ; he had easily evaded the Sophism without a puzzle of distinctions, had he known the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signified to possess, as well as create. Without question, were one to enter Discourse, or Dispute, it is not ones Truly, I concieve, this is the meaning of the place (and, I believe it is faithfully translated by such, and such pious men that undertook the work) will silence a man (be he friend, or foe to truth) that appealeth to Originals. Then for Deductions, how easy to impose Sophisms on one that knoweth no kind of Logic, or form of Reasoning! which any love, but they that dispute for Victory, not Truth; that care not how they silence an Opposer, though it be by Impertinencies, so they be loud enough, and nimbly enough urged. Come to others, that on good grounds enough, require some consent of History Ecclesiastical, or Civil, for the explaining of some places of Scripture. What shall my Friend do? that knoweth no History but some ten or twelve Sinces in his Almanac: How long since the World was created, and when Coaches came into England: that dareth not lay a wager whether Edward the fifth was before Edward the third; tell not him of Counsels that knoweth none (or at least believeth none) but his Common Council; calleth all Popish Traditions but what the Churchwarden and his Predecessors can remember. Will such a one be fit to deal with one versed in History Ecclesiastical and Civil, Counsels, Law Canonical, and Civil; weapons of use for Truth, as well as sometimes against it, but of no use to our Artillery-ground Man, that never saw any Service, never read any but his own Sides Arguments; meeting with any other he denyeth conclusions, careth not for Counsels, Fathers, Schoolmen, Reasons (all useful in their course) so much as for one ignorant Neighbours opinion seconding his own (for no otherwise indeed will he like any.) Judge you how fit such a one would be to defend his Faith against Scholastic opposition: Let Saint Paul's judgement be taken, who made not more fit by his hand then Pen, by Institution then Instruction, for this weighty calling. He would have his Bishop (which if no more than Pastor, the more to our purpose) one holding fast the faithful word, as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound Doctrine, both to exhort and convince Gainsayers; for both which how (contrary to this Canon) unfit are the illiterate Rabble? Such whose Giftishnesse in Exhortation amounteth to a persuasive power indeed, but to what? Of their Auditors to depart the Church, and spend their times better, then in hearing such holder's forth of words that they never were taught (nor ever in themselves can teach) in stead of holder's fast of words taught.  
Convinced gainsayers and wranglers they are, in stead of convincers of such, as the Apostle would have his Bishops; the tenth Verse of that Chapter compared with Judas, verses 10. 12. 13. setteth out to the full the illiterate Towns new Teacher: there are many (there is a Rabble intimated, not selected ones, instituted, ordained, rightly called, etc.) unruly, and vain talkers; here is two expressive Epithets for this Rabble, and those are, rude and ignorant, unruly and vain; what is wanting in solidity, you shall have in noise. And because Opposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt, shadows best set off the lighter parts of the Picture, it can be no digression to follow the Apostles method in delivery of his Cautions for election of men sufficient for these things (who I hope in fine, to the unmuddied judgement, it will appear meant the Literate) which is as in the above mentioned place, to show their contraries: I will therefore pursue it a little further. Judas limbs, methinks, these Gospel Dark Lanterns (lights I cannot call them, without it be Ignes fatui, Fools fires, Wills with a wisp, etc. (as our very Teacher's Meteorology wordeth them) the Apostles words are, verse 10. These speak evil of the Things they know not: (the latter part of the Verse, belonging principally to Ranters) Here behold again Ill Language, and Ignorance, as their Matter and Form coupled; what is it but making the old Adage Canonical; knowledge hath no Enemy but Ignorance. Then in the 12. Verse he saith, they are Clouds without Rain: good for nothing but to keep the Sun from the Earth, so are these Teacher's hinderers of that Light and knowledge they cannot attain to themselves. To say truth, though some call their profound Ignorances', New Lights, they were better Anabaptised into the Appellation of Extinguishers; carried about with every wind. And indeed if Privations could have Rationes formales, the very essence of them, or, immediatè consequens Essentiam, (as the Metaphysitians' word it,) that which is but one degree from their Essence) is their inconstancy. And how can it be otherwise? Since very ordinary Sophistry turneth their brained, and vicissitude of successes, their hearts: you may know very well by them, where the wind sitteth. And the two Poles of their own Motions are Malecontentednesse, or Profit. Their Judgements leaning to one of these Cardinal Points (even when we see no wind almost stirring) These are the weather Cocks, not on, but against Steeple houses (as Churches are styled in our new children's Dictionary) or if Lights, only in that Property of Flame, that yieldeth to every Puff of wind: but I forbear to swell this discourse into a Commentary on that Character of St: Judes; (by them whom it concerneth counted Apocryphal) and leave them to the censure of the Judicious, (and their own Consciences,) in that Character of Saint Austin, Lib. 3. the Schismatibns (and cited by Calvin) Isti filii mali: Qui non odio Iniquitatum Aliarum, said study Contentionum suarum, infirmas Plebes Jactantia sui Nominis irretitas, vel totas trahere, vel certe dividere affectant. Hi sunt Superbi● tumidi, Pervicaciâ vesani, Calumniis insidiosi, Seditionibus temulenti. Qui ne Luce veritatis carere ostendantur, umbram rigidae Severitatis suae assum●nt, ad Sacrilegium Schismatis, & occasionem Praecisionis: now because we may subscribe to that of Solomon, Nothing is new under the Sun, and because some such people have been cast on our Shore, (the Island indeed suffering Shipwreck (as I may say) when they landed) take the Character in English near the sense of it; and Saint Austin complained of a Generation, that (not so much to reform the Faults and Errors of others, as to confirm their own,) having ensnared the silly vulgar, by the dazzle of their fame, (in some plausible or other,) seek to engage or divide them; They are (saith He) swollen with pride, madly obstinate, treacherously slanderous, and even reeling with Sedition. Yet lest they should seem to want the true Light, They eat the shadow of austerity of Life, over their Sacrilege of Schism; and for the justifying of their separation. Thus far Saint Austin, and I would the Infection had stopped, with the Period of its Description; or Life of the Describer: but Christ's oportet, Silenceth our Vtinams: Offences must come, therefore let vain wishes go. I now proceed to the conclusion of Learning's usefulness in the defence of Truth. What stout Defenders of the Faith can we expect they should be? that swound at a Syllogism, purge both ways at a Dilemma and are ready to make their own Testament, if they see a Greek one. Where hath Error s●aled Truth's Walls? but where it found them thus slenderly guarded. Whereas on the contrary, what defiance to Rome hath the Church of England bid, from her Universities? What Champions able to grapple with their proudest? It were no Arrogance to affirm, Bellarmine's Cause, and Writings have been enervated more by the Church of England's learned Fathers, and Doctors, than by any, or all of the other reformed Churches; and what greater Triumph than to beat Adversaries at their own Weapons? If they appeal to Fathers, why we have legitimated our Church, as well as they (if not more:) if to Counsels, we decline not those that are incorrupt; If to Scripture, we are for them (I am sure have been) in all Languages and Translations. But I pass to that other usefulness of Learning in the persuasion of Truths: How unfit is he to be the Almighty his Spokesman, that cannot Pen a Petition for himself to his fellow Creature, man? He can doubtless ill Descant (or enlarge) on that Majestic Preface, Thus saith the Lord, that goeth to a Scrivener, to make him an Humbly showeth; although to one so illiterate too, that needeth (it may be) the same help to have it read, is the Art of divine Rhetoric, the most easy Trade of all Trades? must tugging at an Ore, require a Prenticeship, and shall Prentice, and Master be equally gifted for Preaching? We think not Porters fit to send to (or come from) Princes, and shall such (or those of no higher qualifications) be fit for God's Ambassadors? Would no Town choose him Recorder, that knoweth not to write, or read his Name? and shall such a one be sufficient to take charge of Souls? to plead our Cause, we can scarce find any able enough, and shall any serve to plead Gods? and that with refractory man. Doubtless as Divinity hath much Assistance from humane Learning in this one half of a Divine; viz. The power of persuasion: so all it can get is little enough to deal with the Ignorant, peevish, and rebellious sort of men; Whose Godliness is gain, Creed sense, and Happiness sensuality; with whom in their pure Naturals, Heaven, and that inestimable Jewel in the Gospel, are Babbles, and Hell a Fable. Consider but the Task of the divine Orator, and judge you what Abilities are requisite, and whether Saint Paul were not in some such Contemplation, when he cried out, Who is sufficient for these things? Logic, must lend him Analysis to make useful division of this divine Bread; Rhetoric is the hand (as Logic is the knife) to reach it home, when divided, to every hungry Soul. It is not every one that holdeth the Blow, can sow this Seed; whistling to a Teem, and the voice of this Charmer are turned to several Notes: It must be a search after acceptable words, that must furnish Salomon's Preacher (as hath been said) he must have those Mucrones Sermonum, Goads of the wise, that will prick up the drowsy, and forward the lazy hearer. Rhetorical Topics are such Whetstones, that even the Sword of the Spirit (that twoedged Sword) hath often used, Nor hath it waved the use of other parts of humane Literature: you shall find Poetry (despised only by such whose knowledge arrives but to the understanding, or liking of woeful Ballads) part of Saint Paul's reading, and by him quoted, Titus 1: 12: out of Epimenides: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Cr●tians are always Liars, etc. and let me crowd into a Parenthesis, Aquinas his reason from the Gloss; (Doctor Sacrae Scripturae accipit Testimonium veritatis ubicunque invenerit.) Our Expositor Paul (saith he) of Sacred Scripture taketh Testimonies of the truth where ever he findeth them: If among Dicta Gentilium, the Sayings of the Gentiles, 1 Cor. 15. 33. Out of another Poet; viz. Menander (saith Hierome) he hath that cited place, evil communication corrupteth good manners. Sure Learning was no such Noli me Tangere, in the Apostles account, when the Heathen Poets were not only part of his reading (as may be replied) before his Conversion, but afterwards used as handmaid to divine Truth. Lipsius is of my mind in his Cent. 1. 99 Epist. In Platone, Trismegisto, Arriano, Epicteto altas praeclarasque voces reperio; quid refert a quo ●ae profusae, si ab uno illo Spiritu veritatis? Quam inspirasse, ubi libuit, prisca illa Pectora, nihil ambigo. I find in Plato, Trismegistus, Arrianus, Epictetus, rare and excellent Sayings; and what matters it by whom spoke, so long as from that one Spirit of Truth? which blowing where it listeth, I cannot deny but many times inspired them. And a little after illustrateth Learning's usefulness by a Simile: Vt in Praelio non Gladijs solum, & gravioribus Te●is Res geritur, sed etia● Fundatorum quaedam Opera, & laevis Armaturae est: si● in hâc nostra contra vitia, & Affectus Militiâ non solum illo Verbi penetrante Mucrone, sed etiam Philosophorum Hastis, & Sagittis aptè interdum & utiliter pugnabimus.  
In English to this purpose. As in Battle, not the Sword, or other Weapons of concernment do only do the work, but the Sling, and lighter armed have their use: So in this War against Vice, we may aptly use Philosophers, Orators, Poets, besides the twoedged Sword of the Spirit. To exposition of humane Laws we count University breeding requisite: and shall any (of Learning too little to be of the Jury) be in divine matters a Judge-like Expositor? Shall the Lawyer, justly enough, think scorn to be taught by the Cobbler in point of Laws, and yet hearken to him (or his like) in exposition of the Gospel, with submissive Reverence, and Assent, if not Admiration? Were not Bedlam larger, than it is thought; or did not a (manifest a Phrenesis) a general Lunacy, & madness rage; men would not be so provident for their Lands, in choice of able Lawyers (none forsooth able enough) but for their Bodies, or Souls; the name Doctor, and Fame, gifted, commendeth any to them: in any thing else not worthy to be their Clerks, or meaner Servants. Fellows having nothing in them deserving the word gifted; but their Education, which indeed is very many times of free-cost; not costing themselves or Parents any thing, but their shift from one Servile Sphere of Employment to another. From the Stable to the Parlour, & there from holding a Trencher at Tables end to handling a Bible. Shall a Waterman's, (I conceive the Apostles meaning in this place) be of more Authority than the Apostles own? If you will believe the whole stream of Interpreters, (as the Phrase is) I must be excused from ascribing as much to the Coach Box, as to the Divinity Chair; and cannot believe the Spirit of Prophecy is quite gone out of Learned men, into Chaplains that wear Liveries, and Teachers that receive Vails: In which Rational Infidelity I pass to the Apology for Learning against its other main Enemies; the self-conceited Politician, and Ignorance, Rustic, or Gentleman, which I quarter in the same Scutcheon, when they agree in contempt of Learning.  
The first Aspersion of the Politician, 
Objections of Polititions.  is, that Learning doth emollire Animos, & Militiae ineptos reddere. Your Scholar can talk, or if he can fight it is but by Book: Methinks I hear the Martial Ignorance say. A lie, we need not go so far as Caesar or Alexander, to confute; our Civil Wars of these late years too sadly do it: Proving Scholars know how to use all of a Quill. He cannot more Ingeniously use the one part to write (Monuments that will outlive Trophies, and Memories of Conquests) than he can as meritoriously wear the other part in his Plume. What Opinion the Ancients had to this purpose, you may see by their Divinity, couched under their Poetic Fables. And among other that of Pallas, or Minerva (their Goddess of Learning) whom they feign born armed: from her Perseus (by whom they signified War) had a Shield, a Glass to discern the Plots, and Counsels of the Enemy. To her they assigned the Keys, and safety of Cities, or their Destruction: By all insinuating, no such Soldier, as the Learned one, either for defence or offence; what ere the Conjunction of Mars and Mercury signify in Astrology, or Heavens, it matters not; I am sure at Courcell Board, and Field, it is of more promising Prediction than their Disjunction, which will appear in History of former Ages (since envy admits not present examples for Authentic) where we shall find they have been united in Persons, and Ages, Warlike, and prosperous. View the Specimens and hints of Caesar's Abilities in Learning; as my Lord Bacon delivereth them in Lib. 1. De Augmentis Scientiarum. The correcting of the account of the year was no small Testimony of his Astronomy; and witnessed he was as proud to know the Laws and motions of the Stars, as to give Laws to Nations. What more effectual Rhetoric would you desire, than to still a Mutiny with one word as he did? See the Story in the above mentioned place. But his Commentaries witness enough for all: which when we look on, we cannot tell whether he writ, or fought his Battles better. I am sure the former doth preserve (and otherwise had outlived) the memory of the latter, as on another occasion I have penned my Conceptions. 
Ruined Troy's Heroes still in Homer live.  
That Caesar ever was, is better understood  
By what he wrote, than did; his Commentaries give  
Both Life and Memory to his Text of Blood.   
The same hand did use so well the Pen and Sword, he wanted but Life to begird this Globe with his Conquests. His Eloquence was such, that to the civiller part of the World he needed but, Veni, Dixi, Vici; to the more barbarous (of such expedition was his Sword,) Veni, vidi, vici, the sound of his Tongue, or Trumpet, were enough to bring Cities to Parle, being able to woe, or force, surrender. That Alexander was a Soldier, painted clothes will confess, the Painter dareth not leave him out of the Nine Worthies; and that He was Aristotle's Pupil, (and that with more Proficiency than many spend some years in the University) History assureth; so addicted to Philosophy, that his Dinners were Philosophy Disputations: Problems his Banquet, propounded by Himself, discussed by his Philosophers, (which were his constant Courtiers in Camp, or other more stately Residence) moderated by his Tutor Aristotle. His Meals were liker University Exercises than Refections: (it were to be wished our Universities Exercises were not now Principally Meals, and that in Natural Philosophy, no part so much debated, as de Alimentis, instead of de Elementis; or that any part of Plutarch were read, but his Symposiacks! (but wishes are in vain, I shall ne'er see't again) view what this great Sword Man aimed at, and what He attained in Learning (to the shame of all Armed Ignorance.) His Aim appeareth by his Chiding Letter to Aristotle, for divulging his Physics; professing he had rather excel others in Learning, than Power: and some Discoveries of Him attest, that He fell not short of his Desires. What a Natural Philosopher He was, witness that Apothegme, depromptum ex intima naturali Philosophia (saith one of the most intimate Naturalists, the Lord Bacon in the former place,) Mortalitatem suam maxime pe●rcipere ex somno & Libidine, that Lust and sleep confuted the Dreams of his Flatterers, concerning his immortality. Since Abundance, (superfluous,) or want, are Arrhabones Mortis (as excellently the former Author (the Earnest Pennies of Dissolution of Bodies. In Poetry how doth He unflatter Himself, and at once deride the Poets, and his Flatteries, when being wounded, he said, see this is not such Blood as Venus' Hand dropped when wounded by Diomedes. In Logic, his Retort on calisthenes showeth his skill, who when desired once, (at Table with Alexander) to take an extemporary Theme, and falling eloquently on the Praise of the Macedonians, Alexander desired Him to vary, saying, in so good a cause it was easy to be Rhetorical; and finding no less, on the contrary part, Alexander used one of those Strophae Aristotelis (as he once termed Them in another Case to Cassander) turning the Cat in the Pan, and said, etiam malus Animus aeque ac bona Causa indit Eloquentiam, would a wicked invention make one eloquent as well as a good Cause.  
In Rhetoric, what more Rhetorical, than that He used of Antipater? when commended for his not altering into the Habit of the Persians, at totus intus Purpureus, inquit, but, saith he, he is all purple within: intimating, Humility was not always in declining the Mode, but as much Pride might be in affected Gravity, as in changeable fashioning. In Politics how subtle a Distinction was it he made between two of his Friends, whereof one did amare andrum, the other Regem, one loved Alexander, the other the King.  
Let Xenophon be added, who ex ludibrio evasit Miraculum, going out of Socrates' School, a Volunteer into Cyrus his Camp, after the death of Cyrus (without Supplication to the Persian, brought the Grecians from Babylon home, when most of the other Commanders of Cyrus his Army were cut off, notwithstanding his Counsel of resolution, and making their way (rather than beseeching it) was jeered by Folinus as Bookish, and gallant School (but not Camp) Advise.  
2. A second Objection from Politicians, is, that learning spoileth men for Politicians, making them unfit to govern. But this History confuteth by the unmatched Quinquennium Neronis, & Decennium Gordiani Junioris. In one of which Seneca, Nero's Tutor ruled the Roman Empire; in the other Misitheus, entitled Tutor Reipublicae (as Capitolinus saith) that the Commonwealth might better spare many famous for feats of Arms, than these Learned Mend-faults (in men, or States.) Take Senecas word, speaking of M. Cat●o Censorinus, who saith, Quem tamen Romano Populo herculé profuit nasci, quam Scipionem: Alter enim cum Hostibus nostris Bellum, Alter cum Moribus gessit. Rome oweth more to the Birth of Cato Censorinus, than Scipio's; for This fought with our Enemies, but the other with our Vices. Senec. Ep. 87.  
Pius Quintus, & Sixtus Quintus among the Popes, though mean Friars in their Education, were as famous Popes as any nursed in Courts. Nay, such kind of men, have this more honourable Elogium, or Commendation; that whereas indeed they are not so crafty to suit with all occasions [Per fas & Nefas] by wright, or wrong to bring about their designs: yet they make amends in going the plain, but sure way of Religion, and Honesty; which they that go, will less need the peddling crafts of Deceit, Perjury, Dissimulation, etc. nor those Ragioni del stato, Tricks of State, the mention of which Pius Quintus could not away with, saying most honestly: They were mera Malorum Hominu● Commenta, Quae opponerentur Religioni, & virtutibus Moralibus; Mere Devises of wicked men, set up against Religion and Moral Honesty. A Pope (if any) truly deserving the name of Pius. Or grant that Objection in part true, that Learning doth make men's minds sometimes wavering and doubtful, out of a Scrupulosity bred by reading of diversity of Rules, and Examples; yet the same reading showeth them the remedies of settling and clearing doubts: and as it showeth them Rules, so it showeth them Exceptions and Distinctions, to discover what is demonstrable, what conjectural again: grant an Imparity of Examples, they meet with in History, may somewhat wrest their Counsels and Advisos at first, to a Difformity from the present Necessity: yet on deliberation (or most commonly) showeth them better the Rocks to be avoided, furnisheth them with Cautions out of a comparison of Errors, and ex alienis Periculis teacheth a safer Prudence, than any Politician whose structure of Observations is built only on his own narrow observation of Occurrences, or of some Contemporaries whom he taketh for an Oracle of Policy. The Policy of such may be compared to Empirics Practise, that with some Panchrestum, Catholic Medicines undertake every thing; while the rational Physician useth reason as his Eyes, and Experience as his Legs; either solitary must be lame, or blind; so fareth it with these Politicians, that are gone no further, than that King would have his Son to learn no more Latin, than Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit vivere; these know no more Latin, nor Policy.  
3. But methinks I hear Politicos subsannantes Litteratorum Constantiam, the shrewd ones of the World (as they would be thought, and called) upbraiding the constancy of pious learned men, and see them pointing at such, with A there goes your stubborn Scholar, that rather than alter his pace, or path (that Conscience or Reason boundeth him in) he will be poor, undone; any thing but the Ratio formalis, essential of a Suist, or selfe-polititian, that is changeable. See you not his Perpetuana Threadbare▪ whereas a more changeable Stuff and Garb, might prove contrary to its nature Sempiternum, never the worse for wearing, his condition might rather mend than be worse, if he could but learn that out of Tacitus, Histor. 4. p. 359. in 160 Lipsius his Edition.  
I am the more punctual in quoting it, that you may see the Politicians Gospel▪ as (as I may term it) in its Original. He bringeth in speaking Marcellus, se meminisse Temporum quibus natus sit, quam Civitatis Formam Patres Avique institueerint: Vlteriora mirari, Praesentia sequi: bonos Imperatores voto expetere, Qualescunque tolerare. Such A Spirit were of A Save stake, if not promoting Prudence, as they call it; but so is it not, not to tread beside their Book, go beyond their Reason, to gain A Life free from Necessities and cares: this, say They, was Seneca's Folly, who would live still as He and Nero lived in that Quinquennio, five years Reign. He will saucily be a Tutor still, and check licentious Power, till He bleed for it. And Demosthenes, They take for a foolish Politician, be he never so good an Orator, when he telleth the Athenians; Mea Consilia si rectè attendatis, non sunt ejus Generis, per quae Ego inter vos magnus, vos inter Graecos despectui sitis; sed talia ut mihi saepè haud tutum sit dare, vobis autem semper utile amplecti. My Counsels are not levelled at my own profit, no nor safety; for though they be always profitable to you to receive, yet sometimes dangerous for me to give. But all the machiavels on this little Turf, (we keep such a deal of stir on, to lose Heaven) I can silence with that oraculous ingenious Apology of my Lord Bacon, so often in this Discourse mentioned and yet so necessarily: for, si quid tamen aptius exit, if any thing of sense or convincing Truth be in this Apology, I acknowledge myself his Debtor for Hints, and some Enlargements. The Oraculous Refutation take in its first Language, and second, (or to the sense of it) caeterum quod attinet ad fidei constantiam, & Offici●rum Religionem, quas certé Hominum Animis inserit Eruditio, utcumque eae quandoque a Fortuna mulctentur, aut ex male sanis Politicorum Principijs condemnentur; tamen palam scilicet apud omnes, laudem referrent. As for that constancy of Faith, and conscienciousness of Duty, which for certain Learning doth much insinuate into the Breasts of Men, how ever some times they prove unfortunate, or seem ridiculous (according to the wild Principles of some Politicians) yet at length, with even the most (as well as Best) They will appear Praise worthy.  
But I hasten to the Last Brigade of Learning's Enemies, 
Rustic Ignorance.  and that is clownish Ignorance of its worth, from that such small shot as These Play, that it is an idle lazy course of Life. An objection I am sure idle enough if we consider the nature of Scholastic Employments, which is such as knoweth no vacation; being the work of that indefatigable part of Man, the Soul: Employments that they love for their own sake, herein out stripping all other Bustles, that are Leveled at Gain or Honour.  
2. Another is against the, Fortunes of Scholars: do you not see, say They, how threadbare slighted, contemned, and almost starved Their Bookishnes keepeth Them? the same Petronius Arbiter knew to be true p. 28. 
Qui Pelago credit, magno se Foenore tollit:  
Qui Pugnas & Castra petit, praecipitur Auro, etc.  
Sola pruinosis horret Facundia Pannis,  
Atque inopi lingua desertas invocat Artes.  
In English to this Purpose.  
The Merchant Venturer doth thrive apace,  
The fight Swashbuckler wants not Gold lace.  
Only the thread bare Scholar beats his Brains  
For Arts, and hath his Labour for his Pains.   
But this is not more the misery of Scholars, than the fault of the Rich. Those that have counting Houses forget those that have Studies; or if you will, it is the preposterousness of their Day Book, and misplacing of their Accounts, or misbestowing of their Plenty; the same that Crates, (one of Diogenes wisest Scholars) observed in his Time, and jeered with these mock Items. 
Coquo ponito Minas decem, Medico Drachmam.  
Adulatori Talenta quinque, Consiliario Fumum.  
Philosopho Triobolum.  
To the Cookten Minas.  
To the Physician A Drachma.  
To the Parasite, five Talents.  
To the Lawyer Smoke.  
To the Philosopher, three halfpences.   
Not much differing from the Accounts of Modern Prodigals, (or Misers shall I call them, since they are both; the first on Vanities; and the latter to Desert) what is it with them? but to my Falconer 10. l. a year, the Curate 10. s. The Physician half a Fee; the Mountebank more than he asketh, etc. with such like squintings on Desert: so that this objection of the Poverty of the Learned, they may forbear for their own Credit's sake: yet let Them call it the Scholar's Misfortune, not misery: since his wealthy Soul is, Contemptae Dominus splendidior Rei, raised to such a Pitch, as he with more Gallantry, Scorneth these admired things of the World, than others do enjoy them: nor is it a Hermetical Stoicism if you believe Livy in the beginning of his History, aut me Amor Negotij suscepti fallit etc. no Commonwealth was ever happier; while Poverty and Parsimony was in credit and esteem, and (as Another saith) as Red is Virtue's Colour, though from a Guilty Blush, so oft times, Recte statuas Paupertatem esse virtutis Fortunam, quamvis a Luxu & Jucuriâ accersatur. Poverty is vertutes Fortune (though many times caused by their own Prodigality and Luxury) bringing Men to prise things truly to be valued, and contemn things falsely admired; and it is a witty observation, (and solid with all) of one, on that of Solomon, Buy Truth, (and that is wrapped up in knowledge as the Kernel (in the shell) and sell it not, as if He thought fit to lay out Riches for Truth & knowledge, but not Them for Riches. Though every Age have too many such Merchants that sell Truth; Abilities, Conscience, and Heaven, for inconsiderable (wealth I can scarce call it) but Salary.  
But methinks I hear that objection of Dionysius, if Scholar's wealth were so much to be admired, and their Poverty more in Opinion than Reality; how cometh it to pass, That more frequent Rich men's Houses than Rich Men their Schools? to which take Aristippus his Answer to the Question: Quoniam Philosophi norunt quibus egeant, Divites nesciunt▪ because they know what they want, and so do not the Richeses: nor will the argument persuade a wise man to wish himself therefore the illiterate Patron rather than the knowing (though receiving) Scholar any more than one would wish Himself the contributing Patient, rather than the receiving Physician; as at another Time, the same Philosopher retorted to an objection of the like Nature.  
A third Topick of the Scorn of the Ingenuous, is a contemptible obscurity, (as they term it) of life, but for this they are rather to be envied, than pitied, especially in times disturbed, with Pliny's caution, modo secessus isti, non Desidiae Nomen, sed tranquillitatis accipiant, if their Retiredness be a studious Tranquillity, and not disguised slothfulness.  
A fourth is against the Behaviour of Scholars to others, or for Themselves; as first, that they do not apply themselves so suitably divers times, (as were to be wished) to those they have Business with. They cannot flatter, cog, nor dissemble as others: nor admire, (or at least pretend so) every thing for good, or wit, that this fine thing, and that other painted, utters.  
To say truth, (when sometimes They too saucily peep behind the Arras of Gaiety, and see the Fool, or Knave) They cannot but laugh when they make legs to Knights. Well, it is out of the Scholar's way, but will you have the grounds of it, and in some sort Excuses? They are two, either Nobleness of Soul, or honest simplicity: by the first, they look higher, their wonder is of higher Election. They use not their jacob's Staff to observe Spangles, but Stars, nor a Curious Dress, so much as Coma Berenice's in the Heavens; nothing attracts their serious Respect but Wit, or Honesty. By reason of the second, They study not Men for any other end, than to give every one their Due, and to teach the unlearned, or the willing to do the like, not to make their ends on any man's weakness.  
Scire volunt ●ecreta Domus, & inde timeri, is torn out of their Sententiae viriles: They are not Spies, on the Breaches, or imperfections of Men, to make their advantages of them; which is the part Hominis parum candidi, sed astuti, & bifidi, not of clear spirited Souls, but Cheats.  
Another Imputation is, the behaviour of Scholars is sometimes offensive and ridiculous to those learned ones in Courtship, and Compliment; or his Tongue is not acquainted with the hawking Dialect. He cannot talk to, or of a Hound (Sciences indeed fit to bestow a Methusalems' age on) our despised Scholar hath not the Mode, how ever not the clothes (which is harder for him to attain) for to be a Proficient in the former: and for the latter he could allow them recreations, but not his business, or worthy his talk, or time. He varieth his sports; his winged time he flieth at the bravest Game, Knowledge, Piety, Immortality. His hunting is of Nature through her several doublings and Labyrinths: instead of a Horse-race commend him to that Race, and Match of Senecas making, Lib. de Brevit. vitae cap. 9 cum celeritate Temporis, utendi velocitate Certandum est; between times swiftness, and his nimble Improvements, or Attachments of the precious (but posting) Minutes. But in answer to the former Imputations, he may use the reply of Themistocles, when desired to play, and sing; I cannot fiddle, saith he, but I can make a little City a great one: He cannot cringe to a Fan, and utter a speech to it, but he can make one for the thing that must. He cannot it may be speak to a pack of Dogs (without it be out of Ovid) but he can speak to the purpose: He is not Critical and exact in Garbs and Fashions, but he can correct a false Printed, or Translated Bible. It may be to some business (and his own profit too) he cannot apply himself (because he will not) as other Bustlers can; but he can profit others, and give what money cannot buy; Such wisdom divine, and humane, as abundantly recompense his Fumbling in the World, at Wealth, or Honour. He cannot talk it may be so judiciously on the Exchange, but hear him in Paul's, and it will do your heart good (or should at least, if it be not past cure) what he wants of Abilities at the Customhouse, he maketh amends at a Steeplehouse (as those Sacred Oratories▪ are in derision called.) Then for humane Affairs, how is Learning parcelld out, and interwoven with most Trades, from the Merchant, to the Mechanic? The ones Accounts regulated by Arithmetic, the others square, rule, and compass by Geometry. The Invention or Advance of most Arts write the despised Scholar Creditor, as borrowed from the Bank of the Encyclopaedia, or general Learning; and shall the same Wares be of esteem in the Pedlars Pack, and of little or none in the Merchants Warehouse? A Surveyor of Land be more esteemed, than a Geometrician? an ginger than an Astronomer? Nay, any one of these, before the general Scholar? But by the way, in my reply to the Imputations against Scholar's Behaviour, I would not be thought to excuse the Cynical Solaecismes of any Scholar's Behaviour, that remembreth not that he is among men, and not in a Desert, or Platonic Commonwealth. Only much excuse may be allowed his intention of mind on Studies, that he is impatient, should be interrupted, by the Impertinencies of being great rich, fine, or somebody in the eyes of Nobody; or such as to him appear little better, for sense or judgement. This I am sure of, on an Impartial survey, and comparison of his Abilities, with his cannots (as I may term them) and these, or such like Imputations, seemingly black and dark, will discolour into Encomiums and just Commendations. But I draw to a conclusion with these mixed Apologetic & Encomiastic Assertions sertions, that the Learned with sobriety and zealous with understanding, are hated by none but such as understand them too well, or too little. The first is the Devil, that knoweth there cannot be a better Agent for Heaven, or Engineer against Hell. The other is the ignorant World, whose blindness misseth not the Sun's light, and stupidness feeleth not his warmth. And for Fortune, grant she be not the Scholar's Mistress: I am sure the World is but his Slave, nor better respect hath it from him, than to drudge to his Necessity, and the like lower Designs. This Apology for Wisdom divine, and humane, divine Writ hath furnished us with, that Wisdom is justified of her Children: And such as are matriculated in Albo Sapientiae, have not Wisdom for their Mother, can make no great brags of their Father. Let the Herald give them never so rich a Scutcheon, I am sure it will be but a Fools Coat●, let him wear it on his Finger, Barge, or Coa●h. It is too much Ignorance hath made people mad against Learning; for it cannot be from the Spirit to rail against his own Gift (which he that will deny Learning to be, is an Atheistical Dunce.) It is without all question a Beam from the Father of Lights; and when serviceable to divine Truths, part of Goshens Privilege above Egypt (when it was the Emblem of Hell.) What to think therefore of its Enemies, I am confirmed by this Truth (with which I conclude) that Rebellion against Knowledge, is but Allegiance to the Prince of Darkness.   

The Apologists Apology.  
AN Apology for this Apology may be requisite, both to the Unlearned, and Learned.  
To the former that are unlearned, but rather Friends, than Enemies to it (for to such the whole Discourse is an Apology) the visible ruin of Learning begun by some (and by more desired) may serve for my just defence, in that I undertook to speak a word or two (how well or ill soever) in its behalf; since it cannot be objected I fear shadows, or defend what none opposeth. As to myself I am satisfied, if no more follow but a Liberavi Animam meam, to let the world know I voted not with those Philistimes, that plotted the putting out our Sampsons' eyes, once seeing England's (as it may be called, and hath appeared heretofore, against all the Enemies of Truth.) For I fear after it, it may act out the other part of the Story, and pull Ruin upon its self. Who seeth not that Prediction (of Psellus his Grandfather) not far from being fulfilled. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That time will come, men will live worse than Beasts. D●us omen avertat, God prevent our fears, and put into the hearts of those that sit at Helm, to preserve our Land from being an Island merely of speaking Beasts.  
My Apology to the Learned is, for handling a good Cause so weakly: But with this comfort I will satisfy myself, (and I hope them,) I have not spoke so slenderly for Learning, but the best of its Adversaries speak more pitifully against it.   

The happy Match.  
LArge is Cornelius Agrippa's Regiment of Declamatores contra scientias (as a worthy Imposer of names calleth him) Railers against all humane Arts and Sciences, though his Followers do it in a worse sense than he; who proveth them vain in the Apostles sense, in comparison of (or sequestered from) the knowledge of our Redeemer. But he perhaps will appear singular▪ that shall bespatter Gospel Revelations (as some boldness calleth even Ignes fatuos suos, their fools fires) with the least blemish of Culpability; though with his leave that so thinketh (or without it) I cannot but bewail (not admire, or reverence) the so much boasted Light, in Deeds of darknesse-dayes; or those two sad Divorces, that excellent French man, Charron de la sagesse, hath bewailed before me: viz. Of Probity and Piety, coming from the first divorce of Knowledge and Practice, or (as he termeth them) Science & Sagesse, that is, Knowledge, and Wisdom, be it humane or divine; whiles separated from Moral, or Christian conformity in Affections, Passions, and Actions. These days of ours are not so far from adam's in days, and time; as near them in Knowledge, say some, in Disobedience say I. We boast Revelations of such brightness, as if some in these Gospel's days might be able to preach the second Adam to the ●irst, and be his Schoolmaster in the Mysteries of his Salvation. But show me the Fruits of this Tree of Knowledge, or where the Tree of good life stands; for they are both in God's true Eden. How cometh it to pass, that French Proverb is true in English? Ange en l' Eglise, Diable en la Maison. An Angel in the Church and a Devil in the Shop; no exercise of the following day, witnessing our presence at the Morning Exercise; as too well know those that deal with us: never was more verbum vitae in ore, the word of life in our mouths, nor less vita verbi in more▪ the life of the word in our lives: Our former complaints were against times of Popery, because zealous without knowledge; our latter and present may be against Popery inverted, or knowledge without zeal; but hard it is to determine which is sadder, their blind zeal, or our lame knowledge; since we cannot tell whether Bedridden Sight, or walking Blindness advance least in the paths of Virtue, or that narrow way that leads to life. The first cannot so much as start in the Christian Race, the latter not run right; dark zeal moveth too fast, and benumbed knowledge too slow. How doth Experience witness, that Generation is not quite extinct, that God complaineth of; Labijs me honorant, sed cor ●orum longè, They honour me with their lips, but their hearts are afar off. The Christian Isle of man (as well as the Jewish (hath too many Leagues between the heart and mouth, or between the heart and Cape, or head of it. Which that it may appear shameful, hear the light of Reason, and Philosophy School complaining of knowing Do-littles. Seneca in his 108. Ep. Quae Philosophia est, facta Philologia est, and giveth the causes, Aliquid Praecipientium vitio peccatur, Qui nos docent disputare, non vivere: Aliquid Discentium, Qui Propositum adferunt ad Praeceptores suos, non Animum excolendi, sed Ingenium. The Doctrine of Manners is turned (saith he) into Discourse, and that through fault of both Masters, and Scholars; they teach to dispute, not to live, and these come to them to mend their Wits, not their Manners. And in another of his Epistles, that many made Scholas Philosophiae Otii Diversoria: One would have taken the Philosopher to have been one of our Supervisers; he hath so lively expressed our case. Doth he complain they came as much moralised from the dancing School, as Philosophy Schools? Change the word School into Temple, and may not even Christians complain, men come as much altered from the Bear-Garden, as Church. And whereas he complaineth Philosophy was turned into Philology; may not we too sadly complain, most of our Christianity is become Discursive noise? our most gloried Abilities but attempted expositions of Sacred Mysteries, (too deep for the Elephant) wranging against clear Truths, almost as much as Practising against them; if we do afford the truth our good word, how do our Pharisaical Cottingtons' mix the commendations of good Sermons, with those of their bad wares? or in praise of Men, how familiar to honour you with the commendations of this Teacher, and that good Man; till your Bargam shall testify, they brought away more of Mr. Foxley's Name than Sermon.  
Thus while their Tongues only are Confessors, and their Ears Professors; their Practice of Piety, and of moral Honesty becometh Martyr's. Thus doth doing of Gods will (as that exemplary Doer of his Father's will between two Thiefs) suffer now between the Gnostique, and Solifidian. One will father all it doth against the written will (even its shameless Libertineisme) on clearer Illuminations, than David's Lantern to his Paths can give. The other his doing nothing on his sufficient to Salvation Faith; believing indeed all Christ suffered, but nothing He commanded. Believing and Knowing doth so share the all of some new modelled Christians, that there is nothing left for that (now impertinent) Question, Mr. what shall I do to be saved? the very Question is a work of Supererogation, and he is condemned for a Meriting Overdo, that reckoneth good works, and keeping the Commandments, any part of the whole Duty of Man. Auricular Profession hath made good works Popish, and that in the practice (if not opinion) of Guides and Followers.  
1. As for Guides, what ever of truth was complained against them for Disagreement of Life and Doctrine, if there be not as much Cause still, give me my complaint again. It is never well, where the Preachers Hand leaveth off to Preach (as well as his Tongue) by examples of Piety: easier by far will Men hearken to his Exhortations to Charity, at whose Door the Parishioners may see the Poor relieved, than to any two hours breathed Miser that is free of nothing but his language. the most ordinary Auditor can censure him (as blamable, as that Actor that cried O Terram, O Earth, and pointed upwards, O Caelum, O Heaven, and pointed downwards) that Preacheth contempt of the World, and practiseth Love of it. No doubtless, He that hopeth to be a Converter of Souls, must be A, Polycarpus (one bearing fruit) as well as A chrysostom, (a Golden tongued Orator) He that is both, it may rightly have a third Name added, to signify him; and be termed justly A Holds-worth, near which character, as well as Name, (I dare affirm,) came a reverend Divine of our own, Si quis alius, (absit invidia) (with Envies leave) if any of late times. One that seemed so well acquainted with this Match of Knowledge and Practice, as he might be esteemed both the Priest and Bridgeroome, matching them first in himself, and endeavouring the like in others. So that his Name seemed an Imposition more of merit than Nature, having it no less justly from his spiritual Mother (the Church) than truly or primarily from his natural Father: of whom, and his like, I shall ask no extemporary Commentatours consent (with my Gloss) to presume that Text is meant, Math. 9 37. 38. The Harvest truly is plenteous, but the Labourers are few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest, that he would send forth Labourers into his Harvest: That true Labourers are few, our multitude of false pretended, and pretending Labourers do argue, whose call entitleth them not to the Work, or whose Lives answer not their call. But I wish the People were exempt from this Crime of Crosse-Practise: no Sermon they hear, but implicitly biddeth the Bands of Matrimony, be-between the Ear and Hand; but common Practice hath clapped up a more monstrous Match, the Tongue and Ear now are joined: what is heard, (if no more perhaps) shall be rather Preached again than practised. And would you know what Music, (and fitly too) is at this Wedding? the Apostle telleth us, a tinkling Cymbal. Let People complain of Parsons, and Parsons of People; I am sure neither are Canonical, neither the mere vocal Preacher, nor the Preaching Auditor: happy were the first couple before these, knowledge, and Practise, were divorced; a Divorce of sad consequence; whose least curse is that of Barrenness, the danger far exceeding.  
1. For its Barrenness, what is unpractised Knowledge in any Art? but Pedantry; as what is Practice in all Arts without that of Living well? but shooting at Rovers; as in Instances may appear. What if Men (like Broughton) can compile a concordance of years, in the sacred story? and make even a Conformity, between the deformed Gapings, Chasmes, and spaces of broken times? and yet skill not (I wish I could not say like him) a due conformity with present times. How long might we still complain of bad times, if Scalligers were as frequent as Pamphleteers, or Tracts like his, de Emendatione Temporum, rectifying of Computations, as familiar as Diurnals: a truer way doubtless for every one to be Emendator Temporum, were to turn over a new leaf in his own History, and amend his own Erratas. I will pursue a little Senecas Instances, in the next Quaeres, as that in Music. Monstras mihi (in Musicâ scil.) qui sint modi flebiles, ostendas potius quomodo inter adversa non emittam flebilem vocem. What booteth us to know, or play, a sad or cheerful strain? If I have not power of being cheerful in the saddest discord of my Affairs, or Fortune's descant on Lachrymae.  
Arithmetic enableth thee for Accounts, larger than ever any one, (I, or all the world together) did possess: Better Accountants are they that number their days, or are skilled in the Apostles Accounting all things but Dung, and loss to gain that Gospel's Pearl. Or better were the Arithmetic, Quae potius deceat nil ad Rem pertinere istas computationes, & non esse feliciorem cujus Patrimonium lassat Tabularios, as Seneca ibid. that could teach us all those Accounts to be of none. Geometry, it may be, teacheth me Wisdom, not to lose a Perch of my many Acres, through imperfect Survey. At ego discere volo quomodo totos hilaris amittam ibi, but teach me the Art whereby I might learn to lose all with cheerfulness; give me not an Art that teacheth me to measure, or admire any of the wand'ring Atoms of the circumference, but a steady motion in my Aims and Desires, to that Centre, whose Centre is every where, and Circumference is no where, even him whose name is all Quiescents, that Jehova himself. And in Astronomy, what should I trouble myself whether Saturn or Mars be opposite or no? potius hoc discam, ubicunque sunt, propitia esse, ih. rather let me learn where they are, they shall be propitious: that is, they never shall cross my will, because my will shall never be cross to Events. And therefore let us learn Senecas Resolve (in the same place) Ego quid sit futurum nescio: quod fieri possit scio, ex hoc nihil desperabo, totum expecto. What will be I know not, but what may be I do, and therefore expect any thing, but despair of nothing. By all which we see, the Philosopher taketh away the Title of wise man from the lazy Speculator in Arts, and Knowledge, and giveth it to the active vert●ous man, though never so illiterate; take it in express words, Magno Impendio, magnâ alienarum Aurium Molestiâ laudatio haec constat: O Hominem litteratum! simus hoc rusticiore Titulo contenti, Ovirum bonum! A great coile it costs, and an offensive one (to some ears) it keeps, to have it said, there goeth a Learned man: Let us be content with that plainer Commendation, there goeth an honest man. But well it were if mere Speculation were only barren: its mischiefs are no less in church and State; In the Church it spawneth Heresies; as to the State, it undermineth the structure of a well-setled Policy. In the Church it is Pestilential, in the State Gunpowder: Moses his Zeal broke the Tables against some stones (it may be) or some hard bodies, but blind or lame Zeal break them against one another.  
T●ntum Religio potuit suadere Malorum, being true of the pretence of Religion, which passeth over all Ties of Nature, and Laws of the second Table, to maintain but some Opinion in the first. He that agreeth not with me in all my Tenets, touching Religion, shall not be protected from all I can do to his Ruin, by being either my highest Superior, dearest Equal or the most innocent inferior. Thus while Profession of Religion, and Practise of Charity are asunder, Confusion and Mischief go hand in hand. It is a saying among Divines, that Hell is full of good Intentions, and Meanings; but I think it may be inverted; good Meanings rather pretended▪ than intended, are full of Hell, and Mischief. It was some such good intention sure, Ravilliacs Zeal had its fire from, for the Catholic Religion; when no less than the King of France's blood could quench it. And on this Score none more against Christ's, than Jesuits, against the Lords Annointeds, than they that bear the name of him whose Anointed these earthly Kings are; and all from no reason so much as the Nunnish, or Monastic life, (which you will) of their Knowledge, being as yet never married to Practise, than which (as by all that hath been said appear) no Match more desirable. What busttle is there in the World about inferior Matches? Romants, and History bear witness in the first: how must a whole Book full (of Adventures, Justs, Tournaments, Monsters killed, Enchanted Castles surprised, etc.) be read over, before Hymen light his Torch? In the other, what Consultations, what Embassies, and a whole council-board of Banes-Wrights, or Match-brokers, must go to the knitting a Prince's Love-Knot; whilst in the mean time the most Nonpareille Beauty of the World, Beauteous Knowledge standeth unregarded, or Cloistered up in mere Speculation, though long ago contracted to Practise by him that hath made her Jointure (Christ himself) and that such a Jointure as sure might quickly match her, were his word taken; even Blessedness itself. If ye know these things, happy are ye if you do them, Joh. 13. 17. And because it is for the most part the Method of these Discourses, to let you hear the consent of the other part of the Choir (viz. Nature and her enlightened ones) Let Senecas' vote pass towards the joining of this couple, Knowledge, and Practise. Haec aliis dic, ut dum dicas, Ipse audias; Scribe, ut dum Scripseris, legas, etc. stude, non ut plus scias, sed ut melius, Epist. 89. speak good things, that thou mayest be thy own Auditor, etc. Study to grow better, rather than more knowing: Nay he will call it no knowledge that is not impregnated with Practice. Tantum scire se judicat Quisquis, quantum non concupiscit, quantum non timet, Ep. 115. Let no man (saith he) think he knoweth farther than he restraineth his desires, or fears. Then take this Paradox for a Truth, no Scholar to the active Religious man; not he that defineth●Passions, but mastereth them. Doing well is Rhetoric; the liberal hand hath more Oratory than the Tongue of Demosthenes, or Cicero, and speaketh more comfort to the hungry Belly, than the best penned Oration. Let then the same be writ over our Churches, Closets, Studies (and all such like Marts of Knowledge, and Improvements of our Intellectuals) that is writ over the Schools at Milan. Sic ingredere, ut Teipso quotidie doctior, sic egredere, ut indies Patriae, Christianaeque Reipub. utilior evadas. Let every Ingress into such places, make thee more knowing, every Egress, more practically useful in Church, or Commonwealth. For (to conclude with the most forcible Reason) Doing well is not only the best of knowledge, but also most of Religion: Alms are the best Prayers, and the poor man's Prayers if heard, the richest Alms (making the Rich the Poor man's Debtor) In sum, the active Christian is the only Seraphical Doctor, the just Dealer, the best Casuist, the good Example, Master of the Sentences, each good Action speaking more effectually, Imitation, or Conviction to Spectators, than any (though the subtlest worder) could ever arrive to. The best Physic is to have Mens sana in Corpore sano, a sound mind in a healthful body: the best Philosophy is to live well; and to die well▪ the best Divinity.   

Reason's INDEPENDENCY.  
IT is no less Prerogative of that noble Creature, Man, that no worldly Force from Men, or Angels, can command or conquer his Assent, than that his Will cannot be compelled, to choose or dislike. The Liberty of this latter, I know, wanteth not Patrons, beside Experiments in every one● own breast in all premeditated Acts of the Will, demonstrating so clearly, that they confute all Opposers as plainly as Diogenes did Zeno, disputing against Motion, by rising up and Walking. But this Liberty of Judgement is neither maintained, nor ordinarily observed, and seemeth almost lost, either in Lazy, or blind Sequacity of other men's Votes: Our Opinions coming more by Contagion, than on Deliberation; thus breaking our Allegiance to that sole Commandress of our Reason, Truth, while we do— jurare in verba Magistri. Swear submission of Judgement, or Assent, to every one that Invadeth our understandings with those great Names, Aristotle, Plato, Domocritus, etc. Whereas it were a Temper not only leading to Wisdom, but were wisdom itself, to read all Authors, as Anonymo's, looking on the Sense, not Names of Books, or to hear Oracles of the Chair blind fold, not regarding who speaketh, but what is spoken, examining all, by the compared collections, or Reading, or experience hath made; (Wisdom being nothing else but an Induction from several examined Judgements, and on occasion to draw out Pertinencies to some emergent, that either Discourse, or active Consultation propoundeth.) Had this been used, Truth had had more Friends than Plato or Aristotle: and Sects in Philosophy been quelled, whose motion (like Seditious Multitudes) are as well continued, as raised by their Leaders. Hence that Learned Iconoclastes, that Image-breaking Enemy to Intellectual Idolatry knew no better Furniture for Truth's Temple, than the broken Images of Aristotle, 
Lord Bacon in his Novum Organon.  Plato, Democritus; or any other of the Ancients set up in men's Minds, as the only Idolised Oracles of Truth. How many fling their Eyes off a Book, having but spied the Name? so true is that Complaint once fathered on the Council of Trent, that they damned not so much Books, as Authors: what ever such a one writ must be condemned (though perhaps he would undertake merely to transcribe that Council itself) for Heresy, and prohibited view. In Pulpit-custome, what other is the first Question, (almost) of every Congregationer, but, who Preacheth? I am confident, should a truly dull Battologist, that is of Ausonius his Character, (Quam pauca, quam diu loquuntur Attici?) that an hour by the Glass speaketh nothing, should such a one I say, and a deserving eminent Preacher change Sermons; People would not only come thicker, but return satisfied, and even to admiration, commending the weakest sense, from the loudest famed Preacher. In humane Learning I appeal to every Mans own impartial Breast, whether he can boast an unbiased Judgement: and why not?  
Doubtless for some of these Reasons.  

Causes of Intellectual slavery.  1. The Marriage, (or Espousal, as the sage Frenchman) of our Fancy, or Judgement to some Notions, or Men; and this hath begot that peevish Morosity among men; that the more knowing Man, is to the very Ignorant, Heretical, and to the Smatterer in Knowledge, Paradoxical. When he delivereth any thing New, though but some clearer Illustration of old Truth, for that we must allow old and one, as well in Nature, as Divinity; Subject and Predicate being in Nature coupled, before the first Logician ever worded a Proposition. How few are they? whom Education, in the Esteem of an Aristotle, A Ramus, etc. hath not so tainted, that the Name of any other Author, or Philosophy, seemeth Heterodoxe without examination, thus sentencing them; I like not these new fangled Fellows that will be wiser than their Forefathers: pretty Somewhats they would mean, but sure They understand not themselves any more than I do: thus lazily sleeping on Traditions Pillow, into a Lethargy of Ignorance: which breedeth an obstinate peevishness against any Man's light, not lighted at their Candle.  
2. A second Cause is mistaking Authority: what more familiar, than to call the world's Infancy, Antiquity? and it's true Seniom, or Age, Novelty? which if it be the Brand of this my Assertion, I have a Patron that took it from Reason. But it may be, according to my Assertion, his Name will sooner still opposers than his Reasons: to them I name that (oculatissimus Bacon (Learning's Chancellor, more than England's) but to the Rational I set down his Reason, with uncontrollable Demonstration; proving that which we call New, and upstart, to be the truest Antiquity. Take it in his own words out of, Lib. 1. Novi organi: Aphorism: 84 Rursus vero Homines a Progressu in Scientijs detinuit & ferè incantavit Reverentia Antiquitatis, & virorum, qui in Philosophia magni habiti sunt, Authoritas. De Antiquitate autem, opinio quam Homines de ipsa fovent, negligens omnino est, & vix verbo ipsi congrua. Mundi enim Senium & Grandaevitas pro Antiquitate vera habenda sunt; quae Temporibus nostris tribui debent, non juni●ri, qualis apud antiquos fuit. Illa enim Aetas respectu Nostri antiqua & major; respectu Mundi ipsius, nova & minor fuit. The Reverence of Antiquity hath arrested men's Progress in Sciences, yet that very opinion concerning this Antiquity hath nicknamed the Ages of the World: for the Last ages are to be taken for the World's old Age, and so its true Antiquity: old age is not the first, but last of a Man; and truly we may hope for riper Judgements, more and better examined Experiences● from the latter Ages in points of humane Literature. The Orbis Intellectualis, intellectual World meeting with daily, and fresh Circulatours, and Discoverers, as well as this material World, hath with its Drakes, and Magellans. It is good I confess to use the North Star of the Ancients, till through Progress in later Discoveries, that Guide dippeth under the Horizon, as the Pole Star doth to Voyagers beyond the Equinoctial: that is, use it so far as it giveth Direction, and not in Peevishness leave off all Observations, because out of the sight of that particular guide.  
We are not to be angry at Stra●o, or Ptolemy &c. because they did not write of America, or not to believe Magellan saw those straits, because more ancient Geographers heard not of them. Most true is that of England's Philosopher, in the forementioned Book, and Aphorism. Summae Pusillanimitatis est, Authoribus infinita tribuere (Authori autem Authorum, atque adeo omnis Authoritatis) Tempori jus suum denegare; to give Authors more than their due, and rob Time, the Author of Authors (and so of Authority itself) of hers, is but degrading of that great Master of Art●, Time, according to the Spanish Proverb, Tiempo es Maestro en todas las Artes; Time is Master in all Arts; and Knowledge, and Truth, not the Daughter of Authority, but Time. Solomon saith, Deus Mundum reliquit Disputationi Hominum, Eccles. 3. 11. God left the World to the Dispute of Men. To some it is a Primer, only wherein to spell a Deity, that aught to beloved and feared; to others a large polemical Body of controverted Quaeres; left to the Decision of Time, and Experience; so true is that Greek verity, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Among men's Notions, nought exact appears,  
What one man wonders at, Another jeers.   
What seriously exerciseth one Man's Brain to defend as a Maxim, tickleth another's Diaphragme no less than an Epigram: how far so ever men's words will go in civil Contracts, no taking one another's words nor Hands, in Disquisitions of Reason; and where the Diffidence is not the Child of Ignorance or Pride, it is more commendable than easy Credulity, which is the third cause of Intellectual slavery. The Tyranny of which credulity appeareth 
3d. Cause 1.  (for instance) in a believing Admirer of the Furnace, who will believe more than an Alchemist will promise, and slander over the sins of his whole Life; which being cause of miscarriage in their Attempts; when one single sin of theirs, called Cheating, might more justly bear the blame. He will sooner part with his Belief of the Trinity in Heaven, than not believe Paracelsus his Trinity of Principles omnipotent, while Himself proveth an inverted Chemist, (with the wrong side outward) making of that which was Gold, no Gold. He trusteth more assent to the bare word of a Philosophus per ignem, (even in Projections of Impossibilities) than the greatest Oracle of Reason could borrow, or Demonstration enforce. Nor less vain is the credulity Judicial Astrology gaineth; but from whom? none sooner, than those that believe the Moon no bigger than their Cart wheel; such as would scarce believe their Horse would ever be found, by that ginger that should tell them the little Dog in Heaven were bigger than their Gelding. The less they know in Astronomy, or Philosophy, the more they believe in Astrology; and none sooner believe their Star book, than such as know not a Letter in any other. They are of the same File with a third sort of easy Souls, with whom Romants are Chronicle: that believe, the Sun hath had his Knights as sure as his Lustre, or Heat; and will afford so reasonable a Pennyworth of Belief to the Homer, or Historian, (if Poet fit not better the work) of the seven Champions, that he will believe St. George for England did all the feats of the other six, and his own too.  
Nay this Credulity was the first corruption of Judgement, else a Creature, (and that in such a shape, as a Serpent) had not gained belief above its Creator, in that, non moriemini, Ye shall not die. And consider the nearness of it to those bright Irradiations from God himself, it appeareth to be far Sillyer, than any of the forementioned, and ridiculous Credulities. But another extreme to this, 
4. Cause.  & a fourth Cause of this slavery of our understandings, is obstinate adhaesion to false rules of belief, and Topics of Probation: and that either taken from others or our selves. One will believe, nor like, nothing but what is transcribed from Seths Pillars before the Flood, or such broken Antiquities (to retain the Word in its received acception) like doting Antiquaries, that will keep Moses his broken Tables with more diligence than the whole ones, and more admire the rest, or Fragments of Coins, that their Splendour, or entireness. So he dealeth with things stamped for Truth; he embraceth those Books, whose Authors Names are lost, or stand first in Fastis Temporum, are leaders in Time's Calendar; none so perfect in his esteem, as Authors with many Plurima Desunts, many Chasmes, and vacancies: if any thing fall under his view, nearer his own Times, he useth Jobs words; He is but of yesterday, and understandeth nothing, king Horace his complaint true, Epist. 2. 1. 
Indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crassé  
Compositum, illepideve putetur, sed quia nuper.  
It vexeth Me, when I composures view  
Condemned, not 'cause ill writ, They are but new.   
Such will approve Authors by the Chronicles, as in the same Epistle he sets them out. 
Qui redit ad Fastos, & virtutem aestimat Annis,  
Miraturqne nihil, nisi quod Libitina Sacravit.  
That by its Since, an Authors Sense commends:  
And's wonder doth begin at the Authors End.   
Or which is the most spreading Infection men raise their belief and Assent, from what is oldest in themselves; and hath been longest by them believed: what we hear, or read, 
Ad●lph. Act. 1. 2.  as it agreeth with that, we will like, or dislike; so true is that of Terence. Homine imperito nunquam quicquam injustius, qui nisi quod ipse fecit (liceat addere) vel credit) nihil rectum putat: Tell men any thing not dropped into them by their Schoolmaster, Parents, Pastor or Tutor; how ready to cry new fangles, a singularity deserving Micaiahs' Box on the Ear, and Question.  
Which way went the Spirit of Prophecy into you? How come you to be wiser than all before you? To light therefore on the healthful neutrality, I will observe the Politician's Rule; (as being useful in the Imperial Court of Reason) to steer a steady course between deform obsequium, unbecoming servility & abruptam contumaciam, & abrupt obstinacy. I will not greedily embrace A Novelty on the insinuation of a Proverb barely, that a Child on a Giant's shoulder, may see farther than the Giant. No, I will examine first whether He see, and then believe he seeth farther. Last writers are not, because Last, the best, but so far as they have perused the old, and so truly stand upon their shoulders: otherwise dreams of the Ignorant, or whimsies of the Smatterer in Learning, might be stamped for currant. It is an observation even here useful, as well as in Divinity, to obey that Text, Jerem. 6. 16. Stand in the way, and inquire for the old paths. Stand in the old ways, or inquire for them, before we enlarge our Discoveries of new. And that inimitable Poet's Rule is true in all mending of our Intellectuals. 
Dr. Donne.  
— Doubt wisely, in strange way  
To stand enquiring right, is not to stray:  
To sleep, or run wrong, is—   
Augmenta Sientiarum, Advancements of Learning are not merely Destructive of the old, but for most part additional, Progressive, not deviating. I will not so despise the World's nonage (vulgarly called Antiquity) to youth, as to think it might not have Vigorous Endeavours, and Performances, in the Recovery of newly lost Light. Nay had not the Deluge of Time drowned their Traditions, and conveyances to us, I know not why I might not believe the (Crepuscula) Evening of Adam's created light, brighter than the Noon of our acquired. And as in wealth, Solomon will allow it the Industrious rather than the slothful; So we may, (Caeteris Paribus) believe the Primitive Times more knowing because more Industrious. We must deal with Truth (not as with Beauty but) as with Virtue, honour it in Age or Youth. For a general Rule that of the Divine Oracles is best: 1 Thess. 5. 21. Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. No Notion should pass unexamined, though few have admission into the Penetralia, and inner Chambers of Assent. Look on Authors not as Dictatours, but Senators; not Commanding, but Counselling my Judgement. If Copernicus move the Earth; it shall not presently turn my Head with Astonishment at it; because Opinion hath fixed it (it may be more than its Creator) no, we shall do well thus to carry ourselves to things Existences, or their Causes; to the first, let us not affirm their existence, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the Fallacies of Sense. The Sun may be really beneath the Horizon when apparently above, nor deny a things existence upon its escapes from Sense. The Rays that dispersed will scarce warm, collected may burn. In the Parliament of Parnassus Resolved upon the Question, is not to be understood irrevocable, or unpassable: had Christophorus Columbus tied himself to Hercules his Pillars; (which they say were fixed at the straits of Gibraltar, as the Western Limits of the World) the Spaniards had never converted, the Indians; Gold (in the next verse) to the faith and trusty keeping of their Exchequer. I am persuaded nothing hath more continued such an Ignorance in the World, as men's setting these terminating Bounds, and Pillars to their Discoveries, My Sense, My Reason; So far will I go, and no further: calling Obstinacy to an Opinion, Solidity; and humble Ductility after further Reason, and Discovery, Sceptic Inconstancy. From hence I believe it was that that Synods Geography was as ridiculous as a Cockneys: (to whom all is Barbary, beyond Brainford; and Christendom endeth at Greenwich, (because Kent there beginneth) when they banished a Bishop for saying there were Antipodes, as if the World and their Diocese had the same limits; in the extremity of which, an Alehouse might not only be called, but be the World's end: a little more would make them assign, (with that rabbinical Geographer) where Heaven and Earth met. A learned vote that any Tarpawlin Mariner might have nulled, had the straits of Magellan sent him to that Synod.  
Secondly, as to the Causes of things, how warily must we conclude their Identity, from a Homogeneity or likeness of Effects. Causes per se, and Causes per Accidens working the same Effects; the case of Obstructions in Physic proveth it: Hot things, because opening, may cool. Take the Oven Lid away, with hot tongues, or cold, and the Oven shall cool. Old Physicians, and Modern, that prescribe Cichory, and Violets for coolers, may both attain their purpose; though one would have them hot, as many degrees as the other cold. For cooling may be effected,  
1. Either by that Picklock Leptomeria, or subtlety of parts, by opening the Pores (those doors of grosser parts) and so letting out that heat, or Vapours, that are strangers to Nature. Or  
2. By arresting of that impetuous motion of the Spirits, Archives; of Nature (call it what you will) as those things do, that pass for narcotically cold.  
Lastly, let us avoid that denying of Experiments, or Existence unquestionable of Effects, because their Causes, or their modus operandi (which is but the Application of the Cause to the Effect) doth not fall under Demonstration. In this regard who ever pronounced, quod nihil scitur, for the greatest Demonstration strayed not far from that Text (of the greatest Searcher of Nature, 
Eccles. 8. 17.  Solomon) Then I beheld all the work of God, that a Man cannot find out the work that is done under the Sun, because though a Man labour to find it out, yea further, though a wise man think to know it, yet he shall not be able to find it: that shutteth up all our endeavours for Knowledge under an Acatalepsia, impossibility of certainty, or full discovery, even of Nature, while we look in this Glass of the Body, till we come to do as Seneca wordeth it, Cum totam lucem totus aspexeris, quam nunc per angustissimas oculorum vias obscurè intueris, which differeth not much from the Apostles English, now we see, as in a Glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I am known, 1. Corinth. 13. 12. True therefore is that of Scaliger, exerc. 307. Vlterior aequo disquisitio, morosi atque satagentis est animi: Humanae Sapientiae Pars est, quaedam aequo Animo nescire velle, it is an useless Peevishness to be too strict in Disquisitions and tracking of Nature, where she will be hid: and a modest wisdom to be willingly ignorant of some things. Nay according to the same Author, Exerc. 1. Sect. 1. Sapientia nostra est Vmbra in Sole, or, (as Cusa.) 
Valesius Sac. Phil. c. 64.  Docta Ignorantia cum Sientiae Appetitu Conjuncta. A Learned Ignorance, endeavouring Knowledge, is all our knowledge; and our reason dischargeth its duty, if it neither sleep nor serve. But now for its deportment to Morals or Politics, (and its assent, or Approbation, respective;) That Liberte d' Esprit, that Charron mentions, is the best Temper, a true Patron, and Precedent of this Independency of Reason, and that freedom of Spirit, is that deserving Author of Religio Medici, with whom in this I agree. I look not on the Flemish, Italian, or French, with Prejudice, or Wonder; but as Socrates, (that counted himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) as one of my fellow Citizens. Nor doth their different Garbs, or Customs, (the Garb of their Minds,) with me, at all disguise that Common Image (wherein we agree) of God and Immortality, any more than antic clothes to a skilful Eye, the likeness of Pictures: indeed an unskilful eye will quarrel at a Picture, whose Band and Doublet is not like the Prototypes, or man's, for whom it is made.  
I allow Idiosyncrases, particular Constitutions to Politic Bodies as well as natural, as some have that Antipathy to Things; Cheese, Cats, etc. so some Nations their hatred of Customs, beloved by others: the Spaniards constancy to his Fashion, would have continued Him in Fig-Leaves, had he been the first wearer of them. Whereas had Adam's Sons and Daughters had the French Levity, he might have been harder put to it, to have named his Children, than the Creatures: yet can my Charity, (without casting Ignominy on either) call the one a wise staidness, the other a witty variety. I am not bound to think the Trunk Hose of our forefathers ridiculous; because Fashions cross the Seas as oft as the Packet Boat, into this Island, the Nursery of Noveltys: nor think the worse of these; because old Age, overweening their own fashion, maketh them peevishly severe against any other: in all things of this nature, it is rather shismatical Novelty not to be a sociable Innovator. Bring them to the Scrutiny of Reason; and that itself will be so changeably indifferent, as to Judge them indifferent, not requiring Sentence or Absolution of Them, their Authors; or Imitators. I will look on this Hamlet of the Creation (be it the only, or but one, of the inhabited Worlds) the Earth, as one Corporation, differing it may be in the private Oeconomies of their Families, and look on all the changes of Common wealths, Ragioni's del Stato, Aims, and Interests of Men, at Council Board, Exchange, or Market, but as a Mass of Uniform Deformities: and that without espousing my Reason so to any one, as to think it already so good, as none other like it; or may not be (if he hath not been already) bettered: this suspense, (Surseance de Judgement (as that excellent Frenchman) Met L' Espirit a L' Abri de tous Inconveniens, it shadeth the mind from the inconveniences of Quarrels, 
Charr. de Sagesse. Lib 2. c. 2.  Disputes, Sidings with Opinions, being cheated by Sophistry, etc. Et hoc liberiores & solutiores sumus, quia nobis integra Judicandi Pot●stas manet. It is a liberty maintaining the understanding chaste, neither prostituting herself to, or suffering a Rape from any Opinion.  
Nullius jurare in verba Magistri.  
To be of Truth's Jury, not Knight of the Post to any Opinion, or Interest: this temper Sereneses the Soul from Passion, cleareth its Intellectuals, and restoreth it (in part) to its first, and best Independency.   

THE TEARS OF THE PRESS.  
THE Press might be employed against, or for it self, according to the good, or hurt its Labours have spread abroad in the World. Look on them on the one side, 
Its faults.  you will confess the Tears of the Press were but the Livery of its guilt, nor is the Paper stained more than Authors, or Readers. That House at Harlam (too justly may be styled a House of Mourning; notwithstanding it boastingly would justle the Chineses out of their Invention of Printing, which whether as mischievous as their other of Guns, is doubtful. That Ink hath Poison in it, the Historian, as well as Naturalist will confess: for empanel a Jury of inquest, whence Learning, or Religion hath been poisoned, & scribendi Cacoethes, dabbling in Ink will be found guilty. For, First Learning hath suffered, Vt omnium rerum, sic Litterarum Intemperantia laboramus. Tacitus saith, among other excesses even that of Learning may surfeit us; and this was true before Printing: when the cure of the Disease, (most are sick) nisi te scire hoc sciat alter) of publishing, or if you will have it in Horace his words: Sat. 4. Serm. 1. 
Quodcunque semel chartis illeverit, omnes Gestit è Fur no redeuntes scire, Lacuque, Et Pueros, & Anus.  Notionellas (as I may term them) was harder, by reason of laborious Transcription, Vanity or contradiction, employing the pen even then. Of the former, let Dydimus the Grammarian lead the Van, of whom Seneca saith, quatuor millia Librorum scripsit, miser si tam nulla supervacua Legisset, 
It's vanity.  that he writ four thousand Books, miserable Man if he had read so many Pamphlets; & in those, Controversies about Homer's Country: whether Anacreon offended more in incontinence, or intemperance, etc. Most of them being stuffed with such, or Grammatical Questions: A Disease continued, if not increased since Printing, too much declining things, for the Declension of words. Witness such Laborius works in Criticisms needless. (Jasperse not the wise choice of useful Quaeres in that study) the Result it may be of many Pages, is the alteration of a word or Letter, its Addition, or Substraction. O painful waist Paper! how empty is the Press oft times when fullest? empty we must acknowledge that, which vanity filleth, as we may well think it, when it issueth some Poetic Legend of some love Martyr, or pious R●mants of more than Saints ever did. What Pamphlets the World in these latter times hath swarmed with, the studious Shopkeeper knoweth, who spendeth no small time at the Bulk in reading, and censuring modern controversies, or News: & will be readier to tell you what the times lack, than to ask what you lack. We live in an Age wherein never was less Quarter given to Paper: should Boccalines Parliament of Parnassus be called among us, I fear our Shops would be filled with printed waist Paper, condemned to Tobacco, Fruit, etc. No Charta Emporetica, Cap Paper, (or what else they call it) would be in use, till Legends, Romants, Pamphlets, etc. were spent. How justly may we take up that complaint in Strad. lib. 3. Praelect. 1. where He brings in Printers complaining against the Rhyming (Poetic they would be called) Pressers into the Press: Qui quae noctu somniant, haec manè Lucem videre illico gestiant, all ready what danger are we in of eating up Antichrist confuted, in the Bottom of a Pie? or to light Tobacco with the dark holdings forth of new Lights?  
To see the Antinomian Honey Comb, holding Physic (at second hand) in a Stool Pan; sure argueth a surfeit in the Press, that thus swarmeth with vanity, 
It's Mischief.  or Controversy: which is its worse fault, as being the mischief of a sadder and engaging consequence. Alas what now is the Press but an office of contention, issuing rather Challenges, than Books. When Pulpits grow hoarse with Railing, then doth this take up the Quarrel, that oft admitteth of no arbitrator, but the Sword. Books are subject among other Chances to fire, and the Worm: Such as are of this nature, prevent the World's Doom, and their own, not staying for the general Conflagration, but beginning it: setting it on such a Fire of Contention, Schism, & Heresy, that that Blood which can quench Hell Fire, cannot totally extinguish this: for the shedder of that Blood, hath foretold the inevitable Necessity of it. As to the other Fate of Books, it is to be feared these feed their Authors never dying Worm. How miserable is truth torn by Antilogies, and little better than scolding, and suffereth more by this Pen and Ink war, than by Pike and blood shed. 
Truth divine.  By how much more captivating of assent, Sophistry is, than success among Reasoning Souls (that coming nearer Reason, than success, doth Ii●stice) and we know Truth is often water●d by Martyr's blood: receiving more strength from the red letterd Days in an Almanac, that whole Tomes of Pros and Co●'s. And what Truths Politic, or News suffer by the Press is weekly experienced: it is nothing to kill a man this week, and with Ink instead of Aqua Vitae fetch him alive next: to drown two Admirals in one week, and buoy them up again the next. Each side save its Knight and killeth the Giant: but more assuredly Truths, so that many of those Pamphlets, may better be termed the Weekly Bills of Truth's Mortality; than faithful Intelligencers of Affairs. Nor fareth it better with Peace than Truths; The Feathers and Plumes seconding the Quarrel of the Quill, from Inveighing to Invadings, Declarations to Defiance; Remonstrances, to Resistance; and that to Blood The Press rippeth up the faults, and Disgraces of a Nation, and then the Sword the Bowels of it. What Printing beginneth by way of Challenge, its contemporary Invention, Guns answers in Destruction accents. 
The Causes.   
Now the Causes of these enormities of the Press are either in Writers, or Readers.  
1. Among Writers, first some that write to eat, as Beggars examine not the virtues of Benefactors, but such as they hope or find able, or willing they ply; be they good or bad, wise man or Fool, so do they beg of any Theme that will sell; true or false, good or bad, in Rhyme or Prose, and that pitiful or passable; all is one, Ink must earn Ale, and three Penny Ordinaries; write they must against Things or Men (if the Spirit of contradiction prove saleable) that they can neither Master, nor Conquer; Sparing neither Bacons, Harveys, Digbys, Brownes, or any the like of Improvement COLLEGE (as I may term them) though (beside some little somewhat for the venture) they get nothing, but such a credit as he did, that set Diana's Temple on fire, to perpetuate his Name.  
2. A second sort are Discoverers of their Affections by taking up the Cudgels on one side or other, and it is come to that now, that Author scarce passeth that writeth not Controversies, Ecclesiastical, Politic, or Philosophical. Though far better it were for Public good there were more, (deserving the Name of Johannes de Indagine) progressive pioneers in the Mines of knowledge; than Controverters of what is found: it would lessen the number of Conciliatours: which cannot themselves now write, but as engagedly biased to one side or other; but these are, Desiderata, vereor semper desideranda, things wanting, and to be desired (I fear) for ever.  
Second Cause are Buyers, the Chapman's vanity, and weakness of Choice, maketh the Mart of less worthy Books▪ the bigger. Such is the fate of Books, of all other Ware, the courser the Ware, the more the Seller getteth by it; examine the truth of it at Stationer's Hall, & it will too truly appear in these latter times, the Bookseller hath got most by those Books, the Buyer hath got least, being not only the Luck of Rabelais his Bookseller, that was a loser by his Book of Sense and Judgement, but abundantly repaired by that Ingenuous Nothing, the Life of Garaga●tua, and Pantagruel. What Age ever brought forth more, or bought more Printed waist Papers? to read which, is the worst spending of Time (next the making them) and the greater Price given for them, and far above their worth. But now what Cure for these Distempers of the Press? 
The Cure.  why truly for them in Fieri, no such Correcting the Press as breaking it, but the chiefest help is Prophylacticall, a care Preservatory; and so an Index expurgatorius, an expunger of the vanity, or Contention of originals, would save the labour of the Index EXPURG ATORIUS▪ of Copies, and to save Paper from being so stained, would keep it from after burning by the Common Hang Man. It had been better if some Heresies had been concealed, & never confuted in Print, and better Darkness▪ everlasting had been the Fate of that Book called the Three Impostors; (as in sad Probability it is the Portion of its Author) than by being burnt, 
Printings benefits.  to emblem the endless Punishment of the Compiler.  
But not to make our Eyes sore by looking only on the hurt; let us turn them on the Benefits of the well employed Press: and we shall see it a Mint of Solid worth, the good it hath done (and yet may do) being inestimable: it is Truth's Armoury, The Bank of Knowledge, and Nursery of Religion, never suffering a want of the sincere Milk of the Word, nor Piety's Practice to be out of Print (and that not only in one Book) weekly issuing forth helps to doing, as well as knowing our Duty. But the worth of the Aware house will be best known by the Wares, which are Books, of which see further in my Essay of Books.   

THE BEST FURNITURE.  
Books looked on as to their Readers, or Authors, do at the very first Mention, challenge Pre-eminence above the Worlds admired sine things, and more than Riches in (Homer) are truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Homer. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  dropped from Heaven: and (such as are Directories to Heavenly wisdom,) as Ladders for our Ascent: most useful Books, are Comments on one of God's two Books, that hieroglyphical one of Nature and the Creatures; or that precious Book of Life, that Verbum Dei, (to be esteemed next to Verbum Deus, that was pleased to be bound up in the course Cover of Humane Nature) I say, that written Epistle of the Creator to the Creature; In qua quicquid docetur veritas, praecipitur Bonitas, promittitur Felicitas. Now what Benefit Readers, what Glory Authors may reap from such Labours in comparison of any other labour under the Sun, is demonstrable to those prudent Chapmen of the World that know the just value of Things-Look on other labours of Men for the Necessities, or superfluities of Life; they are tainted with that Creature vanity (mentioned by Cornclius Alapide on Eccles. 1. 2. Insensibilitas, quod omnis Creata voluptas vel Commoditas animam non pervadat, nec penetrate, imo in se non attingat, sed tantum Corpus, sensusque afficit; & per eo● Animum obiter perstringens. A Tastlesnesse (as it were) that is in all created pleasure or profit external, not reaching the soul immediately, but through the senses, (imperfect, when not deceitful Judges) they are like Sodom Apples, enduring the Eye, not the Touch, or the Feasts of Witches▪ which (according to most,) are but Dreams, the very word the Psalmist setteth them out by, Ps. 73. 20. where he bringeth in the gay things and preferments of the upper end of the World, to be but as a Dream when one awaketh, leaving more vexation, than content.  
On the other side the excellency of Knowledge, (the Quarry out of which these Jewels, (Books) are digged, and the wealth they bring) hear from Solomon: (the best Cashkeeper of Providence, having not only seen, but had in possession the best of sublunary Enjoyments) he telleth us it is as far above folly (be it rich or mighty) as light is above Darkness, the greatest Antithesis Nature, or Poetry ever found out. Solomon thought his Titles slender, until he could write the wisest Prince: and for wisdom, (though a King) he was constrained to become a Petitioner; as if until he obtained it he were but a Beggar; and if we will believe History; (notwithstanding his immediate Inspiration.) His Library; was not the least piece of his Magnificence. Such Furniture thought he necessary, and stately the Queen of Sheba thought it, who (as Historians relate) among other favours, had some of his Library bestowed on her, and without doubt esteemed it equal, if not above any other Treasure, since her Errand was more to hear his Wisdom, than see his Court. In a true verdict, no such Treasure as a Library, and (if all be true) the Hill Amara in Aethiopia, outvieth either Indies with their Diamonds or Gold, the Library of which place, some assure, is so famous, as to have in it writings of Enoch, Job, Abraham, Solomon, Titus Livius whole: nor for number is either that Library comparable of Constantinople, containing 120000 Books, or that at Pergamus that had 200000. or of Alexandria in Aul. Gellius, lib. 6. c. 17. wherein were 700000. Books.  
Look no further than our own Country, it more Arresteth the wondering Eye of an understanding Traveller, with Bodleis' Library in Oxford, than all the stately buildings to the Humility of Devotions or Pride of Men, Temples, or Nobleman's Houses & in a just esteem is England's rich-Ware house, though the Covetous Mole see no such worth in all Paul's Church Yard, as in one Lombard street glittering shop. I am sure from the former, they may better furnish (and that with more comfortable Notes) their Account Books that must be opened, when Shop Books are burnt. I mean the Book of Conscience, (I wish I could call it an Enchiridion, or Pocketing, but it is so little in men's hands or Pockets, (if taken in a good sense) it wanteth some other Name.) The Book which in that grand reading day according to its contents, will be Licenced or burnt: and when God maketh up his Jewels, it is thence Rate Books will be made, and he richer, (than one ignorant of its worth) that hath no other worldly goods he can call his own, but his Bible; if a well studied and practised Bible: (but that and a fight Sword, (according to the Jest) are rare commodities) which (scarce Digression (bringeth me to that Book, which is the glory of the well employed Press, and Redemption of all the Mischief that cometh by it ill employed. But me thinks I hear no small fool cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, just contrary: No one Book hath done more mischief than the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue; and he showeth me the sad Gashes in Poli●y, and Piety, this Sword of the Spirit hath made, in the hands of Mad Times: and since every one pretendeth a Key to this Padlock hung on this Sword. (So it had for Peace, and unity of Faith's sake, in the Apostle Paul's time, he locked it from Women, they must be no Expositors, and these Mysteries in another Place were under Commission, committed to Thee, 2. Tim. 1. 14.) ever since I say, there be so many Keys, and those differing: what ariseth from it? but breaking the Wards and Lock into so many pee●es, that the Interpretations of some one Text in this Book will equal almost the Number of all the Texts contained in it, and these Interpretations maintained more than the Text; Explications of Faith breaking its unity (as if Bonds of Charity, and Publication of Truth could not consist) and that with such Study, faction and at last violence, that both Truth and Love lie a bleeding. Again, from these Religious contentions, begun in private dissenting Breasts, till they engage Church and State, (what fair Pretexts arise? for your Magni Latrones, armed invading Potentates, to enlarge their Territories? by invading their Neighbours to settle among them Truth. But what Truth? that They would fain take up a little larger Room in the Map. They like not the scarce Legible confines of their Dominion, and fain they would have their Earth; while they pretend they bring them Heaven for it. A sad and true Scroll of Church and State Inconveniences▪ occasioned (if you will) not caused, by this familiarized Book; but the true cause is, our Leaven of Pride, Hypocrisy, uncharitableness, that causeth such poisonous Fermentations and not the Bread of life; the foulness of our Stomaches prevailing above the goodness of the Food: Nor therefore to be denied the good, and honest Heart, any more than Light to busy men, because denied to mad men; or the Sacrament to be declined, because the Emperor Henry the seventh was poisoned in the Eucharist (an Act, Transubstantiation cannot excuse from a double Murder, by poisoned Christ▪ to kill his Anointed.) The woe (and so the blame) is the Portion of▪ by whom, not by what Offences come; plainly pointing out, the Faults are from Rational Agents, and Mis-interpreters, as the Cause, not from the dead Letter in any Languages whatsoever.  
This Book of Life now quitted (I hope) from its impudent Mischief) challengeth our Love, Praise, and Study from all other Books, they being no other way of Price, but as they Comment-like refer to this. To enter on the true and right use of this and other Books, would make one itself, and that of bulk; only in general: They use them not aright, that have them for Ornament chiefly, and are more curious (as they are more acquainted) about the binding and strings, than Insides: Or proud of their Number, a Pride better befitting a Bookseller. No, they are Householdstuff intended for Furniture of the Mind, more than Study, or Chamber. Believe one that knew the use, and usefulness of Books as well as any; The Lord Bacon referreth it to these heads.  
1. Pleasure mixed with Profit, best tasted in solitude by the Mind sequestered, to whom doubtless all other company is of small account; there is more Content, as well as Instruction in the company of the Dead, than of the Living; their Converse is Li●es Enlarger, non tantum suam aetatem ben● tuentur, omne Aevum suum adijciunt. Nullo nobis Seculo interdictum est, in omnia admittimur. A man in his Study liveth all the Ages of the world, that are (not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concealed and lost: or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fabulous) but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Historical: which some reckon from Thucydides, and he traveleth all Regions, and with his Mind, (the true lofty Traveller) surveyeth them. The World's Declination is so far from shortening a learned man's Age, that the Bookworm is of all Creatures the longest lived, the last in every Age living all the former, to whose Age Methusalems' was but Nonage. Historical Faith will make thee live with thee first Adam; it floateth thee in the Ark with Noah. It will thus at any time make nine Persons in the Ark, five in Nebuchadnezars Furnace, two in daniel's Den, etc. Seneca sure understood somewhat of this Magic of Historical Belief, 
Sen de brevit. c. 14.  when he said, in omnia admittimur, it associateth us with all Times and Persons past, Scias cum Rerum Natura in consortium omnis Aevi pariter incedere.  
2 Usefulnesse is Ornament: knowledge gained by books, tippeth the tongue with familiar, or solemn Eloquence: The great Magnes Animorum, Loadstone. Nor hath it only Attraction, but Conquest, in regard its surprisal is scarce resistable. And such hath learned Eloquence, or power of Persuasion, over unlearned Minds: Since in Examples, or Philosophical Characters (as in a Glass) it settleth the Passions of men, most usual, and meeteth tacitly with their Objections, or bringeth some unexpected Topick of persuasion. And to improve this head of the Lord Bacon's, of the Ornament coming by Books: Let me add Seneca's Heraldry that is in them. Thou mayst adopt thyself into what Hero's Family thou wilt (such are chiefly the learned Tribe) Nobilissimorum Ingeniorum Familiae sunt, 
Senec. de. b●evit. c. 15.  elige in quam ascisci velis; non in Nomen tantum adoptaberis, sed ipsa bona▪ thou mayst mend thy Pedigree, nay, thy Inheritance, not only of the name of Pythagoras, P●ato, Aristotle (or any such Monarch in the Empire of Learning) but their real goods of the Mind, that become greater by thy expending them on others.  
But thirdly for dispatch of Business, Books are the Glass of Counsel to dress ourselves by. So true is that of the Lord Verulam, Sermone de Studijs, 48. Homines Rerum gerendarum gnari, ad Negotia exequenda f●rtasse Idonei sunt; & in specialibus, Judicio non malo utantur: verum Consilia de Summis Rerum, eorumque Inventio & Administratio recta, felicius a literatis promanant. There may be men that skill the Knack of some particular performances, and the Road of some Affairs; but Consultations, and the grand Turns of weighty and public Concernments, are best managed by men of Learning, that may consult with the Antecedents, and Consequents of Occurrences, like, if not Parallel.  
To sum up more benefits of Books, Books are life's best business: Vocation to these hath more Emolument coming in, than all the other busy Terms of life. They are Fee-lesse Counselors, no delaying Patrons, of easy Access, and kind Expedition, never sending away empty any Client, or Petitioner; not by delay, making their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Courtesies Injurious. Marcus Antoninus may sooner now be spoke with, than when he lived, though of so open a Majesty: Caesar may be now consulted, that before admitted none (it may be) but his Counsel of War: No Threshold among these to be worn out with Attendance on their leisure, from business, sleep, or Riot. I may now come to the speech with Saint Austin (though a Bishop) without a leg to the Porter; would I converse with the ultimum Naturae, choicest Powers of Nature, and see how far they went beyond many Christians, thy access to them is easy. Seneca and Plutarch as thy Contemporaries communicating their best parts (their minds) with thine: Wouldst thou be a Spectator of the Market of the World, and see what the Trade of the world hath been from the beginning, what bid, and for what? on the Temple of History thou mayst stand, and see the lives of thousands bid for some petty Crown; of dearest Relations for an Inheritance, of husbands, for an Adulterous freer Embrace; thou mayst see Actions of greatest Note, as done before thy face, live with the first Monarchies, and traverse their Courts, and view their Exploits; what can r●der Societies afford me in comparison? that are immersed in more sordid sweats, and labours, and that for no higher Design (as Solomon saith) but the Mouth (and whether after we know) as if one Gold-finder did but labour for another) how much below the extract of man's Soul is it? to busy itself, in thoughts for nothing but that the body be fed and fine. Correct O my Soul! thy esteem of things, and admire thy Study, with thy Bible in it (eenough indeed alone) above all Places and Societies, valuing no speaking or living Society, but as it agreeth with these dumb and dead Instructors. Count thy Books in the Inventory Jewels, wherein a variety is the most excusable Prodigality, and right use (though but of a few) the best Husbandry. They are for company, the best Friends; in doubts, Counselors; in Damps Comforters: Times Prospective, the home Travellers Ship, or Horse, the busy man's best Recreation, the Opiate of Idle weariness, the Minds best Ordinary, Nature's Garden, and Seedplot of Immortality. Time spent (needlessly) from them is consumed, but with them twice gained. Time captivated and snatched from thee, by Incursions of business, Thefts of Visitants, or by thy own Carelessness lost, is by these redeemed in life, they are the Souls Viaticum; and against death its Cordial.  
To Authors how beneficial Books are, will appear, when we consider all other A●chievements by the Sword, or Sweat, are but in Titulum Sepulchri, for some Title on our Tombs▪ Books are not only Titles on their Author's ●●●numents, but Epitaphs▪ preserving their Memories▪ be they good, or bad, beyond short-lived Pyramids, or Mausolaean Piles of stone.   

A Lecture for Readers, what they are, and should be.  
HEre will be some need of Assistants in this live (and to the quick) Dissection, to deliver me from the violence of the Anatomy; every one past his Hornbook being concerned, and almost that every one faulty in head, or heart, the principal seats of Readers Infirmities. Nor can I tell which to begin at, it being as in Catarrhs Circulation (as described by helmont's Predecessors.) The foulness of the stomack●illeth ●illeth the head, (the top of the Alembick) with Rheumeingendring Vapours, their Descent again re-increase a Digestion-corrupting foulness: So is it with Readers; if Detraction be in the Heart, Prejudice will be in the Head; if Prejudice be first in the Head, it will much bias a man's like, or dislike. The faults of the Head I shall principally treat of. Among Readers I find Heads, either too empty, or too full. First, those that are empty are either the invincibly Ignorant, or the Affected.  
1. The first cannot, the other will not give Authors their due; what can the first sort judge? whose reading never arrived higher than an Almanac, or Diurnal (the States weekly Almanac a Posteriori) I forgive him, if he admire nothing but the hits and misses of Wether, or of the former Almanac and latter. Is much Judgement to be look for from one whose knowledge in divinity is more from Church Windows, than Church Bibles; and whose Ethics are taken from Cheese-trenchers and painted clothes with false English? is he fit to judge a Poem? that admireth only such Poetry as corners of streets, or the Milk pail sounding in his Ears, and believeth Ballads equal with Homer; but such Readers we rather pity than chide.  
2. The affectedly Ignorant are worse, that will like nothing they cannot reach themselves. The gayer sort of Knowlittles, call any thing above Horseracing, or hawking Dialect, Pedantry, with ruder Ignorance, and blind zeal; what is above the level of extempore Nonsense, is Popery, and Learning such an Idol, that Bell and the Dragon were but Puppets to it (only Bells Commons set afore him, were better I believe than they would allow this Idol.) A Greek word is Conjuring with them, and Latin they know no use of, since the Law is in English; nor therefore any of Grammar Schools. Such Readers must have bald sense, and course language, which they cry up with, This tendeth to edification, this a man may understand, etc. They call contracted Sense Obscurity, avoiding of Tautologies, affected Phrase, Language of a finer Dress, Ends of Plays, as if there were no medium between High-shoons Language, and that of the Buskin and Stage: or if you will be above their understanding, they will best like it, or believe it; according to that of Tacitus, Hist. 1. Cupidine Ingeny humani libentius obscura credi, In words that never did, never can, nor ever will signify any thing; so they be new and in Fashion; a whole Dictionary whereof would hold forth but Muchness, of nothingness. Again, too many there are that are resolved to like nothing from the Pulpit, or Press that smelleth of the Lamp, that cost the Author pains, because it upbraideth their Laziness: they like that of Persius; 
N●c Pluteum caedit, nec demorsos sapit ungues.  
They never buffeted a Desk for these,  
Or bit their Nails. Such lines are writ with ease.  Give them Sermons easy as familiar talk, and printed Labours like those Sermons; commend them to such as can undo a Text (as they term it) with as much ease as a bow-knot, and Commentatours without Pen, Ink, or Paper; that neither know, nor care to use such Implements; though to ordinary Reason it were a prudent resolve, to say, I would be loath to preach, no otherwise for he manner, than my Parishioner were able to say to me at Table. (Though both Pulpit and Table discourse should be for matter good) or to say, I would print just as I preach. Since this is Sermo manens, a lasting Sermon, to more than any one vocal can be. Besides, in Sermons must be allowance for the capacity of illiterate men, and such whose all of knowledge dependeth on the Priest's lips. These labours fall (most probably) under the view of the more Judicious, and liable to the view of the most Judicious; therefore too much care can scarce go to the compiling of such lasting Discourses, with present and after Ages. But we will leave these kind of Readers with nothing in their Heads, and come to them with too much, the Severest Censurers of Authors: Such whole Heads are filled with those Principles of Prejudice (the true english of the Lord Bacon's Idola, in that excellent Directory of Sciences, his Novum Organum) which are either falsely receptive, or morosely exclusive.  
1. Falsely receptive, that corrupt any Notions mingled with them: of these true is that Aphorism. Habet unusquisque (praeter Aberrationes Naturae humanae in genere, seu Idola Tribus) Specum sive Cavernam quandam individuam, quae lumen naturae frangit & corrumpit, every one hath a secret and individual Caverne, or dark Cell in his understanding, which breaketh the Rays of the light of Nature, and falsify the shives of Truth: among which that is no small one, to setup one particular Science for a common-place Book of all our Notions: to espouse ourselves so to one part of truth, as to endow her with all our Assent, bringing almost all other Notions to this for their Pass. Thus while Aristotle doted on his Logic, he made his natural Philosophy contentious, and almost useless. Chemists (if merely so) are the plainest instance of all, out of a few experiments of the Furnace, making a Philosophy that vanisheth into Smoke. Doctor Gilberts justly to be-commended labour about the Loadstone so crammed his Fancy with Notions touched only with that, and so moving towards it, that his Philosophy will scarce abide Experiments▪ or Reason's Touchstone in all Points. Hence so many Corruptions of diving Text, because men endeavour to make it speak their own sense; use it as their Pleader, not Counsellor; if it will speak for us, none so ready to fee it (as it were) with the Resignation of our Reasons, or will: but if it Oracle contrary to our Interest, or Humour, we will create an Amphiboly, a double meaning where there is none; and make it speak our meaning, or conclude it defective. Other Books fare in the like manner. What Author so ever denyeth the undeniablenesse of any of our received Tenets, we gloss him with Invectives, or damn the whole Book for Erratas. It is enough with the ginger, for a Divine, never so solid to lose his Esteem for Divinity, if he have none of Star-prophesie.  
2. To come to the second Bench of Censurers, fitted with peevish exclusive Notions, or Idola made by Education, Tradition, etc. (of which somewhat hath been said in the Essay of Reason's Independency) Look how, what you write, agreeth with these: You shall hear that grand Sophos in Martial. Ep. 1. 4. good, rare, excellent shall be their vote; but if you bring any thing clearly new to their Antiquated understanding, or contradictory to their Creed of Notions (as I may term them) then, 
Ibis ab excusso missus ad Astra Sago,  They fling you further from them, than Hercules did Cacus, blur all, with new fangled, whimsical, shallow; the most candid Dash, will be So, So. He is one of audax Japeti genus, the bold ones indeed, that will like a Book his Master, or Tutor condemneth, and he is held Heretical, that shall aver any thing defective, or superfluous in his all-knowing Aristotle; he that will deny the four Elements, shall have the Italian fifth bestowed on him (according to whom I'll mal dire d' Altrui, e quinto Elemento. Ill Language is the fifth Element.) The fire Philosopher will quickly reduce that Book to Ashes (and it's Caput Mortuum) that subscribeth not to its three Elements: without a third cometh with his one single Element, and quencheth the other three. Thus hath difference about the Number of Elements caused as much disturbance▪ almost, in the lesser, as their jars and Combinations have in the greater World; and such severe and sharp usage is interchanged between dissenting Brethren in Philosophy. But come to the Vatinian hatred of Books and Authors in Religious and Politic Differences, and we shall see it scarce possible for a Book, writ on any Subject, that will please two seveall Readers: merely because men's understandings are Garrisoned before with old Soldiers, old Notions of undoubted Authority. He that teacheth, as having Authority, he that speaketh as never man spoke, he alone can storm Assent: It is not a work for the learned Scribe, nor strictest Pharisee. Nay, he himself that was Truth Incarnate (where he used not all his strength, and irresistible Battery, I mean, his Spirit of Persuasion) met with as bad Entertainment from the gainsaying Jews, as any that ever writ, or died for him. In Divinity, Morals, and Naturals, true is that rule of the Lord Bacon, in his Novum Organum, Aphorism 49. lib: 1. Intellectus humanus Luminis Sicci non est; According to that significant Phrase of Heraclitus, Sed recipit Infusionem a voluntate & Affectibus, & quod volunt recipiunt. We receive only those things for Truths we have a mind to. Difficult things we endeavour not, sober things we despise, (as straightening our Hopes) Secrets of Nature, timorous Superstition frighteth us from: In Pride we decline Experiments, as fixing us in low and changeable things. Paradoxes our Master, the People, will not let us admit, so much as to examine. So many ways doth Affection slain our understandings. But before we leave our complaining Character, of what Readers are, take this as an unobserved secret; Bad Readers make bad Authors, which are fain to please bad Judges, with Deformities instead of Beauties: an excellent Illustration, whereof is that of Polycletus, who setting a new made Statue in the Marketplace, and overhearing the Faults the common people found, made one according to their Censures, as he could remember when he came home. If one said the Nose was too little, he made it bigger: If another said the Eye, or Lip was too b●gg, he made it less. By that time he had done, you may guess what a piece it was: Putting both again to view, his first made by Art, and that made by Opinion of the vulgar; seeing his last derided, and the former applauded, said, Know good people that which you commend I made, that which you discommend you made.  
So fareth it with Books; the various Palates of Readers, and multitude of Correctors of the Press, streightneth writers of that freedom of the Spirit, that should be in Authors; who while they strive to please all, become neither Friends to Truth, nor reconcileable to common Sense.  
Well, we have seen what Readers are, let us now see what they should be; to bring Rasae Tabulae, clean Tables to every Author, is the advice of no small Philosopher. Super-writing (being scribbling) maketh neither the old, nor the new legible; a good course therefore it is to sponge out prejudicated Notions, or Opinions, received on any ground, but that Scientifical Syllogism, where Reason is the Major, and Experiment the Minor: In making of which, all our life will not exclude any new reason, or experiment, but it will help to make the Conclusion so much the truer, though we come not to the Ergò of our knowledge until we come to the conclusion of our days, and studies.  
I will not slightly forgo any Notion, (delivered me from the Reasons of others, received deliberately by mine own, confirmed by both our Experiments) For a Novelty diametrically opposite, without it bring so convicting a Ray of Truth, that (as that one Dissenter in a Synod) it confutes the whole Synod of Opposers.  
Thus I would behave myself towards Positive Assertions, and Tracts of Reasoning. Now to Authors of modest Advice, profitable Pleasure, useful variety, etc. I will dislike none, because he is not the best, or slight all, because none perfect. I look not for any Soule-like Composure, among the works of men, that (according to the wordings of some Philosophy) should be Totum in Toto & tota in qualibet Parte, Comprehensive of all I can expect. I believe that no frighting Proverb (from circuiting the Zodiac of Learning) unus in omnibus, Nullus in Singulis) he that is some body in every thing, is nothing in any thing. For I believe there is no ullus in quovis Singulo, perfect; no culminating Writer, in any one Subject; so lofty as out of the reach of Imitation in some point or other. I look on Libraries, and Books, as a Garden of Nature, not of Art, where useful Plants find a room, as well as gay coloured Flowers. And amongst Writers, I look not every one should do by Themes (as he did by virtues in Pindars high Line) top only the choicest expressions, or descriptions of them, in the same Author (though many times dull) there may be a Diversity that may excuse, being not equally bad. Scarce any one Book that is all a Parenthesis that may be left out, and the Reader never the less knowing. The Elements of Books Martial excellently summeth up in that Epigram. 
Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura  
Quae Legis hic, aliter non fit Avite liber.  
These Elements to Books Composure go,  
Some good, some bad, and some So, So.   
The Metaphor of Cooks and Guests (familiar in Prologues) may direct the Deportment of Readers, who are to come to Books as Guests, not Cooks, it being a Squeamishness to forbear satisfying his Appetite, as a Guest, because somewhat may be wanting in some Dishes Preparation that cannot satisfy the curious Criticism of a Cook. Martial dressed his to Readers, not Critics. 
— Cae●ae Fercula Nostrae  
Malim convivis, 
Lib. 9 Ep. 82.  quam placuisse cocis.  
— I'd have my Books  
Content the Candid Guests, not curious Cooks.   
Lucilius was of the same temper, that said, Nolle se sua scripta legi nec a Doctissimis, nec ab indoctissimis, quod hi nihil intelligerent, illi plus saperent quam ut posset illorum Judicio satisfacere. He would not his Writings should fall under the perusal either of Dunces, or great Scholars; the former would not understand enough, the latter too much, for to rest satisfied. And in vindication of Authors, I may safely commend, him whose Resolution is, non nimium curo, because of that quidam exactos esse Poeta negat, not to be troubled, because their works do not satisfy the Captious Critic. It were a cruelty, but one degree less than Pharaohs, to kill all the Males that were not handsome [Fabula de te narratur] It is true of thee O Reader, that condemnest issues of the Brain, as are not such non pareilles, unmatchable. Let men examine but their own breasts, I am sure they would expect more Mercy as Authors, than they afford as Readers; But Justice requireth candid censure of any thing (if innocent) that cost the Author pains, and was minted in a public Spirit (as they word it) he that will not be merciful, let him be just: For rash Censure is an unobserved Injustice, and on the same File with Defamation: For what upbraideth any one's weakness, doth but call him Fool; what thou canst not mend, condemn not, what thou canst not imitate, reverence; what thou canst but equal, I know thou will be favourable to; but what thou art many stories above, look on as equal with some step thou didst rise by: Or as Elevated to the Meridian of others, if not thine. Books are like Letters; if they please not) think them not sent to thee, but some other, and there is no hurt done. Look on Writers as aiming to please themselves, or others, not thee alone. Take not all Books as Epistles dedicatory to thy Fancy, or Approbation: and if things are not bad that attain their End; If he have had his End, to him his work is good, though it appear not so to thee. To Readers of Obscurityes (where Censure is most unjust) let Socrates be their Example; who when Euripides asked his opinion of Heraclitus his Book (he had lent him) he answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. What I understand was gallant; I will believe the like, of what I do not understand. To conclude let readers think, every Author confesseth his Writings not Canonical, by an implicit Apology that they are but men; from whom it is as unjust to exact perfection, as ridiculous to expect it.   

THE WISE CHAPMAN.  
QVam necessarium est Rebus Pretia imponere? (saith Se●eca) how necessary is it to set a right Estimate on things? since there is not a higher point of Wisdom, than to know the real worth of things in themselves, and their prizes what they must cost to obtain; Senec. Ep. 81. nescimus aestimare Res, de quibus non cum Fama, sed Rerum Natura deliberandum est. It was an old complaint, that the World was in nothing more foolish than in Marketing: For we judge of things not according to their real, but reputed worth. It is this loseth Mankind, in those many Inventions Man's blindness hath groped out, since he lost his Integrity God had made him in. I have as harsh an Opinion of man's Corruption since his fall, as any; yet cannot believe his Perverseness such, that if he did see the hole of the broken Cistern, he would leave the Fountain of living waters. No, his Blindness and Infidelity betrayeth him to this Stupidity, and Witchcraft-adhaesion to the Creature. Inconsiderateness of what we buy, and give, Cheats our Souls into such losing Adventures, and Bargains of Dotage. It is reckoned for the sad condition of mankind, that its happiness here is for the most part Imaginary, (but its Griefs real) just so are his Purchases, the things (be they Favour, Wealth, Honour, etc.) he buyeth, empty or inconstant; the price Blood, or Sweat: It is Epictetus his advice (seconded by the best Adviser, CHRIST himself) in all our Enterprises, to set down and reckon the Charges. Would I be entertained at such a man's Table (saith he) why he selleth it for flattery, while there, or Rehearsal, (and Bill of fare) to strangers when gone, or the Humility of a Retainer, and such like rates. Now if thou wilt go to the price, proceed: wilt thou be rich what ever come of it? Canst thou afford lying, Dissembling, Cogging, watchings, moyling, abiest, and servile unselfing thy free born Mind, or Body? give these, and much good may it do you with your Bargain. Is the Impropriation of some rich Beauty thy Design? Scorns, tedious Attendances, Frumps (as their Reward) Jointures, and such like Gear, are the Prizes of its Pursuance, oft times; Brangles, Jealousies, Resignations of the Charter of the Male, by unworthy Obsequiousness, and are the Prizes of its Fruition. But amongst all the foolish Chapmen of the World, none to him that buyeth the Pleasures of ●in for a season, with the loss of his Soul for Eternity. To buy a Lease of short uncertain life, with an Inheritance of Perpetuity, would be contemned for the Fool's Purchase: And yet it were well if the world's Wiseman were not this Foole. I will therefore study to know what I buy, and what I give, and endeavour the wisdom to observe Proportion, and the Justice, not to be angry with the World, if she deny me her Rattles, and Toys (for such are the best of her Wares) because I will not go to the price of them. Let her keep Wealth, or Revenge▪ if necessary s●eepes, and quiet safety must be exchanged for them. I will not change the Poets Murus aheneus, brazen wall of Innocence, for her golde● Mines, nor the Feast of a good Conscience, for all the choice Delicates of the most inventive Luxury: and it were a shame it should not be a Christians Resolve, since the Philosopher's Reason playeth the Clerk of this great Market, & giveth no less true than ingenious Estimate of sublunary Desirables, Ep. 81. Nil habent Ista magnificum quo Mentes in se nostras trahant; Praeter hoc, quod mirari illa consuevimus. They have no such huge matters in them, to bewitch our Desires; because our blindness Idolatrously bestoweth on them the Homage of wonder: For such is the irregularity of Custom, it doth not extol things because worthy, but thinks them worthy, because they are Extolled.   

THE BLOTS OF HISTORY.  
THat the Truth of History is so much blurred, Tacitus (the subtlest of Historians, if Strada will not allow him the best:) 
Histor. 1 Principio.  giveth us the Reasons, because their Ink is either too thin and pale, through the Flattery of the Penmen, or too thick and black, through its Gall and Malignity: ita neutris ●ura Posteritatis, inter Infensos, & obnoxios.  
The Hand will shake where Interest holdeth the Pen. Were it not for his third Impediment, Inscitia Reipublicae ut alie●ae, ibid. unacquaintedness with our proceedings, Foreigners would be our best Historians; could Affairs be faithfully transmitted to their view, not more loose in Sheets, than from biased Engagements, or Inclinations to either side.  
It were the only way to have it Narratio vera, & mera, true and naked Relation; (as Strada seemeth to desire History to be) and to wear the only Ornament Tully would have History wear, which was nil aliud, quam ut mendax non esset, only that it should not be fabulous. And what Garb is it less in? men writing not so much what was done, as what they would have Posterity believe; and so between the dangerous obnoxiousness of latter or present Times, and the uncertainty of more remote; The truth of History is much impaired: that my Lord Bacon might well say (in 4th. of his Advancement of learning, the cap. 5.) there is not a greater Rarity among Humane Writings, than an every-way complete History: but either tainted with ostentation of their wits, or cloudings of Truth; Partiality in Judges of the Facts of men (Historians) being as frequent, (I hope more) as any could complain in ●udges of the Law: and truly, give me leave to say more mischievous in some re-respects; the one injuring (sadly enough) the Living; but the number and concernment are less than what are injured by corrupted Historians, injuring both the Dead and the Living; falsifying that Glass that should faithfuly present Predecessors, for Successors to dress and instruct themselves: by neither Ecclesiastical or civil Historian, escapeth this Imputation. One rela●eth the same Person for an obstinate Haeretick; that another Kalendars for Martyrdom; nay this Partium studium, Siding, hath crept into Historiam Nemeseos (as the Lord Bacon calleth it) the Chronic ●les of divine execution, of that decree, for all men once to die (by ●om called the Theatre of God's judgement) in which the Writer, & (by his infection) the Reader is oft too subject to censure what fell out inter ●ontem & Fontem, between the Bridge and the Water, with a Censorious blast, sometimes removing the Tree from the Place it fell in; (as to the Eye of divine Mercy) as I believe on Revelation Day will appear in civil History) than what more usual, than to make its own Sides wisdom the Politic Cause of successes: or the Justice of its Cause so the Darling of Providence, that scarce a Bit of Daily Bread must fall beside their Mouths: nay thus have many cunning Makers of work for Historians contrived it themselves, rather ascribing their Victories to the care of the Gods than their own Prowess or Policy, thereby insinuating a greater Reverence of their Actions; Sylla choosing the name of Happy, rather than Great, which whether more humbly, than politicly, is left in Dispute. On the contrary they use their Adversary, according to the Proverb, painting the Devil blacker than he is, and now how to guide our Historical faith between these Rocks were worth the Enquiry. Consider the Charge History is ordinarily entrusted with; and according to that must our Demeanour be: the Cabinet of History (according to my Lord Bacon in the forementioned Place) holdeth Examples of our Predecessors, Changes of Times (and in them of things) Rules of wisdom deducted, or deducible, Names and Fames of men. 1 For Examples of virtue, or vice, and changes of times, I will not look on them as incredible, because strange to me; for that Solomon assureth me, there is nothing new under the Sun: their strangeness and singularity not being in the things themselves, but in our Ignorance of History.  
2. But for the other part of their trust, the Fames and Names of Men; my Belief shall tenderly proceed to Sentence: for fear of that Taint the Historian hints, ill natured Detraction; which men's corrupt Disposition calleth Liberty. Obtrectatio & Livor pronis auribus accipiuntur, quip Malignitati falsa species Libertatis inest. Tacit: Histor. 1. It is, I confess, the happiness of some men's Memories, that they are got above those two vices Tacitus speaketh of, (mingled as it were with the Mortar of City's Walls, and inseparable from Bodies great, or small:) Ignorantia Recti, & Invidia, Agricol. Vit. Praef. Ignorance, and Envy, forcing from care less and regardless Times, Observation; and from even the malevolent, Reverence: whereas on the contrary some are, non tantum Aliorum, sed sui superstites, Tacit. ib. Outlivers not of others only, but themselves, as to any Eminence or note for virtuous Deeds. So much of their Lives passing deservedly, without observation of others, because their own; from whom their Time and life stole into that Abyss of Forgetfulness: but we may believe many have scaped our Knowledge, not through want of Deservings to be eternised in the Temple of Honour, (which is History) but through the Last (and which is not the least) defect of History, a custom of not preserving the memories, but only of Active Men, when the lives of famous Men, in Learning and Piety, are Desiderata, things left out of the Archives of History. For the Memories of truly deserving Men, even Almanacs seem to have made a wiser choice; that preserve, not the Names of Alexander, or Caesar, (the worldly valiant) but of the twelve Apostolical Champions, with their Regiments of Martyrs (as I may term them) in scrutiny of Reason more truly valiant, nay Victorious in their Death, than any of the other in their Lives. The fault of Time, is too much the fault of her Registers, that (like deep Rivers) suffereth weighty things to sink, its Stream bringing down only lighter and more worthless Matters.  
But since to call back yesterday, and to correct yesterday, are a like impossible: let us mend the faults of our private Histories, our Consciences; and in them corrected▪ be conversant. Comparing our selves with ourselves being of use, both in worldly Prudence, and Piety. In both, the discreet Study on past Miscarriages, may, (in great Probability) prevent their Repetition in the future.   

THE POLITIC Weatherglass.  
WEre the Complaint of every Age harkened to, there never were good Times; and the very first were worst, should the Querelous dis●ontentednesse of men's Natures be believed, with which a People's sins are full sooner than in God's account: nor will it allow those Spiramenta Temporum (as one calleth them) Pawses of wickedness, that give breath to gasping Piety or Justice: which to deny were injurious to Providence; that doth not so dishearten the good, as to let vice always bear sway. I believe Salomon's Rule, Nothing new, and what is, hath been, and shall, is meant as well of the Corruption of Times, as Occurrences of Providence. national Sins there are scarce new, though some personal Crimes, or single Acts may have no Parallel, but still to be crying out, never worse Times, all is naught, sometimes maketh the Devil blacker than he is, that we may appear whiter than we are: for it is but a lazy fathering even our own Misdemeanours, or Misfortunes, wholly on a forcing stream of the Times, and a current, (as it were) necessitating them; when the Blame is oft more truly the Complainers faults; that are Fathers, (and we as it were the Godfathers) to those bad times; they making, and we calling them so; so that strictly enquired into divers times, these accuse of the Times, is but excusing our selves. Better it were to study a prudent behaviour in them, than a fluency of railing against them: To do which, we must first learn which are bad, and then how to mend them (at least to us.) I shall only refer you to the Politician's Weatherglass, whereby he not only forseeth (but discerneth aright (when fallen) the unseasonable weather of his respective Place he liveth in. Pliny thinks it foul weather when men must speak or write (as his Uncle Pliny Senior did some Books) dubij Sermonis, Ambiguities, too subtle for exception; and Tacitus secondeth it with that, Rara Temporum Felicitas, ubi sentire quae velis, & quae sentias dicere licet, Rare is the happiness of such a Toleration (saith he) whereby men may think what they list, and speak what they think. But in this I must descent from this Oracle of Politic Truths, (though I do as seldom, as from any in the like kind) and cannot but attribute Matchless Infelicity to the freedom of Conceptions (or their Delivery) of any thing pleaseth our humour, though never so disturbing Church, or State.  
Now go on in the same Author, and methinks I see a Tempest indeed, which hath the very Operation of a Storm: It driveth me to my Prayers never to be in such a one. Haustae aut obrutae urbes, Consumptis antiquissimis delubris, Pollutae Ceremoniae, magna Adulteria, plenum Exilijs Mare, Infecti caedibus Scopuli, atrocius in urbe saevitum. Nobilitas, Opens, omissi gestique Honores pro crimine, & ob virtutes certissimum Exitium, nec minus Praemia delatorum quam scelera; cum Alij sacerd●tia, & consulatus ut spolia adepti, agerent ferrent que cuncta odio & Terrore corrupti in Dominos Servi, & quibus deerat Inimicus, per Amicos oppressi. Miseries I hope never to see in English. Well enter Aristophanes with his Character, it is this; 
— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Act. 
Plutus.  1. Sc. 1. It is in short, the times are not over laudable, wherein not to be a Knave, is to be a Foole. And in the second Act. 5 th'. Scene, he hath a larger; but take the close in Latin (as the more facile)— 
Hodie bona pars Hominum prava & scelerata,  
Divitijs per Fas & Nefas corrasis, affatim abundat.  
Multi autem justi & probi inopia atque Fame oppressi, malè vitam peragunt.  (Which sort of bad times are not unusual, nor will sound incredible in English.) The greatest, but not best part of men (saith he) scrape up Wealth by Hooke, or by Crook; while the just and upright man hath many more Fasts than Festivals in his Calendar. Let's have Senecas vote, and he is sick of such an Age; Saeculo quo magna Pietas, nil impie facere: Consol. ad Marc. c. 1. wherein not to be a notorious Publican (as I may term it) or Villain, is to be a strict Pharisee. Goodly Times indeed! And what think you of Tacitus his twenty years: Exin continua per viginti annos Discordia; non Mos, non Jus, deterrima quaeque impunè, ac multa honesta exitio fuere. Annal. 3. It was a twenty years wherein all things were lawful, but nothing safe. But I conclude with his description of Domitian's times, which was so strange, it is a wonder divine Patience itself made them not the last, being so like the worst. I am sure by his description they would extort Hesiods wish,— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, To have died sooner, or been born later. The former, Tacitus reckons Agricola's happiness in the close of his life, saying, Ita festinatae mortis grandé Solatium fuit evassisse postremum istud Tempus, quo Domitianus non iam per intervalla, ac Spiramenta Temporum, sed Continuo, & velut uno Ictu Rempub. exhausit. It was the timeing of Agricola's untimely death, that he lived not to those days of Domitian, wherein Ruin did seem to ride in Triumph, and (before the invention of that No-quarter-giver) even Gunpowder Enormities and Desolation did blow up all as at one crack. But the Storms we have seen; now for the Harbour to repair to, in perilous times. Why (to keep still to the Politic compass) it is to steer a steady course between those two Rocks, deform obsequium & abruptam Contumaciam. Annal. 4. page 97. Mis-becoming slavishness, and abrupt Contumacy, so as to do nothing against Rules of Honesty, or suffer any thing through Refractory Indiscretion, or unadvised Distastings. But some will say, hic Labor hoc opus est; this is scarce possible, but Tacitus shall answer them, Sciant, quibus moris illicita mirari, posse etiam sub malis Principibus magnos viros esse, he beginneth it with a Noverint universi; let such know, saith he, whose humour it is to admire and commend all Attempts against settled Laws, and higher Powers, that there may be good Subjects under bad Rulers; though there be that affect Eminence by suffering Singularity, and count no Grace equal with popular Applause for their merited Disgrace. It is that Politician's Text, that men prudentially submissive and modest (if likewise of active abilities in the Sphere, or Employment they are in) may gain as just, and lasting Memorial in Time's Calendar, as any that have provoked their Destinies, by vain and useless Resistances of Power. The more satisfying Original is this, Obsequium ac Modestiam, si Industria ac vigor adsint, eò laudis excedere quò Plerique perabrupta, sed in nullam Reipub. post usum, ambitiosa Morte inclaruerunt, Tacit. Agricol. Nor by this prudential, and quiet Deportment, doth he countenance cowardly compliance, that will not suffer, but (do, if you will) any thing: for his Annals, and History, often mention Laudatas mortes, 
Histor. 1.  renowned Deaths of many, especially when (in his Judgement) such only were adjudged to death, that were most worthy to live, and on that score suffered. But Rules of this nature cannot reach us in Christian Commonwealths: from the Politic. Schools therefore, I must lead you to the Temple, where you will find David taking a turn on this very Errand; with whom and able Casuists I leave you. Only by what hath been said, Morals, and Policy, can advise you this Resolve, that in times never so bad, we must as carefully beware we do not fall in their Miseries, as resolutely bear them, when they fall on either our Constancy, or Integrity.   

THE FALSE BALANCE.  
ILL succeeds that Judgement that judgeth by Success, whether we look on passages of Providence, or Actions of men; delayed punishments (and such is the Prosperity of the wicked; for Quisquis videtur dimissus, dilatus est. Senec. cur bonis mala, c. 4. They are not dismissed, but deferred) not acquitting the guilty, nor present over-bearings of the Enemies of Goodness condemning the Innocent. 1. As for the delay of punishment, it is not the least part of their punishment; and Plutarch giveth a reason in his Morals, divine enough, Atque adeò non video quid utilitatis adsit iis, qui serò tandem molere Molis Deorum dicuntur, & de his qui serò a Numine puniuntur. I see, saith he, no such great cause they have to brag, that grind late in GOD'S Mill (viz. Of Affliction) for they are thereby more miserable, because delay of Justice obscureth it, and they feel not their Gild; reckoning Afflictions out of the noise of the offence, rather Mischances than Punishments, etc. the consequence whereof Solomon telleth us, Eccles. 8. 11. Because Sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to do evil; Which continued Career to Destruction, is a Prosperity to be delivered from, according to my Let any. It is not Stoicism, but Christian Philosophy, to account a Sinners not being called to Account in this life, the saddest Sentence; in my Judgement the Curse, that (like a sad Clapse) almost closeth God's Book, REVEL. 22. 11. He that is unjust let him be unjust still. He that is filthy let him be filthy still, etc. is a sadder, than any other in Old, or New Testament. But that rare Moralist agreeth not only with Salom●n, but also with Peter; when he scarce affordeth the unchecked Current of the Affairs of the wicked, so much as to be a delay, but only in the apprehension of us Momentanean Ephemeri, and span-long-lived Accountants. De Tempore longo cum dixi, intelligendum est hoc ut ad humanam refertur naturam, nam Dijs quidem omne humanae vitae spacium pro nihilo est, & quod nunc, non ante triginta Annos, tale est atque hoc quod non manè etc. de his qui serò a Numin. etc. What rare Harmony is here between the outward Court of Nature and inward Choir, that Sanctum Sanctorum of divine Writ. Pet. 2. 3. 8. saith, One with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. And Plutarch saith, when I say a long time, it must be understood of men's Account; for in God's Hourglass the longest life is not so much as one Sand. An Offender not punished thirty years hence (saith he) is but as if God should say, I will let him alone till Noon, or Evening; but if it be a kind of delay, and seem tedious, the same School affordeth a satisfying Reason, as humane Policy (saith Plutarch in the same place) forbeareth execution of a condemned Pregnant (or woman with Child) so divine Justice forbeareth some that are not yet delivered of some secret Villainy besides, by confession; or of some Good they may yet be Authors of, before they die: And for his last Reason, they cannot be called late Punishments, because they are Medicines; the time of administering which is not to be called late, or early by any others Estimate than the Physicians; he proceeding therein not by striking of Minutes, but Seasons, as his Regulaters in administration of Remedies: These may in short lessen our wonder at the delayed punishments of the wicked, and teach us another name for them than Prosperity; even out of the Philosophy School; only so excellent an Anatomist as Saint Austin, we will make bold to borrow as an Assistant, in showing us the inside of worldly Prosperity and Success. It is his Account, that Prospera hujus Mundi asperitatem habent veram, Jucunditatem falsam, certum Dolorem, incertam voluptatem, durum laborem, timidam Quietem, Rem plenam Miseriae, Spem Beatitudinis inanem, Epist. 36. The Prosperous Affairs of this World have Thorns within truly vexing, false Joys, certain Grief, uncertain Pleasure, toilsome Labour, timorous Rest, and as full of Misery, as empty of solid Happiness. 2. But on the other side, if we rightly examine the righteous man's troubles, they are but what Seneca saith of Socrates, his poisonous Potion, Medicamenta Immortalitatis, not so much bitter Draughts as Healths to the Immortality glorious of his Soul & Fame: Afflictions joined with Innocence (imputative scilicet) being but Martyrdoms; whereas Exemption from them with Gild, is Execution with a stupifying Draught. Hear this Opinion seconded by Seneca, concluding his perfectly moral Epistles with this Rule of Perfection. Brevem tibi Formulam dabo, quâ te metiaris, quâ perfectum esse jam sentias: Bonum tunc habe●is tuum, cum intelliges infelicissimos esse Felice's. Ep. 124. Then, saith he, count thyself perfect in true wisdom, when thou canst account nothing so great Misery as unruffled Prosperity, or unchecked Current of Successes; or if we will judge by this false Balance flin●● Time into the Scales, and we will judge so too, by David's own Rule: Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace, Psal. 37. 37. What a Symphony may we hear with David's Harp from the Quills and Muses of the Heathen! In Prose let Ammianus Marcellinus (being a Soldier as well as Historian) but lead the Van (and put but justam for Romanam) and we may say with him, in Praelijs quibusdam rarò Rem titubasse justam, in Summa verò Bellorum, nunquam ad deteriora prolapsam, Lib. 17. In some Battles, and at some times the just Cause it may be hath tottered, nay been worsted, but never in the upshot Sat down a Loser. Lucan sings it out, Lib. 7. 
Causa jubet Superos melior sperare secundos.   
The just Cause, bids us hope the just God's aid. And Claudian sings the same Note, 4. Cons. Honor. 

— hinc Secula discant  
Indomitum nil esse pio, tutumve Nocenti,  
Non dabitis Murum Sceleri, Qui vindicat ibit.  
Omnia subsident meliori pervia Causae,   

IN ENGLISH.  
— Learn after times,  
Nought keeps the just Cause out. For Crimes;  
Walls cannot keep them in, safe from the hands  
Of just Revenge; whose Pass through all Commands.    
Notwithstanding so many unquestionable Truths against the false Balance, the Vulgar will weigh the Warrior, Politician, and Physician in it, do all you can.  
1. For the first take the former Souldier● word for it, Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 17. Prosperos omnes Laudari Bellorum Eventus, The winning side all will commend, and all share in the Praise; according to Tacitus. Iniquissima haec Bellorum Conditio est, Prospera omnes sibi vindicant, Adversa uni imputantur. It is the sad Fate of War, all will share in the Honour of the Success, but one, and that the Commander in chief must bear the blame of miscarriages; and the Conqueror is always a wise, able, valiant, and gallant Commander; when it is oft true, that some are more gallantly beaten, than others do overcome: for a Chance (as to us) may give Victory, but it cannot give Courage, or Counsel. In the Epitome of Battles, Duels, we allow him that is worsted, as gallant as the Vanquisher; and shall we deny it in those larger Tracts of Destruction, Pitch-fields?  
2. The Politician must into the same Scales, the Successful, Culminant in a Prince's Favour, takes all the Honour from the Lord of his Ascending, and hath it given to his own shrewdness and subtle contrivances. It is not the Prince's Goodness, so much as the Favourites Abilities of working on, and into the Inclinations of those they apply themselves to: If he fall, it was gross Dotage could not foresee such, and such alterations; or at best a weak oversight. No Statesman sinks indeed under Misery, or Disfavour; but the blind judgement of the world censureth him either Knave (and so suffering it as from the hand of Justice) or one Embarked in the Ship of Fools, that hath sprung some Leak, betraying it to unpitied Shipwreck.  
3. But in that most censurable Profession of Physic, this false Rule doth most of all overrule men's Judgements. Let a Miscarriage come from any point of the Circumference (as scarce a Poin● but it may) viz. From Tenders, Patient, Morbi malo Dolo (the Jurist● may lend the Physicians the word) the juggle of the Disease, late Application of means, or inconstancy under the timeliest, etc. as from any of these besides many more it may: yet it shall be surely centred on the Physician's weakness, Inadvertency, or Rashness. On the contrary, blind Success shall carry the Credit from the most knowing Advice, as my Lord Bacon in Lib. 4. the Augment. Scient. Where he joineth the Statesman and Physician, in the same unfortunate subjection to such Censures. Omnes aliae propemodum Artes & Scientiae virtute sua & Functione, non Successu aut Opere judicantur. Advocatum ipsa agendi & dicendi Facultas, non exitus causae commendat; Gubernator Navis, etc. at Medicus & fortasse Politicus vir habent aliquas actiones proprias, quibus Specimen Artis, & virtutis suae, liquidò exhibeant; sed ab Eventu praecipué Honorem aut Dedecus reportant, iniquissimo prorsus Judicio.  
A Catholic verity, fit to be translated into all Languages where the Art is cherished! it amounteth to this, almost all Arts, & Sciences are censured according to their able, or faithful undertake: The able pleading not fortunate speeding in the Cause, commendeth the Lawyer; the Mariner's skill joined with care frees him from all the blames of miscarriage: Only the poor Physician, and very often the Politician have no Actions truly so much their own, as might render them esteemed, able, and wise; but their Credit be it good, or bad, depends chiefly on the Success and Event; but through the Injustice of their Judges. Thus far that wise Observator. And truly doth not Experience vote with him? The word Fortunate Physician comprehendeth all abilities, and is enough to make a Tooth-drawer, or Corn-cutter pass for a general Physician, and a Carduus Posset for a universal Medicine.  
4. But lastly in private men's Actions, what are the usual Censures? and how worded? Let an Enterprise be never so discreetly undertaken, or followed, if it fall short of Success or Expectation, presently you may here, I wonder a man would be so indiscreet, and rash; or so blind as not to foresee the Danger, Inconvenience, or Inevitable Miscarriage. I wonder he could think it would prove otherwise. Here that of Pliny (as indeed it holdeth in all the former Instances) is of Probatum-Authority, and unquestionable verity. Est o●ninò iniquum, sed usu receptum, qnod honesta Consilia vel turpia prout malé aut prosperé Cedunt, ita vel probantur vel reprehenduntur. Indé plerumque eadem facta Diligentioe, modò Vanitatis, modò libertais, modò Furoris nomen accipiunt. Lib. 5 Epist. 21. It is a custom not less usual than unjust, that the same Counsels, good, or bad, are so ●alled, only as they succeed or miscarry: Hence it comes to pass that the same actions are variously named, diligent, or vain, bold, or mad. But bring this Balance to the Quest of Reason's Examination, and we must confess no false weights injure more, in the mutual Commerce of Tradesmen, than this false Balance doth, Providence, and Merit. To make Job the poor less Innocent, than Job the Wealthy, we see did displease God, and injure Job.  
Cato was of so constant a judgement as to pass it for the Conquered against the Successful Conqueror. Nay, the Gods themselves herein truly verifying the Character. 
— rigidi Servator Honesti.   
For the Poet testifieth of him, 
Victrix Causa Dijs placuit, sed victa Catoni.  
Though on the Victor's smile the Gods,  
Cato i'th' Cause allows no odds.   
And Tacitus will bear him out in the constancy of his Judgement, with that in Histor. 1.  
Nam saepe honestas Causas Perniciosi exitus consequuntur. A good Cause and Miscarriage, meet oftener than Hills; more agreeable therefore to the Scales of the Sanctuary it is, to invert the Rule, and to account Goodness, Success, and Prosperous Impiety, but a deplorable Impunity for a Moment, succeeded by Miseries as easeless as endless.   

Essays.  

THE BEST HUSBANDRY.  
VIndica Te tibi, & Tempus; Reserve thy Self, and to thyself thy Time; One would think were the beginning of Saint Paul's, not Senecas Epistles. So little doth it vary from the Apostles charge of us, to Redeem our time; And the Arguments wherewith he enforceth this best Husbandry, are the several strokes of his Watch, (by which he giveth us notice how time passeth.) Magna pars vitae elabitur malé agentibus, maxima nihil agentibus, tota aliud. Great part of our lives is spent ill, most idly, all impertinently; some of our day's Business snatches from us; others Necessities of life subduct, too great a part we dream away; sadly lessening the wonder of the seven Sleepers: Many of us, (though but less Time) sleeping more, because all our lives long, which they did not. Mischiefs on the bed, or sleep in the bed, or Actions as vain and light as the Feathers of the bed, share our most precious time, in which only we have a propriety, & are most prodigal of that, which alone authorizeth a Covetousness, and whereof a greediness is not illiberal: Vainly we complain of shortness of life, when we complain of want of Pastime; a word Pliny Senior would have blest himself to have heard, when he chid his Nephew for the idleness of walking, with a Poteras inquit & has Horas non perdere, 
P●●n. Ep. L●b. 3. 5.  You might (one would think, saith he) spend your time better; as if he would allow none to walk in Fields, or Gardens, but Herbalists; none, but such as viewed the Earth as a Book, to whom the leaves of Plants were as instructive as those of Paper: But not only Pliny, but every useful Book seemeth to upbraid the ill Husbandry of this truest Treasure, our Time. Were not the business of Eternity to be done here in this Moment of life; even, to a Rational and Nobly aiming Soul, the enriching of our Intellectuals were far a Nobler Employment, than the T●iler of Selfe-applauding Husbandry, or the most pleasing variations of Sensuality and Delight. At the former part of which Paradox, methinks I hear some Mammonite cavel, saying, What Bo●k-worm dareth tell us of ill Husbandry? ay, of time? since our subtle Interest impregnateth each Minute, with Emoluments accrueing to us by their multiplication. We let slip not a day, without being tributary to the Heap; till (like Progression in Arithmetic) the Successor is able to purchase all the Predecessors, and the last year of our lives out-liveth the Improvements of all the former. Sure too much Learning maketh them mad, that call us ill Husbands; but Aquinas dareth do it to the proudest Mihi plaudo, Selfe-approver of them all, who defineth Prodigality, 
22 Questi. 119. Artic. 1.  to be Peccatum non principaliter proper Quantitatem, quam inordinationem dandi Quibus non debet dari, & propter quae, & Sicut debet. A fault not so much in the excess, as inordinate bestowings on them, on whom, or what we should not, etc. If so, the great Husband himself is in the List of the vainest Prodigals. If to purchase the Barley-corn with the Jewel be an Act of as bad Husbandry as can be instanced, the te Fabula narratur, It is true of thee thou waster of thy time, upon Nocitura, certe nunquam satiatura, what may hurt, not satisfy (as Seneca saith: uncertain Riches: or him that layeth out the inestimable Sand of the Hourglass, on Tagus' Sand, or the Golden Ore; what doth he but lay out most precious on most vile? and that constrained, which will be great part of the Day-labourers Excuse, that spendeth through necessity twelve Hours for a course Repletion of his Hunger, the Pleasure whereof it may be lasteth but two half hours, and the strength thereof but for to labour for the next day's food. Whereas this Avaricious Plenty, is its own Tasker, it's own Pharaoh, whose Druggery and Time to serve God cannot consist together. These are they Seneca speaketh of, who consume Omnes suos Annos, ut ab iis unus numeretur, all their years, that the year of their Mayoralty may date the building, or repair of some Conduit. A poor account of this Talon of Time, to say they wrapped it pu in a Scarlet Gown, or hid it in their Coffers: and that this Thriftiness (the world's admired Wisdom) is prodigal of God's Time, and their Souls, we may believe; when Lucian's Cock will show them us, depriving themselves of their sleep, vigilant in Plumis. Since they will not let Plutus rest in the secret Caverns of the Earth; he will not let them rest in their Beds. But I leave these Prodigals to the lash of their own Cares and Discontents. Your Politician will agree with me that no such Fool, as the Time Changer for money, while he thinketh well of the sharing of his Time, inter Clientium Greg●s, etc. (as Seneca) between flattering Clients Countermining Emulators, and Egyptian Taskmasters, whom he striveth to please with the ●osse of his own Liberty and Quiet: What a short lived greatness dost thou endeavour for, thou Ambitious Busybody? How sm●ll a room will thy name fill in a Chronicle? when the most famous of thy Exploits will not be eminent enough to to make an Almanacs Since; which a blazing Star, Earthquake, Plague, etc. or some eminent misery of mankind will do: how far Nobler a Thrift is the care of being good, than great? even upon Earth the perfume of a good Name will out-smell the Disparagements of thy Fall, and Rot tenness of thy Corruption in the Grave. Look on the most judicious Historiographers Chronicle of the World's great ones, what a slender Account are they summed up in? One Generation passeth and another cometh. 
Eccles. 1.  What no more, Solomon, to be said of the great Nimrods' of the World? that bustle to enlarge their Quarters, by thrusting out the weakest; No mention (with him) so much as of the Names of those Heroes, that fill other Histories: Is all their Glory Galaxied (as I may term it) into such a one confused Lustre, or mention? Nay, not an honourable mention neither; but with Terminus diminuens, that despairing Term passeth; it is gone, justled out by another. Seneca voteth with him, in Lib. de brevit. vitae c. 19 ●●uosdam inquit, quum in Consummationem dignitatis per mille Indignitates erepsissent, misera Subijt cogitatio, Ipsos laborasse in Titulum Sepulchri. How hath it saddened many? when they have arrived to some Honour through many Toils, servile enough, Affronts, Repulles, etc. to think at last they have only toiled for some longer Title on their T●●m●stone, which also Time is not long eating out; as the same Author in the same Book, Cap. 15. Honours Monumenta, Quicquid aut Decretis Ambitio jussit, aut operibus extruxit, citò subruitur, nihil non longa demolitur vetustas, & movet ocyus quod consecravit. Honour's Monuments Ambition hath striven to ratify by degrees, or structures, quickly moulder into a doubtfulness whether ever they were, etc. Alas, quota Pars Historiae eris, what a unite (or it may be Cipher in History wilt thou be? when Cinis & Manes, & fabula fies, Worms are Revelling in thy forgotten Carcase; a pretty upshot of all ambitious Designs, and various Scenes of life, to be made at length a Winter's Tale, and Chimney-corner Discourse; that a Clownish Whistler to his Teem, will not afford leisure to hear, but between sleeping and his weary waking. Is this worth a Minute of the Creatures Time, that is born to Eternity? A Fool and his Money, nay, Time (which is far more precious) is soon parted; will bespatter the Ermines Purple and Scarlet, as well as the sordidly Covetous Moil (whom we have already proved to have title to the Proverb) and be verified of the Ambitious; for indeed all three, the Luxurious, Ambitious, & Covetous, are but varied Prodigals, laying out their best Wealth on most vile exchange; the Proverbs Chapmen that buy Bartholomew Babbles, with the Tower of London. Let any that sitteth in the Scorners Chair, think as slightly as he will of it; of all the Talents entrusted with the Sons of men, none of more worth, or more strictly to be accounted▪ for than this of Time, the first Truth departed Infidels believe, and is universally subscribed to, the first Minute any droppeth into his unchangeable Eternity; but we may take up Senecas' complaint, Cap. 8. de brevit. vitae, Re pretiosissimâ luditur (Tempore scilicet) fallit autem Illos, quia Res incorporalis. Men sport away most precious Time, which because Invisible, is of no esteem. Did any but hear Saint Hieromes Trumpet sounding in his Ears, Arise you dead and come to Judgement, Sure he could not but more seriously observe when Plinys Clock striketh, that I mentioned before, Poteras & has Horas non perdere. Sad waste enough of Time we see is aliud agere, impertinent employment of Time, only, or chiefly in the Pursuit of Honours, Riches, Power, etc. But exculelesse is the idle man's nihil agendo, sleeping out his Lamp, or as vainly burning it. I know not whether among those nihil agentes, Idlesbys, or malé agentes, ill spenders of their Time, I should place the Complemental visitant Athenian, Newes-monger, and Amorous Trifler, that spendeth his Forenoon's on his Glass, and Barber, his Afternoons in discourse with Paint, or Lust, tributing most precious Minutes, to the Sceptre of a Fan. On whose Tombs Nero's Jest on Claudius his Folly will be serious enough for an Epitaph, desijt inter vivos m●rari, productâ Syllabâ primâ in morari, (saith my Author) he left fooling, that is, he left to live; his life deserving but the Register of Seneca, diu fuit, non diu vixit, he abode here a while, but lived not. But the Debauched burner out of his days, (in the Phrase of Plautus, Sepulchrum quaeramus ubi hunc comburamus Diem, etc. is an undoubted Spendthrift of time, and not the least of those malé agentes, wicked Consumers of it, measuring his Artificial day by wine (not hour) Glasses, his Natural Day dividing by unnatural Distempers, & surfeiting Sleeps, & are those Home Antipodes (as Seneca very wittily) Quorum contraria omnibus non Regio, sed vita est, sunt quidam in eadem urbe Antipodes, non orientem solem videntes, nec occidentem, nec anté diducunt Oculos hesterna graves Crapula, quam appetere Nox coepit, That sleep by the Sun, and drink by the Stars; from such sad Divisions of Time, what can be looked for in the Quotient, but sottish and sickly stupidity? for where only Impotency, etc. to exceed beateth Taptoo, head Dieases, and such like dolorous Pulsations beat Travaille. Hastening sickness making the span an inch: Accidents of Life, Labour, Diseases, daily Repletions, and Inanitions, play the wind, to the speedier consuming of our Lamps of life. Quarrels and Distempers (the subtlest, and therefore most dangerous Murderers) prove Extinguishers. Seneca ranketh these amongst the worst of Prodigals of the best of Treasures, Time. De brevitat. vitae, c. 6. Imprimis illos numero, Qui nulli Rei, nisi vino, ac libidini vacant. Caeteri etiamsi vana Gloriae Imagine teneantur, speciose tamen errand: licet avaros mihi, licet Iracundos enumeres, vel Bellatores, omnes isti virilius peccant. I reckon (saith he) them the chief, that spend their Time in Lust, or Riot. The Ambitious, Covetous, or Contentious, transgress more vainly. Our life is of itself contracted; our longest life scarce enough to read the diurnals of Methusalems' years, were they compiled into a Chronicle. Yet how much shorter do our vain Employments make it? so that (in comparison) Seneca is bold to say, Satis longa vita, & in maximarum Rerum Consummationem largè data est, si tota bené Collocaretur: non accepimus brevem vitam, sed fecimus, nec inopes ejus sumus, sed Prodigi. De brevit. vitae, c. 1. We have life enough allowed us for the finishing of the most weighty Designs it was destined for, if we did husband it, it is not given, but made short: nor are we scanted, but profuse of it. Resolve we then on Saint Paul's Cure, even of this past Prodigality; Redeem the time. jacob's Account of his life to Pharaoh, giveth a double reason, Few, and evil have my days been; make the motive few, to look Janus like to the future as well as past, and it will be resolved thus, let us redeem our Time, because our former days have been so evil, and our. future are we know not how few; and if we would know how Time may be redeemed, the Rule is short, by doing, or receiving good. For the former, the bounty of Titus the Emperor (who cried) diem perdidi, I have lost this day (wherein he had not listed by Courtesy some new friend.) And for the latter, divers Heathen (who with a Commendable Impudence thrust themselves into the Pupillage of Philosophers) will shame the sloth of Christians, that in a Supine Negligence let slip higher Advantages of both doing, and receiving good: None being so empty but he may do good, nor so full but he may receive good. For the former, by Prayer the most Impotent may do the Ignorant, or unwilling good; and for receiving it, besides the divine Oracles, there is not a Creature but is a Preacher: its Creator's Power, Wisdom, and Goodness the Sermon. So that a Christians Diem perdidi is inexcusable: And yet alas! how many have Silvanus his fault in Tacit. Histor. 3. Dies. Rerum, verbis terentes, wasting days of Action, in talking; or which is a degree lower, cross the Calendar of the Mexicanes, that Acosta speaketh of, Lib. 6. c. 2. (that dividing the year into eighteen Months', allowing each twenty days, excluded the odd five days, calling them days of nothing which they spent only in visits) making the 360. days of their year days of nothing, but Riots, visits, Services of the world, or men, and such like Exiles from themselves, and vacancies from the business of life: which is to contemplate whence we came, and to prepare for whether we are going. A fault aggravated by the variety of Grapples a Christian hath for time; there scarce b●ing a minute of his life, but through faith, and sincerity of Aims, may convey to himself, or dispense to others, blessings enough to be termed the Ransoms of Time. Nay, to aggravae our misspending of Time, it is almost as hard as to improve it. What variety of useful Books (like Pipes conveyed to our private houses) may fill up those blanks of Time, that shamefully are filled with vain Discourses, idler Thoughts and fruitless Actions. Neither Sex (though they cannot dive into the few Demonstrations, or many Controverted Conjectures of Philosophy) but may take a Turn in the Temple of History, and there meet with instructive Lectures of Providence, overruling all according to the foreknowledge of its Counsel; or else in the instructive Paths of divine or Moral Tracts. I look not on any useful instructor after his death (and such are Books) but take them as come from the Dead, with concerning Truths that they now fe●le, and I shall. And can time be beetter spent then in fitting us for their and our Eternity? But how unexcusable hath God left even the Illiterate, since (as I have said) they may spell the Hieroglyphic of the Creature, or their own active Soul can busy itself in Meditation, which to a reasonable and Religious Soul is Business requiting itself; or else that Anchoret is scarce to be believed; that being immured between two Walls, said, his day did not seem tedious. Since then to lose Time, is almost as hard as to recover it: Let us not be so industriously prodigal, as to find out ways to lose our Time.   

THE GRAND IMPERTINENT.  
THE truly serious man Plurali caret, hath no Plural, is so far a Heteroclite, that as he is the World's best Furniture, so in this agreeth Supellex, not admitting a Plural Number: If he multiply in individuals (as God forbid but he should) yet the Kind of serious men is singular. When Solomon audited the Accounts of the World, and all done in it, or suffered by man; his total, his totus Homo (according to the vulgar Translation) all of man, was, to fear God, and keep his Commandments, to live to his Creator, and end of his Creation. As for the other Elements of miserable man, what are they, but vanity, and vexation of Spirit? Actions of never such weighty concernment, public, or private in the World's account, if it respect not some way this whole duty of man, have that hand-writing (and that by the finger of Gods own Spirit) Mene Tekel against them, and are found too light. We will begin at the Philosopher's School, and that will discover Madness, or Folly, in most of the World's N●ise, and Bustle that it keepeth, so long as it is eccentric to Wisdom, and Virtue.  
Seneca maketh children's Employments and Delights, to differ (in impertinency) from the greatest, (of the greatest part) of Men, only (secundum magis & minus) in degrees. Maiore ludimus, et grandioribus Pupis; Men busy themselves (or play rather) with greater Babies, and are cariùs inepti, Fools at a dearer Rate. Children prefer their Babbles before their Parents, or Brethren, it may be before their meat, or Sleep: true of Thee that preferrest Enlargements of thy Possessions, empty Titles, gay Precedency in Fashions, Superiority, though in petite commands; before Justice, Religion, Kindred, Conscience, Quiet, Lawful Contentments, and sweetenings of Life. And in that, the Misers 
— Manifesta Phrenesis,  
Vt locuples moriaris, egenti vivere Fato.  (Juven. Sat. 14. is a madness far surpassing childish Folly, to live miserable, to die rich, or that forgetting and unthankful Heirs may live plentifully. The whole world keepeth Volupiae Sacra, Volupias Solemnities, in which the Actors (as Calcagninus saith) were Fools, or Mad men; and every hour changed Habits, or took what came next. The Business of the world (though as mad as the Bacchanalias) are according to the Proverb, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Nil ad Rhombum; little considering, Quod sumus, & quidnam victuri gignimur: nothing less than to the Purpose, than living to God and themselves; nay, scarce to any determinate, or justifiable Design: Persius may put his Question to them, Sat. 3. 
Est aliquid quo tendis, & in quod dirigis Arcum,  
An passim sequaris corvos testaque lutoque,  
Securus quo Pes ferat, atque extempore vivis.   
What would ye then? or next? may be urged to most men's undertake; as Cineas to Pyrrhus, who (when he would divert his mind from the Troubles, and hazards of War) asked him, when we have overcome the Romans, what then? then saith the King we shall enjoy all Italy. What then? still the Philosopher urgeth him with; why then saith Pyrrhus, we will have Sicily, and then Libya, than Carthage, etc. and when he had reckoned Enterprises enough for a Succession of Alexander to have achieved, our Philosopher puts up to him once more with another What then? Why then saith he, thou and I will enjoy ourselves in uncontrolled Frolicks, and Discourse; what forbids, O King! (saith Cineas) that we enjoy not them now? nay, we do, and still may without the hazards of so many besides ourselves? What plainer proof of man's vanity in his Designs, that goeth thus about for Contentation of Mind, which is in himself, if himself be within?  
He were an arrant Mayor of Quinborrow, that should send to the Indies for Kentish Oysters. A Folly that may be laid to the charge of many Busy men in the world, that put another kind of rate upon their Wisdoms, and would be very loath to be numbered among the Triflers of the world. And what are they else that seek the Cheerfulness of their own Countenance from the Serenity, and smiles of Anthers: If he frown, must my Forehead be clouded? Must I ask another's Humour whether I shall sleep sound, or eat contentedly? That Liberty of Mind, and Body, that I should tremble to think the freight of a Turkish Galley, I willingly surrender to the Tyranny of Humour: ad alienum dormiunt Somnun, ad alienum comedunt Appetitum, saith Seneca, de brevitate vitae, c. 19 No less do many live from themselves, that are above others. Ille Reus quot Dies abstulit? 
Senec. de brevit. vit. ●. 7.  quot Ille Candidatus? Omnes Illi Qui se Tibi Adducunt, Tibi Abducunt. c. 17. This Client, that Candidate, this Petitioner, that Offender; how do they take more from Thee, than their Cringes, verbal Obsequiousness and Flatteries, can add? nay, more share Thy life (that is thy time) whom thou wouldst be loath should share thy Estate, or Rival thy Honour. Nemo invenitur Qui Pecuniam suam dividere vult, 
Senec. lib. c. 3.  vitam unusquisque quam multis distribuit. How may these? Quos magna Felicitas gravat (as the same Author phraseth it) whom such kind of happiness hath overcharged, justly complain, Mihi vivere non licet, my life is least my own? whilst thou art another's Advocate, becoming against thyself a Plaintiff; too much business shorten my Meals, break my sleep●; my very death, it may be, will be bewailed, not so much out of love to me, as that I have left men's business undone. Doctor Donnes high Praise of Ben Jonson's Works, 
Page 207.  in one expression extolleth them, and justly enough depresseth our Admiration of the World's business. 
The State, and men's Affairs are the best Plays  
Next yours: 'tis nor more, nor less than due Praise.   
To a Soul placed vulgati supra Commercia Mundi, looking down on the world as an Anthill (as in Lucian's Icaromenippus) The Purchaser, Merchant, and Soldier himself, will seem as idly busy, as to them seem Children about their houses of Cards, counterfeit ●hips. Horses, etc. only with this difference, that among the latter is less of Malice Hatred, cozenage, &c, and so of Gild; nay (so far as hereafter is forgot) the Exchange, or Fairs (Places wherein it is seldom seriously reme●bred) are not any thing more seriously to be admired, than the Pictures of the one, for Men indeed? or Puppet Plays of the other, for State Affairs: But Exploits of the Sword seem to cloud Democritus his jeering Countenance with the sad one of Heraclitus, and instead of smiling, make us with sorrow behold the lives, and blood of men trifled away as well as their Time, and sweat. View the Quarrel, you cannot tell which is the most serious Book. Homer's Iliads, or his Batrachomyomachia, his History of Troy, or the fight of Frogs, and Mice. In that great day of Revelation of Realties (wherein Ignorance and Infidelity, both shall subscribe to Truth) Caligulas ridiculous Enterprise upon the sea, & triumphant bringing home shells of Fishes from the shore as her Spoils; will prove as serious (and I am sure less injurious) as any Conquest or Invasion the Roman Emperors could boast of; If you will hear a Soul departed, inter sidera vagantem discoursing. To this effect Seneca brings it in, totum Terrarum Orbem supernè despicientem, & sibi dicentem, 
Praefat. lib. 1. Nat. quest.  Istud est Punctum, quod inter tot gentes ferro & Igne dividitur? Looking down upon this scarce discernible Globe of the Earth, with this Question; Is that the Spot so many Nations divide and share by Fire and Sword? O quâm Ridiculi Mortalium Termini! How Inconsiderable are the bounds of the largest State, Possession, or Kingdom, that they thus cut one another's Throats! For Socrates used this very Argument, to prick the Bladder of Pride in Alcibiades, and bid him seek his Possessions in the Map: which when Alcibiades told him he could not find; Horum inquit Possessione Te effers, Qui nulla Pars Terrae sunt? Aelian: Var. Hist. 3. 28. He replied, art thou proud of such Possessions that are scarce a part of the Earth? not much unlike the grand Signior among the Turks, that enquiring where England was in the Map, was desired to remove his Thumb that hid it; which made him break forth into wonder at its narrow extent, and large bustle it kept in the World. To say true, how many men's Possessions can I cover with my Nail in a Map of England? In a Map of the World, how many Provinces and Kingdoms with my hand? which yet bear more Proportion in the Map, to the real extent of them, than some of them do to the Earth, or all of them to the Universe: Hear Buchanan de Sphaera lib. 1. page 442. 
Nec levior labor est Caelo Componere Terram,  
Vt collata simul cum sint Ratione Sagaci,  
Percipias Rerum sit quantula Portio, verbis  
Quam Nos magnificis in Regna superba secamus.  
Partimur Ferro, mercamur, sanguine fuso  
Ducimus exigua Glebae de Parte Triumphos.   
Of which take the significant (though not Critical) Translation. 
'Twere worth the while if we would Earth compare  
With Heaver; that when the differences are  
Examined well, we might perceive how small  
And scant a part o'th' Universe is all,  
We parcel into Kingdoms, with proud words  
First; then into shares, divide by th' Sword,  
Or Purchase; and for one poor Turf think good  
To Triumph at th' Expense of our own blood.   
Which Folly, and scambling for linquenda Tellus & Domus & Placens uxor. Lands, Palaces, etc. (that we must forsake, if they do not forsake us) maketh him justly exclaim, in the end of the first Book of the Sphere, page 444. 

O Pudor! O stolidi praeceps vesania voti!  
Quantula Pars Rerum est? in quâ se Gloria tollit,  
Ira sremit, Metus exanimat, Dolour urit, Egestas  
Cogit Opens, Ferro, Insidijs, Flammâ, atque veneno  
Cernitur, et trepido fervent humana tumultu.   

Rare sense! if but scurvily englished; such as it is take.  
O Shame! & Bedlam Folly of our Aims!  
How almost nothing, and scarce worth a Name,  
Is this same Stage, on which Ambition swells,  
Rage Stormes, Fear kills, and want compels  
To care for Pelf on earth, and for't what coile?  
By th' Sword, and Snares, Fire, Poison, and Turmoil.    
But to conclude (as the Apostle saith, all under sin) so say I, all, or most under aliud Agentes, Impertinent busy-bodyes. St. Bernard's golden truth sentenceth largely, but take it amongst ye Worldlings. Totum est vanitas, totum est Stultitia, totum est Dementia quicquid facis in hoc Mundo, praeter hoc solum quod propter Deum facis. It is all Vanity, Folly, and Madness, that thou dost in this world, but that thou dost for GOD.  
A Doom believe it, that toucheth the uppe● most and greatest part of the world. Nor can my poor Reason but assentingly pronounce, since man's inventions have brought him to this sad loss, that his speculations are but a comedy of Errors, and his Employments Much ado about Nothing to borrow our Comedians titles) that the world's busy man is the Grand Impertinent.   

THE CHAIRE-MAN.  
AMong the whole Committee for Impiety, David maketh the Scorner Chaire-man. Ps. 1. 1. Nor Sitteth in the Chair of the Scorner, that talis, qualis meeter usually sung (such as it is) rendereth it so, and more agreeable to the vulgar latin) and doubtless, He of any deserveth it, among the Negociatour●s for Destruction; such Saint Gregory mentioneth, Qui ridentes Negotia Mortis peragunt, that in the Souls Tragedy play the Fool: even such Fools as make a mock of sin. Too frequent is it to meet such as scorn and deride seriousness in Discourse, Books, or Business: it is no unusual thing to reply to Reproof for swearing with A. P— on your seriousness, how long have you been so Godly? no worse byword is for Books that are but even morally serious, than to call it a goodly Book, or a duli melancholy piece; and among Employments, none more derided than bookishness: it deserveth it indeed. Are there not vaulting Schools, Drinking matches, Horse-races, etc. to spend our time in? besides Mistresses that must have each day two or three Hours spent in speaking to them Nothings; and receiving Favours as weighty. Let your black Serge poor on Books, it is not for Scarlet Boys, to task themselves to such serious spend of their time: and for any calling, it is Mechanic Votes indeed fit to be ratified did I not hear a selfe-denying Vote, (Can●nical● doubtless in the Truth of it though Apocryphal for Authority) it is in Wisdom 5. 3. 4. etc. to the tenth. This is He whom we had sometime in Derision, and a Proverb of Reproach. We Fools counted his life Madness, etc. Where we may see a sad changing of their Note concerning Men, Action's, and Things: to a serious perusal of which, I refer the Scorner; from which when he returneth, He shall have my free leave, to call the well employed Man, or sober Adviser, Serious Coxcombs.   

THE LOADSTONES Touchstone, trying, who's THE MAGNETIC LADY.  
AS I am none of those Admirers of the outsides of any things, & among others of those things (so much admired not only by others, but themselves) Women; so I am none of those vulgar-Reasoning Despisers of that Sex; which we cannot deny to be as habitable a Part of the Microcosm or little World as any, for abilities or virtues, though not so Populous; and cannot (because I find Truth among the she's) but afford that Sex its due Honour, finding as I say her on their side, whom, in all these discourses I have chose as my Mistress to dedicate them to, viz. Truth; whether voted with, or against. Nor need I Preface their Commendations with that Paradox, that some virtue may be in some Women (which by some opiniative Maintainers of Masculine Monopoly (of any thing called worth) seemeth enough to allow them) for the same Pen in his learned Anniversary confineth virtue not only to that Sex (and so gives it away from himself and party) but to that particular Mrs. of his Fancy, which (though writ not so much as an Historian, as Poet (by his own Confession in his Letter, p. 285) may serve for Pattern, or Rule to try the real worth of Feminine worthies by, that is, who deserveth to share in her (or the like) Pr●ifes, who to prescribe Imitation to others of their own, or attract the Affections of the other Sex. Such is the Purpose of this Essay. The hardest Task is to persuade the erroneous obstinate Misogynist or Woman-Hater, that any Discourse acknowledging their worth can go beyond Poetry, or that any confirmations from History can un-paradox the worth (do I say? nay the equal worth) of that Sex: but Champions in Philosophy, Law, and History, are not wanting to answer or confute opposers: and some of them to say truth have not undertaken the Cause effeminatly. Plutarch counted it worth his pains to bestow A whole Book, de virtutibus Mulierum, of the virtues of women; and I cannot conceive a better way to rectify the conceits of Men concerning Them, or their own concerning themselves, than to let them see what the wiser part of the World have Thought they were, or should be; and out of both History and Precept, Example and Rule, no doubt we shall dig a Touchstone, to try this Load stone by, that is to try who they be deserve truly the Title of Magnetic Lady (whether the Herald call her Madam or no) begin we with some few Intimations from History. For the Female-policy of the Trojan women (Plutarch fronts his examples with) who can but acknowledge its double Wit: cunning in the Design, and Subt-lety in the Excuses, when being Sea-sick after their Roming from fired Troy, and how ever wandering-sick set their ships on fire, where their Husband's Landed, there Resolving to fix their abode, as burning up likewise all hopes of Return: but look on their Wisdom in quenching the other Fire they had kindled in their Husband's passions (and justly) by unwonted Embraceing, and (never till then used) Kissing Them on their Return from their discovering the Land. The first Kissing (as my Author saith) had, it seemeth, honest Plot in it: it is by many suspected to have Design in it still, both good, and bad, viz. Endearings minted currant, according to the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the Love they would procure. Here was an Act at first out-witting men; and then seconding it with an over-winning them to Pacification, and having nothing so ready besides, offered their Lips to the Goddess Viriplica, or Appease-Husband, which the Roman Dames sacrificed to upon any domestic Differences between them and their Husbands:) and to their offended Husbands, with wished Success. For Fortitude in Women (which the Male Braggadocios think entailed to the Breeches) the same author brings those Women of Argos: who on Instigation of a valiant She wit, and Poet, Telesilla, took up Arms, maintained the Wall●, and repelled the Enemy with loss. Was not here both Mercury and Mars, Wit and Valour, Poetry and Fortitude, and all in Long Coats? And it is observable what Solemnity they kept in Memory of it, even those Hybristica Sacra, in English, their upbraiding Festivals wherein the Women wore the Breeches, and the men their Wife's Apparel. Will you have them preaching, and that to some purpose? (otherwise than our She expositors in these Days,) peruse a following story of those Persian Dames, that seeing their Army give ground (with that known circumstance) asked them, whether they would return into their Wombs again? with w●ch short Lecture they shamed them to a Rally and Victory both: in honour of which, Cyrus, when he after obtained the Town, ordained the King should never enter the Town, but should give each Woman in it a Crown; which Alexander twice performed. Will you have them Counselors? our Author showeth, they stood not out at that too. The Celtaes falling into Civil broils were (when no other means could) by their Wife's Arbitration reconciled; on which that compact was made with Hannibal, if the Celtaes had any thing to say against the Carthaginians, they should appear before their Judges and Officers of the Army; but if the Carthaginians had aught against the Celtaes, the matter should be debated before the Celtun women.  
That they can command as well as counsel: We may hear crowd in an Example to be found in the same Book of Justin, (that our last Story of the Persian women was in) it was Tomyris that defeated that great Conqueror Cyrus, giving after it his headful (when cut off) of blood, with that known Saying, Satia te sanguine quem sitisti, take now thy fill of blood, thou Bloodthirsty man. For Modesty, to go on with Plutarch, what men ever paralleled that of the Melesian Virgins, that through some strange morbifical Distemper of the Air, and so of their Brains (as was conjectured) or some Discontent of Mind, did make away themselves in Numbers, notwithstanding the Entreaties of Friends, till at last a law was politicly made, that they that made away themselves, should be carried naked about the Marketplace. Haec lex sancita non inhibuit modò, sed & abolevit omnino illam, quâ virgines laborabant, Mortis Cupiditatem. We would wonder, saith Plutarch, how suddenly this Law did not only abate, but abolish this Frenzy in the Virgins; so much did they fear shame, before a life bitterer to them then Death and (as it appeared) more dreadful: 
Valerius Maximus.  But into those Historical Evidences take some out of Valerius Maximus, who abounds with exemplary Conjugal Virtues in Women, of which take a Taste. How affectionately did Portia take the News of her Husband's Death? when wanting other Instruments of Death, by burning Coals swallowed down, she put out that Lamp, that Grief alone could not quench: that novum Sacramentum Pereundi, as Quintilian, that new way of dying was counted among Conjugal Virtues where its Scene lay. She was indeed a truer Mourner than the Widow in Petronius Arbiter, that (notwithstanding that obstinacy in grief begun, for sometime continued, and for longer resolved) drank Consolation, 
Petro. Arbiter, page 57  and new Nuptial Heats, out of the Soldier's Bottle of Wine. Hipsicratea presents herself next a rare Example of Matrimonial Association, in bad, as well as good Fortunes, trooping with her Husband Mithridates, in man's Apparel, ruffling her incomparable Beauty with Hardships of Wether, venturing her life and tenderness through Perils, that might daunt even Masculine Courage. A Comfort, saith my Author, to her Husband, when beat out of his Kingdom. Cum Domo enim & Penatibus vagari se credidit, Vxore simul exulante; Thinking himself at home, as long as she sweetened his Exile with her Company.; A Parallel to this Camerarius affords in his Historical Meditations of one Bona, that first served the Eminent Commander Brunor, whom I only name, because her Name m●y serve for all such Wives (for such her faithful Services preferred her to at last, that at first served him in the Wars, upon a liking he took to her spiritedness) the Story more at large see in that Author. But the example of the Myniae in Valerius Maximus presents us (as some former Examples in Plutarch) with Virtuous women by whole Sale, especially in that Conjugal Affection; who when their Husbands were condemned, and they went under pretence of taking leave of them, changed Apparel, whereby their Husbands escaped, leaving their Wives to abide what ever might follow.; 
Lib. 3. c. 11.  To which Story Camerarius likewise hath a Parallel above Parallel. At that Siege wherein Guelphus was hemmed in by Conrade the Emperor, and at last driven to miserable Conditions; viz. That none should pass out of the Town but some Women, and that with no more than they could carry; whereupon the Duchess took up the Duke upon her shoulders, and the rest of the women on her example, their Husbands, Children, and Fathers, etc. a Sight that so pleased the Emperor, that it melted him into not only Pacification, but friendly Reconcilement with his deadly Enemy. But to conclude with the Evidences from Valerius Maximus, he reckoneth that Patience of Aemilia, Wife of Africanus Senior, above fellowing, by any either Sex, and that was the Conquest of her Jealousy, the most Tyrannical Passion in either Sex, conniving at her Husbands entertaining her unappointed Official, and maid; & all ne Domitorem Orbis Impudicitiae reum ageret, that she might not slain her Husband's Triumphs, with the Imputation, or Accusation of Incontinence;; an Act wherein some women have outstripped all men, saith Cornelius Agrippa (the women's Professed Champion, and whose Muster of Reasons and Examples we shall next take view of) as he instanceth in Sarah, Lea, Rachel, etc. who finding themselves barren, entreated their Husbands to entertain their Handmaids; sed quis obsecro virorum? etc. and what man pray, saith the Author, would give way to Deputies in the like case, though never so old and decrepit? But I pass to Agrippa's Defence, not only of the Female excellence, but Pre-eminence, a word and Cause distasteful, I confess, to the Masculine Interest; but I shall present this Plea of that Attorney general for Women, leaving it to the scanning of more leisurable Enquirers; what of Truth there is in them, I will do the Right not to conceal, keeping the Delivery of others Opinions and my own several: What they say, and my Assent, not being Combined any further, than Reason contributes to the Conclusion. He begins his Arguments from the very name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chauva, signifying Life, and adam's but Earth (though the Rabbins sport another Derivation from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chiva, signifying to tattle.) Then the order of her Creation, saith he, argueth her excelling Perfection; she was created last of all, and so admitted into this World, as he saith, tanquam Regina in Regiam paratam, like a Queen into a ready furnished Palace. Besides her matter was not of so low an Extract as adam's; of finished Man (whose Materials were ruder Dust) was this rare piece made. Hence a greater Eminence of Beauty generally in that Sex than the other; so as what Beauty the world itself containeth in severals (saith my Author) seem to be contracted into this Meddall, that all Creatures might reverence and admire this completed Piece. Nor is it fabulous, that Spirits themselves have been enamoured on some Women: We read their Beauty spoke of throughout the whole Book of Truth, with more signal Observations than that of Men. Again, is not Woman in Sacred Writ called by Solomon, Corona viri, the Crown of Man? the Consummation and Perfection of him? Idcirco illam omnis Homo amet, necesse est: quam Qui non amaverit, qui odio habuerit, ab omnibus virtutibus & Gratijs alienus est, nedum humanitate. Who therefore can but love that Sex? who ever hates it, must needs be a stranger to Virtue, Grace, and very humanity. Can any Lady forbear giving this their Attorney his Fee? In the first Sin (as he goeth on) her fault was least, because her Temptation strongest, as beguiled by that subtle Serpent; but man, by a deceived woman. Christ in his choice of Sexes, took Man's as the lowest, being he was to expiate man's Pride in the lowest Condescensions possible. What Heresies, or Errors ever were broached by Women? By Man, CHRIST betrayed, abused, and Crucified; by his very Peter denied, only by Women accompanied to the Cross. Nay, no small part of the Schoolmen affirm, Ecclesiam tunc non nisi apud solam Mulierem, puta Virginem Mariam mansisse. That the Church of Christ remained then only in the Virgin Mary. If men object from Aristotle, that men are more wise, Valiant, Noble, General, etc. than Women: I ask of them, whom of those that have been most Eminent hath not this Sex worsted? who more knowing than Adam, circumvented by Eve? valiant than Samson, overcome by Dalilah? Chaster than Lot in Sodom, overcome after by his Daughters out of it. But a great Evidence of this Sex's Pre-eminence, is an Argument taken from Aristotle; that Kind or Rank of Creatures, whose best is better than the best of any other, even that Kind itself is better than any other Kind: But such is the Virgin Mary (the best in that Sex.) above John the Baptist, the greatest of the other Sex (according to our Saviour's own Verdict, Matth. 11. 11.) so that but naming the Virgin Mary, the Cause is carried for that Sex against the Divinity of the Male.;;;;; To go on, how many men do we read in Scripture condemned to those eternal Torments, but not one Woman? Whence came the first Original of Vices? did we not in Adam all dye? not in Eve: did not his eldest Son, Cain, first open Hell Gates? Lamech primus Digamus, primus ebrius No, etc. Lamech was the first that was double-Wived, Noah the first drunk, Nimrod the first Tyrant; the first committed Incest was a man, the first compacted with the Devil were Men. For Arts, it is known Women have been Inventours of most. What Countries receive from them their Names? as Furope, Libya, etc. Run through all the Virtues, Women have been as Famous, as in some excelling Men. For Virginity the Virgin Mary, for Prophecy Moses his Sister, for constancy in the Faith, Esther, Ruth, Judith, Mary Magdalen, that believed when the Apostles doubted; Priscilla for Knowledge, that instructed Apollo, after Bishop; and for Martyrdom that rare Example in Maccabees 2. 6.;; nay have not Women in Martyrdom, equalled the Numbers of Men? and to complete the History of that Truth, ne cui dubium sit Muliores ea omnia posse quae viri, that Women can, and have done whatsoever Men have done, in Priesthood, was not Melissa famous among the Heathens? Hyppecaustria, Minerva's Priest, Mera to Venus? Iphigenia to Diana; & in nostra Religione licet Mulieribus Sacerdotij functione interdictum sit, scimus tamen Historiis proditum, Muli●rem aliquando mentito sexu, ad summi Pontificatus Apicem conscendisse, even in our own Religion, though we forbid Women the Priesthood, yet History assureth us of a Woman that arrived to the Popedom. I cite this in both Languages, because it is the Confession of a Truth (and that by Agrippa, a Papist) that the Catholic Historians would fain deny. In Philosophy, to go on with my Author, how famous was Thaeana, wife of Pythagoras; and his Daughter Dama, for expounding her Father's Principles? how famous Themistes so admired by Lactantius? In the Christian Church, Saint Katherine outstripped most of the learned men in her time, for Poetry and Oratory, Androgenia, Valeria, Sempronia: to say true, Orator nuspiam tam honus, aut tam felix, ut suadela vel Meretricula superior sit; what Orator more persuasive, or Retoricall than Salomon's strange woman? for Arithmetic; who can misreckon a woman (they can men) in payments? for prudence, Opis, Plotina, trajan's wife, in sacred story, Deborah. How did Semiramis govern the first Monarchy 40. years, after her Husband's Death, etc. thus, saith he have I proved the Pre-eminence of women by their Name, Order of Creation, and Place; Religion, Nature, etc. ne debitas ill is laudes ut Talentum mihi creditum suffodiend o, etc. Lest I should hide a Talon entrusted to me, if I should conceal what Truth hath said for them. And thus have I given you a Summary of this Attorney General's Plea, only to complete the Argument ab Authoritate, from Authority: you must likewise hear an opinion or two of the opposite party, that out of Comparison a righter Judgement may result, before we progress in the Discussion by Reason. Among Philosophers, Secundus may claim the first place for, his Severity against that Sex; that said (being asked what woman was) a woman was viri Naufragium, Domus tempestas, Quiet is impedimentu●, vitae captivitas, quotidianum Dam num, voluntaria Pugna, sumptuosum Bellum, Leana amplectens, exornata Scylla, Malum necessarium: Man's Shipwreck the Tempest of the Family, Disturber of quiet, Life's Prison, etc. for I fear, some are ready to call this Philosopher, Terrae filius, and to say, sure he had no Mother. The Apothegme of Protagoras seemeth to confirm this former opinion; who being asked why he gave his Daughter in Marriage to his Enemy; because, saith He, I think I could not do him a greater Despite, than to bestow a woman on him. But these may pass, it may be, for some Eunuchized Stoics: hear what Fathers have thought and writ: one would think it a contradiction in Adjecto (as they say) that Fathers should be against women; yet truly some of those married Fathers have been bitter enough, and among other, that Golden-mouthed Father chrysostom forgot his Compliments sure, 
Chrysost. upon Mat. 29.  when he styled Woman, Amicitiae Inimica, ineffugibilis poena, Necessarium malum, Naturalis Tentatio, desiderabilis calamitas▪ Mali Natura Boni colore depicta; etc. Enemy of true Friendship, a Punishment still haunting us, a necessary Evil, Natural Temptation, desirable calamity, the very nature of Evil under the paint of good.  
Saint Augustine was harsh enough when he said: Nihil magis deijcit ex Arce Animum vitilem quam Faeminae blandimenta, & ille cordium contractus sine quo Vxor haberi non potest: in lib. 8. soliloqui. nothing more dethrones the mind of Man, than the flatteries of a woman; or that contract of Hearts without which no wedlock.  
I shall conclude all these contrary evidences with that of severe Cato Vticensis. Si absque faemina esset Mundus, conversatio nostra non esset absque Dijs. If Women were not amongst us, the Gods would; their being on Earth, hinders Earth's being Heaven. But let us now hear the impartial Judge, Reason, concerning the Dignity of Women, (setting aside the distasteful word Pre-eminence.) And first no doubt in more strict acception, they are equal in the sight of Him, with whom there is no acception of Persons. Galat. 3. 28. with whom there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, Male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. As for those Objections of not being the Image of God, as Man is, that therefore, they must be covered, & their being subject, Agrippa answereth, there is much of Allegory and meaning beyond the Letter, in those cited places. Then for their materiated structure, and its rare composure. Those that are not in Love must confess not only an Equality but Pre-eminence in the Sex; Reason and experience vote them the prerogative in Beauty; which I may term the virtue of the Body, as virtue is the Beauty of the Mind. Their frame is of choicer constitution, purer Elemented, and let me say its structure, fuller of Wonders, as destined for divers and more uses than the Male, and that some what more than ordinary shall be in its Guest, the Mind, seems no irrational Inference; for whom more than ordinary Trickings up is bestowed on her dwelling, and indeed of a virtuous soul (as full of sweetness as her beatuous dwelling is to the Eye) in a Body of choice and rare composure (as in some few hath been found) we may say (as Christ of little children) of such no doubt is the Kingdom of Heaven, rather than of the most bustling Nimrods', Politic Statesmen, or those rougher Eminences of the other Sex: in this me thinks Beauty seemeth as it were enthroned, through whose red and white, and most Masterly Symmetry, or proportion, the Glory of the Maker shineth with more Dazzle than through any part of the Creation: for Beauty is nothing else (saith Agrippa) than Divini vultus atque Luminis splendour rebus insitus, per Corpora formosa resplendens. Nothing but Rays of that Divine Image and Light scattered in Creatures, and sometimes shining through Bodies almost transparently fair, of which we may say as that rare Beauties (ay, or virtues) Hilliard, and masterly Painter, in his Anniversary.  
She, of whose Soul if we may say't, was Gold.  
Her Body was th' Electrum, 
Dr. Donnes▪  and did hold  
Many degrees of that: we understood  
Her by her sight; her pure and eloquent Blood,  
Spoke in her Cheeks, and so distinctly wrought,  
That one might almost say, her Body thought.  
Nor is the Music of their voice (generally transcending herein the other sex) a small Argument of some finer contexture of the Organ, and with some is as taking as a Face, notwithstanding Saint Augustine's uncharitable severity in that Assertion, in Risum aliquando dissolvitur, nunc Blanditias exhibet, ● & quod venenosius est, super cunctae Psallere delectatur, aut cantare: cujus cantu tolerabilius est audire Basilis cum sibilantem. When a Woman smiles, there's Plot; but the Poison is her Voice, than to hear which the Hissing of a Basilisk are more tolerable; but doubtless not the use, but some abuse put the Gall in this Father's Ink.  
The manner of the Woman's Creation hath as it were a more Signal Asterisk of Eminence in the Phrase it is expressed by, Gen. 2. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and God builded Woman of the Rib he had from Man. It is only God made Man, but builded Woman: Indeed the Controverted, known, and yet to be discovered Wonders and Differences (by Anatomy's Survey) in that admirable Building, affords Reason for the Holy Ghosts choice of his Phrases in that second Chapter of divine natural History; And as the Court is more stately, we cannot deny but it Queens (the Female Souls) Rule is sometimes orderly and wise, as in any Masculine Throne; Passions at as ready Obedience, Virtues in as equa● Favour, and all the Commendables in Politic Government sweetly tempered in some Women, to the shame of their Contemners. Modern times if well searched could afford us some not inferior in Intellectual, as well as Moral Abilities; For the Languages, or Philosophy, that Ingenious Gentlewoman at Vtricht, may in her long Coats put some black coats (in our Synod) to the Blush. For Poetry (and Philosophy) a Muse of our own, of the Muses own Gender, (and let me say Genius too) 
* The Lady New castles Poems, and Philosophical Fancies.  a Lady of great Quality by the Herald's Book, and of greater by her own, can testify, Poetry is not the Monopoly of the Male. For Ability to govern, our Island affords a Queen unparalleed; with many other Examples of several Eminences too large to instance in. And if it be objected, these are Times Elephantine Births, not born above once in an Age; I cannot but give up my Reason to Agrippa's in the Answer: Educatione extinguitur, etc. The hopefulness of this Sex is stifled in their Education; for they are no sooner able to read, but confined to it alone, as all the Learning they are obliged to, or Capable of; and so with some little more Abilities to write, or read hereafter Letters of Love, or Business they are diverted to the Fiddle Faddles of the Needle, or the Wheel: Employments fitter to make Trades of to live by, than to share the whole time of such, whose Birth and Plenty have afforded them Leisures for Nobler Improvements of themselves, and Time: Thus Cloistered, till Marriage, they are delivered over (saith my Author) to the jealousies of a Husband, or Encumbrances of Marriage, before their Minds have gained their Portion; or if then they have Leisure, a cold Still, and making sweet Meats, are the weighty Affairs of our ordinary Somebodies (in their own Conceits it may be, and one more's) not because less able for manly studies and Entertaining of their Souls, but through Corruption of Custom, which hath sentenced them to such Effeminate (in the worst sense) Education, to which I fear we may impute, as well that their moral (as seemingly) natural weakness, the Vices as well as Ignorance of that Sex, and so they are beholding to their Parents for being silly, or wicked: For no doubt the Soul needs not more a well organised Body, to exercise it Functions with sprightly Vigour, or Angelic Motions, than that Soul, and those Organs need the Tuneings of Education; without which what might be Harmony in Nature, will be discord in the Exercises, and Playing (as I may term them) of Life. As for those trite Objections, what Mischiefs came by Women, the Virgin Mary's Amends answers all, Though the first Woman was to us as the Tree of Death (for Trees inversed some observe both man, and woman are) she proved a Tree afterwards of Life; through the Fruit she bore we were again restored to life; the Fruit of the Virgin's Womb healing whom the forbidden Fruit had slain.  
Thus have I shown women's Eminence▪ (even equal with men) is possible, and hath been, and so if still it is not, we know where the Fault is. But to leave the distastefulness of Comparison, let us now view what it is fit they should be; and both (as I said) will make a true Touchstone who are They retain a Title to all the Praises of their Sex, and who have forfeited them: I shall deliver it by way of Character, thus.  
They are true Attracters of love (more intimate) of some, and Esteem from all; whose Infancy and Childhood (the Ages of Obedience) have prevented their Parents Desires, nay, Hopes in Dutiful Demeanours to them, as those they received their being & breeding from; & that more out of love to them and Goodness, than fear (the controller only of those that would be bad) for such, when got loose from stricter Restraints, or View, are not so inclined to vain Idleness, or active Indecencies, as many of the same Sex, and years, are; but are tinctured from the first Fermentations, (and workings of these new brewed Vessels) with Aspire to Knowledge, and Piety. Thus it may be they pass a time in Virginity, till it grow a Pity, and a wonder: a Pity, such worth should longer be Cloistered in a Barrenness; and wonder, that it is so it's own Confiner by pious and virtuous Resolves, that it needs no Superviser; as stoutly resisting, as warily declining Temptations; indifferently bend to the Continuance of it, or change; as God, and his Vicegerents, her Parents shall think fit: not envying the World the Propagation of what Goodness they have received; nor its Communication and sharings with a well chosen Husband: And since she hath read the Apostles Recipe for Salvation (Faith, and Childbearing) willingly takes it, though one half be almost as bitter as the other is sweet. She regards not the fluent Invectives against Marriage, or its Encumbrances, which she knoweth the grains of allowance of all Conditions; I, and to be experimented most by ranging Licentiousness, which such Satirists call Liberty, and unclogged Freedom. The Despisers of Matrimony she looks on, as some despised Attempters of it, or else some that yet never were admitted into the Favour to be forsaken: for as for the condition of life, though she considered it not as a Sacrament, she looketh on it as necessary to the Perfecting man's Happiness, that even Innocence could not be without, and believeth it still honourable; and that for that Reason (which still lifts it above all that ever hath been said for barren Virginity) of its necessity to the Propagation and increase of God's Church. Without disparagement therefore of Virginity (for Commendations of which she needs no help; the becomingnesse of it on herself, having been an Ample Encomium of it) she cannot only wittily, but solidly, & wisely pronounce, as that gentle woman that inverted the undervalue of▪ Marriages Maxim, next to no wife a good wife the best, nay rather, saith he, next to a good wife no wife the best. Thus her judgement settled, she doth but wait her Parents Proposals, the Liberty of which she alloweth her Parents, retaining only the Liberty of Dislike. As for the giddy Licentiousness of Liking, and choice without the Approbation of her Superintendents, she looketh on it as most commonly its own Punishment, and therefore will not buy Repentance so dear.  
As for her Behaviour, to those that are brought to draw at this Lottery of worth, (on some hopes of obtaining so truly an inviting Prize) it is of so prudent a reservedness, as may give her Time for choice of that she cannot part with; of the Book she must be chained to the Perusal of, she would willingly see more than the Title Page. Among other things she would willingly read (the Answer to the first Question in every Market Bride's Catechism) what he is worth; only it is not according to the Vulgar Rates; for to have Bags in stead of a man, she thinks a Cheat, and is of her mind in Platutus in Stichus, Act 1. Sc. 2. Non me tu Argento dedisti opinor nuptum, sed viro, that said to her Father, you married me, Sir, I conceive to the man, not his moneys. Being then satisfied in the real worth of her choice, at length she gives (as I may say) an elective Access, to one she sees must at last obtain: Her Entertainments even of him, are not so yielding, as to take of the Edge of his Courtship, and Desire; nor so recoiling as to damp his Hopes: No, the very Modesty of her Delays (rather than Denials) do even blush for the Petitioner, whom she looks on, as a Besieger, that at length must prevail; only she holds out to make better Conditions, till at length she surrenders, and makes some body a happy Gainer, by the loss of a well kept Virginity: becoming now as virtuous-making a Pattern among Wives, as she was before among Virgins. If she be blest a Mother, her Cares as well as Joys begin, where the Sorrows of her Travail end; and by Religious Education breeds that for God, she conceived by man. In her Family she knoweth now as well how to govern, as before she did to obey: She rules even her Ruler by Love without Command, and the rest by a sweet mixture of Command and Love, and Example: The faults of Servants, (not her Humours) Cashier them, and her Commendations here them. According to her Sphere is her Activity, as to her Household Affairs, if her State require only Survey, she doth not forecast only in Bed; if Assistance, she doth not set Business back by unquiet branglings, and findefaulting Quarrels; but rather maketh up servants constrained omissions, by her willing Help: and can answer, (in so doing) any proud Niceness with that Italian Proverb, Chifa ifatti suoi, non s'embratte le many. Ones own work fowls not ones fingers; or if you will, Housewivery maketh their clothes sit ne'er the worse: in the Garments of which she had rather be seen, than, 
Still to be neat, still to be dressed,  
As she were going to a Feast.   
But to view this Magnetic Lady in more general Draughts, be she Maid or Wife: she is of a natural goodness from Temper much, (and education more) imprinted on her; which makes her count those vices unnatural, that with others are another Nature, and by this in a good step to her second making out of the second Adam, by losing so much of the first. Her chief care is to become Religious, as well as morally or naturally good: knowing Temptations may break Nature's best Fence, and lay her Paradise waste: but Religion is that only bound of perseverance: She knoweth the truth of that Contracted sense.  
Overbury's Poem of a A Wife.  
Lust only by Religion is withstood.  
Lust's object is alive, his strength within,  
Mortality resists but in cold Blood,  
Respect of credit feareth shame, not sin.  
But no place dark enough for such offence  
She finds, that's watched by her own Conscience.  
She doth not therefore drive her Religion afore to fifty, (as too many do of both sexes that never overtake it) she counts it a pardonable forget fullness never to remember when she began: to be Religious from her youth upwards, she counts, will spoil neither her Behaviour, Beauty, nor Match. In her Devotions, she is serious, not Customary; knowing in the Items of Life all other Actions are but Ciphers, and these only to be figures that have in them Signification or Account, that can to those other impart any worth. Nor is she formal in them: her Devotion is not only for view; nor like the Pulpit-Cloth locked up all the week, or only used when the Church Doors are open; but counts it requisite to have a Consecrated Closet as well as Chapel, where her best and purest Prayers are innocent Hands whitened in her Redeemers Blood: indeed far more prevalent, than those Verbal Pater-noster-Mongers utter over a Bead-roule, like a Sea man's sounding line (so long, you may look for one of the Antipodes at the end of it.) She hears frequently, and attentively, but keeps herself only a hearer and doer: not breaking that Bishop's orders for Silence, Saint Paul's, that forbid Petticoat Preaching: of what she hears, her Life is the Repetition. Saints she worships: but with that justifiable worship, Seneca would men should serve God, in Epist. 94. Deum Coluit, Quisquis imitatus est, by careful Imitation of what was good in them. And because the high Encomiums of the Virgin Mary do deservedly make the World ring, (though some so little acceptable to her, that it is true what our best of Poets said. 
Dr. Donnes' Poems.  
Where thou shalt see the blessed Mother-Ma●d  
Joy, in not being that which Men have said.   
The virtuous Lady on this rousing by her Fame, with a holy Emulation striveth to become her Saviour's Mother (and hath his word for it that she may) she therefore by faith Conceives, and breeds him, and when brought forth, her Charity gives him suck: the one commends her to her God, the other to the World. Let others Pride it in bareing their own Necks and Breasts, her humble glorying is in covering the Naked Backs of the Poor; and counts her old clothes grace, her more on their Backs, than they did New, upon her own: for she knows, at that Day when Nakedness will be the only Fashion, she shall have more thanks for the Poors Wardrobe (of her procuring) than her own; and for their warmth; than her own Gaudiness. She gives Aliment and Belly relief in Kind, not Medicament, or Physic: She gives that a nobler way; more from her Purse than still, or Closet. She cures the needy Patient, by recovering the Apothecaries (almost dead) hopes of payment, not by prescribing the poor Sick man's Bill, but crossing it.  
Her Banquets (to herself best pleasing) are more at Door, then in the Parlour, and delights more to Treat the Almighty's visitants, the Poor than any requiting Equal!  
Next being good, she counts the Addition wise; another part of a woman's Portion, and therefore (though she first dress herself by the Mirror of Mirrors) she looks for Modes and Dresses in that Exchange of Books, whence she culls the best. She knoweth no Reason-Books should be engrossed by Men, or that time spent in them, is not as good as to be a whole forenoon, Narcissus like admiring a good, or Butcher like mending a bad Face in her Glass. Those dead Monitors of her Eternity she loves: and indeed when she is minded of it by any alive, thinks it not necessary presently she should conceit herself in a Church, or looks about to spy the black Serge, or Cassock on Him that speaks; but thinks it might as gracefully tip the Tongue of any He or she that retains to Corruption, and these dying Elements. She counts it as pleasant to converse with Historians, Poets, Philosophers, etc. though now rotten, as with the finest perfumed Your-humble-Servant-Madam alive. Her Knowledge, by Discretion she tempers to a Mean that Learning's Engrossers among the Males might allow her, and corrects by it Exuberances of Fancy, or Desires, various Reading might imprint on such waxy Moulds, or tender Receivablenesse; which she manifesteth by her following Judgements; & correspondency of behaviour. Concerning her Beauty she will owe it to none but Nature: she doth not borrow it from Art: it sleeps with her in her Bed, not Closet: it maketh never an Item, (Jig by Joale with Plasters or Syringe) in her Apothecary's Bill: that Beauty she hath, she overvalues not, and counts it part of it so to do, according to Saint Austin; Illa sit Pulchra, illa sit amabilis, Quae nescit sepulchram esse. She it truly fair, that knows it not. She therefore no further esteems it, but as A sign of a fairer Guest within, which she striveth to make good. She can Preach the Frailty of it to her self, as well as any castoff Lover ever could; and knows as well as He, a Pin may raze it into Deformity, or the sting of a Bee alter it even from Knowledge for the time. If she paints, she borroweth from Modesty the blushing red; pale from Fear, of doing any thing that might stain her honour, or defile her Conscience. She dresseth herself by God's Book, as her Glass, and there rather by Timothy 1. 2. 9 than Isaiah 3. 18. etc. her Apparel is suited to her Husband's quality, or pleasure.  
She is of the Mind of Philo's Wife, who being asked why she alone did not wear rich Attire, since she might, answered; Satis uxori magnus ornatus viri sui virtus est: The Husband's virtue was the Wife's best ornament. She is not an Assenter (though thousands be) to that rabbinical Rule, cited in Drusius from Rabbi Haurica.  
Let a Man clothe himself saith he) beneath his Ability, his Children according to it, and his Wife above it. A canon she leaves among the Jews, as she found it. Concerning affected Gaiety she hath as mean an opinion of it as the Italian Proverb, that it argueth sometimes such Levity in the wearer, that the clothes are oft worth more than the Wearer. Vale Più la Piuma che●l' uccello, the Feathers are moro worth than the Birds Body. No, her A La Modes are suitable shaping of her Mind to all changes of Occurrences or condition, when wooed not scornful, when wed, not Imperious, or vanious; in abundance moderate, in straightnings content or patient, according to Plautus? Quae tibi Mulier videtur multo sapientissima? Quae tamen cum Res secundae sunt, se poterit noscere, & illa quae equo Animo patietur, sibi esse pejus, quam fuit. She is wise that knoweth herself in Prosperity; and that can bear changes to the worse. Her Recreations are chiefly for Health, or relaxation of her serious Thoughts; she makes them not her Business, or her Parents, or Husbands needless charge: no servant through her means is turned away, for not being of the Monkeys or little Puppies Faction: for crossing their unluckiness; or distasting (some how) those worthy playfellows: if weather confine her pastime, she can be as pleasant in some Author as those are hunting in a Park, as the Lady Jane told one that wondered she could sit within while the other Gallants were hunting in her Father's Park (and she reading Phaedon Platonis in Greek) She answered: I wiss all the sport in the Park is but the shadow of what pleasure I find in this Book. In sum, the true Magnetic Lady strives to be so like virtue, that you may scarce know one from the other: and now she that is all, or most, of what hath been said, they have been, or should be; will (I fear me) shame, as well as excel those of the other sex, that fall short of this despised one; for true is that of Valerius Maximus, excellentissima animadvertenti, ne mediocria quidem praestare, Rubori oportet esse. Men may hide their heads in women's Hoods, when they see in them Excellencies surpassing their own boasted (and yet but So, So,) Qualifications. What therefore cometh near this Touchstone of solid & plate worth (as I may term it) may well entitle any she Magnetic of wonder, Love, Respect or Reverence: and if this virtue dwell with some pretty Accommodations (and not as one said of an Ingenuous Man, but something Crooked) that his Ingenium did malè habitare, his wit had bad Lodgings; if I say this Beauty of the Mind, Virtue, dwell with that virtue of the Body, Beauty; there is no such Loadstone, because it endureth this Touchstone.    

Essays.  

THE GRAND SCHISMATIC, OR SUIST ANATOMISED.  
IT is a quaere not easily satisfied, whether Man doth faster Lose, or seek Himself: Since he is lost in nothing more than in seeking himself, in that sense of the Apostle Paul: Phil. 2. 21. All Men seek themselves, and not the Things of Jesus Christ. A bold Dissection, O blessed Anatomist of the World! that hath so exposed to view the most intimate Projections of Men▪ that Momus his wish of a Glassen Breast, is now needless. And to follow thy Method O Apostle! we may begin with that Rank of Men, whose Tongues profess, (and Profession challengeth) self-denial, even Heaven's Ambassadors. How do some make those they are sent to, buy dear the bringing of that peace they are sent with, and by Subtle insinuation into the Affections of their misguided Disciples, they oft have ten parts, (not Tenths) flung at their Feet! How dear that great pretended Agent for Heaven, (the Pope) selleth the peace itself, the Price of his Indulgences witness; while filthy Lucre, or vain Ambition is negotiated, the Embassy, or Business of Heaven is pretended. Many will be no Apostles, but him that carrieth the Bag; though Christ died not for Angels, He shall be preached for them: if a poor Parish will have Christ, let them come where he is held forth in a richer. Our Protestant Jesuits, that carry that Name on all they say, or do (as well as the Papistical) care not for converting those Indians that have no Gold It. is Balsacas observation, (no less true than witty.) Ne connoissons vous pas ceux la qui meslent Dieu parmy toutes leurs passions? qui le font entrer dans tous leur Interests, etc. do we not know that there be those that interweave the pretence of God's interest in their own, and therewith advance all their Designs indeed: (as he saith in the same place: (viz. his le Prince: cap. 8. p 114.) The Jesuits carry not the Gospel into any beggarly Regions in either the East or West Indies, etc. Spring a Mine, and then if you will, set up a Pulpit. Show them Gold, and they'll barter Salvation: otherwise no Penny no Pater Noster. Their charity to Souls traveleth those Countries, where the Sun maketh Gold (as Balsaac saith) and dareth not trust its fervency in Northern Regions, where there is nothing but Snow and cold. They will the Salvation of the People of Peru and Mexico, and when arrived there, their business is nothing less, than conversion of Souls. How dear do they sell a confused Belief? there not being a Pist●l in Europe, but cost an Indians Life, and a Catholics Sin. They are Balsaacs' own Imputations, not here (as in many of his writings) using strong compliments with these pretenders for Heaven's business. It were to be wished, we could not say as much of our high worders, of their Covetousness; with propagation of the Gospel, and Cause of Jesus Christ: it is too true that our Fisher's angle for no Fish but such as have Money in their Mouths; if they speed as Peter did, they will do his work. They will only fish for such as can tribute to their superfluities. That the Religion they pretend or Preach is but A cloak of Private interest, you may believe by the several shapes they Cut it out into, if they light on Patrons or Parishes, that are sick of present Affairs in Church or State, (the Disease incident to Bodies politic as that Politic Physician telleth us) Qui laborant Rerum novarum cupidine, & odio praesentium. Tacit. Hist. 2. squeamish towards the present, and longing for Innovation. Our Preaching Suists will be-Ante-christ their Church they were borne in; be-Sodome-and-Gommorah the Cities and States they live in; to the hazard of being silenct: in all which, nothing less than denying themselves. Their Character take from Saint Hierome. Hoc ipso Placere cupiunt, quod placere contemnunt. How many do we see, (and they foresee it before they venture) deprived into a preferment, and unbeneficed into greater underhand benefits and Contributions. Some declining Bishoprics, become Itinerant Vicar's General, making a whole Kingdom their Parish, and covetously lose a stinted certainty for enlarged uncertainties. On the contrary, do their Patrons lie sick of that politic Lethargy? mentioned by Tacitus, Annal 1. Qui novis ex Rebus aucti, tuta & praesentia, quam vetera & periculosa mallent, who couched on new Preferments, wish safe, and present things, rather than to be wakened to old and dangerous. You shall presently hear our changeable Chaplain tell you the thousand years, hoped for by the Saints, are already begun; wishes of change, are acts of Rebellion, against the Sceptre of Christ; to die is now to go out of Heaven, with what not extolling of the present Times. Thus too frequently Preaching is made the Parasites Trade: and Preachers take their Texts from their Patron's Humour, more than those impartial Oracles of Truth: among the two Divinity Colleges, that of the Placentineans, men-pleasers, is far larger than that of the Veronenses, Downrights; Preaching too generally being but the Art of flattery, translated from the Court to the Church. Examine the matter, or form, of many of their Sermons, and you will find them elevated to the Meridian of those they study to please. I have known some commendable Abilities, take more pains to conceal them, (before Learning-despisers, and free-prophesy Rewarders) than they did to attain them; which on change of times, might be brought to take the Apostles, who is sufficient for these things? for their Text: then for the form (external I mean) of their Sermons, what Gesture? what Tone? such as they would blame in a Schoolboy at the Bar, or in any familiar discourse, is yet by them affected, in the most serious place, because by some others affected, and interpreted, at Issue forth, or Sallies of zeal.  
But secondly the more subtle, (and more hard to Sleeve a two) Silken thread, of selfseeking, is that Dominion over Consciences, which, because laudable, in reference to the Conversion of men (and gaining them to that Kingdom we pray may come) and near a Kin to that captivating their Persons and Purses, to our own Designs) it is not easily discerned by others, no nor our own Scrutiny, when we Commune with our own Hearts: and with this Ambition, many are tainted in whose nobler thoughts Pelf or Riches are of cheap esteem. That Pulpits are Thrones, (as one in his excellent Discourse, noless politic than Poetic,) the Power of the Keys over the Sword, doth manifest so, that the Seabberd of Power (if not of Justice,) seemeth to have Locks on them, that only the spiritual Keys can open. What Wars have been raised and laid, on the command of the Pope, there where his jurisdiction is counted supreme? and where he is defied, we see Pulpit Trumpeters have commanded much, as Generals, and animated as much, as all their Drums and Trumpets beside. The Reverence that Emperor showed, in laying down his Crown, and Sceptre, and standing bare all Sermon time, testified He esteemed the Pulpit a Throne of higher Authority than his own, as indeed it is; punishing with Threats of more Horror, and rewarding with Promises of far more elevating Hopes than any earthly one can. Now judge then, how hard to be invested with this Authority, and not seek the glory of it, more than use of it for his Glory, that installed them? This Piece, or Schism of Suicisme, and selfishness, hath spawned most of the Heresies and Schisms, that are abroad in the World. Whence sprung they? but from this, their Authors would be counted Somebody; the small Regency of an Aproned Auditory, or handful of illiterate Disciples; how hath it drove men to singularity in Opinions and Doctrines? as the way to this Pedantic Regency, and puffed them up after with a Pride obstinate against all Reclaims of Persuasion, or force: Nay, rather than be counted Apostates, by their inconsiderable Crewes, they have become Renegadoes of their own Lives, Rivalling the Valour as well as Names of Martyrs, even in Selfe-destruction, seeking themselves and striving to keep some slender Fame after Death; which is not impossible, as appeareth by the Donatists, that had found a most Heretical Revenge, as Baronius witnesseth: who when they were banished, divers killed themselves, to breed Hatred to the Orthodox, and to get the name of Martyrs, in the year 414. a Revenge not unlike that Ricius mentioneth of some of the Chinese, who, to be revenged of their Enemies, hang themselves at their doors. Sure there they need wish their Enemies no greater mischief, than such power of Revenge, and that Power put into Act: now further than Selfe-destrution, sure, none can drive this Self-seeking. And hence we may easier believe all, or most precedent Actions of Life may have this Principle of Motion. If constancy may be tainted with this selfefishnesse (to use our new Wordings of old and general Actings) much more we shall believe the inconstancy of Opinions, and Compliances, doth proceed from those Arcana, Maxims of Self-policy: Parce tibi, honesta colenda quamdiu iis spes inest, in contrarium transituri si plus scelerata promittant. Senec. Ep. 115. Favour thy self, follow that specious Repute of honesty, so long as any thing is to be got by it. But if thy Master break, change thy Livery; believe it, good wholesome counsel, which well followed, hath, and may still hook in Divines, and other Professions into Rabelais his Definition of a Physician, to be Animal incombustibile propter Religionem, a Creature of that Sappy Sapience (for itself) as too green to burn for Religion. Indeed examine the Suists Catechism, and we shall find his Religion, getting, or saving: Quid dabitis? what is to be got by any Profession, or Enterprise? is the first Question in the Suists Catechism. Then for its fulfilling the whole Law, it is Selfe-Law, or if you will, love God, so as not to lose by him, and thy Neighbour for thyself; and for its Creed, we will furnish you out of Sophocles his Electra. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Versic. 61. nothing profitably spoke, can be ill said. But because in our Suists Creed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Deed, must be added, be assured that if you can but show him, gain by it, and he will extol those times Aristophares speaketh of in his Plutus. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. page. 6. Wherein it was very profitable to do nothing that was honest. Take it indeed in short (and the Suists sense) wherein not to be a Knave, was to be a Foole.  
Dulcis odor lucir ex Re qualibet. Gain is Godliness. with such like Articles our Suists Creed is filled up; which if you will have in the Epitome, it is the same with his advice; when the Athenians were so scrupulous, as not to give away the Honour of their Gods to Alexander. Demades said, Videte ne dum Coelum custoditis, Terram amittatis. Valer. Max. 7. 2. 10. Take heed least while you are so zealous for Heaven, your Earth be not Sequestered from you. Well, having found the greatest Arnautists, Selfe-denyers in show, (and Ties, or Duty) touched with this Magnes, or Loadstone of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Selfe-aimes, and ends: We may with ease tract the Doubling of others Interests through all Transactions, Civil, Politic, and Religious, to the very confines of true Friendship towards man, and love to GOD, (they being clearest from it.) Look on the retired Grief for Friends departed, in appearance an act of Friendship; yet how hard is it to say, I bewail my Friend's absence, without respect to my loss of some use of him, or delight in him, that this departure rend away (with him) from me. It is no office of Friendship to him. Seneca telleth us in Consolat. ad Polyb. c. 23. Qui torqueri te non vult, aut non Sentit. Who either knoweth not, or willeth not thy Grief. Thinkest thou that he, who all his life would never grieve thee, now he is dead would desire it; there can be no third, but ourselves or Friends that maketh even our Tears pleasing to us: if even in self-vexation, something of self-content is sought: We cannot deny but this thread of Self-aime runs through the whole Piece of what men do, or say. Look abroad into the World into the Actions of Policy, there shall you see, not only manifestly sought the good of a Kingdom, or State, but each Counsellor hath some private reasons for his Vote to the Public Good, pleasing of others that spoke before, forwarding his own, or Friends Designs, that it may be are interwoven with the public. Go on then by this Rule; if those Actions that seem most destined to public good, have their close Boxes undiscerned; what shall we think of those civil Actions, called Courtesies between man, and man? though they usurp the name of Beneficia; Courtesies, they are but Negotiations, Traffic for Returns; we do end only lend, but act looking for something again: non damus sed foeneramus Beneficia, Senec. de Benefic. 2. 31. are the Philosophers very words, we usury out, not bestow our Favours. each Courtesy being a Design not so much of doing, as receiving good, with unconscionable Advantage: for, no such Usurer as Self-love, exacting Interest far above the Principal. He that dareth five Pounds, will take it ill if the Borrower will not be bound with him for fifty. If we lend our Saddle, we presume the Borrower cannot deny us his Horse. If through our good word a good Deed be done our Friend, we proudly think ours the greater Courtesy, and think him more bound to our speaking, than the others doing for him. If we do any real Courtesy, the most grateful can never come out of Debt; if they will not in Dealings part with their Right to us, in some measure, and Injure themselves, how ready are we to upbraid former Favours, and fling that most hateful blot, Ingrateful, on them? A man with more liberty might be a Debtor to the Jew of Malta, than owe for Courtesies to this Schismatical Suist, that thus baits with lesser Favours, to angle for greater; afraid of nothing more than to bestow perishing Favours; contrary to that brave Spirit, malim non recipere Beneficia quam non dare, I had rather receive no Favours, than to bestow none.  
In acts of Religion, it is not harder to separate, than easy to demonstrate this Selfseeking. Jehu's Reformation, what was it? but new modelling his private Condition into a Kingly. Of such Reformers doubtless we need never fear a scarcity, that would willingly reform their own Poverty by others Wealth. Truly Jehu might after say so much in boast of his Reformation, and justly, that the world was well amended (with him in the next Verse) but his Suicisme was so gross, that any of ahab's Relations whom he made run (out of all they had) might read it. Acts of Devotion and Charity, what are they but Designs on Heaven, where we hear of Centuple Rewards, or spells against Temporal Judgements. No marvel if Sincerity be accounted Perfection, when it is almost as hard to attain such a true Self-denial, as to clear ourselves of these Squint Aspects in our Services of Heaven, is a Perfection too Seraphical for Earth. How many lower Ends set men on Religious Duties? it were well that it were not true of both Sexes in the Church, as well as Theatre, Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae, many come but to bring their clothes, more than themselves, to such Appearances of Devotion; and many if they had but one Suit, and that old, it is to be feared would decline the Church, till they could procure a Recruite. To others, what is the Church but a Rendezvous of vain, or busy Companions? Or the Sunday Exchange, where either News, or Bargain, divide their Discourse as soon as the Business of the Place giveth way.  
We need not cross the Seas for proof of it; in some places of our own Land, the Phrase is, if one Neighbour ask the other to go to Church, the Answer is, No, Neighbour, I thank you, I have no business there to day.  
Fast, public, or private, how seldom for spiritual Blessings? in comparison of being for the Aversion of some Judgements, or procuring a Blessing on some worldly Design; nay, worse ends the Prophets knew, for strive, contention, and oppression, etc. fast from meat, and devour a Brother: And while we abstain from our daily Bread, prepare our swallow for some Widow's house at a Bit, with Orphan's Tears, and Portion for Sauce. What is this? but to feast our Covetousness, while our Gluttony is held to hard meat. Nay, Fasts sometimes (such are the intricate Maeanders of Suicisme) are but tasters to our Feasts, and Cooks to Gluttony, dressing not our Meat but Appetite? 
Plutarch, Apoth.  (Like Alexander's two Cooks he bragged on; his Night-journy dressed his Dinner, his and slender Dinner Cooked his Supper.) Thus do we seek ourselves in Acts of greatest Self-denial to the world's view, while we fast to Gluttony, and humble ourselves, to the pulling down of others.  
And for acts of Charity, how hath Suicisme crept into them? He that giveth to the Poor, dareth to the Lord, had not got the Almighty many Creditors; but that the vulgar Translation hath it. Foeneratur Domino, dareth with usury to the Lord: if we fling our Bread upon the waters, we choose not Currents that run all one way, (and that from us) but tiding waters: we do good to such as may return it. How usual to move to Compassion, by an Argument drawn from ourselves; it may be our own Case, we ourselves may fall into the like condition, etc. Our Charity (as we call it) on this very score is warmer to a Brief for fire, than towards the Cold, and Hunger-starved in Prisons: because we presume our Husbandry fence against a Prison, though our Houses are not so against Fire. Well, the World's grand Schismatic we have dissected, and taken to pieces; but now to set him together again, and unite this Separatist, to the Pursuance of public Concernments, were worth while: To bring which to pass, I know no speedier course than for every man to sum up his Quotus, and survey his Qualis, how inconsiderable a Unite he is, or how small a place he filleth up in the Mass of things, and what Place, Rank, or Office he filleth, be it small, or great. The first breedeth Humility, the other directeth our Aims aright. As for the first, think thyself but above what ever is dishonest, and thou canst not think thy self low enough; the want of which causeth this wrying all things to our own proper Interest; as if for us alone this great Motion of the world were set a going. Did we consider what an Atom (and how easily, to be spared) the proudest he is that knocketh the Stars with his head, (in his own conceit) I cannot tell whether we should pity, or deride most, this diverting of all Streams into our own Channel, not considering that by our Crossing one another, nay Destruction of one another, the Designs of Providence do proceed, and the Course of Nature is upheld; being Societas nostra fornicationi lapidum simillima, quae Casura, nisi invicem obstarent. Senec. Ep. 95. We are like a Brick, or stone-wall, where the one's resisting the motion of the other to the Centre (as they call it) upholdeth the whole Fabric: Nay, 
Ibid.  ex constitutione Naturae miserius est nocere quam laedi, it is more miserable to do than receive an Injury, saith the same Author, by reason of that Community of part● in the Universe, whereof we are Members. Here is a Self-denial talked of by Christians, but to their shame more practised by the Moralists, whose Humility made them bear patiently Checks of their private Designs, rather than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natura (it is Saint James his word, c. 3.) Course, Circulation, or wheel of Nature, should meet with the least Jolt, or Check.  
But then consider qualis, or what Relation thou hast in the common Body of the Universe, and thou canst not be private spirited. Hear the voice of Nature tell thee it: Omne hoc quod vides, quo divina & humana conclusa sunt, unum est; Membra sumus Corporis magni: Senec. Ep. 95. consider the Universe as one Body, we are all Members of this great Body. But to knock the Nail on the head, hear Christianity speak in the language of that true public Spirit Paul: Shall the head say unto the foot, I have no need of thee? A Comparison by which it appeareth, sequestered Aims and Designs are natural Treason, and Mutiny as well as Politic: as if (according to the Fable) the Arm should resolve to work for the Belly no longer, but for itself: a Folly quickly punishing itself with Atrophy and Consumption; yet true of thee, who ever thou art, that wilt not lay out some of thy self on thy Country, or the Church of God, as this Apostle; the greatest Prodigal of himself, of any of the Apostles; his Bones would, (it is very like) and well might challenge the greatest share in his Flesh; or to be first served: no, what fastings had not, Whip had of it, and watchings, and Travel; they were last served, and had but the others Leave: but such public spirits are scarce, as such Apostle. I find in the School of Nature no better Emblem, of this commendable Resignation of ourselves to public service, than the Beehive, of which we may use that of Ovid. 
— Privati nil habet ista Domus.   
They toil not for any Private Ends: and Pliny will second it: Apes Rempublicam, ac mores habent, & nil novere nisi common: lib. 2. cap. 15. the Bees (saith he) have a Common wealth, and have no designs but Public: Nay A Bee (if you will believe him in Stobaeus) cannot live alone, Sola perit. Now Man (according to Aristotle) Est Animal civil, magis quam omnes Apes, vel animal ullum congregabile: Polit: Lib. 1. c. 2. is a more sociable Creature than any other Creature: but we have Law on our side, as well as Nature: Dominus Membrorum suorum nemo videtur, & mulctat eum civitas, & ignominia afficit, qui se ipse exanimavit, ut qui Civitatem injuria affecerit. F. de ventr. in possess. mit. Leg. 1. p. 13. for according to the Civil Law, No man is Master of his own Body, and therefore selfe-destroyers have not common burial, and are after Death thereby disgraced, as such that have injured the Commonwealth, as well as themselves. And that this Temper was believed to be according to Nature and Reason and Law, take the Jury of Histories verdict. Plutarch in Lycurgus affirmeth that the Lacaedemonians according to the above mentioned Emblem, nec vellent nec scirent privatim vivere, verum ut Apum more, conglobati ad Rempublicam Patriae essent toti; the Lacedæmonians knew not, nor desired any private drifts, but like Bees with a public concurrence of their Labours, and Aims consecrated both to their Country's general good. On this score Paedaretus bore his Repulse, (of not being admitted into the number of three hundred chose before him to some honourable employment) with more joy, than troubledness of Spirit: Protesting, He was glad there were so many in the City worthier than himself. And take his other Instance in Polystratydas, being sent to Treat with another Prince, and being asked whether he came privately, or by public Authority, answered them gallantly: if I speed, I came from the Commonwealth, but if I am repulsed, of my own head: but I conclude this Ternary of Worthies with Cato, and his Character in Lucan's Pharsal. 

— Patriae impendere vitam;  
Nec sibi, sed toti genitum se credere mundo.  
— Veneris huic maximus usus  
Progenies, Vrbi Pater est, Vrbique Maritus:  
Justitiae cultor, rigidi servator honesti,  
In common bonus.   

Who on his Country did his life bestow.  
Himself (as to the Worlds use borne) allow;  
The Pleasures of the Marriage Bed He aimed  
At●s Country's Profit: the Father therefore named,  
And Husband of the City, well he might,  
That did his Justice, and severest Right,  
Improve for th' public good.    
What ever Anima Mundi Naturalis, universal Spirit there be in the natural World; doubtless it is gallantry of Spirit to believe (and conform to that Belief) the Politic World animated with one Soul, and to count ourselves no more alive, than moved by a Spirit guiding our Aims to the good of the Public we relate to. I find this confirmed by the speech of Manilius, well becoming an Emperor: Membrum rescissum, cum seorsim esse coepit, hoc ipso mortuum est. A Limb cut off, becometh by the very separating Amputation, dead: And by this Rule we may justly say of private spiritedness (as Seneca doth of illiterate Idleness) that it is vivi hominis Sepultura, the ●urial of a man alive: and true enough, as to his use, or Fame; nothing more perfuming Reputation, than Dedication of that freely, which our Country of right may challenge, our selves, and Services; which may be done in Peace, as well as War; not to limit it only to that general applauded way, that soundeth so high (and not undeservedly) on the Trump of Fame; viz. The valiant undervaluing our Lives, Limbs, or Estates, when public Concernments come in competition. For shall it be counted gallant to die (and so for ever put myself out of capacity of further Service) for my Country? and shall it not be as gallant, to live, and lay out my self, Time, and Abilities, on public Services, within my Sphere? Sure on right examination, Valour must be counted as arrant Folly, as honesty (if not more) among the Sophies of Policy; and I believe is by our Suist, who undoubtedly is as much Coward, as Knave, they being seldom asunder: Nor will it be hard to prove as much Fool, as Knave; the proof of either sure should make his Temper hateful. Hear one in Stobaeus proving both together. Qui seipsum prae Patria servare vult, tum injuste facit, tum stultus est, insuper impossibilia desiderans. He that thinketh to save himself, though his Country perish, is unjust (there is his Knavery) and desireth Impossibles (there is his Folly) yet such Fools there were in Cicero's times, as appeareth in Epist ad Atti●ū, Lib. 1. Ep. 15. C●teros nosti qui ita sunt stulti, ut amissa Republica, Pscinas suas fore salvas sperare videantur. Others there are (saith he) whom thou couldst chalk on the back; so foolish, as they seem not to doubt the Safety of their Fishponds, and that their Carp shall swim, even when the Commonwealth sinks. But such thoughts could not enter a wise man's head, if Varro's word may be taken: (I may term it the Traitors Caveat) Publica prodendo tua nequicquam serves, It is a vain Design to think Proditio, Protectio, that thy Treachery to thy own Country will always have the Harlot Rahabs Protection: Or that thy over-wary Neutrality, will always prove a Latitat, and concealment of Safety. Nay, let us hearken to divine Politics, and we shall find Endeavours for public good, the commanded Statute of Provision for a People (and made by him that answereth all our high-conceited Self-provisions, with that in Esdras 8. 47. Thou comest far short, that thou shouldest be able to love my Creature more than I.) The Statute itself read, in Jerem. 29. 7. Quaerite Prosperitatem Civitatis, etc. Seek the Prosperity of that City, etc. for in the Peace thereof you shall have peace. In a stormed City that Usurer's Bags would scarce be insured, for ninety nine in the Hundred. Nay, oft the Betrayer himself hath had his Reward as reversed, as his Scutcheon; witness that known Story of Tarpeij filia, sua ipsa perempta Mercede. Liv. Lib. 1. The Daughter of Tarpejus, who for her betraying the Fort was promised (as she Covenanted) what they wore on their right arms (meaning their rich Bracelets) but the Conquering Rewarders of her Treason interpreted the Text otherwise, and covered her (even to the stifling of her) with somewhat else they wore on those Arms; viz. Their Targets. By what hath been said against this Schismatic, we may know who first invented that sequestering Proverb, Every one for himself, and God for us all: Even that first and worst Sequestratour, that sequestered man from his God, and so from his Happiness. We may therefore with truth cross the Proverb, that where every one is for himself, he is for none, that otherwise is for the welfare of all; and he that is for the welfare of none, is for all such as (but for themselves) are for none. And indeed they are his lawful Prize, since what Charity hath no share in, falleth to Malice, as its Lot, and Portion.  
I shall end this Dissection with these Assertions: Public persons with private Aims are Monsters in Church, or State. Private Persons with public Spirits, are of a goodness Angelical; whose Office it is (as Ministering Spirits) to serve themselves least; and truly Ministering Spirits with no harsh Criticism) & public Spirits may interpret one the other; and so States as well as Churches may be said to have their Angels Incarnate. If then to serve the Public with what I have, or would have; must be — Istud quod dicere nolo, of a Spirit that shall be as nameless, as I desire it inimitable. Contrary I am sure to his Spirit, that was the great example of Self-denial, our blessed Redeemer, whose Name alone is Charm enough (methinks) to call down the Spirit of Charity; the old Word for public spiritedness, on which that Chapter, 1 Cor. 13. is a Commentary, and for which A spell, if seriously perused. But if all will not do, let us leave the Schismatic Suist to his just Punishments, who no doubt is not more Solitary in his Aims, and Wishes of Emol●ment, than he findeth a solitude Disconsolatory, in his Sorrows and Discomforts, forsaken by God, and Men, as one that never gave glory to God above, nor bearing on Earth good will towards Men. And it cannot but be just, that those that seek themselves alone; should find themselves alone; when they most desire Redress from Heaven, or Compassion from Men. In short, a Suist, and Selfe-Projector, (so far as known) is one the World would not care how soon he were gone; and when gone, one that Heaven will never receive; for thither, I am sure, he cometh not, that would (like him) go thither alone.   

THE FAITHFUL CHIRURGEON.  
AMong the many Observations of life, I find none truer than that (known to Schoolboys, and practised by Men) Obsequium Amicos, veritas odium parit, a Saying not triter, than truer What in itself deserveth the most intimate Closes of Friendship, through the indiscretion of Administration, or Morosity of the Patient, becometh the maker of the greatest Gashes in Friendship; That is, faithful Advice (as it comprehendeth Counsel, or Reproof) than which nothing in humane Society is more useful, nothing worse interpreted, and that from these Causes principally; Pride in the Advised, mixed with Jealousy of the Pride of the Adviser, (and very often not without cause) or of other Distastives incident to that part of advice, called Reproof (which is here principally meant by Moral Chirurgery.) I begin with the faults of the Reprouèr. You shall scarce meet with a Reprover that taketh not his Friend to Task, with the Pedantry of an Usher to untruss him, if his Reproof be private, or with the Cathedrated Authority of a Praelector, or public Reader, to dissect him: So more publicly preaching his own skill, in discovering the Infirmities of the Anatomy. For the Algebra (as I may term it) or Nature of Reprehension, giveth the Plus to the Reprover, and the Minus to the Reproved: Nay, the former Metaphor of Dissection, maketh as much difference as between the Living, and the Dead. Difference enough, to taint the humblest with Arrogance, the mixture of which in most men's Reprehensions, the stile general discovereth. viz. I would not have done such a thing; as weak as I am, I should never have lapsed into such an indiscreet foul discreditable Miscarriage; with many such like terms (to the Reprover as pleasing, as to the Reproved galling) concluding him unblamable, not so much for stepping aside from the ticklish path of Virtue, or Religion, Cujus Metae quam mollis Flexus? But for doing what he (as if he were the great example of goodness) would not have done; and that (it may be) not from Principles of Virtue, but difference of Constitution, Aims, and Designs, Course of life, or (which is the most real of all Reasons) inequality of Temptations, and that — Casta est quia nemo rogavit. We know what Praise she may challenge for her Chastity, whose Cough, or stinking Breath spoils her kissing, whose Rheum quencheth, and wrinkles burieth all desire in Suitors, or Approachers. The common practice of the world dissalloweth the Partiality of Reproof, when a Prodigal reproveth a Covetous man, or a Nunnery, the Frolicks of Court. Nor can we excuse it from Priding in its own Disagreement, rather than manifesting a Detestation of what they reprove, because bad in itself. One should not take that man to be the Poor man's Chirurgeon, whom we should see comparing his own sound Arm, with the Ulcered one of the Diseased; or ask him, Why could not you keep your flesh as sound as mine. From which kind of Comparison and Question, the pretended Friendship of Reproof doth but little differ, though sugard with nothing more than, I tell you for your good, and, what is it to me? it troubleth me more than you think for; with many such nonsignificants, or mean-nothings, without by their often Repetition they witness a Delight (not tenderness) in handling the Sore.  
2. A second Fault in the Reprover, is Ignorance of the Rules of Actions in general, or the Design and Circumstances of mine in particular. By the first there is divers times Petitio Principij; or a taking it for granted that my Judgement agreeth in every point with his; and so, that I think unlawful, or unfit, what his Ignorance hath condemned, by the latter mistaking of Purposes causeth a gross Impertinency in the Reproof; the Style of the Ignorant Reprover is, For my own part I wonder at such an Action, or such an Opinion; my Judgement could never be reconciled to a good Opinion of such, and such, ways, Persons, Actions, or Opinions, they seem against all sense and reason. All this kind of Reprehension, proveth not so much the conviction of another's Error, as discovery of its own. Sometimes what a man did on purpose for further ends, they interpret slips of Infirmity, or Ignorance. Doubtless had Alcibiades cut of his Dog's Tail, with an erroneous Aim at handsomeness, it had been a Trangression against Discretion, as well as the common Judgement; but it was a Design on purpose to be talked of for that, that so the talkative people might less discourse his other Actions: That Formalist had been a ridiculous Puppy, that should have begun a tedious Reprehension of the strangeness of the Action. Yet this conceitedness and Itch of being taken for a Counsellor, maketh more Reprovers, than Peccants in the world. But a Phoenix (on stricter scrutiny) is the faithful, humble, and discreet Reprover, and handler of men's Infirmities. Though it seem a Paradox, that he that reproveth another, would do it best if he were guilty of the same fault: I am sure it is none, to say, he would easier he heard if he did it, as guilty, at least with the humility of one involved in the same common frailty. And it would come nearer the compassion of Experiment, than that facile omnes cum valemus, recta consilia aegrotis damus. Tere: Andr: 2. 1. Arrogance (as I may say) of Innocence can, which from Inexperience cannot be tinctured with a less sensibleness, than acknowledging guilt hath. But the Characters and Faults of these unskilful Surgeons, are best set out in Jobs Friends, and the subtlety of Reprehensions Reprehensibles (as I may phrase them) whether Arrogance, Malice, proud insultings, etc.) appear the more, in that they did not appeaere, nor the Reprehenders meet with a Reprehender, until the allseeing Eye, and Grand searcher of Hearts met with them; He that judgeth by Adverbs, not Adjectives, not bona dicta, but bené, good words, but well meant and spoken ones, passing with him currant; not general Truths, galling the Afflicted, by misapplication: but tender and charitable Rebukes, ending in Reformation, as well of their misery by comfort, as faults by Counsel. Nor doth tender dealings in private Reproofs, cross the commands of Wisdom itself, to cry aloud against Sinners incorrigible, or impudent, and that in the public Chair of Reproof; be it the Gospels, or the Laws, the Pulpit, or the Bench. When by incorrigibleness Sins be concreted into Sinners, and they become even all one; I confess, Amputation of such a Limb, not lancing, is requisite; but in those private dealings of Friendship, our Rebukes should come from us as afflicting, as a Penance for our own Faults, and wear rather mourning, than scorn: (not but that the deceitfulness of man's heart can insult over a rebuked Person, even in pretended Grief: Jobs Friends sad silence broke out into insulting, and vexing Rebukes.) But to show the sincerity of Reproof, there is no greater Testimony than readiness to take, as well as give Counsel; He reproveth with faithfulness, that is reproved, with thankfulness.  
On the other side, I cannot deny but to the miscarriage of this piece of Friendship, 
2. The Reproveds Faults.  the Reproved is accessary. Among other that Jealously, frequent enough, that my Friend doth it out of a Preaching vain, to take my Faults for his Text; Where, I am not as this Publican, is ofttimes the Doctrine, and that uncharitable Application, the V●e, This Fellow is not worthy to live. And indeed in friendship not well experienced, and this Chirurgery of Friendship not discreetly managed, this Jealousy is not without some ground: But a braver Jealousy it were to misdoubt our selves, as justly awaking the censure of our Friends, which cannot but come short of the prudent man's Severity against himself; as discreet and charitable Rebukes are the greatest Pledges of Friendship, ab extra, from without; so he is doubtless his own best Friend, that is oft at difference with himself, for his miscarriages, in suffering himself to be hurried by the Torrent of Passions, or Tide of Affections against Conscience, and Judgement, yielding to no guidance from the Gales of Grace, or by the Steerage of Reason. In defect of which inward Checks, what more necessary, while we are at Sea in the Float of this world, than the faithful Adviser? as being Compass, Rudder, and most faithful Chirurgeon. For guidance of both Reprover and Reproved, these Deportments may conduce. First, to preserve my Friend so to himself, by right guidance, and so to me, by gaining his right Interpretation. No man that maketh use of Reproof, but must raise his Doctrine from the Temper of the Party, as well as nature of the Crime: And then do it tanquam Opus alienum, as God calleth his Rebukes (his Punishments) as if he were on some harsh unpleasing Subject, without any earnestness, discovering love to it, or tedious length, arguing Delight: Knowing wherefore the Fly dwelleth on the Sore. Lest we bring this faithfullest Act of Friendship, into the discredit of affected Defamation, the greatest Act of Enmity; and shelter Malice under a pretence of avoiding Flattery; a thing so usual, it hath brought faithful Advise into suspicion; insomuch as in the Court of Reason (for that should be Monarch in the Soul) the Fool indeed is entertained, but the Privy Counsellor is excluded. And our Impatience of Reproof maketh us to the rebuking Friend, as that King Junipertus King of the Bergomenses, who punished a good Bishop for his ●old Reproof, by setting him (unknowing) on an unruly Horse, thereby thinking to have broke his Neck: The Bishop's Pnnishment was but an Emblem of the impatient King's fault; for his Impatience had first flung him from his Love, and then his Revenge attempted, (but in vain) to horse him on Destruction. But to regain the Credit of Reproof, and abate the impatience of the Reproved, that out Reproofs may be to reason, and charity justifiable, and as to success hopeful: We must (on the Reprovers part) have (like the Chirurgeon) the Lady's hand for compassionate tenderness, and Lion's heart for bold Impartiality. Solomon telleth us, there is that speaketh like the peircing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health, Prov. 12. 18. the Cures (attempted) by a proud and raencker●us Spirit, are wounds in this Soule-chirurgery. But faithful are the wounds of a Friend, PROV. 27. 6. to discreet and friendly Reproof, must go Seasonableness, Prudence, and Affection. For the first, he was well answered, that ask his Friend whether he was not ashamed of being drunk, was thus replied to, are not you more ashamed to reprove one that is drunk? So much doth Seasonableness alter the case. Then for Prudence, and Affection, divorce them, and Rebukes are but vaunting Discoveries of the innocence of our hands, or Nimbleness of our Tongues; which us the Lamia's Eye was worn only abroad; so this only preacheth in the streets, and that to others: never in our private Chappells at home, our Consciences; a good way to make them Chappells of ease; for I am sure Conscience is quieter, by (that which is counted maddish, or ridiculous) talking to itself, than twenty Lectures; like an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. a busy body, to those out of our Diocese, to sum up the Advisers' Advice; in the Sermon at thy Friend's Penance (such is Reproof) go by this Method, let Compassion, and Humility divide the Text, Meekness explain, and Discretion apply with tenderness, if thou will not turn Auditors to Mutineers: in so doing, whom (it may be) thou didst find in the Chair of the Scorner, thou mayst bring to the stool of Repentance (better than any Discipline that brags of it) and thence to a faith of thy Fidelity, in this so much suspected Act of Friendship.   

MAN'S TWO ELEMENTS.  
IT is not the least Imperfection of Man, that his Comforts are not Elemental and pure, but mixed with vexation of Spirit, or puffed up with vanity: But his Miseries are unmixed ofttimes, without a Grain of Comfort. Solomon, after his Anatomy of the greater World, giveth us his Epitome, resolving Man, the lesser World, into these two Elements, Vanity, and vexation of Spirit; there being nothing of what man hath, or doth, but is tainted with the first, or suffereth, but is from the latter. They seem to be the two sides of Man, the two Philosophers looked on; Democritus placing himself on the one side, and Heraclitus on the other. There is not greater discord between the Elements themselves, than Dispute about their Number▪ how many go to Man's Creation (or any materiated Substance) as he cometh out of God's hands, is much debated. Some will have Fire none of them, others but two, a third only Water: But how many go to his Composition, as he came out of his own hands, is easily resolved; for since his Creation, he hath spoilt himself into these two Elements, Vanity, and vexation of Spirit: what he doth, or enjoyeth, is vanity, or nothing; what he suffereth is real Vexation, and that not of his Teeth, or Corns, but Spirit. Solid Miseries, empty Joyed; such a Nothing between two Dishes (as our excellent Divine Poet Herbert) is his Happiness, since he found those losing Inventions, that bereft him of the Righteousness GOD Created him in. But stay, these are saucy Truths to obtrude on the Power-mongers, Wealth-mongers, and Pleasure-mongers of the World. But let them know they were asserted by no Cynical Stoic, whose Poverty were scarce to be trusted in its undervaluings of Wealth, or those other things he never tasted of: But of a King, and such a one, as wore as Glorious a Triple Crown, of Honour, Wealth, and Pleasure, as any before him, or shall after him. Compare him with all the petite Pioners, that dig in the bowels of this low Sublunary Mine, for their Happiness: Compare, I say, their Pains, and gettings, with his gettings without the vexation of Spirit; and I hope, if he deal so rudely with all his own (which was the greatest) Sublunary Happiness, as to afford it the course Compliment of vanity; he that thinketh higher of his Nothings, give me leaveto take him for no Solomon, or that ever he was aboard any of his Ships; no, there is another Ship expecteth his coming, if he be not in it already.  
1. Compare his Honour; and what King, or Emperor worthy to be his Archidapifer, his Sewer? though it may be his Territories were not of that extent at that time, as some then in the world: yet Gods setting him up for an Example of Glory, throughout all Generations, placeth him first in the Herald's Book. What bustle do we make to be a golden Calf for the People to worship? (and Gold, and Simplicity, as they are often coupled, so either, or both have the Vulgars' good word to be set up) how ready to break both God's Tables to be it? as Moses did to see it: How do we break our sleeps, to arrive to the Honour of taking a Nap on the Bench (ay, or in the Church) without Control? and to be chosen Burgess of some inconsiderable Dorp, or Town (very like a Village) how chargeably do we feast the Rabble, and lay more Plots to fetch over a disagreeing Cobbler, than ever Macchiavel was slandered with? Forbear to jeer, pray; are not these worthy Pains, and the Gains, and Honour as worthy? If Heraclitus would change sides with Democritus, I mean his contemplating the sad side of Man's vexation of Spirit, and come hither and look on Democritus his side, and see his Vanities, he could not but change Notes. Do but view what petite things swell men up: the Stage never prefented the Pride of a Constable so really, as it is frequently to be found in men under that burdensome Honour: I dare say Solomon, nay, Kings at this day, hold their Sceptres with more humility, than those small Officers their Staves: They are angry at days appearing, because it Dethrones them from their Bench of Authority: And on the same score hate St. Barnabies short night, and are therefore severe Examiner's of his Namesakes. And these but Emblem the World's Grandees, in whom Pride, and affected State seemeth almost as ridiculous, if they but compare the utmost of their wishes (almost) and hopes with Salomon's Fruitions, as to Honour; compared with which, all their Hono●rs are scarce big enough to write them his Yeomen; in whose Heralds Book it may be the King of Spain's long Titles, would have writ him Gentleman, or at most but Don. Then look on his Wealth, and here, thou self-pleasing Horder, bless thyself; when thou hearest, that which holdeth all thy Corn, laid up for many years, would scarce hold his Money. Thou Usurer wilt count thy Chest but a small Christmas Box, to his Exchequer. Nay, our Farmers of the Customhouse, but Peddling Receivers unto his; with whom Silver was as cheap as Brass: for the Scripture saith, it was as the stones in the street, King. 1. 10. It is not unlikely, Silver, and Gold both came to as cheap Market, as they did in America, when the Spaniards abounded so with Gold (on the taking the King Atabaliba) that they gave 1500. Pezos' of Gold for a Horse, 60. for a Roundlet of Wine, 40. for a pair of shoes.  
Our richest men might, it may be, have been reckoned among Salomon's Almes-men, who never live to see (of their own, nor others) such Sums his Account Books mention, or his Father david's. As for Davids, consult, 1 Chron. 22. 14. and see with wonder what a vast Sum, (and that in his Trouble) he had gathered; and which is the third and greatest wonder (I doubt I must again say it is Scripture, lest I am heard and believed, as one reading a piece of Sir John Mandevil) hear it O troubled Times! it was for a pious use, to build but one Church. Now hear the Sum, (rendered by able Antiquaries into our modern denomination) Six hundred eighty six millions, two hundred sixty two thousand, & nine hundred Pounds Sterling; to the building of which Church, there was gathered (saith Cornelius A lapide) two thousand Millions of Gold; a Sum (saith Drexelius) scarce all Europe can make up: and (as he goeth on) that 10980. Wagons could not have carried, allowing each Wagon 250000. Crowns. But for Salomon's Wealth, it was of that vastness, it would put our Accountants to find new names for Sums, and stun the Belief of one of our (Beggarly in comparison) Rich Misers, though both they and he on serious consideration cannot put all this Wealth (as it is called) into a real Inventory of that Riches which may be called their own, or enough to entitle them truly Rich; since of it all, we may say as he said of the. Axe head that fell off to Elijah the Prophet, King. 2. 6. 5. Alas, Master, it is but borrowed: as no less ingeniously than truly Seneca confirmeth in Epist. 87. Divitem illum putas? Quia aurea supellex etiam in via eum sequitur, quia in omnibus Provincijs arat; quia magnus Calendarij liber evolvitur, quia tantum suburbani Agri possidet, quantum invidiose in desertis Apuliae possideret? & cum omnia dixeris, Pauper est; quare? quia debet; quantum? inquis; Omnia: nisi fortè judices interest, utrum aliquis ab homine, an a Fortunâ mutuum sumpserit. Do you count such a one rich (saith Seneca) because of hi● rich Sumpter Horse, or because he have a Blow going in every Province almost; or for his large Account Book, or such large Possessions near the City, that would be envied him in the Deserts of Apulia? When you have said all, he is poor; but you will say, why? why, because he oweth all; unless you make a difference between borrowing from Men, and from Providence: but come we to his Pleasures, they were more, for his Luxury was so great, ut vel aureos Montes concoxerit; demum revera coeperit egere, & novis exactionibus mulgere Subditorum Marsupia. Drexel. Aurifodin. Part 3. c. 1. None but Solomon could have drawn Salomon's Exchequer dry, so as he was fain by new Taxes to squeeze Contributions out of his Subjects, to maintain his Luxury. Hear him, Eccles. 2. reckoning up the many Sluices of his Treasury, and his own Verdict on it, that it was all but vanity; and yet what wanted he, that Epicurus (according to some) required for to integrate his Happiness with? the Elements were dispeopled to furnish his Table; in comparison of the Delicates of which, the most voluptuous of the Roman Emperors Banquets were but Scraps, and they to him but Basketeers. It was no ordinary Fare that could Surfeit even wonder, and that of a Queen, 2 Chron. 9 4. Then his Provision for his Bed is not inferior, 700. by the honester name of Wives, and 300. professed Concubines, enough to make them blush at their slender Provision, that glory in their s●ame: viz. their Conquest of some women's weaknesses, or a small Catalogue of Mistresses; when as the Turks Seraglio to this of Solomon was not to be compared; that being but a Cage of unclean Birds, his a Wood Then for his Buildings, if measured by their time of building, and number of Workmen, and looked on through the Prospective of Proportion, how do they lessen the stately wonders of the Eye, into Cottages (I may say Snail-like Vmbrelloes) mere shades, and Dormitories; yet of all these he passeth the sentence of Vanity: but that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying them to be no more then, when they stood (outbraving all other Structures) than they are now, that is nothing; and indeed had not Solomon said it, Time had; whose Maw hath devoured the very Ruins of those stately Piles, so that jam— periere Ruinae. To sum up all, consult 8, 9, 10. verses of Eccles. 2. and you shall see the best Patterns of earthly happiness, the great Example of what man could possess, or enjoy, resolved with this Element Vanity. But the more to persuade Admirers of Wealth, that Vanity is a name good enough (which while bestowed on Wisdom, is the harder to believe, or on Piety) View it with great abundance with Heathen, that can boast of neither. If we will believe Captain Hawkins his Relations of the great Moguls Wealth, and Revenues, Treasure, or Spend. As to the first, the Estates of Christian Princes will bear proportion of Grains of Allowance to his fifty Millions a year, standing Revenues of his Crown Land.  
But then view Man's Actions, and you will find all a man doth, as well as hath, is no better Elemented; or indeed, how can it be so well? since the End is more noble in the Heraldry of Morals, than the Means. Now if all a man's Labours, Designs, Plots, Sweats, and Colds, Perturbations of Mind, be to compass a small inconsiderable Piece of that, which (if as complete as Salomon's) is but Vanity; What slender Title can Invention help us to for the Actions of men? all man's Creations (his Actions) are vanity; (but what he doth for his Creator) and his Creatures, (the Effects of those Actions) but Abortives, or moment-lived; passing from a Non esse not being, over the Stage of a short Est, or Duration, to an everlasting Nonexistence; So true is that Eccles. 1. 11. There is no remembrance of former things, neither shall be any Remembrance of things which are to come, by those that shall come after. What vanity is it still to begin to live? Stultus semper inicipit vivere. Senec. what vanity, Quaerere quod nequit invenire, vel quod nocet inventum: saith AEneas Silvius, de miserijs curialibus: to seek what cannot be found, or which being found, will do more harm than good? Examine by these Touchstones the Travels, and Actions of Men; and doubtless their Vanity will appear. But because this may appear better in the particular Dissection of men's Actions, or Judgements, I pass to the other Element of Man, his passive Element, if you will, vexation of Spirit, though in this active, like Fermamentation, as being begun in and from itself. Dejection of Mind, disquiet, fretting Anger, and the like Self-afflictions, being those Forms that give all external Miseries, their Esse, and Operari, being, and Operation upon our Minds By all which hath been said, methinks we can stay no longer from crying out in that most Rhetorical Aposiopesis (though Apocryphal, of most significant verity) Esdras 2. 7. 48. O thou Adam! What hast thou done? for though it was thou that s●nned, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee. And would we could light on some nobler principles that might sublime us from these Rellolacean Principles, qualitatibus insignibus destitutis (as the Chemist's phrase it) dead, low, beggarly Elements: the readiest to be met with for this great Work, that my slender reading meeteth with, is the life of Faith, and Actions referring to Eternity: The first setteth us above the World, and giveth us a uïew (without partaking) of these base Elements, and the Men compounded of them, and placeth us among those few that scorn, and pity what this muddy world admireth, or feeleth not. Then for that other Gallantry of Spirit, projecting all we do for Eternity; it inrolleth us in Pliny's Catalogue of truly wise men, Qui mortales istos caducosque Titulos aut deprecantur aut temperant. Qui sciunt ubi vera, ubi Sempiterna Gloria, ubi Honours, in quos nihil Flammis, nil Senectuti, nil Successoribus Licet. Plin. Paneg. 7. 47. that decline, or swell not with those vain, fading Titles; but know where that true, that lasting Glory, and those Honours, that neither Fire, Time, nor Posterities envy, can diminish. Or to conclude, let this Resolve support us, that it is more wise, and noble to wish with the Apostle (than fear) Dissolution, since to live is but to be Retainers to these base and beggarly Elements, but Death is a preparing Deliquium, or melting us down into a Menstruum, fit for the Chemistry of the Resurrection to work on; into which one Drop of the Virtue of Christ's Resurrection being flung (after a patient Fermentation in the Grave) will raise us embodied into the Elixir of Glorious Immortality.   

THE LASTING MONUMENT.  
IT is the wonder (and no causeless one) of a Heathen Prince, that men lavished so much on their Houses, wherein they were to continue so little a while, but took little, or no Care, or laid out but small Charge on their Tombs, where their Residence should be longer; to say truth, not only their Bodies stay longer in, but their Names on their Tombs, than their Manor Houses: People not being so hasty to crowd in, or justle them out of these Quarters, as out of their coveted Possessions: Tomb-Burglary in this kind, being so uncouth a Case, as Law never made Provision against it. I find it storied of the Indian Mogul, that lived no longer ago, than 1615. that he had then been fourteen years building a Sepulchre, that no doubt will strike that of Mausolus out of the seven Wonders, or make the eighth.  
Nor is he singular in his Enterprise, many have done the like before him; and all more or less strive at a Perpetuity of their Names; though let me say in a more Preposterous way, than these Monument-Builders do: (who yet take a wrong course, as on slight Examination will appear) how vain it is sought by Purchases, or Inheritances, tied to ses Heirs (in more Knots than, etc. hath, or they think can ever be united) Experience will prove: for we daily see, there is not the strongest Writings for Entayling an Inheritance, but a Prodigal can prestò quickly turn into Tailor's Measures, that may be used for the Measuring himself (or others as Prodigal) to have Suits made, that are bought by those vainly intended Perpetuities. How many are above one and thirty, (a Peep out) in their Estates, before they come to their one and twenty in years? and that by those Commendable Courses, Dicing, Drabbing, or Drinking, or such like Sluices. Nor is any thing more usual, than for the Fork to be Rake's Heir: The Prodigal the Usurers. How many Masters have some stately Houses had, in the age of a small Cottage, that hath, as it were, lived, and died with her old Master, both dropping down together. Such vain Preservatories of us, are our Inheritances, even once removed: but look on it more Removes off, and continuing in thy Name, yet how little doth that concern Thee (though the first Purchaser, or his Heir) Lazy Posterity, when they hear it so called know it by the Name, but not as thine; but the name of thy Family, never troubling themselves to know, whether it were a younger Brothers, or Elders Building, leaving out the many Aps of its Pedigree) nor can they distinguish which of the same man's Children lost, spent, or run out of it, or which kept, or recovered an old, or raised a new Inheritance. Of such short lived Fame are the Toils of worldly-mindedness. In one Century of years, how are the Memories of such Labours lost? wholeFamily's meeting with their Ortus & Occasus, Birth, and Funeral, in the space that some one man may live to see it. How did the lease of Thomas Parrs Soul, in the Tenement of his Body, outlast many a Circulation of Inheritances, throughout the Kingdom? besides the troubled Progress, or (rather) Toss of Crowns, from head, to head; such Labours in vain, are the thrifty Toils of Predecessors, against the forgetfulness of Successors; the costly Buildings of Sepulchers are little better, since— datae sunt ipsis quoque Fata Sepulchris. Tombs themselves have been buried in the heaps of Ruin. Cities have their ubi disputable, their places in Controversy: the very Names of some are preserved by the Eminence of their Ruin, while many other Towns (that only die of Age and Depopulation) silently drop into Dung Hills, without the least mention in History. Where is Troy, Carthage, Syracuse, and Agrigentum? (saith Pausanias') that had once 700000. Inhabitants? and Babylon, that was once omnium quas Sol unquam aspexit urbium maxima: the fairest City the Sun ever shined on? it must be Critical Antiquaries, must be the Surveyors, that with much difficulty can score out the Places where they were. The Pyramids indeed have stood some time proof against the Inundation of Time, and Oblivion (the true Deluge that drowneth the World by Parcels, as that of waters did all at once) but their Founder's memories had mouldered long before the stones of their Buildings, had they not been built where Arts had their Nursery (as well as their Builders had there their Sepulchers) and so were preserved in the Archives of History; there being no such lasting Monument, but what is hewed out of one, or both those Quarries Pliny speaketh of, Lib. 6. Ep. 16. Beatos puto, quibus Deorum Munere datum est aut Facere Scribenda, aut Scribere legenda. Beatissimos verò, quibus utrumque. Translate Beatos by Immortal, and it fits our Purpose: I think them happy, saith Pliny, whom the Gods Ennoble with Deeds deserving History, or enable to writings meriting Lasting Perusal: but most happy they, that attain to both; though this latter seem the most lasting. Of both these it is true which Pliny speaketh of one of them: (viz. Princes that are born for the Sepulchre of History) ut quisque factus est Princeps, extemplò Fama ejus, incertum bona an mala, caeterum aeterna est. Paneg. P. 47. So are Exploits of the merciless Sword, quiet Sceptre, or the painful Pen: Their Authors have a Perpetuity (be it good, or bad) outlasting all materiated Structures. And here I cannot but subscribe to an excellent Pen, averring to seek Fame by the Pen, and profess it, is not so vain as it is commonly voted; but rather a justifiable (nay Noble) Design, if subordinately to the Honour of our Creator; as I know no speedier enabling of us to honour him (which must principally be in Instruction, or Reprehension of others) then first to insinuate an Authority into our Persuasions: (the very Character of our Saviour's teaching) and how can that be better done, than by gaining this Fame and Repute among men? It hath been always the Aims of the Noblesttempered Spirits.  
As for Fame by Actions, we know that nothing among good Works do more perpetually praise him, than the virtuous Deeds of our Forefathers; a Noble Resolve it were therefore not to let Fame slip by us, if to be caught by either Actions, or Writings. Nor is it a vainglory, no, (if, as I said, subordinate to God's glory.) This desirable Fame is nothing else, but a Testimonial that we have lived to the End of our Creation, our Creator's Praise. As to the raising these desirable Monuments, I must give the Pen so far the Pre-eminence, that it preserveth not only its own Fame, but also the Memory, and so the Glory of all the Actions of the world: The Temple of History (in which are enshrined all worthy Actions of the world) being built of no other Materials than Ink, and Paper; in sheets of which, the Worthies of the world are and will be preserved longer▪ than their Cerecloths and sheets of Lead could ever have kept their mouldering Trusts. The Dominions of Penmen are of far larger extent than those of Swordmen, Cicero's Authority shall mint (and stamp for currant) Language, further than ever Caesar's Victories could challange Contribution; Nay, Caesar's Sword could never make more Tributaries of Payments, and Subjection, than his own Pen hath at this day Revenues of Wonder, and study, from the understanding world. The lasting Monuments then doubtless are paper Monuments. Which of all the great Hacsters' of the world are better (or so well) known by any Tom●e, or other Structure, than Sophocles, or Euripides by their instructive Tragedies. The Tutor Aristotle hath more enlarged the Empire of Arts, than the Pupil Alexander could that of Greece: In this sense that is true Seneca saith, Ep. 21. of Atticus. Nomen Attici perire Ciceronis epistolae non sinunt: nihil illi profuisset Gener Agrippa, & Tiberius Progener, & Drusus Caesar Pronepos; inter tam magna Nomina taceretur, nisi Cicero illum applicuisset. The name of Atticus is preserved to a lasting perpetuity in Cicero's Epistles: what good would his Kindred & Relation to Agrippa, Tiberius, the Emperor, and Drusus Caesar have done? his name would not have been heard among such great Names, had not Cicero made him famous. I must confess I look on Books, Colleges, Hospitals with more just wonder, and reverend Esteem of their Piety, than all the spreading Conquests that ever swollen up many Kingdoms into one Monarchy, as works of more public spiritedness for good, than all the politic Enlargements of Dominion, which are rather contrary; for how it can be done without breach of Charity, or Justice, would puzzle one of those Casuists, that would fain make it lawful; since their Erterprises differ as much in effect, as Sodoms' destructive Rain, and April's growing showers: and I doubt whether many of them at that Goal-delivery of the Grave, and Sea, will not be condemned for Magni latrones: compared with whose Mischiefs, the Villainies of private Thiefs (that they have suffered for) are but petty-larceny, on which considerations to be a Net-maker (in Chrysostom's sense) is better than to be a Thron●-maker▪ so as to be able to leave Empires to thy younger Sons. Would you know what Nets? Retia salutis pandit, qui b●nos libros Componit: He that compileth good Books, spreadeth Nets of Salvation: And what Honour Fishers of Men have, our Saviour telleth them, Matth. 19 28. no less than Thrones: When on the other side, I much question whether the Lamb of God were ever slain for some of those vainglorious Butchers of men. I look on Paul's Churchyard as a safer Preserver (than the inside of the Church could be, though of the most durable Marble) of Austin, Chrysostom, etc. and there are to be shown many of those▪ that, as to their dust, and Monuments, want a hic jacet. That Henry the seventh is better shown in my Lord Bacon's History (among many other▪) than by the pennyworth of History the fellow that shows the Tombs holdeth forth; (a very fit place to buy that new word, will be to leave it in this Fellow's mouth.) Musa vetat mori, Writings of worthy Pens do so truly immortalize, that Augustus is more beholding to Horace, and so was his Maecenas, than he to either. True is Ovid's, 
Ergo etiam cum me supremus ad●●sserit Ignis  
Vivam, Parsque mei magna superstes erit.   
Which take in our own Laureates English. 
Then when this Body falls in Funeral Fire,  
My Name shall live, and my best part aspire.   
Seneca confirmeth Ovid by his quotation of Virgil, promising as much in his 21. Epist. and by this Assertion of his own, Profunda supra Nos Altitudo Temporis veniet: pauca Ingenia caput exerent, & in idem quandoque silentium abitura oblivioni resistent. A Deluge of oblivion will overwhelm us. Some few wits (it may be) may lift their heads and names above it; viz. Such as are harboured in a Library? For to conclude, no Monuments so much too hard for the alldevouring Teeth of Time, as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, built by one sound hand. And if Sacred Story mention (and doth not disapprove them for it) holy men's care to lie by their Forefathers in Receptacles, that have since lost their In criptions, and scape the strictest Survey of Geography; it cannot but be a noble Design to crowd our Memories into a Library, where the Dead preach (not putrify) do good, and receive Honour; each useful Book opening as a Box of Ointment to the good of the Opener, and Esteem of the Perfume.   

THE LEVELLERS.  
AMong those uncontrollable Levellers of the World, Fate, or Fortune, (in the Profane Lexicon, and in the Christians undiscovered Providence) may pass for the first; Opinion, and Time (or the Grave) for the other two. The two first require the more serious inquiry into, for the universality of their Po●er (and yet general unobservance of it) and usefulness of its Contemplation in the occurences of life; the third is not less useful, but a more common Theme, and so needs the less Descant. I find all three observed by the wisest of Men, and by him inserted into the divine Oracles, for the settling our heads and hopes in the midst of the Whirl-pooles of Change, and to arm us with patience under crossness of Events: It is Solomon in Eecles. 9 11. Then I returned and s●● under the Sun, that the Race is not un●● the swift, nor the Battle to the strong, neither yet Bread to the wise, nor yet Riches to men of understanding, nor yet Favour to men of skill, but Time, and Chance happeneth to them all. In which words the first, and last of the Levellers are expressed, and that other blind Opinion employed in those words, nor Favour to men of skill. Little notice is taken of the Tyranny of these in their Causes, though by all confessed in their Effects; nothing hath more undermined the Power of Goodness, or Empire of Reason, than the two former, and that where they have both been in fullest vigour. David was sick of his Innocence when he saw the Triumphs of Villainy, and Depressions of Innocence, and Justice, Psal. 73. 12. 13. Behold these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world, they increase in Riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in Innocence. He thought the cleansing of his heart and washing of his hands was no less spilt than the water, when he saw hands polluted hold the Rains of his own Horses in his own Chariot (as I may say) and that his Innocence was kept out one while, and thrust out another, of his own Ri●●ts. His Son Solomon was as much tr●●bled with his Wisdom, Eccles. 2. 15. Then said I in my heart▪ as it happeneth unto the Fool, so it happeneth even to me, and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, this also is vanity. Understand it in that part of wisdom (that is now counted most needless) Learning: and Marshal turneth his sense into an Epigram; The Cobbler translated to Wealth, Lib. 9 74. 
Dentibus antiquas solitus producere pelles,  
Et mordere luto putre vetusque Solum;  
Praenestina tenes decepti Regna Patroni,  
In quibus indignor si tibi cella fuit.  
Rumpis & ardenti madidus Christalla Falerno.  
Et pruris Domini cum Ganymede tui  
At me literulas stulti docuere Parents.  
Quid cum Grammaticis Rhetoribusque mihi?  
Frange leves calamos, & scind Thalia libellos,  
Si dare sutori calceus ista potest.   
Which since it will be an Epigram, though but ill translated, I will not spare the English Reader my pains, in rendering it near the sense. 
ist not a pretty change? that thou whose Chaps  
Knew (better than the flesh by far) the dirty Flaps  
O'th' Hide (with which thou Coblest) now hast got  
That House and Lands; where thee a Stall allot  
Before none would: and now dost drink rich Wine  
That breaks the Glass: Thy Patrons Ganymede is thine.  
My Parents (in this not over-wise) must needs me make  
A Scholar, poor, for th'Tongues, and Rhetorics sake.  
Thy Books Thalia tear, and scribbling tools,  
If such stranger Fortune have each Cobbling Foole.   
Authors both Sacred and Profane we see complain of the Level of Learning, with Mechanic Ignorance: but that this Leveller Fortune, (But before I proceed, I will insert Lipsius his Caution. Fati vocem (vel Fortunae, hic & alibi veterum more pono, sed non ment; nil nisi Providentiam divinam, idque pio et christiano sensu intelligere me, semel testor. I use the word Fate, or Fortune according to the manner, 
Polit. 1. c. 4.  not meaning of the Ancients; but once for all know, I mean divine Providence, and that in a pious and Christian acception) and so I say, this Leveller Fortune dealeth as harshly and unequaly (to appearance) with the Soldier, as the Scholar; for the Battle is not to the strong; gideon's three hundred proved it to the Midianites; and the bloody Chronicles of Battles fought unequally, and won by the weakest will confirm it. Nay, the private History of any old Soldier's Experience, sc●rce wanteth a Testimony at some time or other, that Alea Belli, the Chance of War, psayeth as casually while the Drum beats, as ever Die did on Drum Head: whole Armie● then as truly having their lives played, as ever any private S●uldier had, when condemned to s●ing for his.  
How oft doth some Casualty, or Treachery turn the Scale? As for the former, that of Caesar is true, In Bello, par●●s momentis magni Casus intercedunt. A small chance causeth no small turn: witness that disappointment of an Army, under the very Gates of a City; when one of the Commanders bid them stand back, (only that he might have the more room to force the Gates) by a strange and sudden mistake, the word was taken back, back; and the Besieged issued forth after the mistakingly frighted, and running Army, routing them, and delivering itself from so near a Storm, or Surprise; call it what you will. Then for the latter I shall use but a single Instance neither, (being enough for the intended bulck of this Bo●k.) When Agesilaus had made hopeful Progress in his Asian Conquests, and was sent for back by the Grecians his Masters, (bribed by a sum of Moneys from the Persian) he complained that 30000. Archers had driven him out of Asia: Now an Archer was the stamp of the Asian Coin. But to say truth, where Treachery is absent, we know that disproportioned strength hath carried the Day, even casually, as to the wisest Counsels of War, or most resolute Execution of such Counsels; what hath begun a Battle, hath turned in a trice to a Horse Race: where as if Fortune had been one of the Jockeys, and rid booty, the three to one hath lost the Prize; deserving the name of that Battle, fought by the English, in Henry 8th's Reign at the Siege of Terwyn in France, 
Baker's Chronicle, H. 8.  and as heartily run by the French, and therefore called the Battle of Spurs.  
But let us proceed in this Paradox, and the second Match between Wisdom, and Chance seemeth as unequally lost: That the wise should want Bread, that ability of Parts, or acquired Knowledge should keep fasting Days; and Folly, or Duncery Thanks giving days, th●t all the one's year should be Lent, and the others Christmas. Take the Wise here for Wisdom, Scholastic principally, as before I touched on it, (in regard the following words may intimate Practical Wisdom, or Politic, shuffling and cutting one's self a Fortune in this scambling World) and it seemeth as strange as unfit, that great Scholars should be kept to such short Commons, as to want Bread (by which we must understand Necessaries for life) while the ignorant Fool; or golden Ass, fare deliciously every day; or are clad in Scarlet, while the Scholar is as well known (as the old Ensign) by his Rags. Threadbare Scholar being a Proverbial verity, and a common experienced truth, as old as the Scholar's clothes, in which the infidelity of his Mercer, or Tailor will continue him an Antiquary, for any Admission he shall have into their Books; he may sooner be matriculated in most Universities in Christendom, than see his Name in their Books, without this poor Scholar strive to be Tutor to some rich Pupil: otherwise his notional Antiquities, and Apparel (for them) shall strive for Seniority; he shall not be a greater Antiquary in his Readins, and Criticisms, than his Garb; all which could never make the Scholar miserable, could the world's blindness see the rich Linings of these transparent outsides. He is not miserable but by the Combination of these Levellers Fortune, and (no less) blind Opinion of the Vulgar, by which his very being poor shall keep him so: for there goeth more than Desert to gaining Esteem, or Advancement from the misjudging World; meanness of Birth, or slender Have, cheapen the richest Abilities, and Choke ofttimes, the Preferment of the clearest parts. The P●et hit it when he said, 
Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat  
Res angusta Domi.—  
Which take thus as a Paraphrase.  
His Parts be what they will, t●s a Spoke in's Cart  
To be a Carters Son.—   
Pliny giveth a Reason, 
Lib 6. Ep. 23.  neque enim cuique tam clarum statim Ingenium ut posset emergere, nisi illi materia, occasie, Fautor etiam, Commendatorque, conting●t. There is no Wit so famous as to fall presently under lucky and advancing Notice, unless some matter, Opportunity, some Favourer and Commender fortunately●onspire ●onspire in an Auspicieus' Influence on it. If this be true of Pliny, no wonder Salomon's is of a Canonical Authority, since so many Combiners must furnish the wise with bread. Plutarch giveth this for a Reason, why Arts, 
Plut. Lib. 2. de Alex. virtute.  and Artists flourished in Alexander's time: Vt quibus Testem contigerit, Arbitrumque nancisci, cum acri ad aestimanda Artium Specimina Judicio, tum vero suppeditantibus Opibus ad maxima quaeque operae Pretia Autoribus ipsis persolvenda; as meeting with a Witness, and an able Judge, of a judicious head, and liberal hand; for (as he goeth on) as Fruits, and ●orn are much advanced by temper of the Air, and kindliness of Seasons; so Arts and Wits, Beneficentia, Humanit, t●que Regia evocantur; Contraque Invidia, sordibus & Morositate eorum, qui Rerum potiuntur, restinguuntur & languescunt; are by Beneficence and Princely Favours caused to spring, but by the over-powerings of Envy, and ni●ings of stingy sordidness, or wayward Discountenancing of Power-mongers, are blasted and die. How many for want of some of the formentioned Levers fall into an obscure Level with the most neglected, and despised Ranks of men? A Belfry had hid, no doubt, as able Parts, as ever appeared on Preferments Stage, and as good water goeth by the Mill as driveth it; though this is not all the misery of Scholars, to miss Preferment for want of being known by Lovers of Learning. Sadder and more near it strikes, to be cast on levelling Places, or Persons, that look on an Ostler with more respect than a Schoolmaster, or Curate (if I say not Pastor) to whom they grudge a Falconers Wages. Socrates' his pleasant Tale is too dismal a Truth to many Scholars, and wise men generally; that Grasshoppers were once Scholars, Musicians, and Poets, that lived without Meat, or Drink, and therefore were turned into Grasshoppers by Jupiter. If they can get a little empty Applause from some, they think them well satisfied; get full Bellies where chey can.  
So true is that Juvenal saith of Statius. 

— tantaque Libidine vulgi  
Auditur: sed c●m fregit subsellia versu,  
Esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendat Agaven.   

Statius to th'longing People may rehearse,  
Till his Appla●ders do the Benche● crack:  
If he don't sell his Works, he bread may lack.    
Nay, they will come to a bad Market too, in Times that squint on Ingenious Labours. The Suns are all set, that shined with gladding Influences, on worthy Teeming of a fruitful Brain, as the same Author complained then. 
Tunc par Ingenio Pretium: nunc utile Multis  
Pallere, & vinum toto nescire Decembri.   
Which sounds to this purpose: 
Then Wits met with Reward, but now alack  
Their Palenesse-breeding Labours won't yield Sack.   
Plautus was one of these wise men, that was fain to grind Corn to get his Bread; notwithstanding he was the Master of as much Wit as we find extant in any one of the Ancients. He found true, quod non daunt Proceres dabit Histrio: What the Roman great ones would not go to a penny cost on; the Roman Players would. Had he not got from them some Salary for his Plays, he had never turned Merchant; and when broke, was fain to Trade with them again, and fall to grinding Corn again, and writing Plays. Poor man, most truly grinding in a Circulation of Fortunes, most of them low enough. Petronius Arbiter guessed right, when he saw an old Threadbare man come in: Vt facile appaereret hâc notâ Litteratum esse, quos odisse Divites Solent: A sure Mark (saith he) that he was a Scholar, the Tribe so much scorned by the Rich. He guessed by his clothes of no worth, that the Wearer was of some; as appeared on his further questioning who he was? he answered a Poet: and why so clad? saith Petronius: the Scholar Answereth, Propter hoc ipsum; Amor Ingenij Neminem unquam divitem f●cit: On this very Score: For Love of Wit seldom maketh men rich. Poetical Records tell us when Jupiter's Daughters were all married, the Muses were left alone: Helicon was not troubled with Suitors. Buchanan hath found the reason in his Elegies, in one for all.  


Calliope longum caelebs cur vixit in AEvum, 
Eleg. 1.   
Nempe nihil, Doti quod numeraret, erat.   

How comes Cal●ope no Suitors had?  
She was (though honest, yet) too light, 'tis said.    
The wonder of this unequal Level of deserving Meanness (as to the Trappings of Wealth, or Pedigrees) is lessened, when we consider what the Rule of the vulgar Judgements is, to rate by outsides: So true is the Spanish Proverb, El buen Appareyo haze buen Artifice, Good clothes, and he is a good Artist; but on the contrary— Rara in tenui facundia Panno, poor and Scholar cannot be. 
— Ciceroni Nemo ducentos  
Nunc dederit Nummos, nisi fulserit Annulus ingens.   
If the Ring glitter not on the Orators, or Advocate's finger, they will be no Clients. This taint of Esteeming outsides is not mere Fiction, and of poetic Authority, but Sacred and Canonical: St. James found, not to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ring-fingered, might want a Seal, 
James 2. 2, 3.  or (as we now might say) might stand at a Pew door.  
Such odd Rules do the generality of men go by, in judging or esteeming of worth. By this time, I believe, we do believe it no Paradox that Bread is not to the Wise. But methinks I hear it objected, they are not worldly wise, they are too Bookish; their regardlessness of men and ways of thriving make them stand in their own light: So that neglect and obscurity seem to be the Desert of such Desert. But let us make Progress in this List of Levellers, and the Leveled, and you shall see that Riches are not to those of Understanding, (you may Paraphrase it very well with the Additionall) how to get them; and this seemeth something strange indeed; How doth fortunate Folly, and some Simpletons, even to worldly Affairs, give the go-by to cunning, or laborious Pioners (in the Mines of Industry) for Wealth? becoming rich, no body (nor themselves) know how: when frugal, wise, painful and careful men, like Horses in a Mill, run round in a competency (and that is well) nay, sometimes go back, come to nothing, and know not why, or how. How frequent to see Servants buy out their Masters? ministri locupletiores iis quibus ministrant, Servus majores opes habens quam Patronus, as Plato complaineth, and Solomon, Eccles. 10. 7. I have seen Servants upon Horses, and Princes walking as Servants upon the Earth. But the Reason lessening the wonder of this (or indeed (to speak strictly) of the former levels of strength, or wit) is that the Builders build in vain, unless the Lord build the House. So that all hitherto discoursed may be resolved into the Resolve of Providence, to let us see we owe all we have to somewhat extra, without us, and that extra to be Supra; somewhat above us, as well as without us. But come we to the third and worst of Levellers, in all its motions unjust, and that is Opinion, or favour of the people, which is regardless even of those of skill; for so Solomon saith, Favour is not to them of skill: where by men of skill we may well interpret able men in several Professions. It would make one believe, there scarce were any Profession, but blind Ingratitude left in the world, to see some of Abilities, in all Ages, by all sorts of men, have been no more esteemed than worthless Insufficients; nay, not so much as they, advantaged with some Setters off, and Takers, with the People. Non a Peritia sed ab ornatu vel vulgi vocibus habemur excellentes. 
Lib. 2. de Consol.  Cardan saith, men are admired not from their true skill, but Garb, Voice of the people, etc. from this blind Opinion of the world, what uncouth Sights is the world filled with? To see what strange cattle, what Calves they worship for rare, eminent, and gifted men: examine several Professions, and confess in Divinity, Physic, Poetry, nay, where their Senses are Judges. He that painteth a Sign, but ordinarily, passeth with them for as rare a Master as a Hilliard, or a Vandike. How doth Opinion equal (that is Courtesy) nay, sometimes prefer strange Fellows for Divines, above the ablest Improver of his time and parts for that weighty Enterprise! Barba non facit Philosophum, a Beard made not a Philosopher, was the old Rule; but the new Rule is, Non Barba facit Theologum; among hare-brained Judgements, a haireless Chin graduateth him a hopeful, and gifted young man in their esteem, above those Advantages of Learning, and Seniority (not only Academical) but even in the Lord's Vineyard. What Trade but (in some men's judgements) may receive Orders, and (only in that) a Call sufficient to this no less burdensome, than honourable Embassy?  
I make no doubt but confident forwardness, and undertake, would Ticket men passable (with such Judgements) that could scarce tell which end of their Bibles to hold uppermost; as to Divinity. Then judge you whether Solomon spoke of his own times, or ours, when he said, Favour is not to men of skill; A consequence whereof is that Pulpit Burglary, that is now more than ever frequent, and as unquestioned (or unpunished) as unlawful; whereby such uncalled, and unsent Intruders, break into the Pulpits with far less timourousnesse, than their Brethren into houses. But come we to that Profession of Physic, and regardlessness of Desert seemeth to be a misfortune entailed on the Family of the Medici's, while Butcherly Quacks are pestered with more than they can dispatch: Such as Clenard in his Epistles did not Nickname, when he called them Causifici, and Sanicidae, words too elegant for translation, or if you will, Feaver-makers, and Health-spoilers: and to aggravate the blockishness of this Leveller, the vulgar Opinion, view the Character of them, that carry away their favour, and custom, from the most skilful Son of Hippocates, (or AEsculapius) it is in Dousa's Epods. 

Quibus loquacis affatim arrogantiae est,  
Peritiae parum aut nihil.  
Nec ulla mica literarij salis  
Crumenimulga Natio, etc.   

Whose skill is nothing but to prate apace,  
And pick your Pocket, though before your face.   What a ring of people shall we see of all sorts? gaping about a Belt of Teeth; or a Fellow, above the Vulgar, more by three Planks, and two empty Hogsheads, than by true skill, or any fullness in his own: You may see even Hospitals of diseased People broke loose; coming themselves for Antidotes, Salves, etc. that before thought Physic needless, or at least the having it from a Doctor's Prescription, to little, or no Purpose: if their time were come, it were to no purpose to take any but Kitchen Physic (though by the same Argument they might leave off to eat.) A new printed Bill of a famous Physician, newly come, that is a rare Oculist, Operator, Stone, or Broke or Rupture-cutter, etc. shall gain more Credence, than the most Learned Lecture, or any other Discovery of a Physician's Abilities in Theory; or Practic: And that this is no new thing, my Lord Bacon shall testify in his. 
Lib. 4▪ page. 116.  De Augmentis Scientiarum: Ea est Hominum Infirmitas, & credul●t●is, ut saepènumero Agyrtam aut Sagam docto Medico praeponant. Such is the weakness and easy Credulity of Men, that a Mountebank, or cunning woman is preferred before an able Physician; which he showeth the Poets hinted, when they made the Hag Circe's Sister to Aesculapius the first Physician. And (because it followeth in the same place, nor will it be a Bodge in this) I cannot omit the consequence of this disheartening Level. Ex hoc dic sodes quid sequitur? nempe ut Medici ita secum, quemadmodum Salomon in Re●graviori: Si unus et stulti & meus Eventus erit, quid prodest quod majorem Sapientiae dedi operam? equidem minus Medicis succenseo, si saepenumero vacent alicui alteri studio quod adamant, magis quam Arti suae propriae. Invenies enim inter eos Poetas, Criticos, Rhetores, Politicos, Theologos, atque in iis Artibus magis quam in Professione suâ eruditos. What seriously cometh of it, (saith he) even that Physicians may say to themselves as Solomon in another Case: As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth unto me, and why was I then more wise? I can therefore the less blame Physicians, if they apply themselves, and bestow their time in some study pleasing to them: For you shall have some of them Poets, Critics, Orators, Politicians, Divines, and some times more Eminent therein, than in their proper Profession. Thus far my Lord Bacon; view but the Letters of Commendation to the people, that even Artists need, and you will confess the Theory of Physic is not more Conjecture, than its Practice is Lottery, especially at first entrance into it. From what Accidentals must they be had? Friend's Hyperboles, and so the Contagion of Praise: or some accidental Cure, or at least Fame of it; which hath divers times made many Physician's Practitioners, owing more herein to their Fortune, than Industry. So the Poet 

— plus etenim Fati valet hora benigni  
Quam si nos Veneris commendet Epistola Marti.   

— one lucky Minute sways  
More, then if Venus writ to Mars our Praise.   An Accidental Cure, as accidentally observed, secureth following Mischances from Infamy: for as is the first Hit, the following Misses are censured and observed; 
Tacit. vita Agricol.  according to the Oracle of Policy: Non ignarus instandum Famae, ac prout prima cessere, fore universa; Fame must be laid hands on at first; for as the first things take, things that follow will succeed; and the best Commentatour on a Politic Text, Machiavelli, may give a Reason of it; Ducitur namque captivum perpetuo vulgus specie Recti, & Rerum Eventu, & plané nihil quam vulgus toto in Orb versatur. Success is the Law the Vulgars' Judgement is ruled by; and besides the Vulgar, there is scarce any other Judge of men, and their Actions. It is not indeed the most rational Disquisition of all belonging to the Disease, or Counsel for its Cure, but fortunate Events (though separated from the former) cryeth men up for Physicians, with these unskilful Dispensers' of Favour to those of Skill: Nay, with easy Credulity, Boasts of Cure prevail more in the Commendation of a man, than real (if modest) Abilities. I cannot believe it impossible (nay, this Complaint of Solomon makes it probable) but even in his days, Women ignorant enough (or Men of no more Masculine Wit) might pass for Salomon's with some, and that in Physic too, notwithstanding his Skill from the Cedar to the Moss upon the Wall: with such like Judges it hath been, is, and will be true, that Simples pass for Physicians, and modest Physicians for Simples. But our next Descant shall be an enquiry after some Rule for our Deportment, before we experience, or when under the Tyranny of these two Levellers. I know no better than such Resolves. I will not think men that want Bread, do therefore want Wisdom (even that of Self-provision) for the most understanding in the thriving Crafts cannot always fling Salt on the Tail of Riches, so as to catch them, or clip their Wings to a tame, or certain abidance with them, when (to their thinking) never so securely Caged. Nor will I think on the other side, Plenty an Argument of Wit to spare; or (divers times) of enough, as these two Levellers chance, and Opinion have ordered it; in these day's Wit without Money is turned from a Comedy to a continued Tragedy: By the sad experience of many Owners of Worth, Probatum est. And for Professors of any Skill, or Science, if they be not out of Favour with the Candid, or Skilful; I will not disesteem their (among the people) dis-favoured (and so unemployed, or poorly Rewarded) Art. From the levelling of Providence I will frame no Argument of like, or dislike, since it is one main Reason of its levelling the Fool, and the Wise, the strong and the weak (as to success of Events) for this very end, that we might not take any of these outward things for Tokens of God's Love, or Hatred. Nor will I inquire for men's Abilities, of the Opinion of the Vulgar, that is as blind as its Mate Fortune; or Plutus (whom the Poets make the God of Riches) both which, it were to be wished, were had to Saint Alban, to be cured of their blindness, but with more Truth in the Success, than in that Counterfeit in our English Chronicle (that pretended he was cured at St. Alban Shrine, and never was blind.) But for such Oculists, that can not open the Eyes of the Vulgar, or Rich (which in Judgement are most commonly without a Disjunctive, and are Peers) to a judicious Aspect, or Glance on Desert, this Text of Solomon dasheth our Hopes. Nor can we expect, but that Esteem, Fame, Trust, Practice, or Reward, should be dispensed by that Vulgar, any other ways than most commonly Wrong; never Judiciously, because always blindly. Now for Armour of proof against these mighty Invaders of our Constancy, (as we may term them, for they tottered the Father david's, and Son Salomon's) will be Conscience, and Patience; Conscience within ourselves of Ability, and Honesty; or patient Sequacity of the consequences of their Assaults. To say truth, nothing fits us better for them, than a Resolve to yield to all Destiny would have come to pass, and to slight the Votes Opinion would pass on our Persons, Actions, or Fortunes. He that hath this required Consciousness, will have the latter, Patience: he that knoweth (without Arrogance) some worth (it may be more than Envy will allow) or without Pride, some honesty above divers proud of their falsely Esteemed (because prospered) Virtues, or Parts; Such a one will stand unmoved under what falls from Providence, or against what ever can be thought or said by men: What Heaven will have suffered, he stands as ready to receive, as to reject what men can say, or do; for from this Doctrine, all things come alike to all, he rectifies his Judgement with that in Valerius maximus.  
Itaque quorsum attinot aut Divitias in 
Val. max. 44.  prima felicitatis Parte, aut Paupertatem in ultimo Miseriarum statu ponere? cum et illarum frons hilaris multis intus Amaritudinibus sit referta: & hujus horridior Aspectus solidis & certis bonis abundet? Why should we mis-place Wealth as in the top of Worldly Happiness, or Poverty in the bottom of Misery's Dungeon? when the cheerful outside of that covereth unknown Imbittering, and the tattered outside of Poverty hath often the rich Linings of solid and certain Content. With this Position let us rectify our Judgements, and with the inverting of the Apostles Rule (in another case) steel our Resolves, as He purposed to become all things to all men to save some: So let us meet these fickle, inconstant Levellers, Chance, and vulgar Opinion, with this Resolve, to become all men to all things, to save ourselves, and constancy from being puffed up with vanity, or depressed with vexation of Spirit.   

THE FIFTH ELEMENT, OR, OF DETRACTION.  
THE Confusion of Languages is not a greater Misery than the Corruption. The name of the place where the first happened, somewhat hints one kind of the latter, if not one of the worst Corruptions of Language, Detraction; for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shenaar, signifieth, Dens Aemuli, the Tongue of the Envious, or Emulatour, the same with Dens Theoninus. I am sure this Fault, and that Punishment much resemble one the other: by the one men understand not Things, by the other we rightly understand not Men: As in the former, when one called for a Brick, they brought a Trowel, or when for Mortar they brought a Hammer; So in this latter, how strange (but wilful) are the Impertinencies of Detraction? Commend a man for his good Preaching, you shall hear some Cavil or other presently against his Person, or Life; speak of a man's Abilities, and they will tell you of his Fortunes, or Pedigree: And which is the most malicious, but silly Blast of Praise, they will mention his Misfortunes, with such like Impertinencies, as in its following Dissection will appear. It were to be wished all the Venom of Detraction were spent against itself; but here is the misery, Detraction cannot meet a Detractor, but hath as many Advocates almost as there be Tongues, because as many almost guilty as there be Men. The Italian Proverb therefore (like a most choice Proverb) hath as much Wisdom, as Wit in it, and Truth as either; that saith, Il mal dire d' Altrui●e Quinto Elemento, To speak ill of another is the fifth Element. For you shall scarce find any compounded of the other four, that hath not this fifth more, or less in his Composition. The Hebrews differ not much in Judgement sure from the Italian, make the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth the Tongue, to signify in Pihel to Detract, as if it were as essential to Discourse, as a Mood to Speech. If you will have it in a Critical Clinch, the word in English Writing, would be Lash-one, a fit term for the Detractor, there coming no such Stripes as from his Tongue; a better word then to explain their Mal-dire our English hath not, than that, Proverbs 24. 24. Perverse lips, it being the comprehensive Description of this fifth Element, which is nothing but perverting the Construction of what men are, do, say, write, or have.  
How universal (and truly in that Elemental) this is; I appeal to the Conscience of the Actors, and experience of the Sufferers in this Tragedy of Charity: The kinds of it are disguised under some deceiving appearances, principally these; cold Praise, or slow Reception of it from another, or Interruption of it, with a Dismounting But, taken from Disparagings of men's Morals, Naturals, Fortunes, Pedigree, etc. or, which is weakest of all, from the opinion of others, who it may be can discourse nothing but slander, or censure; and the most subtle Disguise of all, is a pretended tenderness to their Welfare, nay, Credit. For the first of which Patricius assureth us, Laus frigida est quaedam Species vituperationis, faint Praise is but a mannerly disparagement, and a neglective Admission of another's Commendations, is but a dissembled Contempt. But come we to the second, and that is the positive Detractor, that presently dismounts the most merited Reputation with some But, often malicious, most commonly impertinent; hear it described by Horace.] 

— absentem qui rodit Amicum;  
Qui non defendit alio culpante: Solutos  
Qui captat Risus Hominum, 
Horat. Serm. 1. satire. 4.  Famamque dicacis:  
Fingere qui non visa potest, Commissa tacere  
Qui nequit; hic niger est, hunc tu Romane caveto.   

— That often nibles at the Fame  
Of's absent Friend; and seems t' assent  
By silence to's Defames, for some's Mirth vents  
His Buffone Scoffs; nay, things ne'er done he'll swear;  
All he unsecrets: such black Sheep beware.    
What more familiar than to hear men acknowledge part, that with one Detracting But they may overthrow all that hath been uttered in the commendations of another, on this manner; Truly the man is a pretty man, of pretty Parts, and Abilities undeniable; But he stands in his own Light, by not applying himself to, or complying more with the Times, and Persons that should advance him: His Rigidness is not malleable enough; alas! what is the unpolicied Scholar, but a Pedantic and threadbare Sophy? Chi non ha, non Sa, saith the Italian; his very Knowledge is questionable, whose Have in the world are scarce visible; the poor Scholar is no Scholar always. Or if a man's Abilities be allowed, some flaw or other must be found in his Relations, and Pedigree: as, it is much▪ considering his breeding, he should come to such Abilities: which, though seeming Commendations (and, to the wise, great ones) yet to such as they may be spoke to, enough to vilify, and cheapen the Noblest Merit, because he can show it may be no C●oat, but a threadbare Sable one, or hath no more Arms than Elbows, he is undone in his Repute among Admirers of a Field Gules, with a Fez, or Bend Or. And that this Topick of Detraction is neither Fiction, or new, take that ancient Limners Draught (Theophrastus, that so lively described Vices, as by his Fragments we may guess) who brings in the Detractor in his Character of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Detraction; like a Herald giving account of a man only according to his Pedigree, and that with all the disparaging Blazons possible. Speak a man of unblemished Reputation, or exemplary life, you shall hear (though most impertinent●) mention of his illiterateness, or it may be of his Crosses in the world, as that he is behind hand poor man, it is pity. So be he never so good, if needy, the Worldling sets a mean Rate on him: for to say truth, with him, poor honesty, is but a kind of Simplicity, thinking no man need be poor, or bare, except he will himself; it is through want of Wit, or out of abundance of Scrupulosity, both which he thinks deserveth the Fool's Cap, and unpitying Scorn. This usage men's Habits of mind find from the Tongues of men; but what Torture do their Writings (or publications of them in any eminent Actions) undergo from the Rack of Defame, or Censure? In Writings how doth this fifth Element dis-element all the other four? cavilling at somewhat in the Efficient, or Author; or quarrelling at the choice of the Matter, or ‛ Deformity of the Form; and for the End, asperse them with Contention, or vainglory, etc. for Actions, if of those above us, Plutarch's Rule is true. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Or in english, to speak well of Governors, 
Tacit. Hist. 1.  and Rulers may be Evangelicall, but it is not natural: and Tacitus tells us, Inviso semel Principe, seu bené seu male facta premunt. A Prince once distasted is always misconstrued.  
In the People's Construing Book, the Acts of those above them have always some false Latin in them, sometimes their Jealousy finds an &c. in their Ordinances or constitutions; and make them mean more, or worse than ever was intended. Another while it is doomed silliness, to believe Integrity in their Meanings; but that still they aim at the raisings of Power, or Prerogative, and always at the depressing of those that are low enough already. For our Equals, what they say or do, (lest they should outstrip us in Repute,) what is good, we make Casual, or false Biased; what bad, is Plot, Design, or ill Nature: for those below us, we interpret their doings principled with licentious neglect of us, or undermining Envy. Thus doth the Detractor accuse those above of Tyranny, those under them of saucy Libertinism, or forgetfulness of themselves, and their Superiors. It infects, we see, the orders and ranks of Men: but look on Professions, and for two of a Profession, (that are not intimated by Nearness of Friendship) to give one another a good word is candidness miraculous. Begin with Trades, and among them with (that requireth no more Tools to set up with, than Quacking in Physic doth, Want, and Impudence) very Beggary itself. Among them you shall hear one telling you, He is a lusty fellow, Master, better able to work than I am; or, he hath been relieved to my knowledge twice, or thrice this day▪ and I have had not one Cross, (but in cold Answers, etc.) The Potter will be ready to borrow the Smith's Hammer to break a Brother of the Trade's Pots, and the Smith his Clay to fling in the face of another Vulcan: it is Hesiods own Assertion. 

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.   

The Potter, Blacksmith, singing man,  
Nor Beggar brook each other can.    
Soldiers are tainted with this Fault, witness Johannes Heraldus, Lib. 2. c. 12. de Bello Sacro. Where speaking of Philip of France; and Richard Cordelion (fellow Soldiers in the holy War) he saith, Francum urebat Regis Victoria. The Monsieur could not brook the Honour the english King got in the Service: and what came of it? why, tam aegre far Ricardi gloriam, ut carpere Dicta, calumniari Facta, etc. He Cavell'd at what ever he said, and calumniated what ever he did: Nay, his verbal Detraction grew to real, at least in Endeavours; for in Revenge he would have Detracted, and lessened his Territories, and to that end professed open War. But for the Totall of this, Il mal dire, Art of ill speaking, he was a Pattern of it complete; and indeed it is an Art needs no Academy to be set up to teach, when we can hear each Bulk, Shop, Camp nay, Academians themselves) too well studied in it. As for Academians, do we not see some whole Colleges to allow nothing good, that comes from another, that its Faction, or Prejudice hath condemned for a Nazareth: Nay, in the same House no Discourse more familiar than the Disparagements of one another's side, or Faction. I wish these were not Pro●atums, and that Charity's Rhetoric were as well studied there as Aristotle's. But to go abroad into the world, if I would undo a Divine in Order, I would first make him Scandalous by the Report of some Brother Divine, whose Affections are Leven'd (by some small difference in Judgement) into a dislike, malicious enough to slander, or detract, than I should be sure to hear of him under Sequestration, and his Family in Commons with the Ravens, whom Providence now helps to their daily Food, more immediately than by thriving ways of Husbandry, or certainty of Incomes.  
Come we to Physicians, and all Detractions Currents seem lost as in a Sea; no Profession being more inclinable to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 live Dissection of one another, (but it is that Sword Sal●mon speaketh of, PROV. 12. 17. There is that speaks like the peircing of a Sword.) Than that of P●●sitians, or Surgeons. Here that Desideratum my Lord Bacon speaketh of, viz. Anatomia Comparata, or Dissection of infirm Bodies, is supplied; for nothing more frequent than Comparative Openings of one another: their Deserts, with the nimble Perfunctorinesse of some Commentators (that skip over hard Places) but their Faults, Infirmities, or Miscarriages, with Descants no less tedious than malicious; If you will believe that Perito in suâ Arte, that great Master of this Art, the Detractor of all Arts, Agrippa, he maketh this Observation a Probatum. At sunt revera Medici, homines omnium discordantissimi. Sic enim omnes a se invicem dissentiunt, ●t nullus reperiatur medicus Qui citra Exceptionem, Additionem, Permutationem, praescriptum ab alio Pharma●um comprobet. Quinimò qui laceret, mordeat, ne videlicet ipse non melior Medicus videatur, etc. Physicians (saith he) are at Discord the best, but at unisons the worst; for they do all so disagree, that the Physician is yet unborn, that called after another approveth all his Predecessor hath done, without any Exception, Substraction, or Addition: Nay, that doth not rather disparage, and vilify it, that on the Ruin of his Predecessors Credit he might raise his own: he passeth for a good ●atur'd Novice (to say true) that findeth no fault, that hath never a Cavil against the former Physician; and no such sure way to meet with Detraction, as to forbear it.  
Examine the variety of Sexes, and this Element goeth into the composition of both; and the weakest have the strongest Taint with Detraction. Who knoweth not it is the Ratio formalis, the very All, and sum of Gossipping Discourse? comparing, or descanting on this Neighbours Fortunes, that Families Blemishes, this Ladies black Countenance, that others black Patches, their Beauty, Behaviour, Matches, Garb: as to Fashions (in their Inferiors Vote) they are too proud, prodigal, fantastical: in the Vote of their Equals, they are late in it, or if before them, it doth not become them. Thus sared Salonina with her harmless Gallantry, being much envied by the more obscure, as Tacitus tells us. Vxorem quoque ejus Saloninam, 
Hist. 1.  quanquam, in Nullius Injuriam, insigni Equo veheretur, tanquam l●si gravabantur. As to Beauty, if the Inferiors, and less handsome have never a But against the Nose, Eye, or Lip, then be sure they miss not that common place, suspicious Ifs, and whispers whether their Honour be so clear, or fair as it were to be wished. As for Behaviour, as it disagreeth from the Tatlers own, it is censured, if free, and cheerful, she is too light; if Matron like serious, she is too proud, etc. Then for all Conditions, no Disease more spreading among Neighbours, in City, or Country; how greedily do they inquire after, seriously discourse on, any Disparageing Relations of each others? In Sum: I have seldom heard in any Discourse of but four, or five Parts (as I may term it) a Symphony of Commendations of an absent man, or joint Consent to Applause of worth, without some one or other (to spoil the shrillness of its Fame) striking a F Fa ut— But of Diminution. By this I hope the Elementality (that is the universality) of Detraction, Disparagement, (or what else you will call this Mal dire) is out of Dispute.  
I find but one foure-Elemented man without this fifth of Detraction, or Disparaging mentions; and that was chrysostom, of whom it is said, nunquam ulli maledixit▪ that he never spoke ill of any man. Give me leave to say his Eloquence did not more meritoriously contribute that name of the Golden-mouthed Father, than this rare temperateness of speech did, only some Cure of the Infected, and Antidote against this Poison of Asps (for such are in danger of it) were worth Inquiry. 
The Cure.  And one remedy may be to consider it is unworthy any that hath Worth; for it is most commonly the Badge of some Defect, and low Merit raiseth itself on the Ruins of another's Fame. Or it proceeds from some Defective power of Revenge, like Zoilus in Aelian, that had a Name fit for all five Elemented men, and wa● called Canis Rhetoricus; being asked why he spared no Body with his Tongue, because, saith he, I can do them no harm with my hands, or any other way.  
Then for the Danger, it is not one whit better, than saying Racha to our Brother, or calling him Fool, and so much the worse, because Surdo maledicimus to our deaf Brother, that is our absent, as Gregory in his Morals: and if so, this Element is enough to deliver us over to that Element that shall outlast the melting of the other four, even to unquenchable Fire. Again, Detraction is as injurious as Theft; for Praise whether deserved, or given (by some noble Cand●dnesse) becometh their Due on whom it is bestowed (if not Geometrically squared to their Desert) and it is as injurious to take the Beggar's Penny, as the Day-labourers from him. Domitian tells us the willing Ear detracts as much, nay, worse than the Tongue: This being the Tempter, the other but the Tempted. Detractor, & libens Auditor, uterque Diabolum portat, saith Bernard. I know not a better Hieroglyphic than Placiades hath of Detraction in Pierius, that would have Detraction signified by a Saw, Sive ob dentium seriem, quae mordacitatem innuere videatur, sive ob invisum Stridorem, maximéque auribus infensum, quem reddit: either from the Teeth, signifying the Bites of Detraction, or the ungrateful noise that sets the Teeth, on edge; and I am confident, to the Ingenious Ear, Detraction of all noises is most harsh, pleasing chiefly the base sort of people: Indeed no such Detractor as the beggarly busybody, whose Employment, next to getting their own brown Bread (and eating it with murmuring) is to rail at the white Bread of others; Such whose doings are small, and having less, you shall foonest find guilty of enquiring into, and talk of, the unconcerning Affairs of their Neighbours, and of them the worst, or inconsiderable (even to a ridiculousness to observe:) you shall not hear of their keeping of the Commandments, but if their Daughter, or Maid but crack one that cannot be concealed, how jocundly shall you hear them giggle it over? among such you may know (if you are given to such worthy inquiries) who eateth Masclin, who pure Wheat, nay, they can tell you who● Pudding hath Suet in it, and whose not; who drinks Ret-gut, and who Steele-nose: with such like pitiful Discoveries of their Neighbour's Nakedness, is our Rustic Detractors Tongues tipped. But if this Humour creep above the homespun Cloth upon better Coats, it is still among the base sort of them, as to their Spirits and Dispositions; such as are guilty of some observable Defect in themselves: Qui alterius vituperatione se laudari putant, & suo Merito quia placere non possunt, placere volunt comparatione malorum. They know no other way of commending themselves than by disparaging others, etc. Indeed they know not how to raise their slender Merits, but by levelling others that excel them in any thing, with their unworthying Tongues. Another Remedy against this venomous Tongue, is to spit at it where ere it hisses, and by Rejection discountenance it; nothing sooner striketh Detraction dumb, than a contemning and disliking Deafness. The North wind driveth away Rain, so doth an angry Countenance a backbiting Tongue, Prov. 25. 23. To conclude, for the entertainment of Slander, Backbiting, Detraction, and all lessening Disparagings of others, this may serve for a Directory: entertain them with tingling Ears, slow Belief, Blushes for the Defamer, as well as Defamed; a dejected Countenance, excusing Tongue, or distasting Silence.   

THE GOLDEN RULE.  
TO account others better than ourselves, is not more useful in the Compare of our Gifts, and Graces, than the contrary may be, to esteem others worse than ourselves, in the compare of our Sufferings, and ourselves as bad, in regard of their Doings. If I look thus on the Sufferings of others as heavier than mine own, (as he must be a man of Sorrow indeed that cannot) it cannot but beget a Thankfulness to the Mercy distinguishing, Compassion to my Brother Suffering, and a low Conceit of myself, equally deserving, not only the same, but greater Imbittering of my life. I may indeed look on both what men do, or suffer, as my own in Posse; nay, on the one as probable (as to inclinations of Corrupt Nature) and on the other as incident by reason of my liableness to the same common misery; there being nothing what any one doth, or endureth, but any other may. But to keep first to the first word (and that which Pride will scarce believe) what any one doth, be it never so horrid, and hurtful to others, or himself, a Goodness that is not our own keepeth us from, and therefore let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall.  
Nemo ante Obitum felix (as Solon affirmeth) none is happy while he liveth, is more uncontroullably proved by Achitophel, and Judas, than Adonibezek. Bajazet, Croesus, or any Tennis Ball of Fortune. So true is Valerius Maximus his inference upon the above mentioned words of Solon, Felicitatis igitur humanae Appellationem Rogus consummate, 
Lib. 7. c. 2.  qui se incursui Malorum obijcit. The Title happy beareth Date from a man's last hour; and take Menander's Assertion for the Reason, dicere haud vivus potest quisquam, hoc non obtinget mihi. The proudest He cannot say, 
Plutarch de Anim. Tranvillitat●.  this, or that shall never befall me.  
It is an Arrogance confuted by experience (and her Records, History) to presume, or hope Exemption from any thing hath befallen another. Who can say, this, or that I shall never do, nor suffer? that we go not the Round of others Sins, or Punishments is neither our Goodness, Desert, Policy, or Power preventing; but from those Twins of gracious Providence, Preventing, and Preserving Mercy. Doubtless he had been counted a prating Fool, should have told Haman he should have held Mordecai's Stirrup, much less have changed Preferment; that Mordecai should have been lifted up into Hamans' Favour at Court, and Haman should be exalted to that fifty Cubit Eminence above ground, in Mordecays Room. He that should have told powerful Haman should be hanged against his will, or Politic Achitophel with his will, and full consent, had, I believe, not lived to see either; how many have scorned the Faults of others, with the Pharisee? I am not as this Publican, or their fears with Nabuchadnezzars; Is not this great Babel which I have built? as a defence against all Disasters, whose Righteousness afterwards hath done Penance, and whose Power, Riches, or Honour have been turned to Graze. Plautus did not without cause say, Pilas nos faciunt Dij, in the Tennis of Fortune (as is the phrase of that Religion that is as blind.) Men are the Balls; how are men in a perpetual Motion to, and from Hazards! while other Creatures, and some few exempted Ones among men (most commonly the low fortuned, and humble Spirited) stand like Spectators in the Gallery, in a regardless unconcerned, and therefore quiet Posture; every day is big with wonders we should contesse, did we see the Snares spread by our Enemies Temporal, or Spiritual, and the readiness of Creatures to avenge their Master's Quarrels against his Rebels, with such like, only called Casualties, because unseen: when each day delivereth us over safe to the Custody of Night (almost as full of hazards) what can we call our Preservation? but wakeful Omnipotence, minding worthless, and helpless Creatures, or not worthless so much as meriting (but of Detraction) or helpless so much as hurtful, and that even to our selves, needing indeed no other furtherings of our Sufferings, but our own doings. Liber● nos a nobis, & libera nos a malo, Deliver us from our selves, and deliver us from evil, being but Paraphrase, scarce various reading: the Sins, or Judgements of others may make this Triple of Petitions out of that unparallelled Pattern: Sanctificetur Nomen tuum, Hallowed be this Name for our Deliverance, Libera fratrem a malo, deliver our fallen Brother out, & ne inducas nos in Temptationem, suffer not us to fall in (the same, or like) Temptation, so shall we be neither to God unthankful, our Brother obdurate, or in ourselves Arrogant, either of which being Evils, almost equal with any humane Frailty is liable to. But how contrary is the Practice of the World? Oh Wretch! oh Villain! are our Exclamations on the Relation of men's Faults; or some Cold God help, is all our Charity sprinklings on their Misery, or a proud Non sum talis, it is otherwise with us (God bethanked) in Course it may be added; but thanks to my own Policy, Husbandry, Care of my Credit, and Honour thriving, etc. are the Echoes of the more inward Retirements of Self-conceit) far better Deportment were it, if from the Crimes of men were raised our Pity, and set our Watch: from their Disasters arm ourselves against the like (as Euripides) when it doth befall us, with that Rhetorical Correction. Heu Mihi! qui heu Mihi? more hominum sane accidit. Alas! and why alas? I suffur but what Humane frailty is charged with; and so while my Constancy benefits itself by the Ills befall other, and my Charity the distressed by the good things befall me, the Purposes of Providence are effected, and the Precepts of Examples commendably obeyed. Or if you will work this Golden Rule of Three thus: if Humane frailty giveth Sins innumerable, and Miseries indefinite, what may I fear, lest I fall in, or expect some time or other to fall on, Me, subject to the like Infirmities; instead of multiply, compute, the sufferings or Faults of others by thy own, and (instead of Divide) compare them by thy worthiness deserving the one, or weakness betraying thee to the other; and the Quotient must needs have these three places, Thankfulness, Humility, and Compassion.   

Profane Inspirations Plea, OR POETRY'S PRAY HEMINENCE.  
MUSIC may be called the Rapture of the Ear, and Painting the Poetry of the Eye, but Poetry to the Fancy is both; for it is Fancies Music in her Conceptions, and its Painting in her Expressions. No Music without doubt strikes more pleasantly to the Ear, than an Harmonious Epithire doth the Fancy; apt Concord between what it thinks, and would say, strikes first it self, and then others with Delight: whose Conceptions when come to Birth, they do not cry, but sing. So pleasing both to Mother, and Gossips are the well-shaped Issues of the Brain, and when brought forth, what Picture, varieth the life? (for it is not the same, therefore pardon the Expression) into so near a likeness, as a full and fitted expression doth present Invisibles, to our seeing (but invisible) Eye, the active Fancy; and give me leave to call it so even in the Auditor, since it is part of Poetry to have a judicious Reception of a well-limed Notion: we may say of it as Strade in another case, that in Poetry, Res vivunt, & plane spirant; Things live, and seem to breath; nay, I may say they receive from Poesy many times a more graceful life, than from Nature. For the Music of it, the Ancients did not amiss in calling that part of it that on the Stage instructed the People, Plectrum Animorum, an Instrument of the same Musical Efficacy over the Passions of the Mind, as David's Harp was over Saul's evil spirit. It is true enough of most of all sorts of Poesy: for what is it sometimes? but Philosophy musically set in feet, and Number, or some stricter kind of expression: Orators, Moralists, Historians, that write in that 
— nec Sermones ●ego mallem  
Repentes per Humum;—  in creeping of Prose (not flights of Verse) are Compilers of the same sense, but differing almost as a Song read, and sung: and as a Writer of our own saith well, Poetry is a sweet tuned Eloquence, and of singular use, specially reduce it to Plato●s three Heads: Divinos Hymnos Canere, leges patrias, magnorumque gesta virorum graviter recensere: Consecrating it for the pious use of the Choir, or politic service of the Commonwealth, in embodying their more rugged Laws in more beautiful Joys, or raising Monuments of Fame to her deserving Heroes; when thus employed, they are as it were divine Issues of the understanding. Poetry wings Notions to a flight above the low and muddy conceptions of Ignorance, or Dullness: and although it may seem to rob Truth of her best Ornament, Nakedness (as it is commonly objected to Poetry yet it furnisheth her with an advantageous Dress of▪ taking Ple●sance, even to those that care not so much for Truth itself. Thus Herbert saith excellently. 
A Verse may find him who a Sermon flies,  
And turn Delight into a Sacrifice.  Nor is it absurd to aver, that many Truths by their Fictions have been best ushered● into popular grace, and Acceptance. It is well known, in Gentilism their Divines were Poets; it is as well known among the first chosen People, and Worshippers of God, (the Jews) the most useful writings for life, or manners (nay, for faith itself) are Poetic, as the Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Canticles, etc. for which consult. Alsteds' Triumphus Biblicus, C. 27. where you may find Scaliger refuted for denying Poetic Rhithme, or Meeter (because not like the Greek, or Latin) and so not Po●sie in a strict sense to be in Scripture: for Saint Hierome is of another mind; and the impossibility of a Rhithme in that Language, like our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, like Cadency of words, which we strictly call Rhyme, is by Alsteds' Instance refuted in Psal. 118. 25. though as Alsted well▪ if the manner were not the same, to deny therefore there were no Mee●e●, is no sound Logic; his Instance are these two lines in the same Verse.  

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉   

Anah Jehova Hoshiangnah Na  
Ana Jehova: Hitzlichah nam   
Help me now O Lord, O Lord send us now Prosperity; And Josephus gives us a Testimonial to it, and not to be rejected, saith my Author. The Reasons why some Scripture, and chiefly the Psalms are in Verse and Numbers, if not in the gingling Rhyme; see there more at large in Alsted. But for the Honour of Poesy, let Doctor Donnes' Observation plead (in his Essay of Divinity among his Fragments) concerning that Song of Moses which was made (saith he) by God himself; for though every other Poetic part of Scripture be also God's word, and so made by him, yet all the rest were Ministerial and Instrumentally delivered by the Prophets, only inflamed by him. But this which himself calls a Song, was immediately made by himself, and Moses was commanded to deliver it to the Children from God, choosing this way and conveyance of a Song, as fittest to justify his future Severities against his Children, because they would be ever repeating this Song (as the Delicacy, and Elegancy thereof, both for Divinity▪ and Poetry would invite any to it) and so he should draw from their own mouths a Confession of his Benefits, and their Ingratitude. Thus far that rare Observatour; doubtless there cannot be a greater Testimony that there is something more than humane in Poetry; somewhat more than ordinary in this rare Modulation (for so it is in the Fancy, as well as when Music aireth a Poem on the Tongue) of conceits by Poetic Laws, the light of Nature confesseth, in that it confesseth it fit for the Service of their Gods: the flat Huddles of Prose were too rude, and of lower flight, than fitted the Heights of Devotion: for Zeal knows no flatter Figures than Hyperboles, gracefully set to number, and measure. For its use in their Philosophy, I refer you to Plutarch's Morals, the audiend. Poetis: for its Excellency, and use through all the three Regions of Men (as excellently Mr. Hobbs) the City, Court, and Country; I refer you to Sir William Davenants Account thereof; a Poem as amply commending Poetry as can be wished, by its one Perfection; only somewhat untouched by them (and as little observed by many, as it is believed by some few) may be added for the use (and therefore Apology for) the Dramatic part of Poetry, inferior to none for usefulness; to which Heathens (and some Sermon-shunning Christians) owe much of their Discretion, Civility, and Reclaims) as to Moral Honesty. I here enter not the Lists with any Histriomastix, to maintain the Stages Quarrel, as to the Presentments on, (it they now being confuted as sometimes Bellarmine is) but Writings, and Pennings for it; and first for Wit, from Plautus, or his Followers (in Imitation I mean, as well as Time) it hath borrowed its Quickning, and Heights: Nay, Wisdom is Debtor no less to the Sock, and Buskin: Nor is it such a Paradox as it may seem to sound to some half-witted Ears; for I dare aver what hath been writ for the Stage (ancient, or modern) is not inferior to any writings on the same Theme (excepting the Advantages of Christianity, and our better Schoolmasters for Heaven) of never so severe an Authority: Nay, on the same Subjects, some far above most other Pennings: and Prejudice condemned (instead of them) they may appear so to those judgements, that through some misbecoming (and no less mistaken) Gravity, think them below their use; and Plautus shall be my Instance for all the rest: it is Stradas Belief (not my Schism) besides divers others; from him take most of the Instances, and the distastefulness of the Quarrel rest with my Author. In Scripts of this Nature our Author requireth 1. Verborum vim & varietatem, 2. In Sententijs Pondus, 3. In Personis Decorum, 4. Praecepta demum instruendae vitae in memoriam revocare.  
1. For the first, in their Translation they lose their Elegancy; I shall therefore crave the English Readers pardon (in this discourse unconcerned) and keep the Language. I begin with that Expression by way of Invitation to an Afternoons Society.  
Dies jam ad umbilicum dimidiatus est, Sepulchrum quaeramus ubi hunc comburamus diem. And for our broad Hats (it seems in this time) how fitly doth he liken the Wearers to Toad-stools. Hic Fungino genere est, Capite se totum tegit. For the Infidelity of the Scholar's Mercer, how fit that: Oculatae manus nostrae sunt, credunt quod vident. The great Eater of Kent (or any later) may fully be deciphered by those Threats of Ergasius; which seem like some Gluttons Grace (or Self-Resolves.) Quanta pernis pestis veniet! Quanta labes larido! quanta Sumini Absumedo! Quanta Catto Calamitas! quanta lanijs Lassitudo! In which that no wit may be wanting, the gingling Ear, or Fancy, with whom Quibbles are the best Wit, may have Patterns exceeding ordinary Imitation, or Fribling of Wit. But (to return of some of Stradas instances) that his commanding Fancy could vary on the same thing (the Mastery of Wit) view in the above mentioned place: The several names for a Slave, used, threatened, or deserving to be beaten.  
2. Then for his Sentences, his Ink spent in them seemeth a rare Oxymel: S●rada shall make it good, Haud scias utrum mellis plus obtineant an Aculei, more●weetn●sse ●weetn●sse, or sharpness; the short Duration of worldly Happiness, how aptly called the Solstitial Plant, quas● sostitialis Herba fui, repent exortus sum, repentino occidi: and for married Mariners (or others ili-wived) he maketh whether he could not tell which were the greatest trouble (and sometimes Hazard) for them to stay at home, or go to Sea: for (saith he) Negotij sibi qui volet vim comparare, Navem, & Mulierem, haec duo sibi comparato. But inferior to none is that of the Tosses of Humane Conditions, or Affairs, that it is like a Set at Tennis, and man the Ball. Nos quasi Pilas homines Dij habent; as Ovid seconds him.  
Ludit in humanis divina Potentia Rebus.  
3. For the Decorum of Personating, it cannot be shown but by reading and comparing their Parson and Behaviours; but  
4. Lastly, for Precepts of life, how doth he abound? Benefacta benefactis aliis pertegito, ne perpluant, is an Advice as useful as witty; that we should cover good deeds; (take it as Strada, not only for Courtesies) with more following them, or on the top of them, lest the former should rain through. For the Omniscience of our Judge, and of the Powers above, how rarely presented and applied to the Spectators? by one personating Arcturus (that bright Star between the Legs of Boötes) which he feigneth to come down in the day, and observe the Actions of Men, and so to make Report (as it were) to Jupiter. What more Divinely could he conclude with, than that comfort of honest men, and Counsel to Perseverance. 
Idcirco moneo vos ego haec qui estis boni:  
Quique aetatem agitis cum Pietate, & come Fide.  
Retinete haec porro post factum ut laetemini.   
Show more serious Counsel in any humane Writings, and take it (and follow it too) for your pains. For Providence against all sorts of Future's that fall under our Care; what Rule better than that, Vt quotidie Pridie caveat, ne faciat quod pigeat Postridie, that it be our Care every day, to do nothing the day before, we may repent the day following. But for more Instances, or Apologies for this part of Poetry, I refer to the above mentioned Author. Should we cast our Eyes on divine Poems, and those in our own Tongue, we might find such whose Rapture and Devotion might well absolve Poetry of its objected Futility, and Levity, as if below the Serious man. In general this may be said for Poetry in all its parts: It cannot fall under contempt justly; for it never was below, but far above the Impotence of its Despisers. It is a most musical Modulator of all Intelligibles by her inventive Variations, undulling their Grossness, and subliming it into more refined acceptableness to our own, or others understandings. Truth's Nakedness it adorneth, (concealeth not:) the rougher Draughts of Virtue it sweetens, and pleasants with her Artful hand, even to peevish Beholder's. Divine Meditations it maketh Raptures, and turneth sparklings of Devotion to a Blaze: It maketh the Actively virtuous sing, and even the Passive Cheerful, turning Groans into solemn Church Music, and thankful Joy into sprightly Anthems. What Intellectual Sweets Poetry hath, they only know that feel her fires; they never know that contemn them: it is some Argument to me of its transcendent worth, that is scorned▪ by none but by the blind, or Lame, the Ignorant, or Impotent; imitated by most that have made such a Progress in good Natur●dnesse, as to be in Love, or in Knowledge of words, as to Rhyme▪ the most understanding may not only love, but admire it, which is not incident (frequently) to other kind of Writings. Poetry indeed hath a Fluence of Expression that chiefly stammers, and shortens of Perfection itself (as to Mental Midwivery and communication of our Notions) only in this, that it can better express any other thing, than its own worth. What Honour the Italians have it in, let their Proverb testify. Chi ha' Spirito di poesia merita ogni compagnia, He that is inspired with Poesy is welcome to (as well as fit for) the chiefest Company, and a Laureate is Companion for a Prince. The Dignity of Poets, and Poesy at large would swell to a Volume: its Picture wear therefore in this contracted Medal. Poetry was the wisdom of the Ancients, and its contempt is the Folly of the Moderns: Poets were among the He ●then, Divines, among Christians they are (or may be) Psalmists. Poetry rightly understood, and used, is sense worded to the best Advantage, the Opiate of unruly Passions, and Incentive of the Dull. In short, it is somewhat inspired, beloved by all 'tis understood. Language doth not more differ man from Beasts, than Poetry doth Men from Men in the Penning of their Conceptions: The Infantry of Prose may slowly gain upon our understandings; but the Chivalry of Verse charges them more sprightly and Irresistibly. Allow we then this Profane Inspiration (as it may) and not improperly be called) its just Plea for Pre-eminence above other Pennings, divine, or humane, on the same Theme (and where the freedom of Prose is not absolutely necessary to the nature of the Discourse) as much as Riding differs from Hoofing. What though Pegasus come to a bad Market, among Smithfield Souls, the Lofty Traveller knows his just price. To conclude therefore, the Zeal that is against Poetry let us leave singing Psalms; and the Scholar that slights it, is fitter to be rhymed on, ●than reasoned with.   

OF MUSIC, OR, THE JARRING EAR PUT IN TUNE  
IN the Sisterhood of Fancy, Music may justly challenge a Birthright; She and Painting being but younger Sisters to Poetry: A Ternary of Sisters, whether rich, or poor, that stoop not to inferior Souls; whose Dullness deafs their Delight in this second, and injudiciousness blinds their wonder, or liking of the third. Music for her Antiquity may challenge Seniority of most Arts; (in which Age is Beauty) as being dated in some irrational Creatures from the Creation, in Men not long after, and take Plato's word; from man's Creation itself, his Soul being but Harmony, and the greater world but Dissimilium concordia: Assertions we may be the modester in overthrowing, in regard the abstruse nature of the Soul admits of no better positive Definition (do I say? nay, Description) in this showing her Original to be from that Father of Spirits, as being better described (like him) by Negatives than Positives. But what kind of Harmony it is, we shall better know, when Hallelujahs come into Play. This rare invention of Music doubtless in some particular may challenge the Creator for her Inventour; in the Organs of those Airy Choristers, whose Lays like Grace before and after Meat, are tuned Praises of him that filleth the expecting Gapings of the young Ravens, and indeed of every living Creature; they being appointed (it may be) to present in more artful Notes the Praises of those Creatures (besides their own) whose more indisposed Temper, and Organs have made them Mutes in the Temple of the Universe. For its Antiquity, when Heathen Authority hath kept all the Pother it can, with their Amphion and Orpheus, Moses stateth the Question about the first Inventor of Instrumental Music: I will not deny but Vocal might be Adam's Prayer, or Thanksgiving, who doubtless would not be behind those Creatures he was Gossip to, and named out of acquaintance with their Natures; and (if any) no doubt the best Interpreter of Ornithology, or Language of Birds. In particular of the Cithara (let Critics interpret it) Tubal Cain was Author (as Hierome saith) an Instument different from what is now so called, and had four and twenty Strings. Of the Trumpet Moses himself was Inventor, saith Josephus lib. 3. Of all which see Polydorus Virgil. de Inventoribus Rerum; all, or part of which may silence the dull, and more Grave, than wise Coxcombs, that call all Music fiddling, is Original being as noble, and more ancient than many admired Crafts: Nay, Themistocles his Scorn (when entreated to play on an Instrument, he answered, I cannot fiddle, but I can make a little City a great one) might be answered, that That, and building (or enlarging) Cities were of Antiquity alike: But more its usefulness than Pedigree commends it. I find these Uses principally recorded to its Honour: In War it charmed their Fears, and raised their Valour, and that not only Imaginatively; for to such purpose, doubtless it hath some real Power, though Philosophy can but offer at the Reason of it. As for Beasts we know how some Airs have made the bounding Steed even tread the Air, and scorn the Ground as much as Danger. By its known power on Beasts, I cannot but believe that man's Soul is gone on some Errand and left the Body in Pawn, that feeleth not one String of his Mind touched with a Consent with the ravish of Music, but complaineth it maketh him dull, or more Melancholy. Music hath had its use in the Wars of Passions, and routed Discontents out of troubled Minds: Nay, when an Evil Spirit had Garrisoned Saul's Mind, David's Harp could vanquish even diabolical Melancholy, Sam. 1. 16. it not only expels a bad Spirit, but invites a good; So Elisha, King. 2. 13. Cassiodorus reckoneth many rare Feats of Music. Cithara Tristitiam jocundat, timidos furores attenuat, etc. Ep. 4. It unsaddens the melancholy, quickens the dull, awaketh the drowsy, etc. Herein you may hear the consent of a Consort of Authors: Lemnius, Giraldus, Philostratus, with the close of Scaligers confession of himself, in music is supra omnem fidem capior & oblector, choreas libentissime aspicio, etc. I am, saith he, incredibly taken with Music and Dancing (and they are no Scaligers that take Scaliger for a Fool:) it seemeth a Screwer up of lower Passions (more than Pins) if he in Philostratus may be believed that he could Moerentibus moerorem adimere, laetantem seipso hilariorem reddere, amantem calidiorem, etc. That he could make a sad man merry, and a merry man much more merry, a Lover more enamoured, and a Religious more devout. But here methinks the threadbare scoff at Devotion Piping hot, seemeth to deny any use of Music, in that where David chiefly used it, in the Service of God. But for my part, that the wel-ordered Music of former Ages did not better tune Devotion, and to higher Pitches (or Ela's) of Zeal, than Tunes began by an out-of-Tune Clerk, is one of those many Postulata, Assertions taken for granted, that I cannot play Assent to at first sight: David, the best of divine Poets, and (were his Music known) not the worst of Musicians (nay, according to some, so eminent, as an Inventor of many sorts of it) accounted not dumb Service, (ay, or out of Tune howling either) fit eenough for him to be honoured with, that continually doth (and to all Eternity shall) hear those Ravishing Hallelujahs; since old Law and things (as is objected) were passed away. A cheerful (even Musically) Service of God, was retained by solemn Anastasius, and seriously devout Ambrose, who thought not Church-music too light, or needless to (much less destructive of) Devotion. Poetry, and Music too in one Charge, is the Apostolles Cure of the Christians Melancholy. If any be sorrowful, let him sing Psalms, saith James 5. 13. And that even humane Invention may not be excluded the service of God, Paul enlargeth it to Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, where humane Invention cometh in for Ditty and Notes; unless some (that declaim that general whored humane Invention, against all that cometh not from their own Spirit) can make out (to talk in their own Phrase) the Canonical Poetry, and Apostolical, or Canonical Pricksong, (wherein the Tune of those Hymns, I, or David's Psalms) were set) that the christians then used: If they cannot, let us not shut the Fancy, or the Voice from the Service of him that made both; which doubtless will be exercised in their highest Altitudes, and most Elevated Perfections, then when all Tears shall be wiped away, and that endless Song of Joy be begun: On which considerations I am much prone to subscribe to the Italians Opinion, that the Enemy of Music is one God loveth not, confirmed by Pindars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: to whom Jupiter beareth no good will, Music is caterwauling. That Soul hath indeed most commonly some jarring ill-naturednesse, making harsh discord here among men, and (not without probability) is a thing untunable for Heaven, and unfit to bear a part in that Song of Moses and the Lamb; which since it intimateth both Poesy, and Music, we may say of them (among Arts) as Paul of Charity (that when Faith, and Hope cease, Charity maketh her Nest above the Stars.) So when all Arts shall vanish, then only for the creditable Pre-eminence of them be●ore many here preferred Arts) shall Poesy, and Music begin their endlessenesse; let who will commend their Mistresselike-chosen Arts, and advance them higher if they can.   

NATURES REPRESENTATITIVE, OR, LIFE DEAD COLOURED  
SIMONIDES worded it to the Life, when he said, Painting was dumb Poesy, and Poesy a speaking Painting. Imitation is the Soul of both, and if you will take in a third into the Society, it is a History that can (as Plutarch of Thucydides) make Auditors Spectators by its full Relation. 
Plutarch de Glor. Atheniensium.  So this History of Persons, (as I may term it) like that other of Actions, maketh the absent present, without the black Art, and yet with the Art of Colours. Plutarch maketh them not to differ in the End, Representation, but matter, and manner of Imitation; as if he were the best Historian that cometh nearest the good Painter, and he the best Painter whose Draughts do even equal the best compiled Narrations. 
Plutarch Moral. Tom. 2. p. 636.  Narratio enim Rei, etc. Plutarch's Morals, Tom: 2. p. 635. An Art it is, exacts the Reverence due to Age, as well as other Arts. Some will have Apollodorus the first Inventor of Colours and Shadowing, which latter according to some was first; the Painting being but Draught of such out-lines the Shadow casts: according to that Story that maketh the World Debtor to Love for this Delight of the Eyes Painting; for the Daughter of Deburiades, the Sicyonian, when she took her leave of her Sweetheart (to comfort herself in his Absence) she took his Picture with a Coal upon a Wall, as the Candle gave shadow; which her Father admiring, perfected, and it was the first Picture that ever was made, according to Pliny. That its Infancy was so, Polydor Virgil proveth out of Quintil. that the Substance of the Art was but rude shadowing. Non esset Pictura ni●t quae lineas modò extremas umbrae quam corpora in scle fecissent circumscriberet, it was nothing but a circumscribing those out-lines the Body casts by its shadow in the Sun: And to lesson our wonder, (that know to what Perfection it is arrived) he very well adds, Si omnia percenseas, nu●●sit Ars qualis inventa est, nec intra Jniti●●m stetit: No Art remaineth in the simplicity of its first Beginning. It is not unlikely the first painted Cloth had as false painting, as still they have false English. Arts have their Ages: Some like Man created, some like Man born; some perfect at first, that moulder by Time into the Infirmities, and Decays of Age, till they are quite lost, and buried in a confused Mention in History: (some it may be scarce have that) oth●rs again like a Man born, do from Infancy arrive to Perfection of Stature and Maturity: even so this among other Arts did, not much unlike the Artists themselves, that first learn to grind Colours, and draw outward strokes, which they in after times view with Smiles and friendly Contempt. This Art (according to Plutarch) came to pretty Perfection many years ago; for he reckoneth Euphranor of that exactness, as to have painted the Mantinean Fight against Epaminondas so lively, that the eagerness of the Assailants Minds might be as it were visible. Of these we may speak peaceably, and gain Belief of their Abilities, it may be: but to the Fame of any near our own Times, Emulation is deaf, unless some strange mastery in it set him abo●● detraction. The rareness of the Art none will deny, though few can judge: the division of Protogenes his line by Apelles is a known Testimony of it; and so is that Contest between Zeuxis and Parrhasius: the former having drawn Grapes that deceived the Birds by Invitation; and Parrhasius afterward a Curtain that deceived Zeuxis his hand attempting to draw it, who therefore modestly and justly cried out, Vicisti Parrhasi! thou hast the better Parrhasius; for I deceived only silly Birds, but thou an Artist. Strange Art! that questioneth the evidence of sense, and that our best, our sight: How can a masterly hand deceive with likeness, and please with variety; and yet in another sense with likeness satisfy the curious Eye, or treacherous memory, that hath lost the Effigies of an absent Friend; what esteem this Art hath had, the high estimate set on the Artists (and justly) and the great Price on their works can witness: and the proof of this, we needed not to have gone far to have seen in well furnished Galleries of our own, though it is indeed one piece of most Princes Gallant●● in Christendom to show selected, and ●umerous Draughts of the ablest Artists ancient, or modern. But on the contrary, this Ternary of Fancies Sisterhood, agree in nothing more than this, the distastefulness of their ill Performances; no such fool as the affectedly rhyming fool, no such harsh Noise, as hobbling Music, or such an offensive Sight as Pencill-dawbing: it seemeth an unpleasingnesse like fail of Trust, or Expectation, since the Art we know can, (and it may be the brags of Bunglers in it, make us believe by them it shall) perform Expectances. To say truth, ill Painting abuseth the Spectator, and ill Judging the good Painters; and this latter is not the unusual Fate of deserving Men, and able Masters in this Art. Some must be drawn fair (forsooth) though they would have the Painter do more than Nature for them. Polycletus, I believe, would have fitted them, that, Quintilian saith, had this fault; he was so for handsomeness, he could not draw their Gods grave enough: nil ausus ultra laeves genas, (saith the same Author) he could attempt nothing but smooth chinned faces (or as some phrase it fair snouts) & so non explevisse Deorem gravitatem, made Skipjacks of their Gods. On the other side Demetrius would as much detest such Judges; 〈◊〉 he was accounted nimius veritate, & similitudinis quam Pulchritudinis amantior, the good Painter's Character, he was more for the likeness, than fairness of a Picture: other look not on likeness in purposed places, so much as in less material or intended: If the Doublet, or Girdle be not like, their Noddles condemn it, Others look more on the thing signified, than Art of the Piece; like him in Rome, that being shown an excellent Piece of a Shepherd and his Pouch, and being asked how he liked it, answered, He would not have the live Original if they would give him him; Non agnoscens Artificium, sed tantum formam, saith my Author, not observing the Art so much as fancying the Prototypes deformity: gross Judgement enough, for though natural Deformity have a loathing Aspect afforded it, yet the artificial Representation of it hath oft more Pleasance than many handsomer Pieces. As for the Censures from one another, the Pieces of Artists meet with; I wish them to guard them with Apollodorus his Motto (the first Painter (according to some) and that used to write it about his Draughts:) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, any one may sooner find a fault, than mend it, in any Specimens, or performances of Art. To say true, this and divers other are alike in their Censurablenesse by the unskilful (be it Divinity, Physic, Poetry, etc.) we may complain in a Metaphor (as Painting can without) the blind World cannot judge of Colours:   

SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS, OR, False Reformations SHIPWRECK.  
THE Counterfeit of Religion, or moral Honesty in single Acts, are but Hypocrisys Pedlary, parceled out in small Wares; but the whole Pack is dissembled Reformation. Totius Injustitiae nulla capitalior est, quam eorum qui tum, cum maxime fallunt, id agunt, ut viri boni esse videantur. Cicero de offic. Lib. 1. Being indeed rather 1. a Change, than forsaking of Vices, and 2. Pretence (than Admission) of Virtues; whence followeth a false absolving of themselves, and condemning of others. As to the 1. truth is, Sinnography (as I may term it) the description or consideration of the kinds & differences of Sin, may be likend to some great Town, or City Corporations & great Towns, I am sure, are too like it in which are several Parishes, and each Parish its several Street. Now we know a man may remove even in the same Parish, out of one Street into another, and still keep the Parish, or out of one Parish to another, and still keep the Town: so fares it in the Imposture of Sins; Men think themselves as free, as the Child unborn (forsooth) from such and such a Vice, though they dwell but in a several Street of it; or free from all, because free from sins that make a greater Noise (rather through Corruption of Custom, than right Reason) as in some instances appear. We will instance the Extremes of Liberality, Temperance, and Justice, as having in them Vices branded with Scandal (although falsely) but partly (because partially.) On the one hand of liberality stands Covetousness, on the other Prodigality: now this double Error mists men's Judgements concerning them; either they take some things to be Sins, which are not, and that is the fault of those guilty of the other Extreme, or those not to be sins (or not so great) which indeed are, and as truly deserving the word Scandalous, and those are the guilty in the same: we will deal with the Truth (in the Dissection of this common Impostor, the deceitful Reformado) as Carpenters bring the square to great unwieldy crookednesses, that cannot be moved to it: First, show what indeed the Vice is (and no more, as well as no less; for there is Error in misapprehension of either) I hear fear not the half-witted Objectours that I may meet with, that may be ready to call limiting faults, their excuse; an Objection readily shot by Sinners in the opposite, or very different kind of Vice: and having done the first part, we will examine the common Practice and its sad consequences.  
Avarice is defined by parcé nimis largiendo, & avidè nimis accipiendo. The Niggardly bestowing, or sparing of our own, and too greedy desiring of what is others. Saint Austin hath them both in that Saying, non solum Avarus qui rapit aliena, sed qui cupide servat sua. He is not only Covetous, that is, Ravenous after what is another's, but he that is too close a holdfast of his own: but to take it in the formality of it, it is inordinatus Amor hubendi. Aquinas prima Part: Quest: 63. Art: 2. but more distinctly consult 2d. 2d. Quest: 118 Artic: 4. & 7. Aristotle's Ethic. 4. c. 1. You see a bare inordinate Affection and love of Riches, cometh under the notion of Covetousness.  
2. Prodigality on the other hand is Peccatum semper, non principaliter propter quantitatem, sed propter inordinationem dandi, quibus non debet dari, & propter quae, & sicut non debet.  
Prodigality, 
Tho: Aquinas. 2. Quest. 119. Art 1. Aristot. Eth. 4. c. 3. 1, 2, 3, etc.  saith Aquinas, is not so much in quantity (he may be a Prodigal that doth not beggar himself as well as he that doth) but inordinateness of spending, or giving either to such he should not, or for what he should not, or as he ought not; by which Rule, I believe, many a one that in his own conceit is a main Husband, and is forward enough to call some (in one kind of Prodigality) Prodigal, will be found to live, as I said, but in another Street of it; for according to the Rule of the Casuists, the formality of Prodigality is inordinateness of our layings out, or misbestowing on what we should not, and so the Items of some men (Parsimonious enough) will be found tainted with idle Prodigality: one of Aristotle's Characters of it, is, that it is a kind of carelessness, which end goeth forward (as we say) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. I cannot better interpret it than by the Apostles phrase, 
Ethicor. 4. c. 3. princip.  he knoweth neither how to want, nor how to abound. An excellent and fuller Character I cannot omit, being very ancient and significant, that I find quoted by Causabon on Theophrastus his Characters, which take in its Original and Translation, as above: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. What an Enemy would do, they do themselves by Luxury to their own Estates, wasting their own Fields, and even plundering their own houses, selling what's their own, as if it were Spoils taken from an Enemy; caring more what is left to spend, than for what is spent: rejoicing more in She-friends, than Hee-comrades, and in the Wine, than the Company.  
2. Next to be examined are the Extremes of Temperance, or rather the different kinds of Intemperance (for as for the too much Abstemious, we do not meet with them any where but in History, and that History for such like Examples much questioned) look on the two chief, 1. Gluttony, and Drunkenness: as for the former, People, I believe, as are ignorant, as in the latter they think themselves knowing, what it is, and how to call it: I will but mention the five limitations of the Casuist, a step beyond which, is as truly Gluttony, as Reeling can be called Drunkenness; 1. Either secundum ciborum substantiam, quam pretiosiores cibi appetuntur quam proprio cuique statuti conveniunt, the first inordinateness about eating is, the substance of our Diet, if too costly for our Rank: Secondly, About the Quality, if too elaborate, and curious about the Sauces and Preparations. Thirdly, if for the quantity we take in more than agreeth with Nature, whose burden appeaneth by too much dulness, drowsiness, or indisposedness of head, or stomach, unless coming from some Disease besides, or Infirmity of Digestion. Fourthly, the manner of eating if with greediness. Fifthly, the time when we should not, or oftener than is requisite.  
2. Is Drunkenness, which hath its circumscription; though some will give none but their own Fancies Test to judge one drunk by: Others again as wide, that will stand to Statute interpretation (when they scarce can against a Wall) and have none drunk but such as will scotch a Cart; a largeness, I believe, allowed to Scotch that Propensity to censure which many have, when they stand on shore, and see a Shipwreck, and themselves being sober (but in their Judgement see Double) subject to Sentence any they see but fuller of the Creature (as they word it that act this Severity) than themselves; but take the Casuists (among which I count Aquinas, and for all the stricter Apellation of Schoolman, (bate our Differences, as able as any) Definition, and est excessus in potando causa voluptatis, usque ad violentam Rationis Privationem, it is intemperate drinking with delight, till Reason be violently overthrown. Now to our new Modelled Divine, to whom the word Ethics may signify, for aught he knoweth, Sugar Sops, this Definition will seem as fraught with needless words, as some body's discourses (I wish I could not say, not only with men) but there is reason enough, saith Pavonius, for with delight is opposed to what may be taken in Physical Potion, and violent deprivation of our Senses, and Reason, as opposed to natural by Sleep.  
3. For the diviations from Justice commutative, or distributative, they vary to as many ways as there be (in the first rank) kinds of cheating, overreaching, and cozening; I had almost said Tradong: and not I only, but Anacharsis long before me, that said Forum esse locum mutuis hominum Fraudibus & Rapinis destinatum; that exchange, Fairs, Markets, I, or Shops were but finer convenient Places to be cheated in, Erasm: Apoth: 302. 19 and in the second all sorts of Injuries, from slighter Trespasses to violence, besides Defamation, uncharitable censure (which though not on the Bench, is no better than condemning the Innocent, according to the utmost of our power) and indeed to whatsoever transgresseth our Saviour's Compendium of the Law of doing as we would be done by. And thus we have seen the Channel we should steer our Judgements in concerning these Vices; now see the Rocks, our false Reformado splits on; the Prodigal thinks himself sure of Heaven, because he contemneth his Earth into Mortgages, or perpetual Farewells, the Parchment men call Sales: he would not live such a life as such a one doth (that is a Jew to himself, because he will be sure to be a Christian to none) and abridgeth himself of the very Crumbs of his slender Table, whose whole Loaf indeed it may. be are nothing else, and whose whole meat Scraps. Well, hear one Prodigal against another (before you hear the Miser's Vote) one cryeth, you will see such a one, I will warrant you, come to Beggary; do you not see how he flings away, or drinks away his Father's Rakings of much Labour, many years, and more Cares, while it may be this Reprover only in a graver and silenter way buryeth it as fast in Buildings needless, vain, or ill contrived, that stay but the finishing, and being called by his kind Gossip-neighbours, his Folly, and though it have no Godfathers, or Godmothers, or such like Popish things, his Conscience shall furnish the Solemnity with a thousand Witnesses. Another cries out on the one's Taverning (where he would not spend a six pence, he never knew any come to good that did) or the others diruit, aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis, building, altering, and changing his Money for Rubbish. In the mean time, one that shall be nameless wears the Breeches; no marvel therefore if she command the little Pockets (and Keys to more than they can hold) and this frugal must, nay, (in Vxoriousnesse) offers what ever his Princess will call necessary, if the Exchange afford it, it matters not who call it superfluous, vain, or idle Expense, till his Purse finds an Exchange Shop, as chargeable as any house with a Bush to it. Thus you see various Prodigals absolving themselves. Hear the Miser, their common Enemy; Horace hath him to a hair, 
— Contra hic ne Prodigus esse  
Dicatur, metuens, inopi dare nolit Amico,  
Frigus quo duramque famem depellere possit.  
Lest he a Scattergood should counted be,  
he'll not relieve his Friend, although he see  
Him perishing with Hunger, or with Cold.   
To avoid the Infamy of an ill Husband, he will not be a good Friend, Neighbour, nor Man; or say he be not in the extremity of sordid Covetousness; nay, be only not guilty of Prodigality (yet which is the upshot of this Dissection) how doth he absolve himself, and condemn the Prodigal, thinking nothing Virtue but thriving, nor Vice, but spending, and Poverty. Horace met with such Selfe-applauding wells-to-passer, triumphing over another's inferiority in Estate, as in some expressions, culled for my purpose, followeth. 
Quem damnosa Venus; Quem praeceps alea nudat.  
Gloria quem supra vires & vestit & ungit;  
Quem Paupertatis Pudor & fuga, Dives amicus  
Saepé decem vitijs instructior, odit & horret.  
Aut si non odit, regit:—  
— T●ibi parvula Res est.  Which though not Critically translated, (yet to my purpose, and the Enlish Readers Instruction sufficiently) take thus. 
Whom Cheating Whores, or Dice have made Threadbare;  
Whose clothes, and Garb above his Incomes are:  
He that with shame of Poverty, and shunning it, is vexed;  
His Richer Friend Prides to reprove; his Text  
He takes him for: though Vices ten times mòre  
he's guiilty of; that nothing: you are Poor.  A Bankrupt in Estate is so in Grace in his Account, and will scarce allow the Parable of the returning Prodigal to be probable; when it is well known, it hath oft proved a better School to teach men the Knewledge of God, themselves, and the world, than an even unruffled swim of Affairs, and Fortunes. The like Passages are between the variously intemperate, or them, and the any way abstemious (but virtuously; for they that light on the virtuous Mean are humble and charitable) If ones natural Constitution, or Inclination hath made him decline Wine (but not faring deliciously every day by his good will) You shall, it may be, hear him disliking any use of Wine that is not in the measure, or manner he useth it himself; though Scripture itself hath appointed it as well to Mirth as Digestion, and mentioneth its sometimes freer use, than at other, without the least blameablenesse; in such like use as Dr. Brown on this ground and reason, snatcheth it from the vulgar Errors, slandering it with the imputation of Drunkenness, in these words; but Averro, a man of his own faith, restraineth his Ebriety to Hilarity; in effect making it no more than Seneca commendeth, and was allowable in Cato; that is, a sober Incalescence, and regulated Aestuation from Wine: or what may be conceived between Joseph and his Brethren, when the Text expresseth they drank largely, and whereby the Commodities set down by Avicenna, may also ensue; viz. Alleviation of Spirits, resolution of Superfluities, Provocation of Sweat, etc. Against such justifiable uses of it, you may frequently hear some good-eating Chaplain rail; or against any Divine but seen going into a Tavern (more through Custom, than Reason, made to smatch of offenssive, and for which any of them might plead, as Diogenes, once reproved for being seen in a Victualling house, answered, I use to be trimmed, saith he, in a Barber's Shop; It being doubtless no more scandalous to go to the Place Wine is sold in, then to the Market for Provision.) Well, this Trencherlabourer will not drink with that Divine, but he shall eat, and drink too (at another body's Table, and house) with him, and tie one of his hands behind him. On the contrary, the Riotous Wine-bibber preacheth over his Cups as fluently against Hospitality, or a wel-furnished Table, as Gluttony and Excess, making Provision dear, and destroying Health, etc. Another rails against both, not as vicious, but profuse: In other Deviations to extremes, how doth the Professor (and no more) glory that he is no Drunkard, Whoremaster, etc. though never so arrant a Thief in unjust dealing for Highways, or Crowds have not all the Thiefs; Shops have ten for one) though he overreach Father, Brother, or Sister, etc. The Schismatic glorieth that he keepeth not Company with the Wicked, and is proud of his pride of Separation. The loser Liver glorieth, it may be, that he is not an Herctick, or Schismatic: it is not only Rioutousnesses properly, to hate those that run not to the Excess, but generally each Extreme dislike the other; so true is the Poet Horat. lib. 1. Ep. 18. 
Oderunt Hilarem Tristes, Tristemque Jocosi,  
Sedatum celeres: Agilem, gnavumque Remissi.  
Potores bibuli media de Nocte Falerni  
Oderunt porrecta negantem Pocula.  
Grum-sirs hate Jovialists; they the sad,  
The active Soul a Saturnist; as bad  
He brooks your nimble Mercury; agree  
With midnight-Roarers can't the sober he.  And all this while their Consciences know▪ what they are, while their Tongue's glory▪ what they are not: what more familiar than to cover the Sins against one Table, with the pretended observation of the other, or of the same Table with strictness in the observance of some Duties in that Table? Thus one will not be seen go into an Alehouse, but will be seen going into a Brother Divines Living, with no more Remorse than a Roister goeth into a Bawdy-house, nor with no more Conscience, (for if they should change Consciences (this Abstemious and that Incontient) I believe the shameless Whoremaster would have the worst of it.) Another seemeth so strict a maintainer of somewhat in the first Table, some Opinion in Religion, that he careth not for breaking any of the second against a Dissenter, by endeavours to undo him, besides his uncharitable Censures; why he is a Reprobate at best, who thinks not as they do, is not acquainted with the Power of Godliness, discerneth not spiritually; is yet in his natural Condition, with such like phrases of Excommunication, when as God knoweth, the Power of Godliness is Charity, thinking well of, and doing well to those within the Pale of the Church: it is not slight difference will bear pronouncing of Anathema on those that Concur not with our Judgements. But let us view the miscarriages of public Reformation; they often prove as guilty, and sometimes of worse Consequence, than that they reform from; as Horace phraseth it, Est huic diversum vitio vitium quoque majus, Lib. 1. Ep. 18. Thus to reform the Enormities of men in Authority, by taking away the very Order of Government itself; from corrupt Judges, to none at all, were a wild Reformation; to reform Hierarchy by Anarchy, a Remedy worse than the Disease, to reform that again by Papal (ay, or Kerkish) Tyranny over men's Conscienes (and then be sure over their Purses will follow) were a Reformation would extort Horace's Stulti dum vitant vitia, in contraria currunt.  
It being neither Wisdom, Policy, nor Piety, to reform Abuses by Ruin. Again, who denieth but to put down Swearing is good (and so it is to forbear it) but to practise (or tolerate, much more encourage) calumniating Information● against our Brother to the ruin of him, and his, is as bad as the other is good. To pull down an Image, and tie a Horse in the room of, it is reforming a Church with Furniture not required. Thus (as I said) Neighbours in the same sin think they Reform, if but tinctured with an extreme in any thing: The Jewish Pharisee boasts he paid Tithes of aell that he had (more than was required; as Montanus observes) divers Christian pharisees think they reform from him, and Publican too (scandalous sins of all 'sizes) if they can boast that they pay no Tithes of any thing that they have; an Omission (according to some) equivalent in guilt with most of the Publicans Commissions (ay, of many of our Newgate Publicans) or C●suists talk besides the book▪ for they make it Robbery of God, and the Denyers little better than Bid-stands to the Almighty, and bidding him deliver; or a taking not ●so much Heaven (as what belongs to the Ambassadors of Heaven) by violence. But let us now come to view the sad ●Consequences of mistaken Reformation, ●inlargement in the Instances whereof I leave to every one of sober Judgements Animadversion in his daily looking abroad into the World:) and Horace's 18. Ep. Lib. 1. The sad Consequences of this Shipwreck are reducible to these two; the first, Crowning of Charity▪ and secondly, a saving ourselves, or such a Self-justification that is but a more sure Damnation.  
1. For the fi●st, whence springeth all our uncharitable Censures but from the Pharisees, I am not as this Publican, which words contain both these Mischiefs, Reprobating the Publican, and saving himself (but by his own Righteousness.) Thus do we, while we count the Faults of that same This Publican (be they real, or slander) to be greater than any we harbour: whereas (though it sound like a Parado● to such as look for Truth no where but in their own narrow sense, and traffic for it neither with other men, or Books, than their own private Spirit; and although it may make such prick up their Ears, yet ●since it is from Truth, and her Secretaries (the Casuists) hear their deducibles.  
These right Examiner's of things make rash Judgements of others, sins of a deeper Gild, than men generally take them to be; insomuch as to be a Thief is less Crime than to call one so wrongfully: by how much ones good name is more precious than hi● Goods, though the loss▪ may ● be considerable; but much more if ● no greater than many a (less Guilty) Thief is trussed up for, and so they aver to be drunk, or accessary to another's Distemper (especially supposing the Distemper under command from breaking out into any other sins besides its own dementation, or stupidity) to be a less sin, than to call one Drunkard, on the bare sight of him in a Distemper, or but one slen●er Information.  
2. The other dangerous Consequence of Opinionative Reformation, is saving ourselves, which (so long as by Selfe-justification (and by our own righteousness) is the highest degree of Self-murder, as surely reaching the Soul, as Despair: which is more than we dare pronounce of all Disposers of their own Lives, and Bodies: It is not ordinarily imagined what danger lurks in this Pride of Conceited Reformation from Sins customarily called Scandalous, and justly so called, but unjustly exclusively, as if they were so only, and others not Sins, which we retain, though sins all out as scandalous. Among Casuists this Nick-naming of Sins hath done more hurt, than the World is aware of; yet it is as old as Tacitus Histor. 1 p. 269. Quae alij scelera, hic Remedia vocat; thus let Sins be but bearded, or gilded (as I may term them) grave enough, or gainful, they pass for Commendable Qualities. Thus Covetousness (in Laiety, or Clergy (in whom it is not Idolatry alone, but Atheism) is good Husbandry; and uncharitable Censures, or Murder of Charity, is but Severity against Vices, when none of the Ruffianlike Sins are to be compared with either. Thus all rail against the Thief, when the several Corruptions of Justice, from the Judge to the Solicitor, are above Theft, or Debauchery: compare and judge. The Debauched Riotous Youngster makes a house, it may be▪ roar: A Corrupt Judge (ay, or Justice of Peace, even in his smaller Volumed Authority) can make a house weep as fast; the one breaks a Drawer's Pate, the other a Widow's Heart: the one, it may be, will bring himself to want, but the other brings Fatherless and Motherless by whole Sale to Misery; but that is done on the Bench, or in Formalities, and in Scarlet, therefore no words of that; yet it is thought the arrantest Goal-bird might take the Pharisees words in his mouth, change but the word Publican, & truly say, I thank thee Lord, I am not as that corrupt Judge, since it is not a Problem will need a Sphinx, to resolve whether all the Thiefs condemned by any Circuiter corrupted, have done more Villainies than their Judge. But to pursue particulars were endless: the 〈…〉 is in the c●vil●●onest 〈…〉 
a T●cit. Hist. 1. in Lips. Ed. 160. p. 273.  magis ex●r● 〈…〉 to be a● 〈◊〉 from 〈…〉 Hypocrite: that of Otho: 
b ib. 272:  Om●●i●●et O●●ensas, an distulisset, brevitate Imperij in incerto fuit: Vices rather adjourned than dissolved; as in express words in the same man's Character Tacitus wordeth it; 
c ib. pag. 281.  dilatae voluptates, dissimulatae vir●utes, & vitia reditura; Vices sent afore, till he was Enthroned, and Virtues to be his Followers; only during his Progress to Empire: Of which nature are Virtues through Impotence of sinning, as Abstemious Poverty, which no doubt is as Commendable, as p●tient Prosperity. By all that hath bee●●aid, our Mock-Reformado seemeth to ●● in no whit safer condition than a professed Renegado; for dangerous and sad no doubt must be the miscarriage of that Voyager in Reformation, that escapes (as it were) the Rocks of our Shore▪ and after is cast away on Goodwin Sands,    


A MEDITATION ON THE UNGUARDED TREE OF LIFE.  
IT is an ungrateful, nay, Superstitious Scrupulousness, to deny the day wherein (and cro●●e whereon) the Tragedy of God was acted, their Sequestered Meditations: It was doubtless as needless to ●et down the Circumstances of our Redeemers Passions as it can be vain to allow them their distinct Memorials. It had been Gospel enough to have said, God so loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son, etc. Who ever thou be'st then, that wil● call no Friday good, & whose Life, or Action's can lend no day that Appellation? Give me leave to learn to spell Christianity, an that Book called Gods-●ove to Mankind, (bound up in the course Cover of Humane nature) even that verbum Deum, Christ Jesus, by beginning with the Cross (to us the Tree of Life.) Blessed Redeemer▪ was it for making this, thou wast so long at thy Supposed Father's Tr●de, of a Carpenter? to make a Cross whereon to hang, Mundi Fabricatoris Filium, non Fabri; the Son of the World's Creator, not of a Carpenter: (as a Father varieth it) and those wonders of love, besides the Sins of Men, enough to crack the Fastening of this Glorious Fabric. When I consider what a weight of Wonders it bore, I sink under the weight of my single wonder at them. Saint Austin's Pen hath drawn the lines of those Riddles that centred in Christ on this Cross, Sermone de Natali Domini. Homo factus est hominis Factor, ut sugeret ubera Regens sidera, etc. The Maker of man was made man. He sucked, whose● pavement is the Milky way; the Bread of Life hungered, the Fountain thirsted. What but Riddles are they? that he that came down from the Father of Lights, and he that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth should sleep; the way be weary; the Truth overthrown by false witness, the Judge of all the world be arraigned, Justice condemned, Discipline whipped. Lastly, ut in ligno Fundamentum Suspenderetur, that the Founder and Foundation itself of Heaven and Earth should hang on this splinter of his Creation, an Ignominious Tree; a Tree indeed, but of the voc all Forest; which although it silence its Spectators with wonder, yet itself speaketh Instructives, it speaketh Shame, Comfort, Returns.  
1. Shame; and here, blessed Apostle, give me leave to say, I am ashamed of nothing more than the Cross of Christ, as I believe those Revi●wers are, whom the Prophet speaketh of, They shall look back on him whom they have pierced. Ungrateful Cure, that the Physician must become Patient, and that of ● Death itself, to make us whole that have wounded him. Let thy Goodness, O Lord! plead for thy Wisdom in this Bargain (no other excuse else can be found) to buy sinful Dust with thine own Blood: redeem our shame, by the shameful Death of Glory and Immortality it self. Thou that gottest nothing by making the world, wouldst thou put thyself to more charge than all of it is worth, to redeem the worst part of it, fallen Man? but [sic Tibi bene placuit] it was the good pleasure of thy will, answereth that. It hath been the wish of pious m●● to see Sin in its Natural Deformity: wouldst thou have a lively Picture of Sins▪ and thy shame? none cometh near the Idea of a Crucified Saviour, set upon the Mount of Meditation, as that real Crucifix was on Mount Calvary. View but a dying Saviour, and thou wilt easily assent to that Truth; They are Fools (and that with a witness) that make a Mock of Sin. A twelve months Dispute in the Schools, will not so soon confute venial sins. Thoughts thy Peccata Capitis, Capital Sins, were so Legally, as well as Locally, and were the Crown of Thorns, the first Shedders of that Innocents' blood: in this Tragedy, thy Peccata Oris, Tongues, and Mouths, Transgressions in words, or Intemperance were the Gall and Vinegar mingled for a Cordial in his Torments. But then thy Opera manuum, Handiworks, were those Nails fastened by the appointment of that wicked Assembly, and Conspiracy of Priests, and Elders, the Representative of us all: we were present all, principal, not only accessary to this God-Manslaughter, nay, Murder: (that therefore is forgiven, because committed, never any Crime but this expiating itself) And what is now become of Venial sins, when the least is Murder, as guilty of the blood of Christ.  
2. But O my Soul! look on the light side of this black Friday, on the Recovery of this Eclipse of the Sun's Creator; and though Shame muffle up thy Face, when thou lookest on him as pierced by thee, bore thy face with Comfort when thou lookest on him as pierced for Thee. Behold in mount Calvary the place of Skulls, Death hath lost the Field, Hell is routed, and the Devil hath betrayed himself (in betraying Christ) to shame, and the loss of his Captives. Death's Prisons are broken open, & Christ's own Resurrection antedated. Look on the Cross now as the Sceptre of Admission; (the Apostle maketh it so) now Aha●uerus his presence is not deadly; sinful Dust may not now fear being turned to Ashes, by that consuming fire; the Court of Requests is set open, and the grand Master of Requests our Crucified Jesus. Now then again we will say with the Apostle, We arr not ashamed of the Cross of Christ; nay, God forbid we should glory in any thing bu● the Cross of Christ: this is that Scala Caeli, Heavenly Ladder, Jacob dreamt of, (a Dream so pleasant, that stones were Pillows) and indeed the sight of this Cross will make all other Crosses easy.) on this Ladder was his Prayers ascending, Father forgive them (and in them all the World) and as it were Heaven's Echo descending, delivered by this Cr●cified word: in that Consummatum est, it is finished; as if he had said, all is done, and granted in Heaven, and Earth, that my blood cried for. Let Writers wrangle of how many several sorts of Wood this Cross was made. I am sure to the Believer it is all Arbour vitae, an unguarded Tree of Life; to which Angels invisible (or visible, the Ministers of the Gospel) will now Led us rather, than fright our Approach with any flaming Sword, though Superstition hath made this Cross as big as Noah's Ark (if all the chips of it (which several places brag of) were gathered together.) It is no Fable to say, each Believer may make himself an Ark out of it, against the Deluge of Fire the World expecteth. (Pardon the expression, Sodoms' Rain will justify it:) fling but one Chip of this wood into all thy troubled and bitter waters, and it shall sweeten them: It is the Christians Armoury for defensive, or offensive Weapons; the universal Medicine: no Tree ever bare such Fruit as this, when it bore the Fruit of the Virgins Womb. Though Nature wore blacks on this day, for the Death of the God of Nature: yet to Faith the Bridegroom was but now come, even then when his Corporal Presence left his Disciples. From Good Friday doth the Apostles Charge bear date: Rejoice always; his grave clothes are those Handkerchiefs that wipe all Tears from our Eyes. This is the first day of Sorrows, Exile, and Joys return to lost Mankind; his Birthday beginning Hallelujahs, but respectively to the finishing of this day. Then to us a Child was born, this day a Saviour, a day of Hope to true men, whereon a Thief (as it were) taketh Heaven by violence: the Joys and Fruits that drop from this Tree, will be the Business of Eternity to recount, when all Crowns shall be thrown down to this Crown of Thorns; for that only is worthy, it is this Cross is Caecorum Dux, claudorum Baculus, the blind man's guide, and lame man's Crutch, on the way, and in the end is lignum vitae aeternae, the Tree of everlasting life, as Cassiodorus on the fourth Psalm.  
But lastly, the third Voice is, Returns; but, what shall I return the Lord for all his Benefits? is the question of the grateful ●oule, or of a Faith working by Love; to which Question there are many Answer'st hear God himself telling his choice of a●● we can give him, and it is, My Son give me thy heart; which besides its usual exception, sounds like a Bargain as well as Request; and so the works, my Son, ar● not so much Compellation (and that an honourable one) of his Redeemed ones: but as if he should say, There is my Son, for him give me thy heart. I am sure it is no wresting of the words to say, the words, my Son, are a strong Argument used, for to move our returns of Love, because they intimate the giving of his Son, to make us Sons: well then, give thy heart, and Christ will think himself well appayed for all he hath done, nay, suffered for thee. It is Justice no less than Gratitude, to surrender all we have, or are to him, that hath so dear bought a Bargain so hard. Let the same mind be in us that was in those, whose hearts were set on fire with Love to their Redeemer, by the Beams of his Love, darted first (through Faith's burning Glass) on their Souls. What were the Doings, and Sufferings of the Apostles, and Martyrs, but Raptures of Love? who looked on flaming Faggots, but as Hymeneal, and Nuptial Torches, lighting their long before espoused Souls, to the Marriage of the Lamb: to whom Life was Martyrdom, because an Exile from the Chamber of their Bridegroom; therefore having Vitam in Patientiâ, mortem in desiderio, their Lives in no other esteem than Afflictions, and Death in their desires as a Reward, or Release. Riddles to an earthy Soul, wedded to Phantasms of Happiness; whose Fruitions are but Semelaean Embraces of a Cloud, for Jupiter; Shadows for Substance. But whether are these Reflections of Love vanished in these our days, or nights rather of Creature Idolatry, and Atheism? all that was done this day for us miserable men, can scare preserve the several of its Observation. We are ready to afford Good Friday bad Language, and arraign its Remembrance of Superstition, and through Zeal (too Pharisaical) to Crucify its Memorial: but that is not all our Ingratitude. How little will man do, for what God-man on this day suffered? Such small Tokens of our Love (that in his Members he beggeth) how hardly we part with? nay, seeing our unkind Niggardliness, he desires us not to give, but lend him Relief; and yet how few Creditors can this All-sufficient Debtor find? we will lend Man on his Bond for six in the Hundred, sooner than on Gods Hundred for one, insured on a word so firm that one Jota of it shall not perish in the general Fire of Heaven and Earth: could this be, were not the Actions of this Day (and signs of Gods Love manifested on the Cross) but as a Tale that is told, and of no concernment to us? Let the Cross on thy six Pence (if that be the only Cross thou canst endure) put thee in mind what he suffered, that beggeth the smallest Cross in thy Purse to relieeve him in thy Brother; starve not thy Crucified Saviour; let the jews cruelty suffice, and let not thy uncharitableness vary his Torment: it is no less than the Bread of life, and Giver of thy daily bread, that keepeth constrained Fast days in thy hungry Brother, till thy Plenty make him a Thanksgiving day: shorten his Lent, and thy Easter and Resurrection shall be the more cheerful. He hath said it that will one day audit the poor man's Complaints, and thy Stewardships Accounts; when no Sin, but unkindness to thy suffering Saviour, shall be cast into thy Dish, to the feeding of the never dying Worm of Conscience; and if he appear (as it is thought he will) with all his Wounds upon him, and laying his Hunger, Nakedness, unrelieved Imprisonment to thy charge, Shame cannot but extort a Confession of the Desert of all thy present, or feared Horrors; but doubtless it is better looking on him whom thou hast pierced on the Crucifix, than Tribunal, and by affective Meditations, to view (as reacted) the Tragedy of this day, than for want hereof) to tremble at the Triumphs of that, wherein those Wounds that here speak penitential Shame, and unspeakable Comforts, shall then speak confounding shame, and unutterable Horrors. Thus have I (with leave of the Scrupulous) been so superstitious as to descant on that Text of the Crucifix, even the Word that was God, taken to pieces (or divided) by jewish cruelty, by Misinterpreters wrested, by Presumptuous Christians misapplyed, by uncharitable made illegible, by few rightly believed, and by as few beloved: And I have endeavoured to pluck some Fruits from the Tree, which promiseth a non moriemini, you shall not die, to those that taste of it; which to own (nay glory in) and that in thought, words, or writing; let him be ashamed, that hath no hope therein. For my own part, I could wish an Extract of all human● Abilities, and Quintessence of divine Assistance, and all (as that Box of precious 〈…〉 Saviour, 〈…〉 Memorial, & 〈◊〉 of his 〈…〉 a Theme, 〈…〉ging such as descant on it. Wherefore it was a pious Rapture, and exemplary, wherein an able Poet of our own expresseth his Resolve to leave lighter Fancies for divine: with which I conclude.  
Prompted by thy example then, no more  
In Moulds of Clay will I my God Adore;  
But tear those Idols from my heart, 
carew's Poems 160  & write  
What his blessed spirit, not fond love shall indite.  
Th●● I no more shall Court the verdant Bay,  
But the dry leaveless Trunk on Golgotha;  
And rather strive to gain from thence one Thorn,  
Than all the flourishing Wreaths by L●●reats worn.   

2 d. Divine Essay. THE COMMANDED TREE OF KNOWLEDGE.  
THE Cross of Christ in its second, and Metaphorical Acception, is the Christians Burden, and Badge: That which he is to take up, that which he is to glory in. The one is'a Paradox (and a smart one) to the Flesh; the other to the World; but bo●h Truths to be learned before ere a letter in the Christians Christ-crosse-row; ●s being indeed, though none of the Letters, as instructive as all the four and twenty. Nor is it the Badge only, but the Scutcheon, the Coat of Arms of every Christian stian, and take Saint Paul's word, a Coat that sticketh as near as the Skin, nay, Flesh; for he bore the marks of Christ's suffering in his Body, Galath. 6. 17. Christ is called the first Fruits, Christians are the latter; and that not only in Reference to the Resurrection, but this Tree; on which to be born, or which to bear, must be accounted no strange thing to those that call themselves by that name: to taste, or be the Fruit of this Tree, hath no less Temptation (and more justifiable will our yielding be) than that forbidden one had, that conquered Adam in the complete Armour of his own Righteousness: For if any, this now is a Tree of Knowledge, and that commanded, not forbidden, making us know, and known: The Cross with Christ on it showeth God's love to thee; but with thee on it, sheweth thy love to God; the Knowledge it bears is well worth the gathering: would you see God look into the Furnace, there not only the three Children, but their Persecutors found the true God Prophets, and his Children, it may be, can discern him in the still Voice; but the voice of Thunder can cure the Deafness of Atheism itself; Judgements can make them subscribe to his Power, that would not to his Patience: an unchecked current of Affairs we know hath drowned many in Atheism: When Storms we know can teach even Mariners to pray, that at other times (too many of them) think not so much of Heaven, as look on it, and that not to find their way thither, but some petty Port on Earth. Cross Events will teach even Machivellians their Catechism, if you will believe the Oracle of Policy, Tacitus, quoth in pace for'rs seu Natura, tunc Fatum & Ira Dei vocabatur, Histor. 4. Stupid Incorrigibleness accompanied the continued Prosperity of Nebuchodnazzar, who was more a Beast before he grazed, then while he did, or after. The Ruffling Swearer dareth not call his Teeth Puritans, if their Pains reprove, and spoil the mouthing of his Oaths. A fit of Iliaca Passio, the Colic called Miserere mei, Lord have mercy upon me, in probability would be a good Recipe against cursing of others. A Door speaking the same Language on it, and a red Cross on it would more effectually bring a licentious Gallant out of conceit with a Brothell-house, than Salomon's call it the Chambers of Death. So much more persuasive are the Sermons of the Rod, than of God's bare word; and the House of Mourning sooner than God's House would prove a House of Correction to a desperate Sinner, Ep. 67. p. 205. P. Seneca calleth his Life Mare mortuum, a dead Sea, in which no Adversity hath ruffled the smooth Streams of his Fortunes; and indeed he that is becalmed in Prosperity, traveleth but little in discovery of himself: but is to himself merely, Terra incognita. All a man can study is God, himself, and the World; the knowledge of the first is a Fruit of this Tree, and so are the two latter: for ones self, this Cross teacheth him whereof he is made. Alexander's Wounds let out Jupiter's Blood presently; no longer will he be flattered into a Deity, when he findeth the Arrow, or Weapon so saucy as not to take notice of his Godship. Then for the World, how by Losses do we gain a true discovery of its Bracteata felicitas, Tinselled happiness, outside film of Contentedness, which when flaid off, what appeareth but vanity, or vexation of Spirit: nothing, or too much to consist with Tranquillity of mind, the best of it to be reckoned among our Impedimenta, Baggage, or fardels that must be left behind. Quicquid circa Tejacet Rerum, tanquam Hospitalis loci Sarcinas specta: Transeundum est. Look on the things of the World but as Parcels, or Paoks must be left in this Inue of the World when thou must depart. Look on Riches on the Wing, and their uncertainty will lesson thee out of that, vivimus tanquam semper victuri, the Philosopher complaineth on, that living with the Desires of Abiders, as he saith: omnia tanquam mortales timemus, concupiscimus tanquam Immortales, our Fears are like Mortals, our Desires as if Perpetuity were the extent of our lease of Life; and all long of this Reason, nunquam nobis Fragilitas nostra succurrit. Did we observe what Reeks Pestilence, War, Famine (or to sum up all) Ruin, keep, what Clatter they make in this Potter's Shop of earthen Vessels, we could not fool ourselves into a Belief, our Vessels were of such durable matter. But this Tree doth not only make us know, but also known, and the N●ble Order of the Cruysado Heaven bestoweth not on Milksops, low-spirited Souls; no, their Portion is Prosperity, as fit for effeminate tenderness, according to that, Prospera in Plebem ac vilia Ingenia deveniunt. Seneccur bonis Mal. c. 4. Prosperity is the lot of low and vulgar Spirits; so that the Cruysado is not only a distinguishing, but ennobling Order. They that do not once look on all the Pomp, and Glitter of any Court on E●●th; a suffering Paul will draw them as it were from enjoying, or increasing their own Happiness, to look on him now suffering as much, and as fast for Christ, as before he acted against him. We are become a Spectacle, saith he, to God, Angels and Men: It is not a trivial sight draweth the Eyes of so glorious a Theatre: the light of Nature judged such a Spectacle, as Virtue gallantly suffering, to be one of the rarest Imaginable.  
Quid habeat in terris pulchrius Jupiter? si convertere Animum velit, quam ut spectet Catonem, jam non semel fractis Partibus, stantem nihilominus inter Ruinas rectum. Senec. cur Bon: Mal. c. 2. What pleasinger Spectacle could Jupiter have, than to see Cato after several Overthrows of his Party, stand even in the midst of Ruin upright? What more pleasing Spectacle to the Theatre of Heaven, than to see gallant selected Spirits engage in its Cause, to the Expense of blood, loss of Wives, Liberty, Children, Estates, with more daring than their Persecutors threaten, or execute, and lose all earthly Enjoyments (for Heavens Euge, well done thou stout and faithful Soldier of Christ) with more cheerfulness than their Enemies enjoy them. A despised Martyr insulting over his Insulter's; wearying his Tormentors, embracing their Cruelty, and even meeting Death, causeth Heaven to ring (as it were) with a Plandite, and maketh them renew their Anthem, Quo usque Domine, How long O Lord, how long, etc. of so much more Concernment is one suffering Saint, than all the Noise-makers in the World, and Traders for Power, or Pelf; and the Cruysado, or Cross of Christ, above all Orders taken up by the Potentates of the World: and the Crown of Thorns more honourable than Diadems, and Stephen killing Lapidary above the richest Jewels in either Indies. Thus they are in Heaven's Book of Rates; none but those ignorant of thy Worth, O Tree of Knowledge! would decline thy Fruit, nor any fear the Cross, but such as look not through Faith's Prospective. Set the Promises on the Cross as thy Sights, and it will prove a jacob's staff, discovering the height of thy Rewards after this moment's suffering: It will show thee the top of jacob's Ladder, of which thy Afflictions are but the Rounds, by which is made thy Ascent to the Throne of God; from having Stones thy Pillows here, as Jacob had, to having Stars thy Pavement, as Abraham and all departed in the Faith have. Thus will this Tree of Knowledge suffer another Metamorphosis, as before from a Tree of life to this Tree of Knowledge: so again from this Tree of Knowledge, to that Tree of Life, not in the midst of the Garden, but the City of God, Revel. 22. 2. That beareth twelve manner of fruits, and twelve times in the year: and that it shall never be blasted, see the third verse; there shall be no Curse. But I conclude with that Summary of our Behaviour under the Cross, and Encouragement to that Behaviour, in the close of Drexel. Gymnas. Patientiae. Sustineamus paulisper, & non deerit Certantibus Auxilium, nec vincentibus Praemium. Fear not, being one of Heavens Gladiatours, to enter the Lists against any Encounter; since thy seconds are more, and mightier than thy Adversaries, and thy Reward more Glorious, than the Conflict was sharp.   

3ᵈ. Divine Essay.  
THE DIVINE PROSPECTIVE.  
WHen I look on that Expression of the Apostle, 2. 4. and last verse Corinth. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are Eternal: I am not so angry at what they call Nonsense, nor think it always implieth some thing ridiculously dissonant from Reason, or Grammar; for in Criticis Sacris, in Sacred Critics, Judgements on mere Sense, are Nonsense; and Conclusions made from Invisibles, the best Christian sense. Look through Faith's Prospective, and they will confess Mathematical Demonstrations, but Conjecturals, in comparison of the Discoveries of this Glass; look through it with the Manifying End on Invisibles (for such is its Frame, it lesseneth Visibles) and thou wilt see Sights not more strange, than satisfying. A sure and certain Hope of Resurrection; a Kingdom made without hands, eternal in the Heavens. The All-sufficient thy Portion, Hell, and Death under thy Feet; Mansions trimming up for thee, that call the proudest Structures here but better modelled Dunghills; it showeth the Society of God, his Angels, and Saints, at the distance only of some few years; and thy desired Home, that maketh the most contented Residence on Earth, to be but a Banishment with some better Accommodation. Through this thou mayest discover the true Non-such; compared with which, Loures, Escurials, or the Stateliest Palaces lessen into undiscernablenesse, as to the Eye natural, and inconsiderableness, as to the Eye of Reason. Show me better Sights than these, and I will change Prospectives. These may seem as incredible as the Discoveries of Galileus his Glass, to any that never used any but a Half-crown Prospective. Yet some of these Stephen was honoured to see with his natural Prospectives, his Eyes: these Invisibles to his Enemies being made visible to him; this Sight made him lose his feeling of Pains, or Fears, and in the midst of a Storm of such Hailstones (as might have been said to have killed one (whose Hopes are only in this Life:) he is said to fall a Sleep. The Apostle discovereth the use of both ends of this Glass, this magnifying one, and that other lessening one, in those Christian Paradoxes, 2. 6. Corinth. 9 10. etc. where he showeth the Visibles, or Things of this World to be but tanquams, only as if wears: the very Miseries of it (which are the most real things in it) he maketh so.  
As unknown, yet well known, as dying, yet behold we live, etc. The Worldlings will readily believe he spoke not such things on any things visible in himself, or other Christians. As unknown, quoth he? (would the incredulous Worldling say) I, sure enough, what are they known for? but to be an obscure People, whose Forefathers (it may be) have not troubled the Herald's Books for many Generations. You see, I am sure, none, or very few of the Great Ones, or Eminent Ones of the World profess this Crucified Christ. But see the Apostles Invisible he spied against this Visible, yet well known: and so he is indeed that is in God's Books; that is a Spectacle to God, Angels and Men; that hath a Crown laid up for Him, as sure, as he hath it may be scarce a Hat now. Known he is sure, that is pricked down for one of the Judges of the twelve Tribes of Israel, when Christ shall go his Circuit to judge the World in Righteousness. Show me one of more note in all the Scroll of the world's Worthies, and I will confess our Glass dim: but go on.  
As dying, nay worse, would Flesh and Blood say; better to be dispatched out of the way, than to live such a life as thou didst blessed Paul, 2 Corinth. 11. 23. etc. in Labours more abundant, in Stripes above measure; nay, so far from as dying, that in Deaths often, and behold we live: most true, for none live but they that live by faith; for the natural life, what is it? but a Death, bearing date from the first day of our Birth, from whence the Clock is still going down a Progress to Corruption, a mouldering away; whereas faith is a growth, nay, a building up in the most holy faith: A being in Heaven (like Caleb, and Joshua●●) as Spies, though not in Possession; a life not dying, but changing into Immortality of Bliss; as chastened, but not killed. What a lessening word hath Faith found, for that Flesh and Blood calleth Butchery? calling all his Endure, the smart of the Fasces, bundle of Rods, not strokes, a Securi from the Hatchet, mild and merited (so Chastisements are) behold the small end of the Prospective turned on his Martyrdoms, looking on them as merited, not meritorious; with the humility of a Child, or Schoolboy chastened. As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. What (may the Worldling say) will you persuade us out of our Senses? as sorrowful? if thy life, Apostle! be not sorrowful, or be always rejoicing; then none on Earth sure is miserable: when thy Ordinary was fasting many times, thy Rest but weariness, thy waking Care (and that of all the Churches) thy welcome (to many places) a whipping Post, thy Chamber a Dungeon, thy Furs Cold, thy clothes nakedness, thy safety Perils, in both Elements, Sea, and Land; by both sorts of men, thy own Countrymen, and strangers, in City, and Country. What is sorrow? if all this bring thee but to as sorrowful; nay, if it hinder not thy obeying thy own counsel, Rejoice always; These clouds make that rejoicing invisible to dim-sighted Nature: but could we look through that glass of Faith, we should believe, the Christians everlasting joys did, even, here begin; as people that are assured of comforts unexpressible, (no less than invisible;) that will have no commerce with any Sense, neither Ear nor Eye; nay, of such a quintessence, that the most immaterial comprehensive part of man, his soul and appehrension cannot reach it, which are therefore glorious, because unspeakable: but let us view further through this Paradoxical glass.  
As poor, yet making many rich: as poor? Sure blessed Apostle! (though thy writings were a Mine of richer sense, than thy contemporary's Seneca's,) thou didst not exceed him in wealth. Thou hadst (I believe) no concealed bags, never to be fingered, but by unthankful heirs, nor any hatching at any close interest: no, we are misinformed, if all thy wealth would load thine own small size; if thou makest this but a poverty with a tanquam, as poor; Poverty hath left the Earth, and Beggary is a competency. Domitian enquiring after the estates of Christ's Kindred, and finding all of them not worth thirty Acres of Land, dismissed them, as inconsiderable Fellows; and dost thou Oh Paul, call the Family of Christians, but as poor? although thou wast Ambassador for Heaven, yet didst thou travel oft at thy own Charge, and that hardly earned, by Tentmaking (in the night it may be) that thou mightest have leisure to build Temples for the holy Ghost in the day. Sumpter Horse thou hadst none, for thy Cloak and Parchments; and seldom (it is likely) Saddle Horse for thyself: and is thy Poverty dashed with this Tanquam, as poor? yes, that it is, and look on the other End of his divine Prospective, and you find him rich, and to spare; for he is making others rich. Nay, than the Worldling, or the Christian Dreams: What Riches (will the World cry) can he afford? that receiveth of the Earthly things of others to supply his Necessities. But thou Fool, look on his Invisibles (to use the Apostles words again) and thou wilt confess them Riches indeed. Will you view the Possessions of those he had enriched? why they are no less than You are Christ's, and Christ is Gods. Their Riches consist not so much in Possessing, as being Possessed; but the Possession is mutual, for God is theirs that are his: and then judge you what the Christian possesseth; for Earthly things, the Earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof; so that he possesseth the Lord Paramount himself, for Heavenly (or to sum up all) he that hath him, hath that which maketh Heaven, his Presence, and the All-sufficiency itself: and let the most Covetous desire more if he can. And would you have some Evidence for these Possessions? Faith can furnish you: it is the Evidence of things not seen: and would you have Witnesses to these Evidences? take Evidence and Witnesses too, you shall find both in Hebrews 11. where the Clearness of our Prospective, and its excellent Discoveries are rarely illustrated, although by a Cloud of Witnesses (pardon the Expression) they are above a Jury, that are more particularly brought in to witness these Truths; read and wonder at the Properties of this Glass.  
1. It was Abel's burning Glass, that burned his Sacrifice to a Perfume, and sweet smelling Savour to the most High; when nothing but loathed Fumes rose from cain's Oblation, verse 4.  
2. In Enoch it had a strange Effect; that Glass that maketh all these great things, and Hopes Visible, made him Invisible, vers. 5.  
3. Noah used it for his Astronomical Glass of Prediction, long before (by it) discovering that all the Stars would prove Hyades, that all Heaven's Treasures, of Waters and Earth's Storehouse would be both laid out on the Destruction of the old World; so as it proved his Weatherglass, making him so Weather-wise, as to provide against this Storm, verse 7.  
4. Through this Prospective of Faith Abraham looketh on God's Command of him to change his Quarters, to leave his Country and Kindred, as on a Statute of Provision; knowing the Almightys Sequestrations are but better Compositions, his Pilgrims settled enough, and his Exiles always at home, as being shadowed, and supported by Omnipresence itself: through this he saw a City, whose Foundation was made by no less than the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and an Inheritance not to be looked for in the Nonage of life; for which he should not be of years, till Death had delivered him into Possession (which useth here to deliver our Possessions to others) verse 8, 9, 10.  
5. Sarah did but look in, and she conceived, verse 11. and could see thousands of Millions to come from him, that came from her dead Womb, Gen. 24. 60.  
Through this Abraham saw (more than ever Nature did, as it is thought by some) a Phoenixlike Resurrection of his Son, as possible with God; therefore obeyeth that Command of offering his Son, believing a Metamorphosis Possible, with the All-sufficient; that as he in Obedience turned his Son into a Sacrifice, so God would again turn the Sacrifice into a Son, verse 17.  
7. Through this Isaac showeth his Sons, Jacob, and Esau, Possessions beyond what he could leave them.  
8. Through this optical Cylinder, Jacob discovered to Joseph his diagonal like Blessing, on his Sons Manasseh and Ephraim, as if he would transmit the Blessing, as he had received it, Cross to Primogeniture; that as Isaac's, so should his Blessing descend cross to the Claims of Nature, verse 21.  
9 Through this Joseph could see the Israelites on their March towards Canaan, and therefore by strict Orders giveth his Bones possession of that Earthly Canaan, when his Soul was now going to the Heavenly, verse 22.  
10. Through this Moses his Parents looked, when obeying Gods, Thou shalt not kill, rather than Pharoahs', thou shalt kill, they became Children to God, and glad Parents of a Wonderworking Son.  
Through this Moses made one of the strangest Discoveries (can be told Infidelity) more content in Israel's Bondage, and Sufferings with joseph, then in all the Prerogatives Royal of Pharaohs Court: for he looked on the invisible King of Kings, verse 24.  
12. Through this Israel could see no water, where the red Sea even now did flow; whereas the Egyptians could see no Land for water, nor ever after Light, verse 29.  
Archimedes Glass might fire Ships at Sea; this Glass did what his Engines could do, batter down Walls.  
13. Israel venit vidit & vicit Jericho, Israel came, and through this Glass saw, and overcame Jericho: here it was true, Crede quod habes & habes, they did but believe the Town their own, and it was so, and that Jerichoes Walls would fall, and they did fall, verse 30.  
14. By this Rahab dressed herself, when she protected the Spies, and hereby made sure of sleeping in a whole skin; the surest way to preserve the Beauty she had left, verse 31.  
Time's Glass would be run out ere we could fully show the Virtues of this; view them therefore Summarily, reckoned in the ensuing verses of that Chapter, and show me (if thou canst) such Discoveries in all, or any Contrivance the world can boast of. If the Devil have thee on a Mountain, where thou mayest see the world and all its Glory: Look through this Glass of Faith, and its lessening end will show them but as a Molehill, which with the Foot of Scorn thy Soul can spurn into inconsiderableness. To this lessening end the very Heathen seem to have a Glass made very like: when they looked on the world's Profits, or Pleasures with contempt, as below the Admiration, or Desires of a Reasonable Soul; even their Glasses (though they could not discover a world in the Moon) could discover so much of the Moon's changeableness in the world, as cheapened all its Pomp and Vanities, more in their esteem than the Christians Vow, and Brightness both of this Advantageous Glass doth among too many of that Name: more shameful and inexcusable the Fault of our Eyes, not the dimness of the Glass, which in this excelleth theirs, that it not only showeth the worthlessness of this world, but that transcendent Excellency of that other, which they could not guess at, but by some general Comparisons, with the Emptiness of this (or as the Vulgar phrase it, that there could not well be a worse.) But the glorious Discoveries of this Prospective will never be fully discovered till it is broke, and the ●se of this swallowed up in the use of that undiscoverably discovering Glass of the Beatifical Vision, to which we shall be delivered over by the Experiment of Death: A Meditation whereon may well challenge ●he close of this Work, since it is the truest Finis of Things, and Actions, as well as Books; and in the very Art of divine Meditation, the Method is justifiable to begin with Meditation of our Saviour's Death, and to end with thoughts of our ●wn.    

THE GRAND EXPERIMENT.  
THE Grave is not a more common Place (literally) for Reception of our Bodies, than Death hath been (in scholastical acception) for the exercise of men's Pens. To all which Descants on this c●mmon Theme, I can give no other Title but of Theorical Conjectures of what it is, or of the Alterations it brings; no, even through Faith's Prospective, and by Sacred Writ, though we have made certain Discoveries of both (as true as Truth itself that spoke them; so true, we may say as Marlorat to them that called him Deceiver; if I have seduced any (saith he) God hath seduced me, who cannot lie yet all those too (though not Conjectural for the Substance, yet are so, as to the Degrees, or manner of those Truth's Appearances hereafter: all writ by Profane, or Sacred Penmen may be termed guessing Discoveries (as Moses did Canaan at a distance, that could yield but an imperfect, though a sure Vision of what he could come no nearer to) in comparison of the Experiment of dying; as most excellently (if not the first that so named it) a Poet of our own calleth it: an Expression, I must confess, so taking with me, as hinted these Conceptions on our return into the Womb of our Mother Earth. An Experiment it is with a Janus face, the Soul in death, discovering the true Estimate of what she here hath gone through; be they Doings, Sufferings, or Enjoyments; and what condition she is now in, and shall be to all Eternity.  
1. In its looking back on Life, it experimenteth such things to be unquestionable Truth●, that the generality of the Living take to be the Paradoxes of some contemplative. Stoics, or Anchorets. The dead Epicure cannot but subscribe to the truth of Sardanapalus his Tomb, that I find storied to have a hand in a posture of filliping, reaching out of the Tomb, and the Motto, omnia n●c Tanti, all is not worth a Fillip. More elevated Souls will confess Lipsius his Epitaph, or Inscription (by himself made and enjoined to be writ on his Tomb) was good Philosophy, and no worse Divinity. 
Vis ut altiore voce tecum loquar?  
Humana cuncta, Fumus, umbra, vanitas;  
Et ut uno verbo absolvam, nihil.   
Shall I deal plainly with you? (saith he) all humane Things (not his very wisdom on this side the grand Experiment, and Opener of our Eyes, Death excepted) are mere Smoke, Shadows, Vanity, or in short, nothings; they will then acknowledge Pindars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pyth. odd. 8. That man is but a Dream of a Shadow; and that Ulysses in Sophocles knew what he said, when he concluded 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Sophocl. in 〈◊〉 Fla●●llif. p. 18.   
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.   
I plainly perceive (saith he) that while we live, we are but mere Images, or vain Shadows, when under ground, the Covetous Mole (that while alive made Earth his Heaven) will have no doubt his Eyes opened; when he shall see all his Toils, and Purchases fall under the narrow bounds of his half-starved ' Carcases Dimensions, and himself in Possession of no more, than (the Churchyard Surveyour) the Sexton allotteth him: nay, this Experiment will cure the blindness most incurable even of Scholastic Infidelity; for than shall the Opinionative Atheist find, that his Life was but one continued Fallacy, made up of false Reasonings, Scoffing Contradictions, or destructive Mistakes. Aristotle, when but in the Suburbs of Death, may give him a taste of his condition, whose words on his Deathbed are said to be these, Auxius vixi, dubius morior, nescio quo vado. 
Kilius. Expos. Epist. Domin.  I lived (saith he) anxiously, die doubtly, and know not whether I go: all in general will look back on life with Apprehensions not unlike those in Valerius Maximus: 
Val Mex. 〈◊〉 c. 12.  Humanae autem vitae conditionem praecipué primus & ultimus dies continet; quia plurimum interest quibus Auspicijs inchoetur, & quo fine claudatur, medij Temporis cursus prout Fortuna Gubernaculum rexit, modo aspero, modo tranquillo motu peragitur; Spe semper minor, dum & cupidè votis extenditur, & fere sine ratione consumitur: As if there were (as he saith) but two considerable days in a Man's life, the day of his Birth, and day of his Death, all the space between being but a Medley of Chances, or Changes, or indeed a pleasing, or troubled Dream, short of Hopes, full of Fears, or Desires, and spent they cannot tell how. In this like a Dream it is vanished into a forgetfulness to relate: but the most Demonstrable Discovery in relation to the several Conditions of life, will be that of Alphonsus' King of Spain, Cinis aequat; that of all, Death will prove the truest, and most powerful Leveller, of all the Differences of men (in their ●nternalls, or externals.) Here will be no distinction; in Levellers Hall (as I may term the Grave) how are men disrobed of all their Differences, or Privileges, that on earth distinguished them? and here are shuffled into a Regardless and objcure Equality; no Crown leaves such a Print on any Skull, that we can say this was an Alexanders, this a Diogenes': Nor hath the dust of Cleopatra now any more Attraction than that of Marshal's Vetustilla; this Sceleton is the Spoils it may be of some captivating Beauty, the talk and Wonder of her Age, Courted with Obeisance of Sceptres; yet having no Dowry but the Empire of a face: what Charm hath it now against the detestation and scorn of all Beholders? this Dust whereon we tread, it may be is the all that is left of some unmatchable strength, 
— & tam parvus  
Cinis Herculeus est; huc ille decrevit Gigas, 
Senec. H●rc. Oetaeus.   
Ecce vix totam Hercules complevit urnam.  The Ashes of a Hercules now scarce filleth an Urn: so small is strengths Epitome in Deaths Archives. Of what activity here are all the Machivellian Policies of the subtlest Statesman? Maugre the Ambition of his Plots, his Dust is now regardlessly trampled on, by those feet, that not long ago durst not but make many a Scrape to their Cring-expecting Haughtiness; there is on no Bone Chronicled their former Eminence; on neither arm their Gentility blazoned: the Monument lasteth longer it may be (because costlier) of Dives, than Lazarus (whose Receptable is Inscriptionlesse) but Solomon levels them; not only one with the other, but (in this particular, and in Death's Quarters) with the Beasts themselves, Eccles. 3. 20. telling us, all go to one place (and when there he telleth us what we are) all are dust, and return to dust Well, we may show the Tombs of great ones, with their proud Distinctions, Epitaphs and Titles of Honour, but their Contents we cannot: the dust of the Richest Miser doth not here turn to Ore, but is as arrant Dirt as his that raked Dunghills, and slept as well as fed with the Prodigals fellow Commoners, the Swine; that delicate Flesh (to whom Perfumed Baths were as familiar as to the meaner cleanly Ones Fair water was) doth not here smell of Rose water, Spike, or Laudanum; the finest of their dust will not officiat for Orrice Powder, to perfume that Servants Hair, or Perriwigg, that it may be from his own (or by help of some hired) Invention, told the living Idol it breathed Arabian Spices, and could not afford to call any Path she trod, under a Bed of Roses, or Violets (though vulgar eyes could see nothing but Plantain, Grass, or Gravel) this grand unflattering Experiment of levelling Death, findeth no such matter: how contracted a Map doth it present us with of all those large Possessions of the Rich and Mighty Ones of the World? those Legs that could not before (it may be) travel over them in a day, may now bestride the Land and Possessor too, being reduced to no more than Adam equally left his Children, a Grave. Nay, here Land goeth by an unheard of Proportion, your Possession like your clothes fitted to your size, not Titles, or Wealth. Thus a King's Porter is richer now than his Master, that possessed Kingdoms when alive, and is now, it may be, only not so poor as his Dwarf, till they moulder to undistinguishable Dust. The dust of the Beggar (look on him as to the Universe, whereof he is an Integrating part, as equally as the proudest) doth take up (it is like) as much room, and to use our divine Poet's instance, make as great a crack if it turn Creditor to a Thunder-making Exhalation, as his, whose Name, or Actions, made never so great a noise for the moment of this life. Hear the Original of my instance.  
The Brags of Life are but a nine day's wonder;  
And after Death the Fumes that spring  
From Private Bodies, 
Herbert Poem. p. 60.  make as big a Thunder,  
As those which rise from a huge King.  
The Bodies of the Poor, or Sickly are now as serviceable to the Circulation of matter, as the lustiest and richest; turn to as good Crasse, prove as beneficial to the Parson's Cows, or Sheep: in general, serve Nature's perpetual Motion of Generation and Corruption as well, as the best Pampered Carcase; nay, it is well if we may not say of some, they do more good dead, than alive, under ground than on it: but the Tyranny of this impartial Leveller Death is experimented chiefly, in that it abolisheth those truly noble distinguishing Characters of Wisdom, and Piety. As to the former, in the Grave the Skull of the greatest Linguist hath not the evidence of one single Tongue to show; the learnedst Schoolman hath not the riches of one Distinction betwixt his Brainpan, and a Peasants, that never was furnished further than with some instructive whistle to a Teem. Plaintiff, and Defendant, Client, & Advocate, Prisoner, and Judge are here huddled up into a Peaceful confusion; that neither we, nor they themselves know the one from the other. As for Honesty, or Piety, here the bodies of Oppressor, and Oppressed, Builder and Seller of Churches, Blasphemer, and him that fears an Oath, rest alike, and sleep as sound the one, as the other. And what is the Result of all this experiment of Death, and its Review back on life, but that of David, Psal. 39 5. 6. that Man, even in his best Condition, is altogether vanity.  
But to proceed to the Discoveries of this Experiment, as to the present, or future (which is now all one, as being unalterable) and for those that die interested in the Conquest over Death, they now Experiment it to be to their Bodies a welcome Quietus est, or sleep to their Souls; a ravishing waking into clear Dispellings of all Doubts; a joyful Release into most welcome Liberty, and an Admission into unchangeable Possession of all Desirables.  
1. It is a sleep, binding up (like the lesser snatches of Rest and Drowsings in Life) all sense of Molestation from any thing without: and of those dead in the Lord, Revel. 14. 13. is that of Ambrose concerning the grave, true, in quo mollius ille dormit, quisquis durius in vita se gesserit. It is a Bed (so the Welsh call the Grave) wherein he rests, that was before acquainted rather with a weariness, than a life: but if you will sublime the Speculation with Picus Mirandula, it is a Rest from the Spiritual Drudgery of Sin; for so he welcomed Death, not as an end of Trouble, but Sin: nay, it is a pleasanter sleep than all the dreams of life, it being in deed.  
2. The truest waking of the Soul; no such opening of our eyes as this closing them by Deat●h Mysteries will then appear as clear as Demonstrations; that Grave dust is excellent Eye-powder; take a Seraphical Fancies word, showing us then the Trinity shall be as visible there as the Incarnation was on Earth; and that was visible, for the very Devils saw the Son of God through that case of Humanity: Our Author's words are these. 
Thou hast but 2. 
Herbert on ungratefulness. p. 70.  rare Cabinets of Treasure,  
The Trinity and Incarnation;  
Thou hast unlocked them both,  
And made them Jewels to betroath  
The Work of thy Creation  
Unto thyself in everlasting Pleasure.  
The statelier Cabinet is the Trinity,  
Whose sparkling light Access denies;  
Therefore thou dost not show  
This fully to us, till Death blow  
The dust into our Eyes,  
For by that Powder thou wilt make us see.  We shall then more wonder at our Doubtings (having such a sure word of Prophecy) than we now do at the Mysteries; when the most intricate and riddling Articles of our Creed shall shine in glorious and undoubted satisfactions. Now truly begins the Soul to feel what before she believed, and that she hath not believed in vain, but that he was faithful that promised. What Joys must they be? when what the Soul than feels, shall for intention be Raptures, and for extension Eternal. If you would read Conjectures of them almost Ecstatically penned; peruse Sir Kenhelm Digbies Rapture in his Treatise of the Immortality of the Soul: examine the Truth, and what is the life of a Christian? but his Exile from his Country, at best a Wardship; thy last day is the first, the Soul comes of Age, and dyeth into Possession of thy long looked for Inheritance. What gladsome Experiments will this Change bring? from a life of vain Pleasures, false Honours, bootless Hopes, unsatisfying Riches, stormy Contentments, Surfeits of Excess, pinching Necessities, Comforts carefully procured of fleeting abode, and sad Departure, to Pleasures that no more know Definition (or Description) than Termination, being as unexpressable as endless: Honours above Blazon, Possessions of no less than of that All, that is all in all, God himself, and of them a Lease during the eternals life. Indeed to the Righteous death shall prove but an Anagram of vexing Thorns for triumphant Thrones. But that these are not brags, let Testimonies of dying Saints confirm, and no less illustrate what kinds of Experiments we may expect in this Change of Changes. Some of them I shall borrow from Mr. Wards life of faith in death, and we may call them Intelligence from the Spies of Eternity, seeing and tasting the Grapes of that Canaan, and that in Janua Ditis, in the Porch of Death, or Suburbs of Heaven; differing much from the vain glorious Ignorance of some resolute Heathen, that have met Death with a Rashness, blindly rushing on the sad Changes that troop after this Pale Horse, or from some stupid blockishness incident to many even among Christians, venturing on it as Children, or Madmen, on Dangers without fear, or wit: for these sure Adventurers have on more mature deliberation encountered this Terror of Terrors; and with undaunted Courage have forgot the tenderness of Age, or Sex; so that as among Histories humane, Lives, of all other, are accounted of singular use: So in Christian History the Deaths of good men cannot but be the most useful discoveries of this Experiment of dying, beyond all the wrangling Conjectures, Disputes, and Subtleties of Schoolmen, or Doctors of Theorys, and beyond all the Discoveries in the Duncery of Life. Begin we with Simeon, and you hear him experimenting it a longed for departure; implying his life to have been a kind of unwilling stay, had it not been sweetened with hopes of having Heaven in his arms below, before he was taken up to it. Cyprian praiseth God at his death for his approaching Goal-delivery: Jubentius and Maximinus Martyrs, called it the laying off their last Garment the Flesh, but a kind of undressing themselves for sleep. Marcus of Arethuse (hung up anointed with Honey, and in a Basket exposed to the stinging of Wasps and Bees) calleth it an Advancement saying to his persecutors; How am I advanced, despising you below? by these three Experiments, this terrible of all terribles, as Aristotle calleth it, hath more of Invitation in it (than affrightment) of the Banished to a home, the sleepy and weary Traveller to his Bed; nay of the Ambitious Soul to Advancements. That the Epicure may not fear death (nay, love it) let him get that Martyr's palate (as it is storied of Mr. John Bradford) that embracing the Faggots, said to his fellow Martyrs, be of good cheer Brethren, for this night we shall have a merry Supper with the Lord. Of Death the lazy need not be afraid, for no bed of Down or Roses so pleasant; if you will believe Paynams' dying Testimony (the time when Incredulity itself will scarce deny men credit) I feel no more pain (saith he, in the midst of the fire) then if I were in a bed of Down, it is as sweet to me as a bed of Roses. Would the Chemist be glad to have his Coals turned to Pearls, if his aims fail of turning his Br●ss● to Gold: This great Operator Death can do it, if you will believe Noyes kissing the Stake, and saying, blessed be the time, that ever I was born for this day, and saying to his fellow Martyrs, we shall not lose our lives in this fire, but change them for a better, and have Pearls for Coals, etc. Here is changing the Species with a witness. It is a farewell, I confess, and at first appearance one that seemeth sad, as the Poet prophesieth. 
Linquenda Tellus, & Domus, & placens  
Vxor: neque harum quas colis Arborum  
Te, praeter invisas cupressos,  
Vlla brevem Dominum sequetur.  But how abundantly more joyful are the Welcomes the Soul meets with in this grand Experiment? look on the sadness and joy both in that one speech of a cheerful Martyrago, when she said, farewell Faith (and that seemeth sad) farewell Hope (than sure we can look for no comfort; yes, it followeth) but welcome Love, and let me add Fruition, which if I conceit all one, is not far wide from Truth, Fruition and Happiness being nothing but the poor Creatures swimming in boundless Emanations of the Creator's love to all Eternity. And are not now grave clothes the best Handkerchiefs to wipe all tears from the eyes of the miserable; but let fellow Travellers in the same Road expound one the others meaning, and then would you know what love departed Saints do welcome, and are welcome to: It is no less than that of Wedlock, (which the Poet telleth is largest; — in aperto conjuge major:) take Bishop Ridlies' word for it, for he desired some of his Friends next day to come to his Wedding, his Martyrdom (which I believe many in our days would run from, rather than dance at) Madam la Glee in France was of the same mind, when putting on her Bracelets as she was going to die, giving this reason for it, I am now, saith she, going to my Spouse. But to show you more strange Experiments (though to flesh and blood Paradoxes, to Faith Demonstrations) What think you if in the view of Death, some tell you it is not Death? so did Windelmuta, when she was told she had not yet tasted how bitter death was; no (said she) neither ever shall I, for so hath Christ promised: Nay, it is a life, if you take a word Royal, it was Frederick Elector Palatines, to his Friends wishing him Recovery; I have lived enough to you, let me now live to myself and with my Christ; as if it were so far from being a Death, as it were but a beginning to live. So truly agreed Seneca with this Kingly Judgement, Dies quem tanquam extremum reformidas, 
E●ist. 102.  Aeterni natalis est; and even the Brachmanes consent with it, that esteem this life man's Conception, and his Death day, his Birth day unto that true and happy life, to him which hath been rightly religious. But that it is an Experiment above all other, or Notions of Truth's divine or humane (necessary to be known) and especially of these very discourses concerning scarce believed, and (at best) but Conjectured Comforts in Death, Guy de Bres shall witness with a solemn Affidavit; who said, the ringing of my Chains are music to me; this Prison an excellent School, all my former discourses were as a blind man of colours, in comparison of what I feel now, etc. by which he shutteth under blind Conjecture, all that hath been apprehended of death, or its Comforts and Condition afterwards: in comparison of dying men's Demonstrations; what then are those of the Dead? The sum of all death's experiments, that is by me believed (and not by me alone, but all such as take God's word) is that which Solomon delivered as a Dogmatist; & wherein the Lady Jane was (as I may term her) an Empiric feelingly finding the truth of it in Atriolis mortis, the very Porch of death; who being requested to write her Symbol in the Lieutenant of the Tower's book, before her beheading, wrote this; Let the glassy condition of this life never deceive thee, there is a time to be born, a time to die, but the day of death is better than the day of Birth. What glorious discoveries enlightened her constant Soul, when but going out of these Darken of Life? let Valerius Maximus usher in the Verdict of profane Assenters to this Truth, that the Experiments of Death to them that make dying the best Act they ever did in all their life, are far more desirable than dreadful. 
Lib. 9 c. 13.  De cupiditate vitae. Vt ipsa comparatione pateat quanto non solum fortior: sed etiam sapientior mortis interdum, quam vitae sit cupiditas. Things rightly compared (saith he) the preferring of life before death, in our wishes as well as judgement, is an Act of no less wisdom, than valour. And harken to Christianity, and the Apostle Paul phraseth it, a Wish equal to the Gold searching Chemists endeavours. I desire to be dissolved, melted down; there is the Projection: and would you know the Elixir that results? it is being with Christ: if that be not gain above all metallic Transmutation, Preaching is foolishness (without an Irony) and hearing madness; the first may get Tithes, and the latter naps of Digestion: and Sermons were better winked at, than harkened to, were not the gains by death above all the Incomes of life. Let Rosie-crucians be dumb after the mention of this Experiment, and theirs be admired, only where this is not believed; a Christo-crucian (of which this Apostle was none of the meanest) is an order of far more recompensing projections; I now believe, and after death shall find among Christians Expressions hereof, I know none fitter to conclude with, than that Martyr's expression, He is come; short indeed, but meaning more than can be expressed out of Heaven. I durst (if I enjoyed them) change all Sublunary Enjoyment for what he then felt; that was but in the Suburbs of Heaven, and then going to make a Bonfire with his Body for joy of his Souls entranceinto her Master's joy. And wouldst thou get such Relishes as might make thee count these no Paradoxes; experience thy Soul in the comforts of Christ's dying for thee, and thy own daily die with him, and all the Terrors of this experiment of dying will die, and thy longings after it revive, till both fears and desires are swallowed up in fruition of those unalterable alterations. But O Death! to bad and good thou wilt prove an Experiment of all that hath been said, or writ of thee, and incomprehensibly more; to the former of far more, than ever was believed or feared; to these latter of transcendently more than their narrow living hopes could comprehend; the highest and vastest Apprehensions of thee among the living are but as the Apostle saith, think like a Child: our thoughts on this grand change will change, as much as a Philosopher's conceptions (matured by the most sagacious inquisition into nature) doth from his Child-hoods apprehensions of the Sun, Moon, Meteors and other visibles, when we shall come to know as we are known. Let all the world judge whether death was ill called, or is ill believed an Experiment that delivers us over to a kind of Omniscience; for by no less are we known, and with little less shall we know; our happiness being nothing else but vision, and complacence in that sight; where in that mirror light itself, all Desirables and felicitating Instructions shall by Fruition be seen, and by Vision be enjoyed.  
FINIS  Scribendi ad Dei Gloriam, & hominum utilitatem, Initium sit Agendi. Martial. Epigr. Lib. 4. Ep. 9 
 

Oh jam satis est, Oh Libelle,  
Jam pervenimus usque ad umbilicos:  
Tu procedere adhuc, & ire quaeris,  
Nec summa potes in Scheda teneri.  
Sic tanquam tibi res peracta non sit,  
Quae prima quoque Pagina peracta est.  
Jam lector Quaeriturque, deficitque,  
Jam librarius hoc & ipse dicit.  
Oh jam satis est oh Libelle.   
Which farewell to my Book take thus near sense, though not words.  

Enough, if not too much, my Book! forbear:  
thou'rt big enough, if not too big: I fear  
Beyond a Pocketing thou ●lt swell: enough  
Thou didst I doubt in thy first Page; such stuff  
Thou dost contain, will quickly Readers make  
Repent themselves; and pray the Stationer take  
His Boo● again: They're sick, and have their fill.  
The Printer too me prays to hold my Quill.  
Enough sure then, if not too much; forbear.    

THE INDEX.  

A.  
AFfoctions cut off our right Ear, page 1  
Authorities Influence on Assent, 27  
Agricolas timely death, 279  
Afflictions reward, Mercies Hyperbole, 37 with innocence Martyrdoms, 286  
Their Arrant, 29  
Agues no Fevers in vulgar apprehension, 47  
Alms of Physic no Charity, 55  
Age of people to be seen in the water, according to some fools, 29  
Acceptable words required in Salomon's Preacher, 144  
Academia a word nor lawful in Paul 2ds. time, 140  
Alms the best Prayers, 205  
Alexander Aristotle's Pupil, 171 his natural Philosophy, 172 his Logic, 173  
Rhetor. ib. Politics, 174  
Alchemists credulity, 214  
Affairs of men but Plays, 313  
Alcibiades his Possessions not in the Map, 3●5  
Alphonsus his Experiment concerning death, 352  
Ambitious busy-bodyes, but idly employed, 298 Their Exploits will scarce make an Almanacs Since, ib.  
Their Chronicle Galaxied into a confused Mention, 299  
Home Antipodes, 302  
Admiration of men whence 434  
Antiquaries will rather keep Moses broken tables than Gods whole ones, 216  
The Antinomian Honey Combs Preferment, 230  
Amaras library, 238  
Christ preached for Angels, 358.  
Arithmetic, which is best, 200  
The Apes cure of the Doctor, 105  
Astrology, with whom in credit, 255  
Aristotle's Logic corrupted his Philosophy, 254  
Authors to be read like Anonymo's, 208.  
Authority mistook, 211.  
Author's must be looked on as Senators not Dictatours, 119  
Avicen wept when he prescribed a Purge, 88  
Avarice what, 496  
Atheist best confured when he can hear nothing. 551  
Attempts against higher Powers the pride of singularity, 280  
Arts fare ill when judged by the unskilful, 92  
Austerity of life the Schismatics Cloak,   

B.  
BOdleies Library, 239.  
Banks his Horse taught as well as some would have Christians, 143  
Blindness of Parients in choice of their Physicians, 110  
B●●hs of some, sadder than their Funerals, 23  
Beauty what, 339. its impropriation; what it costs, 266. more eminent in women, 331 338  
The word Back, Back mistook routed an Army, 424  
Beggarly Busy-bodies the greatest Detractors, boasting one half of the people's Physician.  
Bellarmine as much enervated by English Doctors as any, 163  
Books the best furniture, 243. Their Elements, 260  
Uses, 248  
Are not Epistles Dedicatory to particular Fancies, 263  
A godly book a Byword, with whom, 320  
Bona a rare example of women's constancy, 328  
All we have is borrowed, 401  
The Buyers weakness setteth price on the best worthy books, 233  
Some building, but varied Prodigality, 502   

C.  
Carelessness sometimes commendable, 28  
Caesars abilities in Learning, 170 etc. His Commentaries are his sheets of lead, 171. His Pen maketh more Tributary than his Sword. 414  
Cato●s opinion of women, 377. His constancy 292  
Caligula's vain Triumph, 314  
Captious Critics not to be regarded, 262  
The just Cause will prevail, 287  
The censorious Blast oft removeth the Tree in council, 270  
Changing of Physician's danger. 125. Or of Physic, ib.  
Cato Censorinus worse to be, Cithara by whom invented, 482  
Charity hath its reward to which Boasting is Usher, or Waiting-woman, 58  
From a small chance, a great change in War, 423. and may give Victory, but not Courage, 288  
A haireless Chin graduates Nobodies with Somebody, 434  
Cineas his Discourse, 310  
children's Employments, how they differ from men's, 309  
Good causes miscarry, 292  
Cause not to be concluded the same from likeness of Effects, 221  
Circe's Sister to Aesculapius, 136.  
Christ choosing illiterate men not our Directory, 152  
Choice of Physicians oft by Contagion, 113  
Slavish to seek our own cheerfulness in another's countenance, 311  
Pharisaical Cottington●, 196  
Cobblers in art and worth oft translated to wealth, 421  
Contentation the true Philosopher's stone, 4  
The congregationers' question 209  
The Conqueror always a gallant man, 288  
Commerces of men but cousenages, 18  
Common Wealths happy, where Arts keeps their bounds, 98  
Counsels to Patients beyond any Recipe, 136  
Constancy of learned Piety, with whom ridiculous, 177. It's Apology, 179  
In our own countrymen, nothing excellent, 111  
Credulity of People incredible, 112  
Its Tyranny, 214  
Curtius his Physic disliked because a stranger, 103  
A consecrated closet commendable, 349  
Half-crowns sometimes get the better of whole ones, 424  
Chrysostom free from Detraction, 456  
Christ's cross a Tree of the vocal Forest. 520  
It is Arbour vitae, 520. His kindred poor, 540  
The Cruysado, a most noble order, 531  
Crosses can teach Machivellians their Catechism, 529  
Accidental cures make famous, 438   

D.  
EAch day hath its sorrow, 31  
Death to Christians a prize, not Shipwreck, 17. An experiment with a Janus face, 540. A sleep, 557  
A waking, ib. It's gladsome Experiments, 559 etc.  
Degrees are in Universities commendable Shibboleths, 106  
Mis-became some, ib. are oft bought abroad, and sold dear at home, 107  
Departure of a disease imputed to the last comer, 115  
The dead better company than the living, 246  
Detractions the fifth Element, 445  
Demosthenes his public spirit, 178  
Demades his caution, 366  
What Divine passable with some, 62. 91. 92. Undone in order, 453  
Diet not regarded by she Physicians 53  
The Do-little, worth no more, 30  
Dominion over consciences a subtle principle of selfe-aimes, 360  
The Donatists revenge, 364  
Divinity-mongers no small corporation in these days, 26  
The degrees of some, 166  
Doctors unwelcome after cure, 130. Their Entertainment, 120  
Didymus the Grammarian, 228  
In Duels the worsted as gallant oft as the Conqueror, 288   

E.  
EDucation taints our judgements, 210  
Earth a book to Botanists, 295. On it and for it what a coil, 317  
Echo from an upright conscience above the jingles of fame, 21  
Bad cares admit no good reports, 4  
An Elixir for long life, 7. 24  
Epiclus his modesty, 148  
Queen Elizabeth still giveth Physic commendably, 56  
Elements of man, 395. The fifth, which, 445  
Eloquence its force, 244  
Just estimate of things not usual, 264  
England the Nursery of Mountebanks, 95  
Empyricks to whom friends, ●18. of which some have no more books than doublets, 123  
Doctor Emericus against Waterology, 73  
Strange Excuses made by people, when they come to satisfy Physician, or Apothecary, 130  
Eradicatives ill omitted, 88  
Experience mis-judged and esteemed, 83. It alone dangerous, 84 116  
At Exchange, or Fairs, hereafter little thought on, 313  
Our explications of faith have broke its Unity, 241  
Where excess beateth Tap-too, diseases beat Travel, 30●  
Etymology of Eve, 330  
The good Example Master of the Sentences, 206   

F.  
FAlling States men always accused of dotage, 289  
Fashions cross the Seas as oft as the Packet Boat, 225. They are indifferencies, ib.  
Dissembled Fasts that will one day feast the Worm of conscience, 371  
Fevers make Ember weeks in the body, 127. and therefore must be allowed their Fasting days, ib.  
Fevinus his complaint, 96  
Fellows of any Trade may pass for Physicians, 93  
The word Fortunate Physician above all commendations, 290  
Friendship not contracted 〈◊〉 Drink, 38  
Some men do not so much live, as fool, 301   

G.  
GEometry, which best, 200  
Good may come from the most empty, and be received by the most full, 305  
Globe of the Earth how small, 314  
Gonella's Story, 93  
Gospel Revelations now the abused word for whimsies, 192  
Goodness is success, 293  
The christians grapples for his time, 306  
Grave dust preserves our chronicle, 21. The best Powder of Experience, 100 and 558  
The act of Generation may murder one's Country, 23  
God the liberal man's Debtor, 35  
Gossipping discourse, what 455  
Gluttony what, 498 G.   

H.  
HEaven with too many but a Babble, and Hell a Fable, 164  
Few husband themselves, 4  
Hatred from politic or religious differences deadly, 258  
History showeth us the World's Markets, 247. Its Blots whence, 268. etc. It is of a false Glass, 270. It's charge, 271  
The hands of Preachers must preach, 197  
Helicon not troubled with Suitors, 430  
Henry the 7th poisoned in the Eucharist, 242  
Hestods wish, 279  
What Divine a true Holdsworth.  
Dr. Holdsworths just character, 198  
The Repute of Honest better than that of Learned, 202  
Hit or Miss, the Quacks Dance in practice, 50  
Hot things may cool, 221  
The great Husband a Prodigal, 296   

I.  
IAlop may be sold too cheap, 50  
Injuries how to be entertained, 40  
Jewish faith touching Utine safe, 66  
In possibles not to be desired, nor unavoidables to be feared, 28  
A blind Jew a great Waterologer, 74  
Inconstancy under remedies, or Physicians, it's own punishment, 127  
Impunity deplorable, 293  
Juleps cool, oft improper, 87  
Intellectual Idolatry, 208  
Ink hath poison in it, Learning & Religion know, 227  
Humane Invention not always excluded Devotion, 485  
Jehus Reformation, 369  
King Junipertus his revenge on a good Bishop, 392   

K.  
MY Lady Kent's Powder the last refuge of Gooody-Physitian, 51  
Too many Keys to Scripture have broke the wards, 244  
Knowledge without practice, but Pedantry, 199. It's match desirable, ib.  
Kissing when first used, 324  
Kalendars partiality, 270   

L.  
Labour's of men, for what, 247  
Lameness in address a disease in Patients, 119  
Latin but sparingly allowed, 177  
Lazy Divine Enemies to Learning, 141  
Learning's enemies, who 139. etc. no Noli me tangere in St. Paul's time it can be saved by the book, 149. It's usefulness in Divinity, 167. It's ruin too visible, 190. It's contempt, what, 189  
Lenitives sometimes not to be rested in, ●88  
Lawyer's Pre-eminence before the Physician, wherein, 99  
Life a Stage-play, 8. Who true Actors in it, 9 a Game at Tables, 29  
Disheartening levels, and their sad consequences, 437  
Levellers Hall, 552  
Lucilius his temper, 260   

M.  
MAlice righted is revenged, 39  
Massaniello endites as well as some preach, 144.  
Melancthon a good Coroner, 123  
Melancholy men subject to change Physicians and their courses, 125  
What ado about Matches, 203  
Men live like beasts without learning, 191. are but a crowd of Mummers, 17 and Stage-players, ib.  
Some men's memories above envy, 272. man looseth himself most in seeking himself, 357. Men fool at a dearer rate than children. The Magnetic Ladies paint, 353  
Attire, ib. She crosses the sick man's bill, not prescribes it, 351. Banquets at her door, ib.  
Marketings of the world foolish, 264  
Man's speculation a comedy of errors, and employments much ado about nothing, 319  
The colic passion, misereri mei, a recipe against cursing, 529  
The Melesian Virgins modesty,  
Marriages prerogative, 345  
The Mexican Calendar, 305  
Music what best, 200. It's use, 482  
hated only by ill natured people, 486. Of all Arts the most lasting, ib.   

N.  
THe Name Doctor, and Fame Gifted, enough to make Physician and Divine, 168  
The name of a book once spied, men fling their eyes off, 209  
Nations may hate one another's customs, 224. Our demeanour towards their differences, ib.  
The Non-parcille of the world, 204. Her Jointure, ib.  
Nature not to be distracted from concoction of the disease, 126  
Novelty a main setter off with the people, 111. How to be entertained, 259  
Nero's jest on Claudius, 302  
The Nurse's speech for the Quack, 113   

O.  
OBstinacy called Solidity, 220  
Opportunities of proper coutles in physic omitted, 51  
Orbis Intellectualis, meeter its Circulators, 212  
Oneness of a remedy with whom usual, 52.  
Oblivion's Deluge, 417   

P.  
Patient's oft prescribe to their Doctor, 120 121. have the hand Gout after the Cure, 127  
Pamphelets truest name, 231  
A Paul's Churchyard-shop of more real worth than all Lumbardstreet, 239  
Paul no Enemy to Learning, 153. took Testimonies of Truth from the Heathen, 166  
Perfection nor to be looked for in men's works, 263  
peremptoriness in desires, or love to be avoided, 16  
People's Creed concerning Petticoat-Practitioners, 54. their charity to miscarrying Quacks, 123. look Physicians should tell them Impossibles, or Invisibles from the water, 82. as guilty of cross practice as their Parsons, 198  
The people's Physicians Tools, 63. sets up in a Plague, ib. his Qualify actions, 82. etc.  
Petticoat Practitioners Rules for measure, 58. Mistakes, 59, their itch of Pride, 54. Mischiefs, 60 61  
Physic against Losses, 16.  
What the best, 206  
Polycletus his Statue, 257  
Politicians Gospel, 178  
Poetry part of Paul's reading, 166. part of Scripture in it, 470. nay, Rhythm itself in some, ib. its Dramatic part inferior to none, 472. its excellence, 477. etc.  
A well tuned Eloquence, 469  
Paedaretus his Repulse, 376  
Polystraditas public Spirit, 377  
Portia's grief for her Husband, 327  
Posterity takes no notice who are Purchasers, or who Spenders of Estate, 410  
Preaching in wisdom of words, what, 154  
Preachers some dull, some ridiculous, 142, making it the Auditor's passion to hear from them their Sermons. 151  
Pliny's Clock, 301  
Principles of prejudice, 253  
Pewes needless where all turn Pulpi●arians, 139  
Professions must not be broke loose, from, or into, 10  
Poor, the Almighty's Box. 34  
The best Ensurers, 39  
Poppy-water, or Syrup, edged Tools, 49  
Physick-practise as free as the Spanish Trade, 99 It's Theory conjecture, or controversy, and its practice Lottery, 131  
Physicians presence requisite, 81  
Pulpit Burglary, 435. 158. 160.  
Dangerous prosperity, 283 5, 6.   

Q.  
QUacks 〈◊〉 like Babel's Bricklayers, 48. are guided more by Signs in the Almanac than of the Disease, 49  
Slander Courts with their Cures, 84. Their Chorography, 85. Undertake, ib. Shop, 86. Method, 85. put offs, 90. are clippers of God's Image, 99 and Murderers hired by the Murdered, ib.  
Quacking Hermaphrodites Furniture, 45. Qualities, etc. 46. etc.   

R.  
Rates too high on things, whence, 10. Of men, what, 12  
Reward of Charity excels and exceeds the principal, 34  
Lower-regioned Souls are moved at S●blunaries, 41  
Reputation the Possession of the Dead, 21. more in our power than our fortunes, 24  
Reason is a Paradox, and Sense a Riddle to Sheephysitians, 50  
Remedies blindly applied are Diseases, 50  
A practising Rib will kill more than the Jawbone of an Ass, 61  
Two Rogues at Dort set up for Waterology, 79  
Receipt Books dangerous to practise by, 117  
Readers heads too full, or too empty, 250. should be Rasae Tabulae, 258. must come to Books as Guests, not Cooks, 261  
Reformation false always to the worse, 509. by ruin is madness, ib. splits on sundry Rocks, 502  
Religions way plain and sure, 175  
Riches in what they consist, 11  
Ruin followeth extirpation of Learning, 191  
Rhetoric a Whetstone the twoedged Sword did use, 165   

S.  
SEa-marks to the Haven of Health, 89  
Sex not to be known by the water, 72  
Sophistry more taking than success, 231  
How many Stairs one fell down, required by one to be told out of the water, 80  
The Shambles of Empyricks very large, 220  
Scriptures Excellence, 150.  
Lofty stile, ib. hath most of all Arts, ib.  
The sound of the Hourglass more precious than that of Tagus, 297  
The spirit of Prophecy is not gone quite out of learned men into Chaplains of the Whip, etc. 168.  
Zion and College, good Grammar, 138  
Salomon's honour, 397. Wealth, 399. Buildings, 403  
Scholars know how to use all of a Quill, 169. good Politicians, 174 their Fortunes low, 180. but the rich men's faults, ib. they with more Gallantry Scorn (than others enjoy) the fine things of the world, 181. Their Cannots fewer than their Abilities, 186  
The Stage Creditor to wisdom.  
Scarlet Boys must meddle with Books, 320  
The Scorner playeth the Fool in the Souls Tragedy.  
Slanders Entertainment, 460  
A Song made by God himself, 471  
Sardanapalus his Tomb, 549  
Sermons like familiar Discourse please, 252  
Scripture used by men as their Pleader not Counsellor, 254  
The Scientifical Syllogism not Ergo'd till death, 258  
Success ill guide of our Judgements, 282  
Socrates his candidness, 263  
sweetenings of life ill justled out by its cares, 309 Sermons of the Rod with some, most powerful, 529  
Schisms, whence, 361  
The Suists Creed, 365. Suicisme tains Acts of Religion, 358. etc. of Charity, 372. It's cure, ib.  
Sins bearded, or gilded pass for virtue, 512   

T.  
OUr Table is a Book, 36.  
Transitories not to be too closely embraced,  
Womanish tenderness in apprehension of Injuries invites them, 41  
The Council of Trent damned Authors more than Books, 209  
Tree of Knowledge and Life now apart, 193  
Truth and Love now lie a bleeding, 241  
Tongue and Ear a monstrous match, 199. the Music at it, ib.  
Time Master in all Arts, 273  
Time sadly shared, 295. Time-changers for money no wise Chapmen, 298, its Wasters, 302. how redeemed, 304  
Ones Nail, or Thumb covers a Kingdom in the Map, 315  
We Triumph on, and for a Turf, 316  
Trojan women's Policy.  
Testimonies of dying Saints, 560 etc.   

V.  
Virtue to be taken with a sweet or ill-sented breath, 19 her great Seal, 20  
Variation of remedies necessary, 87  
The Valentian Doctor his Elements, 102  
The complemental Visitant, a time-waster, 302  
University-breeding counted necessary for exposition of humane Laws, 167. No ullus in quovis singulo, 260, unus in omnibus, etc. No affrighting Proverb, 259  
Sad Vespers oft succeeded with Festivals, 33  
Urine showeth little, 65  
Uncertain in the best unsufficient in the most of its informations, 66. etc.  
Vulgar a bad Judge, 20. in choice of Physicians or Divines, 62. Dispense Prizes, or their Favour soon to Ignorance and Impudence. 133  
Venial sins how best confuted, 518  
Uxoricusnesse a Prodigality, 503  
Volupiae Sacra, 310  
The Goddess Viriplaca, 324   

W.  
WAterologers Knaves, 47. his Degree and habit, ib. their Cheat, 64 and 66. may grossly mistake 71. their impudent Tales out of the water, 75. as that a woman had a Tree in her belly, 77. etc.  
Water's Instructions alone dangerous, 81  
Cunning women first set up by foolish men, 46. women will still be learning Propria quae maribus, 45  
A woman with too few Teeth and too much Tongue fit to be sums Physician, 122  
The world to some a Primer, to others a polemical body of Controversies, 213. The World's wiseman buyeth a lease with an Inheritance, 266  
Wickedness hath its pawses, 275  
What one wonders at, another jeers, 213  
Wicked Prosperity but a Reprieve, 282  
A What would you next may be urged to most men's undertake, 310  
Whores Rhetoric above any Orators, 335  
Wit in bad Lodgings, 356  
None so famous to advance itself, 427  
Women as capable of Abilities as Men, 321. their bodies of more curious structure thou mens, 338  
Wines justifiable uses, 506 by whom complained against, ib.  
The winning side all commend, 288   

X.  
XEnophon, Scholar of Socrates, a brave Commander, 174   

Y.  
YOung in years may be old in hours, 8  
Tacitus his sad twenty years, 279   

Z.  
ZAandainelo's practice, 118  
Blind Zeal, or lame knowledge fruitless, or mischievous, 194. it breaks one Table against another, 202 it calls Learning an Idol, 251   
FINIS