que illis denique devictis triumphare. Istic verò, nemo omnium suspicari potest, quid tandem fuerit quod hominem hunc ad tam immanem aŮTOKтóviav impulerit. Supellex illi non curta fuit; fama illæsa; sat sanum corpus; animi verò dispositio, quantum quidem nobis apparuit, candida ac serena; vita denique inculpata: aliquid tamen invenit Tentator, quod suggereret impotenti huic animæ, tantâ violentiâ non indignum.

Quàm misella res est vita nostra, cujus nos ita facilè tædeat! Quàm nos mera sumus debilitas, ni à supremâ illâ manu sustentemur! Ex omnibus illis tentationibus, quæ mentem humanam invadere solent, quis non autumaret hanc maximè impossibilem; "Occide te?" Diligit se nempe quisque, naturæ instinctu vita suavis est; mors infesta. Quid est, quod non speret Diabolus persuadere hominibus, cùm inducere ipsos possit, ut vitam abdicare, mortem ambire mavelint? Aut quid desperem ego tantum apud me valere, ut aliquando possim, potenti Spiritûs Divini efficaciâ, vitam contemnere, causâque Servatoris mei, oppetere mortem illam, in quâ pauca quædam pœnarum momenta cum æternitate gaudii commutantur: cùm alios quosdam videam, quantumlibet improbabiliter suggerente Satana, gratis prodigere animam; atque ita temporalem sibi mortem accelerantes, ut æternæ periculum interea incurrere non dubitent?

CXVIII. De judicis adventu.

PROUT afficiuntur spectatorum animi, sic planè homines humanææque actiones construi solent. Eadem facies Judicis, absque ullâ sui mutatione, à reis non sine terrore quodam, non sine gaudio fiduciâque ab insontibus oppressis, conspicitur: eadem Sponsi labia et mel simul et myrrham distillant; benè quidem dispositis animis mel dulcissimum, myrrham verò rebellibus præfractisque: uti et poculum idem optimè sapit sano, febricitanti displicet: verbum idem, his ὀσμὴ θανάτου illis ζωῆς; εὐωδία tamen Christi utrobique: idem solis radius fortem oculi aciem. refocillat, perstringit debilem.

Id sibi demum ut quisquam hominum proponat, sive facere sive loqui quod omnibus perplaceat, impotentis cujusdam et otiosæ ambitionis est; quando-quidem videmus illum, qui infinitè bonus est, terribilem longè pluribus quàm amabilem apparere. Non est aliud à se bonitas, quibuscunque tandem oculis conspiciatur. Tutus profectò esse nusquam potest, qui pluris facit hominum censuram, quàm conditionis suæ veritatem ac justitiam. Qui omnium corda ambitiosè captat, suum perdidit.

CXIX. Conspecto lapidum acervo.

SUB tali acervo, sepultus est primus martyrum: nullus antiquorum regum sortitus est tumulum æquè gloriosum: multi istic lapides erant, et pretiosi omnes. Jacob olim caput suum in

head upon a stone, and saw that heavenly vision of angels ascending and descending: many stones light upon Stephen's head, in the instant, of his seeing the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Lo, Jacob, resting upon that one stone, saw but the angels: Stephen, being to rest for once under those many stones, saw the Lord of the Angels. Jacob saw the Angels moving: Stephen saw Jesus standing. As Jacob therefore afterwards, according to his vow, made there an altar to God; so Stephen now in the present gathers these stones together, of which he erected a holy altar, whereon he offered up himself a blessed sacrifice unto God. And, if there be a time of gathering stones, and a time of casting them away; this was the time, wherein the Jews cast, and Stephen gathered up these stones for a monument of eternal glory. O blessed Saint, thou didst not so clearly see heaven opened, as heaven saw thee covered: thou didst not so perfectly see thy Jesus standing, as he saw thee lying patiently, courageously under that fatal heap. Do I mistake it? or are those stones, not flints and pebbles; but diamonds, and rubies, and carbuncles to set upon thy crown of glory?

CXX. On the sight of a bat and owl.

THESE night-birds are glad to hide their heads all the day: and if, by some violence, they be unseasonably forced out of their secrecy, how are they followed and beaten by the birds of the day!

With us men it is contrary. The sons of darkness do, with all eagerness of malice, pursue the children of the light, and drive them into corners, and make a prey of them: the opposition is alike; but the advantage lies on the worse side. Is it, for that the spiritual light is no less hateful to those children of darkness, than the natural night is to those cheerful birds of the day? or is it, for that the sons of darkness, challenging no less propriety in the world than the fowl do in the lightsome air, abhor and wonder at the conscionable, as strange and uncouth? Howsoever, as these bats and owls were made for the night, being accordingly shaped, foul and ill-favoured; so we know these vicious men, however they may please themselves, have in them a true deformity, fit to be shrouded in darkness; and, as they delight in the works of darkness, so they are justly reserved to a state of darkness..

CXXI. On the sight of a well-fleeced sheep.

WHAT a warm winter-coat hath God provided, for this quiet

lapidem reclinavit, viditque cœleste illud spectaculum, ascendentium descendentiumque angelorum: in caput Stephani congesti sunt lapides multi, eodem planè momento, quo cœlum vidit apertum, Jesumque ad dextram Patris consistentem. Ecce, Jacob, uni illi recumbens lapidi, angelos tantùm vidit: Stephanus verò, sub lapidibus multis illico se repositurus, angelorum Dominum conspexit. Jacob vidit angelos sùsque déque moventes: Jesum stantem conspexit Stephanus. Ut ergo Jacob, juxta quod voverat, altare illic erexit Deo postmodùm; ita et Stephanus modò congerit lapides istos, è quibus sanctum altare struit, ipse in gratissimam Deo victimam immolandus. Et, si tempus uspiam sit colligendi lapides, et tempus item dispergendi; certè, hoc ipsissimum tempus erat, quo et dispergebant Judæi, et colligebat Stephanus lapides istos, æternæ tanti martyris gloriæ futures monumento. Non ita clarè videras tu, ô Beatissime, cœlum tibi apertum, ac cœlum te coopertum conspicabatur: non ita liquidò vidisti tu Jesum tuum in cœlo stantem, ac ille te sub fatali hoc cumulo patienter, fortiterque jacentem conspexit. Fallor? aut lapides illi non fuerunt siliciæ, calculive, aut quod aliud vile genus; sed adamantes, pyropive, aut siqui alii preciosiores, coronæ illi gloriæ, quâ cingereris, immortalis decorandæ.

CXX. De bubone et vespertilione.

ISTE noctis alumnæ toto die latitare gestiunt: et si, casu quodam aut insperatâ vi, è latebris suis intempestivè propellantur, quàm insectanter illico excipiuntur cædunturque ab avibus quibusque luci-colis!

Longè aliter nobiscum se res habet. Filii tenebrarum qui sunt, filios lucis violentâ quâdam malitiâ persequi, fugare, deprædari ubiquè solent: par utrobique inimicitia est; viget tamen istìc prævaletque pars deterior. Numquid hinc fit istud, quòd lux spiritualis non minùs tenebrarum filiis exosa sit, quàm nox naturalis alacribus illis diei clientibus esse solet? aut verò hinc forsan, quòd tenebrarum filii, haud minùs sibi jus proprietatis in sæculo hoc vendicantes, quàm alites illi in æthere claro illuminatoque faciunt, pium quemque, ut peregrinum prodigiosumque animal, horrent et insectantur? Quicquid sit, ut vespertiliones ac bubones isti, nocti quasi destinati factique videntur, atque ideo deformitatem quandam turpitudinemque præ se ferunt; ita novimus nos hosce pravos improbosque, utut sibi ipsi perplaceant, verè fædos esse, idoneosque qui tenebris usque obnubilentur; et, uti operibus tenebrarum unicè delectantur, ita et ad conditionem horroris ac tenebrarum plenam meritò reservari.

CXXI. Viso vellere ovino.

ANIMAL verò hoc quietum innoxiumque, quàm, Dei sic pro

innocent creature! As, indeed, how wonderful is his wisdom, and goodness, in all his purveyances! Those creatures, which are apter for motion and withal most fearful by nature, hath he clad somewhat thinner; and hath allotted them safe and warm burrows, within the earth: those, that are fit for labour and use, hath he furnished with a strong hide: and, for man, whom he hath thought good to bring forth naked, tender, helpless; he hath endued his parents and himself with that noble faculty of reason, whereby he may provide all manner of helps for himself. Yet again, so bountiful is God in his provisions, that he is not lavish; so distributing his gifts, that there is no more superfluity than want: those creatures, that have beaks, have no teeth; and those, that have shells without, have no bones within all have enough; nothing hath all. Neither is it otherwise in that one kind, of man, whom he meant for the lord of all: variety of gifts is here mixed with a frugal dispensation: none hath cause to boast: none to complain: every man is as free from an absolute defect, as from perfection.

I desire not to comprehend, O Lord: teach me to do nothing, but wonder.

CXXII. On the hearing of thunder.

THERE is no grace, whereof I find so general a want in myself and others, as an awful fear of the infinite Majesty of God. Men are ready to affect and profess a kind of familiarity with God, out of a pretence of love: whereas if they knew him. aright, they could not think of him without dread, nor name him without trembling. Their narrow hearts strive to conceive of him, according to the scantling of their own strait and ignorant apprehension: whereas they should only desire to have their thoughts swallowed up, with an adoring wonder of his divine incomprehensibleness. Though he thunder not always, he is always equally dreadful. There is none of his works, which doth not bewray Omnipotency. I blush at the sauciness of vain men, that will be circumscribing the powerful acts of the Almighty, within the compass of natural causes; forbearing to wonder, at what they profess to know. Nothing but ignorance can be guilty of this boldness. There is no Divinity, but in an humble fear; no philosophy, but a silent admiration.

CXXIII. On the sight of a hedgehog.

I MARVELLED, at the first reading, what the Greeks meant by that proverb of theirs, "The fox knows many pretty wiles, but the hedgehog knows one great one:" but, when I considered the nature and practice of this creature, I easily found

videntis beneficio, vestitissimum est! Sed et in cæterorum omnium administratione, quàm stupenda est divina bonitas, et sapientia! Aptioribus motui animalibus naturâque formidolosioribus, leviorem tenuioremque tunicam induit; ac subterraneos præterea cuniculos, tutos quidem illos, paravit: quæ verò laboribus usibusque humanis destinavit, crassiore ac firmiore tergore munivit: hominem, denique, quod spectat, nudum, tenellum, inopem in hanc lucem producturus; nobilem illam rationis facultatem parentibus ipsique demum indidit, quâ omnia quibus opus foret facilè suppeditare posset. Ita, tamen, munificus cùm sit Deus, prodigus non est; dona sua sic æquâ manu spargens, ut nihil cuiquam aut desit aut verò superfluat: animalia, quæ rostris freta sunt, dentibus carent; testacea quæ sunt, carent ossibus: sat est omnibus; nulli nimium. Neque aliter fit homini, quem creaturarum omnium dominum esse voluit Deus: donorum varietas parcâ quâdam largitate et istic dispensatur: non est quòd glorietur quispiam; non est quòd queratur: ita quisque ab extremâ indigentiâ, ac à summâ perfectione, immunis est.

Non ausim, O Domine Deus, illud ambire ut comprehendam: doce me modò, ut mirari aliquando discam.

CXXII. Audito tonitru.

NULLA cogitanti mihi virtus occurrit, cujus adeò universalein defectum in me aliisque persentisco, ac quæ tremendæ Dei Majestati debetur usque reverentiæ. Homines sæpiùs familiaritatem quandam cum Deo affectare ac profiteri, sub specie sancti amoris, nimio quàm proclives sumus: quem si rectè cognoscerent mortales, nec absque pavore cogitarent, nec absque tremore nominarent quidem. Angusta illorum corda juxta tenuem intellectûs sui, nimiùm incapacis, modulum, de Deo sentire ac imaginari solent: cùm illud oporteret tantùm ambire ac studere sedulò, ut, divinæ incomprehensibilitatis stupore et adoratione, toti absorbeantur. Non semper tonat ille quidem, æquè tamen semper tremendus. Ex omnibus quotquot uspiam fiunt operibus ejus, nullum non prodit Omnipotentiam. Rubore profectò suffundor, quoties vanorum hominum audaciam cogito, qui actus Omnipotentis, intra naturalium causarum cancellos circumscribere non verentur; illud mirari nolentes, quod scire profitentur. Sola inscitia tantæ hujus audacia rea est. Una est in humillimâ quâdam reverentiâ, Theologia; una, in tacito stupore, Philosophia.

CXXIII. Conspecto erinaceo, vel echino.

MIRABAR equidem, primo intuitu, quid sibi voluerint Græci diverbio illo suo, Пoxλa μév, &c. "Multa quidem scire vulpeculam, erinaceum verò unum quiddam sed magnum:" at, cùm naturam moresque animalis hujusce perpendissem, facilè intel