rally taught to believe that the most vehement purs suit of obedience to all God's commandments, and the prevailing upon the affections of other men to do the same, doth not improve the state of that man above his who hath only forborn maliciously to transgress any of them, than the too common opinion, that whatsoever a man doth or leaves undone, his lot will still fall out to be the same. Kings and princes, as such, can make no claim of precedence in Heaven; nay, they are in danger of having many sins of commission and omision laid to their charges, which shall not be objected to inferior delinquents; yet good kings and princes, who have expelled and banished all uncleanness and profaneness out of their courts, and thereby prepared the hearts of their servants for the recep tion of that awe and reverence for God Almighty that will make them tremble to offend him; who govern their subjects with that candour and affection, as they do their children, and with that fatherly rigour, that compels them to do their duties, when they have no mind to be innocent; such princes and great men shall have a precedence in Heaven itself; and it is a joy worthy of that region, to see a train sent thither by their directions, or come thither by following their example; and it will well become persons of that exalted condition, to prepare such an equipage for their last journey,

both for their harbingers and retinue, by which they would travel at less charge, and enjoy rest with more ease. There cannot be a worse character given of an emperor, or of a gentleman, than Tacitus gives of Galba, Ipsi medium ingenium, magis extra vitia, quam cum virtutibus: he scarce lives a sensitive life, (for trees naturally grow and improve themselves, and bring benefit to their owners, plants flourish, and seeds produce profit to those that sow them) who only lives, and doth no good; and he is not so rational as he ought to be, that so lives to himself, and for himself, that he labours not to do good to others. I am not sure that the son of Syrach was not then thinking of our sullen contemplative man, when he says, "There is one that laboureth and taketh pains, and maketh haste, and is so much the more behind." It is not the pains a man takes, but the skill he hath in doing the work, which merits the wages. Mere labourers earn little; and a blind man who is shut up in a great room, may take great pains, and labour himself to weariness, and yet not be able to find the door.

They who seem to believe that all souls are alike; that the soul in the wisest man and in the greatest scholar is no more disposed to wisdom and learning than the soul that is infused into a fool and the most illiterate person, do yet confess that it is po

lished by education and conversation, to that perfection, that it produces those effects which distinguish the wise from the foolish, and makes all other distinctions between the several faculties of mankind; which is enough to oblige us to give so precious an inmate and companion, that can make us so good a recompence, the best entertainment we can; to allow it the best diet, and prescribe it the best exercise, that may nourish it to that vigour, as may make us gracious to God and man. Whether its virtue proceeds from its own original, or whether it be purely from our contribution, it is the same to us; for what perfection is in our own power to attain unto, is a debt due to ourselves, which we are in conscience bound to pay; and he who will not do all he can to make himself wise highly deserves to undergo the fortune and the fate of a fool; and he is literally felo-de-se, who deprives and robs himself of that which nobody but himself can rob him of; nor need he require any other evidence than his own, to know whether he hath paid this debt, whether he hath done all to mend this soul of his that he ought to have done. If he finds some inclinations in it to do well, or no importunities or aversions from it, and knows that no industry, cogitation, or reflection of his hath contributed to those motions, he may conclude, that it is not a soul of his own making, but that it owes all

its virtue to its own original, and would have had as much influence upon a silly girl as it hath had upon him: but if he finds that, upon his deliberation and application, it hath recovered more strength and vigour; that upon his cogitations and reflections, it is not only ready to give an assent, but suggests new conceptions to him to advance any noble designs; he may then conclude that it is in his own power to extend it farther; and that by a good diet, and proper exercise, it may be instrumental to bring notable things to pass, for the service of God, for the good of his country, and for his own and the salvation of other men. The wisdom of a learned man comes by opportunity of leisure. That is true; when there is wisdom and learning, they will both grow, and be improved by the opportunity of leisure; but neither wisdom or learning will be ever got by doing nothing. He that hath little business shall become wise, but he that hath none, shall remain a fool; he that doth not think at all upon what he is to do, will never do any thing well; and he who doth nothing but think, had as good do nothing at all. The mind that is unexercised, that takes not the air, that it may know the minds of other men, contracts the same aches and cramps in the faculties of the understanding, that the body labours with by the want of exercising its limbs; and he that resolves to sit

still, can never come to the end of his journey by other men's running never so fast. There is evidence, by the observation and experience of every man, enough to convince him of the great advantages which attend upon an active life, above what waits upon pure contemplation; that there is a great difference between the abilities of that man who hath contracted himself to any one study, though he excels in it, and him who hath with much less labour attained to a general experimental knowledge of things and persons; and so the greatest divine who hath read all the school-men, and all the fathers, and is as wise as most of them were, will be sooner deceived in the market, and pay more for his clothes and for his meat, than his groom will do, who understands that and his horse too. A good proportion of universal knowledge is requisite to judge of that which seems to be most particular, especially if it refers to any thing that is to be done, because men ought to foresee and provide against all things which may possibly cross the enterprise, as well as prepare all things which may probably make it succeed. Very great at tempts, and very well deliberated, have miscarried and been disappointed, by the incompetency of the persons to act those parts to which they were assigned; and who undertook the same willingly, because they believed themselves to be very com