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C- «3 ft. 1^17. a 



»i-. 




OU^j^L.,^ i^^*«^ 



HEADLST BROTHBRS, 

PRINTKRS, 

LONDON ; AND ASHFORD, KSNT. 



CONTENTS. 






PAGE. 


Introduction by John Clifford, M.A. 


9 


The Author's Preface . 


15 


PART I. 




Ignorance .... 


21 


Education . • . 


22 


Pride .... 


. 26 


Luxury ..... 


29 


Inconsideration 


30 


Disappointment and Resignation 


30 


Murmuring 


• 31 


Censoriousness 


32 


Bounds of Charity . 


• 33 


Frugality or Bounty 


34 


DiscipHne .... 


• 35 


Industiy .... 


35 


Temperance 


• 36 


Apparel ..... 


38 


Right Marriage 


39 


Avarice ..... 


40 


Friendship .... 


• 45 


Quahties of a Friend 


46 


Caution and Conduct 


47 


Reparation .... 


47 


Rules of Conversation 


49 


Eloquence .... 


50 



Contents. 



Temper 


. 


Truth . 


Justice 




Secrecy . 




Complacency 


. 


Shifts 




Interest 




Inquiry . 




Right-timing 




Knowledge 




Wit 


Obedience to parents 


Bearing 


Promising 


Fidelity 


. 


Master . 




Servant 




Jealous . 




Posterity 




A Country Life 




Art and Project 




Industry 




Temporal Happ 


iness 


Respect . 




Hazard 




Detraction 




Moderation 




Trick . 





PAGE« 
51 
51 
51 

52 
52 

52 

53 
53 
54 
54 
55 
55 
57 
57 
58 
58 

59 
60 
61 
62 

63 
64 

64 
66 
67 
68 
69 
70 



Contents. 



Passion 

Personal Cautions 

Ballance 

Popularity 

Privacy 

Government 

A Private Life 

A Publick Life 

Qualifications 

Capacity 

Clean Hands 

Dispatch 

Patience 

Impartiality 

Indifferency 

Neutrality 

A Party 

Ostentation 

Compleat Virtue 

Religion 

PART IL 

Introduction 

The Right Moralist 

The World's Able Man 

The Wise Man . 

Of the Government of Thoughts 

Of Envy 



PAGE. 
70 

72 

73 
75 
75 
76 
82 

83 
84 
84 
84 

85 
86 

87 
90 
90 

91 
92 
92 
94 



"3 
"5 
118 
124 
126 
129 



8 Contents. 

PAGE. 

Of Man's Life .... 131 
Of Ambition .132 

Of Praise or Applause -133 

Of Conduct in Speech . . . 135 

Union of Friends . .136 

Of Being Easy in Living . 137 

Of Man's Inconsiderateness and Partiality 139 
Of the Rule of Judging . 140 

Of Formality .142 

Of the Mean Notion we have of God . 143 

Of the Benefit of Justice 144 

Of Jealousy .... 145 

Of State . .147 

Of a Good Servant . . . 147 

Of an Immediate Pursuit of the World 149 

Of the Interest of the Publick in our 

Estates . . . 150 

The Vain Man . . -153 

The Conformist 155 

The Obligations of Great Men to Almighty 

God . . .156 

Of Refining upon other Men's Actions or 

Interests . . 160 

Of Charity . .162 



Appendix .... 167 

Bibliography .... 176 



INTRODUCTION. 



This book belongs, in part to the literature of 
aphorism, and altogether to the litertiture of 
practical wisdom. Its purpose and inspiration, 
its substance and sense place it on the shelf 
by the side of the Book of Proverbs, and the Book 
of the Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach. It 
is, and it is meant to be, *' profitable for teaching, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruction which 
is in righteousness, that the man of God may be 
complete ; furnished completely unto every 
good work." 

Penn describes it quite accurately when he says 
it contains "Hints that may serve the reader 
for texts to preach to himself upon." That is 
what it is meant to constrain the reader to do. 
That explains its material, its construction, anrl 
its effect. It sets a man talking to, and counsel- 
ling himself. It stimulates and cleanses his 
9 



10 Introduction. 

thought, makes it sane and balanced, saves it 
from waste and wildness, and directs to noble 
doing. An "Enchiridion" is the name given it 
by our author ; that is, its fimction ; it is a 
hand-book to that conduct which is three- 
fourths of life, and more ; a manual of the 
manners that really make the man. 

Much of the sifted wisdom of the ages is here. 
It is a summing up and classifying of the vast 
results of human experience by an expert in the 
art and science of living ; expressed with great 
simplicity and naturalness in compact, cogent 
and clear English. The writer makes no claim 
to originaUty. His quest is for truth, practical 
truth ; the truth, by which men may not only 
live ; but live well. 

There is scarcely a weak or innutritions sentence 
in the book. It is wisdom's essence offered in a 
portable compass. As a compendium of concen- 
trated spiritual nutriment it would be hard to 
surpass it. A fine, ethical sagacity lights up its 
pages, and there is an unfailing supply of the salt 
of common sense. It often soars to the highest 
wisdom ; but there is no cheap disdain for the 
homely maxims that guide the traveller on the 



Introduction. 



ti 



lower roads of experience,^ — and though the debt 
to the past is large, yet here and there are brilliant 
foregleams of the coming and conquering ideas 
of our own day. 

William Penn was a man of faith and hope, 
and his " fruits of soHtude" are ripe and juicy. 
He is always cheerful. Humour abounds, quiet 
but full of light ; creating pleasure, but always 
informing. There is mordant satire, exposing 
folly and vanity, but persuading to repentance. 
Throughout there is a warm human sympathy, 
and the wisdom that is a refuge in trouble, a 
solace in distress, and a well of refreshing for 
the timid pilgrim tired and footsore on the ways 
of life. Whilst many passages remind one of the 
practicality of Woolman, and others of the trans- 
cendentalism of Emerson, and still, others of 
the wit and directness of Bacon ; there is not one 
that suggests the depravity of Macchiavelli, or 
the cynicism of La Rochefoucauld, or the des- 
pair of Schopenhauer. 

Young men and maidens will find it a welcome 
daily companion, and the more mature will feed 
their faith and burnish their hope, as they medi- 
tate on its Maxims. 



12 



introduction* 



For Maxims is what the book is made of ;- 
short sentences, briefly expressed hints, aphorisms, 
apothegms. " The style is the man " we say ; 
but not entirety ; the style is the man plus 
the age in which he lives : and therefore Penn's 
mind, independent as it is in its obsen^ation and 
conclusions, is not closed to the French literary 
influence which has invaded and is raling the 
literary England of his day. He follows the 
fashion in aphoristic expression. Nothing is 
elaborated. Everj-thing is stated shortly and 
tersely. Compression, point, suggestion, porta- 
bility are aimed at. Mr, Edmund Gosse says, 
" The form of ' Some Fruits of Sohtude ' is 
wholly due to the influence of La Rochefoucauld's 
famous compendium of sentences, the vogue of 
which was at its height in England when Penn 
wrote." But though our author follows the 
fashion in his style, the substance of his work 
is his own : '* the fruits " are grown in his own 
orchard. His opportimities for prolonged medi- 
tation were many. He was in prisons oft. 
The gaols were his study and his temple oi 
worship. Into the Tower and Newgate he waff' 
thrust for conscience sake, and when he escaped 



\ 



Introduction. 



13 



the prison he had to hide in the Sussex wocds, 
and 01 these solitudes he revised and re-cast his 
thoughts and finally gave the world not only 
this revelation of himself, of his aims, his ideals 
and his spirit ; but a message of which R. L, 
Stevenson said, " There is not a man living, 
no, nor recently dead, that could put with so 
lovely a spirit so much honest, kind wisdom into 
words." 

That is the witness of one of a great company, 
who in successive generations have partaken 
of these fruits and been healed, refreshed and 
strengthened by their properties. Stevenson 
was a wanderer on the face of the earth, just 
escaped out of the grip of a shattering illness, 
when sick unto death, he suddenly came upon a 
copy of this book, and found it food for courage 
and faith, medicine for despondency, and a solace 
for sadness. It was as the breath of heaven to 
his spirit. He tells us he " carried it in his 
pocket all about San Francisco streets, read it in 
the cars and ferry boats " ; spoke of it as "a 
sweet, dignified and wholesome book," an " in- 
valuable present," and " at all times and places 
a peaceful and sweet companion." Since this 



14 Introduction. 

fruitful tree was planted in the gardens of litera- 
ture on the 24th of May, 1693, thousands have 
sat under its branches and have been braced and 
fortified for life by its produce. This new edition 
will largely increase their number ! 

John Clifford. 

May, 1905. 



THE PREFACE. 



READER,— This Enchiridion, I present thee" 
with, is the Fruit of Solitude : A School few 
care to learn in, tho' None instructs us better. 
Some Parts of it are the Result of serious 
Reflection ; Others the Flashings of Lucid 
Intervals : Writ for private Satisfaction, and 
now puhlish'd for an Help to Human Conduct. 

The Author blesseth God for his Retirement, 
and kisses that Gentle Hand which led him 
into it : For though it should prove Barren to 
the World, it can never do so to him. 

He has now had some Time he could call 
his own ; a Property he was never so much 
Master of before : In which he has taken a 
View of himself and the World ; and observed 
wherein he hath hit and mist the Mark ; What 
might have been done, what mended, and what 
avoided in his Human Conduct ; Together with 
the Omissions and Excesses of others, as well 
Societies and Governments, as private Families, 

15 



1 6 The Preface. 

and Persons. And he verily thinks, were he 
to live over his Life again, he could not only, 
with God's Grace, serve Him, but his Neigh- 
bour and himself, better th£in he hath done, 
and have Seven Years of his Time to spare. 
And yet perhaps he hath not been the Worst 
or the Idlest Man in the World ; nor is he the 
Oldest. And this is the rather said, that it 
might quicken Thee, Reader, to lose none of 
the Time that is yet thine. 

There is nothing of which we are apt to be 
so lavish as of Time, and about which we ought 
to be more solicitous ; since without it we can 
do nothing in this World. Time is what we 
want most, but what, alas ! we use worst ; and 
for which God will certainly most strictly reckon 
with us, when Time shall be no more. 

It is of that Moment to us in Reference to 
both Worlds, that I can hardly wish any Man 
better, than that he would seriously consider 
what he does with his Time : How and to 
What Ends he Employs it ; and what Returns 
he makes to God, his Neighbour and Himself 
for it. Will he ne'er have a Leidger for this ? 
This, the greatest Wisdom and Work of Life, 



The Preface. 



17 



To come but once into tlie World, and Trifle 
away our true Enjoyment of it, and of our 
selves in it, is lamentable indeed. This one 
Reflection would yield a thinking Person great 
Instruction. And since nothing below Man 
can so Think ; iMan, in being Thoughtless, 
must needs fall below himself. And that, to 
be sure, such do, as are unconceni'd in the 
Use of their most Precious Time. 

This is but too evident, if we will allow our 
selves to considers that there's hardly any 
Thing we take by the Right End, or improve 
to its just Advantage. 

We understand little of the Works of God, 
either in Nature or Grace. We pursue False 
Knowledge, and Mistake Education extreamly. 
We are Violent in our Afiectlons, Confused and 
Immethodical in our whole Life ; making 
That a Burthen, which was given for a Blessing ; 
and so of little Comfort to our selves or others : 
Misapprehending the true Notion of Happiness, 
and so missing of the Right Use of Life, and 
Way of happy Living. 

And till we are perswaded to stop, and step 
a little aside, out of the noisy Crowd and In- 



1 8 The Preface. 

cumbering Hurry of the World, and Calmly 
take a Prospect of Things, it will be impossible 
we should be able to make a right Judgment 
of our Selves or know our own Misery. But 
after we have made the just Reckonings which 
Retirement will help us to, we shall begin to 
think the World in great measure Mad, and 
that we have been in a sort of Bedlam all this 
while. 

Reader, whether Young or Old, think it not 
too soon or too late to turn over the Leaves of 
thy past Life ; And be sure to fold down where 
any Passage of it may affect thee ; And bestow 
thy Remainder of Time, to correct those Faults 
in thy future Conduct ; Be it in Relation to 
this or the next Life. What thou wouldst do, 
if what thou hast done were to do again, be 
sure to do as long as thou livest, upon the like 
Occasions. 

Our Resolutions seem to be Vigorous, as 
often as we reflect upon our past Errors ; But, 
Alas ! they are apt to flat again upon fresh 
Temptations to the same Things. 

The Author does not pretend to deliver thee 
an Exact Piece ; his Business not being Osten- 



The Preface. 19 

tation, but Charity. 'Tis Miscellaneous in the 
Matter of it, and by no means Artificial in the 
Composure. But it contains Hints, that may 
serve thee for Texts to Preach to thy Self upon, 
and which comprehend Much of the Course of 
Human Life ; Since whether thou art Parent 
or Child, Prince or Subject, Master or Servant, 
Single or Married, Publick or Private, Mean 
or Honourable, Rich or Poor, Prosperous or 
Improsperous, in Peace or Controversy, in 
Business or SoUtude ; Whatever be thy Inclina- 
tion or Aversion, Practice or Duty, thou wilt 
find something not unsuitably said for thy 
Direction and Advantage. Accept and Im- 
prove what deserves thy Notice ; The rest 
excuse, and place to account of good Will to 
Thee and the whole Creation of God. 



Some jFruits of SoUtube 



IN 



REFLECTIONS AND MAXIMS 



IGNORANCE. 

1. It is admirable to consider how many 
Millions of People come into, and go out of the 
World, Ignorant of themselves, and of the 
World they have lived in. 

2. If one went to see Windsor-Castle, or 
Hampton-Court, it would be strange not to 
observe and remember the Situation, the 
Building, the Gardens, Fountains, &c., that 
make up the Beauty and Pleasure of such a 
Seat ? And yet few People know themselves : 
No, not their own Bodies, the Houses of their 
Minds, the most curious Structure of the World ; 
a living, walking Tabernacle ; Nor the World 
of which it was made, and out of which it is 
fed ; which would be so much our Benefit, as 



22 Reflections and Maxims. 

well as our Pleasure, to know. We cannot 
doubt of this when we are told that the Invi- 
sible Things of God are brought to light by the 
Things that are seen ; and consequently we 
read our Duty in them as often as we look 
upon them, to him that is the great and Wise 
Author of them, if we look as we should do. 

3. The World is certainly a great and 
stately Volume of natural Things ; and may 
be not improperly stiled the Hieroglyphicks 
of a better : But, alas ! how very few Leaves 
of it do we seriously turn over ! This ought 
to be the Subject of the Education of our 
Youth, who, at Twenty, when they should be 
fit for Business, know httle or nothing of it. 

EDUCATION. 

4. We are in Pain to make them Scholars, 
but not Men ! To talk, rather than to know, 
which is true Canting. 

5. The first Thing obvious to Children is 
what is sensible ; and that we make no Part 
of their Rudiments. 

6. We press their Memory too soon, and 
puzzle, strain and load them with Words and 



Reflections and Maxims. 



23 



Rules ; to know Graniirier and Rhetorick, 
and a strange Tongue or two, that it is ten to 
one may never be useful to them ; Leaving 
their natural Genius to Mechanical and Physi- 
cal, or natural Knowledge uncultivated and 
neglected ; which would be of exceeding Use 
and Pleasure to them through the whole Course 
of their Life. 

7, To be sure, Languages are not to be 
despised or neglected. But Things are still 
to be preferred. 
!■ S. Children had rather be making of Tools 
and Instruments of Play ; Shaping, Drawing, 
Framing, and Building, &c., than getting some 
Rules of Propriety of Speech by Heart : And 
those also would follow with more Judgment, 
and less Trouble and Time. 

9, It were Happy if we studied Nature 

more in natural Things ; and acted according 

to Nature ; whose Rules are few, plain and 

most reasonable. 

f 10. Let us begin where she begins, 

^ go her Pace, and close always where 

' she ends, and we cannot miss of being good 

Naturalists. 



24 Reflections and Maxims. 

11. The Creation would not be longer a 
Riddle to us : The Heavens, Earth, and Waters, 
with their respective, various and numerous 
Inhabitants ; Their Productions, Natures, 
Seasons, Sympathies and Antipathies ; their 
Use, Benefit and Pleasure, would be better 
understood by us : And an eternal Wisdom, 
Power, Majesty and Goodness, very conspicuous 
to us, thro' those sensible and passing Forms ; 
The World wearing the Mark of its Maker, whose 
Stamp is every where visible, and the Charac- 
ters very legible to the Children of Wisdom. 

12. And it would go a great way to caution 
and direct People in their Use of the World, 
that they were better studied and known in 
the Creation of it. 

13. For how could Man find the Confidence 
to abuse it, while they should see the Great 
Creator stare them in the Face, in all and every 
Part thereof ? 

14. Their Ignorance makes them insensible, 
and that Insensibility hardy in mis-using this 
noble Creation, that has the Stamp and Voice 
of a Deity every where, and in every Thing to 
the Observing. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



25 



ig. It is pity therefore that Books have 
not been composed for Youth, by some curious 
and carefal Naturahsts, and also Mechanicks, 
in the Latin Tongue, to be used in Schools, . 
that they might kam Things with Words : 
Things obvious and familiar to them, and 
which would make the Tongue easier to be 
obtained by them, 

16, Many able Gardeners and Husband- 
men are yet Ijsrnorant of the Reason of their 
Calling ; as most Artificers are of the Reason 
of their own Rules that govern their excellent 
Workmanship. But a Naturalist and Mecha- 
nick of this sort, is Master of the Reason of 
botli, and might be of the Practice too, if his 
Industry kept pace with his Speculation ; 
which were very commendable ; and without 
which he cannot be said to be a complete 
Naturalist or Mechanick. 

17. Finally) if Man be the Index or Epitomy 
of the World, as Philosophers tell us, we have 
only to read our selves well to be learned in it. 
But because there is nothing we less regard 
than the Characters of the Power that made us, 
which are so clearly written upon us and tba 



26 Reflections and Maxims. 

World he has given us, and can best tell us 
what we are and should be, we are even Stran- 
gers to our own Genius : The Glass in which we 
should see that true instructing and agreeable 
Variety, which is to be observed in Nature, to 
the Admiration of that Wisdom and Adoration 
of that Power which made us all. • 

PRIDE. 

i8. And yet we are very apt to be full of 
our selves, instead of Him that made what we 
so much value ; and, but for whom we can 
have no reason to value our selves. For we 
have nothing that we can call our own ; no, 
not our selves : For we are all but Tenants, 
and at Will too, of the great Lord of our selves, 
and the rest of this great Farm, the World that 
we live upon. 

19. But methinks we cannot answer it to 
our Selves as well as our Maker, that we should 
live and die ignorant of our Selves, and thereby 
of Him and the Obligations we are under" to 
Him for our Selves. 

20. If the worth of a Gift sets the Obligation, 
and directs the return of the Party that receives 



Reflections and Maxims. 



47 



it ; he that is ignorant of it, will be at a loss to 
value it and the Giver, for it. 

21. Here is Man in his Ignorance of himself. 
He knoMra not how to estimate his Creator, 
because he knows not how to value his Creation. 
If we consider his Make, and lovely Compositure ; 
the several Stories of his lovely Stnicture- His 
divers Members, their Order, Function and De- 
pendency ; The Instruments of Food, the Vessels 
of Digestion, the several Transmutations it 
passes. And how Nourishment is carried and 
defused throughout the whole Body, by most 
innate and imperceptible Passages. How the 
Animal Spirit is thereby refreshed, and with an 
unspeakable Dexterity and Motion sets all Parts 
at work to feed themselves. And last of aU, 
how the Rational Soul is seated in the Animal, 
as its proper House, as is the Animal in 
the Body : I say if this rare Fabrick alone 
were but considered by us, with all the rest by 
which it is fed and comforted, surely Man would 
have a more reverent Sense of the Power, Wisdom 
and Goodness of God, and of that Duty he owes 
to Him for it. But if he would be acquainted 
with his own Soul, its noble Faculties, its Utwi.'a- 



28 Reflections and Maxims. 

with the Body, its Nature and End, and the 
Providences by which the whole Frame of 
Humanity is preserved, he would Admire and 
Adore his Good and Great God. But Man is 
become a strange Contradiction to himself 
but it is of himself ; Not being by Constitution, 
but Corruption such. 

22. He would have others obey him, even 
his own kind ; but he will not obey God, that 
is so much above him, and who made him. 

23. He will lose none of his Authority ; no, 
not bate an Ace of it : He is humorous to his 
Wife, he beats his Children, is angry with his 
Servants, strict with his Neighbours, revenges 
all Affronts to Extremity ; but, alas, forgets all 
the while that he is the Man ; and is more in 
Arrear to God, that is so very patient with him, 
than they are to him with whom he is so strict 
and impatient. 

24. He is curious to wash, dress and perfume 
his Body, but careless of his Soul. The one 
shall have many Hours, the other not so many 
Minutes. This shall have three or four new 
Suits in a Year, but that must wear its old 
Cloaths still. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



29 



1^ 25, If he be to receive or see a great Man, 
how nice and anxious is he that all things be 
in order ? And with what Respect and Address 
du^3 he approach and make his Court ? But 
to God, how dry and formal and constrained in 
his Devotion ? 

26. In his Prayers he says, Thy Will be done ; 
But means his own : At least acts so. 

■■ 27. It is too frequent to begin with God and 
end with the World. But He is the good Man's 
Beginning and End ; his Alpha and Omega. 

H LUXURY. 

^W' 28. Such is now become our Delicacy, that 
we will not eat ordinary Meat, nor drink small 
pall'd Liquor ; we must have the best, and the 
best cook'd for our Bodies, while our Souls feed 
on empty or corrupted Things. 

■ll 2g. In short, Man is spending all upon a bare 
■ House, and hath little or no Furniture within to 
recommend it ; which is preferring the Cabinet 
before the Jewel, a Lease of seven Years before 
an Inheritance. So absurd a thing is Man, after 
alt bis proud Pretences to Wit and Under- 
tanding. 



30 Reflections and Maxims. 

INCONSIDERATION. 

30. The want of due Consideration is the 
Cause of all the Unhappiness Man brings upon 
himself. For his second Thoughts rarely agree 
with his first, which pass not without a con- 
siderable Retrenchment or Correction. And yet 
that sensible Warning is, too frequently, not 
Precaution enough for his future Conduct. 

31. Well may we say our Infelicity is of our 
selves ; since there is nothing we do that we 
should not do, but we know it, and yet do it. 

DISAPPOINTMENT AND RESIGNATION. 

32. For Disappointments, that come not 
by our own Folly, they are the Tryals or Cor- 
rections of Heaven : And it is our own Fault, 
if they prove not our Advantage. 

33. To repine at them does not mend the 
Matter : It is only to grumble at our Creator. 
But to see the Hand of God in them, with an 
humble Submission to his Will, is the Way to 
turn our Water into Wine, and engage the 
greatest Love and Mercy on our side. 

34. We must needs disorder our selves, if 
we only look at our Losses. But if we consider 



Reflections and Maxims, 



ir 



how little we deserve what is left, our Passion 
will cool, and our Murmurs will turn into Thank- 
fulness, 

i^. If our Hairs fall not to the Ground^ le55 
do we or our Substance without God's Providence, 

36. Nor ran we fall below the Arms of God, 
how low soever it he we fall. 

37. For though our Saviour's Passion is 
overj his Compassion is not. Tliat never fails 
his humble, sincere Disciples ; In him, they find 
more than all that they lose in the World, 

MURMURING. 

38. Is it reasonable to take it ill, that any 
Body desires of us that which is their own ? All 
we have is the Almighty's. : And shall not God 
have his own when he calls for it ? 

39. Discontentedness is not only in such a 
Case Ingratitude, but Injustice, For we are 
both unthankful for the time we had it, and not 
honest enough to restore it, if we could keep it, 

40. But it is bard for us to look on thin^ 
in such a Glass, and at such a Distance from this 
low World ; and yet it is our Duty, and would be 
our Wisdom and our Glory, to do so, 



32 Reflections and Maxims. 

CENSORIOUSNESS. 

41. We are apt to be very pert at censuring 
others, where we will not endure advice our 
selves. And nothing shews our Weakness more 
than to be so sharp-sighted at spying other Mens 
Faults, and so purblind about our own. 

42. When the Actions of a Neighbour are 
upon the Stage, we can have all our Wits about 
us, are so quick and critical we can split an Hair, 
and find out every Failure and Infirmity : But 
are without feeling, or have but very little Sense 
of our own. 

43. Much of this comes from 111 Nature, 
as well as from an inordinate Value of our selves : 
For we love rambling better than home, and 
blaming the unhappy, rather than covering and 
relieving them. 

44. In such Occasions some shew their 
Malice, and are witty upon Misfortunes ; others 
their Justice, they can reflect a pace : But few 
or none their Charity ; especially if it be about 
Mony Matters. 

45. You shall see an old Miser come forth 
with a set Gravity, and so much Severity against 
the distressed, to excuse his Purse, that he will. 



Reflections a.tid Maxims. 



n 



e'er he has done, put it out of all Question, 
That Riches is Righteousness with him. This, 
says he, is the Fruit of your Prodigality (as if, 
poor Man, Covetousness were no Fault) Or, of 
your Projects, or grasping after a great Trade : 
While he himself would have done the same 
thing, but that he had not the Courage to venture 
so much ready Money out of his own trusty 
Hands, though it had been to have brought him 
back the Indies in return. But the Proverb 
is just, Vice should not correct Sin. 

46. They have a Right to censure, that have 
a Heart to help ; The rest is Cruelty, not Justice. 

BOUNDS OF CHARITY. 



47. Lend not beyond thy Ability, nor refuse 
to lend out of thy Ability ; especially when it 
will help others more than it can hurt thee. 

48. If thy Debtor be honest and capable, 
thou hast thy Mony again, if not with Encrease, 
with Praise : If he prove insolvent, don't ruin 
him to get ^that, which it will not ruin thee to 
lose : For thou art but a Steward, and another 

[is thy Owner, Master and Judge, 



34 Reflections and Maxims* 

49. The more merciful Acts thou dost, the 
more Mercy thou wilt receive ; and if with a 
charitable Imployment of thy Temporal Riches, 
thou gainest eternal Treasure, thy Purchase is 
infinite : Thou wilt have found the Art of Multi- 
plying indeed. 

FRUGALITY OR BOUNTY. 

50. Frugality is good, if Liberality be join'd 
with it. The first is leaving off ^perfluous 
Expences ; the last bestowing them to the 
Benefit of others that need. The first without 
the last begins Covetousness ; the last without 
the first begins Prodigality : Both together make 
an excellent Temper. Happy the Place where 
ever that is found. 

51. Were it universal, we should be Cur'd 
of two Extreams, Want and Excess : and the 
one would supply the other, and so bring both 
nearer to a Mean ; the just Degree of earthly 
Happiness. 

52. It is a Reproach to Religion and Govern- 
ment to suffer so much Poverty and Excess. 

53. Were the Superfluities of a Nation valued, 
and made a perpetual Tax or Benevolence, there 



Reflections and Maxims. 



^5 



would be more Almshouses than Poor ; Schools 
than Scholars ; and enough to spare for Govern- 
ment besides. 

54. Hospitality is good, if the poorer sort 
are the Subjects of our Bounty ; else too near a 
Superfluity. 

DISCIPLINE, 

55. If thou wouldst be happy and ©asie 
in thy Family , above all things observe Discipline. 

56. Every one in it should know their Duty ; 
and there should be a Time and Place for every 
thing ; and whatever else is done or omitted, be 
sure to begin and end with God. 

INDUSTRY. 

57. Love Labour : For if thou dost not want 
it for Food, thou mayest for Physick. It is 
wholesom for thy Body, and good for thy Mind. 
It prevents the Fruits of Idleness, which many 
times come of nothing to do, and leads too many 
to do what is worse than nothing. 

5S. A Garden, an Elaboratory, a Work- 
house, Improvements and Breeding, are pleasant 
and profitable Diversions to the Idle and In- 



36 Reflections and Maxinr. 

genious : For here they miss 111 Company, an 
converse with Nature and Art ; whose Variet} 
are equally grateful and instructing ; and pre- 
serve a good Constitution of Body and Mind. 

TEMPERANCE. 

59. To this a spare Diet contributes much. 
Eat therefore to live, and do not live to eat. 
That's like a Man, but this below a Beast. 

60. Have wholesom, but not costly Food, 
and be rather cleanly than dainty in ordering it. 

61. The Receipts of Cookery are swell'd 
to a Volume, but a good Stomach excels them 
all ; to which nothing contribiites more than 
Industry and Temperance. 

62. It is a cruel Folly to offer up to Osten- 
tation so many Lives of Creatures, as make up 
the State of our Treats ; as it is a prodigal one 

to spend more in Sawce than in Meat. \ 

63. The Proverb says. That enough is as gqpd 
as a Feast : But it is certainly better, if Super- 
fluity be a Fault, which never fails to be at 
Festivals. 

64. If thou rise with an Appetite, thou art 
sure never to sit down without one. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



37 



65. Rarely drink but when thou art dry ; 
nor then, between Meals, if it can be avoided. 

66. The smaller the Drink, the clearer the 
Head, and tlie cooler the Blood ; wliich are great 
Benefits in Temper and Business. 

67. Strong Liquors are good at some Times, 
and in stnall Proportions ; being better for 
Physick than Foodj for Cordials than common 
Use, 

68. The most common things are the most 
useful ; which shews both the Wisdom and Good- 
ness of the great Lord of the Family of the World, 

6g, What therefore he has made rare, don't 
thou use too conmionly : Lest thou shouldest 
invert the Use and Order of things ; Income 
Wanton and Voluptuous ; and thy Blessings 
pro\'e a Curse. 

70. Let nothing be lost, said our Saviour, 
But that is lost that is misused. 

71. Neither urge another to that thou 
wouldst be unwilling to do thyself, nor do 
thy self what looks to thee unseemly, and 
intemperate in another. 

7 J. .\ll Excess is ill ; But Drunkenness is 
of the worst Sort. It spoils Health, dismounts 



38 Reflections and Maxims. 

the Mind, and unmans Men : It reveals Secrets, is 
Quarrelsome, Lascivious, Impudent, Dangerous 
and Mad. In fine, he that is drunk is not a 
Man : Because he is so long void of Reason, that 
distinguishes a Man from a Beast. 

APPAREL. 

' 73. Excess in Apparel is another costly 
Folly. The very Trinmiing of the vain World 
would cloath all the naked one. 

74. Chuse thy Cloaths by thine own Eyes, 
not anothers. The more plain and simple they 
are, the better. Neither unshapely, nor fan- 
tastical ; and for Use and Decency, and not for 
Pride. 

75. If thou art clean and warm, it is suffi- 
cient ; for more doth but rob the Poor, and please 
the Wanton. 

76. It is said of the true Church, the King's 
Daughter is all glorious within. Let our care 
therefore be of our Minds more than of our Bodies, 
if we would be of her Communion. 

77. We are told with Truth, that Meekness 
and Modesty are the Rich and Charming Attire 
of the Soul : And the plainer the Dress, the 



Reflections and Maxims, 



39 



mora Distinctly, and with greater Lustre, their 
Beauty shines. 

78. It is a great Pity such Beauties are so 
rare, and those of Jeasebel's Forehead are so 
common : Whose Dresses are Incentives to 
Lust ; but Bars insteads of Motives, to Love 
or Vertue. 

RIGHT MARRIAGE. 

79. Never Marry but for Love ; but see that 
thou lov'st what is lovely. 

80. If Love be not thy chiefest Motive, thou 
wilt soon grow weary of a Married State, and 
stray from thy Promise, to search out thy Pleas- 
ures in forbidden Places. 

81. Let not Enjoyment lessen, but augment 
Affection ; it being the basest of Passions to 
like when we have not, what we slight when 
we possess, 

82. It is the difference betwixt Lust and Love , 
that this is fixt, that volatile. Love grows, Lust 
wasts by enjoyment : And the Reason is, that 
one springs from an Union of Souls, and the 
other from an Union of Sense. 

83. They have Divers Originals, and so are 
of different Families; That inward and deei^. 



40 Reflections and Maxims. 

this superficial ; this transient and that par 
manent. 

84. They that Marry for Money cannot have 
the true Satisfaction of Marriage ; the requisite 
Means being wanting. 

85. Men are generally more careful of the 
Breed of their Horses and Dogs than of their 
Children. 

86. Those must be of the best Sort, for Shape, 
Strength, Courage and good Conditions : But 
as for these, their own Posterity, Money shall 
answer all things. With such, it makes the 
Crooked Streight, sets Squint-Eyes Right, cures 
Madness, covers Folly, changes ill Conditions, 
mends the Skin, gives a Sweet Breath, repairs 
Honours, makes Young, works Wonders. 

87. O how sordid is Man grown ! Man, the 
noblest Creature in the World, as a God on Earth, 
and the Image of him that made it ; thus to 
mistake Earth for Heaven, and worsliip Gold 
for God! 

AVARICE. 

88. Covetousness is the greatest of Monsters, 
as well as the Root of all Evil. I have once seen 
the Man that dyed to save Charges. What ! 



Reflections and Maxims. 



Give Ten Shillings to a Doctor, and have an 
Apothecary's Bill besides, that may come to 
I know not what ! No, not he : Valuing Life- 
less than Twenty Shillings. But indeed such 
a Man could not well set too low a Price upon 
himself ; who, though he liv'd up to the Chin in 
Bags, had rather die than find iji his Heart to 
open one of them, to help to save his Life. 

Sg. Such a Man is felo de se, and deserves not 
a Christian Burial. 

90, He is a common Nusance, a Weyer cross 
the Stream, that stops the Current : An Obstruc- 
tion, to be remo\^'d by a Purge of the Law. The 
only Gratification he gives his Neighbours, 
is to let them see that he himself is as little the 
better for what he has, as they are. For he 
always looks like Lent ; a Sort of Lay-Minim. 
In some Sense he may be compar'd to Pharoah's 
lean Kine, for all that he has does him no good. 
He commonly wears his Cloaths ' till they leave 
him, or that no Body else can wear them. He 
affects to be thought poor, to escape Robbery 
and Taxes ; And by looking as if he wanted 
an Alms, excusing himself from giving any. He 
ever goes late to Markets, to cover buying the 



42 Reflections and Maxims. 

worst : But does it because that is cheapest. 
He Uves of the Offal. His Life were an insup- 
portable Punishment to any Temper but his 
own : And no greater Torment to him on Earth, 
than to live as other Men do. But the Misery of 
his Pleasure is, that he is never satisfied with 
getting, and always in Fear of losing what he 
cannot use. 

91. How vilely has he lost himself, that 
becomes a Slave to his Servant ; and exalts him 
to the Dignity of his Maker ! Gold is the God, 
the Wife, the Friend of the Money-Monger of 
the World. 

92. But in Marriage do thou be wise ; prefer 
the Person before Money, Vertue before Beauty, 
the Mind before the Body : Then thou hast a 
Wife, a Friend, a Companion, a Second Self ; 
one that bears an equal Share with thee in all thy 
Toyls and Troubles. 

93. Chuse one that Measures her satisfaction, 
Safety and Danger, by thine ; and of whom, 
thou art sure, as of thy secretest Thoughts : 
A Friend as well as a Wife, which indeed a Wife 
implies : For she is but half a Wife that is not, 
or is not capable of being such a Friend. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



43 



g4. Sexes make no Difference ; since in 
Souls there is none : And they are the Subjects 
of Friendship. 

95. He that minds a Body and not a Soul, has 
not the better Part of that Relation ; and will 
consequently want the Noblest Comfort of a 
Married Life. 

96. The Satisfaction of our Senses is low, 
short, and transient : But the Mind gives a more 
raised and extended Pleasure, and is capable 
of an Happiness founded upon Reason ; not 
bounded and limited by the Circumstances 
that Bodies are con fin' d to. 

97. Here it is we ought to search out our 
Pleasure, where the Field is large and full of 
Variety, and of an induring Nature t Sickness, 
Poverty or Disgrace being not able to shake it, 
because it is not under the moving Influences 
of Worldly Contingences. 

98. The Satisfaction of those that do so is 
in well doing, and in the Assurance they have 
of a future Reward : That they are best loved 
of those they love most, and that they enjoy and 
value the Liberty of their Minds above that 
of their Bodies ; having the whole Creation 



44 Reflections and Maxims. 

for their Prospect, the most Noble and Wonder- 
ful Works and Providences of God, the Histories 
of the Antients, and in them the Actions and 
Examples of the Vertuous ; and lastly, them- 
selves, their Affairs and Family, to exercise 
their Minds and Friendship upon. 

99. Nothing can be more entire and without 
Reserve ; nothing more zealous, afitectidnate and 
sincere ; nothing more contented and constant 
than such a Couple ; nor ao greater temporal 
Felicity than to be one of them. 

100. Between a Man and his Wife nothing 
ought to rule but Love. Authority is for Chil- 
dren and Servants ; yet not without Sweetness. 

loi. As Love ought to bring them together, 
so it is the best Way to keep them well together. 

102. Wherefore use her not as a Servant, 
whom thou would'st, perhaps, have serv'd Seven 
Years to have obtained. ' 

103. An Husband and Wife that love and 
value one another, shew their Children and 
Servants, That they should do so too. Others 
visibly lose their Authority in their Families by 
their Contempt of one another ; and teach their 
Children to be unnatural by their own Example. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



4S 



104. It is a general Fault, not to tie more 
careful to preserve Nature in Children ; who, at 
least in the second Descent, hardly have the 
Feeling of their Relation ; which must be an 
unpleasant Reflection to affectionate Parents. 

105. Frequent Visits, Presents, intiniate 
Correspondence and Intennarriages within al- 
lowed BoundSj are Means of keeping up the Con- 
cern and AfiEection that Nature requires from 
Relations. 

FRIENDSHIP. 

106. Friendship is the next Pleasure we 
may hope for ; And where we find it not at 
home, or have no home to find it in, we may 
seek it abroad. It is an Union of Spirits, a 
Marriage of Hearts, and the Bond thereof 
Vertue. 

107. There can be no Friendship where 
there is no Freedom. Friendship loves a free 
Air, and will not be penned up in streight and 
narrow Enclosures. It will speak freely, and 
act so too ; and take nothing ill whcri^ no ill 
is meant ; nay, where it is, 'twill easily forgive, 
and forget too, upon small Acknowledgments. 



46 Reflections and Maxiir 

108. Friends are true Twins in Soul ; the- 
Sympathize in every thing, and have the Lovt 
and Aversion. 

109. One is not happy without the other, 
nor can either of them be miserable alone. As 
if they could change Bodies, they take their 
Turns in Pain as well as in Pleasure ; relieving 
one another in their most adverse Conditions. 

no. What one enjoys, the other cannot 
Want. Like the Primitive Christians, they 
have all things in common, and no Property 
but in one another. 

QUALITIES OF A FRIEND. 

111. A true Friend unbosoms freely, ad- 
vises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, 
takes all patiently, defends couragiously, and 
continues a Friend unchangeably. 

112. These being the Qualities of a Friend, 
we are to find them before we chuse one. 

113. The Covetous, the Angry, the Proud, 
the Jealous, the Talkative, cannot but make 
ill Friends, as well as the False. 

114. In short, chuse a Friend as thou dost 
a Wife, 'till Death seperate you. 

115. Yet be not a Friend beyond the Altar : 



Reflections and Maxims. 



47 



But let Virtire bound thy Friendship : Else it 
is not Friendship, but an Evil Confederacy, 

ii6. If my Brother or Kinsman will be my 
Friendj I ought to prefer him before a Stranger, 
or I shew little Duty or Nature to my Parents. 

117, And as we ought to prefer our Kindred 
in Point of Affection, 50 too in Point of Charity, 
if equally needing and deserving. 

CAUTION & CONDUCT. 

118, Be not easily acquainted, lest finding 
Reason to cool, thou makest an Enemy instead 
of a good Neighbour. 

119, Be Reserved, but not Sour ; Grave, 
but not Formal ; Bold, but not Rash ; Humble, 
but not Servile ; Patient, not Insensible ; 
Constant, not Obstinate ; Chearful, not Light ; 
Rather Sweet than Familiar ; Familiar, than 
Intimate ; and Intimate with very few, and 
upon very good Grounds. 

120, Return the Civilities thou receivest, 
and be ever grateful for Favours. 

REPARATION. 

121, If thou hast done an Injury to another, 
rather own it than defend it. One way thou 



4$ Reflections and Maxims. 

gainest Forgiveness, the other, thou doubl'st 
the Wrong and Reckoning. 

122. Some oppose Honour to Submission : 
But it can be no Honour to maintain what it is 
dishonourable to do. 

123. To confess a Fault, that is none, out 
of Fear, is indeed mean : But not to be afraid 
of standing in one, is Brutish. 

124. We should make more Haste to Right 
our Neighbour, than we do to wrong him, and 
instead of being Vindicative, we should leave 
him to be Judge of his own Satisfaction. 

125. True Honour will pay treble Damages, 
rather than justifie one Wrong by another. 

126. In such Controversies, it is but too 
common for some to say, Both are to blame, 
to excuse their own Unconcernedness, which 
is a base Neutrality. Others will cry, They 
are both alike ; thereby involving the Injured 
with the Guilty, to mince the Matter for the 
Faulty, or cover their own Injustice to the 
wronged Party. 

127. Fear and Gain are great Perverters of 
Mankind, and where either prevail, the Judg- 
ment is violated. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



49 



RULES OF CONVERSATION. 

128. Avoid Company where it is act profit- 
able or necessary ; and in those Occasions 
speak lit tie > and last, 

129. Silence is Wisdom, where Speaking is 
Folly ; and always safe. 

130. Some are so Foolish as to interrupt 
and anticipate those that speak, instead of 
hearing and thinking before they answer ; 
which is uncivil as well as silly. 

131. If thou thinkest twice, before thou 
speakest once, thou wilt speak twice the better 
for it. 

132. Better say nothing than not to the 
Purpose. And to speak pertinently, consider 
both what is fit, and when it is fit to speak. 

133. In all Debates, let Truth be thy Aim, 
not Victory, or an unjust Interest ; And en- 
deavour to gain, rather than to expose thy 
Antagonist. 

134. Give no Advantage in Argument, nor 
lose any that is offered. This is a Benefit which 
arises from Temper, 

135. Don't use thy self to dispute against 
thine own Judgment^ to shew Wit, lest it pre- 



50 Reflections and Maxim! 

pare thee to be too indifferent about what i 
Right : Nor against another Man, to vex hin 
or for meer Trial of Skill ; since to inform, o 
to be informed, ought to be the End of a! 
Conferences. 

136. Men are too apt to be concern' d fo 
their Credit, more than for the Cause. 

ELOQUENCE. 

137. There is a Truth and Beauty in Rhe 
torick ; but it oftner serves ill Turns tha 
good ones. 

138. Elegancy, is a good Meen and Addres 
given to Matter, be it by proper or figurativ 
Speech : Where the Words are apt, and Allt 
sions very natural. Certainly it has a movin 
Grace : But it is too artificial for Simplicit) 
and oftentimes for Truth. The Danger is, les 
it delude the Weak, who in such Cases ma 
mistake the Handmaid for the Mistress, if nc 
Error for Truth. 

139. 'Tis certain Truth is least indebted t 
it, because she has least need of it, and leas 
uses it. 

140. But it is a reprovable Delicacy in ther 
that despise Truth in plain Cloths. 



Reflections and Maxims, 



5» 



141. Such Luxuriants have but false Appe- 
tites ■ like those Gluttons, that by Sawces 
force tl>ern, where they have no Stomach, and 
Sacrifice to their Pallate, not their Health : 
Which cannot be without great Vanity, nor 
That without some Sin. 

TEiMPER, 

142. Nothing does Reason more Right, 
than the Coolness of those: that offer it : For 
Truth often suffers more by the Heat of its 
Defenders, than from the Arguments of its 
Opposers. 

143. 2eal ever follows an Appearance of 
Truth, and the Assured are too apt to be warm \ 
but 'tis their weak side in Argument ; 2eal 
being better shewn against Sin, tfian Persons 
or their Mistakes, 

TRUTH. 

144. Where thou art obliged to speak, be 
sure to speak the Truth : For Equivocation 
is half way to Lying, as Lying, the whole 
way to Hell. 

JUSTICE. 

145. Believe nothing against another but 
upon good Authority : Nor report what may 



52 Reflections and Maxims. 

hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to others 
to conceal it. 

SECRECY. 

146. It is wise not to seek a Secret, and honest 
not to reveal one. 

147. Only trust thy self and another shall 
not betray thee. 

148. Openness has the Mischief, though not 
the Malice of Treachery. 

COMPLACENCY. 

149. Never assent meerly to please others. 
For that is, besides Flattery, oftentimes Un- 
truth ; and discovers a Mind liable to be servile 
and base : Nor contradict to vex others, for that 
shows an ill Temper, and provokes, but profits 
no Body. 

SHIFTS. 

150. Do not accuse others to excuse thy 
self ; for that is neither Generous nor Just. 
But let Sincerity and Ingenuity be thy Refuge, 
rather than Craft and Falsehood : For Cunning 
borders very near upon Knavery. 

151. Wisdom never uses nor wants it. 
Cunning to Wise, is as an Ape to a Man. 



Reflections and Maxims. 53 

INTEREST. 

152. Interest has the Security, tho* not the 
Virtue of a Principle. As the World goes 'tis 
the surer side ; For Men daily leave both 
Relations and Religion to follow it. 

153. 'Tis an odd Sight, but very evident, 
That Families and Nations, of cross Religions 
and Humours, unite against those of their own, 
where they find an Interest to do it. 

154. We are tied down by our Senses to 
this World ; and where that is in Question, it 
can be none with Worldly Men, whether they 
should not forsake all other Considerations 
for it. 

INQUIRY. 

155. Have a care of Vulgar Errors, Dislike, 
as well as Allow Reasonably. 

156. Inquiry is Human ; Blind Obedience, 
Brutal. Truth never loses by the one, but often 
suffers by the other. 

157. The iisefulest Truths are plainest : 
And while we keep to them, our Differences 
cannot rise high. 

158. There may be a Wantonness in Search, 



54 Reflections and Maxii 

as well as a Stupidity in Trusting. It is gre 
Wisdom equally to avoid the Extreams. 

RIGHT-TIMING. 

159. Do nothing improperly. Some are 
Witty, Kind, Cold, Angry, Easie, Stiff, Jealous, 
Careless, Cautious, Confident, Close, Open, but 
all in the wrong Place. 

160. It is ill mistaking where the Matter 
is of Importance. 

161. It is not enough that a thing be Right, 
if it be not fit to be done. If not prudent, 
tho' Just, it is not advisable. He that loses 
by getting, had better lose than get. 

KNOWLEDGE. 

162. Knowledge is the Treasure, but Judg- 
ment the Treasurer of a Wise Man. 

163. He that has more Knowledge than 
Judgment, is made for another Man's use more 
than his own. 

164. It cannot be a good Constitution, where 
the Appetite is great and the Digestion is weak. 

165. There are some Men like Dictionaries ; 
to be lookt into upon occasions, but have no 
Connection, and are little entertaining. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



5S 



i66. Less Knowledge than Judgment will 
always have the advantage upon the Injudicious 
knowing Man. 

167. A Wise Man makes what he leams his 
owB, 'tother shews he's but a Copy, or a Collec- 
tion at most. 

|L WIT. 

168. Wit is an happy and striking way of 
expressing a Thought. 

169. 'Tis not often tho' it be hvely and man- 
tling, that it carries a great Body with it. 

170. Wit therefore is fitter for Diversion 
than Business, being more grateful to Fancy 
than Judgment. 

171. Less Judgment than Wit, is more Sale 
than Ballast. 

172. Yet it must be confessed, that Wit gives 
an edge to Sense, and recommends it extreamly. 

173. Where Judgment has Wit to express 
there's the best Orator. 



OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS. 

'174, If thou wouldest be obeyed, being a 
.Father ; being a Son, be Obedient. 



56 



Reflections and Maxims. 



175. He that begets thee, owns thee; and 
has a natural Right over thee. ^1 

176. Next to God, thy Parents ; next them./" 
the Magistrate. 

177. Remember that thou are not more 
indebted to thy Parents for thy Nature, than 
for thy Love and Care. 

178. RebeUion therefore in Children, was 
made Death by God's Law, and the next Sin 
to Idolatry, in the People ; which is renouncing 
of God, the Parent of all. 

179. Obedience to Parents is not only our 
Duty, but our Interest, If we received our Life 
from them, We prolong it by obeying them : 
For Obedience is the first Commandment with 
Promise, 

180. The Obligation is as indissolvable as^ 
the Relation. ^H 

181. If we must not disobey God to obey 
them ; at least we must let them see, that there 
is nothing else in our Refusal, For some unjust 
Commands cannot excuse the gener^ Neglect 
of our Duty. They will be our Parents and we 
must be their Children still : And if we can- 
not act for them against God, neither can 



Reflections and Maxims. 



57 



we act against tbem for ourselves or any thing 
else. 

BEARING. 

182, A Man in Business must put up many 
AfEronts, if he loves his own Quiet. 

183. We must not pretend to see all that we 
see, if we would be easie. 

184. It were endless to dispute upon every 
thing that is disputable. 

185, A vindictive Temper is not only uneasie 
to others, but to them that have it. 

PROMISING 

186, Rarely Promise : But, if Lawful, 
constantly perform. 

187. Hasty Resolutions are of the Nature 
of Vows ; and to be equally avoided. 

188, I will never do this, says one, yet does 
it : I am resolved to do this^ says another ; 
but flags upon second Thoughts : Or does it, 
tho' awkwardly, for his Word's sake : As if it 
were worse to break his Word, than to do amiss 
in keeping it. 

189. Wear none of thine own Chains ; but 
keep free, whilst thou art free. 



58 



Reflections and Ms 



190. It is an Effect of Passion that Wisdom 
corrects, to lay thy self under Resolutions that 
cannot be well made, and must be worse per- 
formed. 

FIDELITY, 

191. Avoid all thou canst to be Entrusted : 
But do thy utmost to discharge the Trust thou 
undertakest ; For Carelessness is Injurious, if _ 
not Unjust. I 

192. The Glory of a Servant is Fidelity ; which 
cannot be without Dihgence, as well as Truth. 

193. Fidelity has Enfranchised Slaves, and 
Adopted Servants to be Sons. ■ 

194. Reward a good Servant well : And rather 
quit than Disquiet thy self with an ill one. 

MASTER. ' 

195. Mix Kindness with Authority : and 
rule more by Discretion than Rigour. ■ 

196. If thy Servant be faulty, strive rather 
to convince him of his Error, than discover thy 
Passion : And when he is sensible, forgive him. 

197. Remember he is thy Fellow- Creature, 
and that God's Goodness, not thy Merit, has 
nude the Difference betwixt Thee and Him. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



59 



P 198. Let not thy Children Dommeer over 
thy Servants : Nor Suffer them to slight thy 
Children. 

199, Suppress Tales in the general : But 
where a Matter requires Notice, encourage the 
Complaint, and right the Aggrieved, 

200, If a Child, he ought to Entreat, and not 
to Command ; and if a Servant, to comply 
where he does not obey. 

201, Tho' there should be but one Master 
and Mistress in a Family, yet Servants should 
know that Children have the Reversion, 

SERVANT. 



202. Indulge not unseemly Things in thy 
Masters Children, nor refuse them what is fitting: 
For one is the highest Unfaithfulness, and the 
other, Indiscretion as well as Disrespect. 

203. Do thine own Work honestly and chear- 
fully : And when that is done, help thy Fellow ; 
that so another time he may help thee, 

204. If thou wilt be a Good Servant, thou 
miit be True ; and thou canst not be True if 

thou Defraud'st thy Master. 



€0 



Reflections and Maxims. 



205. A Master may be Defrauded many ways 
by a Servant : As in Time, Care, Pains, Money, 
Trust. 

206. But, a True Servant is the Contrary : 
He's Diligent, Careful, Trusty. He Tells no 
Tales, Reveals no Secrets, Refuses no Pains : 
Not to be tempted by Gain, nor aw'd by Fear,, 
to Unfaithfulness. M 

207. Such a Servant, serves God in serving 
bis Master ; and has double Wages for 
Work, to wit, Here and Hereafter. 

JEALOUS. 

208. Be not fancifully Jealous : For that 
is Foohsh : as, to be reasonably so, is Wise, J 

Z09. He that saperfines up another Man's' 
Actions, cozens himself, as well as injures them. 

210. To be very subtil and scrupulous in 
Business, is as hurtful, as being over-confident 
and secure. 

211. In difficult Cases, such a Temper is 
Timorous ; and in dispatch Irresolute. 

212. Experience is a safe Guide : And 
practical Head, is a great Happiness in Busine: 




Reflections and Maxims. 



€t 



H POSTERITY, 

^V 213. We are too careless of Posterity ; not 

" considering that as they are, so the next Gener- 
ation will be. 

214. If we would amend the World, we 
should mend Our selves ; and teach our Children 
to be, not what we are, but what they should 
be. 

I 215, We are too apt to awaken and turn up 
their Passions by the Examples of our own ; and 
to teach them to be pleased, not with what is best, 
but with what pleases best. 

■jH 2i5. It is our Duty, and ought to be our Care, 

"to ward against that Passion in them, which 
is more especially our Own Weakness and Afflic- 

I tion : For we are in gieat measure accountable 
for them, as well as for our selves. 

Z17, We are in this also true Turners of the 
World upside down : For Money is first, and 
Virtue last, and least in our care. 

218. It is not How we leave our Children, 

I but What we leave them. 

^H 219. To be sure Virtue is but a Supplement, 

^^and not a Principa!, in their Portion and 
Qiaracter : And therefore we see so little Wisdom 



62 Reflections and Maxims. 

or Goodness among the Rich, in proportion to 
their Wealth. 

A COUNTRY LIFE. 

220. The Country Life is to be preferr'd ; for 
there we see the Works of God ; but in Cities 
little else but the Works of Men : And the one 
makes a better Subject for our Contemplation 
than the other. 

221. As Puppets are to Men, and Babies 
to Children, so is Man's Workmanship to 
God's : We are the Picture, he the Reality. 

222. God's Works declare his Power, Wis- 
dom and Goodness ; but Man's Works, for the 
most part, his Pride, Folly and Excess. The 
one is for use, the other, chiefly, for Ostentation 
and Lust. 

223. The Country is both the Philosopher's 
Garden and his Library, in which he Reads and 
Contemplates the Power, Wisdom and Goodness 
of God. 

224. It is his Food as well as Study ; and 
gives him Life, as well as Learning. 

225. A Sweet and Natural Retreat from 
Noise and Talk, and allows opportunity for 
Reflection, and gives the best Subjects for it. 




Reflections and Maxims 



226. In short, it is an Original, and the Know- 
ledge and Improvement of it, Man's oldest 
Business and Trade, and the best he can be of, 

ART AND PROJECT. 

227. Art is Good, where it is beneficial, 
Socrates wisely bounded his Knowledge and 
Instruction by Practice. 

228. Have a care therefore of Projects : 
And yet desjiise nothing rashly, or in the Lump. 

229. Ingenuity, as well as Religion, some- 
times suffers between two Thieves ; Pretenders 
and Despisers. 

230. Though injudicious and dishonest 
Projecters often discredit Art, yet the most 
useful and extraordinary Inventions have not, 
at first, escap'd the Scorn of Ignorance ; as 
their Authors rarely have cracking of their 
Heads, or breaking their backs- 

231. Undertake no Experiment, in Specu- 
lation, that appears not true in Art ; nor then, 
at thine own Cost, if costly or hazardous in 
making. 

233. As many Hands make light Work, 
so several Purses make cheap Experiments. 



64 Reflections and Maxims. 

INDUSTRY. 

233. Industry, is certainly very commend- 
able, and supplies the want of Parts. 

234. Patience and Diligence, like Faith, 
remove Mountains. 

235. Never give out while there is Hope ; 
but hope not beyond Reason, for that shews 
more Desire than Judgment. 

236. It is profitable Wisdom to know when 
we have done enough : Much Time and Pains 
are spared, in not flattering our selves against 
Probabilities. 

TEMPORAL HAPPINESS. 

237. Do Good with what thou hast, or it 
will do thee no good. 

238. Seek not to be Rich, but Happy. The 
one lies in Bags, the other in Content : which 
Wealth can never give. 

239. We are apt to call things by wrong 
Names. We will have Prosperity to be Happi- 
ness, and Adversity to be Misery ; though that 
is the School of Wisdom, and oftentimes the 
way to Eternal Happiness. 

240. If thou wouldest be Happy, bring thy 



Reflections and Maxims. 



% 



Mind to thy Condition, and have an Indiffer- 
ency for more than what is sufficient. 

241. Have but httle to do, and do it thy 
self ; And do to others as thou wouldest have 
them do to thee : So, thou canst not fail of 
Temporal Felicity. 

242. The generahty are the worse for their 
Plenty : The Voluptuous consumes it, the 
Miser hides it : 'Tis the good Man that uses 
it, and to good Purposes. But such are hardly 
found among the Prosperous. 

243. Be rather Bountiful, than Expensive. 

244. Neither make nor go to Feasts, but 
let the laborious Poor bless thee at Home in 
their Solitary Cottages. 

245. Never voluntarily want what thou hast 
in Possession ; nor so spend it as to involve 
thyself in want unavoidable. 

246. Be not tempted to presume by success : 
For many that have got largely, have lost all, 
by coveting to get more, 

247. To hazard much to get much, has more 
of Avarice than Wisdom. 

248. It is great Prudence both to Bound 
and Use Prosperity. 



66 Reflections and Maxims. 

249. Too few know when they have Enough ; 
and fewer know how to employ it. 

250. It is equally advisable not to part 
lightly with what is hardly gotten, and not to 
shut up closely what flows in freely. 

251. Act not the Shark upon thy Neighbours ; 
nor take Advantage of the Ignorance, Prodig- 
ality or Necessity of any one : For that is^ next 
door to Fraud, and, at best, makes but an 
Unblest Gain. 

252. It is oftentimes the Judgment of God 
upon Greedy Rich Men, that he suffers them to 
push on their Desires of Wealth to the Excess 
of over-reaching, grinding or oppression, which 
poisons all the rest they have gotten : So that 
it commonly runs away as fast, and by as bad 
ways as it was heaped up together. 

RESPECT. 

253. Never esteem any Man, or thy self, 
the more for Money ; nor think the meaner of 
thy self or another for want of it : Vertue being 
the just Reason of respecting, and the want of 
it, of slighting any one. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



$7 



254. A Man like a Watck, is to be valued 
for his Goings. 

255. He that prefers him upon other accounts, 
bows to an Idol. 

256. Unless Virtue guide us, our Choice 
must be wrong. 

257. An able bad Man, is an ill Instrnment, 
and to be shunned as the Plague. 

258. Be not deceived with the first appear- 
ances of things, but give thy self Time to be in 
the right. 

259. Show, is not Substance : Realities 
Govern Wise Men. 

260. Have a Care therefore where there is 
more Sail than Ballast. 

HA2ARI>. 



261- In all Business it is l^est to put nothing 
to hazard : But where it is unavoidable, be 
not rash, but firm and resign' d. 

262. We should not be troubled for what 
we cannot help : But if it was our Fault, let 
it be so no more. Amendment is Repentance, 
if not Reparation. 




263. As a Desperate Game needs an able 
Gamester, so Consideration often would prevent, 
what the best skill in the World Cannot Recover. 

264. Where the Probability of Advantage 
exceeds not that of Loss, Wisdom never Ad- 
ventures. 

265. To Shoot well Flying is well ; but to^ 
Chose it, has more of Vanity than Judgment. 

266. To be Dextrous in Danger is a Virtue ; 
but to Court Danger to show it, is Weakness. 

DETRACTION. 

267. Have a care of that base Evil Detraction. 
It is the Fmit of Envy, as that is of Pride ; the 
immediate Offspring of the Devil : Who, of an 
Angel, a Lucifer, a Son of the Morning, made 
himself a Serpent, a Devil, a Beelzebub, and allj 
that is obnoxious to the Eternal Goodness, 

268. Vertue is not secure against Envy. Met 
will Lessen what they won't Imitate. 

269. Dislike what deserves it, but neve 
Hate : For that is of the Nature of Malice : 
which is almost ever to Persons, not Things, 
and is one of the blackest Qualities Sin begets 
in the SouK 



Reflections and Maxims, 



MODERATION. 



69 



270. It were an happy Day, if Men couJd 
bound and qualifie their Resentments with 
Charity to the Offender r For then our Anger 
would be without Sin, and better convict and 
edifie the Guilty ; which alone can make it 
lawful, 

271, Not to be provok'd is best ; But if 
mov'd, never correct till the Fume is spent ; 
For every Stroke our Fury strikes, is sure to 
hit our selves at last. 

272, It we did but observe the Allowances 
our Reason makes upon Reflection, when our 
Passion is over, we could not want a Rule how 
to behave our selves again in the like Occasions. 

273. We are more prone to Complain than 
Redress, and to Censure than Excuse. 

m 274. It is next to unpardonable, that we 
can so often Blame what we will not once mend. 
It shews we know, but will not do our Master's 
Will. 

275. They that censure, should Practice : 
Or else let them have the first Stone, and the 
last too. 



70 Reflections and Maxims. 

TRICK. 

276. Nothing needs a Trick but a Trick; 
Sincerity loathes one. 

277. We must take care to do Right Things 
Rightly : For a just Sentence may be unjustly 
executed. 

278. Circumstances give great Light to true 

Judgment, if well weigh' d. 

I 

PASSION. 

279. Passion is a sort of Fever in the Mind, 
which ever leaves us weaker than, it found us. 

280. But being intermitting, to be sure, 'tis 
curable with care. 

281. It more than any thing deprives us of 
the use of our Judgment ; for it raises a Dust 
very hard to see through. 

282. Like Wine, whose Lees fly by being 
jogg'd, it is too muddy to Drink. 

283. It may not unfitly be termed the Mob 
of the Man, that commits a Riot upon his Reason. 

284. I have sometimes thought, that a 
Passionate Man is like a weak Spring that cannot 
stand long lock'd. 



Reflections and Maxims, 



71 



f 285. And as true, that those things are unfit 
for use, that can't bear small Knocks without 
breaking. 

286. He that won't hear can't Judge, and 
he that can't bear Contradiction, may, with all 
his Wit, miss the Mark. 

287, Objection and Debate Sift out Truth, 
which needs Temper as well as Judgment. 

388. But above all, observe it in Resentments, 
for there Passion is most Extravagant. 

289. Never chide for anger, but Instruction. 

290. He that corrects out of Passion, raises 
Kevenge sooner than Repentance. 

291. It has more of Wantonness than Wis- 
dom, and resembles those that Eat to please 
their PaUate, rather than their Appetite. 

2gz. It is the difference between a Wise and 
a Weak Man ; This Judges by the Lump, that 
by Parts and their Connection. 

293. The Greeks use to say, all Cases are 
governed by their Circumstances. The same 
thing may be well and ill as they change or vary 
the Matter. 

294. A Man's Strength is shewn by his 
Bearing. Bonum Agere, & Male Fail, Regis est. 



7^ 



Reflections and Maxims. 



PERSONAL CAUTIONS. 



295. Reflect without MaJice but never without 
Need. 

296. Despise no Body, nor no Condition ; lest 
it come to be thine own. 

297. Never Rail nor Taunt. The one 
Rude, the other Scornful, and both Evil. 

298. Be not provoked by Injuries to commit 
them. 

299. Upbraid only Ingratitude. 

300. Haste makes work which Caution 
prevents. 

301. Tempt no Man ; lest thou fall for it. 

302. Have a care of presuming upon AfterJ 
Games : For if that miss, all is gone. 

303. Opportunities should never be lostJ 
because they can hardly be regained. 

304. It is well to cure, but better to prevent 
a Distemper. The first shews more Skill, but 
the last more Wisdom. 

305. Never make a Tryal of Skill in difficult 
or hazardous Cases, 

306. Refuse not to be inform' d : For that 
shews Pride or Stupidity. 



t 




Reflections and Maxims. 73; 

307. Humility and Knowledge in poor 
Goaths. excel Pride and Ignorance in costly 
Attire. 

308. Neither despise, nor oppose^ what thou 
dost not understand. 

BALLANCE. 

309. We must not be concern'd above the 
Value of the thing that engages us ; nor raised 
above Reason, in maintaining what we think 
reasonable. 

310. It is too common an Error, to invert 
the Order of Things ; by making an End of that 
which is a Means, and a Means of that which 
is an End. 

311. Religion and Government escape not 
this Mischief : The first is too often a Means 
instead of an End ; the other an End instead 
of a Means. 

312. Thus Men seek Wealth rather than 
Subsistence ; and the End of Cloaths is the least 
Reason of their Use. Nor is the satisfying of 
our Appetite our End in Eating, so much as the 
pleasing of our Pallate. The like may also be 
said of Building, Furniture, &c,, where the Man 



74 



Reflections and Maxims. 



rules not the Beast, and Appetite, submits 
not to Reason. 

315, It is great Wisdom to proportion our 
Esteem to the Nature of the Thing : For as that 
way things will they not he undervalued, so neither 
will they engage us above their intrinsick worth. 

314. If we suffer little Things to have great 
hold upon us, we shall be as much transported 
for them, as if they deserv'd it. ^ 

315. It is an old Proverb, Afaxi?na heUa cjr™ 
levissimis causis : The greatest Fends have had 
the smallest Beginnings. ^^ 

316. No matter what the Subject of the 
Dispute be, but what place we give it in our 
Minds : For that governs our Concern and 
Kesentment. ^1 

317. It is one of the fatalest Errors of oui^* 
Lives, when we spoil a good Cause by an iU 
Management : And it is not impossible but we 
may mean well in an ill Business ; but that will 
not defend it. 

318. If we are but sure the End is Right, we 
are too apt to gallop over all Bounds to compass 
it ; not considering that lawful Ends may h&j 
ver>' unlawfully attained. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



75 



31Q. Let us be careful to take just ways to 
compass just Things ; that they may last in 
their Benefits to us. 

320. There is a troublesome Humor some 
Men have, that if they may not lead, they will 
not follow ; but had rather a thing were never 
done, than not done their own way, tho' other 
ways very desirable. 

321. This comes of an over- fulness of our 
selves ; and shews we are more concem'd for 
Praise, than the Success of what we think a good 
Tiling. 

POPULARITY. 

322. Affect not to be seen, and Men will less 
see thy Weakness. 

323. They that shew more than they are, 
raise an ExiJectation they cannot answer ; and 
so lose their Credit, as soon as they are found out. 

324. Avoid Popularity. It has many Snares, 
and no real Benefit to thy self ; and Uncertainty 
to others. 

PRIVACY. 

325. Remember the Proverb, Bene qui 
latnit^ bene vixit. They are happy that hve 
Retiredly. 



76 



Reflections and Maxims. 



326. If this be true. Princes and their Gran- 
dees, of all Men, are the unhappiest : For they 
live least alone : And they that raust be enjoy'd 
by every Body, can never enjoy themselves as 
they should. 

327. It is the Advantage little Men have 
upon them ; they can be Private, and have 
leisure for Family Comforts, which are the 
greatest worldly Contents Men can enjoy. ^H 

328. But they that place Pleasure in Greedi^^ 
ness, seek it there ; And we see Rule is as much 
the Ambition of some Natures, as Privacy is 
the Choice of others. 



GOVERNMENT. 



4 



329. Government has many Shapes : But 
'tis Sovereignty, tho' not Freedom, in all o^| 
. them. ^J 

I . 330- Rex & Tyrannus are very different 

^K Characters : One rules his People by Laws, to 

^H which they consent ; the other by his absolute 

^M Will and Power. That is call'd Freedom^ This 
^H T>Tanny. 

^H 331. The first is endangered by the Ambitiotr 

^^^^ of the Popular, which shakes the Constitution j_ 



tut ion : , 



Reflections and Maxims. 



77 



The other by an ill Adminstration, which hazards 
the Tyrant and his Family. 

332. It is great Wisdom in Princes of both 
sorts, not to strain Points too high with their 
People : For whether the People have a Right to 
oppose them or not, they are ever sure to attempt 
it, when things are carried too far ; though the 
Remedy oftentimes proves worse than the 
Disease. 

333. Happy that King who is great by Justice, 
and that People who are free by Obedience. 

334. Where the Ruler is Just, he may be 
strict ; else it is two to one it turns upon him : 
And tho' he should prevail, he can be no 
Gainer, where his People are the Losers. 

335. Princes must not have Passions in 
Government, nor Resent beyond Interest and 
Religion. 

336^ Where Example keeps pace with Author- 
ity, Power hardly fails to be obey'd, and Magis- 
trates to he honour'd. 

337. Let the People think they Govern and 
they will be Govern* d. 

338. This cannot fail, if Those they Tnist, 
are Tnisted. 



78 



Reflections and Maxims. 



339. That Prince that is J ust to them in gi-eat 
things, and Humors them sometimes in small 
oneSj is sure to have and keep them from 
the World. 

340. For the People is the Politick Wife 
of the Prince, that may be better managed by 
Wisdom than ruled by Force. 

341. But where the Magistrate is partial and 
serves ID tarns, he loses his Authority with the 
People ; and gives the Populace opportunity 
to gratifie their Ambition : And to lay a Stum- 
bling'block for his People to fall. ^M 

342. It is true, that where a Subject is morfi^ 
Popular than the Prince, the Prince is in Danger: 
But it is as true, that it is his own Fault : For, 
no Body has the like Means, Interest or Reason, 

to be popular as He. 

343. It is an unaccountable thing, that some 
Princes incline rather to be fear'd than lov'd ; 
when they see that Fear does not oftener secure 
a Prince against the Dissatisfaction of his People^, 
than Love makes a Subject too many for such 
a Prince. 

344. Certainly Service upon Inclination is like 
to go farther than Obedience upon Compulsion. 



Reflections and Muxims. 



345. The Romans had a just Sense ol this, 
when they plac'd Optimtis before Maxijnus, to 
their most Illustrious Captains and Cesars. 

346. Besides, Experience tells us, That 
Goodness raises a nobler Passion in the SoiU, 
and gives a better Sense of Duty thaa Severity. 

347. What did Pharaoh get by increasing 
the Israelites Task ? Ruin to himself in the 
End. 

348. Kings, chiefly in this, should imitate 
God : Their Mercy should be above all their 
Works. 

349. The Difference betiveen the Prince and 
the Peasant, is in this World : But a Temper 
ought to be observ'd by him that has the Advan- 
tage here, because of the Judgment in the next. 

350. The End of every thing should direct 
the Means : Now that of Government being 
the Good of the whole, nothing less should be 
the Aim of the Prince. 

351. As often as Rulers endeavour to attain 
just Ends by just Mediums, they are sure of a 
quiet and easy Government ; and as sure of 
Convulsions, where the Nature of things arc 
violated, and their Order over-rul'd. 



8o Reflections and Maums. 

352. It is certain. Princes oagfat to have 
great Allowances made them for Faolts in 
Government ; since they see by other People's 
Eyes, and hear by their Ears. But Ministers 
of State, their immediate Confidents and Instru- 
ments, have much to answer for, if to gratifie 
private Passions, they misguide the Prince to 
do publick Injury. 

353. Ministers of State should imdertake 
their Posts at their Peril. If Princes over-rule 
them, let them shew the Law, and humbly 
resign : If Fear, Gain or Flattery prevail, let 
them answer it to the Law. 

354. The Prince cannot be preserv'd, but where 
the Minister is punishable : For People, as well 
as Princes, will not endure Imperium in Imperio. 

355. If Ministers are weak or ill Men, and 
so spoil their Places, it is the Prince's Fault that 
chose them : But if their Places spoil them, it 
is their own Fault to be made worse by them. 

356. It is but just that those that reign by 
their Princes, should suffer for their Princes : 
For it is a safe and necessary Maxim, not to 
shift Heads in Government, while the Hands are 
in being that should answer for them. 



Reflections and Maxims, 



8i 



357. And yet it were intolerable to be a 
Minister of State, if every Body may be Accuser 
and Judge. 

358. Let therefore the false Accuser no more 
escape an exemplary Punishment than the Guilty 
Minister, 

359. For it profanes Government to have 
the Credit of the leading Men in it subject to 
vulgar Censure ; which is often ill grounded. 

360. The Safety of a Prince, therefore con- 
sists in a well-chosen Council : And that only 
can be said to be so, where the Persons that 
compt^e it are qualified for the Business that 
comes before them, 

361. Who would send to a Taylor to make 
a Lock, or to a Smith to make a Suit of Cloaths ? 

362. Let there be Merchants for Trade, 
Seamen for the Admiralty, Travellers for 
Foreign Affairs, some of the Leading Men of 
the Country for Home -Business, and Common 
and Civil Lawyers to advise of Legality and 
Right : Who should always keep to the strict 
Rules of Law. 

363. Three Things contribute much to ruin 
Governments ; Loosness. Oppression and Envy. 



h 




4 



Rejections and Mixiins 



364. Where the Reins of Government are 
too slack, there the Manners of the People are 
corrupted : And that destroys Industry, begets 
Effeminacy, and provokes Heaven against it. 

365. Oppression makes a Poor Countiy, 
and a de&perate People, who always wait an 
Opportunity to change. 

366. He that nileth over Men, must be 
just, ruling in the Fear of God, said an old and 
a wise King. 

367. Envy disturbs and distracts Govern- 
ment, clogs the Wheels, and perplexes the 
Administration : And nothing contributes more 
to the Disorder, than a partial distribution of 
Rewards and Punishments in the Sovereign. 

368. As it is not reasonable that Men should 
be compell'd to serve ; so those that have 
Employments should not be endured to leave 
them humourously, 

369. Where the State intends a Man no 
Affront, he should not Affront the State. 

A PRIVATE LIFE. 

370. A private Life is to be preferr'd ; the 
Honour and Gain of publick Posts, bearing no 



Reflections and Maxims. 



83 



proportion with the Comfort of it. The one 
is free and quiet, the other servile and noisy. 

371. It was a great Answer of the Shuna- 
mite Woman, I dwell among my own People. 

372. They that live of their own, neither 
need, nor often list to wear the Livery of the 
Pubhck. 

373. Their Subsistance is not during Plea- 
sure ; nor have they patrons to please or 
present. 

374. If they are not advancedj neither can 
they be disgraced. And as they know not the 
Smiles of Majesty, so they feel not the Frowns 
of Greatness ; or the Effects of En\^. 

375. If they want the Pleasures of a Courtj 
they also escape the Temptations of it, 

376. Private Men, in fine^ are so much 
their own, that paying common Dues, they are 
Sovereigns of all the rest. 



A PUBLICK LIFE. 

377. Yet the Publick must and will be 
served ; and they that do it well, deserve 
pnblick Marks of Honour and Profit. 

378. To do so, Men must have publick 



84 Reflections and Maxims. 

Minds, as well as Salaries ; or they will serve 
private ends at the PubUck Cost. 

379. Governments can never be well ad- 
ministered, but where those entrusted make 
Conscience of well discharging their Place. 

QUALIFICATIONS. 

380. Five Things are requisite to a good 
Officer ; Ability, Clean Hands, Dispatch, 
Patience, and Impartiality. 

CAPACITY. 

381. He that understands not his Employ- 
ment, whatever else he knows, must be unfit 
for it, and the Publick suffers by his Inexpert- 
ness. 

382. They that are able, should be just 
too ; or the Government may be the worse for 
their Capacity. 

CLEAN HANDS. 

383. Covetousness in such Men prompts 
them to prostitute the Publick for Gain. 

384. The taking of a Bribe or Gratuity, 
should be punished with as severe Penalties, 
as the defrauding of the State. 




Reflections and Maxims 

385. Let Men have sufficient Salaries, and 
exceed them at their Peril. 

386. It is a Dishonour to Government, 
that its Officers should live of Benevolence ; 
as it ought to be Infamous for Officers to dis- 
honour the Publick, by being twice paid for 
the same Business. 

I 387. But to be paid, and not to do Busi- 

ness, is rank Oppression. 

I- 



DISPATCH. 



388. Dispatch is a great and good Quality 
in an Officer ; where Duty, not Gain, excites 
it. But of this, too, many make their private 
Market and Overplus to their Wages. Thus 
the Salary is for doing, and the Bribe for dis- 
patching the Business : As if Business could 
be done before it were dispatched : Or what 
ought to be done, ought not to be dispatch' d ; 
Or they were to be paid apart, one by the 
Govenunentj t'other by the Party. 

389. Dispatch is as much the Duty of an 
Officer, as doing ; and very much the Honour 
of the Government he serves. 



16 



Reflections and Maxims. 



390. Delays have been more injurious than 
direct Injustice. 

391. They too often starve those they dai 
not deny. 

392. The very Winner is made a Loser, 
because he pays twice for his own ; like those 
that purchase Estates Mortgaged before to th^ 
full Value. 

393. Our Law says well, to delay Justice is" 
Injustice, 

394. Not to have a Right, and not to come 
at it, differs little. 

395- Refuse or Dispatch is the Duty ant 
Wisdom of a good Officer. 

PATIENCE. 



396. Patience is a Virtue every where ; 
but it shines with great Lustre in the Men of 
Government. 

397. Some are so Proud or Testy, the^ 
won't hear what they should redress, 

398. Others so weak, they sink or burst" 
under the weight of their Office, though they 
can lightly i-un away with the Salary of it. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



87 



399. Business can never be well done, 
that is not well understood : Which cannot 
be without Patience. 

400. It is Cruelty indeed not to give the 
Unhappy an Hearing, whom we ought to help : 
But it is the top of Oppression to Browbeat 
the humble and modest Miserable, when they 
seek Relief. 

401. Some, it is true, are unreasonable in 
their Desires and Hopes : But then we should 
inform, not rail at and reject them. 

403. It is therefore as great an Instance of 
Wisdom as a Man in Business can give, to be 
Patient under the Irapertinencies and Contra- 
dictions that attend it. 

403. Method goes far to prevent Trouble 
in Business : For it makes the Task easy, 
hinders Confusion, saves abundance of Time, 
and instructs those that have Business depend- 
ing, both what to do and what to hope. 

IMPARTIALITY. 

404. Impartiality, though it be the last, 
is not the least part of the Character of a good 
Magistrate. 



88 



Reflections and Maxims. 



n 



405. It is noted as a Fault, in Holy Writj 
even to regard the Poor ; How much more the 
Rich in Judgment ? 

406. If our Compassions must not sway us ; 
less should our Fears, Profits or Prejudices. 

407. Justice is justly represented Blind, be- 
causes he sees no Difference in the Parties 
concerned. 

408. She has but one Scale and Weight, 
for Rich and Poor, Great and Small. 

409. Her Sentence is not guided by th e i 
Person, but the Cause. |^H 

410. The Impartial Judge in Judgment, knows 
nothing but the Law : The Prince no more than 
the Peasant, his Kindred than a Stranger. Nay, 
his Enemy is sure to be upon equal Terms with 
his Friend, when he is upon the Bench. 

411. Impartiality is the Life of Justice, 
as that is of Government. 

412. Nor is it only a Benefit to the State, 
for private Families cannot subsist comfortably 
without it. I 

413. Parents that are partial, are ill obeyed 
by their Children ; and partial Masters not 
better served by their Servants. 



■4 




Reflections and Maxims. 



89 



414. Partiality is always Indirect, if not 
Dishonest : For it shews a Byass where Reason 
would have none ; if not an Injury, which 
Justice every where forbids, 

415. As it makes Favourites without Reason, 
so it uses no Reason in judging of Actions : 
Confirming the Proverb, The Crow thinks her 
own Bird the fairest. 

416. What some see to be no Fault in one, 
they will have Criminal in another. 

417. Nay, how ugly do our own Failings 
look to us m the Persons of others, which yet 
we see not in our selves, 

418. And but too common it is for some 
People, not to know their own Maxims and 
Principles in the Mouths of other Men, when 
they give occasion to use them. 

419. Partiality comipts our Judgment of 
Persons and things, of our selves and others. 

420. It contributes more than any thing 
to Factions in Government, and Fewds in 
Families. 

421. It is prodigal Passion, that seldom 
returns 'till it is Hunger-bit, and Disappoint- 
menLs bring it within bounds. 



90 



Reflections and Maxims. 



433, And yet we may be indifferent to ai 
Fault. 

INDIFFERENCY. 

423. Indifference is good in Judgment, 
but bad in Relation, and stark nought in ^ 
Religion. ^| 

424, And even in Judgment, our Indiffer- 
ency must be to the Persons, not Causes : For 
one, to be sure, is right. 

NEUTRALITY. 

435. NeiitraUty is something else than In 
differency ; and yet of kin to it too. 

426. A Judge ought to be Indifferent, and 
yet he cannot be said to be Neutral. 

427. The one being to be Even in Judgmen 
and the other not to meddle at all. 

428. And where it is Lawful, to be sure, 
it is best to be Neutral. 

429. He that espouses Parties, can hardly 
divorce himself from their Fate ; and more 
fall with their Party than rise with it. 

430. A wise Neuter joins with neither ; but 
uses both, as his honest Interest leads him. 



I 




I. 




Reflections 

431. A Neuter only has room to be a Peace- 
maker : For being of neither side, he has the 
Means of mediating a Reconciliation of both. 



A PARTY. 

432. And yet, where Right or Religion 
gives a call, a Neuter must be a Coward or an 
Hypocrite. 

433. In such Cases we should never be back- 
ward ; nor yet mistaken. 

434. When our Right or Religion is in ques- 
tion, then is the fittest time to assert it. 

435. Nor must we always be Neutral where 
our Neighbours are concerned : For tho' Medling 
is a Fault, Helping is a Duty. 

436. We have a Call to do good, as often 
as we have the Power and Occasion. 

437. If Heathens could say. We are not 
bora for our selves; surely Christians should 
practise it. 

438. They are taught so hy his Example, 
as well as Doctrine, from whom they have 
borrowed their Name. 




92 



Reflections and Maxims. 
OSTENTATION, 



I 



439. Do what good thou canst unknown 
and be not vain of what ought rather to be felt 
than seen. 

440. The Humble, in the Parable of the Day 
of Judgment, forgot their good works ; Lord,j 
when did we do so and so ? 

441. He that does Good, for Good's sake^^ 
seeks neither Praise nor Reward ; tho' sure o^ 
both at last. 

COMPLEAT VIRTUE. 

442. Content not thy self that thou art 
Virtuous in the general ; For one Link being] 
wanting, the Chain is defective. 

443. Perhaps thou art rather Iimocent' 
than Virtnotts, and owest more to thy Consti- 
tution, than thy Religion. 

444. Innocent, is not to be Guilty : But to 
be Virtuous is to overcome our evil Inclinations. 

445. If thou hast not conquer'd thyself 
in that which is thy own particular Weakness, 
thou hast no Title to Virtue, tho' thou art freej 
of otiicr Ml'u's, 




1. 




Reflections and Maxims. q^ 

446. For a Covetous Man to inveigh against 
Prodigality, an Atheist against Idolatry, a 
Tyrant against Rebellion, or a Lyer against 
Forgery, and a Drunkard against Intemperance, 
is for the Pot to call the Kettle black. 

447. Such Reproof would have but little 
Success ; because it would carry but little 
Authority with it, 

448. If thou vvouldst conquer thy Weakness, 
thou must never gratifie it. 

449. No man is compelled to Evil ; his 
Consent oidy makes it his. 

450. 'Tis no Sin to be tempted, but to be 
overcome. 

451. What Man in his right Mind, would 
conspire his own hurt ? Men are beside 
themselves, when they transgress their Con- 
victions. 

452. If thou would' st not Sin, don't Desire ; 
and if thou would'st not Lust, don't Embrace 
the Temptation i No, not look at it, nor think 
of it. 

453. Thou would'st take much Pains to 
save thy Body : Take some, prithee, to save 
thy Soul. 




94 



Reflections and Maxims. 



RELIGION. 



454. Religion is the Fear of God, and 
its Demonstration good Works ; and Faith 

4s the Root of both : For without Faith we cannot 
please God, nor can we fear what we do not 
believe. 

455. The Devils also believe and know 
abundance : But in this is the Difference, their 
Faith works not by Love^ nor their Knowledge 
by Obedience ; and therefore they are never 
the better for them. And if oars be such, we 
shall be of their Church, not of Christ's : For 
as the Head is^ so must the Body be. 

456. He was Holy, Humble, Harmless, 
Meek, Merciful, &c. when among us ; to teach 
us what we should be, when he was gone. And 
yet he is among us still, and in us too, a living 
and perpetual Preacher of the same Grace, 
by his Spirit in our Consciences- 

457. A Minister of the Gospel ought to be^ 
one of Christ's making, if he would pass for one^ 
of Christ's Ministers. 

458. And if he be one of his making, 
Knows and Does, as well as Believes. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



95 



4^59. That Minister whose Life is not the 
Model of his Doctrine, is a Babler rather than a 
Preacher ; a Quack rather than a Physician of 
Value. 

460. Of old Time they were made Ministere 
by the Holy Ghost : And the more that is an 
Ingredient now, the fitter they are for that 
Work. 

461. Running Streams are not so apt to 
corrupt ; nor Itinerant, as settled Preachers : 
But they are not to run before they are sent. 

462. As they freely receive from Christ, 
so they give. 

463. They will not make that a Trade, which 
they know ought not, in Consciencej to be one. 

464. Yet there is no fear of their Living 
that design not to live by it. 

465. The humble and true Teacher meets 
with more than he expects. 

466. He accounts Content with Godliness 
great Gain, and therefore seeks not to make 
a Gain of Godliness. 

467. As the Ministers of Christ are made by 
him, and are hke him, so they beget People 
into the same Likeness. 




468. To be like Christ then, is to be a Chris- 
tian. And Regeneration is the only way to the 
Kingdom of God, which we pray for. 

469. Let us to Day, thereforej hear his Voice, 
and not harden our Hearts ; who speaks to Jis 
many ways : In the Scriptures, in our Hearts, 
by his Servants and his Providences : And th^^ 
Sum of all is HOLINESS and CHARITY. ^ 

470. St. James gives a short Draught of 
this Matter, but very full and reaching, Pure 
Religion and undefiled before God the Father, 
is this, to visit the Fatherless and the Widows 
in their Affliction, and to keep our selves un- 
spotted irom the World, Which is compm'd 

in these Two Words, CHARITY and PIETY- i 

47t. They that truly make these their Aim, 
will find them their Attainment ; and with 
them, the Peace that follows so excellent a 
Condition, 

472, Amuse not thy self therefore with the" 
numerous Opinions of the World, nor value 
thy self upon verbal Orthodoxy, Philosophy, 
or thy Skill in Tongues, or Knowledge of the 
Fathers ; (too much the Business and Vanity 
of the World). But in this rejoyce, That thou 



Reflections and Maxims. 



97 



knowest God, that is the Lord, who exerciseth 
loving Kindness, and Judgment^ and Righteous- 
ness in the Earth. 

473- Public k Worship is very commendable » 
if well performed. We owe it to God and good 
Example. But we must know, that God is 
not tyed to Time or Place, who is every where 
at the same Time : And this we shall know 
as far as we are capable, if where ever we are, 
our Desires are to be with him. 

474. Serving God, People generally confine 
to the Acts of Publick and Private Worship : 
And those, the more zealous do oftener repeat, 
in hopes of Acceptance. 

475. But if we consider that God is an 
Infinite Spirit, and, as such, every where ; 
and that onr Sa^nour has taught ns, That he 
will t>e worshipped in Spirit and in Truth ; 
we shall see the shortness of such a Notion. 

476. For serving God concerns the Frame 
oil our Spirits, in the whole Course of our Lives ; 
in every Occasion we have, in which we may 
shew our Love to his Law. 

477. For as Men in Battle are continually 
in the way of shot, so we, in this World, are 



9$ Reflections and Maxims. 

ever withm the Reach of Temptation. And 
herein do we serve God, if we avoid what we 
are forbid, as well as do what he commands. 

478. God is better served in resisting a 
Temptation to Evil, than in many formal 
Prayers. ^m 

479. This is but Twice or Thrice a Day^^ 
but That every Hour and Moment of the Day. 
So much more is our continual Watch, than 
our Evening and Morning Devotion. 

480. Wouldst thou then serve God ? Do 
not that alone, which thou wonldest not that 
another should see thee do, 

481. Don't take God's name in vain, or 
disobey thy Parents, or wrong thy Neighbour, 

or commit Adultery, even in thine Heart. ^H 

482. Neither be vain, Lascivious, Proud^* 
Drunken, Revengeful, or Angiy : Nor Lye, 
Detract, Backbite, Over-reach, Oppress, Deceive 

or Betray : But watch vigorously against all 
Temptations to these Things ; as knowing 
that God is present, the Overseer of all thy 
Ways and most inward Thoughts, and the 
Avenger of his own Law upon the Disobedienti 
id thou wilt acceptably serve God. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



99 



483. It is not reason, if we expect the Ac- 
knowledgments of those to whom we are boun- 
tiful, that we should reverently pay ours to 
God, our most magniiicent and constant Bene- 
factor ? 

484. The World represents a Rare and 
Sumptuous Palace, Mankind the great Family 
in it, and God the mighty Lord and Master of it. 

485. We are all sensible what a stately 
Seat it is : The Heavens adorned with so many 
glorious Luminaries ; and the Earth with 
Groves, Plains, Valleys, Hills, Fountains, Ponds, 
Lakes and Rivers ; and Variety of Fruits, 
and Creatures for Food, Pleasure and Profit. 
In short, how Noble an House he keeps, and 
the Plenty and Variety and Excellency of his 
Table ; his Orders, Seasons and Suitableness 
of every Time and Thing. But we must be as 
sensible, or at least ought to be, what Careless 
and Idle Servants we are, and how short and 
disproportionable our Behaviour is to his 
Bounty and Goodness : How long he bears, 
and often he reprieves and forgives us : Who, 
notwithstanding our Breach of Promises, and 
repeated Neglects, has not yet been provok'd 



100 



Reflections and Maxims. 



to break up House, and send us to shift for 
our selves. Should not this great Goodness 
raise a due Sense in us of our Undutifulness, 
and a Resolution to alter our Course and mend 
our Manners ; that we may be for the future 
more worthy Comnciunicants at our Master's 
j;ood and great Table ? Especially since it is 
not more certain that we deserve his Displeasure 
than that we should feel it, if we continue to be 
unprofitable Servants. 

486. But tho' God has replenisht this World 
with abundance of good Things for Man's Life 
and Comfort, yet they are all but Imperfect 
Goods. He only is the Perfect Good to whom 
they point. But alas 1 Men cannot see him 
for them ; tho' they should always see him In 
them. 

487. I have often wondered at the unaccounf 
ableness of Man in this, among other things ; 
that tho' he loves Changes so well, he should 
care so little to hear or think of his last, great, 
and best Change too, if he pleases. 

488. Being, as to our BodieSj composed 
of changeable Elements, we with the World 
are made up of, and subsist by Revolution ; 



Reflectiotis and Maxims. 



lOI 



But our Souls J being of another and nobler 
Nature, we should seek our Rest in a more 
induring Habitation. 

489. The truest end of Life^ is, to know the 
Life that never ends. 

490. He that makes this his Care, will find 
it his Crown at last* ' - ' 

491. Life else, were a Misery rather than a 
Pleasure, a Judgment, not a Blessing. 

492. For to KnoWj Regret and Resent ;A. 
to Desire, Hope and Fear more than a Beast, 

fand not live beyond him, is to make a Man. 
less than a Beast. 

493. It is the Amends of a short and trouble- 
some Life, that Doing well, and Suffering ill, 
Entitles Man to One Longer and Better. 

494. This ever raises the good Man's Hope, 
and gives him Tastes beyond the other World. 

495. As 'tis his Aim, so none else can hit 
the Mark. 

496. Many make it their S]>eciiktion, but 
'tis the Good Man's Practice, 

497. His Work keeps Pace with his Life, 
and so leaves nothing to he done when He 
Dies. 



102 



Reflections and Maxims. 



498. And he that lives to live ever, never 
feare dj-ing* 

499. Nor can the Means be terrible to hiriT 
that heartily believes the End. 

500. For though Death be a Dark Passage, 
it leads to Immortality, and that is Recompence 
enough for Suf[ering of it. 

501. And yet Faith Lights ns, even through 
the Grave, being the Evidence of Things not seen, 

502. And this is the Comfort of the Good, 
that the Grave cannot hold them, and that they 
live as soon as they die. 

503. For Death is no more than a Turning 
of us over from Time to Eternity. 

504. Nor can there be a Revolution without_ 
it ; for it supposes the Dissolution of one for 
in order to the Succession of another. 

505. Death then, being the Way and Coi 
dition of Life, we cannot love to live, if we 
cannot bear to die. 

506. Let us then not cozen our selves wit 
the Shells and Hus.ks of things ; nor prefer 
Form to Power, nor Shadows to Substance : 
Pictures of Bread wHl not satisfie Hunger, nor 
those of Devotion please God, 



Reflections and Maxims. 



103 



507. This World is a Form ; our Bodies 
are Fonns ; and no visible Acts of Devotion 
can be without Forms, But yet the less Form 
in Religion the better, since God is a Spirit : 
For the more mental our Worship, the more 
adequate to the Nature of God ; the more silent j 
the more suitable to the Language of a Spirit. 

508. Words are for otherSj not for our selves : 
Nor for God, who hears not as Bodies do ; but 
as Spirits should. 

509. If we would know this Dialect ; we 
must learn of the Divine Principle in us. As 
we hear the Dictates of that, so God hears us. 

510. There we may see him too in all his 
Attributes ; Tho' but in little, yet as much as 
we can apprehend or bear : for as he is in him- 
self, he is incomprehensible, and dwelleth in 
that Light which no Eye can approach. But 
in his Image we may behold his Glory ; enough 
to exalt our Apprehensions of God, and to 
instruct us in that Worship which pleaseth him. 

511. Men may Tine themselves in a Laby- 
rinth of Search, and talk of God : But if we 
would know him indeed, it must be from' the 
Imprcssionswe receive of him ; and the softer 



I04 



Reflections and Maxims, 



our Hearts are, the deeper and livelier those 
will be upon us. ^H 

512. If he has made us sensible of his Ju^* 
tice, by his Reproof ; of his Patience, by his 
Forbearance ; of his Mercy, by his Forgive- 
ness ; of his Holiness, by the Sanctification of 
our Hearts through his Spirit ; we have a 
grounded Knowledge of God. This is Experi- 
ence, that Speculation ; This Enjoyment, that 
Report, In short, this is undeniable Evidence, 
with the realities of Religion, and will stand all 
Winds and Weathers, 

513. As our Faith, so our Devotion should 
be lively. Cold Meat won't serve at thos 
Repasts. 

514. It's a Coal from God's Altar must 
kindle our Fire : And without Fire, true Fire, 
no acceptable Sacrifice. 

515. Open thou my Lips, and then, said 
the Royal Prophet, My Mouth shall praise 
God. But not, till then. 

516. The Preparation of the Heart, as well 
as Answer of the Tongue, is of the Lord : And 
to have it, our Prayers must be powerful, and 
our Worship grateful. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



105 



517- Let us chuse, therefore, to commune 
where there is the warmest Sense of Religion ; 
where Devotion exceeds Formality, and Practice 
most corresponds with Profession ; and where 
there is at least as much Charity as Zeal : For 
where this Society is to be found, there shall 
we find the Church of God. 

518. As Good, so III Men are all of a Church ; 
and every Body knows who must be Head 
of it. 

519. The Humble, Meek, Merciful, Just, 
Pious, and Devout Souls, are everywhere of 
one Religion ; and when Death has taken off 
the Mask, they will know one another, tho' the 
divers Liveries they wear here makes them 
Strangers* 

520. Great Allowances are to be made of 
Education, and personal Weaknesses: But 'tis 
a Rule with me, that Man is truly Religious. 
that loves the Persuasion he is of, for the Piety 
rather than the ceremony of it- 

521. They that have one End, can hardly 
disagree when they meet. At least, their 
concern in the Greater moderates the value 
and difference about the lesser things. 



Reflections and Maxims. 




522. It is a sad Reflection, that many Men 
hardly have any Religion at all ; and most 
Men have none of their own : For that which 
is the Religion of their Education, and not of 
Iheir Judgment, is the Religion of Anothe|^| 
and not Theirs. 

533, To have Religion upon Authority, and 
not upon Conviction, is like a Finger Watch, 
to be set forwards or backwards, as he pleases 
that has it in keeping. 

524. It is a Preposterous thing that Men 
can venture their Souls where they will not 
venture their Money : For they will take their 
Religion upon trusty but not trust a Synod 
about the Goodness of Half a Crown. 

525. They will follow their own Judgment 
when their Money is concerned, what ever thej 
do for their Souls. 

526. But to be sure, that Religion can- 
not be right, that a Man is the worse for 
having. 

527 
One. 
528 



n 



No Religion is better than an Unnatural 




Reflections and Maxims. 



107 




529, To be Unnatural in Defence of Grace, 
is a Contradiction. 

530, Hardly any thing looks worse, than to 
defend Religion M' ways that shew it has no 
Credit with us. 

531, A Devout Man is one thing, a Stickler 
is quite another. 

533. When our Minds exceed their just 
Bounds, we must needs discredit what we would 
recommend, 

533. To be Furious in Religion, is to l>e' 
Irreligiously Religious, 

534. If he that is without Bowels, is not a 
Man ; How then can he be a Christian ? 

535. It were better to be of no Church, 
than to be bitter for any. 

53^^. Bitterness comes very near to Enmity, 
and that is Beelzebub ; because the Perfection 
of Wickedness. 

537. A good End cannot sanctifie evil 
Means ; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good 
may come of it. 

538. Some Folk think they may Scold, 
Rail, Hate, Rob and Kill too ; so it be but for 
God's sake. 



loS 



Reflections and Maxims, 



539. But nothing in us unlike him, can 

please him, 

540. It is as great Presumption to send 
our Passions upon God's errands, as it is to 
palliate them with God's Name. 

541. 2eal dropt in Charity, is good, 
without it good for nothing : For it devours 
all it comes near. ■ 

543. They must fii-st judge themselves, 
that presume to censure others : And sut 
will not be apt to overshoot the Mark. 

543. We are too ready to retaliate, rather 
than forgive, or gain by Love and Information. 

544. And yet we could hurt no Man that 
we believe loves us. ■ 

545. Let us then try what Love will do : 
For if Men did once see we Love them, W(^ 
should soon find they would not harm us. f 

546. Force may subdue, but Love gains : 
And he that forgives first, wins the LawreL 

547. If I am even with my Enemy, the Debt is 
paid; But if I forgive it, 1 oblige him for ever. 

548. Love is the hardest Lesson in Christ- 
ianity ; but, for that reason, it should be most 
our care to learn it. Difficilia quis Pidchra, 



Reflections and Maxims. 



109 



^ 549, It is a severe Rebuke upon us, that 
God makes us so many Allowances, and we 
make so few to our Neighbour : As if Charity 
had nothing to do with Religion ; Or Love 
with Faith, that ought to work by it. 

550. I find all sorts of People agree, what- 
soever were their Animosities, when humbled 
by the Approaches of Death : Then they forgive, 
then they pray for, and love one another : 
Which shews us, that it is not our Reason, but 
our Passion, that makes and holds up the 
Feuds that reign among men in their Health 
and Fulness. They, therefore, that live nearest 
to that which they should die, must certainly 
live best. 

551. Did we believe a final Reckoning and 
Judgment ; or did we think enough of what 
we do believe, we should allow more Love in 
Religion than we do ; since Rehgion it self is 
nothing else but Love to God and Man. 

553. He that lives in Love lives in God, 
says the Beloved Disciple : And to be sure a 
Man can live no where better. 

553. It is most reasonable Men should value 
that Benefit, which is most durable. Now 



no Reflections and Maxims. 

Tongues shall cease, and Prophecy fail, and 
Faith shall be consummated in Sight, and 
Hope in Enjoyment ; but Love remains. 

554. Love is indeed Heaven upon Earth; 
since Heaven above would not be Heaven 
without it : For where there is not Love ; there 
is Fear : But perfect Love casts out Fear. And 
yet we naturally fear most to offend what we 
most Love. 

555. What we Love, we'll Hear ; what we 
Love, we'll Trust ; and what we Love, we'll 
serve, ay, and suffer for too. If you love me 
(says our Blessed Redeemer) keep my Com- 
mandments. Why ? Why then he'll Love 
us ; then we shall be his Friends ; then he'll 
send us the Comforter ; then whatsoever we 
ask, we shall receive ; and then where he is 
we shall be also, and that for ever. Behold 
the Fruits of Love ; the Power, Vertue, Benefit 
and Beauty of Love! 

556. Love is above all ; and when it pre- 
vails in us all, we shall all be Lovely, and in 
Love with God and one with another. 

Amen. 

FINIS. 



PART II. 



^HE INTRODUCTION TO THE 
READER- 



THE Title of this Treatise shows, there was 
a former of the same Nature ; and the 
Author hopes he runs no Hazard in recom- 
mending both to his Reader's Perusal. He is 
well aware of the low Reckoning the Labours 
of indifferent Authors are under, at a Time 
when hardly any Thing passes for current, 
that is not calculated to flatter the Sharpness 
of contending Parties. He is also sensible, 
that Books grow a very Drug, where they 
cannot raise and support their Credit, by theu' 
own Usefulness ; and how far this will be able 
to do it, he knows not ; j'et he thinks himself 
tolerably safe in making it publick, in three 
Respects. 

First, That the Purchase is small, and the 
Time but httle^ that is requisite to read it. 

H3 




114 Introduction. 

Next, Though some Men should not find it 
relish'd high enough for their finer Wits, or 
wanner Pallats, it will not perhaps be useless 
to those of lower Flights, and who are less 
engaged in publick Heats. 

Lastly, The Author honestly aims at as 
general a Benefit as the Thing will bear ; to 
Youth especidly, whether he hits the Mark 
or not : And that without the least Ostentation, 
or any private Regards. 

Let not Envy misinterpret his Intention, 
and he will be accountable for all other Faults. 

Vale. 



fIDore Jftuits of Solttube : 

BEING 

THE SECOND PART OF 
REFLECTIONS AND MAXIMS. 



L 



THE RIGHT MORALIST. 

1. A Right Moralist, is a Great and Good 
Man, but for that Reason he is rarely to be 
found. 

2. There are a Sort of People, that are fond 
of the Character, who, in my Opinion, have 
but little Title to it. 

3. They think it enough, not to defraud a 
Man of his Pay, or betray his Friend ; but never 
consider, That the Law forbids the one at his 
Peril, and that Virtue is seldom the Reason of 
the other. 

4. But certainly he that Covets, can no 
more be a Moral Man, than he that Steals ; 
since he does so in his Mind. Nor can he be 

"5 



ii6 



Reflections and Maxims. 



one that Robs his Neighbour of his Credit, or 
that craftily undermines him of his Trade or 
Office. 

5. If a Man pays his Taylor, but Debauches 
his Wife ; Is he a current Moralist ? 

6. But what shall we say of the Man that 
Rebels against his Father, is an 111 Husband, 
or ail Abusive Neighbour ; one that's Lavish 
of his Time, of his Health, and of his Estate, in 
whicli his Family is so nearly concerned ? 
Must he go for a Right Moralist, because he 
pays his Rent well ? 

7. I would ask some of those Men of Morals, 
Whether he that Robs God and Himself too, 
tho' he should not defraud his Neighbour, be 
the Moral Man ? 

8. Do I owe ray self Nothing ? And do I 
not owe All to God ? And if paying what we 
owe, makes the Moral Man, is it not fit we 
should begin to render our Dues, where we owe 
our very Beginning ; ay, our All ? 

g. The Compleat Moralist begins with God ; 

he gives him liis Due, his Heart, his Love, 

his Service ; the Bountiful Gi^i'er of his Well- 

Beuig, as vveJI as Being- 



Reflections and Maxims. 



117 



10. He that lives without a Sense of this 
^Hc^ndency and Obligation, cannot be a Moral 

Man, because he does not make his Retunis 
of Love and Obedience ; as becomes an honest 
and a sensible Creature : Which very Term jj 
Implies he is not his own j and it cannot be 
very honest to mis-imp!oy another's Goods. 

11. But can there be no Debt, but to a fellow 
Creature ? Or, will our Exactness in paying those 
Dribling ones, while we neglect our weightier 
Obligations, Cancel the Bonds we lie under, and 
render us right and thorough Moralists ? 

12. As Judgments are paid before Bonds, 
and Bonds before Bills or Book-Debts, so the 
Moralist considers his Obligations according 
to their several Dignities. 

In the first place. Him to whom he owes ' 
himself. Next, himself, in his Health and ^ 
Livelihood, Lastly, His other Obligations, 
whether Rational or Pecuniary ; doing to ^ 
others, to the Extent of his Ability, as he would 
have them do unto him. 

13. In short, The Moral Man is he that 
Loves God above All, and his Neighbour as 
himself, which fulfils both Tables ^1 cfc^Ka. 



[ I 



Reflections and Maxims, 



THE WORLD'S ABLE MAN. 

14. It is by some thought, the Character 
of an Able Man, to be Dark and not Understood. 
But I am sure that is not fair Play, 

15. If he be so by Silence, 'tis better ; but 
if by Disguises, 'tis insincere and hatefuL 

16. Secrecy is one Thing, false Lights 
another. 

17. The honest Man that is rather free than 
open, is ever to be preferr'd ; especially when 
Sense is at Helm, 

18. The Glorying of the other Humour is in a 
Vice : For it is not Humane to be Cold, Dark 
and Unconversable, I was going to say, theyj 
are like Pick-Pockets in a Crowds where a Mai 
must ever have his Hand on his Purse ; or as 
Spies in a Garrison, that if not prevented 
betrays it. 

ig. They are the Reverse of Human Nature 
and yet this is the present World's Wise Man' 
and Pohtician : Excellent Qualities for Lap- 
land, where, they say. Witches, though not 
many Conjurors, dwell. 

20. Like Highway- Men, that rarely RoK' 
without Vizards, or in the same Wigs and_ 



Reflections and Maxims. 



119 



Cloaths, but have a Dress for every Enter- 
prize. 

21. At best, be may be a Cunning Man, 
which is a sort of Lurcher in the Politicks. 
^m 22. He is never too hard for the Wise Man 
^^pon the Square, for that ts out of his Element, 
and puts him quite by his Skill. Nor ate Wise 
Men ever catch'd by him, but when they trust 
him, 

23. But as Cold and Close as he seems, 
he can and will please all, if he gets by it, though 
it should neither please God nor himself, at 
bottom. 

24. He is for every Cause that brings him 
Gain, but Implacable if disappointed of Success. 

25. And what he cannot hinder, he will be 
^^re to Spoil, by over-doing it. 

^P 26. None so Zealous then as he, for that 

which he cannot abide. 

27. What is it he will not, or cannot do, to 

hide his true Sentiments ? 
^B 28. For his Interest, he refuses no Side or 

"Party ; and will take the Wrong by the Hand, 

when t'other wont do, with as good a Grace as 

the Right. 



120 



Reflections and Maxims, 



29. Kay, he commonly chooses the Worst, 
because that brings the best Bribe ; His Cause 
being ever Money. 

30. He Sails with all Winds, and is never out 
of Ms Way, where any Thing is to be had. 

31. A Privateer indeed, and everywhere a 
very Bird of Prey. 

32. True to nothing but himself, and false 
to all Persons and PartieSj to serve his own 
Turn. 

33. Talk with him as often as you please, 
lie will never pay you in good Coin ; for 'tis 
either False or Clipt. 

34. But to give a False Reason, for any 
Thing, let my Reader never learn of him, no 
more than to give a Brass Half-Crown for a 
good one : Not only because it is not true, but 
because it Deceives the Person to whom it is 
given ; which I take to be an Immorality. H 

35. Silence is much more preferable, for it 
saves the Secret, as well as the Person's Honour. 

36. Such as give themselves the Latitude 
of saying what they do not mean, come to be 
errant Jockeys at more Things than one ; but 
in Religion and Politicks, 'tis most pernicious. 




4 



Reflections and Maxims. 



E2I 



37. To henr two Men talk the Reverse of 
their own Sentiments, with all the good Breeding 
and Appearance of Friendship imaginable, on 
purpose to Cozen or Pump each other, is 
to a Man of Virtue and Honour, one of the 
Melancholiest, as well as most Nauseous Thing 
in the World. 

38. But that it should be the Character of an 
Able Man, is to Disinherit Wisdom, and Paint 
out our Degeneracy to the Life, by setting up 
Fraud, an errant Imposter, in her Room. 

I 39- The Tryal of Skill between these two 
is, who shall believe least of what t'other says ; 
and he that has the Weakness, or good Nature 
to give out first {viz. to believe any Thing 
t'other says), is look'd upon to be Trick'd. 

40. I cannot see the Policy, any more than 
the Necessity, of a Man's Mind always giving 
the Lye to his Mouth, or his Mouth ever giving 
the false Alarms to his Mind : For no Man can 
be long believed, that teaches all Men to 
distrust him ■ and since the Ablest have 
sometimes need of Credit, where lies the 
Advantage of their Politick Cant or Banter 
upon Mankind ? 



122 



Reflections and Maxims. 



41. I remember a Passage of one of Queen 

Elizabeth's Great Men, as Advice to his Friend ; 
The Advantage, says he, I had upon others at 
Court, was, that I always spoke as I thought, 
which being not believed by them, I both 
preserv'd a good Conscience, and suffered no 
Damage from that Freedom ; Which, as it 
shows the Vice to be Older than our Times, so 
that Gallant Man's Integrity, to be the best 
Way of avoiding it* 

42. To be sure it is wise, as well as Honest, 
neither to flatter other Men's Sentiments, nor 
Dissemble and less Contradict our own. 

43. To hold ones Tongue, or speak Truth, 
or talk only of indifierent Things, is the Fairest 
Conversation. 

44. Women that rarely go Abroad without 
Vizard-Masks, have none of the best Reputation. 
But when we consider what all this Art and 
Disguise are for, it equally heightens the Wise 
Man's Wonder and Aversion : Perhaps it is to 
betray a Father, a Brother, a Master, a Friend, 
a Neighbour, or one's own Party. 

45. A fine Conquest 1 what Noble Grecians 
and Romans abhorr'd : As if Government could 



^ 



Reflections and Maxims, 



123 



not subsist without Knavery, and that Knaves 
were the Use fullest Props to it ; tho' the basest, 
as well as greatest. Perversion of the Ends of it. 

46. But that it should become a Maxim, 
shows but too grossly the Corruption of the 
Times. 

47. 1 confess 1 have heard the Stile of a 
Useful Knave, but ever took it to be a silly 
or knavish Saying ; at least an Excuse for 
Knavery. 

48. It is as reasonable to think a Whore 
makes the best Wife, as a Knave the best Officer. 

49. Besides, Employing Knaves, Encourages 
Knavery instead of punishing it ; and Alienates 
the Reward of Virtue. Or, at least, must make 
the World believe the Country yields not 
honest Men enough, able to serve her. 

50. Art thou a Magistrate? Prefer such 
as have clean Characters where they live, and 
of Estates to secure a just Discharge of their 
Trusts ; that are under no Temptation to strain 
Points for a Fortune : For sometimes such 
may be found, sooner than they are Employed. 

51. Art thou a Private Man ? Contract 
thy Acquaintance in a narrow Compass, and 



124 Reflections and Maxims. 

chuse Those for the Subjects of it, that are Men 
of Principle ; such as will make full Stops, 
where Honour will not lead them on ; a^d 
that had rather bear the disgrace of not being 
thorow Paced Men, than forfeit their Peace and 
Reputation by a base Compliance. 

THE WISE MAN. 

52. The Wise Man Governs himself by the 
Reason of his Case, and because what he does is 
Best : Best, in a Moral and Prudent, not a 
Sinister Sense. 

53. He proposes just Ends, and employs 
the fairest and probablest Means and Methods 
to attain them. 

54. Though you cannot always penetrate 
his Design, or his Reasons for it, yet you shall 
ever see his Actions of a Piece, and his Perform- 
ances like a Workman : They will bear the Touch 
of Wisdom and Honour, as often as they are 
tryed. 

55. He scorns to serve himself by Indirect 
Means, or be an Interloper in Government, 
since just Enterprises never want any Just 
Ways to succeed them. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



125 



56. To do Evil> that Good may come of it, 
is for Bunglers in Politicks, as well as Morals*. 

57. Like those Surgeons, that will cut off 
an Arm they can't cure, to hide their Ignorance 
and save their Credit, 

58. The Wise Man is Cautious, but not 
Cunning ; Judicious, but not Crafty ; making 
Virtue the Measure of using his Excellent Under- 
standing in the Conduct of his Life. 

59. The Wise Man is equal, ready, but not 
officious ; has in every Thing an Eye to Sure 
Footing : He offends no Body, nor easily is 
offended, and always willing to Compound for 
Wrongs, if not forgive them. 

60. He is never Captious, nor Critical ; 
hates Banter and Jests : He may be Pleasant, 
but not Light ; he never deals but in Substantial 
Ware, and leaves the rest for the Toy Pates 
(or Shops) of the World ; which are so far from 
being his Business, that they are not so much 
as liis Diversion. 

61. He is always for some solid Good, Civil 
or Moral ; as, to make his Country more Vir- 
tuous, Preserve her Peace and Liberty, Iraploy 
her Poor, Improve Land^ Advance Trade, 



t uer ] 




ti6 



Reflections and Maxims. 



Suppress Vice, Incourage Industry, and all 
: Mechanick Knowledge ; and that they should 
be^e Care of the Government, and the Ble&smg 
and Praise of the People, 

^. To conclude I He is Just, and feafd^H 
God, hates Covetousness, and eschews Evil, ^ 
and loves his Neighbour as himself. 

OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THOUGHTS^ 

63. Man being made a Reasonable, and so'' 
a Thinking Creature, there is nothing more 
Worthy of his Being, than the Right Direction 
and Employment of his Thoughts ; since upon 
This, depends both his Usefulness to the Publick, 
and his own present and future Benefit in all 
Respects. ^H 

64. The Consideration of this, has ofteii^* 
obliged me to Lament the Unhappiness of 
Mankind, that through too great a Mixture and 
Confusion of ThoughtSj have been hardly able 

to make a Right or a Mature Judgment of^j 
Things. ^M 

65. To this is owing the various Uncertainty 
and Confusion we see in the World, and the 
Intemperate Zeal that occasions them. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



127 



66. To this also is to be attributed the 
imperfect Knowledge we have of Things, and' 
the slow Progress we make in attaining to a 
Better ; like the Children of Israel that wiere, 
forty Years upon their Journey from Egypt 
to Canaan, which might iiave been performed 
in Less than One, 

67. In fine, 'tis to this that we ought to 
ascribe, if not all* at least most of the Infelicities 
we Labour under. 

68. Clear therefoi'e thy Head, and Rallvj 
and Manage thy Thoughts Rightly, and thou 
wilt save Time, and See and Do thy Business 
Well ; for thy Judgment will be Distinct, thy 
Mind Free, and the Faculties Strong and 
Regular. 

6g. Always remember to bound thy Thoughts 
to the present Occasion. 

70. If it be thy Rehgious Duty, suffer nothing 
else to Shai'e in them. And if any Civil or Tem- 
poral Affair, observe the same Caution, and 
thou wilt be a. whole Man to every Thing, and 
do twice the Business in the same Time. 

71. If any Point over-Labours thy Mind, 
divert and relieve it, by some other Subject, 



128 



Reflections and Maxims 



of a more Sensible, or Manual Nature, rather 
than what may affect the Understanding ; for 
this were to write one Thing upon another, 
which blots out our former Impressions, or 
renders them illegible. ^M 

7a. They that are least divided in their 
Care, always give the best Account of theii^ 
Business. ^ ^M 

73. As therefore thou art always to pursue 
the present Subject, till thou hast mastered it, 
so if it fall out that thou hast more Affairs than 
one upon thy Hand, be sure to prefer that whic|^| 
is of most Moment, and will least wait thy 
Leisure- ^^ 

74. He that Judges not well of th4f 
Importance of his AflEairs, though he may 
be always Busy, he must make but a smE 
Progress. 

75. But make not more Business necessar 
than is so ; and rather lessen than augmeni 
Work for thy self. 

76. Nor yet be over-eager in pursuit of any 
Thing ; for the Mercurial too often happen 
leave Judgment behind them, and sometime 
make Work [ol Repentance. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



129 



77. He that over-inns his Business, leaves 
it for him that follows more leisurely to take 
it up ; which, has often proved a profitable 
Harvest to them that never Sow'd. 

78. 'Tis the Advantage that slower Tempers 
have upon the Men of lively Parts, that tho' 
they don't lead, they will Follow well, and 
Glean Cleati. 

79. Upon the whole Matter, Employ thy 
Thoughts as thy Business reqahes, and let that 
have Place according to Merit and Urgency ; 
^ving every Thing a Review and due Digestion, 
and thou wilt prevent many Errors and Vex- 
ations, as well as save much Time to thy self 
in the Course of thy Life. 

OF ENVY. 

80. It is the Mark of an ill Nature, to lessen 
good Actions, and aggravate ill Ones. 

81. Some Men do as much begrutch others 
a good Name, as they want one themselves ; 
and perhaps that is the Reason of it. 

82. But certainly tlicy are in the Wrong, 
that can think they are lessened, because others 
have their Due. 



1*^0 Reflections and Maxims. 

8;^. Such People generally have less Merit 
than Ambition, that Covet the Reward of other 
Men's ; and to be sure a very iU Nature, that 
will rattier rob others of their Due, than allow 
them their Praise. 

S^. It is more an Error of our Will, than our 
Judgment : For we know it to be an Effect of 
our Passion, not our Reason ; and therefore 
we are the more culpable in our Partial Estimates. 

85. It is as Envious as Unjust, tounder-rate 
another's Actions where their intrinsick Worth 
recommends them to disengaged Minds. 

86. Nothing shews more the Folly, as well 
as Fraud of Man, than Clipping of Merit and 
Reputation. 

87. And as some Men think it an Allay to 
themselves, that others have their Right ; so they 
know no end of Pilfering to raise their own Credit. 

88. This Envy is the Child of Pride, and 
Misgives, rather than Mistakes. 

8g< It will have Charity, to be Ostentation ; 
Sobriety t Covetousness ; Humility, Craft ; 
Bounty, Popularity : In short. Virtue must be 
Design, and Religion only Interest. Nay, the 
best of Qualities must not pass without a BUT 



Reflections and Maxims. iji 

to aUay their Merit and abate their Praise. 
Basest of Tempers ! and they that have them, 
the Worst of Men ! 

90. But Just and Noble Minds Rejoice in 
other Men's Success, and help to augment their 
Praise. 

91. And indeed they are not without a Love 
to Virtue, that take a Satisfaction in seeing her 
Rewarded, and such deserve to share her 
Character that do abhor to lessen it. 

OF MAN'S LIFE. 

92. Why is Man less durable than the Works 
of his Hands, but because This is not the Place 
of his Rest ? 

m 93, And it is a Great and Just Reproach 
upon him, that he should fix his Mind where he 
cannot stay himself. 

94, Were it not more his Wisdom to be con- 
cerned about those Works that will go with him, 
and erect a Mansion for him where Time has 
Power neither over him nor it ? 

95. 'Tis a sad Thing for Man so often to miss 
lis Way to his Best, as well as most Lasting 
lome. 



ija 



Reflections and Maxims. 



OF AMBITION, 



g6. They that soar too high, often faU hard 
which makes a low and level Dwelling prefer-^ 
rable. 

97. The tallest Trees are most in the Power" 
of the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts 
of Fortune. 

g8. They are most seen and observed, and 
most envyed : Least Quiet, but most talk'd of^ 
and not often to their Advantage, 

99. Those Buildings had need of a good 
Foundation that lie so much exposed tc 
Weather. 

100, Good Works are a Rock, that 
support their Credit ; but 111 Ones a Sandj 
Foundation that Yields to Calamities. 

loi. And truly they ought to expect no Pit 
in their Fall, that when in Power had no Bowels 
for the Unhappy. 

102. The worst of Distempers ; alwaj 
Craving and ITiirsty, Restless and Hated : A 
perfect Delirium in the Mind : Insufferable in 
Success, and in Disappointments most Revenge 
ful. 



Reflections and Maxims, 133 

OF PRAISE OR APPLAUSE, 

103. We are too apt to love Praise, but not 
to Deserve it. 

104. But if we would Deserve it, we must 
love Virtue more than That. 

■ 105. As there is no Passion in us sooner 
moved, or more deceivable, so for that Reason 
there is none over which we ought to be more 
Watchful, whether we give or receive it. For 
if we g^ive it, we must be sure to mean it, and 
measure it too. 

106. If we are Penurious, it shows Emula- 
tion ; if we exceed. Flattery. 

107. Good Measure belongs to Good Actions ; 
more looks Nauseous, as well as Insincere ; 
besides, 'tis a Persecuting of the Meritorious, 
who are out of Countenance to hear, what 
they deserve, 

108. It is much easier for him to merit 
Applause, than hear of it ; And he never doubts 
himself more, or the Person that gives it, than 
when he hears so much of it. 

109. But to say true, there needs not many 
Cautions on this Hand, since the World is rarely 
just enough to the^Deserving. 



134 Reflections and Maxims. 

no. However, we cannot be too Circum- 
spect how we receive Praise : For if we contem- 
plate our selves in a false Glass, we are sure 
to be mistaken about our Dues ; and because 
we are too apt to believe what is Pleasing, 
rather than what is True, we may be too esisily 
swell' d, beyond our just Proportion, by the 
Windy Complements of Men. 

111. Make ever therefore Allowances for 
what is said on such Occasions, or thou Ex- 
posest, as well as Deceivest thyself. 

112. For an Over-value of our selves, gives 
us but a dangerous Security in many Respects. 

113. We expect more than belongs to us ; 
take all that's given us though never meant us ; 
and fall out with those that are not as full of 
us as we are of our selves. 

114. In short, 'tis a Passion that abuses 
our Judgment, and makes us both Unsafe and 
Ridiculous. 

115. Be not fond therefore of Praise, but 
seek Virtue that leads to it. 

116. And yet no more lessen or dissemble 
thy Merit, than over-rate it : For tho' Humility 
be a Virtue, an affected one is none. 



Reflections and Maxims. 135 

OF CONDUCT IN SPEECH. 

117. Enquire often, but Judge rarely, and 
thou wilt not often be mistaken. 

118. It is safer to Learn, than teach ; and 
who conceals his Opinion, has nothing to Answer 
for. 

iig. Vanity or Resentment often engage us, 
and 'tis two to one but we come off Losers ; 
for one shews a Want of Judgment and Humility, 
as the other does of Temper and Discretion. 

120. Not that I admire the Reserved ; for 
they are next to Unnatural that are not Com- 
municable. But if Reservedness be at any 
Time a Virtue, 'tis in Throngs or ill Company. 

121. Beware also of Affectation in Speech ; 
it often wrongs Matter, and ever shows a blind 
Side. 

122. Speak properly, and in as few Words 
as you can, but always plainly ; for the End of 
Speech is not Ostentation, but to be understood. 

133. They that affect Words more than 
Matter, will dry up that little they have. 

124. Sense never fails to give them that 
have it, Words enough to make them under- 
stood. 



136 



Reflections and Maxims. 



J 25. But it too often happens in some 
Conversations, as in Apotliecary-Shops, that 
those Pots that are Empty, or have Things of 
small Value in them, are as gaudily Dress'd 
and Flourish'd, as those that are full of precious 
Drugs. 

136. This Labouring of slight Matter with 
flourish'd Turns of Expression is fulsome, and 
worse than the Modem Imitation of Tapestry, 
and East-India Goods, in Stuffs and Linnens. 
In short, it is but Taudry Talk, and next to_ 
very Trash. 

UNION OF FRIENDS. 

127. They that love beyond the World, 
cannot be separated by it. 

128. Death cannot kill what never dies. 

129. Nor can Spirits ever be divided tha^ 
love and live in the same Divine Principle 
the Root and Record of their Friendship. 

130. If Absence be not Death, neither 
theii^, 

131. Death is but Crossing the World, as 
Friends do the Seas ; They live in one another 
still. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



137 



132. For they must needs be present, that 
love and live in that which is Omnipresent. 

133. In this Divine Glass they see Face to 
Face; and their Converse is Free, as well as 
Pure. 

134. This is the Comfort of Friends, that 
though they may be said to Die, yet their Friend- 
ship and Society are, in the best Sense, ever pre- 
sent, because Immortal. 

OF BEING EASY IN LIVING. 



135. Tis a Happiness to be dehvered from 
a Curious Mind, as well as from a Dainty 
Palate. 

136. For it is not only a Troublesome but 
Slavish Thing to be Nice. 

137. They narrow their own Freedom and 
Comforts, that make so much requisite to enjoy 
them. 

138. To be Easy in Living, is much of the 
Pleasure of Life ; But difficult Tempers will 
always want it. 

139. A Careless and Homely Breeding is 
therefore preferable to one Nice and Delicate. 



138 Reflections and Maxims. 

140. And he that is taught to live upon a 
little, owes more to his Father's Wisdom, than 
he that has a great deal left him, does to his 
Father's Care. 

141. Children can't well be too hardly Bred : 
For besides that it fits them to bear the Roughest 
Providences, it is more Masculine, Active and 
Healthy. 

142. Nay, 'tis certain, that the Liberty of 
the Mind is mightily preserved by it : For so 
'tis served, instead of being a Servant, indeed 
a Slave to sensual Delicacies. 

143. As Nature is soon answered, so are 
such satisfied. 

144. The Memory of the Ancients is hardly 
in any Thing more to be celebrated, than in a 
Strict and Useful Institution of Youth. 

145. By Labour they prevented Luxury 
in their young People, till Wisdom and Philo- 
sophy had taught them to Resist and Despise 
it. 

146. It must be therefore a gross fault to 
strive so hard for the Pleasure of our Bodies, 
and be so insensible and careless of the Freedom 
of our Souls. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



139 



OF MAN'S INCONSIDERATENESS AND 
PARTIALITY. 

147. 'Tis very observable, if our Civil Rights 
are invaded or incroach'd upon, we are mightily 
touch'd, and fill every Place with our Resent- 
ment and Complaint ; while we suffer our selves, 
our Better and Xobler Selves, to be the Pro- 
perty and Vassals of Sin, the worst of Invaders. 

148. In vain do we expect to be delivered 
from such Troubles, till we are delivered from 
the Cause of them, our Disobedience to God. 

149. When he has his Dues from as, it will 
be time enough for Him to give us ours out of 
one another. 

150. 'Tis our great Happiness, if we could 
understand it, that we meet with such Checks 
in the Career of our worldly Enjoyments, lest 
we should Forget the Giver, adore the Gift, 
and terminate our Fehcity here, which ia not 
Man's ultimate Bliss. 

151. Our Losses are often made Judgments 
by our Guilt, and Mercies by our Repentance. 

152. Besides, it argues great Folly in Men 
to let their Satisfaction exceed the true Value 



140 Reflections and Maxims. 

of any Temporal Matter : For Disappoint- 
ments are not always to be measured by the 
Loss of the Thing, but the Over- value we put 
upon it. 

153. And thus Men improve their own Miser- 
ies, for want of an Equal and Just Estimate 
of what they Enjoy or Lose. 

154. There lies a Proviso upon every Thing 
in this World, and we must observe it at our 
own Peril, viz.. To love God above all, and Act 
for Judgment, the Last I mean. 

OF THE RULE OF JUDGING. 

155. In all Things Reason should prevail : 
'Tis quite another Thing to be stiff than steady 
in an Opinion. 

156. This may be Reasonable, but that is 
ever wilful. 

157. In such Cases it always happens, that 
the clearer the Argument, the greater the 
Obstinacy, where the Design is not to be con- 
vinced. 

158.. This is to value Humour more than 
Truth, and prefer a sullen Pride to a reasonable 
Submission. 




159- '^ is the Glory of a Man to vail to Truth ; 
as it is the Mark of a good Nature to be Easily 
entreated. , 

i6o. Beasts Act by Sense, Man should by 
Reason ; else he is a greater Beast than ever 
God made : And the Proverb is verified, The 
Corruption of the best Things is the worst and 
most offensive. 

j6i. A reasonable Opinion must ever be in 
Danger, where Reason is not Judge, 

162. Tho' there is a Regard due to Edu- 
cation, and the Tradition of our Fathers, Truth 
will ever deserve, as well as claim the Preference, 

163. If like Theophilus and Timothy, we 
have been brought up in the Knowledge of the 
best Things, 'tis our Advantage : But neither 
they nor we lose by trying their Truth ; for so 
we leani their, as well as it's intrinsick Worth. 

164. Truth never lost Ground by Enquiry, 
because she is, most of all. Reasonable. 

165. Nor can that need another Authority, 
that is Self-evident. 

166. If my own Reason be on the Side of a 
Principle, with what can I Dispute or withstand 
it? 



142 Reflections and Maxims. 

167. And if Men would once consider one an- 
other reasonably, they would either reconcile 
their Differences, or more Amicably maintain 
them. 

168. Let That therefore be the Standard) 
that has most to say for it self ; Tho' of that 
let every Man be Judge for himself. 

169. Reason, like the Sun, is Common to 
All ; And 'tis for want of examining all by. the 
same Light and Measure, that we are not all 
of the same Mind : For all have it to that End, 
though all do not use it So. 

OF FORMALITY, 

170. Form is Good, but not Formality. 

171. In the Use of the best of Forms there 
is too much of that I fear. 

172. 'Tis absolutely necessary, that this 
Distinction should go along with People in their 
Devotion ; for too many are apter to rest upon 
What they do, than How they do their Duty. 

173. If it were considered that it is the 
Frame of the Mind that gives our Performances 
Acceptance, we would lay more Stress on our 
Inward Preparation than our Outward Action. 




Reflections and Maxims 



OF THE MEAN NOTION WE HAVE OF 
GOD. 

174. Nothing more shews the low Condition 
Man is fallen into, than the unsuitable Notion 
we must have of God, by the Ways we take t&- 
please him. 

175. As if it availed any thing to him that 
we perfonned so many Ceremonies and external 
Forms of Devotion, who never meant more by 
them, than to try our Obedience, and through 
them, to shew us something moie Excellent and 
Durable beyond them. 

176. Doing, while we are Undoing, is good 
for nothing. 

177. Of what Benefit is it to say our Prayers 
regularly, go to Church, receive the Sacraments, 
and may be go to Confessions too ; ay. Feast 
the PHest, and give Alms to the Poor, and yet 
Lye, Swear, Curee, be Drunk, Covetous, Un- 
clean, Proud, Revengeful, Vain and Idle at the 
same Time ? 

178. Can one excuse or ballance the other ? 
Or will God think himself well served, where his 
Law is Violated ? Or well used> where there 
is so much more Shew than Substance ? 



144 



Reflections and Maxims. 



179. 'Tis a most dangerous Error for a Man 
to think to excuse himself in the Breach of a 
Moral Duty, by a Formal Performance of 
Positive Worship ; and less when of Human 
Invention. 

180. Our Blessed Saviour most rightly and 
clearly distinguished and determined this Case, 
when he told the Jews, that they were 
Mother, his Brethren and Sisters, who did 
Will of his Father. 

OF THE BENEFIT OF JUSTICE. 

i8i» Justice is a great Support of Society;' 
because an Insurance to all Men of their Property : 
This violated, there's no Security, which throws 
all into Confusion to recover it. 

182. An Honest Man is a fast Pledge 
Dealing. A Man is Sure to have it if it be 
be had. 

- 183. Many are so, meerly of Necessity 
Others not so only for the same Reason ; But 
^uch an honest Man is not to be thanked, and 
•such a dishonest Man is to he pity'd. 

184. But he that is dishonest for Gain, 
next to a Robber, and to be punish" d for Example. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



H5 



P 185. And indeed there are few Dealers, 
but what are Faulty, which makes Trade 
Difficult, and a great Temptation to Men of 
Vertue, 

186. 'Tis not what they should, but what 
they can get : Faults or Decays must be con- 
cealed : Big Words given, where they are not 
deserved, and the Ignorance or Necessity of 
the Buyer imposed upon for unjust Profit. 

187. These are the Men that keep their 
Words for their own Ends, and are only Just 
for Fear of the Magistrate. 

188. A Politick rather than a Moral Honesty ; 
a constrained, not a chosen Justice : According 
to the Proverb, Patience per Force, and thank 
you for nothing. 

189. But of all Justice, that is the greatest, 
that passes under the Name of Law. A Cut- 
Purse in Westminster-Hall exceeds ; for that 
advances Injustice to Oppression, where Law 
is alledged for that which it should punish. 



OF JEALOUSY. 

190. The Jealous are Troublesome to others, 
but a TorjBent to themselves. 



14^ Reflections an^ Maxims. 

191. Jealousy is a kind of Civil War in the 
Soul, where Judgment and Imagination are at 
perpetual Jars. 

192. This Civil Dissension in the Mind, like 
that of the Body Politick, commits great Dis- 
orders, and lays all waste. 

193. Nothing stands safe in its Way ; 
Nature, Interest, Religion, must Yield to it's 
Fury. 

194. It Violates Contracts, Dissolves Society, 
Breaks Wedlock, Betrays Friends and Neigh- 
bours. No Body is Good, and every one is 
either doing or designing them a Mischief. 

195. It has a Venome that more or less 
rankles wherever it bites : And as it reports 
Fancies or Facts, so it disturbs its own House 
as often as other Folks. 

196. It's Rise is Guilt or 111 Nature, and by 
Reflection thinks it's own Faults to be other 
Men's ; as he that's over-run with the Jaundice 
takes others to be Yellow. 

197. A Jealous Man only sees his own Spec- 
trum, when he looks upon other Men, and gives 
his Character in theirs. 



Reflections and Maxims- 



:+7 



OF STATE. 
igB. I love Service, but not State ; One is 
Useful, the Other is Superfluous. 

199. The Trouble o{ this, as well as Charge, 
is real ; but the Advantage only Imaginary. 

200. Besides, it helps to set us up above our 
selveSj, and Augments our Temptation to Dis- 
order. 

201. The r^ast Thing out of Joynt, or omitted, 
make us uneasy : and we are ready to think 
our selves ill served, about that which is of no 
real Service at all : Or so much better than 
other Men, as we have the Means of greater 
State. 

202. But this is all for want of Wisdom, 
which carries the truest and most forceable 
State along with it. 

203. He that makes not himself Cheap by 
indiscreet Conversation, puts Value enough 
upon himself every where. 

204. The other is rather Pageantry than 
State. 

OF A GOOD SERVANT- 
203. A True and a Good Servant are the 
same Thing. 



14^ 



Reflections and Maxims. 



206. But no Servant is True to his Master, 
that Defrauds him. 

207. Now there are many Ways of Defraud- 
ing a Master, as of Time, Care, Pains, Respect 
^nd Reputation, as well as Money. 

20S. He that Neglects his Work, Robs his 
Master, since he is Fed and Paid as if he did his 
Best ; and he that is not as Diligent in the 
Absence, as in the Presence of his Master, 
cannot be a true Servant, 

309. Nor is he a trae Servant, that buys 
dear to share in the Profit with the Seller, 

210. Nor yet he that tells Tales withoul 
Doors ; or deals basely in his Master's Name 
with other People ; or Connives at others 
Loyterings, Wasteings, or dishonourable R% 
flections. 

211. So that a true Servant is Diligent, 
Secret, and Respectful : More Tender of his 
Master's Honour and Interest, than of his o\ 
Profit. 

212. Such a Servant deserves well, and i( 
Modest under his Merit, should liberally feel 
it at his Master's Hand. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



H9 



k 



OF AN IMMEDIATE PURSUIT OF THE 
WORLD. 

213. It shews a Depraved State of Mind, to. 
Cark and Care for that which one does not need. 

214. Some are as eager to be Rich, as evef 
they were to Live ; For Superfluity, as for 
Subsistance. 

215. But that Plenty should augment 
Covetousness, is a Perversion of Providence ; 
and yet the Generality are the worse for their 
Riches. 

216. But it is strange, that Old Men should 
excel : For generally Money lies nearest them 
that are nearest their Graves : As if they would 
augment their Love in Pfoportion to the little 
Time they have left to enjoy it : And yet their 
Pleasure is without Enjoyment, since none 
enjoy what they do not use, 

217. So that instead of learning to leave 
their great Wealth easily, they hold the Faster, 
because they must leave it : So sordid is the 
Temper of some Men. 

218. Where Charity keeps Pace with Gain, 
Industry is blessed : But to slave to get, and 
keep it Sordidly, is a Sin against Providence, 



150 



Reflections and Maxims. 



a Vice in Government, and an Injury to their 
Neighbours. J 

319. Such are they as spend not one Fifth 
of their Income, and, it may be, give not one 
Tenth of what they spend to the Needy. I 

220. This is the worst Sort of Idolatry, 
because there can be no Religion in it, nor 
Ignorance pleaded in Excuse of it ; and that 
it wrongs other Folks that ought to have a 
Share therein. 



OF THE INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC] 

IN OUR ESTATES. 

321. Hardly any Thing is given us for our 
Selves, but the Puhlick may claim a Share with 
us. But of all we call ours, we are most account- 
able to God and the Publick for our Estates : 
In tlus we are but Stewards, and to Hord up 
all to our selves is great Injustice as well 
Ingratitude. 

222. If all Men were so far Tenants to tl 
Publick, that the Superfluities of Gain and 
Expence were applied to the Exigencies thereof, 
it would put an End to Taxes, leave never a 



Reflections and Maxims. 



ip 



Beggar, and make the greatest Bank for National 
Trade in Europe. 

223. It is a Judgment upon us, as well as 
Weakness, tho' we won't see it, to begin at the 
wrong End. 

224. If the Taxes we give are not to maintain 
Pride, I am sure there would be less, if Pride 
were made a Tax to the Government. 

225. I confess I have wondered that so 
many Lawful and Useful Things are Excised by 
Laws, and Pride left to Reign Free over them 
and the Publick. 

226. But since People are more afraid of 
the Laws of Man than of God, because their 
Punishment seems to be nearest : I know not 
how Magistrates can be excused in their suffering 
such Excess with Impunity, 

227. Our Noble English Patriarchs as well 
as Patriots, were so sensible of this EvU, that 
they made several excellent Laws, commonly 
called Sumptuary, to Forbid, at least Limit the 
Pride of the People ; which because the Exe- 
cution of them would be our Interest and 
Honour, their Neglect must be our just Reproach 
and Loss, 



i5» 



Reflections and Maxims. 



328. 'Tis but Reasonable that the Punisli- 
ment of Pride and Excess should help to support 
the Government, since it must otherwise inev- 
itably be ruined by them. 

339. But some say. It ruins Trade, and 
inake the Poor Burthensome to the Publick 
But if such Trade in Consequence ruins the' 
Kingdom, is it not Time to ruin that Trade ? ^ 
Is Moderation no Part of our Duty, and Temr 
perance an Enemy to Government ? 

230. He is a Judas that will get Money b] 

any Thing. 

231. To wink at a Trade that effeminate 
the People, and invades the Ancient Discipline 
of the Kingdom, is a Crime Capital, and to be 
severely punish' d instead of being excused b] 
the Magistrate, 

232. Is there no better Employment for^ 
the Poor than Luxury ? Miserable Nation 1 

233. What did they before they fell into 
these forbidden Methods ? Is there not Land 
enough in England to Cultivate, and more andj 
better Manufactures to be ^l^de^ ^ 



Reflections and Maxims. 



"53 



234. Have we no room for them in our 
Plantations, about Things that may augment 
Trade, without Luxury ? 

235. In short, let Pride pay, and Excess be 
well Excised : And if that will not Cure the 
People, it will help to Keep the Kingdom. 



THE VAIN MAN. 

336, But a Vain Man is a Nauseous Creature ; 
He is so full of himself that he has no Room 
for any thing else, be it never so Good or 
Deserving. 

237- Tis I ^t every turn that does this, or 
can do that. And as he abounds in Compari- 
sons, so he is sure to give himself the better of 
every Body else ; according to the Proverbs, 
Ail his Geese are Swans. 

238. They are certainly to be pity'd that 
can be so much mistaken at Home. 

239. And yet I have sometimes thought 
that such People are in a sort Happy, that 
nothing can put out of Countenance with them- 
selves, though they neither have nor merit 

„i>ther Peoples. 




-i 



Reflections and Maxims 



240. But at the same Time one would wonder 
they should not fee! the Blows they give them- 
selves, or get from others, for this intolerable 
and ridiculous Temper ; nor shew any Concern 
at that which makes others blush for, as well 
as at them (viz.) their unreasonable Assurance. 

241. To be a Man's own Fool is bad enough, 
but the Vain Man is Every Body's. ■ 

242- This silly Disposition comes of a Mix- 
ture of Ignorance, Confidence, and Pride ; and 
as there is more or less of the last, so it is more 
or less offensive or Entertaining. 

243. And yet perhaps the worst Part of 
this Vanity is its Unteachableness. Tell it 
any Thing, and it has known it long ago; and 
out-runs Information and Instruction, or else 
proudly pufls at it, 

244. Whereas the greatest Understandings 
doubt most, are readiest to learn, and least 
pleased with themselves ; this, with no Body else. 

245. For tho' they stand on higher Ground, 
and so see further than their Neighbours, they 
are yet humbled by their Prospect, since it 
shews them something, so much higher and 
above their Reach. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



155 



246. And truly then it is, that Sense shines 
with the greatest Beauty, when it is set in 
Humility. 

247. An humble able Man is a Jewel worth 
a Kingdom : It is often saved by him, as Solo- 
mon's Poor Wise Man did the City. 

248. May we have more of them, or less 
Need of them. 



THE CONFORMIST, 

249. It is reasonable to concur where 
Conscience does not forbid a Compliance ; for 
Conformity is at least a Civil Vertue. 

230. But we should only press it in Neces- 
saries, the rest may prove a Snare and Temp- 
tation to break Society. 

251. But above all, it is a Weakness in 
Religion and Government, where it is carried 
to Things of an Indifferent Nature, since besides 
that it makes way for Scruples, Liberty is 
always the Price of it. 

252. Such Conformists have little to boast 
of, and therefore the less Reason to Reproach 
others that have more Latitude. 



1^6 



Reflections and Maxims. 



253, And yet the Latitudinarian that I loi 
is one that is only so in Charity ; for the Free- 
dom I recommend is no Scepticism in Juc 
ment, and much less so in Practice. 



THE OBLIGATIONS OF GREAT MEN 
ALMIGHTY GOD. 

254. It seems but reasonable, that those 
whom God has Distinguish' d from others by 
his Goodness, should distinguish themselves to 
him by their Gratitude. 

255. For tho' he has made of One Blood all 
Nations, he has not rang'd or dignified thei 
upon the Level, but in a sort of Subordinatioi 
and Depjendency. 

256. If we look upwards, we find it in the 
Heavens, where the Planets have their several 
Degrees of Glory, and so the other Stars 
Magnitude and Lustre. 

257. If we look upon the Earth, we see 
among the Trees of the Wood, from the Cedar 
to the Bramble i in the Waters among the Fish, 
from the Leviathan to the Sprat ; in the Air 
a^nong the Birds, from the Ea^V^ lo tloft S^^ctow ; 



Reflections and Maxims 




among the Beasts, from the Lyon to the Cat ; 
and among Mankind it self, from the King to 
the Scavenger. 

258. Our Great Men, doubtless, were designed 
by the Wise Frame r of the World for our Re- 
Ugious, Moral and Politick Planets ; for Lights 
and Directions to the lower Ranks of the 
numerous Company of their own Kind, both 
in Precepts and Examples ; and they are well 
paid for their Pains too, who have the Honour 
and Service of their fellow Creatures, and the 
Marrow and Fat of the Earth for their Share. 

259. But is it not a most unaccountable 
Folly, that Men should be Proud of the Provi- 
dences that should Humble them ? Or think 
the Better of themselves, instead of Him that 
raised them so much above the Level ; or in 
being so in their Lives, in Return of his Extra- 
ordinary Favours. 

360. But it is but too near a-kin to us, to 
think no further than our selves, either in the 
Acquisition, or Use of our Wealth and Great- 
ness : when, alas, they are the Preferments of 
Heaven, to try our Wisdom, Bounty and Gra- 
titude, 



1$$ 



Reflections and Maxims. 



261. 'Tis a dangerous Perversion of the 
of Providence to Consume the Time, Power 
and Wealth he has given us above other Men, 
to gratify our Sordid Passions, instead of playing 
the good Stewards, to the Honour of our great 
Benefactor, and the Good of our fellow- 
Creatnres. 

262. But it is an Injustice too ; since th( 
Higher Ranks of Men are but the Trustees 
Heaven for the Benefit of lesser Mortals, who, 
as Minors, are intituled to all their Care and, 
Provnsion. 

363. For tho' God has dignified some Mei 
above their Brethren, it never was to serve 
their Pleasures, but that they might take Plea- 
sure to serve the Pubhck. 

264. For this Cause doubtless it was, that" 
they were raised above Necessity or any Trouble 
to Live, that they might have more Time ant 
Ability to Care for Others : And 'tis certain, 
where that Use is not made of the Bounties of: 
Providence, they are Imbezzell'd and Wasted- 

265. It has often struck me with a sedous 
Reflection, when I have observed the great 

Inequality oi the World ', tlaat otte, "^-mx 'iJtksavili, 



Reflections and Maxims. 



159 



have such Numbers of his fellow Creatures to 
wait upon him, who have Souls to be saved as 
well as he ; and this not for Business, but State. 
Certainly a poor Employment of his Moneyi 
and a worse of their Time. 

266. But that any one Man should make 
Work for so many ; or rather keep thera from 
Work, to make up a Train, has a Levity and 
Luxury in it very reprovable, both in Religion 
and Government. 

267. But even in allowable Services it has 
an humbling Consideration, and what should 
raise the Thankfulness of the Great Men to 
him that has so much better' d their Circum- 
stances and Moderated the Use of their Dominion 
over those of their own Kind. 

368. When the poor Indians hear us call 
ajiy of our Family by the Name of Servants, 
they cry out, What, call Brethren Servants ! 
We call our Dogs Servants, but never Men. 
The Moral certainly can do us no Harm, but 
may Instruct us to abate our Height, and narrow 
our State and Attendance. 

269. And what has been said of their Excess, 
may in some Measure be a,p^V>j'4 Vci ^'OcKt 



i6o 



Reflections and Maxims. 



Branches of Luxury, that set ill Examples 
to the lesser World, and Rob the Needy of their 
Pensions. 

370, GOD Almighty Touch the Hearts ol 
our Grandees with a Sense of his Distinguish'* 
Goodness, and that true End of it ; that they' 
may better distinguish themselves in theii 
Conduct, to the Glory of Him that has thi 
liberally Preferred them, and the Benefit of 
their fellow Creatures! 



OF REFINING UPON OTHER MEN'S 
ACTIONS OR INTERESTS. 

271. This seems to be the Master- Piece of 
our Politicians : But no Body shoots more at 
Random, than those Refiners. 

272. A perfect Lottery, and meer Haj 
hazard. Since the true Spring of the Actions 
of Men is as Invisible as their Hearts ; and so 
are their Thoughts too of their several Interests. 

273. He that judges of other Men by himself, 
does not always hit the Mark, because all Men 
have not the same Capacity, nor Passions in 
Interest. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



i6t 



274. If an able Man refines upon the Pro- 
ceedings of an ordinary Capacity, according to 
his own, he must ever miss it : But much more 
the ordinary Man when he shall pretend to 
speculate the Motives to the Able Man's Actions : 
For the Able Man deceives himself by making 
t'other wiser than he is in the Reason of his 
Conduct ; and the ordinary Man makes himself 
so, in presuming to judge of the Reasons of the 
Abler Man's Actions. 

275. 'Tis in short a Wood, a Maze ; and of 
nothing are we more uncertain, nor in any 
Thing do we oftner befool our selves. 

376. The Mischiefs are many that follow 
this Humour, and dangerous : For Men Misguide 
themselves, act upon false Measures, and meet 
frequently with mischievous Disappointments. 

277. It excludes all Confidence in Commerce ; 
allows ol no such Thing as a Principle in Practice; 
supposes every Man to act upon other Reasons 
than what appears, and that there is no such 
Thing as a Straightness or Sincerity among 
Mankind : A Trick instead of Truth. 

27S. Neither, allowing Nature or Religion ; 
but some Worldly Fetch or Ajdva-Xk^^^ ". T*as. 



■^ 



l62 



Refiectlons and Maxims, 



true, the hidden Motive to all Men to act or 
do. 

279. 'Tis hard to express its Uncharitable^ 
ness, as well as Uncertainty ; and has more 
of Vanity than Benefit in it. 

280. This Foolish Quality gives a large Fielc 
but let what i have said serve for this Time. 



OF CHARITY. 

281. Charity has various Senses, but 
Excellent in all of them. 

282. It Imports ; first, the Commiseration 
of the Poor, and Unhappy of Mankind, and 
extends an Helping-Hand, to mend their Coi 
dition. 

283. They that feel nothing of this, are at 
best not above half of Kin to Human Race ; 
since they must have no Bowels, which makes 
such an Essential Part thereof, who have no 
more Nature. 

284. A Man, and yet not have the Feeling of 
the Wants or Needs of his own Flesh and Blood ! 
A Monster rather ! And may he never be 
suffer' d to propagate such an unnatural Stoc 

in the World. 



Reflections and Maxims. 



163 



285. Such an Uncharitableness spoils the 
best Gains, and two to one but it entails a Curse 
upon the Possessors. 

286. Nor can we expect to be heard of God 
in our Prayers, that turn the deaf Ear to the 
Petitions of the Distressed amongst our fellow 
Creatures. 

287. God sends the Poor to try us, as well 
as he tries them by being such : And he that 
refuses them a little out of the great deal that 
God has ^ven him, Lays up Poverty in Store 
for his own Posterity. 

288. I will not say these Works are Meri- 
torious, but dare say they are Acceptable, 
and go not without their Reward : The* ^ 
to Humble us in our Fulness and Liberality 
too, we only Give but what is given us to 
Give as well as use ; for if we are not our 
own, less is that so which God has intrusted 
us with. 

289. Next, Charity makes the best Con- 
struction of Things and Persons, and is so far 
from being an evil Spy, a Back-biter, or a 
Detractor, that it excuses Weakness, extenuates 
Miscarriages, makes the beat ot ftve-t^ X\affl%\ 



164 



Reflections and Maxims, 



forgives every Body, serves All, and hopes to 
the End, 

290. It moderates Extreams, is always fc 
Expediences, labours to accommodate Differ- 
ences, and had rather Suffer than Revenge : 
And so far from Exacting the utmost Farthing, 
that it had rather lose than seek her Ow^ 
Violently. f 

291. As it acts Freely, so, Zealously too ; 
but 'tis always to do Good, for it hurts no 
Body. 

292. An Universal Remedy against Discord, 
and an Holy Cement for Mankind. 

293. And lastly, 'Tis Love to God and the 
Brethren, which raises the Soxil above all worldly 
Considerations ; and, as it gives a Taste of 
Heaven upon Earth, so 'tis Heaven in the 
Fulness of it hereafter to the truly Charitable_ 
here. 

294. This is the Noblest Sense Charity hasT 
after which all should press, as that more Kx.- 
cellent Way. I 

395. Nay, most Excellent ; for as Faith, 
Hope and Charity were the more Excellent Way 
that Great Apostle discovered to the Christians, 



Reflections and Maxims. 



165 



(too apt to stick in Outward Gifts and Church, 
Performances) so of that better Way he pre- 
ferr'd Charity as the best Part, because it would 
out'last the rest, and abide for ever. 

296. Wherefore a Man can never be a true 
and good Christian without Charity, even in 
the lowest Sense of it : And yet he may have 
that Part thereof, and still be none of the 
Apostle's true Christian, since he tells, us. That 
tho' we should give all our Goods to the Poor, 
and want Charity (in her other and higher 
Senses) it wooild profit us nothing. 

297. Nay, tho' we had All Tongues, All 
Knowledge, and even Gifts of Prophesy, and 
were Preachers to others ; ay, and had Zeal 
enough to give our Bodies to be burned, yet if 
we wanted Charity, it would not avail us for 
Salvation- 

298. It seems it was his (and indeed ought 
to be our) Unum Necessariura, or the One Thing 
Needful, which our Saviour attributed to Mary 
in Preference to her Sister Martha, that seems 
not to have wanted the lesser Parts of Charity. 

299. Would God this Divine Vertue were 
jnore implanted and diftused a.TW3R.^ ^^a^tssx^ 



1 66 Reflections and Maxims. 

the Pretenders to Christianity, especially, and 
we should certainly mind Piety more than 
Controversy, and Exercise Love and Compassion 
instead of Censuring and Persecuting one another 
in any Manner whatsoever. 



APPENDIX, 



NOTES ON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



The history of the origin and publication of " Some 
Fruits of Solitude " has during- the last few years been 
brought afresh under discussion by the appreciative 
reference to the book in the published •' letters " of 
the l^te Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson came 
across a copy of the " Maxims *' in San Francisco in 
i879> ^^^ they appear to have acted upon his spirit as 
a true tonic in a period of discouragement following' 
upon a severe illness. He later on forwarded the 
book to Mr. Horatio F. Brown, accompanied by the 
following message : — 

If ever in all " niy conduct," I have done a better thing lo 
any fellow-oiature tb»ii handing on to you this sweet, dignified. 
and wholesome book, I know I shall bear of it on the last day. To 
write a hook like tbts were impossible ; at least one can hand it 
on. witfi a wrencli. one lo another. My wife cries out and 
my own heart misgives me, but still — herns it is. 

Later on he wrote to the same friend :— 
Tho-e IS not the man living — no. nor recently dead — that 

could put, with sc lively a spirit, so nmch honest, kind 

wisdom into words. 

tft) 









i 


%omc fmite of Solitude 

IN 

REFLECTIONS 

AND 

MAXIMS 

Relating to the 

CONDUCT 

OF 

Human T afe 


XlCCne'D May 2+, 1693 


LONDON 

Printed for tlbomaB I^CrttbCOtt, 
in George - far^^ in Lemhard 
Street^ ifigj 




^^^^^ TITLK FACE OF riUT IDLTIQU. ^^M 



Bibliography. 



169 



It wa$ only to be expected, after such commendatiofk 
as the above, that there should be much enquiry both 
in England and America canceroiiig the authorship 
of the "Enchiridion." Several new editions have 
since been issued, in one of which Mr Edmund Gosse, 
in an admirable introduction^ has sought to trace 
out the history of the book. 

All the early English editions were published 
aDonymously, the £r&t, the title page of which is here 
reproduced, being- licensed on May 24th, 1&93. It is 
not until after the 7th edition that the name of William 
Penn appears on the title page as the author. As 
evidence, however, of the authorship of the book being 
known much earlier than this is the fact that on the 
title-page of the Dutch translation made by Jan Claus, 
issued in 1715, occurs the line " Van W, P." 

In Joseph Smith's " Catalogue of Friends' Books " 
(published in 1867) twenty-four separate English 
editions are enumerated ; also translations into 
German, French and Dutch. In the Supplementary 
Catalogue three additional issues are recorded. 
Copies of some of the earlier editions cannot now 
be traced, but the principal English editions are 
all represented in the valuable Library of the Society 
of Friends at Devonshire House, Bishopsgate, 
London. 

All doubt as to Penn being the author of the book 
has been practically set at test ^^ ^t: \x^cr«\wfe. 




Appendix. 



letter which Mr. Edmuad Gosse contributed to Uie 
Aikettmum, of October 17th, 1903 : — 

RENINS "FRUITS OF SOLITUDE." 

It has lately been said tha.t, aUbough that very popular liti 
book the "Fmits of Sotitude" has always of recent yeaxs been 
confidemly attributed to William Penn, there is little or no 
externa.1 evidence of his authorship. It is therefore of partictikr 
interest that, throiigfh he courtesy of Miss Sophy F. de Rodes, 
of Barlborough Hall, Chesterfield, I am able to produce suich 
evidence. 

Among her famitf papers, Miss de Rodes has found ati 
UKipuhlisbed letter, written in 1699, by Lady Rodes, the widow 
of liie first baronet, Sir Francis Rodes, to her son. Sir John 
Rodes, who was staying with Mr, Henry Goldney, "in While 
Karl Court, in Grace-Church Street, London." All these 
people were Quakers, and in the inner circle of Quakerdom 
at the end of the seventeenth century. Lady Rodes writes : — 

" I desire thee to buy rae six books of W, Pen's ye fruits of 
solitude, I wd have unbound for cheapness, & 2 bound, for 
I thinkeym Excellent Pithy books & may do good to be sent 
abroad ; in all eight. ... I desire thee to let nie know 
WD yu thinks of coming home & how yu enjoys W. Penn's 
company sometimes & how he does & remr my kind respects to 
him," 

The Rodes were familiar and warm friends of Penn. 
John, to whom this letter was addressed, became the owner 
of the original MS. of Peoti's "Advice to his Children," to 
which he wrote a preface, which has perhaps never been pub^ 
lished. There are four letters of Penn's to Sir John Rodes 
among the papers at Barlborough Hall. Lady Rodes' s confident 
attribution of the " Fruits of Solitude" to her old friend may 
therefore, I think, be taken a.s final. 

T. Sowle was Penn's regular publisher, and it is to be tioticed 
that it was in White Hart Court that Sir John Rodes was lodging 
with Mr. Goldney in 1699. He had not far to go to carry out 
his mother's commission. 



i to ] 

SilH 

ner J 




Bibliography. 171 

^Up till 1702 the " Fruits" consisted of the first part 
nly. In this year " More Fruits of Solitwde " 
appeared. It was issued in that year both as ^ 
separate book, and also with the first portion, from 
the press of Tace Sowle, in White Hart Court, Aftet 
^_^this, most editions contain both parts. 
^H In 1^26 " Fruits of a Father's Love " first appeared, 
described on the title page as " being- the Advice of 
William Penn to his childreo relating to their Civil 
and Religious Conduct." 

Although this little book is in the form of a letter, 

it is divided into sections like the " Maxims." They 

are, however, usually much longer and contain 

definite reference to Friends and their teaching, 

besides innumerable quotations from the Bible. 

Janneyj Peon's biographer, records this as having 

^_ beeo VrTitten previous to the embarkation of Penn 

^Hand his family for Pennsylvania in 1699. There 

1^ seems, however, some uncertainty about this. At 

that time Penn had only two children living by his 

first wife, William and Letitia, Spdngett having died 

in 1696, the same year that Penn married Hannah 

Callowhill, of Bristol. 

As to the time of writing the first portion of " Some 
Fruits," there is little doubt that it must have been 
between the years 1690 and 1693, when Penn was 
living in retirement in London. The circumstances 
that brought about this retirement are as follows. 



172 



Appendi: 



In the reign of James II., Penn was looked upoB 
35 a Court favourite. That his friendship with that 
unhappy monarch gave him power and influence 
there is no doubt, but there is no evidence that hi^ 
conduct after the Revolutiaa was anything but ths 
of a loyal citizen to the new King and Queen. 

However, his enemies — and they appear to have 
been numerous — were ever ready to bring charges 
against his character, and suspicion dogged liis 
footsteps wherever he went. In 1G90 he was arrested 
on a charge of holding treasonable correspondence 
with the late King. He cleared himself from this, 
and began to make preparations for a visit to his 
colony in Pennsylvania. In consequence, however, 
of the French fleet appearing off the English coasts, 
he was again apprehended and lodged in prison. 
When brought up for trial, there being no evidence 
against him, he was discharged. 

Shortly after this, in January, 1691, Geo. Fox died, 
and William Penn attended the funeral and preached 
a most impressive sermon. He narrowly escapt^d 
arrest again on this occasion. 

To quote from Janney : — 

He subsequently teamed that only two days pceviausly, 
infamous wretcli oamed William Fuller, who the Farlinmeat 
afterwards declared was " a cheat and notorious impostor," had 
under oath accused bim to the government, and thai a. warrant 
was issued for his apprehension.* This vexatious proceeding 



Bibliography. 



'73 



dcraDfed all his plans ; for to leave England while he was under 
susplciDD and subject to arrest, would be construed by his 
enemies as an evidence of his guiltj and ir, on the oth» band, he 
gave himself lip for trial he would probably be subjected lo dan- 
ger from the oaths of a profligate villain, and even an acquittal, 
as he had frequently experienced, was no security against fresh 
accusations. In this 5;id dilemma, feeling like one hunted for 
his tife, he concluded to defer his cherished purpose of returning 
to Pennsylvania ; he allowed the vessels to depart without him, 
and having taken prik^ate lodgings in London, be lived in 
Seclusion. 

He devoted himself to study, to writing, and religious medita- 
tion, being also frequently visited by his frietids, among whom 
were Joiin Locke and others eminent for their worth. 

BoTQ Id 1644, Fenn was, at this time, at that period 
of life when jutigment of men and things is likely to 
be rich m the 'wisdom gained by experience arid a 
busy life. The Reflections are those of a man who has 
tasted the true joy of life — service for others. He 
tells us in his preface that " some parts of it are the 
result of serious reflection; others the flashings of 
lucid intervals ; written for private satisfaction, and 
now published for the help of human conduct." May 
we not conjecture from this that some at least of the 
" Maxima" were compiled in that earlier retirement, 
under happier circumstances, when for two years he 
lived with his young- and beautiful wife at Rickmans- 
worth, and dreamed of the new colony for hia much 
persecuted Quaker h'iends across the sea ? 

That the book should at first have been published 
anonymously is easily nndets.ta'uda.lala, tti\ ■ai^jtt <i&a. 



174 



Appendix. 



charges that had been so recently brought ag^ainst 
his character, Penn would know that to issue such a 
work in his own name at that time would have 
detracted from its usefulness, and possibly have 
broug-ht him into further trouble. 

It is evidence of a pure and upright nature that 
this period of persecution and false accusations did 
not drive Penn to pessimism and harsh judg^ment. 
All through, the keynote of the " Maxims*' is Charity 
in its broadest sense. 

It is probable that *' More Fruits " was compiled 
shortly before its publication in 1703, when Penn 
was in lodgings at Kensington, in order to be near 
the court of Queen Anne, where he had often to 
appear to promote the interests of his colony 
Pennsylvania.* 

As is well known Penn wrote another remarkab! 
book when in retirement. This was many years 
before. In 1668, within a year of his joining the 
Quakers, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London 
for publishing "A Sandy Foundation Shaken," a 
pamphlet designed to refute certain teachings of the 
Established Church. It was during this period of 
enforced retirement that he wrote " No Cross, No 
Crown," a defence of Quakerism, which has always 
been treated as a Classic among the literature of the 
early Friends, 

^^Ljfedf PeilH," 



to 
in 

iieH 




Bibliography. 



ns 



As a. conclusion to this fragmentary account of the 
history of the book, we give a detached Reflection by 
William Penn, writter> out and signed by himself on a 
plain half sheet of paper. This is printed after the 
preface in many of the editions published about the 
middle of the nineteenth century by Arthur Wallis 
and others ; — 

" He is a wise and good man too, that knows hts 
original and end ; and answers by a life that is 
adequate and corresponds therewith. There is no 
creature fallen so much below this as man ; and that 
will augment his trouble in the day of account — for 
he is an accountable creature. I pray God his Maker 
to awaken him to a just consideration thereof; that 
he may find forgiveness of God, his Maker and 
Judge." S.G. 



LIST OF ENGLISH EDITIONS. 



Some 4Ftutt5 ot Solttube in reflections 

AND Maxims Relating to the Conduct of 
Human Life. Licensed May 24, 1693. " London : 
Printed for Thomas Northcott in George Yard in 
Lombard Street. 1693." izmo. 

[Repriuted.] " Dublin : Reprinted for Jacob 
Milaer, Bookseller, and are to be sold in his shop in 
Essex Street. 1693." i2nio. 

[Reprinted.] 2nd. edition. '^ London : Printed for 
Thomas Northcott. 1693." izmo. 

[Reprinted,] 3rd edition. 

[Reprinted.] 4th edition, with additions, 
don : Printed for Thomas Northcott, 1697.' 
i2mo. 

[Reprinted.] 5th edition. 

[Reprinted.] 6th edition. Licensed May a4th, 
1695. "London; Printefi for Thomas Northcott, in 
George Alley, in Lombard Street, 1703." izmo. 

[Reprinted.] 7th edition, " London : Printed for 
T. Sowle, in White Hart Court, in Gracious Street 
1706/' i2mo. 




Bibliography 



177 



"/IDore jfrutts of Solitu^e: being the 

Sf.cond Part of Reflections and Maxims, 
Relating to the Conduct of Humane Life. 
LondoD : Printed and sold by T. Sowle, in White 
Hart Court, in Gracious Street. 1702," izmo, 

[Reprinted,] Both parts. " London : Printed and 
sold by T. Sowle, in White Hart Court, in Gracious 
Street. 1702," izmo, 

[Reprinted.] Bnth parts. Called the Jth edition. 
" London : Printed and sold by the Assigns of J. 
Sowle, at the Bible, in George Yard, Lombard Street. 
ij-iH." i2mo. 

Reprinted.] Both parts, 1726. 

[Reprinted. Both parts. 7th edition. "London: 
Printed and sold by Luke Hinde, at the Bible in 
George Yard, Lombard Street," No date, 

[Reprinted.] Both parts. 8th Edition. 

[Reprinted- Both parts. Qth Edition. " London : 
Printed and sold by James Phillips, in George Yard, 
Lcxmbard Street. 1778." Small 8 vo. 

[Reprinted.] Also called Qth edition. San>e im- 
print. 1785. rBmo. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts. lOth Edifion. "Lon- 
don : Printed and sold by James Phillips, Georg-g 
Yard, Lombard Street. 1790." 24mo. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts, nth edition. 



lyS Appendix. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts. A Ne'w edition, with 
"Fruits of a Father's Love." "London: Printed 
by James Phillips, George Yard, Lombard Street. 
1793." 24mo. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts and " Fruits of a Father's 
Love." " London : Printed by W. Phillips, George 
Yard, Lombard Street. 1818." 24mo. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts. A Ne^v edition. With 
portrait of Penn. " Liverpool : Printed by C. Bentham 
and Co. Sold by Harvey and Darton, and D. F. 
Gardiner. Dublin. 1829." 32mo. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts. A Ne^v edition. "Man- 
chester: 1839." 32mo. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts. A New edition. "Lon- 
don : Harvey and Darton, Gracechurch Street. 1841." 
i8mo. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts. A Ne^v edition, with a 
frontispiece of the Tower of London. " Brighton : 
Arthur Wallis, Bookseller, 5, Bartholomews. London: 
C. Gilpin, 5, Bishopsgate Street. 185 1." 24mo. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts, with frontispiece as above. 
"Brighton : A. Wallis, Bookseller, 5, Bartholomews; 
London: Edward Marsh, 84, Houndsditch. 1854." 
24mo. At end "Advices" and "Prayer for Wis- 
dom." Extract from W. Penn's writings and fac- 
simile signature after preface. 

[Reprinted.] Both parts, with frontispiece as above. 
" London : Groombridge and Sons, Paternoster Row. 
Brighton : Arthur Wallis. 1855." 24mo. 



Bibliography. 



179 



[Reprinted,] Both parts. " London : Groom- 
bridge and SonSj Paternoster Row, Brighton : 
H. Wallis, Bookseller, Bartholomews." 

[Reprrated,] Both parts. "London: Groombridge 
and Sons, Brighton: H. Wallis. 1857." 24010. 

A note on the title page of this particular issue 
states that '' The Publisher has now issued forty 
thousand copies of this work," He refers to the 
Brighton edition only, 

[Reprinted,] '' London : A. W. Bennett, 5, Bishops- 
gate Street Without, i86j." ^to. Printed by 
WilUam Rickman King, Swan Passage, Birmingham, 

[Reprinted.] Both parts. " London : Groombdldge 
and Sons." 1876, i6mo. 

[Reprinted,] A Nevr edition. " London : James 
Clarke and Co., Fleet Street. Newport, Mon> : J. E. 
Sou thall. Printer, Dock Street," 1886. i6mo. 

[Reprinted.] With introduction by Edmund Gosse 
and portrait. '' London ; S, T. Freemantle. 1900." 
i6ino, 

[Reprinted,] With introduction and portrait as 
above. 1901. 4to. 

[Reprinted,] Edition de Luxe. Woodcut by T. 
Sturge Moore, Printed oa Hand-made paper with 
ornamental initial at commencement of each Maxim. 
Bound in Vellum, London : EssesE House ftess. 
igoi, (250 copies only printed.) Sra. 410, 



020 339 27 



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