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On the sight of a grave digged up. THE earth, as it is a great devourer, so also it is a great preserver too liquors and fleshes are therein long kept from putrifying; and are rather heightened in their spirits, by being buried in it: but, above all, how safely doth it keep our bodies for the Resurrection! We are here but laid up for custody. Balms, and sere-cloths, and leads cannot do so much, as this lap of our common Mother: when all these are dissolved into her dust, as being unable to keep themselves from corruption, she receives and restores her charge. I can no more withhold my body from the earth, than the earth can withhold it from my Maker.

VIII. Ad conspectum sepulchri effossi. TERRA, uti magnus rerum heluo, ita et fidissimus earundem custos et conservator meritò audit: in cujus visceribus liquores, sed et carnes quædam, díu à putredine vindicantur; inibique reconditorum spiritus magis exaltari solent et educi fortiores: præcipuè verò, quàm tutò servat corpora hæc nostra in illum Resurrectionis diem! Custodiendi, nempe, nos istic reponimur. Balsami, cerata lintea, capsulæ plumbeæ non ita fideliter hoc præstant, ac communis iste Matris sinus: ubi omnia hæc in suum pulverem reciderint, quippe qua non possunt semet à sui dissolutione liberare, illa recipit restituitque chara hæc pignora. Neque magis potero ipse corpusculum hoc meum à terrâ detinere, quàm terra illud detinere potest à manu Creatoris.

O God, this is thy cabinet or shrine, wherein thou pleasest to lay up the precious relics of thy dear Saints, until the Jubilee of Glory with what confidence should I commit myself to this sure reposition, while I know thy word just, thy power infinite!

O Deus, hæc arcula tua est scriniumve sacrum, in quo preciosas Sanctorum tuorum reli quias, usque ad ultimum Gloria Jubilæum, servari voluisti: quàm me fidenter commendare ausim tutissimæ huic repositioni, qui certò norim, et verbum tuum esse justum, et potentiam infinitam!

On the sight of gold melted. THIS gold is both the fairest and most solid of all metals; yet is the soonest melted with the fire: others, as they are coarser, so more churlish, and hard to be wrought upon by a dissolution.

Thus, a sound and good heart is most easily melted into sorrow and fear, by the sense of God's

IX.

Ad conspectum auri liquati. Aurum hoc uti pulcherrimum est metallorum omnium ita et solidissimum; quod tamen facillimè omnium igne liquefieri solet: alia, ut viliora, sic tenaciora, quasique morosiora sunt, et quæ dissolutioni cedant ægriùs.

Ita, purum probèque dispositum pectus, sensu judiciorum Divinorum, tantò citiùs in pium

judgments; whereas, the carnal mind is stubborn and remorseless. All metals are but earth; yet some are of finer temper than others: all hearts are of flesh; yet some are, through the power of grace, more capable of spiritual apprehensions.

O God, we are such, as thou wilt be pleased to make us. Give me a heart, that may be sound for the truth of grace, and melting at the terrors of thy Law; I can be for no other than thy sanctuary on earth, or thy treasury of heaven.

dolorem timoremque resolvitur ; ubi, carnalis animus obstinatè firmus est, salutarisque pœnitentiæ haud parùm incapax. Quid nisi terra est quodcunque demum metallum; est tamen aliud alio nobilius: cor omne caro est; hoc tamen illo, virtute inoperantis gratiæ, impressionis spiritualis capacius.

O Deus, tales nos sumus, quales tu facere voluisti. Da mihi cor, obsecro, quoad veritatem gratiæ syncerum solidum. que, terroribus verò Legis tuæ haud difficulter fusile; ita, obrysi metalli instar aptus ero, et sanctuario tuo in terris, et gazophylacio in cœlis.

On the sight of a pitcher car-
ried.

THUS, those, that are great and weak, are carried by the ears, up and down, of flatterers and parasites: thus, ignorant and simple hearers are carried, by false and miszealous teachers. Yet, to be carried by both ears is more safe, than to be carried by one. It argues an empty pitcher, to be carried by one alone. Such are they, that, upon the hearing of one part, rashly pass their sentence, whether of acquittal or censure. In all disquisitions of hidden truths, a wise man will be led by the ears, not carried; that implies a violence of passion, over-swaying judgment: but, in matter of civil occurrence and unconcerning rumour, it is good to use the ear, not to trust to it.

X.

Ad conspectum amphora circumgestatæ. Qui loco potentes sunt, parùm valentes judicio, facilè hàc illàc, ab adulatoribus et parasitis, hoc planè modo, auribus gestari solent: ita, ignari simplicesque auditores, à falsis et male-zelosis doctoribus miserè circumvehuntur. At sanè, utrâque aure, quàm unâ portari tutius est. Vacuam planè ollam arguit, unâ ferri aure. Ejusmodi sunt præproperi illi judices, qui, parte unâ auditâ, sententiam, sive absolutionis sive damnationis, temerè ferre non dubitant. In omni veritatis abstrusæ disquisitione, vir sapiens duci auribus, non gestari sustinet; nimirum hoc violentum quendam passionis impetum arguit, quo recta ratio à sua sede disturbatur: in rebus, verò, civilibus ac communi famâ, uti auribus licet, certè fidere auribus parùm expedit.

On the sight of a tree full XI.
blossomed.

HERE is a tree overlaid with
blossoms. It is not possible, that
all these should prosper: one of
them must needs rob the other
of moisture and growth.

I do not love to see an infancy over hopeful: in these pregnant beginnings, one faculty starves another; and, at last, leaves the mind sapless and barren. As, therefore, we are wont to pull off some of the too-frequent blossoms, that the rest may thrive; so, it is good wisdom, to moderate the early excess of the parts or progress of over-forward childhood.

Neither is it otherwise in our Christian profession. A sudden and lavish ostentation of grace may fill the eye with wonder, and the mouth with talk; but will not, at the last, fill the lap with fruit. Let me not promise too much, nor raise too high expectations of my undertakings. I would rather men should complain of my small hopes, than of my short performances.

Ad conspectum arboris nimiùm
efflorescentis.

ECCE istic arborem flosculis ni-
mio quàm onustam. Fieri non
potest, ut flores hi omnes ado-
lescant, et spem fructûs edant :
unus alterum et humore spoliat
et incremento.

Non equidem nimis mihi gestit animus videre infantiam plus æquo feracem: in præcocibus hisce initiis, una facultas detrahit alteri; tandemque, animum succi expertem sterilemque prorsùs relinquit. Ut, ergo, in more nobis est quosdam ex superfluis hisce ac nimiùm numerosis floribus avellere, ut eo magis crescant reliqui; ita, non minimæ prudentiæ est, moderari primos hosce præmaturæ pueritia ex

cessus.

Neque aliter profectò se habet in re professionis Christianæ. Subita ac prodiga gratiæ ostentatio facilè implere potest et oculos vanâ admiratione, et os futili elogio; vix unquam sero fructu gremium, tandem, impletura. Quod ad me; stet mihi, neque nimium promittere, neque majorem quàm par est de me expectationem aliorum ciere. Malo de me conquerantur homines quòd minus pollicear, quàm quòd parum præstem.

On the report of a man suddenly struck XII. De quodam subitá morte,in actu pec

dead, in his sin.

I CANNOT but magnify the justice of God; but, withal, I must praise his mercy. It were woe with any of us all, if God should take us at advantages. Alas! which of us hath not committed sins, worthy of a present revenge? Had we been also sur

cati, abrepto.

NON possum non Dei justitiam summâ laude prosequi; ita, tamen, ut non minùs interea laudem ejus misericordiam. Miserrimè nobis cederet, si Deus omnem de nobis vindictæ ansam arriperet. Væ mihi! quis nostrum non æquè commisit peccata,

prised in those acts, where had præsentaneâ ultione dignissima?

we been?

O God, it is more than thou owest us, that thou hast waited for our repentance: it is no more than thou owest us, that thou plaguest our offences. The wages of sin is death; and it is but justice, to pay due wages. Blessed be thy justice, that hast made others examples to me: blessed be thy mercy, that hast not made me an example unto others.

Si in malorum illorum actuum flagrantià subitò nos surripuisset vindex Deus, ubi fuissemus?

O Deus, plus est quàm nobis misellis debes, quòd pœnitentiam nostram usque expectasti: non minus est quàm nobis debes, quòd peccata nostra graviter ulcisceris. Stipendium peccati mors est; stipendium verò merenti rependere, justitia est. Benedicta sit semper justitia tua, qui mihi feceris alios justæ severitatis exempla: benedicta sit misericordia tua, qui me aliis exemplum propinare gratiosissimè distuleris.

On the view of the heaven and the earth. XIII. Ad conspectum cæli et terræ. WHAT a strange contrariety is here! The heaven is in continual motion; and yet, there is the only place of rest: the earth ever stands still; and yet, here is nothing but unrest and unquietness. Surely, the end of that heavenly motion is for the benefit of the earth; and the end of all these earthly turmoils is our reposal in heaven. Those, that have imagined the earth to turn about and the heavens to stand still, have yet supposed, that we may stand or sit still on that whirling globe of earth: how much more may we be persuaded of our perfect rest, above those moving spheres!

It matters not, O God, how I am vexed here below, a while; if, ere long, I may repose with thee above, for ever.

O STUPENDAM contrarietatem ! Perpetuò movetur cælum; et tamen, solus est quieti locus: terra è contrà semper quiescit; et tamen, nihil ibi est præter molestas agitationes, motus irrequietos. Certè, finis illius cœlestis circumvolutionis unicum est terræ beneficium; terrenarum verò istarum concitationum constantisque vexationis finis unicus est quies in cœlis. Ii, qui imaginati sunt terram circumvolvi cœlumque immotum consistere, supposuerunt hoc tamen fieri, ut nobis in hoc circumquaque rapto terræ globo quietis sive stare sive sedere interim liceret: quantò magis suaderi nobis potest, perfectam beatis omnibus requiem, super mobiles hasce sphæras repo

sitam esse!

Parùm refert, ô Deus, quibus me, breviculo hoc spatio, curarum motibus agi contigerit; dummodò, certum mihi sit, non multo post tempore, æternam tecum in cœlis requiem indubiò reponi.

On occasion of a red-breast coming in- XIV. Ad conspectum erithaci cubiculum to his chamber, and singing. PRETTY bird, how cheerfully dost thou sit and sing; and yet knowest not where thou art, nor where thou shalt make thy next meal, and at night must shroud thyself in a bush for lodging! What a shame is it for me, that see before me so liberal provisions of my God, and find myself set warm under my own roof; yet am ready to droop under a distrustful and unthankful dulness! Had I so little certain

ty of my harbour and purveyance, how heartless should I be, how careful! how little list should I have, to make music to thee or myself! Surely, thou camest not hither without a Providence. God sent thee, not so much to delight, as to shame me; but all in a conviction of my sullen unbelief, who, under more apparent means, am less cheerful and confident. Reason and faith have not done so much in me, as in thee mere instinct of nature. Want of foresight makes thee more merry, if not more happy, here, than the foresight of better things maketh me.

O God, thy Providence is not impaired by those powers, thou hast given me, above these brute things: let not my greater helps hinder me, from a holy security and comfortable reliance upon thee.

On occasion of a spider in his window. THERE is no vice in man, whereof there is not some analogy in

suum intrantis, canentisque. BELLA avicula, quàm tu alacris istic sedes et cantillas; et tamen nescis aut ubi sis, aut unde tibi cœnam comparare possis, aut in quo demum arbusculo tibi licebit postmodò pernoctari! Quàm me jam pudet mei, qui, ubi tam largam mihi alimoniam munificâ Dei manu parari videam, meque sentiam ædibus hisce meis tutò ac commodè insidentem; tristi tamen quâdam et ingratâ diffidentiâ languescere videor! Ego verò si æquè incertus essem aut domicilii aut alimenti, quàm moestus essem, quàm solicitus ! quantilla mihi lubido foret, aut tibi cantandi aut mihi ipsi! Certè, non sine Providentiâ quâdam venisti tu huc. Misit nempe te huc Deus, non tam ut delectares mihi animum, quàm ut me pudore justo suffunderes; convinceresque tetricæ cujusdam infidelitatis, qui, cum media palam abundè suppetant, minùs tamen aut gestiam aut confidam. Ratio ac fides non tantum apud me valuerunt, quantum merus apud te naturæ instinctus. Ipsa hæc futuri nescientia hilariorem te præstat fœlicioremque, quàm me certa conditionis melioris præscientia,

O Deus, non minuitur Providentia tua donis illis, quæ mihi, super bruta hæc animalia, benignus indulsisti: noli sinere, ut majora hæc adminicula impedimento mihi sint, quò minùs et sanctè securus sim et fidenter alacris.

XV. Ad conspectum araneæ in fenestrá la-
titantis.
NULLUM in homine vitium est,
cujus imago quædam et analo-

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