CHAPTER XXI.

XII. The council of Carthage, though times began to look somewhat mistier, and the purity and spirituality of religion to be much declined by the professors of Christianity; yet there was so much zeal left against the worst part of Heathenism, that I find an express canon against the reading of vain books and comedies of the Gentiles, lest the minds of the people should be defiled by them. But this age either hath no such canon, or executeth it not, to the shame of their profession.

XIII. Cardan more particularly relateth,[52]how even Gregory the Great was so zealous of preserving purity of manners among Christians, who lived almost two hundred years after the Carthaginian council, that he caused manyLatin authors to be burned, as vain and lascivious; as Cæcilianus, Affranius, Navius, Licinus, Ennius, Attilius, Victor, Lucian's Dialogues; nor did Plautus, Martial, and Terence, so much in request both in the schools and academies of the land, escape their honest zeal, although the multitude of copies so far frustrated their good intentions, as that they are multiplied of late.

XIV. Gratian also[53]had such like passages as these, "We see that the priests of the Lord, neglecting the gospel and the prophets, read comedies or play-books, and sing love verses, and read Virgil," a book in which are some good expressions. Strange! that these things should have been so sincerely censured of old, and that persons whose names are had in so much reverence, should repute these their censures the constructions of Christ's precepts, and the natural consequences of the Christian doctrine; and yet that they should be so far neglected of this age, as not to be judged worthy an imitation. But pray let us hear what doctrine the Waldenses teach in this affair.

XV. The Waldenses[54]were a people so called from one Peter Waldo, a citizen of Lyons in France, in the year 1160, who inhabited Piedmont, elsewhere called Albigenses, from Albi, a city of Languedoc in France; Lollards in England, from one Reynard Lollard, who some time after came into these parts, and preached boldly against the idolatries, superstitions, and vain conversation of the inhabitants of this island. They had many other names, as Arnoldists, Esperonists, Henricians, Siccars, Insabaches, Paterenians, Turlupins, Lyonists, Fraticelli, Hussites, Bohemians(still the same;) but finally, by their enemies, damnable heretics, though by the Protestants, the true church of Christ. And to omit many testimonies, I will instance only in Bishop Usher, who in his discourse of the succession of the Christian church, defends them not only as true reformers, but makes the succession of the Protestant church to be mainly evincible from their antiquity. I shall forbear all the circumstances and principles they held, or in which he strongly defends them against the cruelty and ignorance of their adversaries, particularly Rainerius, Rubis, Capetaneis, &c. only what they held concerning our present subject of apparel and recreations, I cannot be so injurious to the truth, their self-denial, the good of others, at whose reformation I aim, and my own discourse, as to omit it. And therefore I shall proceed to allege their faith and practice in these matters, however esteemed but of a trifling importance, by the loose, wanton, and carnal minded of this generation, whose feeling is lost by the enjoyment of their inordinate desires, and that think it a high state of Christianity to be no better than the beasts that perish, namely, in not being excessive in Newgate and mere kennel enormities. That these ancient reformers had another sense of these things, and that they made the conversation of the gospel of a crucified Jesus to intend and require another sort of life, than what is used by almost all those who account themselves members of his church, I shall show out of their own doctrines, as found in their most authentic histories.

XVI. To be brief, in their exposition upon the Lord's prayer, that part of it which speaks thus, "Give us this day our daily bread:"[55]where, next to that spiritual bread,which they make it to be the duty of all to seek more than life, they come positively to deny the praying for more than is requisite for outward necessities, or that it is lawful to use more; condemning all superfluity and excess, out of fashion, pride, or wantonness, not only of bread, but all outward things, which they judge to be thereby comprehended; using Ezekiel's words,[56](Ezek. xvi. 45,) that fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness were the cause of the wickedness and the abominations of Sodom, for which God by fire destroyed them off the earth. Whereupon they conclude with an ancient father of the primitive church, after this manner, that costly apparel, superfluity in diet, as three dishes when one will serve, play, idleness, and sleep, fatten the body, nourish luxury, weaken the spirit, and lead the soul unto death; "But," say they, "a spare diet, labour, short sleep, plain and mean garments, help to purify the soul, tame the body, mortify the lusts of the flesh, and comfort the spirit." So severe were they, that, in the chapter of the instructions of their children,[57]they would not suffer them to converse with those of strange places or principles, whose conversation was gaming, plays, and the like wanton recreations; but especially concerning young women. "A man," say they, "must have a great care of his daughter. Hast thou daughters? Keep them within to wholesome things; see they wander not; for Dinah, Jacob's daughter, was corrupted by being seen of strangers." They affirm no better to be the general event of such conversation.

To which I shall add their judgment and practice concerning taverns,[58]public houses for treats and pleasures, with which the land swarms in our days.

XVII. "A tavern is the fountain of sin,[59]the school of the devil; it works wonders fitting the place. It is the custom of God to show his power in his church, and to work miracles; that is to say, to give sight to the spiritually blind, to make the lame to leap, the dumb to sing, the deaf to hear: but the devil doth quite contrary to all these in taverns, and the like places of pleasure. For when the drunkard goes to the tavern, he goes upright: but when he comes forth, he cannot go at all; he has lost his sight, speech, and hearing too." "The lectures that are read in this school of the devil," say these poor Waldenses, and first reformers, "are gluttonies, oaths, perjuries, lyings, blasphemies, flatteries, and divers other wicked villanies and pernicious effects, by which the heart is withdrawn further and further from God." And, as the book of Ecclesiasticus saith, the taverner shall not be freed from sin.

But above other recreations, do but seriously observe, of what danger and ill consequence these first reformers thought dancing, music, and the like pastimes to be, which are the greatest divertisements of the times, viz.:

XVIII. "Dancing is the devil's procession,[60]and he that entereth into a dance entereth into his procession, the devil is the guide, the middle, and the end of the dance; as many paces as man maketh in dancing, so many paces doth he make to go to hell.[61]A man sinneth in dancing divers ways, for all his steps are numbered, in his touch, in his ornaments, in his hearing, sight, speech, and other vanities. And therefore we will prove, first by the Scripture, and afterwards by divers other reasons, how wicked a thing it is to dance. The first testimony that we will produce is that which we read in the gospel, where it issaid, it pleased Herod so well, that it cost John Baptist his life. (Mark, vi. 22-28; Exodus, xxxii. 4-7, 19.) The second is in Exodus, when Moses, coming near to the congregation, saw the calf, he cast the tables from him, and broke them at the foot of the mountain; and afterwards it cost three thousand of their lives. Besides, the ornaments which women wear in their dances, are as crowns for many victories which the devil hath got against the children of God: for the devil hath not only one sword in the dance, but as many as there are beautiful and well-adorned persons in the dance; for the words of a woman are a glittering sword. And therefore that place is much to be feared wherein the enemy hath so many swords, since that only one sword of his may be justly feared. Again, the devil in this place strikes with a sharpened sword; for women, who make it acceptable, come not willingly to the dance, if they be not painted and adorned; which painting and ornament is as a whetstone on which the devil sharpeneth his sword.—They that deck and adorn their daughters, are like those that put dry wood to the fire, to the end it may burn the better: for such women kindle the fire of luxury in the hearts of men. As Sampson's foxes fired the Philistines' corn, so these women, they have fire in their faces, and in their gestures and actions, their glances and wanton words, by which they consume the goods of men." They proceed, "The devil in the dance useth the strongest armour that he hath: for his most powerful arms are women; which is made plain unto us, in that the devil made choice of the woman to deceive the first man; so did Balaam, that the children of Israel might be rejected of God. By a woman he made Sampson, David, and Absalom to sin. The devil tempteth men by women three manner of ways; that is, by the touch, by the eye, by the ear; by these three means he tempteth foolish men todancing, by touching their hands, beholding their beauty, hearing their songs and music."—Again, "They that dance break that promise and agreement they have made with God in baptism, when their godfathers promise for them, that they shall renounce the devil and all his pomp; for dancing is the pomp of the devil; and he that danceth maintaineth his pomp, and singeth his mass. For the woman that singeth in the dance is the prioress, or chief of the devil, and those that answer are the clerks, and the beholders are the parishioners, and the music are the bells, and the fiddlers the ministers of the devil. For, as when hogs are strayed, if the hogherd call one, all assemble themselves together; so the devil causeth one woman to sing in the dance, or to play on some instrument, and presently gather all the dancers together."—Again, "In a dance, a man breaks the ten commandments of God: as first, Thou shalt have no other God but me, &c., for in dancing, a man serves that person whom he most desires to serve, after whom goes his heart; and therefore Jerome saith, 'Every man's god is that he serves and loves best;'[62]and that he loves best which his thoughts wander and gad most after. He sins against the second commandment when he makes an idol of that he loves. Against the third, in that oaths, and frivolously using God's name, are frequently among dancers. Against the fourth, for that by dancing the sabbath-day is profaned. Against the fifth, for in the dance parents are many times dishonoured, since thereby many bargains are made without their counsel. Against the sixth, a man kills in dancing, for every one that sets about to please another, he kills the soul as oft as he persuades unto lust. Against the seventh, for the party that danceth, be it male or female, committeth adultery with the party they lust after; for he that looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath alreadycommitted adultery with her in his heart. Against the eighth, a man sins in dancing when he withdraweth the heart of another from God. Against the ninth, when in dancing he speaks falsely against the truth, and for some little honour, or secret lascivious end, denies what is true, or affirms what is false. Against the tenth, when women affect the ornaments of others, and men covet the wives, daughters, and servants of their neighbours, which undeniably attends all such plays and sports."—Again, "A man may prove how great an evil dancing is, by the multitude of sins that accompany those that dance; for they dance without measure or number;" "And therefore," saith Augustine,[63]"the miserable dancer knows not, that as many paces as he makes in dancing, so many leaps he makes to hell. They sin in their ornaments after a five-fold manner: First, by being proud thereof. Secondly, by inflaming the hearts of those that behold them. Thirdly, when they make those ashamed that have not the like ornaments, giving them occasion to covet the like. Fourthly, by making women importunate in demanding the like ornaments of their husbands: and, Fifthly, when they cannot obtain them of their husbands, they seek to get them elsewhere by sin. They sin by singing and playing on instruments; for their songs bewitch the hearts of those that hear them with temporal delight, forgetting God; uttering nothing in their songs but lies and vanities; and the very motion of the body which is used in dancing, gives testimony enough of evil.—Thus, you see that dancing is the devil's procession, and he that enters into a dance, enters into the devil's procession. Of dancing, the devil is the guide, the middle, and the end; and he that entereth a good and wise man into the dance, if it can be that such an one is either good or wise, cometh forth a corrupt and wicked man:Sarah, that holy woman, was none of these."[64]Behold the apprehensions of those good old reformers, touching those things that are so much in practice and reputation in these times, with such as profess their religion: thus far verbatim. But I cannot leave off here, till I have yet added the conclusion of their catechism and direction, and some passages out of one of their pastor's letters, fit to the present occasion.

They conclude with this direction, namely, how to rule their bodies,[65]and live in this world as becomes the children of God. Not to serve the mortal desires of the flesh. To keep their members, that they be not arms of iniquity and vanity. To rule their outward senses. To subject the body to the soul. To mortify their members. To fly idleness. To observe a sobriety and measure in eating and drinking, in their words and cares of this life. To do works of mercy. To live a moral or just life by faith. To fight against the desires. To mortify the works of the flesh. To give themselves to the exercise of religion. To confer together touching the will of God: to examine diligently the conscience. To purge and amend, and pacify the spirit.

To which I add the epistle of one of their pastors, as I find it recorded amongst other matters relating to these poor afflicted people.

XIX. An epistle of pastor Bartholomew Tertian, written to the Waldensian churches of the valley of Pragela, thus translated:

"JESUS BE WITH YOU.

"To all our faithful and well beloved brethren in Christ Jesus,[66]health and salvation be with you all: Amen!These are to put you in remembrance, and to admonish you, my brethren, hereby acquitting myself of that duty which I owe unto you all, in the behalf of God, principally touching the care of your souls' salvation, according to that light of the truth, which the most high God hath bestowed on us, that it would please every one of you to maintain, increase, and nourish, to the utmost of your power, without diminution, those good beginnings and examples which have been left unto us by our forefathers, whereof we are no ways worthy. For it would little profit us to have been renewed by the fatherly visitation, and the light which hath been given us of God, if we give ourselves to worldly, carnal conversations, which are diabolical; abandoning the principle which is of God, and the salvation of our souls, for this short and temporal life. For the Lord saith, 'What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world, and to lose his own soul?' For it would be better for us never to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to do the contrary. Let me therefore intreat you, by the love of God, that you decrease not, or look back; but rather increase the charity, fear, and obedience, which is due unto God, and to yourselves, amongst yourselves; and stand fast in all these good principles, which you have heard and understood of God, by our means: and that you would remove from amongst you all vain conversation and evil surmises, troubling the peace, the love, the concord, and whatsoever would indispose or deaden your minds to the service of God, your own salvation, and the administration of the truth, if you desire that God should be merciful to you in your goods temporal and spiritual: for you can do nothing without Him; and if you desire to be heirs of his glory, do that which He commandeth: If you would enter into life, keep my commandments. (Matt. xix. 17.)"Likewise be careful that there be not nourishedamong you any sports, gluttony, whoredom, dancings, nor any lewdness, nor riot, nor questions, nor deceits, nor usury, nor discords; nor support nor entertain any persons of a wicked conversation, or that give any scandal or ill example amongst you; but let charity and fidelity reign amongst you, and all good example; doing to one another as every one desires should be done unto him; for otherwise it is impossible that any should be saved, or can have the grace of God, or be good men in this world, or have glory in another. And therefore, if you hope and desire to possess eternal life, to live in esteem and credit, and to prosper in this world, in your goods temporal and spiritual, purge yourselves from all disorderly ways, to the end that God may be always with you, who forsakes not those that trust in him. But know this for certain, that God heareth not, nor dwelleth with sinners, nor in the soul that is given unto wickedness, nor in the man that is subject to sin. And therefore let every one cleanse the ways of his heart, and fly the danger, if he would not perish therein. I have no other things at this present, but that you would put in practice these things; and the God of peace be with you all, and go along with us, and be present among us in our sincere, humble, and fervent prayers, and that He will be pleased to save all those his faithful, that trust in Christ Jesus."Entirely yours, ready to do you service in allthings possible, according to the will of God."Bartholomew Tertian."

"Likewise be careful that there be not nourishedamong you any sports, gluttony, whoredom, dancings, nor any lewdness, nor riot, nor questions, nor deceits, nor usury, nor discords; nor support nor entertain any persons of a wicked conversation, or that give any scandal or ill example amongst you; but let charity and fidelity reign amongst you, and all good example; doing to one another as every one desires should be done unto him; for otherwise it is impossible that any should be saved, or can have the grace of God, or be good men in this world, or have glory in another. And therefore, if you hope and desire to possess eternal life, to live in esteem and credit, and to prosper in this world, in your goods temporal and spiritual, purge yourselves from all disorderly ways, to the end that God may be always with you, who forsakes not those that trust in him. But know this for certain, that God heareth not, nor dwelleth with sinners, nor in the soul that is given unto wickedness, nor in the man that is subject to sin. And therefore let every one cleanse the ways of his heart, and fly the danger, if he would not perish therein. I have no other things at this present, but that you would put in practice these things; and the God of peace be with you all, and go along with us, and be present among us in our sincere, humble, and fervent prayers, and that He will be pleased to save all those his faithful, that trust in Christ Jesus.

"Entirely yours, ready to do you service in allthings possible, according to the will of God."Bartholomew Tertian."

XX. Behold the life and doctrine, instruction and practice, of the ancient Waldenses.[67]How harmless,how plain, how laborious, how exceeding serious and heavenly in their conversations! These were the men, women, aye children too, who, for above five hundred years, have valiantly, but passively maintained a cruel war, at the expense of their own innocent blood, against the unheard of cruelties and severities of several princes, nuncios, and bishops; but above all, of certain cruel inquisitors, of whom their historians report, that they held it was a greater evil to conceal a heretic than to be guilty of perjury; and for a clergyman to marry a wife than to keep a whore. In short, to dissent, though never so conscientiously, was worse than open immorality. It was against the like adversaries these poor Waldenses fought, by sufferings throughout the nations, by prisons, confiscations, banishments,[68]wandering from hill to valley, from den to cave; being mocked, whipped, racked, thrown from rocks and towers, driven on mountains,[69]and in one night thousands perished by excessive frost and snow, smothered in caves, starved, imprisoned, ripped up, hanged, dismembered, rifled, plundered, strangled, broiled, roasted, burned; and whatsoever could be invented to ruin men, women, and children. These Waldenses, you Protestants pretend to be your ancestors: from them, you say, you have your religion; and often, like the Jews of the prophets, are you building their praises in your discourses: but, O look back, I beseech you, how unlike are you to these afflicted pilgrims! What resemblance is there of their life in yours? Did they help to purchase and preserve you a liberty and religion, can you think, at the loss of all that was dear to them, that you might pass away your days and years in pride, wantonness, and vanity? What proportion bears your excess with their temperance;[70]yourgaudiness with their plainness; your luxury and flesh-pleasing conversations with their simplicity and self-denial? But are you not got into that spirit and nature they condemned in their day; into that carnality and worldly mindedness they reproved in their persecutors, nay, into a strain of persecution too, which you seem to hide under a cloak of reformation? How can you hope to refute their persecutors whose worst part perhaps was their cruelty, that turn persecutors yourselves? What have you besides their good words, that is like them? And do you think that words will send off the blows of eternal vengeance? That a little by-rote babble, though of never so good expressions in themselves, shall serve your turn at the great day? No, from God I tell you, that whilst you live in the wantonness, pride, and luxury of the world, pleasing and fulfilling the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, (1 John, ii. 14-17,) God detests you all, and laughs you and your worship to scorn. Never tell me, I am too rash; it is the devil that says so; he has got two scriptures by the end in these days: one, that there is none that doth good: and why?[71]That he may persuade all it is impossible to overcome him: which is the reason so many are overcome; although glory is promised to none but conquerors. The second, that we must not judge, lest we be judged: that is, whilst we are guilty of the same things that are equivalent, lest we are judged. But away with Satan and his hypocrisy too: I know what I say, and from whom I speak: once more I tell you all, whether you will hear or forbear, that unless you forsake your pride, luxury, avarice, and the whole variety of vanities, and diligently mind the eternal light of God in your hearts, to obey it; wrath will be your portion for ever. Trust not your souls upon misapplied Scriptures; he that is a child of God must beholy, for God is holy; and none are his sons and daughters but those who are adopted by the eternal Spirit, and led thereby. (1 Pet. i. 15, 16; Rom. viii. 1-16.) It was a holy, plain, humble, divine life, these poor suffering Christians both professed and practised, refusing to converse with such as lived in the superfluities and excess of the world; for which, if you will believe their very adversaries, they were persecuted: "For," says Rainerius,[72]a great writer against them, "they used to teach, first, what the disciples of Christ ought to be, and that none are his disciples but they that imitate his life; and that the popes, cardinals, &c., because they live in luxury, pride, avarice, &c., are not the successors of Christ; but themselves only, in that they walk up to his commandments; thus," says he, "they win upon the people." But if so, that none are Christians but those that imitate Christ, what will become of those who call themselves Christians and yet live at ease in the flesh, not regarding the work of the holy cross of Christ in their hearts, that crucifies them that bear it to the world, and the world to them? This was the true ground of their sufferings, and their loud cries against the impieties of the greatest; not sparing any ranks, from the throne to the dunghill, as knowing their God was no respecter of persons. And now, if you would follow them indeed, if you would be Protestants in substance, and learn your enemies a way worth their changing for—else better words go but a little way—if you would obtain the heavenly inheritance, and you would be eternally blessed, be ye persuaded to forsake all the pride and pomp of this vain world. O mind the concerns of an everlasting rest! Let the just and serious principle of God within you be the constant guide and companion ofyour minds, and let your whole hearts be exercised thereby, that you may experience an entire reformation and change of affections, through the power of that divine leaven which leavens the whole lump, viz. body, soul, and spirit, where it is received; to which, and its work in man, our blessed Lord likened the kingdom of God which He came to set up in the soul: that so having the joys and glory of another world in your view, you may give your best diligence to make your calling and election to the possession of them sure and certain; lest, selling that noble inheritance for a poor mess of perishing pottage, you never enter into his eternal rest. And though this testimony may seem too tedious, yet could it by no means be omitted.—To authorize our last reason, of converting superfluities into the relief of distressed persons, although one would think it so equal and sober, that it needs no other authority than its own, yet I shall produce two testimonies so remarkable, that as they ever were esteemed truly good, so they cannot be approved by any that refuse to do the same, without condemning themselves of great iniquity. Oh, you are called with an high and holy call; as high as heaven, and as holy as God; for it is He that calls us to holiness through Christ, who sent his Son to bless us, in turning us from the evil of our ways; and unless we are so turned we can have no claim to the blessing that comes by Christ to men.

XXI. It is reported of Paulinus,[73]bishop of Nola in Italy, that, instead of converting the demesnes of his diocese to particular enrichment, he employed it all in the redemption of poor slaves and prisoners: believing it unworthy of the Christian faith, to see God's creation labour under the want of what he had to spare. All agree this was well done, but few agree to do the same.

XXII. But more particularly that of Acacius,[74]bishop ofAmida, given us by Socrates Scholasticus, in this manner: "When the Roman soldiers purposed in nowise to restore again unto the king of Persia such captives as they had taken at the winning of Azazena, being about seven thousand in number, to the great grief of the king of Persia, and all of them ready to starve for want of food: Acacius lamented their condition, and calling his clergy together, said thus unto them, 'Our God hath no need of dishes or of cups, for He neither eateth nor drinketh; these are not his necessaries; wherefore, seeing the church hath many precious jewels, both of gold and silver, bestowed of the free-will and liberality of the faithful, it is requisite that the captive soldiers should be therewith redeemed, and delivered out of prison and bondage, and they perishing with famine should therewith be refreshed and relieved.'" Thus he prevailed to have them all converted into money; some for their immediate refreshment, some for their redemption, and the rest for coastage or provision, to defray the charges of their voyage. Which noble act had such an universal influence, that it more famed the Christian religion among the Infidels, than all their disputes and battles: insomuch that the King of Persia, a Heathen, said, "The Romans endeavour to win their adversaries both by wars and favours;" and greatly desired to behold that man, whose religion taught so much charity to enemies; which, it is reported, Theodosius, the emperor, commanded Acacius to gratify him in. And if the Apostle Paul's expression hath any force, that "He is worse than an infidel who provides not for his family;" (1 Tim. 5;) how greatly doth his example aggravate your shame, that can behold such pity and compassion expressed to strangers, nay, enemies, and those infidels too, and be so negligent of your own family; (for England, aye, Christendom, in a sense, if not the world, is no more;) as not only to see their great necessities unanswered, but that wherewiththey should be satisfied, converted to gratify the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life? But however such can please themselves, in the deceitful daubing of their mercenary priests, and dream they are members of Jesus Christ, it is certain that things were otherwise in the beginning; for then all was sold, and put into a common purse, to supply indigences: (Acts, iv. 32-37:) not mattering earthly inheritances, further than as they might, in some sense, be subservient to the great end for which they were given; namely, the good of the creation. Thus had the purest Christians their minds and thoughts taken up with the better things, and raised with the assurance of a more excellent life and inheritance in the heavens, that will never pass away. And for any to flatter themselves with being Christians, whilst so much exercised in the vanities, recreations, and customs of the world, as at this very day we see they are, is to mock the great God, and abuse their immortal souls. The Christian life is quite another thing.

And lest that any should object, many do great and seemingly good actions to raise their reputation only; and others only decry pleasure, because they have not wherewithal, or know not how to take it; I shall present them with the serious sayings of aged and dying men, and those of the greatest note and rank, whose experience could not be wanting to give the truest account, how much their honours, riches, pleasures, and recreations, conduced to their satisfaction, upon a just reckoning, as well before their extreme moments as upon their dying beds, when death, that hard passage into eternity, looked them in the face.

Serious dying, as well as living testimonies of Men of Fame and Learning, viz.

1. Solomon.—2. Chilon.—3. Ignatius.—4. Justin Martyr.—5. Chrysostom.—6. Charles V.—7. Cardinal Wolsey.—8. Sir Philip Sidney.—9. Secretary Walsingham.—10. Sir John Mason.—11. Sir Walter Raleigh.—12. H. Wotton.—13. Sir Christopher Hatton.—14. Lord Chancellor Bacon.—15. The great Duke of Montmorency.—16. Henry Prince of Wales.—17. Philip III. King of Spain.—18. Count Gondamor.—19. Cardinal Richlieu.—20. Cardinal Mazarine.—21. Chancellor Oxenstiern.—22. Dr. Donne.—23. Jo. Selden.—24. H. Grotius.—25. P. Salmasius.—26. Fran. Junius.—27. A. Rivetus.—28. The late Earl of Marlborough.—29. Sir Henry Vane.—30. Late Earl of Rochester.—31. One of the family of Howard.—32. Princess Elizabeth of the Rhine.—33. Commissioner Whitlock.—34. A Sister of the family of Penn.—35. My own Father.—36. Anthony Lowther of Mask.—37. Seigneur du Renti.

I. Solomon, than whom none is believed to have more delighted himself in the enjoyments of the world, at least better to have understood them; hear what he says, after all his experience: (Eccles. ii. 1-11:) "I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad: and of mirth, what doth it? I made me great works, builded houses, planted vineyards, made gardens and orchards, planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit: I got me servants and maidens, also great possessions: I gathered me silver and gold, and the peculiartreasure of kings and provinces; also men and women, singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem, and whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them: I withheld not mine heart from any joy. Then I looked on the works which mine hands had wrought, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit." The reason he gives in the 18th and 19th verses is, that the time of enjoying them was very short, and it was uncertain who should be benefited by them when he was gone. Wherefore, he concludes with all this: "Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man: for God shall bring every work into judgment, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." O that men would lay this to heart!

II. Chilon,[75]one of the seven wise men of Greece, already mentioned upon another occasion, affords us a dying testimony of great example. It is related thus by A. Gellius: when his life drew towards an end, ready to be seized by death, he spoke thus to his friends about him: "My words and actions, in this long term of years, have been, almost all, such as I need not repent of; which, perhaps, you also know: truly, even at this time I am certain I never committed anything the remembrance of which begets any trouble in me, unless this one thing only: which, whether it were done amiss or not, I am uncertain. I sat with two others as judge, upon the life of my friend: the law was such, as the person must of necessity be condemned, so that either my friend must lose his life, or some deceit be used towards the law. Revolving many things in my mind, for relief of a condition so desperate, I conceived that which I put in practice tobe of all others the most easy to be borne: silently I condemned him, and persuaded those others who judged, to absolve him: thus I preserved in so great a business, the duty both of a judge and a friend. But from that act I received this trouble: that I fear it is not free from perfidiousness and guilt, in the same business, at the same time, and in a public affair, to persuade others contrary to what was in my own judgment best." Oh, tender conscience! Yet an Heathen's. Where dwells the Christian that excelleth? Hard to be found among the great rabbies of Christendom.

III. Ignatius,[76]who lived within the first hundred years after Christ, left this, amongst other things, behind him, who was torn in pieces of wild beasts at Rome, for his true faith in Jesus, "There is nothing better than the peace of a good conscience;" intimating there might be a peace to wicked consciences, that are past feeling anything to be evil, but swallowed up of the wickedness of the world. And in his epistles to the churches at Ephesus, Magnesia, Trallis, and Rome, upon his martyrdom, saith, "Now I begin to be a disciple, I weigh neither visible nor invisible things, so that I may gain Christ." Oh, heavenly-minded man! A blessed martyr of Jesus indeed.

IV. Justin Martyr, a philosopher who received Christianity five-and-twenty years after the death of Ignatius, plainly tells us, in his relation of his conversion to the Christian faith, that the power of godliness in a plain, simple Christian, had that influence and operation on his soul, that he could not but betake himself to a serious and strict life; and yet, before, he was a Cynic, a strict sect: and this gave him joy at his martyrdom, having spent his days as a serious teacher, and a good example. And Eusebius relates, that, though he was also a followerof Plato's doctrine,[77]yet when he saw the Christians' piety and courage, he concluded, no people so temperate, less voluptuous, and more set on divine things: which first induced him to be a Christian.

V. Chrysostom, another father, so called, lays this down for necessary doctrine, "To sacrifice the whole soul and body to the Lord, is the highest service we can pay unto Him. God promiseth mercy unto penitent sinners; but He doth not promise them they shall have so much time as to-morrow for their repentance."

VI. Charles V. Emperor of Germany, King of Spain, and Lord of the Netherlands, after three-and-twenty pitched fields, six triumphs, four kingdoms conquered, and eight principalities added to his dominions, a greater instance than whom can scarce be given, resigned up all his pomp to other hands, and betook himself to his retirement; leaving this testimony behind him, concerning the life he spent in the honours and pleasures of the world, and in that little time of his retreat from them all: that the sincere study, profession, and practice of the Christian religion, had in it such joys and sweetness as courts were strangers to.

VII. Cardinal Wolsey, the most absolute and wealthy minister of state this kingdom ever had, that in his time seemed to govern Europe as well as England, when come to the period of his life, left the world with this close reflection upon himself: "Had I been as diligent to serve my God, as I was to please my king, He would not have left me now in my grey hairs." A dismal reflection for all worldly-minded men; but those more especially, who have the power and means of doing more good than ordinary in the world, and do it not; which seems to have been the case and reflection of this great man.

VIII. Sir Philip Sidney, a subject indeed of England, but they say chosen king of Poland, whom Queen Elizabeth called her Philip; the Prince of Orange, his master; whose friendship the lord Brooks was so proud of, that he would have it part of his epitaph, "Here lies Sir Philip Sidney's friend;" whose death was lamented in verse by the then kings of France and Scotland, and the two universities of England; repented so much at his death of that witty vanity of his life, his Arcadia, that, to prevent the unlawful kindling of heats in others, he would have committed it to the flames himself: and left this farewell amongst his friends, "Love my memory, cherish my friends; their faith to me may assure you that they are honest; but above all govern your wills and affections by the will and word of your Creator. In me behold the end of this world, and all its vanities." And indeed he was not much out in saying so, since in him was to be seen the end of all natural parts, acquired learning, and civil accomplishments. His farewell seems spoken without terror, with a clear sense, and an equal judgment.

IX. Secretary Walsingham, an extraordinary man in Queen Elizabeth's time, towards the conclusion of his days, in a letter to his fellow-secretary Burleigh, then lord-treasurer of England, writes thus: "We have lived enough to our country, our fortunes, our sovereign: it is high time we begin to live to ourselves, and to our God." Which, giving occasion for some court-droll to visit and try to divert him: "Ah!" said he, "while we laugh, all things are serious round about us; God is serious, when He preserveth us, and hath patience towards us; Christ is serious when He dieth for us; the Holy Ghost is serious, when He striveth with us; the whole creation is serious, in serving God and us; they are serious in hell and in heaven: and shall a man, that has one foot in the grave, jest and laugh?" O that our statesmen would weigh theconviction, advice, and conclusion of this great man, and the greatest man, perhaps, that has borne that character in our nation! For true it is, that none can be serious too soon, because none can be good too soon. Away, then, with all foolish talking and jesting, and let people mind more profitable things.

X. John Mason, knight, who had been privy-counsellor to four princes, and spent much time in the preferments and pleasures of the world, retired with these pathetical and regretful sayings: "After so many years' experience, seriousness is the greatest wisdom; temperance the best physic; a good conscience is the best estate. And were I to live again, I would change the court for a cloister, my privy-counsellor's bustles for a hermit's retirement, and the whole life I lived in the palace, for one hour's enjoyment of God in the chapel. All things else forsake me, besides my God, my duty, and my prayers."

XI. Sir Walter Raleigh is an eminent instance, being as extraordinary a man, as our nation hath produced; in his person well descended; of health, strength, and a masculine beauty; in understanding quick: in judgment sound; learned and wise, valiant and skilful; a historian, a philosopher, a general, a statesman. After a long life, full of experience, he drops these excellent sayings, a little before his death, to his son, to his wife, and to the world, viz.: "Exceed not in the humour of rags and bravery, for these will soon wear out of fashion: and no man is esteemed for gay garments but by fools and women. On the other side, seek not riches basely, nor attain them by evil means: destroy no man for his wealth, nor take anything from the poor; for the cry thereof will pierce the heavens: and it is most detestable before God, and most dishonourable before worthy men, to wrest anything from the needy and labouring soul: God will never prosper thee, if thou offendest therein; but use thy poor neighbours and tenantswell." A most worthy saying. But he adds, "Have compassion on the poor and afflicted, and God will bless thee for it: make not the hungry soul sorrowful; for if he curse thee in the bitterness of his soul, his prayer shall be heard of Him that made him. Now, for the world, dear child, I know it too well to persuade thee to dive into the practices of it; rather stand upon thy own guard against all those that tempt thee to it, or may practise upon thee; whether in thy conscience, thy reputation, or thy estate: resolve, that no man is wise or safe but he that is honest. Serve God; let Him be the Author of all thy actions: commend all thy endeavours to Him, who most either wither or prosper them: please Him with prayer; lest if He frown, He confound all thy fortune and labour, like the drops of rain upon the sandy ground. Let my experienced advice and fatherly instructions sink deep into thy heart: so God direct thee in all thy ways, and fill thy heart with his grace."

Sir Walter Raleigh's Letter to his Wife, after his Condemnation.

"You shall receive, my dear wife, my last words, in these my last lines. My love I send you, that you may keep when I am dead; and my counsel, that you may remember it when I am no more. I would not, with my will, present you sorrows, dear Bess; let them go to the grave with me, and be buried in the dust: and, seeing that it is not the will of God that I shall see you any more, bear my destruction patiently, and with a heart like yourself. First, I send you all the thanks which my heart can conceive, or my words express, for your many travails and cares for me; which, though they have not taken effect as you wished, yet my debt to you is not the less; but pay it I never shall in this world. Secondly, I beseech you, for the love you bear me living, that you do not hide yourself many days; but by your travails seek to help mymiserable fortunes, and the right of your poor child: your mourning cannot avail me, who am but dust. Thirdly, you shall understand, that my lands were conveyed,bona fide, to my child; the writings were drawn at Midsummer was at twelvemonth, as divers can witness: and I trust my blood will quench their malice who desired my slaughter, that they will not seek to kill you and yours with extreme poverty. To what friend to direct you, I know not, for all mine have left me, in the true time of trial: most sorry am I, that, being surprised by death, I can leave you no better estate: God hath prevented all my determinations, that great God, which worketh all in all. If you can live free from want, care for no more, for the rest is but a vanity. Love God, and begin betimes; in Him shall you find true, everlasting, and endless comfort: when you have travailed and wearied yourself with all sorts of worldly cogitations, shall you sit down by sorrow in the end. Teach your son also to serve and fear God, whilst he is young, that the fear of God may grow up in him; then will God be a husband to you, and a father to him; a husband and a father that can never be taken from you. Dear wife, I beseech you, for my soul's sake, pay all poor men. When I am dead, no doubt but you will be much sought unto, for the world thinks I was very rich. Have a care of the fair pretences of men; for no greater misery can befal you in this life, than to become a prey unto the world, and afterwards to be despised. As for me, I am no more yours, nor you mine: death has cut us asunder, and God hath divided me from the world, and you from me. Remember your poor child, for his father's sake, who loved you in his happiest estate. I sued for my life, but God knows, it was for you and yours that I desired it: for know it, my dear wife, your child is the child of a true man, who in his own respect despiseth death, and his misshapen and ugly forms. I cannot write much. Godknows how hardly I steal this time, when all are asleep, and it is also time for me to separate my thoughts from the world. Beg my dead body, which living was denied you; and either lay it in Sherborne, or in Exeter church, by my father and mother. I can say no more; time and death call me away. The everlasting God, powerful, infinite, and inscrutable, God Almighty, who is goodness itself, the true light and life, keep you and yours, and have mercy upon me, and forgive my persecutors, and false accusers; and send us to meet in his glorious kingdom. My dear wife, farewell; bless my boy; pray for me; and let my true God hold you both in his arms."Your's that was, but not now mine own,"Walter Raleigh."

"Your's that was, but not now mine own,"Walter Raleigh."

Behold wisdom, resolution, nature, and grace! How strong in argument, wise in counsel, firm, affectionate, and devout! O that your heroes and politicians would make him their example in his death, as well as magnify the great actions of his life. I doubt not, had he been to live over his days again, with his experience, he had made less noise, and yet done more good to the world and himself. It is a sad thing to consider, that, men hardly come to know themselves or the world, till they are ready to leave it.

XII. Henry Wotton, knight, thought it the greatest happiness in this life, "to be at leisure to be and to do good;" as in his latter end he was wont to say, when he reflected on past times, though a man esteemed sober and learned, "How much time have I to repent of, and how little to do it in!"

XIII. Sir Christopher Hatton, a little before his death, advised his relations to be serious in the search after "the will of God in the holy word:" "for," said he, "it is deservedly accounted a piece of excellent knowledge, to understandthe law of the land, and the customs of a man's country; how much more to know the statutes of heaven, and the laws of eternity; those immutable and eternal laws of justice and righteousness; to know the will and pleasure of the great Monarch, and universal King of the world: I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandments, O God, are exceeding broad."

Whatever other knowledge a man may be endued withal, could he by a vast and imperious mind, and a heart as large as the sand upon the sea-shore, command all the knowledge of art and nature, of words and things; could he attain a mystery in all languages, and sound the depth of all arts and sciences; could he discourse of the interests of all states, the intrigues of all courts, the reason of all civil laws and constitutions, and give an account of all histories; and yet not know the Author of his being, and the Preserver of his life, his Sovereign, and his Judge; his surest refuge in trouble: his best Friend; the support of his life, and the hope of his death; his future happiness, and his portion for ever; he doth butsapienter descendere in infernum, with a great deal of wisdom go down to Hell.

XIV. Francis Bacon, lord high-chancellor of England, some time before his death, confessed, that, to be religious, was to live strictly and severely; for if the opinion of another world be false, yet the sweetest life in this world is piety, virtue, and honesty; if it were true, there be none so wretched and miserable, as loose, carnal, and profane persons.

XV. The great duke de Montmorency, colleague to the duke of Orleans, brother to the French king, Lewis XIII., in the war by them agitated against the ministry of Cardinal Richlieu, being taken and convicted at Lyons, a little before his beheading, looking upon himself, then very richly attired; "Ah!" says he, "this becomes not a servantof the crucified Jesus! What do I with these vanities about me? He was poor, despised, and naked, when He went to the cross to die for my sins;" and immediately he stripped himself of all his finery, and put a more grave and modest garment on him: a serious reflection, at a time when he best knew what was best.

XVI. Henry, Prince of Wales, eldest son to king James I., of whom others say many excellent things, hear what account he gives of himself at last: a person whom he loved, and that had been the companion of his diversions, being with him in his sickness, and asking him how he did, was, amongst many other sober expressions, answered thus: "Ah, Tom! I in vain wish for that time I lost with thee and others in vain recreations." So vain were recreations, and so precious was time to a prince, and no ordinary one neither, upon a dying bed. But why wished he with others for more time, but that it might be better employed? Thus hath the just principle and holy Spirit of God in men, throughout all generations, convinced them of their vanity and folly upon their dying beds, who before were too much taken up to mind either a dying bed, or a vast eternity; but when their days were almost numbered, when mortality hasted on them, when the revelation of the righteous judgment was at the door, and that all their worldly recreations and enjoyments must be parted with, and that eye for ever shut, and flesh turned to worm's-meat, that took delight therein; then, O then, was it the holy witness had room to plead with conscience: then nothing but a holy, strict, and severe life was valuable; then all the world for a little time, who before had given all their time for a little of a vain world. But if so short a representation of the inconsistency of the vanities of the world with the Christian life, could make so deep an impression; oh! to what a noble stature and large proportion had they been grown in all pious and heavenlyknowledge; and how much greater had their rewards been if they contentedly had foregone those perishing entertainments of the world betimes, and given the exercise of their minds to the tuition and guidance of that universal grace and Holy Spirit of God, which had so long shined in darkness, uncomprehended of it, and was at last but just perceived to give a sight of what they had been doing all their days.

XVII. Philip III. King of Spain, seriously reflecting upon the life he had led in the world, cried out upon his death-bed, "Ah! how happy were I, had I spent these twenty-three years that I have held my kingdom, in a retirement." Crying out to his confessor, "My concern is for my soul, not my body. I lay all that God has given me, my dominion, power, and my life, at the feet of Jesus Christ my Saviour." Would kings would live, as well as die so!

XVIII. Count Gondamor, ambassador in England for that very king, and held the ablest man of his time, took great freedom as to his religion in his politics, serving his ends by those ways that would best accomplish them. When, towards his latter end, he grew very thoughtful of his past life, and after all his negotiations and successes in business, said to one of his friends, "I fear nothing in the world more than sin;" often professing, he had rather endure hell than sin: so clear and strong were his convictions, and so exceeding sinful did sin appear to him, upon a serious consideration of his ways.

XIX. Cardinal Richelieu, after having been first minister of state of Europe, as well as of France, confessed to old Peter de Moulin, the famous Protestant of that country, that, being forced upon many irregularities by that which they call reason of state, he could not tell how to satisfy his conscience for several things, and therefore had many temptations to doubt and disbelieve a God, another world, andthe immortality of the soul, and thereby to relieve his mind from any disquiet, but in vain. So strong, he said, was the notion of God on his soul, so clear the impression of Him upon the frame of the world, so unanimous the consent of mankind, so powerful the convictions of his own conscience, that he could not but taste the power of the world to come, and so live as one that must die, and so die as one that must live for ever. And being asked one day why he was so sad, answered, "Monsieur, Monsieur, the soul is a serious thing; it must be either sad here for a moment, or be sad for ever."

XX. Cardinal Mazarin, reputed the most cunning statesman of his time, and who gave great proofs of it in the successes of the French crown, under his ministry: his aim was the grandeur of the world, to which he made all other considerations submit: but, poor man! he was of another mind a little before his death: for, being awakened by the smart lashes of conscience, which represented his soul's condition very dismal, with astonishment and tears he cried out, "Oh, my poor soul, what will become of thee! Whither wilt thou go?" and spake one day thus to the Queen-mother of France, "Madam, your favours have undone me. Were I to live again, I would be a Capuchin, rather than a courtier."

XXI. Count Oxenstiern, chancellor of Sweden, a person of the first quality, station, and ability in his own country, and whose share and success, not only in the chief ministry of affairs in that kingdom, but in the greatest negotiations of Europe during his time, made him no less considerable abroad. After all his knowledge and honour, being visited in his retreat from public business, by commissioner Whitlock, ambassador from England to Queen Christiana, in the conclusion of their discourse, he said to the ambassador, "I have seen much, and enjoyed much of this world, but I never knew how to live till now. Ithank my good God that has given me time to know Him, and to know myself. All the comfort I have, and all the comfort I take, and which is more than the whole world can give, is feeling the good Spirit of God in my heart, and reading in this good book," holding up the Bible, "that came from it." And further addressed himself thus to the ambassador: "You are now in the prime of your age and vigour, and in great favour and business; but this will all leave you, and you will one day better understand and relish what I say to you; and then you will find that there is more wisdom, truth, comfort, and pleasure, in retiring and turning your heart from the world, to the good Spirit of God, and in reading the Bible, than in all the courts and favours of princes." This I had, as near as I am able to remember, from the ambassador's own mouth, more than once. A very edifying history, when we consider from whom it came; one of the greatest and wisest men of his age, while his understanding was as sound and vigorous, as his experience and knowledge were great.

XXII. Dr. Donne, a great poet, taking his farewell of his friends, on his dying bed, left this saying behind him, for them to measure their fancies and their actions by: "I repent of all my life, but that part of it I spent in communion with God, and doing good."

XXIII. Selden, one of the greatest scholars and antiquaries of his time: one who had taken a diligent survey of what knowledge was considerable amongst the Jews, Heathens, and Christians; at last professeth this toward the end of his days, in his conference with Bishop Usher, that, notwithstanding he had been so laborious in his inquiries, and curious in his collections, and had possessed himself of a treasure of books and manuscripts, upon all ancient subjects; yet he could rest his soul on none, save the Scriptures, and above all that passage lay most remarkably upon his spirit, (Titus ii. 11-15,) "For thegrace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world: looking for that blessed hope, and glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works: these things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority." And indeed it is one of the most comprehensive passages in the Scripture; for it comprises the end, means, and recompense of Christianity.

XXIV. Hugo Grotius, than whom these latter ages think they have not had a man of more universal knowledge, "a light," say the statesmen; "a light," say the churchmen too; witness his Annals, and his Book, De Jure Belli et Pacis; also his Christian Religion, and elaborate Commentaries. He winds up his life and choice in this remarkable saying, which should abate the edge of other men's inordinate desires after what they falsely call learning; namely, "I would give all my learning and honour for the plain integrity of Jean Urick, who was a religious poor man, that spent eight hours of his time in prayer, eight in labour, and but eight in meals, sleep, and other necessaries." And to one that admired his great industry, he returned this by way of complaint: "Ah! I have consumed my life in laboriously doing nothing." And to another, that inquired of his wisdom and learning, what course to take, he solemnly answered, "Be serious." Such was the sense he had, how much a serious life excelled, and was of force towards a dying hour.

XXV. To whom I join Salmasius, that famous French scholar, and the other's contemporary, who after his many volumes of learning, by which he had acquired great veneration among men of books, confessed so far to have mistakentrue learning, and that in which solid happiness consists, that he exclaimed thus against himself: "Oh! I have lost a world of time; time, that most precious thing in the world; whereof, had I but one year more, it should be spent in David's Psalms, and Paul's Epistles. Oh, Sirs," said he to those about him, "mind the world less, and God more: the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, that is understanding."

XXVI. Francis Junius, an ingenious person, who hath written his own life, as he was reading Tully de Legibus, fell into a persuasion,Nihil curare Deum, nec sui, nec alieni; till in a tumult in Lyons, the Lord wonderfully delivered him from imminent death; so that he was forced to acknowledge a divine Providence therein, and his father hearing the dangerous ways that his son was misled into, sent for him home, where he carefully and piously instructed him, and caused him to read over the New Testament; of which himself writeth thus: "When I opened the New Testament, I first lighted upon John's first chapter, "In the beginning was the word," &c. I read part of the chapter, and was suddenly convinced, that the divinity of the argument, and the majesty and authority of the writing, did exceedingly excel all the eloquence of human writings: my body trembled, my mind was astonished, and was so affected all that day, that I knew not where and what I was. Thou wast mindful of me, O my God, according to the multitude of thy mercies, and calledst home thy lost sheep into the fold." And, as Justin Martyr of old, so he of late professed, that the power of godliness in a plain simple Christian wrought so upon him, that he could not but take up a strict and a serious life.

XXVII. A. Rivetus, a man of learning, and much reverenced in the Dutch nation, after a long life of study, in search of Divine knowledge, upon his death bed, being discoursed by his friend of heavenly things, brake forth inthis manner: "God has learned me more of himself in ten days' sickness, than I could get by all my labour and studies." So near a way, so short a cut it is to the knowledge of God, when people come into the right way, which is to turn, in their minds and hearts, to the voice of God, and learn of Him, who is a Spirit, to be taught of Him, and led by Him: For in righteousness such shall be established, and great shall be their peace.

A Letter from James, Earl of Marlborough, a little before his Death, in the Battle at Sea, on the Coast of Holland, &c.

XXVIII. "I believe the goodness of your nature, and the friendship you have always borne me, will receive with kindness the last office of your friend. I am in health enough of body, and, through the mercy of God, in Jesus Christ, well disposed in mind. This I premise, that you may be satisfied that what I write proceeds not from any fantastic terror of mind, but from a sober resolution of what concerns myself, and earnest desire to do you more good after my death, than mine example (God of his mercy pardon the badness of it!) in my lifetime may do you harm. I will not speak aught of the vanity of this world; your own age and experience will save that labour: but there is a certain thing that goeth up and down in the world, called religion, dressed, and pretended fantastically, and to purposes bad enough, which yet by such evil dealings loseth not its being. The great good God hath not left it without a witness, more or less, sooner or later, in every man's bosom, to direct us in the pursuit of it; and for the avoiding those inextricable disquisitions and entanglements our own frail reasons would perplex us withal, God in his infinite mercy hath given us his holy word, in which, as there are many things hard to be understood,so there is enough plain and easy to quiet our minds, and direct us concerning our future being. I confess to God and you, I have been a great neglecter, and, I fear, despiser of it: God of his infinite mercy pardon me the dreadful fault! But when I retired myself from the noise and deceitful vanity of the world, I found no true comfort in any other resolution than what I had from thence: I commend, from the bottom of my heart, the same to your, I hope, happy use. Dear Hugh, let us be more generous, than to believe we die as the beasts that perish; but with a christian, manly, brave resolution, look to what is eternal. I will not trouble you further. The only great God, and holy God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, direct you to a happy end of your life, and send us a joyful resurrection! So prays your true friend,

"Marlborough."

XXIX. The late Sir Henry Vane must be too fresh in memory to need a character; but it is certain, his parts were of the first rate, and superior to the generality of men; but he would often say, he owed them to religion. In his youth he was much addicted to company, and promised little to business; but in reading a book, called, "The Signs of a Godly Man," and being convicted in himself that they were just, but that he had no share in any one of them, he fell into that extreme anguish and horror, that for some days and nights he took little food or rest, which at once dissolved his old friendships, and made those impressions and resolutions to religion, that neither university, courts, princes, nor parents, nor any losses or disappointments that threatened his new course of life, could weaken or alter. And though this laid him under some disadvantages for a time, his great integrity and abilities quickly broke through that obscurity; so that those of very differing sentiments did not only admire,but very often desired him to accept the most eminent negotiations of his country, which he served according to his own principles with great success, and a remarkable self-denial. This great man's maxim was, Religion was the best master, and the best friend; for it made men wise, and would never leave them that never left it; which he found true in himself: for as it made him wiser than those that had been his teachers, so it made him firmer than any hero, having something more than nature to support him: which was the judgment as well of foreigners as others, that had the curiosity to see him die. Making good some meditations of his own, viz.: "The day of death is the judge of all our other days: the very trial and touch-stone of the actions of our life. It is the end that crowns the work, and a good death honoureth a man's whole life. The fading corruption and loss of this life is the passage into a better. Death is no less essential to us, than to live or to be born. In flying death, thou fliest thyself; thy essence is equally parted into these two, life and death. It is no small reproach to a Christian, whose faith is in immortality, and the blessedness of another life, to fear death much, which is the necessary passage thereunto."

XXX. The late earl of Rochester was inferior to nobody in wit, and hardly anybody ever used it worse, if we believe him against himself in his dying reflections; an account of which I have had from some that visited him in his sickness, besides that larger one, made public by the Bishop of Salisbury. It was then that he came to think there was a God, for he felt his lashes on his conscience, and that there was such a thing as virtue, and a reward for it. Christianity was no longer a worldly or absurd design; but Christ, a Saviour, and a most merciful one; and his doctrines plain, just, and reasonable, and the true way to felicity here and hereafter. Admiring and adoringthat mercy to him, which he had treated with so much infidelity and obstinate contempt: wishing only for more life to confute his past one, and in some measure to repair the injuries he had done to religion by it; begging forgiveness for Christ's sake, though he thought himself the most unworthy of it for his own,—thus died the witty Lord Rochester, and this retreat he made from the world he had so great a name in. May the loose wits of the times, as he desired, take warning by him, and not leave their repentance to a dying bed!

XXXI. A noble young man of the family of Howard, having yielded too much to the temptations of youth, when upon his sick bed, which proved his dying bed, fell under the power and agony of great convictions, mightily bewailing himself in the remembrance of his former extravagancies; crying strongly to God to forgive him, abhorring his former course, and promising amendment, if God renewed life to him. However, he was willing to die, having tasted of the love and forgiveness of God; warning his acquaintance and kindred that came to see him to fear God, and forsake the pleasures and vanity of this world: and so willingly yielded his soul from the troubles of time, and frailties of mortality.

XXXII. The late princess Elizabeth of the Rhine of right claimeth a memorial in this discourse, her virtue giving greater lustre to her name than her quality, which yet was of the greatest in the German empire. She chose a single life, as freest of care, and best suited to the study and meditation she was always inclined to; and the chief diversion she took, next to the air, was in some such plain and housewifely entertainments as knitting, &c. She had a small territory, which she governed so well, that she showed herself fit for a greater. She would constantly, every last day in the week, sit in judgment, and hear and determine causes herself; where her patience, justice, andmercy were admirable; frequently remitting her forfeitures, where the party was poor, or otherwise meritorious. And what was excellent, though unusual, she would temper her discourses with religion, and strangely draw concerned parties to submission and agreement; exercising not so much the rigour of her power, as the power of her persuasion. Her meekness and humility appeared to me extraordinary; she never considered the quality, but the merit of the people she entertained. Did she hear of a retired man, hid from the world, and seeking after the knowledge of a better, she was sure to set him down in the catalogue of her charity, if he wanted it; I have casually seen, I believe, fifty tokens sealed and superscribed to the several poor subjects of her bounty, whose distances would not suffer them to know one another, though they knew her, whom yet some of them had never seen. Thus, though she kept no sumptuous table in her own court, she spread the tables of the poor in their solitary cells; breaking bread to virtuous pilgrims, according to their want, and her ability. Abstemious in herself, and in apparel void of all vain ornaments.

I must needs say, her mind had a noble prospect; her eye was to a better and more lasting inheritance than can be found below: which made her often to despise the greatness of courts, and learning of the schools, of which she was an extraordinary judge. Being once at Hamburgh, a religious person, whom she went to see for religion's sake, telling her it was too great an honour for him, that he should have a visitant of her quality come under his roof, that was allied to so many great kings and princes of this world, she humbly answered: "If they were godly as well as great, it would be an honour indeed; but if you knew what that greatness was as well as I, you would value less that honour." Being in some agony of spirit, after a religious meeting we had in her own chamber, shesaid, "It is a hard thing to be faithful to what one knows: Oh, the way is strait! I am afraid I am not weighty enough in my spirit to walk in it." After another meeting, she uttered these words: "I have records in my library, that the Gospel was first brought out of England hither into Germany, by the English, and now it is come again." She once withdrew, on purpose to give her servants the liberty of discoursing with us, that they might the more freely put what questions of conscience they desired to be satisfied in; for they were religious: suffering both them, and the poorest of her town, to sit by her in her own bedchamber, where we had two meetings. I cannot forget her last words, when I took my leave of her: "Let me desire you to remember me, though I live at this distance, and that you should never see me more: I thank you for this good time; and know and be assured, though my condition subjects me to divers temptations, yet my soul hath strong desires after the best things." She lived her single life till about sixty years of age, and then departed at her own house in Herwerden, in the year 1680, as much lamented as she had lived beloved of the people: to whose real worth, I do, with a religious gratitude, for her kind reception, dedicate this memorial.

XXXIII. Bulstrode Whitlock, has left his own character in his "Memoirs of English affairs;" a book that shows both his employments and greater abilities. He was almost ever a commissioner and companion with those great men that the lords and commons of England, at several times, appointed to treat with King Charles I. for a peace. He was commissioner of the great seal, ambassador to the crown of Sweden, and sometimes president to the council: a scholar, a lawyer, a statesman; in short, he was one of the most accomplished men of the age. Being with him sometimes at his own house in Berkshire, where he gave me that account I have related of chancellorOxenstiern, amongst many serious things he spoke, this was very observable, "I have ever thought," said he, "there has been one true religion in the world, and that is the work of the Spirit of God in the hearts and souls of men. There have been indeed divers forms and shapes of things, through the many dispensations of God to men, answerable to his own wise ends, in reference to the low and uncertain state of man in the world; but the old world had the Spirit of God, for it strove with them; and the new world has had the Spirit of God, both Jew and Gentile, and it strives with all; and they that have been led by it, have been the good people in every dispensation of God to the world. And I myself must say, I have felt it from a child to convince me of my evil and vanity, and it has often given me a true measure of this poor world, and some taste of divine things; and it is my grief I did not more early apply my soul to it. For I can say, since my retirement from the greatness and hurries of the world, I have felt something of the work and comfort of it, and that it is both ready and able to instruct, and lead and preserve those that will humbly and sincerely hearken to it. So that my religion is the good Spirit of God in my heart; I mean, what that has wrought in me and for me." And after a meeting at his house, to which he gave an entire liberty for all that pleased to come, he was so deeply affected with the testimony of the light, spirit, and grace of Christ in man, as the gospel dispensation, that after the meeting closed in prayer, he rose up, and pulled off his hat, and said, "This is the everlasting gospel I have heard this day: and I humbly bless the name of God, that He has let me live to see this day, in which the ancient gospel is again preached to them that dwell upon the earth."

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