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aass-h^H£.L 
Book_-S^ 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



SOMETRUITS 

of 

Solitude 




!'■ ; 






^MC^Jdwen Co. 
New York'^ Boston. 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS. 

Two Copies Receiveri 

AUe 25 1903 

Cepyright Entry | 

CLASS CL XXc. No •! 

COPY B. I 



■p^'sX^ 



><Ac-5ou. 



Copyright, igo^ 
By H. M. Cai,dweli, Co. 



Introduction 

npHIS little "Enchiridion," as its 
author called it, this compendium 
of cheerful rules for the conduct of 
life, has become so completely for- 
gotten that London was scoured for 
a long time in vain before a copy 
could be found on which to base the 
present essay. Yet it was once, and 
for a long time continued to be, among 
the most popular of books. During 
the eighteenth century, it was seldom 
out of print, and abundant editions of 
it in the British Museum testify to the 
solace which its fortifying maxims sup- 
plied to generation after generation of 
3 



^ Introduction 

men and women. Oddly enough, it 
was in the year when its century of 
existence was rounded off — in 1793 
— that its latest regular reissue oc- 
curred, but even in the nineteenth cen- 
tury it was printed several times. 
Now, however, the poppy seemed to 
be finally scattered over its pages, and 
" Some Fruits of Solitude " to have 
been gathered to the storehouse of 
oblivion, when an enchanter has come, 
and wakened the delicate dead thing 
into life. 

The publication of Robert Louis 
Stevenson's " Letters " has revealed 
the fact that he was a warm admirer 
of the " Fruits of Solitude." He met 
with the little book at a critical mo- 
ment of his own career, in December, 
1879, while he was wandering discon- 
4 



Introduction ^ 

solately in the streets of San Francisco, 
convalescent after a very dangerous ill- 
ness, yet " still somewhat of a mossy 
ruin," and doubtful in what spirit to 
face the world again. To the exile, 
with his hopes reexcited, his spirits 
grown buoyant, his moral fibres tight- 
ened by hardship and fear, the small 
book of Penn's maxims came with 
what seemed a direct message from 
heaven. Stevenson was singularly 
moved by the " Fruits of Solitude," 
which he picked up ignorantly on the 
stall of a San Francisco houqutniste^ and 
the depth of his emotion was proved by 
its durability. Two years afterwards 
he gave that particular copy of the 
book to Mr. Horatio F. Brown, with 
these words : — 

" If ever in all my ' human conduct' 
5 



^ Introduction 

I have done a better thing to any 
fellow creature than handing on to 
you this sweet, dignified, and whole- 
some book, I know I shall hear of it 
on the last day. To write a book like 
this were impossible ; at least one can 
hand it on, with a wrench, one to an- 
other. My wife cries out and my own 
heart misgives me, but still — here it is." 

And in a later letter to the same 
friend : — 

" I hope, if you get thus far, you 
will know what an invaluable present 
I have made you. Even the copy 
was dear to me, printed in the colony 
that Penn established, and carried in 
my pocket all about the San Francisco 
streets, read in street-cars and ferry- 
boats, when I was sick unto death, and 
found in all times and places a peaceful 
6 



Introduction Hf 

and sweet companion. But I hope, 
when you shall have reached this note, 
my gift will not have been in vain ; 
for while, just now, we are so busy 
and intelligent, there is not the man 
living — no, nor recently dead — that 
could put, with so lovely a spirit, so 
much honest, kind wisdom into words." 
Stevenson had intended to make this 
book and its author the subject of one 
of his critical essays. In February, 
1880, he was preparing to begin it. 
But the sickness unto death, of which 
he speaks in the letter above quoted, 
turned his thoughts in other directions. 
In April of the same year, he is still 
" waiting for Penn," but the great 
changes in his fortune and duty, of 
which we know, immediately inter- 
vened, and carried him off to other 
7 



^ Introduction 

latitudes and other work. He never 
found the opportunity to discourse to 
us about the book which he loved so 
much. But it has left an indelible 
stamp on the tenor of his moral writ- 
ings. The philosophy of R. L. S., as 
revealed to us from 1879 onwards, is 
tinctured through and through with the 
honest, shrewd, and genial maxims of 
Penn. Courage and common-sense, 
a determination to win an honourable 
discharge in the bankrupt business of 
human life, a cheerfulness in facing 
responsibility, — these were qualities 
which Stevenson possessed already, but 
in which he was marvellously strength- 
ened by commerce with " Some Fruits 
of Solitude." So the little Quakerish 
volume has a double claim upon us, — 
for itself, so clean and sensible and 
8 



Introduction^ 

manly a treatise, and for its illustrious 
student and " sedulous ape," our ad- 
mirable R. L. S. 

That "Some Fruits of Solitude" 
was written by William Penn has 
never, so far as I know, been doubted, 
and there seems no reason to question 
the fact. As, however, the biblio- 
graphical authorities attribute the little 
book to Penn as confidently as though 
he had publicly owned it, it seems fair 
to say that there is little or no external 
evidence of his authorship. The first 
edition, which was licensed on the 24th 
of May, 1693, ^^ anonymous, and so 
are all the subsequent reprints until 
quite modern times. It was not until 
1 7 18, and after the first part had been 
many times reissued, that the " More 
Fruits of Solitude," which has ever 
9 



-^ Introduction 

since been treated as a continuation by 
the same hand, made its earliest ap- 
pearance. But it would almost seem 
as though there were evidence as to 
Penn's authorship of this latter, which 
did not exist as to the former, since the 
editor of Penn's " Select Works," in 
1 77 1, says that the title " More Fruits " 
shows that there was " a former work 
of the same nature." It does so, of 
course ; but how came the editor of 
1 77 1 to make so strange a remark, 
if he had the double work before him ? 
Finally, there was printed as lately as 
1875 the following maxim, said to have 
been discovered written on a plain half- 
sheet of paper : — 

" He is a wise and a good man, too, 
that knows his original and end ; and 
10 



Introduction ^ 

answers it 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. Wm. Penn." 

This is exactly in the manner of 
"More Fruits," for which it is diffi- 
cult to believe that it was not written, 
and may be taken as an important 
evidence of the authorship of that 
book. In 1726 was published a work 
of Penn's, called " Fruits of a Father's 
Love," which had a certain likeness in 
subject to the little volumes here re- 
II 



^ Introduction 

printed j this was described as " The 
advice of William Penn to his children, 
relating to their civil and religious con- 
duct." It was often reprinted, and 
from 1790 onwards usually appears 
bound up with the " Fruits of Soli- 
tude." There is even another treatise, 
bearing the same title, '^ Fruits of a 
Father's Love," and opening with the 
words, " My dear Wife and Children," 
whereas that first published in 1726 
begins " My dear Children." These 
works and their tangled bibliography 
need not, however, detain us, for they 
are totally distinct from the subject of 
the present reprint. There are several 
French translations of the latter, but 
they throw no light on the question of 
authorship. 

It is, finally, to be remarked that 



Introduction ^ 

very considerable differences exist be- 
tween the text as printed in 1693 ^^^ 
onwards, and that substituted in 1718. 
The earliest editions are full of positive 
blunders and misprints, and contain 
substantially less matter than what is 
now the standard text. The fact that 
the latter appears in the year when 
" More Fruits " was first given to the 
public, leads us to suppose that both 
were printed in 17 18 from a revised 
MS. of the author's. In the present 
reprint it is the text of 17 18, not of 
1693, which is given. 

If we turn to the book itself, we 
find not very much which can aid us 
in conjecturing the exact date of its 
composition. It must have been 
written between 1665, before which 
date Penn cannot have seen the " Re- 
13 



^ Introduction 

flexions et Maximes," and 1693, when 
the volume was licensed. The author 
blesses God for his retirement. He 
has been forcibly withdrawn from the 
world, and never had so much leisure 
in all his life before. He reviews his 
career and admits that he has been 
lavish of his time. He does not con- 
sider that he has " been the worst or 
the idlest man in the world, nor is he 
the oldest." William Penn, born on the 
14th of October, 1644, was still in his 
forty-ninth year when " Some Fruits 
of Solitude " was licensed. He had 
enjoyed a large number of forced 
opportunities of retirement ; he had 
languished in quite a number of cele- 
brated gaols. An enumeration of 
these opportunities may be worth 
giving. Penn went to prison for a 
14 



Introduction ^ 

few days in 1667, for publicly profes- 
sing himself a Quaker. For publish- 
ing his attack on the Athanasian Creed, 
— "A Sandy Foundation shaken," — 
he was committed to the Tower 
from December, 1668, to July, 1669. 
There he wrote not only his celebrated 
arraignment of " hat-honour " in the 
shape of the once popular treatise, 
called " No Cross, No Crown," but 
three other controversial pamphlets. 
There was neither time nor temper on 
that occasion for optimistic maxims 
upon the conduct of life. In Sep- 
tember, 1670, Penn was committed to 
Newgate '^ for speaking in Grace- 
church Street," as a friendly jury 
persisted in putting it, but he was 
released a few days later. Finally, in 
February, 1671, he was arrested while 
15 



^ Introduction 

addressing a Quakers' meeting in 
Wheeler Street, and was thrown into 
prison again, this time for six months. 
Here was an opportunity for writing 
maxims, and yet I do not believe that 
the tempestuous young man, who was 
only twenty-seven still, was ripe enough 
to form such grave and serene reflections 
as fill the " Fruits of Solitude." 

During the reign of James II., as 
every one knows, William Penn en- 
joyed an extreme, and it must be 
admitted a somewhat equivocal popu- 
larity at court. The king allowed no 
interference with the foibles of his 
eccentric Quaker friend, and he con- 
firmed him in the vast and vague 
seigneury of Pennsylvania. Penn in- 
dulged in no enforced retirement dur- 
ing the reign of James II. But when 
i6 



Introduction^ 

the Stuart fell, and particularly later, 
after the Battle of Beechey Head, the 
exiled king's close friend was not un- 
naturally suspected of holding corre- 
spondence with him, and it became 
discreet for Penn to disappear for a 
while. There was a warrant out 
against him, and he was almost cap- 
tured as he returned (January i6, 
1690) from George Fox's funeral; 
but he escaped, and for several months 
he continued in hiding. Nor was he 
perfectly reinstated until after his 
appearance before William III. in 
Council in the autumn of 1693. H^i"^^ 
then, as I believe, we have the ap- 
proximate date of these little treatises, 
written, not in the agitated vicissitudes 
of Penn's fiery youth, but in his ad- 
vanced middle life ; not in prison, but 
17 



^ Introduction 

in the Sussex homestead to which he 
noiselessly withdrew after the appari- 
tion of the French Fleet in the Chan- 
nel in 1690. 

The form of " Some Fruits of Soli- 
tude " is wholly due to the influence of 
La Rochefoucauld's famous compen- 
dium of sentences, the vogue of which 
was at its height in England when 
Penn wrote. Even the title of Penn's 
work closely imitates that of his French 
model, since what are " Reflexions ou 
Sentences et Maximes Morales " in 
La Rochefoucauld become " Reflections 
and Maxims relating to Conduct " in 
his English follower. The movement 
in France towards the production of 
short, bright sentences, each containing 
one idea, and each individually effective 
in its keenness and conciseness, had 
18 



Introduction ^ 

reached a climax soon after the Eng- 
lish Restoration. There had grown up 
in France a feeling that the phrase 
must be reduced to simplicity of shape, 
must be relieved of its parenthetical 
flaps and appendages, and must pro- 
duce a sharp and precise effect. 
Madame de Sable and Jacques Esprit 
had laid down the form of the maxim, 
but it needed genius, it needed the 
extraordinary art and wit of the great 
Duke of La Rochefoucauld, to bring 
the new conception to the birth in a 
perfectly finished and current shape. 
His " Maximes," after having been 
pirated at Amsterdam in 1664, found 
their proper issue in Paris in 1665, and 
they became at once the model of all 
sententious and oracular aphorisms. 
It was in England that La Roche- 
19 



^ Introduction 

foucauld's influence was more instantly 
felt than anywhere else out of France. 
The " Maximes " contributed greatly 
to the formation of an improved Eng- 
lish taste, and to a final breaking up of 
the lumbering construction of the 
national prose, with its coiled, inter- 
minable sentences. In 1670, too, 
came, in France, the " Pensees " of 
Pascal, in 1687 the " Caracteres " of 
La Bruyere ; here in London people 
of quality and temperament might 
converse with the epigrammatic Saint 
Evremond. All these influences were 
more or less fairly at work on William 
Penn, when he wrote " The Fruits of 
Solitude." But, if we are right in 
supposing that this took place in the 
early years of the reign of William 
III., it is curious to note that at the 



Introduction ^ 

very same time a scholar of La Roche- 
foucauld still closer than Penn was 
writing Maxims ; this was Halifax, 
whose "Thoughts and Reflections," 
though not printed until 1750, were 
certainly composed between 1690 and 
1695. But Penn is as far removed 
from Halifax as Halifax from their 
common model. La Rochefoucauld is 
the very living spirit of negative and 
sarcastic wit. In his lapidary art ma- 
lignity is the polishing powder which 
completes the work. In that of Hali- 
fax common sense reigns supreme, the 
trimming skill of the perfect man of 
the world, without illusion, without 
malice. But in that of Penn all is 
absolute rose-colour, and we may be 
allowed to fear that La Rochefoucauld 
would have hastened to repudiate a 



^ Introduction 

disciple who had learned so little of 
the hollowness and bitterness of life. 

For life was not bitter to Penn. He 
combats the cynical attitude throughout. 
His heart is on his sleeve ; he will take 
you aside, although he sees you for the 
first time, and tell you everything. 
Nothing is more amusing than Penn's 
rooted dislike to reserve ; " they are 
next to unnatural," he says, " that are 
not communicable." Nor has he any 
foible for political prudence ; he had, 
we must presume, a limited sympathy 
with Halifax. '^ Men must be saved 
in this world by their want of faith," 
says the cautious Trimmer ; but Penn 
hotly replies, " A cunning man is a 
kind of lurcher in politics." On the 
whole, in these as in his other utter- 
ances, we see Penn revealed as a man 



Introduction ^ 

of no great subtlety or finesse d' esprit^ 
but as an honest and shrewd observer 
of life, Quakerish, utilitarian, optimis- 
tic. He does not often rise so high as 
in the section called "Union of 
Friends " (which I suspect went home 
with peculiar force to R. L. S.), but 
he seldom sinks. The reader, if he 
finds his attention flagging in " Some 
Fruits," must push on to " More 
Fruits," which, in my opinion, are 
sounder, juicier, and grown against 
a sunnier wall of experience than 
their forerunners. But all are delicate, 
and the little basket which holds them 
will be found, as Stevenson said, " in 
all times and places a peaceful and 
sweet companion." 

EDMUND GOSSE. 



23 



The Preface 

-p EADER, — 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 publish'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 
25 






The Preface 



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 Ex- 
cesses of others, as well Societies and 
Governments^ as private Families, 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 Neighbour and himself, better 
than 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. 

26 



The Prefaced 

« 

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 cer- 
tainly most strictly reckon with us, 
when Time shall be no more. 

It is of that Moment to us in Refer- 
ence 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 /<? What Ends 
he Employs it ; and what Returns he 
makes to God, his Neighbour and Him- 
self for it. Will he ne'er have a Leidger 
for this ? This, the greatest Wisdom 
and Work of Life. 

To come but once into the World, 
27 



-^The Preface 

and Trifle away our true Enjoyment 
of it, and of our selves in it, is lament- 
able indeed. This one Reflection would 
yield a thinking Person great Instruc- 
tion. And since nothing below Man 
can so Think ; Man, in being Thought- 
less^ must needs fall below himself. 
And that, to be sure, such do, as are 
unconcern d in the Use of their most 
Precious Time. 

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

We understand little of the Works 
of God, either in Nature or Grace, 
We pursue False Knowledge, and Mis- 
take Education extreamly. We are Vio- 
lent in our Affections, Confused and 
28 



The Preface^ 

Immethodical in our whole Life ; mak- 
ing That a Burthen^ which was given 
for a Blessing \ and so of little Com- 
fort to our selves or others : Misappre- 
hending 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 Incumbering 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 
29 



^The Preface 

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, he 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 Busi- 
ness not being Ostentation^ but Charity. 
'Tis Miscellaneous in the Matter of it, 
30 



The Preface d 

and by no means Artificial in the Com- 
posure. 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 Z//e ; 
Since whether thou art Parent or Child^ 
Prince or Subject^ Master or Servant^ 
Single or Married^ Puhlick or Private^ 
Mean or Honourable^ Rich or Poor^ 
Prosperous or Improsperous^ in Peace or 
Controversy^ in Business or Solitude; 
Whatever be thy Inclination or Aver- 
sion, Practice or Duty, thou wilt find 
something not unsuitably said for thy 
Direction and Advantage. Accept and 
Improve what deserves thy Notice ; 
The rest excuse, and place to account 
of good Will to Thee and the whole 
Creation of God. 



31 



^ome fmit^ of ^oUtutie 

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 them- 
selves, 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 Gar- 

33 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

dens, 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 Struc- 
ture 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 well as our Pleasure, to know. We 
cannot doubt of this when we are told 
that the Invisible Things of God are 
brought to light by the Things that are 
seen; and consequently we read our 
Duty in thern 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 g'reat 
and stately Volume of natural Things ; 
34 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



and may be not improperly styled the 
Hieroglyphicks of a better : But, alas ! 
how very few Leaves of it do we seri- 
ously 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 little 
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 Chil- 
dren 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 

3S 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

Words and Rules; to know Grammer 
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 
Physical, or natural Knowledge un- 
cultivated 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. 

8. 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. 

36 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

9. It were Happy if we studied 
Nature more in natural Things ; and 
acted according to Nature; whose 
Rules are few, plain and most reason- 
able. 

10. Let us begin where she begins, 
go her Pace, and close always where 
she ends, and we cannot miss of being 
good Naturalists. 

11. The Creation would not be 
longer a Riddle to us : The Heavens, 
Earth, and Waters, with their respect- 
ive, 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 : 

Z7 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

The World wearing the Mark of its 
Maker, whose Stamp is everywhere 
visible, and the Characters 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 misusing this noble Creation, that 
has the Stamp and Voice of a Deity 
every where, and in every Thing to the 
Observing. 

38 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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

16. Many able Gardiners and Hus- 
bandmen are yet Ignorant of the Rea- 
son of their Calling; as most Artif- 
icers are of the Reason of their own 
Rules that govern their excellent 
Workmanship. But a Naturalist and 
Mechanick of this sort, is Master of 
the Reason of both, and might be of 
the Practice too, if his Industry kept 
pace with his Speculation; which 
were very commendable ; and without 

39 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 Philos- 
ophers 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 the World 
he has given us, and can best tell us 
what we are and should be, we are 
even Strangers 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. 



40 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



PRIDE 

1 8. 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 an- 
swer 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. 

41 






Reflections and Maxims 



20. If the worth of a Gift sets the 
Obligation, and directs the return of 
the Party that receives 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 knows not how to 
estimate his Creator, because he knows 
not how to value his Creation. If we 
consider his Make, and lovely Com- 
positure; the several Stories of his 
lovely Structure. His divers Mem- 
bers, 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 

42 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

refreshed, and with an unspeakable 
Dexterity and Motion sets all Parts at 
work to feed themselves. And last 
of all, 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 Union 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 
43 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 Author- 
ity ; 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 

44 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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. 

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 does he 
approach and make his Court? But 
to God, how dry and formal and con- 
strained in his Devotion? 

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

2y. 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. 



45 



^ Reflections and Maxims 



LUXURY 

28. Such is now become our Deli- 
cacy, 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. 

29. In short, Man is spending all 
upon a hare 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 all his proud Pre- 
tences to Wit and Understanding. 



46 



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 consid- 
erable 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 if, and yet do it. 



47 



^ Reflections and Maxims 



DISAPPOINTMENT and 
RESIGNATION 

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

33. To repine at them does not 
mend the Matter : It is only to grum- 
ble 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 how little we de- 

48 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

serve what is left, our Passion will 
cool, and our Murmurs will turn into 
Thankfulness. 

35. If our Hairs fall not to the 
Ground, less do we or our Substance 
without God's Providence. 

36. Nor can we fall below the Arms 
of God, how low soever it be we 
fall. 

37. For though our Saviour's Pas- 
sion is over, his Compassion is not. 
That 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 

49 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 hard for us to look on 
things 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. 

CONSCIOUSNESS 

41. We are apt to be very pert at 
censuring others, where we will not 
endure advice our selves. And noth- 
ing, shews our Weakness more than to 
be so sharp-sighted at spying other 

so 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Mens Faults, and so purblind about our 
own. 

42. When the Actions of a Neigh- 
bour 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 /// 
Nature, as well as from an inordinate 
Value of our selves: For we love 
Rambling better than home, and blam- 
ing the unhappy, rather than covering 
and relieving them. 

44. In such Occasions some shew 
their Malice, and are witty upon Mis- 
fortunes; others their Justice, they can 
reflect a pace : But few or none their 



SI 



#4 Reilections and Maxims 

Charity; especially if it be about 
Money 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, 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, 
Covet ousness 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 o^it of his own 
trusty Hands, though it had been to 
have brought him back the hides in 
return. But the Proverb is just, Vice 
should not correct Sin, 
52 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 Abil- 
ity ; 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. 

49. The more merciful Acts thou 
dost, the more Mercy thou wilt re- 

53 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

ceive; and if with a charitable Im- 
ployment of thy Temporal Riches, 
thou gainest eternal Treasure, thy 
Purchase is infinite: Thou wilt have 
found the Art of Multiplying indeed. 

FRUGALITY or BOUNTY 

50. Frugality is good, if Liberality 
be join'd with it. The first is leaving 
off superfluous 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 

54 



Reflections and Maxims^ 

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 Government to suffer so much 
Poverty and Excess. 

53. Were the Superfluities of a Na- 
tion valued, and made a perpetual 
Tax or Benevolence, there would be 
more Almshouses than Poor; Schools 
than Scholars ; and enough to spare 
for Government besides. 

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



SS 



^ Reflections and Maxims 



DISCIPLINE 

55. If thou wouldst be happy and 
easie 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 

5^ 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

leads too many to do what is worse 
than nothing. 

58. A Garden, an Elaboratory, a 
Work - house, Improvements and 
Breeding, are pleasant and profitable 
Diversions to the Idle and Ingenious : 
For here they miss 111 Company, and 
converse with Nature and Art; whose 
Variety are equally grateful and in- 
structing; and preserve a good Con- 
stitution 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 wholesome, but not costly 



57 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

Food, and be rather cleanly than 
dainty in ordering it. 

6i. The Receipts of Cookery are 
swelled to a Volume, but a good Stom- 
ach excels them all ; to which nothing 
contributes more than Industry and 
Temperance, 

62. It is a cruel Folly to offer up to 
Ostentation so many Lives of Crea- 
tures, 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 good as a Feast: But it is cer- 
tainly better, if Superfluity be a Fault, 
which never fails to be at Festivals. 

64. If thou rise with an Appetite, 
thou art sure never to sit down with- 
out one. 

65. Rarely drink but when- thou art 

58 



Reflections and Maxims 



?=vr 



dry; nor then, between Meals, if it 
can be avoided. 

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

67. Strong Liquors are good at 
some Times, and in small Propor- 
tions; being better for Physick than 
Food, for Cordials than common Use. 

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

69. What therefore he has made 
rare, don't thou use too commonly: 
Lest thou shouldest invert the Use 
and Order of things; become Wan- 



59 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

ton and Voluptuous; and thy Bless- 
ings prove a Curse, 

70. Let nothing be lost, said our 
Saviour. But that is lost that is mis- 
used, 

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

y2. All Excess is ill: But Drunk- 
enness is of the worst Sort. It spoils 
Health, dismounts 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 dis- 
tinguishes a Man from a Beast. 



60 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



APPAREL 

73. Excess in Apparel is another 
costly Folly. The very Trimming 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 fantastical ; 
and for Use and Decency, and not 
for Pride. 

75. If thou art clean and warm, it 
is sufficient; 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 



I 



61 



■^ Reflections and Maxims 

of our Minds more than of our Bodies, 
if we would be of her Communion. 

"jj. We are told with Truth, that 
Meekness and Modesty are the Rich 
and Charming Attire of the Soul: 
And the plainer the Dress, the more 
Distinctly, and with greater Lustre, 
their Beauty shines. 

78. It is great Pity such Beauties 
are so rare, and those of JezeheVs 
Forehead are so common: Whose 
Dresses are Incentives to Lust; but 
Bars instead 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 chief est 

62 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Motive, thou wilt soon grow weary 
of a Married State, and stray from 
thy Promise, to search out thy Pleas- 
ures in forbidden Places. 

8i. Let not Enjoyment lessen, but 
augment Affection; it being the bas- 
est 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 vol- 
atile. Love grows. Lust wastes 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 deep, this superficial; 
this transient, and that parmanent. 

84. They that Marry for Money can- 
not have the true Satisfaction of Mar- 

63 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

riage; 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 an- 
swer 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, re- 
pairs 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 

64 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

mistake Earth for Heaven, and wor- 
ship 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! 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 in his Heart 
to open one of them, to help to save 
his Life. 

65 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

89. Such a Man is felo de se, and 
deserves not Christian BiiriaL 

90. He is a common Nusance, a 
Weyer cross the Stream, that stops 
the Current: An Obstruction, to be 
remov'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 al- 
ways looks like Lent; a sort of Lay 
Minim. In some Sense he may be 
compared 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 aflfects to be 
thought poor, to escape Robbery and 
Taxes: And by looking as if he 
wanted an Alms, excusing himself 

66 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

from giving any. He ever goes late 
to Markets, to cover buying the 
worst: But does it because that is 
cheapest. He lives of the OifaL 
His Life were an insupportable Pun- 
ishment 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 him- 
self, that becomes a Slave to his Ser- 
vant; 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 

67 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 in- 
deed a Wife implies: For she is but 
half a Wife that is not, or is not ca- 
pable of being such a Friend. 

94. 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 

68 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

want the Noblest Comfort of a Mar- 
ried Life. 

96. The Satisfaction of our Senses 
is low, short, and transient: But the 
Mind gives a more raised and ex- 
tended Pleasure, and is capable of 
an Happiness founded upon Reason; 
not bounded and limited by the Cir- 
cumstances that Bodies are confined 
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: Sickness, Poverty 
or Disgrace, being not able to shake 
it, because it is not under the mov- 
ing Influences of Worldly Contin- 
gences. 

98. The Satisfaction of those that 
do so is in well-doing, and in the 

69 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 for their 
Prospect, the most Noble and Won- 
derful 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 zeal- 
ous, affectionate and sincere; nothing 
more contented and constant than 
such a Couple; nor no greater tem- 
poral Felicity than to be one of them, 
70 



1 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

100. Between a Man and his Wife 
nothing ought to rule but Love, Au- 
thority is for Children and Servants; 
yet not without Sweetness. 

10 1. 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, per- 
haps, 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. 

104. It is a general Fault, not to be 

71 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 un- 
pleasant Reflection to affectionate 
Parents. 

105. Frequent Visits, Presents, inti- 
mate Correspondence and Intermar- 
riages within allowed Bounds, are 
Means of keeping up the Concern and 
Affection 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. 

12 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

107. There can be no Friendship 
where there is no Freedom. Friend- 
ship 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 where 
no ill is meant ; nay, where it is, 'twill 
easily forgive, and forget too, upon 
small Acknowledgments. 

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

109. One is not happy without the 
other, nor can either of them be miser- 
able 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 Condi- 
tions. 

no. What one enjoys, the other 
13 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

cannot Want. Like the Primitive 
Christians, they have all things in 
common, and no Property hut in one 
another. 

QUALITIES of a FRIEND 

111. A true Friend unbosoms freely, 
advises justly, assists readily, adven- 
tures boldly, takes all patiently, de- 
fends 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, can- 
not but make ill Friends, as well as the 
False. 

114. In short, chuse a Friend as 

74 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

thou dost a Wife, till Death separate 
you. 

115. Yet be not a Friend beyond the 
Altar: But let Virtue bound thy 
Friendship : Else it is not Friendship, 
but an Evil Confederacy. 

116. If my Brother or Kinsman will 
be my Friend, 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, so too 
in Point of Charity, if equally needing 
and deserving. 

CAUTION and CONDUCT 

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

75 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

119. Be Reserved, but not Sour; 
Grave, but not Formal; Bold, but not 
Rash; Humble, but not Servile; Pa- 
tient, 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 re- 
ceivest, and be ever grateful for Fa- 
vours. 

REPARATION 

121. If thou hast done an Injury to 
another, rather own it than defend it. 
One way thou gainest Forgiveness, 
the other, thou doubVst the Wrong and 
Reckoning. 

122. Some oppose Honour to Sub- 
mission: But it can be no Honour to 

76 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 Uncon- 
cernedness, which is a base Neutrality, 
Others will cry. They are both alike; 
thereby involving the Injured with the 

77 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

Guilty, to mince the Matter for the 
Faulty, or cover their own Injustice to 
the wronged Party. 

127. Fear and Gain are great Per- 
verters of Mankind, and where either 
prevail, the Judgment is violated. 

RULES of CONVERSATION 

128. Avoid Company where it is not 
profitable or necessary; and in those 
Occasions speak little, 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 think- 
ing before they answer; which is 
uncivil as well as silly. 

131. If thou thinkest twice, before 

78 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

thou speakest once, thou wilt speak 
twice the better for it. 

132. Better say nothing than not 
to the Purpose. And to speak per- 
tinently, 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 endeavour to gain, 
rather than to expose thy Antagonist. 

134. Give no Advantage in Argu- 
ment, 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 prepare thee to be too in- 
different about what is Right: Nor 
against another Man, to vex him, or 
for meer Trial of Skill; since to in- 

79 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

form, or to be informed, ought to be 
the End of all Conferences. 

136. Men are too apt to be con- 
cerned for their Credit, more than for 
the Cause. 

ELOQUENCE 

137. There is a Truth and Beauty 
in Rhetorick; but it oftener serves 
ill Turns than good ones. 

138. Elegancy, is a good Meen 
and Address given to Matter, be it 
by proper or figurative Speech: 
Where the Words are apt, and Allu- 
sions very natural, Certainly it has 
a moving Grace: But it is too arti- 
ficial for Simplicity, and oftentimes 
for Truth. The Danger is, lest it 
delude the Weak, who in such Cases 

80 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

may mistake the Handmaid for the 
Mistress, if not Error for Truth. 

139. 'Tis certain Truth is least in- 
debted to it, because she has least 
need of it, and least uses it. 

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

141. Such Luxuriants have but 
false Appetites ; like those Gluttons, 
that by Sawces force them, where 
they have no Stomach, and Sacrifice 
to their Pallate, not their Health: 
Which cannot be without great Vanity, 
nor That without some Sin. 

TEMPER 

142. Nothing does Reason more 
Right, than the Coolness of those that 

81 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

offer it: For Truth often suffers 
more by the Heat of its Defenders, 
than from the Arguments of its Op- 
posers. 

143. Zeal ever follows an Appear- 
ance of Truth, and the Assured are 
too apt to be warm; but 'tis their 
weak side in Argument; Zeal being 
better shewn against Sin, than Persons 
or their Mistakes. 

TRUTH 

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



82 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



JUSTICE 

145. Believe nothing against an- 
other but upon good Authority: Nor 
report what may hurt another, unless 
it be a greater hurt to others to con- 
ceal it. 

SECRECY 

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

147. Only trust thy self and an- 
other 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, 

83 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

oftentimes Untruth; 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 ex- 
cuse thy self ; for that is neither Gen- 
erous 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. 

INTEREST 

152. Interest has the Security, tho' 
not the Virtue of a Principle. As the 

84 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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, 
imite 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 

85 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

by the one, but often suffers by the 
other. 

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

158. There may be a Wantonness 
in Search, as well as a Stupidity in 
Trusting. It is great 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. 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

i6i. It is not enough that a thing 
be Right, if it be not fit to be done. 
If not Imprudent, tho' Just, it is not 
advisable. He that loses by getting, 
had better lose than get. 

KNOWLEDGE 

162. Knowledge is the Treasure, 
but Judgment 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 Constitu- 
tion, where the Appetite is great and 
the Digestion is weak. 

165. There are some Men like 
Dictionaries; to be lookt into upon 



87 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

occasions, but have no Connection, and 
are little entertaining. 

1 66. Less Knowledge than Judg- 
ment will always have the advantage 
upon the Injudicious knowing Man. 
, 167. A Wise Man makes what he 
learns his ozvn, 'tother shews he's but 
a Copy, or a Collection at most. 

WIT 

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

169. 'Tis not often tho' it be lively 
and mantling, that it carries a great 
Body with it. 

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



88 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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

172. Yet it must be confessed, that 
Wit gives an Edge to Sense, and rec- 
ommends it extreamly. 

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

OBEDIENCE to PARENTS 

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

175. He that begets thee, owes thee ; 
and has a natural Right over thee. 

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, 

H 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

178. Rebellion 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 indis- 
solvable as the Relation. 

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 general 
Neglect of our Duty. They will be 
our Parents and we must be their 

90 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Children still: And if we cannot act 
for them against God, neither can we 
act against them for ourselves or any- 
thing else. 

BEARING 

182. A Man in Business must put 
up many Affronts, 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 
everything 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 Law- 
ful, constantly perform. 

91 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

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' awk- 
wardly, 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. 

190. It is an Effect of Passion that 
Wisdom corrects, to lay tHy self under 
Resolutions that cannot be zvell made, 
and must be worse performed. 



92 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



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. 

192. The Glory of a Servant is 
Fidelity; which cannot be v^ithout 
Diligence, 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. 



93 



^ Reflections and Maxims 



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 made the Dif- 
ference betwixt Thee and Him. 

198. Let not thy Children Domi- 
neer over thy Servants : Nor suffer 
them to slight thy Children. 

199. Suppress Tales in the gen- 
eral: But where a Matter requires 



94 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

notice, encourage the Complaint, and 
right the Aggrieved. 

200. If a Child, he ought to En- 
treat, 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 Chil- 
dren have the Reversion. 

SERVANT 

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

203. Do thine own Work honestly 
and chearfully: And when that is 

95 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

done, help thy Fellow ; that so an- 
other time he may help thee. 

204. If thou wilt be a Good Ser- 
vant, thou must be True; and thou 
canst not be True if thou Defraiid'st 
thy Master. 

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, 

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



96 



Reflections and Maxims 



JEALOUS 

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

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

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

211. In difficult Cases, such a Tem- 
per is Timorous; and in dispatch 
Irresolute, 

212. Experience is a safe Guide: 
And a Practical Head, is a great 
Happiness in Business. 



97 



^ Reflections and Maxims 



POSTERITY 

213. We are too careless of Pos- 
terity; not considering that as they are, 
so the next Generation 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. 

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

216. It is our Duty, and ought to 
be our Care, to ward against that 
Passion in them, which is more es- 
pecially our Own Weakness and 

98 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Affliction: for we are in great meas- 
ure accountable for them, as well as 
for our selves. 

217. 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, but What we leave them. 

219. To be sure Virtue is but a 
Supplement, and not a Principal in 
their Portion and Character: And 
therefore we see so little Wisdom or 
Goodness among the Rich, in propor- 
tion to their Wealth, 

A COUNTRY LIFE 

220. The Country Life is to be pre- 
ferred; for there we see the Works 

99 

LofCi 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

of God; but in Cities little else but 
the Works of Men: And the one 
makes a better Subject for our Con- 
templation 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, Wisdom and Goodness; but 
Man's Works, for the most part, his 
Pride, Folly and Excess. The one is 
for use, the other, chiefly, for Osten- 
tation and Lust. 

223. The Country is both the Phi- 
losopher'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; 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

and gives him Life, as well as Learn- 
ing. 

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

226. In short, 'tis an Original, and 
the Knowledge and Improvement of it, 
Man's oldest Business and Trade, and 
the best he can be of. 

ART and PROJECT 

227. Art J is Good, where it is bene- 
ficial. Socrates wisely bounded his 
Knowledge and Instruction by Prac- 
tice. 

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



^ Reflections and Maxims 

229. Ingenuity, as well as Religion, 
sometimes sufifers between two 
Thieves; Pretenders and Despisers, 

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

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

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



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



INDUSTRY 

233. Industry, is certainly very 
commendable, 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 Rea- 
son, 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. 



103 



^ Reflections and Maxims 



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 Pros- 
perity to be Happiness, and Adver- 
sity 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 Mind to thy Condition, and 
have an Indifferency for more than 
what is sufficient. 

241. Have but little to do, and do 

104 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

it thy self: And do to others as thou 
wouldest have them do to thee: So, 
thou canst not fail of Temporal Fe- 
licity. 

242. The generality 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 un- 
avoidable. 

los 



■^ Reflections and Maxims 

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. 

249. Too few know when they have 
Enough; and fewer know how to em- 
ploy it. 

250. It is equally adviseable 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^ Prodigality or Neces- 
sity of any one : For that is next door 

106 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



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 De- 
sires 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 heap'd 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. 

107 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

254. A Man like a Watch, 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 In- 
strument, and to be shunned as the 
Plague. 

258. Be not deceived with the first 
appearances 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. 

HAZARD 

261. In all Business it is best to put 
nothing to hazard: But where it is 

108 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

unavoidable, be not rash^ but Urm and 
resigned. 

262. We should not be troubled for 
what we cannot help : But if it was our 
Fault, let it be so no more. Amend- 
ment 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 Ad- 
vantage exceeds not that of Loss, 
Wisdom never Adventures. 

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. 

109 



^ Reflections and Maxims 



DETRACTION 

267. Have a care of that base Evil 
Detraction. It is the Fruit of Envy, 
as that is of Pride ; the immediate Off- 
spring of the Devil: Who, of an 
Angela a Lucifer, a Son of the Morn- 
ing, made himself a Serpent, a Devil, 
a Beelzehuh, and all that is obnoxious 
to the Eternal Goodness. 

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

269. Dislike what deserves it, but 
never 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 
Soul. 

no 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



MODERATION 

270. It were an happy Day if Men 
could bound and qualifie their Resent- 
ments with Charity to the Offender: 
For then our Anger would be without 
Sin, and better convict and edifie the 
Guilty; which alone can make it law- 
ful. 

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. If we did but observe the Al- 
lowances our Reason makes upon Re- 
flection, when our Passion is over, we 
could not want a Rule how to behave 
our selves again in the like Occasions. 

Ill 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

273. We are more prone to Com- 
plain than Redress, and to Censure 
than Excuse. 

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. 

TRICK 

2y6, Nothing needs a Trick but a 
Trick; Sincerity loathes one. 

2yy, We must take care to do Right 
Things Rightly: For a just Sentence 
may be unjustly executed. 

112 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

278. Circumstances give great Light 
to true Judgment, if well weighed. 

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. 

113 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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

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. 

288. But above all, observe it in 
Resentments, for their Passion is most 
Extravagant. 

289. Never chide for Anger, but 
Instruction, 

290. He that corrects out of Pas- 
sion, raises Revenge sooner than Re- 
pentance. 

114 



Reflections and Maxims^ 

291. It has more of Wantonness 
than Wisdom, and resembles those 
that Eat to please their Pallate, rather 
than their Appetite. 

292. 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 Circum- 
stances. 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 
Pati, Regis est. 



"5 



^ Reflections and Maxims 



PERSONAL CAUTIONS 

295. Reflect without Malice but 
never without Need. 

296. Despise no Body, nor no Con- 
dition; lest it come to be thine own. 

297. Never Rail nor Taunt. The 
one is 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 Cau- 
tion prevents. 

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

302. Have a care of presuming upon 
After-Games: For if that miss, all 
is gon^. 

116 



Reflections and Ma xims ^ 

303. Opportunities should never be 
lost, because they can hardly be re- 
gained. 

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

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

306. Refuse not to be informed: 
For that shews Pride or Stupidity. 

307. Humility and Knowledge in 
poor Cloaths, excel Pride and Igno- 
rance 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 en- 

117 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

gages 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 mak- 
ing an End of that which is a Means, 
and a Means of that which is an End. 

311. Religion and Government es- 
cape not this Mischief: The first is 
too often made 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 rules 

118 



Reflections and Maxims^ 

not the Beast, and Appetite submits 
not to Reason. 

313. It is great Wisdom to propor- 
tion our Esteem to the Nature of the 
Thing : For as that way things will 
not be undervalued, so neither will they 
engage as 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, Maxima 
bella ex levissimis causis: The greatest 
Feuds have had the smallest Begin- 
nings. 

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 Resentment. 

317. It is one of the fatalest Errors 

119 






Reflections and Maxims 



of our Lives, when we spoil a good 
Cause by an ill 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 con- 
sidering that lawful Ends may be very 
unlawfully attained. 

319. 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 Hu- 
mour 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. 

120 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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

POPULARITY 

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

323. They that shew more than they 
are, raise an Expectation 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. 



121 



■^ Reflections and Maxims 



PRIVACY 

325. Remember the Proverb, Bene 
qui latiiit, bene vixit. They are happy 
that Hve Retiredly. 

326. If this be true, Princes and 
their Grandees, of all Men, are the 
unhappiest: For they live least alone: 
And they that must be enjoyed by 
every Body, can never enjoy them- 
selves 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 Con- 
tents Men can enjoy. 

328. But they that place Pleasure in 
Greediness, seek it there : And we see 
Ride is as much the Ambition of some 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Natures, as Privacy is the Choice of 
others. 

GOVERNMENT 

329. Government has many Shapes : 
But 'tis Sovereignty, tho' not Freedom, 
in all of them. 

330. Rex & Tyrannus are very dii-iy 
f erent Characters : One rules his Peo- 
ple by Laws, to which they consent; 
the other by his absolute Will and 
Power. That is call'd Freedom, This 
Tyranny. 

331. The first is endanger'd by the 
Ambition of the Popular, which shakes 
the Constitution: The other by an ill 
Administration, which hazards the 
Tyrant and his Family. 

332. It is great Wisdom in Princes 
of both sorts, not to strain Points too 

123 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

high with their People : For whether 
the People have a Right to oppose 
them or not, they are ever sure to at- 
tempt 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 Authority, Power hardly fails to 

124 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

be obey'd, and Magistrates to be 
honoured. 

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

338. This cannot fail, if Those they 
Trust, are Trusted. 

339. That Prince that is Just to them 
in great things, and Humours them 
sometimes in small ones, is sure to 
have and keep them from all 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 ill turns, he loses 
his Authority with the People; and 
gives the Populace opportunity to grat- 

125 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

ifie their Ambition: And to lay a 
Stumbling-block for his People to fall. 

342. It is true, that where a Subject 
is more 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 Peo- 
ple, than Love makes a Subject too 
many for such a Prince. 

344. Certainly Service upon Incli- 
nation is like to go farther than Obedi- 
ence upon Compulsion. 

345. The Romans had a just Sense 
of this, when they plac'd Optimus 

120 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

before Maximus, to their most Illus- 
trious Captains and Cesars. 

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

347. What did Pharaoh get by in- 
creasing the Israelites Task? Ruine 
to himself in the End. 

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

349. The Diflference between the 
Prince and the Peasant, is in this 
World: But a Temper ought to be 
observed 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 Gov- 

127 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

ernment 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 an»i easy 
Government; and as sure of Convul- 
sions, where the Nature of things are 
violated, and their Order overruled. 

352. It is certain, Princes ought to 
have great Allowances made them for 
Faults 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 mis- 
guide the Prince to do publick Injury. 

353. Ministers of State should un- 
dertake their Posts at their Peril, If 

128 



J 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Princes overrule them, let them shew 
the Law, and humbly resign: If Fear 
Gain or Flattery prevail, let them an- 
swer it to the Law. 

354. The Prince cannot be pre- 
served but where the Minister is pun- 
ishable: For People, as well as 
Princes, will not endure tmperium 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 

129 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

in Government, while the Hands are in 
being that should answer for them. 

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 Punish- 
ment, 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, there- 
fore consists in a well-chosen Council : 
And that only can be said to be so, 
where the Persons that compose it are 
qualified for the Business that comes 
before them. 

361. Who would send to a Taylor 

130 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 ; Looseness, Op- 
pression and Envy, 

364. Where the Reins of Govern- 
ment 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 

131 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

Country, and a Desperate People, who 
always wait an Opportunity to change, 

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

367. Envy disturbs and distracts 
Government, clogs the Wheels, and 
perplexes the Administration: And 
nothing contributes more to the Dis- 
order, 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 humour- 
ously. 

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

132 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



A PRIVATE LIFE 

370. A private Life is to be pre- 
ferred; the Honour and Gain of pub- 
lick Posts, bearing no 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 
Shunamite Woman, / dwell among my 
own People, 

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

373. Their Subsistance is not dur- 
ing Pleasure; nor have they patrons 
to please or present. 

374. If they are not advanced, 
neither can they be disgraced. And as 
they know not the Smiles of Majesty, 

133 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

so they feel not the Frowns of Great- 
ness; or the Effects of Envy. 

375. If they want the Pleasures of 
a Court, they also escape the Tempta- 
tions 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 publick Marks of Honour and 
Profit. 

378. To do so, Men must have piih- 
lick Minds, as well as Salaries ; or they 
will serve private Ends at the Publick 
Cost. 

379. Governments can never be well 

134 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

administered, but where those en- 
trusted make Conscience of well dis- 
charging 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 
Employment, whatever else he knows, 
must be unfit for it, and the Publick 
suffers by his Inexpertness. 

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

^3S 



Reflections and Maxims 



CLEAN HANDS 

383. Covetoiisness in such Men 
prompts them to prostitute the Pub- 
Hck for Gain. 

384. The taking of a Bribe or Gra- 
tuity, should be punished with as se- 
vere Penalties, as the defrauding of the 
State. 

385. Let Men have sufficient Sala- 
ries, and exceed them at their Peril. 

386. It is a Dishonour to Govern- 
ment, that its Officers should live of 
Benevolence ; as it ought to be In- 
famous for Officers to dishonour the 
Publick, by being twice paid for the 
same Business. 

387. But to be paid, and not to do 
Business, is rank Oppression. 

136 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



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 
dispatching the Business : As if Busi- 
ness could be done before it were dis- 
patched: Or what ought to be done, 
ought not to be dispatch'd: Or they 
were to be paid apart, one by the Gov- 
ernment, 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. 

137 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

390. Delays have been more injuri- 
ous than direct Injustice. 

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

392. The very Winner is made a 
Loser, because he pays twice for his 
own ; Hke those that purchase Estates 
Mortgaged before to the 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 
and Wisdom of a good Officer. 

PATIENCE 

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

138 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

397. Some are so Proud or Testy, 
they won't hear what they should re- 
dress. 

398. Others so weak, they sink or 
burst under the weight of their Office, 
though they can Hghtly run away with 
the Salary of it. 

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 Op- 
pression to Browbeat the humble and 
modest Miserable, when they seek 
Relief. 

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

139 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

402. It is therefore as great an 
Instance of Wisdom as a Man in Busi- 
ness can give, to be Patient under the 
Impertinencies and Contradictions 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 depending, both 
what to do and what to hope. 

IMPARTIALITY 

404. Impartiality, though it be the 
last, is not the least Part of the Charac- 
ter of a good Magistrate. 

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

140 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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

407. Justice is justly represented 
Blind, because she 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 
the Person, but the Cause, 

410. The Impartial Judge in Judg- 
ment, 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. 

141 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

412. Nor is it only a Benefit to the 
State, for private Families cannot sub- 
sist comfortably without it. 

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

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 judg- 
ing of Actions : Confirming the Prov- 
erb, The Crow thinks her own Bird 
the fairest. 

416. What some see to be no Fault 

in one, they will have Criminal in 

another. 

142 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

417. Nay, how ugly do our own 
Failings look to us in 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 corrupts our Judg- 
ment 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 sel- 
dom returns 'till it is Hunger-hit, and 
Disappointments bring it within 
bounds. 

143 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

422. And yet we may be indifferent, 
to a Fault. 

INDIFFERENCY 

423. Indifference is good in Judg- 
ment, but bad in Relation, and stark 
nought in Religion. 

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

NEUTRALITY 

425. Neutrality is something else 
than Indifferency; and yet of kin to 
it too. 

426. A Judge ought to be Indiffer- 
ent, and yet he cannot be said to be 
Neutral. 

144 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

427. The one being to be Even in 
Judgment, 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. 

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. 



M5 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

A PARTY 

432. And yet, where Right or Reli- 
gion gives a Call, a Neuter must be a 
Coward or an Hypocrite. 

433. In such Cases we should never 
be backward; nor yet mistaken. 

434. When our Right or Religion is 
in question, 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 Occa- 
sion. 

437. If Heathens could say. We are 
not born for our selves; surely Chris- 
tians should practise it. 

146 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

438. They are taught so by his Ex- 
ample, as well as Doctrine, from whom 
they have borrowed their Name. 

OSTENTATION 

439. Do what good thou canst un- 
known ; 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, when did we do 
so and so? 

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

COMPLEAT VIRTUE 

442. Content not thy self that thou 
art Virtuous in the general : For one 

147 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

Link being wanting, the Chain is de- 
fective. 

443. Perhaps thou art rather Inno- 
cent than Virtuous, and owest more to 
thy Constitution, than thy Religion. 

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

445. If thou hast not conquered thy 
self in that which is thy own particular 
Weakness, thou hast no Title to Virtue, 
tho' thou art free of other Men's. 

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 

148 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

little Success ; because it would carry 
but little Authority with it. 

448. If thou wouldst conquer thy 
Weakness, thou must never gratify it. 

449. No Man is compelled to Evil ; 
his Consent only 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 trans- 
gress their Convictions. 

452. If thou would'st not Sin, don't 
Desire; and if thou would'st not Lust, 
don't Embrace the Temptation : 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. 

149 



^ Reflections and Maxims 



RELIGION 

454. Religion is the Fear of God, 
and its Demonstration on good Works; 
and Faith is the Root of both : For 
without Faith we cannot please God, 
nor can we fear what we do not be- 
Heve. 

455. The Devils also believe and 
know abundance: But in this is the 
Difference, their Faith works not by 
Love, nor their Knowledge hy Obedi- 
ence; and therefore they are never the 
better for them. And if ours 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, Harm- 
less, Meek, Merciful, &c. when among 

150 



J 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 Chrisfs making, if he 
would pass for one of Christ's Minis- 
ters. 

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

459. That Minister whose Life is 
not the Model of his Doctrine, is a 
Bahler rather than a Preacher; a 
Quack rather than a Physician of 
Value. 

460. Of old Time they were made 
Ministers by the Holy Ghost: And the 

151 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 Conscience, 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 God- 
liness great Gain, and therefore seeks 
not to make a Gain of Godliness. 

467. As the Ministers of Christ are 



152 



i 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

made by him, and are like him, so they 
beget People into the same Likeness. 

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

469. Let us to Day, therefore, hear 
his Voice, and not harden our Hearts; 
who speaks to us many ways. In the 
Scriptures, in our Hearts, by his Ser- 
vants and his Providences : And the 
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 unde- 
aied before God the Father, is this, to 
visit the Fatherless and the Widows in 
their Affliction, and to keep our selves 
unspotted from the Worlds Which is 

153 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

compriz'd in these Two Words, 
CHARITY and PIETY. 

471. They that truly make these 
their Aim, will find them their Attain- 
ment; 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 knowest God, that 
is the Lord, who exerciseth loving 
Kindness, and Judgment, and Right- 
eousness in the Earth. 

473. Puhlick Worship is very com- 
mendable, if well performed. We owe 
it to God and good Example. But we 

154 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 
he 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 our Saviour has 
taught us. That he will be worshipped 
in Spirit and in Truth; we shall see 
the shortness of such a Notion. 

476. For serving God concerns the 
Frame of our Spirits, in the whole 
Course of our Lives; in every Occa- 

155 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

sion we have, in which we may shew 
our Love to his Law. 

477. For as Men in Battle are con- 
tinually in the way of shot, so we, in 
this World, are ever within the Reach 
of Temptation. And herein do we 
serve God, if we avoid what we are 
forbid, as well as do what he com- 
mands. 

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

479. This is but Twice or Thrice a 
Day; but That every Hour and Mo- 
ment of the Day. So much more is 
our continual Watch, than our Even- 
ing and Morning Devotion. 

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

156 



Reflections and Maxims H$- 

481. Don't take God's Name in 
vain, or disobey thy Parents, or wrong 
thy Neighbour, or commit Adultery, 
even in thine Heart. 

482. Neither be vain. Lascivious, 
Proud, Drunken, Revengeful or 
Angry: Nor Lye, Detract, Backbite, 
Over-reach, Oppress, Deceive or Be- 
tray: But watch vigorously against all 
Temptations to these Things ; as 
knowing that God is present, the Over- 
seer of all thy Ways and most inward 
Thoughts, and the Avenger of his own 
Law upon the Disobedient, and thou 
wilt acceptably serve God. 

483. It is not reason, if we expect 
the Acknowledgments of those to 
whom we are bountiful, that w^e should 
reverently pay ours to God, our most 
magniUcent and constant Benefactor? 

157 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 Lumi- 
naries; 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 
dis proportionable our Behaviour is to 

158 



J 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 provoked 
to break up House, and send us to shift 
for ourselves. Should not this great 
Goodness raise a due Sense in us of 
our Undutifulness, and a Resolution to 
alter our Course and mend our Man- 
ners ; that we may be for the future 
more worthy Communicants at our 
Master's good and great Table ? Espe- 
cially since it is not more certain that 
we deserve his Displeasure than that 
we should feel it, if we continue to be 
nnproHtable Servants, 

486. But tho' God has replenisht this 
World with abundance of good Things 
for Man's Life and Comfort, yet they 
159 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

are all but Imperfect Goods. He only 
is the Perfect Good to whom they 
point. But alas ! Men cannot see him 
for them; tho' they should always see 
him In them. 

487. I have often wondered at the 
unaccountableness 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 Bodies, com- 
posed of changeable Elements, we with 
the World, are made up of, and subsist 
by Revolution: But our Souls being 
of another and nobler Nature, we 
should seek our Rest in a more indur- 
ing Habitation. 

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

160 



A 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 Know,, Regret and Re- 
sent; to Desire, Hope and Fear more 
than a Beast, and not live beyond him, 
is to make a Man less than a Beast. 

493. It is the Amends of a short 
and troublesome 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 Specula- 
tion, but 'tis the Good Man's Practice. 

161 






Reflections and Maxims 



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

498. And he that Hves to Hve ever, 
never fears dying. 

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

500. For tho' Death be a Dark 
Passage, it leads to Immortality, and 
that's Recompence enough for Suffer- 
ing of it. 

501. And yet Faith Lights us, 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 

162 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Turning of us over from Time to 
Eternity. 

504. Nor can there be a Revolution 
without it ; for it supposes the Dissolu- 
tion of one form, in order to the Suc- 
cession of another. 

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

506. Let us then not cozen our selves 
with the Shells and Husks of things ; 
nor prefer Form to Power, nor 
Shadows to Substance: Pictures of 
Bread will not satisHe Hunger, nor 
those of Devotion please God. 

507. This World is a Form; our 
Bodies are Forms ; and no visible 
Acts of Devotion can be without 
Forms. But yet the less Form in 
Religion the better, since God is a 

163 






Reflections and Maxims 



Spirit : For the more mental our Wor- 
ship, the more adequate to the Nature 
of God ; the more silent, the more suit- 
able to the Language of a Spirit. 

508. Words are for others, 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 himself, he is in- 
comprehensible, and dwelleth in that 
Light which no Eye can approach. 
But in his Image we may behold his 
Glory ; enough to exalt our Apprehen- 

id4 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

sions of God, and to instruct us in that 
Worship which pleaseth him. 

511. Men may Tire themselves in a 
Labyrinth of Search, and talk of God : 
But if we would know him indeed, it 
must be from the Impressions we re- 
ceive of him ; and the softer our Hearts 
are, the deeper and livelier those will 
be upon us. 

512. If he has made us sensible of 
his Justice, by his Reproof ; of his 
Patience, by his Forbearance; of his 
Mercy, by his Forgiveness; of his Holi- 
ness, by the Sanctiiication of our 
Hearts through his Spirit ; we have a 
grounded Knowledge of God. This is 
Experience, that Speculation; This 
Enjoyment, that Report. In short, 
this Is undeniable Evidence, with the 

165 






Reflections and Maxims 



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 those 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. 

517. Let us chuse, therefore, to com- 
mune where there is the warmest 
Sense of Religion; where Devotion 
exceeds Formality, and Practice most 

166 



Reflections and Maxims^ 

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 111 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 ofif 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 

167 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

the Persuasion he is of, for the Piety 
rather than Ceremony of it. 

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

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 their Judgment, 
is the ReHgion of Another, and not 
Theirs. 

523. To have Religion upon Au- 
thority, 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 

168 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Men can venture their Souls where 
they will not venture their Money: 
For they will take their Religion upon 
trust, but not trust a Synod about the 
Goodness of Half a Crown. 

525. They will follow their own 
Judgment when their Money is con- 
cerned, whatever they do for their 
Souls. 

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

527. No Religion is better than an 
Unnatural One. 

528. Grace perfects, but never sours 
or spoils Nature. 

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

530. Hardly any thing looks worse, 

169 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

than to defend Religion by ways that 
shew it has no Credit with us. 

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

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

533. To be Furious in ReHgion, is 
to be 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. 

536. Bitterness comes very near to 
Enmity, and that is Beehebiib; be- 
cause the Perfection of Wickedness. 

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

170 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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

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. Zeal dropped in Charity, is 
good, without it good for nothing: 
For it devours all it comes near. 

542. They must -first judge them- 
selves, that presume to censure others : 
And such will not be apt to overshoot 
the Mark. 

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

171 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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

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

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, I 
oblige him for ever. 

548. Love is the hardest Lesson in 
Christianity; but, for that reason, it 
should be most our care to learn it. 
Difpcilia quae Pulchra. 

549. It is a severe Rebuke upon us, 
that God makes us so many Allow- 
ances, and we make so few to our 
Neighbour: As if Charity had noth- 

172 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

ing to do with Religion; Or Love with 
Faith, that ought to work by it. 

550. I find all sorts of People agree, 
whatsoever 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 Fends that reign among men in 
their Health and Fulness. They, there- 
fore, that live nearest to that which 
they should die, must certainly live 
best, 

551. Did we believe a final Reckon- 
ing and Judgment; or did we think 
enough of what we do believe, we 
would allow more Love in Religion 
than we do; since Religion it self is 

173 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

nothing else but Love to God and 
Man, 

552. 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 Tongues shall 
cease, and Prophecy fail, and Faith 
shall be consummated in Sight, and 
Hope in Enjoyment; but Love re- 
mains. 

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. 

174 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

555. What we Love, we'll Hear; 
what we Love, we'll Trust ; and what 
we Love, we'll serve, ay, and suflfer 
for too. // 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 he 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 prevails in us all, we shall all be 
Lovely, and in Love with God and one 
with another. 

Amen. 

FINIS. 

175 



Part II. 



177 



The Introduction to the 
Reader 

T^HE Title of this Treatise showsy 
there was a former of the same 
Nature ; and the Author hopes he runs 
no Hazard in recommending both to 
his Reader's Perusal. He is well 
aware of the low Reckoning the La- 
bours of indifferent Authors are under, 
at a Time when hardly any Thing 
passes for current, that is not cal- 
culated to -flatter the Sharpness of con- 
tending Parties. He is also sensible, 
that Books grow a very Drug, where 
they cannot raise and support their 
179 



^ The Introduction 

Credit, by their own Usefulness ; and 
how far this will be able to do it, he 
knows not; yet he thinks himself tol- 
lerably safe in making it publick, in 
three Respects. 

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

Next, Though some Men should 
not find it relish'd high enough for 
their finer Wits, or warmer 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 especially, whether 
he hits the Mark or not: And that 
without the least Ostentation, or any 
private Regards. 

i8o 



The Introduction ^ 

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

Vale. 



i8i 



iwote ftuit^ of ^oUtune 

BEING 

The Second Part of 

Reflections and Maxims 

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 de- 
fraud a Man of his Pay, or betray 

183 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 one that Robs his Neigh- 
bour 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 
/// Husband, or an Abusive Neigh- 
bour; one that's Lavish of his Time, 
of his Health, and of his Estate, in 
which his Family is so nearly con- 
cerned? Must he go for a Right 

184 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 my 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 DueSy where we owe our 
very Beginning; ay, our All? 

9. The Compleat Moralist begins 
with God; he gives him his Due, his 
Hearty his Love, his Service; the 
Bountiful Giver of his Well-Being, as 
well as Being. 

10. He that lives without a Sense of 
this Dependency and Obligation, can- 

185 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

not be a Moral Man, because he does 
not make his Returns of Love and 
Obedience ; as becomes an honest and 
a sensible Creature : Which very Term 
ImpHes he is not his own ; and it can- 
not be very honest to mis-imploy an- 
other'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 thor- 
ough Moralists? 

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

In the first Place, Him to whom he 
i86 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 at once. 

THE WORLD'S ABLE MAN 

14. It is by some thought, the Char- 
acter 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 bet- 
ter ; but if by Disguises, 'tis insincere 
and hateful. 

187 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

1 6. Secrecy is one Thing, false 
Lights is another. 

17. The honest Man, that is rather 
free, than open, is ever to be pre- 
ferred; especially when Sense is at 
Helm. 

18. The Glorying of the other Hu- 
mour is in a Vice: For it is not Hu- 
mane to be Cold, Dark and Uncon- 
versable. I was a going to say, they are 
like Pick-Pockets in a Crowd, where a 
Man must ever have his Hand on his 
Purse ; or as Spies in a Garrison, that 
if not prevented betrays it. 

19. They are the Reverse of Hu- 
man Nature, and yet this is the present 
World's Wise Man and Politician : 
Excellent Qualities for Lapland, 
where, they say, Witches, though not 
many Conjurors, dwell. 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

20. Like Highway-Men, that rarely 
Rob without Visards, or in the same 
Wigs and Cloaths, but have a Dress 
for every Enterprize. 

21. At best, he may be a Cunning 
Man, which is a sort of Lurcher in 
the Politicks. 

22. He is never too hard for the 
Wise Man upon the Square, for that 
is out of his Element, and puts him 
quite by his Skill. Nor are Wise Men 
ever catch'd by him, but when they 
trust him. 

2^, 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. 
189 






Reflections and Maxims 



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

26. None so Zealous then as he, for 
that which he cannot abide. 

2,y, What is it he will not, or cannot 
do, to hide his true Sentiments. 

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. 

29. Nay, 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 his Way, where any 
Thing is to be had. 

31. A Privateer indeed, and every- 
where a very Bird of Prey, 

32. True to nothing but himself, 

190 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

and false to all Persons and Parties, 
to serve his own Turn. 

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

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 Im- 
morality. 

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 



191 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

more Things than one ; but in Religion 
and Politicks, 'tis most pernicious. 

37. To hear two Men talk the Re- 
verse 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 Nau- 
seous Thing in the World. 

38. But that it should be the Char- 
acter of an Able Man, is to Disinherit 
Wisdom, and Paint out our Degener- 
acy to the Life, by setting up Fraud, 
an errant Impostor, in her Room. 

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 



192 



i 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 of 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 Poli- 
tick Cant or Banter upon Mankind? 

41. I remember a Passage of one 
of Queen Elizabeth's Great Men, as 
Advice to his Friend ; The Advantage, 
says he, / had upon others at Court, 
was, that I always spoke as I thought, 
which being not believed by them, I 
both preserved a good Conscience, and 
suffered no Damage from that Free- 

193 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

dom: Which, as it shows the Vice to 
be Older than our Times, so that Gal- 
lant 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 indifferent 
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 Dis- 
guise 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 Neigh- 
bour, or ones own Party. 

194 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

45. A fine Conquest! what Noble 
Grecians and Romans abhorr'd : As if 
Government could 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. I confess I have heard the Stile 
of a Useful Knave, but ever took it to 
be a silly or a knavish Saying ; at least 
an Excuse for Knavery. 

49. Besides, Employing Knaves, 
Encourages Knavery instead of pun- 
ishing it; and Alienates the Reward 
of Virtue. Or, at least, must make 
the World believe, the Country yields 

19s 






Reflections and Maxims 



not honest Men enough, able to serve 
her. 

50. Art thou a Magistrate? Prefer 
such as have clean Characters where 
they Hve, 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? Con- 
tract thy Acquaintance in a narrow 
Compass, and chuse Those for the 
Subjects of it, that are Men of Prin- 
ciples; such as will make full Stops, 
where Honour will not lead them on; 
and that had rather bear the disgrace 
of not being thorow Paced Men, than 
forfeit their Peace and Reputation by 
a base Compliance. 

196 



Reflections and Maxims 



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 Ac- 
tions of a Piece, and his Performances 
like a Workman: They will bear the 
Tou^ch 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 

197 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

never want any Just Ways to succeed 
them. 

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 Understanding 
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 Criti- 

198 



i 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

cal; 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 his Diversion, 

6i. He is always for some solid 
Good, Civil or Moral; as, to make his 
Country more Virtuous, Preserve her 
Peace and Liberty, Imploy her Poor, 
Improve Land, Advance Trade, Sup- 
press Vice, Incourage Industry, and 
all Mechanick Knowledge; and that 
they should be the Care of the Govern- 
ment, and the Blessing and Praise of 
the People. 

62. To conclude: He is Just, and 
fears God, hates Covetousness, and 

199 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 Employ- 
ment of his Thoughts ; since upon 
This, depends both his Usefulness to 
the Publick, and his own present and 
future Benefit in all Respects. 

64. The Consideration of this, has 
often obliged me to Lament the Un- 
happiness of Mankind, that through 
too great a Mixture and Confusion of 
Thoughts, have been hardly able to 

200 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

make a Right or a Mature Judgment of 
Things. 

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

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 were forty 
Years upon their Journey, from Egypt 
to Canaan, which might have been per- 
formed in Less than One. 

6y, In fine, 'tis to this that we ought 
to ascribe, if not all, at least most of 
the Infelicities we Labour under. 

68. Clear therefore thy Head, and 
Rally, and Manage thy Thoughts 
Rightly, and thou wilt Save Time, and 
201 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

See and Do thy Business Well; for 
thy Judgment will be Distinct, thy 
Mind Free, and the Faculties Strong 
and Regular. 

69. Always remember to bound thy 
Thoughts to the present Occasion. 

70. If it be thy Religious Duty, suf- 
fer nothing else to Share in them. And 
if any Civil or Temporal Affair, ob- 
serve the same Caution, and thou wilt 
be a whole Man to every Thing, and 
do twice the Business in the samic 
Time. 

71. If any Point over-Labours thy 
Mind, divert and relieve it, by some 
other Subject, of a more Sensible, or 
Manual Nature, rather than what may 
affect the Understanding; for this 
were to write one Thing upon another, 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

which blots out our former Impres- 
sions, or renders them illegible. 

J2. They that are least divided in 
their Carcy always give the best Ac- 
count of their Business. 

y^^. 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 which 
is of most Moment, and will least wait 
thy Leisure. 

74. He that Judges not well of the 
Importance of his Affairs, though he 
may be always Busy, he must make 
but a small Progress. 

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

y6. Nor yet be over-eager in pursuit 
203 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

of any Thing; for the Mercurial too 
often happen to leave Judgment be- 
hind them, and sometimes make Work 
for Repentance, 

yy. He that over-ntns 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 Clean, 

79. Upon the whole Matter, Employ 
thy Thoughts as thy Business requires, 
and let that have Place according to 
Merit and Urgency ; giving every 
Thing a Review and due Digestion, 
and thou wilt prevent many Errors 
and Vexations, as well as save much 

204 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 begmtch 
others a good Name, as they want one 
themselves; and perhaps that is the 
Reason of it. 

82. But certainly they are in the 
Wrong, that can think they are less- 
ened, because others have their Due. 

83. Such People generally have less 
Merit than Ambition, that Covet the 
Reward of other Men's; and to be 
sure a very ill Nature, that will rather 
Rob others of their Due, than allow 
them their Praise. 

205 



^ Reflecti ons and Maxims 

84. 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 Esti- 
mates. 

85. It is as Envious as Unjust, to 
underrate 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 Clip- 
ping 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 Mis- 
takes. 

206 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

89. It will have Charity, to be Os- 
tentation; Sobriety, 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 to allay their Merit and abate 
their Praise. Basest of Tempers ! and 
they that have them, the Worst of 
Men! 

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

91. And indeed they are not with- 
out a Love to Virtue, that take a 
Satisfaction in seeing her Rewarded, 
and such deserve to share her Char- 
acter that do abhor to lessen it. 



207 



Reflections and Maxims 



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 ? 

93. And it is a Great and Just Re- 
proach upon him, that he should fix 
his Mind where he cannot stay him- 
self. 

94. Were it not more his Wisdom 
to be concerned 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 his Way to his Best, as 
well as most Lasting Home. 



208 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



OF AMBITION 

96. They that soar too high, often 
fall hard; which makes a low and 
level Dwelling preferrable. 

97. The tallest Trees are most in 
the Power of the Winds, and Ambi- 
tious Men of the Blasts of Fortune. 

98. They are most seen and ob- 
served, 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 ex- 
posed to Weather, 

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

209 






Reflections and Maxims 



10 1. And truly they ought to expect 
no Pity in their Fall, that when in 
Power had no Bowels for the Un- 
happy. 

102. The worst of Distempers; al- 
ways Craving and Thirsty, Restless 
and Hated : A perfect Delirium in the 
Mind : Insuiferdble in Success, and in 
Disappointments most Revengeful. 

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, 



Reflections and Maxims^ 

whether we give or receive it: For if 
we give it, we must be sure to mean 
it, and measure it too. 

io6. If we are Penurious, it shows 
Emulation; 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. 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

no. However, we cannot be too 
Circumspect how we receive Praise: 
For if we contemplate 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 easily swelled, beyond our just 
Proportion, by the Windy Compli- 
ments of Men. 

111. Make ever therefore Allow- 
ances for what is said on such Occa- 
sions, or thou Exposest, as well as 
Deceivest thy self. 

112. For an Over- value of our 
selves, gives us but a dangerous Se- 
curity 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 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 af- 
fected one is none. 

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. 

213 



•^ Reflections and Maxims 

119. Vanity or Resentment often 
engage us, and 'tis two to one but we 
come ofif Losers ; for one shews a 
Want of Judgment and Humility, as 
the other does of Temper and Dis- 
cretion, 

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

121. Beware also of Aifectation 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 Ostenta- 
tion, but to be understood. 

123. They that affect Words more 

214 



Reflections and Maxim s^ 

than Matter, will dry up that little they 
have. 

124. Sense never fails to give them 
that have it, Words enough to make 
them understood. 

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

126. This Labouring of slight 
Matter with flourished Turns of Ex- 
pression, is fulsome, and worse than 
the Modern Imitation of Tapestry, and 
East-India Goods, in Stuffs and Lin- 
nens. In short, 'tis but Taudry Talk, 
and next to very Trash. 

215 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 



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 
that love and live in the same Divine 
Principle; the Root and Record of 
their Friendship. 

130. If Absence be not Death, 
neither is theirs. 

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

132. For they must needs be pres- 
ent, that love and live in that vi^hich is 
Omnipresent, 

133. In this Divine Glass, they see 

216 



i 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Face to Face; and their Converse is 
FreCy as well as Pure. 

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

OF being EASY in LIVING 

135. 'Tis a Happiness to be deliv- 
ered from a Curious Mind, as well as 
from a Dainty Palate. 

136. For it is not only a Trouble- 
some but Slavish Thing to be Nice. 

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

138. To \)t Easy in Living, is much 

217 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

of the Pleasure of Life: But difficult 
Tempers will always want it. 

139. A Careless and Homely Breed- 
ing is therefore preferable to one Nice 
and Delicate. 

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 Provi- 
dences, it is more Masculine, Active 
and Healthy. 

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

218 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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

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

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

146. It must be therefore a gross 
Fault to strive so hard for the Pleas- 
ure of our Bodies, and be so insensible 
and careless of the Freedom of our 
Souls. 

OF MAN'S INCONSIDERATE - 
NESS and PARTIALITY 

147. 'Tis very observable, if our 
Civil Rights are invaded or incroach'd 

219 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

upon, we are mightily touch'd, and Ull 
every Place with our Resentment and 
Complaint; while we suffer ourselves, 
our Better and Nobler Selves, to be 
the Property and Vassals of Sin, the 
worst of Invaders. 

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

149. When he has his Dues from 
us, 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 Felicity here, which is 
not Man's ultimate Bliss. 

220 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 ex- 
ceed the true Value of any Temporal 
Matter: For Disappointments 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 Miseries, 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. 

221 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 hap- 
pens, that the clearer the Argument, 
the greater the Obstinacy, where the 
Design is not to be convinced. 

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

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

160. Beasts Act by Sense, Man 
should by Reason; else he is a greater 
Beast than ever God made: And the 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Proverb is verified, The Corruption 
of the best Things is the worst and 
most offensive. 

i6i. A reasonable Opinion must 
ever be in Danger, where Reason is 
not Judge. 

162. Though there is a Regard due 
to Education, and the Tradition of our 
Fathers, Truth will ever deserve, as 
well as claim the Preference. 

163. If like Theophilus and Timo- 
thy, 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 
learn their, as well as its intrinsick 
Worth, 

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

Reasonable, 

223 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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? 

167. And if Men would once con- 
sider one another reasonably, they 
would either reconcile their Differ- 
ences, 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 Stm, is Com- 
mon 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. 

224 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



OF FORMALITY 

170. Form is Good, but not For- 
mality, 

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. 



225 



^ 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 to please 
him. 

175. As if it availed any Thing to 
him that we performed so many Cere- 
monies and external Forms of Devo- 
tion, who never meant more by them, 
than to try our Obedience, and through 
them, to shew us something more Ex- 
cellent 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, re- 

226 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

ceive the Sacraments, and may be go 
to Confessions too; ay, Feast the 
Priest, and give Alms to the Poor, and 
yet Lye, Swear, Curse, be Drunk, 
Covetous, Unclean, Proud, Revenge- 
ful, 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? 

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 Wor- 
ship; and less when of Human Inven- 
tion. 

180. Our Blessed Saviour most 
rightly and clearly distinguished and 
determined this Case, when he told the 

227 






Reflections and Maxims 



Jews, that they were his Mother, his 
Brethren and Sisters, who did the 
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 in Dealing. A Man is Sure 
to have it if it be to be had, 

183. Many are so, meerly of Neces- 
sity: Others not so only for the same 
Reason: But such an honest Man is 
not to be thanked, and such a dishon- 
est Man is to be pity'd, 

184. But he that is dishonest for 

228 



I 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Gain, is next to a Robber, and to be 
punish'd for Example. 

185. And indeed there are few 
Dealers, but what' are Faulty, which 
makes Trade Difficult, and a' great 
Temptation to Men of Virtue, 

186. Tis not what they should , but 
what they can get: Faults or Decays 
must be concealed : 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 Magis- 
trate. 

188. A Politick rather than a Moral 
Honesty; a constrained, not a chosen 
Justice: According to the Proverb, 

229 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 In- 
justice to Oppression, where Law is 
alledged for that which it should pun- 
ish. 

OF JEALOUSY 

190. The Jealous are Troublesome 
to others, but a Torment to them- 
selves. 

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, 

230 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

commits great Disorders, and lays all 
waste. 

193. Nothing stands safe in its 
Way: Nature, Interest, Religion, must 
Yield to its Fury. 

194. It violates Contracts, Dissolves 
Society, Breaks Wedlock, Betrays 
Friends and Neighbours, 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 for Facts, so it 
disturbs its own House as often as 
other Folks. 

196. Its Rise is Guilt or /// Nature, 
and by Reflection thinks its own 
Faults to be other Men's ; as he that's 
over-run with the Jaundice takes 
others to be Yellow, 

231 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

197. A Jealous Man only sees his 
own Spectrum, when he looks upon 
other Men, and gives his Character in 
theirs. 

OF STATE 

198. I love Service, but not State; 
One is Useful, the other is Superflu- 
oils, 

199. The Trouble of this, as well as 
Charge, is Real; but the Advantage 
only Imaginary. 

200. Besides, it helps to set us up 
above our selves, and Augments our 
Temptation to Disorder. 

201. The Least Thing out of Joint, 
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 

232 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 

205. A True, and a Good Servant, 
are the same Thing. 

206. But no Servant is True to his 
Master, that Defrauds him. 

207. Now there are many Ways of 
Defrauding a Master, as, of Time, 

233 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

Care, Pains^ Respect, and Reputation, 
as well as Money. 

208. 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, can- 
not be a true Servant. 

209. Nor is he a true Servant, that 
buys dear to share in the Profit with 
the Seller. 

210. Nor yet he that tells Tales 
without Doors ; or deals basely in his 
Master's Name with other People; 
or Connives at others Loyterings, 
Wasteings, or dishonourable Reflec- 
tions. 

211. So that a true Servant is 
Diligent, Secret, and Respectful: More 

234 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Tender of his Master's Honour and 
Interest, than of his own Profit. 

212. Such a Servant deserves well, 
and if Modest under his Merit, should 
liberally feel it at his Master's Hand. 

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 ever they were to Live : For Super- 
fluity, as for Subsistance. 

215. But that Plenty should aug- 
ment Covetousness, is a Perversion of 
Providence ; and yet the Generality 
are the worse for their Riches. 

216. But it is strange, that Old 

235 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

Men should excel : For generally 
Money lies nearest them that are near- 
est their Graves: As if they would 
augment their Love in Proportion 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, a Vice 
in Government, and an Injury to their 
Neighbours, 

219. Such are they as spend not one 

236 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

Fifth of their Income, and, it may be, 
give not one Tenth of what they spend 
to the Needy. 

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 PUBLICK 
in our ESTATES 

221. Hardly any Thing is given us 
for our Selves, but the Publick may 
claim a Share with us. But of all we 
call ours, we are most accountable to 
God and the Publick for our Estates : 
In this we are but Stewards, and to 

237 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

Hord up all to ourselves is great In- 
justice as well as Ingratitude. 

222, If all Men were so far Tenants 
to the Publick, that the Siiperfltiities 
of Gain and Expence were applied to 
the Exigencies thereof, it would put 
an End to Taxes, leave never a Beg- 
gar, and make the greatest Bank for 
National Trade in Europe, 

22'^. 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 

238 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

to Reign Free over them and the Pub- 
lick. 

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 Magis- 
trates can be excused in their suffering 
such Excess with Impunity. 

22y. Our Noble English Patriarchs 
as well as Patriots, were so sensible of 
this Evil, that they made several excel- 
lent Laws, commonly called Sump- 
tuary, to Forbid, at least Limit the 
Pride of the People ; which because the 
Execution of them would be our 
Interest and Honour, their Neglect 
must be our just Reproach and Loss. 

228. 'Tis but Reasonable that the 
Punishment of Pride and Excess 
should help to support the Govern- 
239 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

ment, since it must otherwise inevitably 
be ruined by them. 

229. But some say, If ruins Trade, 
and will make 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 
Temperance an Enemy to Govern- 
ment? 

230. He is a Judas that will get 
Money by any Thing. 

231. To wink at a Trade that effemi- 
nates the People, and invades the An- 
cient Discipline of the Kingdom, is a 
Crime Capital, and to be severely pun- 
ished instead of being excused by the 
Magistrate. 

232. Is there no better Employment 

240 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

for the Poor than Luxury? Miserable 
Nation! 

233. What did they before they fell 
into these forbidden Methods? Is 
there not Land enough in England to 
Cultivate, and more and better Manu- 
factures to be Made? 

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 Cure the People, it will help to 
Keep the Kingdom. 

THE VAIN MAN 

236. But a Vain Man is a Nauseous 
Creature : He is so full of himself that 

241 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

he has no Room for any Thing else, be 
it never so Good or Deserving. 

237. 'Tis / at every turn that does 
this, or can do that. And as he 
abounds in his Comparisons, so he is 
sure to give himself the better of every 
Body else; according to the Proverb, 
All 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 themselves, though 
they neither have nor merit other 
Peoples. 

240. But at the same Time one 
would wonder they should not feel 
the Blows they give themselves, or get 

242 



Reflections and Ma xims ^ 

from others, for this intolerable and 
ridiculous Temper; nor shew any 
Concern at that which makes others 
blush for, as well as at them, {vis.) 
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 Mixture of Ignorance, Confidence, 
and Pride; and as there is more or less 
of the last, so it is more or less offen- 
sive or Entertaining. 

243. And yet perhaps the worst 
Part of this Vanity is it's Unteachable- 
ness. Tell it any Thing, and it has 
known it long ago; and out-runs In- 
formation and Instruction, or else 
proudly puffs at it. 

244. Whereas the greatest Under- 

243 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

standings doubt most, are readiest to 
learn, and least pleas'd with them- 
selves ; this, with no Body else, 

245. For tho' they stand on higher 
Ground, and so see farther than their 
Neighbours, they are yet humbled by 
their Prospect, since it shews them 
something, so much higher and above 
their Reach. 

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 Solomon's Poor Wise Man 
did the City. 

248. May we have more of them, 
or less Need of them. 



244 



Reflections and Maxims^ 



THE CONFORMIST 

249. It is reasonable to concur 
where Conscience does not forbid a 
Compliance; for Conformity is at 
least a Civil Virtue. 

250. But we should only press it in 
Necessaries, the rest may prove a 
Snare and Temptation to break So- 
ciety. 

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 

245 






Reflections and Maxims 



to Reproach others that have more 
Latitude. 

253. And yet the Latitudinarian 
that I love, is one that is only so in 
Charity; for the Freedom I recom- 
mend is no Scepticism in Judgment, 
and much less so in Practice. 

THE OBLIGATIONS of GREAT 
MEN to ALMIGHTY GOD 

254. It seems but reasonable, that 
those whom God has Distinguished 
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 them upon the Level, but 

246 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

in a sort of Subordination and Depend- 
ency. 

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 of Magnitude 
and Lustre. 

257. If we look upon the Earth, we 
see it among the Trees of the Wood, 
from the Cedar to the Bramble; in 
the Waters among the Fish, from the 
Leviathan to the Sprat; in the Air 
among the Birds, from the Eagle to 
the Sparrow; 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 Framer 
of the World for our Religious, Moral 

247 



-^ Reflections and Maxims 

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 Mar- 
row and Fat of the Earth for their 
Share. 

259. But is it not a most unaccount- 
able Folly, that Men should be Proud 
of the Providences that should Humble 
them? Or think the Better of them- 
selves, instead of Him that raised 
them so much above the Level ; or in 
being so in their Lives, in Return of 
his Extraordinary Favours. 

260. But it is but too near a-kin to 
us, to think no further than our selves, 
either in the Acquisition , or Use of 

248 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

our Wealth and Greatness ; when, alas, 
they are the Preferments of Heaven, 
to try our Wisdom, Bounty and Grati- 
tude. 

261. 'Tis a dangerous Perversion 
of the End of Providence to Con- 
sume 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-Creatures. 

262. But it is an Injustice too; since 
those Higher Ranks of Men are but 
the Trustees of Heaven for the Benefit 
of lesser Mortals, who, as Minors, are 
intituled to all their Care and Pro- 
vision. 

263. For though God has dignified 
some Men above their Brethren, it 

249 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

never was to serve their Pleasures, but 
that they might take Pleasure to serve 
the Publick. 

264. For this Cause doubtless it 
was, that they were raised above Ne- 
cessity or any Trouble to Live, that 
they might have more Time and 
Ability to Care for Others: And 'tis 
certain, where that Use is not made 
of the Bounties of Providence, they are 
ImhezzelVd and Wasted. 

265. It has often struck me with a 
serious Reflection, when I have ob- 
served the great Inequality of the 
World; that one Man should 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 

250 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

poor Employment of his Money, and 
a worse of their Time. 

266. But that any one Man should 
make Work for so many; or rather 
keep them from Work, to make up a 
TraiUj 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 Circumstances, 
and Moderated the Use of their Do- 
minion over those of their own Kind. 

268. When the poor Indians hear 
us call any 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 

251 



^ Reflections and Maxims 






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 ap- 
ply'd to other Branches of Luxury, 
that set ill Examples to the lesser 
World, and Rob the Needy of their 
Pensions. 

270. GOD Almighty Touch the 
Hearts of our Grandees with a Sense 
of his Distinguished Goodness, and 
that true End of it; that they may 
better distinguish themselves in their 
Conduct, to the Glory of Him that has 
thus liberally Preferr'd them, and the 
Benefit of their fellow Creatures. 



252 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 



OF REFINING upon other MEN'S 
ACTIONS or INTERESTS 

271. This seems to be the Master- 
Piece of our PoHticians : But no Body- 
shoots more at Random, than those 
Refiners. 

2^2. A perfect Lottery, and meer 
Hap-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 Inter- 
ests. 

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 Inter- 
est. 

274. If an able Man refines upon 

253 



N>kj>. 



Reflections and Maxims 



the Proceedings of an ordinary Ca- 
pacity, according to his own, he must 
ever miss it : But much more the ordi- 
nary Man, when he shall pretend to 
speculate the Motives to the Able 
Man's Actions : For the Able Man de- 
ceives himself by making t'other wiser 
than he is in the Reason of his Con- 
duct; and the ordinary Man makes 
himself so, in presuming to judge of 
the Reasons of the Abler Man's Ac- 
tions. 

275. 'Tis in short a Wood, a Maze; 
and of nothing are we more uncertain^ 
nor in any Thing do we oftener befool 
our selves. 

276. The Mischiefs are many that 
follow this Humour, and dangerous : 
For Men Misguide themselves, act 
upon false Measures, and meet fre- 

254 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

quently with mischievous Disappoint- 
ments. 

2yy, It excludes all Confidence in 
Commerce; allows of 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. 

278. Neither, allowing Nature or 
Religion; but some Worldly Fetch or 
Advantage : The true, the hidden Mo- 
tive to all Men to act or do. 

279. 'Tis hard to express its Un- 
charitableness, as well as Uncertainty; 
and has more of Vanity than Benefit 
in it. 

280. This Foolish Quality gives a 

255 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

large Field, but let what I have said 
serve for this Time. 

OF CHARITY 

281. Charity has various Senses, 
but is Excellent in all of them. 

282. It imports ; first, the Commis- 
eration of the Poor, and Unhappy of 
Mankind, and extends an Helping- 
Hand to mend their Condition. 

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 Es- 
sential 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 

256 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

rather ! And may he never be suffered 
to propagate such an unnatural Stock 
in the World. 

285. Such an Uncharitableness 
spoils the best Gains, and two to one 
but it entails a Curse upon the Pos- 
sessors. 

286. Nor can we expect to be heard 
of God in our Prayers, that turn the 
deaf Ear to the Petitions of the Dis- 
tressed 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 given 
him, Lays up Poverty in Store for 
his own Posterity. 

288. I will not say these Works are 
Meritorious, but dare say they are 
Acceptable, and go not without their 

257 



^ Reflections and Maxims 

Reward: Tho' 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 in- 
trusted us with. 

289. Next, Charity makes the best 
Construction of Things and Persons, 
and is so far from being an evil Spy, a 
Back-biter, or a Detractor, that it ex- 
cuses Weakness, extenuates Miscar- 
riages, makes the best of every Thing ; 
forgives every Body, serves All, and 
hopes to the End, 

290. It moderates Extreams, is al- 
ways for Expediences, labours to ac- 
commodate Differences, and had rather 
Suffer than Revenge : And so far from 
Exacting the iitmost Farthing, that il 

258 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

had rather lose than seek her Own 
Violently. 

291. As it acts Freely, so, Zealously 
too; but 'tis always to do Good, for 
it hurts no Body. 

2(^2. An Universal Remedy against 
Discord, and an Holy Cement for 
Mankind. 

293. And lastly, 'Tis Love to God 
and the Brethren, which raises the 
Soul above all worldly Considerations ; 
and, as it gives a Taste of Heaven 
upon Earth, so 'tis Heaven in the Ful- 
ness of it hereafter to the truly Chari- 
table here. 

294. This is the Noblest Sense 
Charity has, after which all should 
press, as that more Excellent Way. 

295. Nay, most Excellent; for as 
Faith, Hope and Charity were the 

259 



"^ Reflections and Maxims 

more Excellent Way that Great 
Apostle discovered to the Christians, 
(too apt to stick in Outward Gifts and 
Church Performances) so of that bet- 
ter Way he preferred 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 would profit us 
nothing, 

297. Nay, tho' we had All Tongues, 
All Knowledge, and even Gifts of 
Prophesy, and were Preachers to 

260 



Reflections and Maxims ^ 

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 Necessarium, 
or the One Thing Needful, which our 
Saviour attributed to Mary in Prefer- 
ence to her Sister Martha, that seems 
not to have wanted the lesser Parts of 
Charity. 

299. Would God this Divine Virtue 
were more implanted and diffused 
among Mankind, the Pretenders to 
Christianity especially, and we should 
certainly mind Piety more than Con- 
troversy, and Exercise Love and Com- 
passion instead of Censuring and Per- 
secuting one another in any Manner 
whatsoever, 

261 



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