COme, let's be merry, and rejoyce our souls in fro­lick and in fresh delights: Let's skrue our pamper'd hearts a pitch beyond the reach of dul­browd sorrow: Let's passe the slow-pac'd time in melancholy-charming mirth, and take the ad­vantage of our youthfull dayes: Let's banish care to the dead Sea of Phlegmatick old age: Let a deep sigh be high Treason, and let a solemne looke bee adjudg'd a Crime too great for Pardon. My serious studies shall bee to draw mirth into a Body, to analyse laughter, and to paraphrase upon the various Texts of all delights. My recreations shall bee to still pleasure into a Quintessence, to reduce Beautie to her first prin­ciples, [Page 10] and to extract a perfect innocence from the milk-white Doves of Venus. Why should I spend my precious minutes in the sullen and dejected shades of sadnesse? or ravell out my short liv'd dayes in solemn and heart-breaking Care? Houres have Ea­gles wings, and when their hasty flight shall put a period to our numbred dayes, the world is gone with us, and all our forgot­ten joyes are left to be enjoyed by the succeeding generations, and we are snatcht we know not how, we know not whither; and wrapt in the dark bosome of eter­nall night. Come then my soule; be wise, make use of that which gone, is past recalling, and lost, is past redemption: Eate thy bread with a merry heart, and gulp down care in frolique cups of liberall wine. Beguile the te­dious [Page 11] nights with dalliance, and steepe thy stupid senses in un­ctious, in delightfull sports. 'Tis, all the portion that this transi­tory world can give thee: Let Musick, Voices, Masques and midnight Revels, and all that melancholy wisdome censures vaine, bee thy delights. And let thy care-abjuring soul cleare up and sweeten the short dayes of thy consuming youth. Follow the ways of thy owne heart, and take the freedome of thy sweet desires: Leave not delight untry­ed, and spare no cost to heighten up thy lusts. Take pleasure in the choice of pleasures, and please thy curious eyes with all varie­ties, to satisfie thy soule in all things which thy heart desires. I, but my soule, when those evill dayes shall come wherein thy wasting pleasures shall present [Page 12] their Items to thy bedrid view, when all diseases and the evils of age shall muster up their For­ces in thy crazie bones, where be thy comforts then?

VVHat tell'st thou me of Conscience, or a pious life? They are good trades for a leaden spirit that can stand bent at every frown, and want the braines to make a higher For­tune, or courage to archieve that honour which might glorifie their names, and write their memories in the Chronicles of Fame. 'Tis true, Humility is a needfull gift in those that have no quality to exercise their pride; and patience is a necessary grace to keep the world in peace, and him that hath it, in a whole skin, and often proves a vertue born of meer necessity. And civil honesty is a fair pretence for him that hath not wit to act the Knave, and makes a man capable of a little higher stile then Foole. [Page 20] And blushing modesty is a pretty innocent quality, and serves to vindicate an easie nature from the imputation of an il-breeding. These are inferiour Graces that have got a good opinion in the dull wisdome of the world, and appeare like water among the e­lements to moderate the body Politique, and keep it from com­bustion, nor doe they come into the work of honour. Virtue con­sists in Action, and the reward of action is Glory. Glory is the great soule of the little world, and is the Crowne of all sublime attempts, and the point where­to the crooked wayes of policy are all concentrick. Honour consults not with a pious life. Let those that are ambitious of a Religi­ous reputation, abjure all honora­ble Titles, and let their dough­bak'd spirits take a pride in suf-ferance, [Page 21] (the Anvile of all inju­ries) and bee thankfully baffled into a quiet pilgrimage. Rapes, murthers, treasons, dispossessi­ons, riots, are veniall things to men of honour, and oft co-inci­dent in high pursuits. Had my dull Conscience stood upon such nice points; that little honour I have wonne had glorified some other arme, and left me begging Morsells at his Princely gates. Come, come, my soule, Id fa­ctum juvat quod fieri non licet. Fear not to doe, what crownes thee being done. Ride on with thy Honour, and create a name to live with faire Eternity. Enjoy thy purchas'd Glory as the merit of thy renowned Actions, and let thy memory entaile it to suc­ceeding Generations. Make thy owne game, and if thy consci­ence correct thee, check thy sau­cy [Page 22] Conscience, till shee stand as mute as metamorphos'd Niobe. Feare not the frownes of Prin­ces, or the imperious hands of various Fortune. Thou art too bright for the one to obscure, and too great for the other to cry downe.

I Seeke but what's my owne by Law: It was his owne free Act and Deed: The execu­tion lies [...] for goods or body, and goods or body I will have, or else my money. What if his beg­gerly children pine, or his proud wife perish? They perish at their own charge, not mine, and what is that to mee? I must be paid, or he lie by it untill I have my utmost farthing, or his bones. The Law is just and good, and being ruled by that, how can my faire proceedings bee unjust? What's thirty in the hundred to a man of Trade? Are we born to thrum Caps, or pick straws? and sell our liveli­hood [Page 30] for a few teares, and a whining face? I thanke God they move mee not so much as a howling Dog at midnight: I'le give no day, if heaven it selfe would bee security; I must have present money, or his bones. The Commodities were good enough, as wares went then, and had he had but a thri­ving wit, with the necessary help of a good merchantable Consci­ence, hee might have gained perchance as much as now hee lost; but howsoever, gaine, or not gaine, I must have my mony. Two tedious Termes my dearest gold hath laine in his unprofita­ble hands. The cost of Suit, hath made me bleed above a score of Royals, besides my Interest, travel, half pints, and bribes; all which does but encrease my beggerly defendants damages, and sets him [Page 31] deeper on my score; but right's right, and I will have my mo­ney, or his bones. Fifteen shil­lings in the pound composition? Ile hang first. Come, tell not mee of a good Conscience, a good conscience is no parcell of my Trade; it hath made more Bankrupts, then all the loose wives in the universall City. My conscience is no foole. It tells mee that my owne's my owne, and that a well-cramm'd bagge is no deceitfull friend, but will stick close to mee, when all my friends forsake mee: If to gaine a good Estate out of nothing, and to regaine a desperate debt, which is as good as nothing, be the fruits and sign of a bad con­ence, God help the good. Come, tell not mee of griping and Op­pression. The world is hard, and he that hopes to thrive, must [Page 32] gripe as hard: What I give, I give; and what I lend, I lend: If the way to heaven bee to turne begger upon earth, let them take it that like it, I know not what ye call Oppression. The Law is my direction; but of the two, it is more profitable to oppresse, then to bee opprest. If debtors would bee honest and discharge, our hands were bound; but when their failing offends my bags, they touch the Apple of my eye, and I must right them.

VVHat Complement will the severer world al­low to the vacant houres of fro­lique-hearted youth! How shall their free, their joviall spirits en­tertain their time, their friends! What Oyle shall bee infused into the lampe of deare society, if they deny the priviledge of a ci­vill rejoycing Cup? It is the life, the radicall humour of united soules, whose love-digested heat even ripens and ferments the greene materialls of a plighted faith; without the help whereof new married friendship fals into divorce, and joyn'd acquaintance soon resolves into the first Ele­ments of strangenesse. What mean these strict Reformers thus to spend their hou [...]e-glasses, and [Page 41] bawle against our harmless Cups? to call our meetings Riots, and brand our civil mirth with stiles of loose Intemperance? where they can sit at a sisters Feast, de­voure and gurmundize beyond excesse, and wipe the guilt from off their marrowed mouths, and cloath their surfeits in the long fustian robes of a tedious Grace: Is it not much better in a faire friendly Round (since youth must have a swing) to steep our soule-afflicting sorrows in a chirping Cup, then hazard our estates up­on the abuse of providence in a foolish cast at Dice? Or at a Cockpit leave our doubtfull for­tunes to the mercy of unmerci­full contention? Or spend our wan­ton dayes in sacrificing costly presents to a fleshly Idoll? Was not Wine given to exhilarate the drooping hearts, and raise the [Page 42] drowzie spirits of dejected souls? Is not the liberall Cup the Suc­king-bottle of the sons of Phebus, to solace and refresh their palats in the nights of sad Invention? Let dry-brain'd Zelots spend their idle breaths, my cups shall be my cordialls to restore my care-be­feebled heart to the true Temper of a well-complexioned mirth: My solid Braines are potent, and can beare enough, without the least offence to my distempered Senses, or interruption of my boon companions: My tongue can in the very Zenith of my Cups deliver the expressions of my composed thoughts with better sense, then these my grave Reformers, can their best advised prayers, My Constitution is pot­proofe, and strong enough to make a fierce encounter with the most stupendious vessell that e­ver [Page 43] sailed upon the tides of Bac­chus. My reason shrinks not; my passion burns not.

VVIll Boanarges never cease? And will these Plague- denouncers never leave to thunder judgements in my trembling eare? Nothing but plagues? No­thing but judgements? Nothing but damnation? What have I done to make my case desperate? And what have they not done to make my soul despaire? Have I set up false Gods like the Egypti­ans? or have I bowed before them like the Israelites? Have I violated the Sabbath like the Libertines? Or like cursed Cham, have I dis­covered my Fathers nakednesse? Have I imbrued my hands in blood like Barabbas? Or like Ab­solon defiled my fathers bed? Have I like Jacob supplanted my elder brother? Or like Ahab intruded into Nabals vineyard? Have I born [Page 51] false witnesse like the wanton Elders? Or like David coveted V­riahs wife? Have I not given tithes of all I have? Or hath my purse been hidebound to my hungry brother? Hath not my life beene blamelesse before men? and my de­meanor unreprovable before the world? Have I not hated Vice with a perfect hatred? and coun­tenanc'd Vertue with a due re­spect? What meane these strict observers of my life, to ransack every action, to carp at every word, and with their sharp censorious tongues to sentence every frail­ty with damnation? Is there no allowance to humanity? No grains to flesh and blood? Are we all An­gels? Has mortality no priviledge to supersede it from the utmost punishment of a little necessary frailty? Come, come, my soul, let not these judgement-thunderers [Page 52] fright thee: Let not these qualmes of their exuberous zeal disturbe thee: Thou hast not cursed like Shimei, nor rail'd like Rabshekah, nor lied like Ananias, nor slan­der'd like thy accusers. They that censure thy gnats swallow their own camels. what if the luxuriant stile of thy discourse doe chance to strike upon an obvious Oath, art thou straight hurried into the bosome of a Plague? What if the custome of a harmlesse oath should captivate thy heedlesse tongue, can nothing under sud­den judgment seiz upon the? what if anothers diffidence should force thy earnest lips into a hasty oath, in confirmation of a suffering truth, must thou be straight ways branded with damnation? was Io­seph mark'd for everlasting death, for swearing by the life of Egypts King? was Peter when he so deny­ed [Page 53] his master, straight damn'd for swearing, and forswearing? O flatter not thy self my soul, nor turn thou Advocate to so high a sin: Make not the slops of Saints a precedent for thee to fall.

TEll me no more of fasting, prayer, and death; they fill my thoughts with dumps of Melan­choly. These are no subjects for a youthful ear, no contemplation for an active soul: Let them whom sullen Age hath weaned from ae­ry pleasures, whom wayward fortun [...] hath condemn'd to sighs and groanes, whom sad diseases have beslaved to drugs and diets; let them consume the remnant of their wretched dayes in dull de­votion: Let them afflict their a­king soules with the untunable discourses of mortality; Let them contemplate on evill dayes, and read sharp Lectures of their own experience: For me, my bones are full of unctious marrow, and my blood of sprightly youth: [Page 61] My faire and free estate secures me from the feares of fortunes frowne. My strength of constitu­tion hath the power to grapple with sorrow, sicknesse, nay, the very pangs of death, and over­come. 'Tis true, God must bee sought; What impious tongue dare be so basely bold to contra­dict so known a truth? and by re­pentance too: What strange impiety dare deny it? Or what presumptuous lips dare disavow it? But there's a time for all things, yet none p [...]efixt for this, no day designed, but, At what time soever: If my unseasonable heart should seek him now, the work would bee too serious for so green a seeker. My thoughts are yet unsetled, my fancy yet too too gamesome, my judgment yet unsound, my Will unsanctified; to seeke him with an unprepared [Page 62] heart is the high way not to find him, or to find him with unsetled resolution is the next way to lose him; and indeed it wants but little of profanenesse, to bee unseasonably religious. What is once to bee done, is long to bee deliberated. Let the boyling pleasures of the rebellious flesh evaporate a little, and let me draine my boggy soul from those corrupted, inbred humors of collapsed nature, and when the tender blossomes of my youthfull vanity shall be­gin to fade, my setled under­standing will begin to knot, my solid judgement will begin to ripen, my rightly guided will be resolved, both what to seek, and when to find, and how to prize: till then, my tender youth, in her pursuit, will bee disturb'd with every blast of honour, diverted [Page 63] with every f [...]ash of pleasure, mis­led by Counsell, turned back with feare, puzled with doubt, inter­rupted by passion, withdrawne with prosperity, and discourag'd with adversity.

THere is no such stuffe to make a cloake on as Religi­on; nothing so fashionable, no­thing so profitable; it is a Livery, wherein a wise man may serve two Masters, God and the world, and make a gainefull service by either: I serve both, and in both my selfe, in prevaricating with both. Before man none serves his God with more severe devotion, for which, among the best of men I work my own ends, and serve my self. In private I serve the world, not with so strict devo­tion, but with more delight, where fulfilling of her servants lusts I work my end, and serve my self; The house of Prayer who more frequents then I? in all Christian duties who more forward then I? I fast with those that fast, that I may eat with those that eat: I mourne with those that mourne: [Page 71] No hand more open to the Cause then mine; and in their families none prayes longer and with lou­der zeale: Thus when the opinion of a holy life hath cryed the goodnesse of my Conscience up, my trade can lack no custome, my wares can want no price, my words can need no credit, my acti­ons can lack no praise. If I am co­vetous, it is interpreted provi­dence; if miserable, it is counted temperance; if melancholy, it is construed godly sorrow; if merry, it is voted spirituall joy; if I bee rich, 'tis thought the blessing of a godly life; if poor, supposed the fruit of conscionable dealing; if I be well spoken of, it is the merit of holy conversation; if ill, it is the malice of Malignants; thus I sail with every winde, and have my end in all conditions. This Cloake in Summer keepes mee [Page 72] cool, in winter warm, and hides the nasty Bag of all my secret lusts: Under this Cloake I walk in publik fairly, with applause, and in private sin-securely, with­out offence, and officiate wisely without discovery; I compasse sea and land to make a Proselyte, and no sooner made, but hee makes me. At a Fast I cry Geneva, and at a Feast I cry Rome. If I be poor, I counterfeit abundance to save my credit; if rich, I dissem­ble poverty to save charges. I most frequent Schismaticall Le­ctures, which I find most profi­table, from whence learning to divulge and maintaine new do­ctrines, they maintaine mee in suppers thrice a weeke; I use the help of a lie, sometimes as a Religious stratagem to uphold the Gospel, and I colour oppres­sion with Gods judgement execu­ted [Page 73] upon the wicked. Charity I hold an extraordinary duty, therefore not ordinarily to be per­formed. What I openly reprove abroad for my own profit, that I secretly act at home, for my owne pleasure.

YOu tell mee, and you tell me that I must be a good man, and serve God, and doe his will; and so I doe for ought I know: I am sure I am as good as God has made mee, and I can make my self no better, so I cannot: And as for serving God, I am sure I go to Church as well as the best in the Parish, though I bee not so fine; and I make no que­stion, if I had better cloathes, but I should doe God as much cre­dit as another man, though I say it: And as for doing Gods will, I befhrew mee, I leave that to them that are booke-learn'd, and can doe it more wisely: I be­leeve the Vicar of our Parish can doe it, and has done it too, as well as any within five miles of [Page 81] his head, and what need I trou­ble my selfe to doe what is so well done already? I hope hee being so good a Churchman, and so great a Schollard, and can speake Latine too, would not leave that to so simple a man as I. It is enough for mee to know, that God is a good man; and that the ten Commandements are the best prayers in all the book, unlesse it be the Creede. And that I must love my neighbour as well as he loves mee, and for all other Quilicoms, they shall never trou­ble my braines, an grace a God. Let mee goe a sundayes and serve God, obey the King, (God blesse him) doe no man no wrong, say the Lords Prayer every morning and evening; follow my worke, give a Noble to the poore at my death, and then say Lord have mercy upon mee, & go away like a [Page 82] Lambe, I make no question but I shall deserve heaven as well as hee that weares a gayer coate: But yet I am not so ingrant neither, nor have not gone so often to Church, but I know Christ died for mee too, as well as for any other man: I'de bee sorry else; and that, next to our Vicar, I shall goe to heaven when a I am dead as soone as another; nay more, I know there bee two Sa­craments, bread and wine, and but two, (though the Papists say there be six or seven) and that I verily beleeve I shall be sa­ved by those Sacraments, and that I love God above all, or else 'twere pity of my life, and that when I am dead and rotten (as our Vicar told mee) I shall rise again and be the same man I was. But for that, hee must excuse mee, till I have better sartifacti­on; [Page 83] for all his learning, hee can­not make me such a fool, unlesse he shew me a better reason for't, then yet he has done.

O What a world of Curses, the eating of the forbidden [Page 91] fruit hath brought upon man­kind! and unavoidably entail'd upon the sons of men! Among all which no one appeares to mee more terrible and full of sorrow, and bewraying greater wrath, then that insufferable, that hor­rible punishment of labour, and to purchase Bread with so ex­treame a price as sweat: But O what hap, what happinesse have they, whose dying Parents have procured a quiet fortune for their unmolested Children, and conveigh'd descended rents to their succeeding heirs, whose ea­sie and contented lives may sit and suck the sweetnesse of their cumberless estates, and with their folded hands enjoy the delicates of this toilsome world! How blessed, how delicious are those easie morsells, that can finde the way to my soft palat, and then [Page 92] attend upon the wanton leasure of my silken slumbers, without the painfull practise of my bo­some-folded hands, or sad con­trivement of my studious and contracted Brows! Why should I tire my tender youth, and tor­ture out my groaning dayes in toyle and travell? and discompose the happy peace of my harmo­nious thoughts with painfull grinding in the common mill of dull mortality? Why should I rob my craving eyelids of their delightfull rest, to cark and care and purvey for that Bread which every work-abhorring vagabond can finde of Almes at every good mans doore? Why should I leave the warm protection of my care-beguiling Doune, to play the droyling drudge for daily food, when the young empty Ravens (that have no hands to worke, [Page 93] nor providence, but heaven) can call and be supplyed? The pale fac'd Lilly, and the blushing Rose, neither spinnes nor sows, yet Princely Solomon was never ro­bed with so much glory. And shall I then afflict my body, and beslave my heaven-born soule to purchase Rags to cloath my na­kednesse? Is my condition worse then Sheep, ordain'd for slaugh­ter, that crop the springing grasse, cloath'd warme in soft Array­ment, purchas'd without their Providence or pains? Or shall the Pamper'd Beast that shines with fatnesse, and grows wanton through his carefull Groomes in­dulgence, find better measure at the worlds too partiall hands then I? Come, come, let those take pains that love to leave their names inrol'd in memorablemo­numents of parchment; the day has [Page 94] grief enough without my helpe; and let To morrowes shoulders beare to morrows burthens.

I'Le make him feel the weight of displeasure, and teach him to repent his saucy boldnesse: How dare his basenesse once pre­sume to breath so near my person, much more to take my name into his dunghill mouth? me thinks the lustre of my sparkling eye might have had the power to a­stonish him into good manners, and sent him backe to cast his minde into a fair Petition, hum­bly presented with his trem­bling hand. But thus to presse into my presence, to presse so neer my face, and then to speake, and speake to me, as if I were his equall, is more then sufferable: The way to be contemn'd is to digest contempt, but he that would be honour'd by the vulgar must [Page 110] wisely keep a distance: A coun­tenance thats reserv'd breeds fear and observation: but affability and too easie an accesse makes fooles too bold, and reputation cheap: What price I set upon my owne deserts, instructs opinion how to prize me: That which base ignorance miscalls thy pride, is but a conscious knowledge of thy merits: dejected soules craven'd with their own distrusts, are the worlds Footballs to be kickt and spurnd; but brave and true heroick spirits, that know the strength of their owne worth, shall baffold basenesse, and presumption into a reverentiall silen [...]e, and spi [...]e of envie flourish in an honourable repute Come then my soule ad­vance thy noble, thy ub [...]imer thoughts, and prize thy [...]elf accor­ding to tho [...]e parts, which all may wonder at, [...]ew imitate, but none [Page 111] can equall: Let not the insolent affronts of vassals interrupt thy Peace, nor seem one scruple lesse then what thou art: Be thou thy selfe, respect thy selfe, receive thou honour from thy selfe, Rejoyce thy self in thy self, and prize thy selfe for thy selfe; Like Cesar ad­mit no equall and like Pompey ac­knowledge no superiour. Be co­vetous of thine owne Honour, and hold anothers glory as thy in­jury. Renounce humilitie as an Heresie in reputation, and meek­nesse as the worst disease of a true-bred noble Spirit; Disparage worth in all but in thy selfe, and make anothers infamy a foyl to magnifie thy glory. Let such as have no reason to be proud, be humbled of necessity, and let them that have no parts to va­lue, be despondent. But as for thee, thy Cards are good, and ha­ving [Page 112] skill enough to play thy hopefull Game, vie boldly, con­quer and triumph.

BEleive me, the Times a [...]e hard and dangerous: Charity is grown cold, and friends uncom­fortable; an empty Purse is full of sorrow, and hollow Bags make [Page 120] a heavy heart: Poverty is a civill Pestilence, which frights away both friends and kindred, and leaves us to a Lord have mercy upon us: It is a sicknes very catch­ing and infectious, and more commonly abhord then cured: The best Antidote against it is Angelico, and Providence, and the best Cordiall is Aurum po­tabile. Gold-taking fasting is an approved soveraigne. Debts are all humours, and turne at last to dangerous obstructions; Lending is a meer consumption of the ra­dicall humour, and if consumed, brings a patient to nothing. Let others trust to Courtiers promi­ses, to friends performances, to Princes favours; Give me a Toy call'd Gold give me a thing call'd Mony. O blessed Mammon, how extreamly sweet is thy all-com­manding presence to my thriving [Page 121] soule! In banishment thou art my deare companion; In captivity, thou art my precious ransome. In trouble and vexation thou art my dainty rest. In sicknes, thou art my health; In griefe, my only joy; in all extremity, my only trust: Vertue must vaile to thee; Nay Grace it self not relisht with thy sweetnes would even displeas the righteous palates of the sons of men. Come then my soul, ad­vise, contrive, project: Go, com­passe Sea, and Land: leave no ex­ploit untryed, no path untrod, no time unspent; afford thine eyes no sleep, thy head no rest: Neglect thy ravenous belly, un­cloath thy backe; deceive, be­tray, sweare and forsweare to compasse such a friend, If thou be base in birth, 'twill make thee honorable; If weak in power, it will make thee formidable: Are [Page 122] thy friends few? It will make them numerous. Is thy cause bad? It wi [...]l make thee Advocates. True wisedom is an excellent help, in case it bend this way; and lear­ning is a gentile Ornament if not too chargeable: yet by your leave they are but estates for term of life: But everlasting Gold, if well ad­vantag'd will not onely blesse thy da [...]es, but thy surviving children from generation to g [...]neration. Come come et others fill their br [...]ines with deare bought wit, turn their pence in [...]o expence [...]ull charity, and store their bosomes with unprofitable p [...]ety, let them lose all to save their [...]maginary consciences, and begger them [...]elves at home to be thought honest a­broad; Fill thou thy [...]agg [...]s and barnes, and ay up for many ye [...]rs and take thy rest.

GOd hath required my heart, and he shall have it: God hath commanded truth in the inward parts, and he shall be o­beyed: My soule shall prayse the Lord, and all that is within me, and I will serve him in the strength of my desires. And in common Cases the tongues pro­fession of his Name is no lesse then necessary: But when it lies upon a lise, upon the saving of a livelyhood, upon the flat undo­ing of a reputation, the case is al­tered: My life is deare, my faire possessions pretious, and my re­putation is the very Apple of mine eye. To save so great a stake, me thinks equivocation is but veniall, if a sinne. [...]f the true loyalty of mine heart stands sound [Page 131] to my Religion and my God; my well-informed Conscience tels me that in such extremities my frighted tongue may take the priviledge of a Salvo or a mentall reservation, if not in the expressi­on of a faire compliance. What? shall the reall breach of a holy Sabbath, dedicated to Gods highest glory, be tolerated for the welfare of an Oxe? May that breach be set upon the score of mercy, and commended above sa­crifice for the savegard of an Asse? And may I not dispence with a bare lippe deniall of my urg'd Re­ligion for the necessary preserva­tion of the threatned life of a man? for the saving of the whole livelyhood and subsistence of a Christian? What? shall I perish for the want of [...]ood, and die a Martyr to that foolish consci­ence which forbids me to rub the [Page 132] eares of a little standing Corne? Iacob could purchase his sick fa­thers blessing with a down-right lie, and may I not dissemble for a life? The young mans great possessions taught his timerous tongue to shrink from and de­cline his hearts profession, and who could blame him? Come, if thou freely give thy house, canst thou in conscience be denied a hiding room for thy protection? The Syrian Captain (he whose heart was fixt on his now firme resolv'd, and true devotion) re­served the house of Rimmon for his necessary attendance, and yet went in peace. Peter (upon the rock of whose confession, the Church was grounded) to save his liberty, with a false, nay with a perjur'd tongue; nay more, at such a time when as the Lord of life (in whose behalf he drew his [Page 133] sword) was questioned for his innocent life, denied his Master; and shall I be so great an un­thrift of my blood, my life, to lose it for a meere lippe-deniall of that Religion which now is setled and needs no blood to seale it?

FOr ought J see the case is e­ven the same with him that prayes, and him that does not pray; with him that sweares and him that feares an o [...]th: I see no difference; if any, those that they call the wicked have the ad­vantage. Their crops are even as faire, their flocks as numerous as theirs that weare the ground with their religious knees, and fast their bodies to a skelliton; nay in the use of blessings (which only makes them so) they farre ex­ceed; they terme me reprobate, and stile me unregenerate: 'Tis true, I eate my labours with a jolly heart; drinke frolick cups; sweeten my paines with time-beguiling sports, make the best ad­vantage [Page 142] of my owne, pray when I thinke on't, sweare when they urge me, hear Ser­mons at my leasure; follow the lusts of my owne eyes, and take the pleasure of my own wayes; and yet, God be thanked, my Barnes are furnisht, my sheep stand sound, my Cattle strong for labour, my pastures rich and flou­rishing my body healthfull, and my bags are full: whilst they that are so pure, and make such consci­ence of their wayes, that run to Sermons, figge to Lectures, pray thrice a day by the houre, hold faith and tr [...]th prophane, and drinking healths a sinne, do often finde leane harvests, easie flocks, and emptie purses: Let them be godly that can live on Aire and Faith; and eaten up by Zeale, can whine themselves into an Hospi­ [...]all, or blesse their lips with cha­ritable [Page 143] scrapps. If godlinesse have this reward, to have short meals for long prayers, weake estates for strong faiths, and good conscien­ces upon such bad conditions, let them boast of their pennyworths, and let me be wicked still, and take my chance as falls. Let me have judgement to discover a pro­fitable Farme, and wit to take it at an easie Rent, and Gold to stock it in a liberall manner, and skill to manage it to my best advantage, and luck to finde a good encrease, and providence to husband wisely what I gaine, I seek no further, and I wish no more. Husbandry and Religion are two severall occupations, and look two severall wayes, and he is the onely wise man can reconcile them.

CAn flesh and blood bee so unnaturall to forget the Lawes of Nature? Can blowing youth immure it selfe within the Icey walls of Vestall Chastity? Can lusty diet, and mollicious rest [Page 152] bring forth no other fruits, but faint desires, rigid thoughts, and Phlegmatick, conceits? should we be stocks and stones and (ha­ving active souls) turne altoge­ther passives? Must we turne An­cherites and spend our dayes in Caves, and Hermitages, and smother up our pretious hours in cloysterd folly, and recluse devo­tion? Can rosy cheeks, can ruby lips, can snowy brests and spark­ling eyes, present their beauties and perfections to the sprightly view of young mortality, and must we stand like Statues with­out sense or motion? Can strict Religion impose such cruell tasks and even impossible commands upon the raging thoughts of her unhappy votaries, as to withstand and contradict the instinct, and very principles of Nature? Can faire-pretending Piety be so bar­barous [Page 153] to condemn us to the flames of our affections, and make us Martyrs to our own desires? Is't not enough to con­quer the rebellious actions of im­perious flesh, but wee must ma­nacle her hands, darken her eyes; nay worse, restrain the freedom of her very thoughts? Can full perfection be expected here? Or can our work bee perfect in this vale of imperfection? This were a life for Angels, but a task too hard for frail, for transitory man. Come, come, wee are but men, but flesh and blood, and our born frailties cannot grapple with such potent tyranny. What Nature and Necessity requires us to doe, is veniall, being done. Come, strive no more against so strong a stream, but take thy fill of beauty; solace thy wanton heart with amorous contemplations, [Page 154] cloathe all thy words with court­ly Rhetorick, and soften thy lips with Dialects of Love; Surfet thy selfe with pleasure, and melt thy passion into warm delights; Walk into Natures universall Bower, and pick what Flower does most surprize thine eye; drink of all waters, but bee tied to none. Spare neither cost nor paines, to compasse thy Desires: Enjoy varieties; emparadise thy soule in fresh Delights. The change of pleasure makes thy pleasure double: Ravish thy senses with perpetuall choyce, and glut thy soule with all the delicates of Love.

THe glittering Prince that sits upon his regall, and im­periall Throne, and the ignoble Peasant that sleeps within his sordid house of Thatch are both alike to God: An Ivory Temple and a Church of Clay are priz'd [Page 162] alike by him: The flesh of Buls, and the perfumes of My he and [...]assia smoak his Altars with an equall pleasure: And does he make such difference of dayes? Is he that was so weary of the New-Moones, so taken with the Sun to tie his Sabbath to that on­ly day? The tenth in tithes is any one in ten, and why the seventh day not any one in seven? We sanctifie the day, the day not us: But are we Jewes? Are we still bound to keepe a legall Sabbath in the strictnesse of the Letter? Have the Gentiles no priviledge by vertue of Messiahs comming, or has the Evangelicall Sabbath no immunities? The service done the day's discharged, my libertie restored; And if I meet my profits, or my pleasurer then▪ I'le give them entertainment. If bu­sinesse call me to account, I dare [Page 163] afford a carefull eare. Or if my sports invite me, I'le entertaine them with a cheerfull heart: I'le goe to Mattens with as much de­votion as my neighbour, I'le make as low obeysance, and as just responds as any; but as soon as Evensong's ended, my Church-devotion and my Psalter shall sanetifie my Pue till the next Sabbath call; Were it no more for an old custome sake, then for the good I finde in Sabbaths, that Ceremony might as well be spa­red. It is a day of Rest: And what's a Rest? A relaxation from the toile of labour: And what is labour but a painfull ex­ercise of the fraile body? But where the exercise admits no toile, there Relaxation makes no Rest: What labour is it for the worldly man to compasse Sea and Land to accomplish his desires? [Page 164] What labour is it for the impa­tient lover to measure Hellespont with his widened armes to hasten his del [...]ght? What labour for the youth to number musick with their sprightly paces? Where pleasure's reconcil'd to labour, la­bour is but an active rest; Why should the Sabbath then, a day of rest, divorce thee from those de­lights that make thy Rest? Afflict their soules that please, my rest shall be what most conduces to my hearts delight. Two houres will vent more prayers then I shal need, the rest remaines for plea­sure.

I Know there is much of the seed of the Serpent in him by his very lookes, if his words betray'd him not; He hath eaten the Egge of the Cock [...]trice, and surely he remaineth in the state of perditi­on; He is not within the Cove­nant, and abideth in the Gall of bitternesse; His studied Prayers show him to be a high Malig­nant, and his Jesu worship con­cludes him popishly affected; He comes not to our private meet­ings, nor contributes a penny to the cause▪ He cries up learning, and the book of Common-prayer, and takes no armes to hasten Re­formation; [Page 173] He feares God for his owne ends, for the spirit of Anti­christ is in him. His eyes are full of Adulteries, and goes a who­ring after his owne inventions: He can hear an oath from his supe­riours without reproof, and the heathenish Gods named without spitting in his face: Wherefore my soule detesteth him, and I will have no conversation with him; for what fellowship hath light with darknesse, or the pure in heart with the unclean? Some­times he is a Publican, somtimes a Pharisee, and alwayes an Hy­pocrite; He railes against the Al­tar as loud as we, and yet he crin­ges and makes an Idol of the name of Jesus; he is quick-sight­ed to the infirmities of the Saints, and in his heart rejoyceth at our failings▪ he honours not a preach­ing ministery, and too much leans [Page 174] to a Church-government; hee paints devotton on his face, whilst pride is stampt within his heart: he places sanctity in the walls of a Steeple-house, and adores the Sa­crament with his popish knee; His Religion is a Weathercock, and turns brest to every blast of wind. With the pure he seems pure, and with the wicked he will joyne in fellowship; A sober language is in his mouth but the poyson of Aspes is under his tongue: His workes conduce not to edification, nor are the motions of his heart sanctifi­ed; He adores great ones for pre­ferment, and speaks too partially of authority: He is a Laodicean in his faith, a Nicolaitane in his workes, a Pharisee in his disguise, a rank Papist in his heart, and I thanke my God I am not as this man.

NAy if Religion be so strict a Law to binde my tongue to the necessity of a truth on all occasions, at all times, and in all places, the gate is too strait for me to enter: Or if the generall rules of down-right truth will admit no [...]ew exceptions, farewell all ho­nest mirth farewell all trading, farewell the whole converse be­twixt [Page 183] man and man: If alwayes to speak punctuall truth bee the true Symptomes of a blessed soule; Tom Tell troth has a happy time, and fooles and children are the only men. If truth sit Regent, in what faithfull breast shall secrets finde repose? What kingdome can be safe? What Common wealth can be secure? What warre can be successefull? What Stratagem can prosper? if bloody times should force Religion, to shroud it selfe beneath my roo [...]e; upon demand, shall my false truth be­tray it. Or shall my brothers life, or shall my owne be seis'd upon through the cruell truth of my down-right confession? or rather not be secured by a faire officious lie? shall the righteous Favorite of Egypts Tyrant, by vertue of a loud lie, sweeten out his joy and heigthen up his soft affection [Page 184] with the Antiperistasis of teares, and may I not prevaricate with a sullen truth to save a brothers life, from a bloodthirsty hand? shall Iacob and his too indulgent mo­ther, conspire in a lie to purchase a paternall blessing in the false name, and habit of a supplanted brother, and shall I question to preserve the granted blessing of a life, or livelihood, with a harme­lesse lie? Come, come, my soul, let not thy timerous conscience check at such poor things as these: So long as thy officious tongue aymes at a just end ▪ a lie is no of­fence: So long as thy perjurious lips confirme not thy untruth with an aud [...]ci [...]us brow, thou n [...]edst not feare: The weight of the cause releeves the burthen of the Crime: Is thy Center good? No matter how crooked the lines of the circumference be: Po­licie [Page 185] allowes it: If thy journies end be heaven, it matters not how full of Hell thy journey be, Di­vinity allowes it: Wilt thou con­demn the Egyptian Midwives for saving the infant Israelites by so merciful a lie? When martial exe­cution is to be done▪ wilt thou fear to kill? When hunger drives thee to the gates of death, wilt thou be afraid to steale? When civill warres divide a Kingdome, will Mercuries decline a lie? No, cir­cumstances excuse, as well as make the lie; Had Caesar, Scipio, or A­lexander been regulated by such strict Divinity, their names had been as silent as their dust; A lie is but a faire put off, the sanctuary of a secret, the riddle of a lover, the stratagem of a Souldier, the policy of a Statesman, and a salve for many desperate sores.

O What a Julip to my scorching soul is the de­licious blood of my Offend [...]r! and how it cooles the burning F [...]ver of my boyling veynes! It is the Quintessence of pleasures, the height of satisfaction, and the [Page 194] very marrow of all delight, to bathe and paddle in the blood of such, whose bold affronts have turn'd my wounded pat [...]ence in­to fury? How full of sweetnesse was his death, who dying was reveng'd upon three thousand enemies? How sweetly did the younger brothers blood allay the soul-consuming flame of the el­der, who took more pleasure in his last breath, then heaven d [...]d in his first Sacrifice? Yet had not heaven to demned his acti­on, nature h [...]d found an Advo­cate for his passion: What stur­dy spirit hath the power to rule his suffer [...]ng thoughts, or curbe the headstrong [...]u [...]y of his Ira­scible affections? Or who but fooles (that cannot taste anjnju­ry) can moderate their high­bred spirits; and stop their passion in her full carrier? Let heavy Cy­nicks, [Page 195] they whose leaden soules are taught by stupid reason to stand bent at every wrong, that can digest an injury more easily then a complement, that can pro­test against the Lawes of nature, and cry all naturall affection downe, let them be Andirons for the in [...]urious world to worke a Heat upon: let them finde shoul­ders to receive the paineful stripes of peevish Mortal [...]s, and to bear the wrongs of daring insolence: Let them be drawne like Calves p [...]epar'd for slaughter, and bow t [...]e [...]r servile necks to sharp de­struction: let them submit their slavish bosomes to be trod and tr [...]mpled under [...]oot for every pleasure: My Eagle spirit flies a higher pitch, and like ambitious Phaeton climbes into the fiery Chariot, and drawne with fury, scorne, revenge, and honor; ram­bles [Page 196] through all the Spheares, and brings with it confusion and combustion; my reeking sword shall vindicate my reputation, and rectifie the injuries of my honorable name, and quench it selfe in plenteous streames of blood Come tell not mee of Charity, conscience, [...]r trans­gression; My Charity reflects up­on my self, begins at home, and guides by the justice of my pas­sion, is bound to labour for an ho­nourable satisfaction: My con­science is blood-proofe, and I can broach a life with my illustrious weapon with as little [...]eluctation, as kill a Flea that [...]ucks my blood without Commission, and I can drinke a health in blood upon my bended knee, to reputation.

SO, now my soule thy happi­nesse is entaild and thy illu­strious n [...]me shall live in thy suc­ceeding Generations; Thy dwel­ling is establish'd in the fat of all the land: thou hast what mor­tall [Page 205] heart can wish, and wantest nothing but immortalitie: The best of all the land is thine, and thou art planted in the best of Lands: A land whose Constituti­ons make the best of Govern­ment, which Government is strengthened with the best of Laws, which Lawes are executed by the best of Princes, whose Prince, whose Lawes, whose Government, whose land makes us the happiest of all subjects, makes us the happiest of all peo­ple. A land of strength, of plenty, and a land of peace, where every soule may sit beneath his Vine, unfrighted at the horrid language of the hoarse Trumpet, unstart­led at the warlike summons of the roaring Cannon. A land whose beauty hath surpriz'd the ambiti­ous hearts of forrain Princes, and taught them by their martiall O­ratory [Page 196] to make their vaine at­tempts. A land whose strength reades vanity in the deceived hopes of Conquerours, and crowns their enterprizes with a shame­full overthrow. A land whose native plenty makes her the worlds Exchange, supplying o­thers able to subsist without sup­ply from forraigne Kingdomes; in it selfe happy; and abroad ho­norable. A land that hath no vanity, but what by accident pro­ceeds and issues from the swee­test of all blessings, peace and plen­ty; that hath no misery but what is propagated from that blindness which cannot see her own feli­citie. A land that flowes with Milk and Honey, and in briefe, wants nothing to deserve the ti­tle of a Paradise, the Curbe of Spaine, the pride of Germany, the ayde of Belgia, the scourge of [Page 197] France, the Empresse of the world, and Queene of Nations: She is begirt with walls, whose builder was the hand of heaven, whereon there daily rides a Navy Royall, whose unconquerable pow­er proclaimes her Prince in­vincible, and whispers sad de­spaire into the fainting hearts of forraigne Majesty: She is com­pact within her selfe, in unity, not apt to civill discords or intestine broyles; The envie of all nations, the ambition of all Princes; the terror of all enemies, the security of all neighbouring States. Let timerous Pulpits threaten ruine, let prophecying Church-men dote till I beleeve: How often and how long have these loud sonnes of Thunder false prophe­sied her desolation? and yet she stands the glory of the world: Can pride demolish the Towers that [Page 208] defend her? Can drunkennesse dry up the Sea that walls her? Can flames of lust dissolve the Ord­nance that protect her?

TEll bauling Babes of Bug­beares, to fright them into [Page 216] quietnesse, or terrify youth with old wives fables, to keep their wilde affections in awe; Such Toyes may work upon their timerous apprehensions, when wholsom precepts fayl, and finde no audience in their youthfull cares: Tell not me of Hell, De­vils, or of damned soules to en­force mee from those pleasures which they nick-name Sinne: What tell ye me of Law? my soule is sensible of Evangelicall precepts, without the needlesse and uncorrected thunder of the killing Letter, or the terrible paraphrase of roaring Boanarges, the tediousnesse of whose lan­guage still determines in damna­tion; wherein I apprehend God farre more mercifull then his Ministers. Tis true, I have not led my life according to the pha­risaicall Square of their opinions, [Page 217] neither have I found judgements according to their Prophecies, whereby I must conclude that God is wonderfully mercifull, or they wonderfully mistaken. How often have they thundred tor­ment against my voluptuous life, and yet I feele no pain: How bitterly have they threatned shame against the vaunts of my vain-glory? yet finde I honour: How fiercely have they preacht destruction against my cruelty? and yet I live: What plagues against my swearing? yet not infected: What diseases against my drunkennesse? and yet sound; What danger against procrastina­tion? yet how often hath God been found upon the death-bed? What damnation to Hypocrites? yet who more safe? What stripes to the ignorant? yet who more Scotfree? What poverty to the [Page 218] slothfull? yet themselvs prosper: What fals to the proud? yet they stand surest: What curses to the covetous? yet who richer? What judgements to the lascivious? yet who more pleasure? What ven­geance to the prophane, the cen­sorious, the revengefull? yet none live more unscourg'd: Who deeper branded then the Lyar? yet who more favourd? Who more threatend then the pre­sumptuous? yet who lesse pu­nisht? Thus are wee foold and kept in awe with the strict fan­cies of those Pulpit-men, whose opinions have no ground but what they gaine from popu­larity: Thus are wee frighted from the liberty of Nature by the politick Chimeraes of Religion; whereby wee are necessitated to the observing of those Lawes whereof wee finde a greater [Page 219] necessity of breaking.