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IT was a homely expression, which God makes of the state of his Church; Fear not, thou worm Jacob. Every foot is ready to tread on this despised creature. While it kept itself in that cold obscure cell of the earth, wherein it was hidden; it lay safe, because it was secret: but now, that it hath put itself forth of that close cave, and hath presented itself to the light of the sun, to the eye of passengers; how is it vexed with the scorching beams; and wrings up and down, in a helpless perplexity, not finding where to shroud itself! how obnoxious is it, to the fowls of the air, to the feet of men and beasts!

He, that made this creature such, and calls his Church so, well knew the answerableness of their condition. How doth the world overlook and contemn that little flock, whose best guard hath ever been secrecy! And, if ever that despicable number have dared to shew itself, how hath it been scorched, and trampled upon, and entertained with all variety of persecution!

O Saviour, thy Spouse fares no otherwise, than thyself. To match her fully, thou hast said of thyself, I am a worm, and no man. Such thou wert in thine humbled estate here on earth: such thou wouldest be. But, as it is a true word, that he, who made the angels in heaven, made also the worms on earth: so it is no less true, that he, who made himself and his Church worms upon earth, hath raised our nature in his person above the an

Viso cerme.

Quàm humili loquendi modo, exprimit Deus Ecclesiæ suæ conditionem; Ne metue, ó vermis Jacob. Nullus non pes est, quin despicatissimam illam creaturam calcare soleat. Dum intra frigidas obscurasque terræ cellulas, in quibus delituerat, sese contineret; tutò, quia secretè, habitaverat: nunc verò, cùm ex abditis illis cavernulis se exeruerit semel, luminique solari sese audacter præsentaverit, oculisque simul transeuntium; quàm radiis hisce fervidioribus torretur illico; hàc ac illàc se torquet, miserè cruciata, quò se subducat nescia! quàm palam, et volucribus cœli, et hominum bestiarumque pedibus obnoxia!

Qui tale fecit animalculum hoc, sicque appellare voluit Ecclesiam suam, benè nôrat conditionis utriusque analogiam. Quàm despicit contemnitque mundus pusillum illum gregem, cujus tutamen maximum fuit semper obscuritas! Sicubi verò unquam contemptissima hæc bonorum paucitas mundo se exhibere ausa fuerit, quàm statim tosta, quàm calcata, quàm omni persecutionum genere accepta fuit!

O Servator, non aliter quidem Sponsæ tuæ, quàm ipsi tibi factum sentio. Par ut illi fores, tu de te dixisti ipse, Vermis sum, non homo. Talis in illâ terrena humiliationis conditione fuisti: talis esse voluisti. Sed, uti verum verbum illud est, qui fecit in cœlo angelos, etiam in terrâ fecisse vermiculos: ita non minùs etiam verum est, qui se et Ecclesiam suam vermes fecit super terram, naturam utique nostram sibi adsumptam super omnes angelos

gels; and our person, in his Church, to little less than angels. It matters not, how we fare in this valley of tears, while we are sure of that infinite amends of glory above.

elevâsse; personamque nostram, Ecclesiæ suæ membra, paulò minùs angelis honorâsse. Parùm refert, quid nobis fiat in hâc valle lachrymarum, dum certi simus pauxillum hoc miseriæ æterno cœlestis gloriæ pondere compen. sandum.

Se induendo.

Quàm misella res homo foret, nisi id, quod ipsi benè est, aliis creaturis deberet! Terra, et linum, tergo suppeditat ; et ventri, panem: communia vestimenta, bestiæ; superbiora, bombyces: viscera dorsumque terræ, metalla fomitemque; pisces, volucres, animalia reliqua, alimentum subministrant. Ingenium quidem illius novit, hæc omnia ad suum

On the putting on of his clothes. LXX. WHAT a poor thing were man, if he were not beholden to other creatures! The earth affords him flax, for his linen; bread, for his belly: the beasts, his ordinary clothes; the silk-worm, his bravery: the back and bowels of the earth, his metals and fuel; the fishes, fowls, beasts, his nourishment. His wit indeed works upon all these, to improve them to his own advantage: but they must yield him materials, else he subsists not. And yet, we fools are proud of ourselves; yea, proud of the cast suits of the very basest creatures. There is not one of them, that have so much need of us. They would enjoy themselves, the more, if man were

not.

O God, the more we are sensible of our own indigence, the more let us wonder at thine allsufficiency in thyself; and long for that happy condition, wherein, thou, which art all perfection, shalt be all in all to us.

usum convertere: materiem ve

rò nisi ipsa porrigerent, actum de homine esset. Et tamen, nos fatui admiratione nostri impotenter efferimur; imò, vilissimorum animalculorum exuviis superbimus. Nec quod horum est, æquè quod nostri indigeat. Imò potiùs fruerentur illa sese, eò magis, si homo non esset,

O Deus, quanto magis egestatem nostram persentiscimus, tanto magis avτágnerov tuam admiremur; ambiamusque fœlicem illam conditionem, in quâ, tu, qui totus perfectio es, omnia in omnibus es nobis aliquando fu

turus.

On the sight of a great
library.

LXXI. Conspectâ bibliothecâ instructissimâ.

WHAT a world of wit is here packed up together! I know not, whether this sight doth more dismay, or comfort me: it dismays me, to think that here is so much, that I cannot know; it comforts

QUANTUS ingenii et eruditionis mundus istic congeritur! Nescio certè, plusne mihi animi adimat, addatve spectaculum hoc: adimit quidem, quòd tam multa hìc sint, que ego scire nullus unquam po

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me, to think that this variety yields so good helps, to know what I should. There is no truer word than that of Solomon; There is no end of making many books. This sight verifies it. There is no end: indeed, it were pity there should. God hath given to man a busy soul; the agitation whereof cannot but, through time and experience, work out many hidden truths: to suppress these, would be no other than injurious to mankind, whose minds like unto so many candles should be kindled by each other. The thoughts of our deliberation are most accurate: these we vent into our papers. What a happiness is it, that, without all offence of necromancy, I may here call up any of the ancient Worthies of Learning, whether human or divine, and confer with them of all my doubts! that I can, at pleasure, summon whole synods of reverend Fathers and acute Doctors from all the coasts of the earth, to give their well-studied judgments, in all points of question, which I propose! Neither can I cast my eye casually upon any of these silent masters, but I must learn somewhat. It is a wantonness, to complain of choice. No law binds us to read all: but the more we can take in and digest, the better-iking must the mind needs be. Blessed be God, that hath set up so many clear lamps in his Church: now, none, but the wilfully blind, can plead darkness. And blessed be the memory of those his faithful servants, that have left their biood, their spirits, their lives, in these precious papers; and have willingly wasted themselves into these during monuments, to give light unto others.

tero; addit verò, quòd varietas hæc tanta tam accommoda mihi adminicula suppeditet, ea quæ debeo cognoscendi. Nihil verius est illo Solomonis; Librorum conficiendorum finis nullus est. Etiam spectaculum istoc luculento indicio est. Finis nullus est: imò, nec esse debet quidem. Operosam agilemque animam indulsit homini Deus; cujus assiduæ agitationes non possunt non multas, obstetricante interim tempore et experientiâ, abstrusas veritates in lucem producere: istas si quis supprimere ac suffocare vellet, næ ille humano generi, cujus mens mutuo lumine accendi usque solet, haud parùm injurius foret. E diuturna deliberatione et studio ortæ cogitationes accuratissimæ omnium sint oportet: has scilicet chartis committimus. Quantæ fœlicitatis est, posse me heic, absque omni necromanticæ vitio, quemlibet priscorum Herôum Doctrinæ, sive humanæ sive divinæ, statim evocare, cumque illis dubia mea omnia liberrimè communicare! posse, pro libito, totas reverendorum Patrum acutissimorumque Doctorum Synodos ab omnibus terræ plagis, suffragia sua mihi, de arduis quibusque subortis quæstionibus, non temera illa quidem sed maturè digesta laturas, convocare! Neque vel casu oculos conjicere possum in tacitorum istorum præceptorum quempiam, quin aliquid addiscam illico. De copiâ verò conqueri, delicati est nauseantisque animi. Nulla nos lex jubet omnes perlegere: quanto verò plures imbiberimus digesserimusque, tanto certè magis crescat pinguescatque animus necesse est. Benedictus sit Deus, qui tot claras lampades in Ecclesiâ suâ accenderit: nemo nunc,

nisi qui cæcutit volens, tenebras causari potest. Benedicta sit etiam fidelium ipsius servorum memoria, qui tantum sudoris, sanguinis, spirituumque, animarum denique, in pretiosissimis hisce chartis reliquerint; seque lubentes in duratura hæc monumenta profuderint, ut aliis prælucerent.

On the red cross on a door.

LXXII. Visâ cruce rubeá, pestis insigni, foribus appictá.

O SIGN fearfully significant! This sickness is a Cross indeed; and that a bloody one: both the form and colour import death. The Israelites' doors, whose lintels were besprinkled with blood, were passed over by the destroying angel: here, the destroying angel hath smitten; and hath left this mark of his deadly blow. We are wont to fight cheerfully under this ensign abroad, and be victorious: why should we tremble at it at home?

O God, there, thou fightest for us; here, against us. Under that, we have fought for thee; but under this, because our sins have fought against thee, we are fought against by thy judgments. Yet, Lord, it is thy cross, though a heavy one: it is ours, by merit; thine, by imposition. O Lord, sanctify thine affliction; and remove thy vengeance.

On the change of wea ther.

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LXXIII. Ad cæli mutationem vicissi

I KNOW not whether it be worse, that the heavens look upon us always with one face, or ever varying for, as continual change

tudinemque.

NESCIO insalubriusne esset, cœlum nos unâ semper facie contueri, an semper variâ: nam, ut continua quædam cœli mutatio

of weather causes uncertainty of health, so a permanent settledness of one season causeth a certainty of distemper. Perpetual moisture dissolves us: perpetual heat evaporates, or inflames us: cold stupifies us: drought obstructs, and withers us.

Neither is it otherwise, in the state of the mind. If our thoughts should be always volatile, changing, inconstant; we should never attain to any good habit of the soul, whether in matter of judgment or disposition: but, if they should be always fixed, we should run into the danger of some desperate extremity. To be ever thinking, would make us mad: to be ever thinking of our crosses or sins, would make us heartlessly dejected; to be ever thinking of pleasures and contentments, would melt us into a loose wantonness: to be ever doubting and fearing, were a hellish servitude; to be ever bold and confident, were a dangerous presumption: but the interchanges of these in a due moderation, keep the soul in health.

O God, howsoever these variations be necessary for my spiritual condition, let me have no weather but sun-shine from thee. Do thou lift up the light of thy countenance upon me ; and stablish me ever, with thy free Spirit.

On the sight of a marriage. WHAT a comfortable and feeling resemblance is here of Christ and his Church! I regard not

valetudinis incertitudinem, sic et permanens unius temperiei constantia certitudinem invaletudinis necessariò producit. Dissolvit nos humiditas perpetua: perpetuus calor exhalat spiritus, inflammatve: stupefacit frigus: siccitas obstruit, arefacitque.

Nec, quoad animi statum, aliter se habet. Si cogitationes nostræ semper volatiles, variæ, ac inconstantes forent; nusquam perfectum aliquem mentis habitum, sive judicium spectemus sive dispositionem, assequeremur: si, è contrà, semper fixæ, certè periculum sine dubio perniciosi alicujus excessûs incurreremus. Semper cogitando, insaniremus planè: semper cogi

tando sive cruciatus nostros sive peccata, animum penitùs desponderemus; semper cogitando voluptates jucunditatesque, in luxuriosam quandam delicatamque mollitiem dissolveremur: dubitare semper ac metuere, diræ cujusdam et infernalis servitutis esset; audere verò semper et fausta quæque certissimè sibi polliceri, periculosissimæ foret præfidentiæ: horum autem omnium probè temperatæ vicissitudines, sanam vividamque ani

mam conservant.

Utcunque tamen, O Deus, variæ mutationes istæ spirituali conditioni meæ apprimè necessariæ sint, faxis ut à te nil nisi sudum ac serenum sentiam. Attolle tu mihi lumen vultus tui ; Spirituque tuo libero, animam meam semper stabilito.

LXXIV. Conspecto conjugii ritu publico. Quàm jucunda quàmque perfecta exhibetur istìc Christi ac Ecclesiæ conjunctionis, similitu

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