ON MAMMON.

Mammon's grown rich: does Mammon boast of that? The stalled ox as well may boast he's fat.

Quarles.

OF A VIRTUOUS LIFE, AGE, AND DEATH.
God wot, my freend, our life full soon decayes,
And vertue voydes no wrinkles from the face:
Approching age by no entreatie stayes,

And death vntamed, uill graunt no man grace.
The Gorgious Gallery of Gallan.
Inuentions, 1578

A BUNCH OF CERTAINTIES.

Hee wyll redeeme our deadly drowping state,
Hee wyll bring home the sheepe that goe astraye,
Hee wyll helpe them that hope in him alwaye:
Hee wyll appease our discorde and debate,
Hee wyll soon saue, though we repent vs late.
Hee wyll be ours, if we continewe his,

Hee wyll bring bale to ioy and perfect blisse.
Hee wyll redeeme the flocke of his electe,
From all that is,

Or was amisse,

Gascoigne.

FAIR FRUITS FROM HUMBLE ROOTS.

As on the unsavoury stock the lily is borne,
And as the rose grows on the pricking thorn,
So modest life, with sobs of grievous smart,
And cries devout, comes from a humble heart.
Thomas Hudson.

PRUDENCE MORE POWERFUL IN THE END THAN FORCE.

In all contentions between wit and violence, prudence and rudeness, learning and the sword, the strong hand took it at first, and the strong head possessed it last; the strong man first governed, and the witty man succeeded him, and lasted longer.

Jeremy Taylor.

THE ROOT OF ALL DISQUIETNESS.

I riches read,

And deem them root of all disquietness:

First got with guile, and then preserv'd with dread,

And after spent with pride and lavishness:
Leaving behind them grief and heaviness.
Infinite mischiefs of them do arise:

Strife and debate, bloodshed and bitterness,
Outrageous wrong and hellish covetise,

That noble heart as great dishonour doth despise.

Brings down the stoutest hearts to lowest state,

For misery doth bravest minds abate,

And makes them seek for that they wont to scorn,
Of fortune and of hope at once forlorn.

Spenser.

THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN HOPE AND FAITH.

Faith comes by hearing; Hope by experience. Faith believeth the truth of the Word; Hope waits for its fulfilment. Faith lays hold of that end of the Promise that is next to us, even as it is in the Bible; Hope lays hold of that end of the Promise that is fastened to the Mercyseat. Thus Faith and Hope get hold of both ends of the Promise, and carry ALL away! Faith fights for Doctrine; Hope for a Reward. Faith for what is in the Bible; Hope for what is in Heaven. Faith purifies the heart from bad Principles; Hope from bad Manners. Faith sets Hope to work; Hope sets Patience to work. Doth not all this make thy heart twitter after the Mercy that is in God?

Bunyan.

THE CHAMELEON COLOURS OF DECEIT.

He sees the face of right t' appear as manifold
As are the passions of uncertain man;

Who puts it in all colours, all attires,

To serve his ends, and make his courses hold.
He sees that let deceit work what it can,
Plot and contrive base ways to high desires,
That the all-guiding Providence doth yet
All disappoint, and mocks this smoke of wit.

Daniel.

AGE OF REASON AND DISCRETION.

As when the sun approaching towards the gates of the morning, he first opens a little eye of heaven, and sends away the spirits of darkness, and gives light to a cock, and calls up the lark to matins, and by and by gilds the fringes of a cloud, and peeps over the eastern hills, thrusting out his golden horns, like those which decked the brows of Moses when he was forced to wear a veil because himself had seen the face of God; and still, while a man tells the story, the sun gets up higher, till he shows a fair face and a full light, and then he shines one whole day, under a cloud often, and sometimes weeping great and little showers, and sets quickly. So is a man's reason and his life. He first begins to perceive himself, to see or taste, making little reflections upon his actions of sense, and can discourse of flies and dogs, shells and play, horses and liberty; but when he is strong enough to enter into arts and little institutions, he is at first entertained with trifles and impertinent things, not because he needs them, but because his understanding is no bigger, and little images of things are laid before him, like a cock-boat to a whale, only to play withal: but before a man comes to be wise, he is half dead with gouts and consumption, with catarrhs and aches, with sore eyes and a worn-out body. So that, if we must not reckon the life of a man but by the accounts of his reason, he is long before his soul be dressed, and he is not to be called a man without a wise and adorned soul; a soul, at least, furnished with what is necessary towards his well-being.

Jeremy Taylor.