and justle the other quite out of their Bibles advancing the wisedome of the serpent to so high and Intense a degree that it cannot admit the least proportion of the Holy Doves more necessary Innocence Such a foraminous piece of Net-worke has Christian Prudence been made of late that these Glib serpentine Politicians can soe wind themselves in and out at pleasure as if they meant neither God nor Man should ever know certainly where to have them It is a very famous piece of the Gentleman's prudence to Endeavour to Out-wit an All-wise God and to go about to put Fallacies upon him out of his owne word often makeing even God's most righteous precepts the Topicks of his disobedience How frequently endeavours he to cloak the violation of one law by a pretended obedience to another and by setting God's Commands at variance one with another thinks to steal away his beloved sin and not be taken notice of He dares not take up his Crosse and follow Christ lest he should become Felo de se accessary to his owne death Nor knows he how to forsake Father and Mother for Christ's sake without a breach of the Fifth Commandment which binding him to Honour both he cannot see how he may in any sence forsake either He dares not part with houses and lands for fear he might seem to Dispise God's good Blessings nor hazard his estate in the vindication of his Religion and his Loyalty lest he should be said to have thereby thrown away the opportunities of expressing his bounty and his Charity He knows how much he is obliged not to deny Christ before men and to give an account of his faith to such as demand it of him but then he produces a text which tells him of daies wherein the Prudent shall keep silence and these daies he supposes still present whensoever his person or estate may be endanger'd by an open heart or an Ingenuous tongue He will be ready to suffer Persecution for the Gospell of Christ and with St Paul to be bound and to dye but this must onely bee when his Prudence is at a losse and he can find out no way just or unjust to avoyd all this As long as there are shifts enow left him such as dissembling language Covert Engagements Cunning flatteries treacherous Compositions petty Contributions Vnderhand Compliances in things both Civill and Religious he thinks he wants no honest Evasions to secure both Life and livelyhood Thus he is Content to set him down in quietnesse whilest the Enemies of God's Church advance in troops and Armies against her and thinks it enough when he can say he wishes all well and praies for the Peace of Ierusalem It were no Prudence openly to declare his opinion or to act on any side alas he is but one single man and one's as good as none against the stream of the multitude not Considering that where one does not joyne with one there can be no multitude There are other Champions enow in the world to vindicate her quarrell such as have no estates to look after No families to provide for when if all were of his mind there would not be so much as one and besides who has greater reason to labour then he that has already received so great a share of his wages What though he freely gives away a large portion of his goods to the Enemies of God It is but the way to secure the rest for better purposes What though he be constrain'd with faire speeches to flatter up the transgressors in their Iniquities His heart for all this shall be for God his prayers for the Church and he is as Good a Christian and as Loyall a Subject within as the best Alas 't is no great matter to Comply a little in outward things to lay an hand upon a Bible to invoke the sacred Name of God and seemingly to Renounce Religion and Loyalty God knows he intends no such matter but onely takes this Course to keep his Family from ruine and to preserve himselfe safe and whole to doe God and his Church more service heareafter It is all one with him to goe to Church or Câ—nventicle so he may by frequenting either be thought to favour the Religion in Fashion and so not be suspected an Enemy to the God that rules the man in power with a sword in his hand He can take a great deal of pains rise early and go farre to encourage a seditious Lecture and when Sermon 's done with an Hypocriticall face smile upon the preacher and inviteing him home with him witness his thankes and approbation in a Good dinner But he holds it imprudence to frequent that true worship and service of God which the excellency thereof and the Command of his superiours commends to his Conscience lest he should be thereby thought ill-affected to that Religion which he would have Good men believe his soul abhorres He dares Countenance Rebellion and Sacriledge both with his tongue and Purse but aesteems it dangerous and therefore without all doubt Imprudence to Contribute so much as a Good look to the Encouragement of the truly Religious and vertuous lest he should be suspected by the prosperous sinner an Enemy to Treason and Wickednesse Till we can find a way how to cast out this Prudent Devill which as the Prophet tells us is wise to doe evill but to doe Good has no understanding we shall ever heare this possess'd Gentleman crying out with the Daemoniack in the Gospell what have we to doe with thee Iesus thou son of God Why art thou Come to torment us before our time Such a perfect Gout is this prudent Cowardise that the lame Gentleman ever cries out at the very sight of any thing looks like Religion as if it would come too neer him and touch him upon the sore place So sad a thing is it to stand in feare of health lest it should make us sick to tremble at the sight of what would bring us to Heaven lest we should lose our Earth and to take so much anxious care to praeserve the Body whole for fear a Courteous wound should set open the dore and give the soul leave to fly out into Heaven and be at rest If such men be truely prudent then are all true Christians undoutedly fools Or if this over-warynesse be no more but a prudent and Religious Caution then are most of our English Gentlemen which I have not yet Charity enough to beleeve Prudent Christians But alas Neutrality hangs too much betwixt two ever to come so high as Heaven and a Cold Indifferency comes so farre short of that necessary zeal which is the unfailing Consequent of true Piety that it is impossible it should ever be Crown'd with aeternall Happinesse He that is not deeply in love with his God cannot place his absolute felicity in the fruition of God and he that is afraid to do any thing or think 's it prudence to suffer nothing for him is not in Love
property it is either to transmit or reflect those rayes it receives with great advantage of light to the darker objects about it and of a more visible splendor and Glory to the light it selfe A true Diamond will not cease to sparkle in the darkest night and the true Gentleman too will take care that his light so shine before men that they may behold his works rather then his person as the Sun gives us a clearer prospect of the other parts of the world then of it's own Body and teach them much more to Glorify his God in Heaven then to pay him a Reverence upon Earth The Gold was not made so excellent a Mettall that it might lie hid and rust in the Bowels of the Earth but by a reception of the Prince's Image administer to the Necessities of Commerce amongst the severall members of the world It would be a poor thing to Imagine God should make the best of Creatures for the worst of uses or the Noblest of Men to be Sathans Instruments now his Companions and his prey anon The Gentleman I know will easily grant himselfe to be a Vessell created for Honour but 't is strange he should goe about to prove himselfe so by continuing alwaies Empty or refusing to hold any thing but the worst of poysons by standing as some of those do which cost most pains in the making most mony in procuring most time in scouring idle and uselesse onely to adorne and grace the Cup-board and shine there 'till they become Dusty again As all Flesh is Grasse so is the Gentleman the Flower of the Grasse but let it not appear in this that the grasse is more usefull though the flower more beutifull neither let the leafe smell sweeter then the Rose Though all Mankind be but Dust and Earth yet certainly we may in reason think the Gentleman a part of the Richest soyle and from which the Husband-man or Gardener may justly expect both the fairest flowers and fullest Crop as from that ground which in it selfe is fattest and in the Cultivating and Manuring whereof has been spent both the most money and the most sweat Farre be it from the Gentleman to be call'd as we do sometimes our most fertile fields onely the Proudest ground such as swaggers it out with Poppy and Cockle and flatters the eye with many fine Blew and Yellow Flowers but such as are neither for use themselves nor will suffer the good Corne to thrive and grow 'till it may be so The Gentleman I am sure would be troubled to be thus requited for his Care and pains by his field and shall not God be justly angry for the like bad usage from the Gentleman Certainly he cannot in equity expect the largest wage who doth the least work or think he can merit the most Honourable reward by standing all the day Idlâ— nay for hindering and Deterring others who were going to labour in the Vineyard Shall the Steward be the greatest loyterer and most Carelessâ— servant in the whole Family And is it fit the Heire should be the meerest Prodigall I am Confident the Gentleman would think it an injury to be thought so and is it not then as great an injustice to be so I should not have breath enough to enumerate halfe those many Honours and Dignities those severall Priviledges and Advantages Endowments and Possessions which the Gentleman is blest with above his poorer Brethren and can we think all these not encouragements to be better but rewards and Bribes to and for being Idler then others The Gentleman is apt to boast himselfe much of his Noble Ancestors and Vertuous Progenitors and is it not therefore equity that all men should expect from that tree the best fruit which hath the Noblest root Men do not of Thistles expect grapes nor of Brambles Figs but even of the wild Olive tree when but grafted into the true Olive tree God expects the Naturall fruit That Noble person who Adopts a Clown his heir will expect he should henceforward become a Gentleman and how much more is this to be expected from him who is born the true Son and heir The Gentleman will pull his Cock's head off if he degenerate from his kind and why should his God use him better The Gentleman again is apt to talk very much of his good Breeding and Ingenuous Education and certainly it is the greatest happinesse which can so early betide him that usually he hath Parents which are as tender of his Honour as of his life and very often more carefull of his soul then of their own who howsoever they live themselves yet will be sure to reprove the least vice in the Child and it is a very ordinary forme of blessing him to pray he may be a better man then his Father Now the Gentleman will expect this from his Horse or Spaniel to behave himselfe hereafter as he has been taught when he was young Alas how many brave and Generous dispositions are flatted and lost how many Ingenious spirits are dull'd and besotted how many keen wits are blunted and lose their Edg by being put to Delve in the Earth being altogether Cow'd and Enslaved by the Tyranny of Poverty and an Adverse Fortune whilst they could not be allowed that timely and Noble Nurture and Cultivation whereby they might have been weeded and improved to a very high degree of Excellency and fruitfulnesse How much good and tractable earth has been lost meerly for want of a Skilfull Potter or spoiled upon the wheel of one unskilfull Whilest the Gentleman has all the aid and assistance that Prudent Parents or a rich-purse can afford him and shall he whom God has thus blessed with that which may procure him as well what 's Best as what 's Necessary grow more Barren under all this care and Good-husbandry which is bestow'd upon him Shall he like a stubborne and unwieldly branch so soon as ever he is from under the wise hand which would have pruin'd and straighted him start back into his Naturall rudenesse and Deformity again Shall he be like the Viall or Watch one whereof will onely continue it 's even and Certain motion so long as the owner forgets not to wind him up and the other gives us its sweet sound no longer then the Musician's hand provokes and beats it but so soon as the hand rests the Motion and the Musick ceases and in a short time the strings crack and the Pegs fall and the Noble Instrument growes mouldy and worm-eaten Is it not most unnaturall that he who has all these great advantages in his youth which others do often in vain and he himselfe too often when it is too late wish to enjoy should not doe something whereby he might shew all that care and cost not quite thrown away and mispent And yet much more that he should only so behave himselfe as one that knowes how readily to forget whatever had cost him so much time and pains and Money in acquiring and
to give him the lie who dares tell him there are any hopes it may be saved He laughs at him that tells him there is any other Heaven then that of his own creating any other happinesse besides his pleasures or an Hell diverse from that which Christianity has objected to the Coward 's Phancy He has the Courage to be any thing but what he should be an Honest man or a Good Christian. §. 3. His Calling or Imploiment The Gallant 's Generall Calling and Emploiment is to scorne all businesse but the Study of the Modes and Vices of the times and herein he spares not to rack his brains and rob his soule as much of her Naturall as her Spirituall rest to supply the wanton world with variety of Inventions He takes an especiall care that nothing may ever appeare old about him but the Old Man of Sin and him he every day exposes to Publick view in a severall Dresse that if it be possible he may perswade the world to believe that all there is New too Indeed so miserably happy is he in Inventions of this sinfull Nature that any man who had not a Spirituall eye to discerne the same Proud and Luxurious Divell in all his Actions would almost think he had a new Nature as well as a New Suit for every day throughout the Yeare Thus he that thinks it so much below him to be reckonâ—d amongst the Labourers in God's House or Vineyard and disdaines to receive his Penny with those he should call his brethren either as a Reward or a Gratuity but seems rather to expect it as a Debt or Portion due by Inhaeritance Yet is he Content to sit all day long in Sathan's Shop one of his Slavish Prentices or Iourny-men who feeds him with course and Empty Husks here and will reward him with an Hellfull of torments for his labour hereafter He is all but a Proud and Glistering Masse of Swaggering Idlenesse and he makes it his chiefe Study to Demonstrate to the world how many severall wayes Idlenesse has found out to be busy He takes this for granted as well he may that he is not Idle but Dead that does just Nothing It is his task ever to be doing Nothing to a Good but much to a bad or no Purpose Though he may often seem to sit still and not to move so much as a little finger yet even then is his soule close at worke plotting and Contriving how he may for the time to come be most Pausibly Idle He acts so little for the Publick Good as if he were afraid he should be thought a Member of Mankind or as if the onely businesse God intended him were but to take care that he continue breathing He lives indeed as if he meant to prove that God Almighty had made him to no other End but this to show the world that he could make something whereof he had no need when made as if whilest he created other men for use and Service he intended him onely as Artists doe some of their neatâ—st but Slightest pieces of work to stand upon the stall or hang out for a signe at the Shop-windowes to show passengers with what the Shop is furnish'd within Or if you will you may looke upon him as upon the painted signe of a Man hung up in the Ayre onely to be toss'd to and fro with every wind of Temptation and Vanity Such a vain shadow or Picture is he that were there no more but himselfe I should take the boldnesse to Affirme there were no such Creature as a Man in the world To me he seems of no more worth then a Piece of Out-cast Iron lying uselesse upon the face of the Earth 'till his soule be even eaten away with Rust and Sleath God made him a Man but to prove himselfe his own God by a Second Creation he endeavours to make himselfe a Bruit nay a senselesse Carkasse that only Cumbers the Earth is fit for nothing but to dung the ground it lies upon and Stink in the Nostrils of the most High If ever he Sweat it is in pursuit of a feather at his play and sport in running away from his Worke and in the chase after his Ease And yet even in that he can never rest this indeed being the Naturall fruit of Idlenesse that it makes the Sluggard weary not onely of whatsoever he doth but even of Idlenesse it selfe §. 4. His Education and Breeding So soone as his age is capable of Instruction and Discipline he is sent to School or rather by reason of too great an Indulgence in his fond Parents the School is brought home to him where if the foolish Mother do not more awe the School-master then he his Schollar the Rod and an empty purse together do for a while preserve him himselfe But it shall not be long ere he find roome enough abroad in the world wherein he may lose himselfe again Yet truely it is a great rarity in this age to see the earliest Morning of Youth unclouded by the fumes and vapours of lust It being too usuall a thing with the debauch'd father to make his child as we use to say over early his Father 's own Sonne Most Gentlemen seem to make it a speciall piece of their fatherly care to stave off their Children as long as they can from Virtue and Religion lest therein resembling better men then their Fathers some might take occasion to think them Spurious To infuse so early into the Young Child the graver Notions of God and Goodnesse were to make him Old before his time and these would look no better then so many wrinkles and furrowes in the fresh cheeks of an infant alas what were this but an unspiriting of the Child and laying an unseasonable Damp upon the comely sprightfulnesse of youth 'T is fit he should be mann'd up by bold and daring exercises and as men use their Hounds be blooded now when he is young Divinity Morality are supposed to much to mollifie and emasculate the brave soule of a Young Gentleman and make it of too soft and facile a temper for Noble and Generous actions To instruct him how hereafter he should manfully resist his Enemies he shall first be taught to fight against God and Goodnesse It is indeed most lamentable to consider how very few of those we call Gentlemen endeavour to make their Children either Honest men or Good Christians as if it were their onely businesse to beget them and when they are come into the world to teach them by their own example how they may most unprofitably spend the short leavings of their own Luxury Thus at their death leave they them doubly Miserable in bequeathing them first little to live upon and secondly many waies to spend it Indeed the greatest Charity and providence in such Prodigall Parents were either not to beget Children at all or to beget them meer beggars that so they might not give them with their estates so many unhappy
with him God has long agoe told the Gentleman and all others how much of another temper he must be who will live for ever instructing him what an immediate Contrariety there is betwixt being for God and against him soe that there can be no mean left for such a prudent Indifferency betwixt fighting Vnder Christ's Banner and being the Devill 's Souldiers Moderation 't is true in things of Indifferency is a Commendation but the Gentleman needs feare as little that he can be over zealous in a Good matter here upon Earth as that he may be over happy in Heaven As there be no Angels but such as are either very good or very bad so every Gentleman is either a Saint indeed or else stark naught He that sitts still shall come as soone to Hell as he that sweats in pursuite of it But whosoever hopes to Come to Heaven he must ever run and with his face that way if he will be sure to obtaine I would wish that Gentleman who has not the heart to Confesse Christ before men to Consider how he can have the Courage to hear Christ denying him before his Father which is in Heaven or to Endure those torments in Hâ—ll which he shall be sure to undergo for not Confessing him here upon Earth Such a Lukewarme soul is so Nauseous unto God that he must at last Spue him out into the Bottomelesse pit If this be Christian Prudence to secure an Estate or preserve a Family or save a life by being frigid and so Spiritlesse in our Profession as may make us nauseated by God and set us at such a distance from Heaven a true Christian shall have as little reason to Envy the Gâ—ntleman his Prudence as the poore Church of England has cause to be proud of his Courage §. 5 The Peaceable Gentleman The Peaceable and Honest-natur'd Gentleman as many call him is one to whom the poore Church of England is not much more indebted for his kindnesse then to either of the former this is he that is so farre from being Cordially sensible of the Afflictions of Ioseph or the dessolations of Ierusalem that he seems to have hardly so much of an humane spirit in him as to understand the meaning of those two words Happiness and Misery Three parts of his time at least he spends in sleep as if he were resolved to die all his life long or by this course to keep himselfe Ignorant of the Concerning affaires of the world being loath to come acquainted with the truth of those evills which he is resolved not to take any pains to remove The other quarter of his time he carefully divides betwixt his meales his sports and thisâ—e â—e calls liveing a Good honest quiet and harmlesse life such as hurts no body Sometimes he seems even to Envy the very stones that Constant rest which Nature has indulged them whereby they are made incapable of any motion but what is occasion'd and that but rarely by some violence from without them If he had so much of that Philosophy which tells us the caelestiall bodyes are in a perpetuall motion as to believe it for a truth he would for that very cause be unwilling to go to Heaven When he hears of an aeternall Saboth of rest for all those that goe thither he is almost perswaded to become a Christian yet is he in a great straight betwixt two for though he love his rest too well yet he hates the very name of Saboth much more especially when he hears St Iohn telling him that the Angells and Glorified Saints never cease Day nor Night from praising God Sometimes again he seems to grudg the poore bruit Animals their Irrationalitie and to share with them endeavours by a Sordid sensuality to degrade himselfe into a Beast or at least to become as like one as humanity will permit him That he may be better acquainted with their Natures and dispositions his Dog and his Horse or his Hawke henceforward become his Principall Companions with these he plaies and with these he discourses and towards these if you seriously consider all his termes of Art you will be ready to say he has his set formes of Complement and indeed his whole study is to learne readily to speak that language wherein he may be understood by the silly animals When the weather or his health or the like will not befriend him in these exercises abroad then he sits at home numbring his minutes by the turnes of his die or the playing of his Cards or perhaps gets so much liberty abroad as to measure out his houres by the motions of his bowle Such a mercilesse Tyrant is he to that which he feares he shall never loose or destroy fast enough his precious time that he allwaies studies to invent variety of Executions for it Now he delights to drown it in his Cups anon he burnes it in his Pipe by and by he tramples it under his horse's hâ—ofes again he knocks it in the head with his Bowl teares and devours it with his Hawks and his Hounds there is nothing he will leave unexperimented 'till he have certainly found out a way to prevent it's naturall Honest and Commendable departure These Courses he willingly allowes himselfe in and desires to have all thought noe more or worse then his Contempt of the world and his study of retirednesse from those Distracting Cumbrances thereof which are unworthy of a Christian or a Gentleman Sometimes he delights to consume a great part of his time in unnecessary visits but studies withall to make them so unprofitable as if he were desirous to have it thought men were made onely now and then to look upon one another his discourse what there is of it being so idle and impertinent that it serves to no other end then to exercise his tongue and keep it by much motion voluble lest for want of use he should in a short time as he does by most good things forget to speak Sometimes you shall have a Complement from him but puff'd up with so many hyperbolicall expressions of your worth and of the incredible respects he has for your person that you cannot chuse but suspect he only labours how to be disbelieved or has learn'd of his Dogges how to fawn and flatter And thus when he has made a shift to lose an houre or two and to trouble his friends with much Impertinent talke he returnes home again to eat and play and sleep and spend the remainder of his time as Idly as he can In a word this sort of Gentlemen borders so closely upon him we first described the Gallant that I shall not need to say more of him then only this that he has some degrees lesse of Madnesse then the other he seems as yet but to hang about the dores and has not gain'd an admission into the Society of Raunters Nor is this because he wants a Genius or Inclination to evill in the Generall but rather he is beholding to
justly expect to meet with something truely like the Subject High and Noble He is indeed too sacred a thing to be touch'd by so Common a Pen every slip whereof can be deem'd no lesse then a Prophanatiâ—n of his worth who is the liveliest Image which God has left us of himselfe upon any of his Creatures However seeing where there is so venerable an Excellency as all Encomium's may be thought Folly and Praesumption so can silence be judged no lesse then a Sacriledg seeing we use to offer unto Heaven not so much what we owe as what we may I think it much better becomes me to say that little I can then just nothing and to tell you if not what the Gentleman is yet at least so much of his greatnesse as falls to my share to understand I had much rather be censured for committing such a pious errour then be Condemned for the wilfull omission of so necessary a duty I dare not suspect the Gentleman's Goodnesse to be of a lesse extent then My Ignorance and therefore I doubt not but he can pardon as often as I through weaknesse shall offend Where I erre let him think it was the brightnesse of my subject which dazled my eyes and occasion'd me to stumble Where my expressions fall low and flat I do beg of him that he would impute it to that Reverence which I beare unto his virtues which Commands my Pen to to keep it's Distance I hope you will not blame me for this Apology for I would gladly keep off as long as I can when I cannot draugh nigh without a necessity of Erring Even in this short Praeamble you may be pleased to read something of the Gentleman's Character to wit such a Greatnesse as Commands a Distance and reverence and such a Candor as can pardon a failing and which is indeed the summe of all I have to say such a Man as is truly a Gentleman Which name speaks all that bears a Contrariety to the thing we lately spoke of whose very name is such a Compleat Summary of all Vices that there is but one thing lest to Denominate the true Gentleman I mean as absolute a Combination of all virtues All which I can conferre to his Character will amount to no more then an Imperfect paraphrase upon his Name and as much as I understand of this take as followes §. 2. His Generall Character The True Gentleman is one that is as much more as the false one is lesse then what to most he seems to be One who is allwaies so farre from being an hypocrite that he had rather appeare in the eyes of others just nothing then not be every thing which is indeed truly vertuous and nâ—ble He is a man whom that most Wise King he best resembles has fitted with a Character A man of an Excellent Spirit This is he whose brave and noble Soule sores so high above the Ordinary reach of Mankind that he seems to be a distinct species of himselfe He scornes so much the vices of the world that he will hardly stoop to a vertue which is not Heroick or if he doe it is by his good improvement of it to make it so He is one to whom all honour seems cheap which is not the reward of virtue and he had much rather want a name then not deserve it This Gentleman is indeed a Person truly Great because truly Good His Honour is of too excellent a Nature to be supposed the Creature of any thing besides his own vertues and those vertues too Eminent to be esteemed lesse then the most refined actions of so great a soule He is no lesse the Glory of Mankind then man the Glory of the whole sublunary Creation One that would every way deservedly be accounted more then what is humane were not one part of him Mortall However it is his first care and endeavour to make this mortall part of him such as may make it apparent to the world how Great an Excellency may be the Companion of so much frailty 'Till he may be so happy as to enjoy the Heaven he hopes for he does what he can to be an Heaven to himselfe and by his extraordinary pains so beutifies his soule with all Coelestiall accomplishments that he needs only die to be in Heaven and seems to want nothing of those Glorious Spirits which dwell there but onely to be without a Body and as high as they He looks upon himselfe whilest in this world as no more then a Probationer in the School of Honour and makes it his businesse so to behave himselfe at present that he may be sure of an admission into that true Honour when the Day comes which will be as certaine and Durable as true and Great Well knowing that the onely way to be Lord of Many things is to be faithfull in these few wherewith he is now intrusted His Soul is so truely great and Capacious that nothing but an Heaven and aeternity can fill it So nobly high are all his thoughts that he is ever aiming at a Crown So active and mounting his Holy Ambition that it disdains to pearch longer then a Breathing space upon the most exalted spire of all Sublunary Glories He is so throughly sensible of the Coelestiall Nature of his Soule that did he not think it one great part of his Happinesse to suffer any kind of Misery in Submission to his God he could not think his life lesse then one Continued torment and so long a detention here upon the Earth a meer restraint and Confinement from all Comfort and blisse As for the Blessings of this world he looks upon them as the Child should doe upon his farthings or his Counters small things indulged him for the recreation not the businesse of his soule Yet such a Good Housewife is Vertue he reaps no small advantage to himselfe from these subordinate enjoyments which by their frequent Cousennages perswade him the more to be in love with what 's both more precious and more usefull Knowing that his Mansion is prepared in Heaven he can esteem the world no better then the handsome frontispice to that most Glorious building where he beholds a great many Fine flattering objects and pretty Curiosities both of Art and Nature but all 's no more then an Earnest and kind Invitation to him to Enter in and possesse those unspeakably excellent Mansions which these things so dimly shadowed out unto his eye these well dressed Dainties which he enjoyes here he dares but tast at most to prepare him an Appetite he intends to feast himselfe in Heaven To give you the summe of what I think of him in the Generall He is every way so much more then a man that he is no lesse in all things then himselfe One whose rarest Excellencies are such as would make us believe his breeding had bin amongst the Angels in another world rather then amongst Gentlemen here in this and that he were onely lent us a while an universall
Nobility as once he did about the fairest tree in Eden and questionlesse not seldome with as much unhappy successe as malicious Subtilty Here I am sure he hath the same or surer holds to fasten upon and Climb up by which there he had Even the wild protuberances of Pride and Ambition The first assault he made was upon an unspotted Innocence but match'd with an over facile and flexible Humanity and meeting there with the Hoped Issue of his temptation he takes the Boldnesse to venture on an Infinite Wisedome in the Bosome of Omnipotence and though there he was foyl'd yet being the more madded with the Shamefull repulse 't is likely he will fall the more desperately and so with the greater violence upon that Prudence which is at best much abated by the base mixture and too excessive alloy of a Beloved Folly I wish it might be the Gentleman 's good Fortune or Courage to ward the stroak and come of unhurt When I hear this inferior world wherein we are to breath out our Minority compared and not unfitly to an Inne or Diversory whereinto Man whose life is a journey or Pilgrimage onely turns in to take a night's lodging that so he may fit and dresse himselfe against the Morning for a Better Countrey I am ready to take the Boldnesse to prosecute the Metaphor a little farther and I would fain say that those Glittering spangled soules are most Noble and Honourable which Wise Nature treats with the greatest respect and Ceremonie those for whom as her Chiefe Guests she hath reserved her most stately and fairest roomes that these if any are to be thought the Gentlemen of the world to whom Nature as well as Fortune seems to pay a reverence These are the Men who enter into the world with that Ceremonious state and Pomp that would almost perswade us they were sent hither on an Ambassy from Heaven They are indulged an Honour seemingly too great for Mortallity They are admitted into the world by the most beautifull gate of a Renowned Parentage they are usher'd along with all that Pompe and Magnificence which use to attend our highest hopes and most teeming Expectations and are most significant of our greatest joyes Their births are congratulated and they welcomed hither with a long and Methodically order'd train of solemne and Honourable both Civill and Religious Ceremonies They are honourably placed in the most richly furnished and neatly contrived Lodgings of Comely and wel-featured Bodies in adorning whereof the Divine Art of Better Nature hath best shown it selfe these are Gloriously set forth by all those most lively Images of Majesty and Honour which Corrupted Nature can be thought capable of receiving All these are more sweetned by a lovely prospect into the world abroad where an Indulgent fortune to give the better rellish to the gifts of Nature presents her selfe in all variety of Dresses of Riches Pleasures Preferments ever creating such store of New-delights as may soonest win upon the sense and best recreate the soule And now Sir would any man seeing all this think it possible that after Nature and Fortune and the Great God of Both by so long a Succession of no lesse truly Delectable then indeed inestimable blessings have been so industriously Solicitous for the Gentleman's welfare and with so much Charitable Importunity have Constantly Courted his soul to be in love with that fair hand which made it to invite it to an early sense of it's own worth and excellency and to set a due estimate upon it selfe to possesse it with the true Apprehensions of that which is certainly the highest Honour that can befall a mortall here or Crown him hereafter I mean his neer Relation to Heaven and the God of Heaven his Maker Would any man believe it possible after all this that the Gentleman should be either so uncharitable to himselfe or so ungratefull to his Creator either so much a Churle or a Fool or Both as neither to yield to those Importunities of a Wooing Heaven nor Embrace the Courteous Invitations of an endlesse Felicitie Would you believe that when he is intrusted by the King of Glories upon so honourable an Expedition as that of winning a Crown he should be tyred and foot-sore at the very first step and sit down to rest him upon the first cold stone in his way there flattering his Childish Humour in the Empty fruition of some Garish but fading vanity Could any man with a rationall soule in him Hope to find an Happinesse in such toyes adequate to the Immense desires of an Heaven-borne substance Alas who is ignorant that these pretty Glories and little felicities which so please us here cannot in any reason be thought more seldome so much then the smaller tokens of a Father's Love or an Earnest penny to a future Inheritance something for the Child to keep his purse with whilest he is here at school Nay they are so often lesse then this that they amount not to so much as those lesse tokens which we use to call the Mother's Blessing but are rather like the deceitfull Gifts of a Stepdame such as a brasse shilling or a Gilded Nutmeg the slight kindnesse not of a Fond but a dissembling Fortune whereby the unwary Child is very often bribed and Flatter'd out of his due Portion and Inheritance Doubtlesse if the Gentleman find himselfe to be so much Fortune's Darling or as he would rather have us think the Favourite of Heaven as to be afforded a more tender and delicate Education then his poorer brethren I dare hardly believe all this an Indulgence to sin but an encouragement unto Holinesse and to go on with Cheerfulnesse to see what that Good Father has in store for him in Heaven who is so liberall to him here upon Earth The Comfortable warmth of his Prosperous Condition is indulged him thereby to preserve his soule more tender and pliable zealously forward to receive both more Generous and more pious impressions not to scorch or dry it up into a rebellious obstinacy neither to give him the opportunity of melting it away in the soft embraces of more wanton and lascivious delights or to Dissolve his happinesse into the Aëry and shadowy vanity of a Carnall pleasure The Golden Foundation being laid God expects he should not so abuse it as to erect thereupon any meaner structure then an Heaven The right use of what he allready enjoyes ought to dispose his soule into a Capacity of receiving more and better even of those spirituall blessings which will set him up above the reach either of an adverse Fortune or a Malicious Divell If the Gentleman would be perswaded to cast a Religious eye upon the Excellent Symmetry and lovely features of his own Body wherewith it is no strange thing to find him beautified above other men certainly he would presently consider with himselfe that this fine Outside was not the onely or best piece of worke intended but there should be a suitable Inside too such as