think her such a Proserpine that either he or his Rivall must be sent to Hell before either can enjoy her There is indeed a Beauty for which the Gentleman thinks it no losse to die but such an one as is often black though alwaies lovely I mean his own Mother and his Saviour's spouse the Church of God and there is an Honour which he holds cheap enough when bought with the high price both of Life and Livelihood though if he might have his choise he had rather preserve both to maintain it then lose either to purchase it Loyalty to his Prince and Fidelity to his Country For these he does not fear to Embrace a Stake to make the Scaffold his Bed and a Block his Pillow seeing he is assured that whosoever thus lies down to rest at night shall without faile rise again to Glory in the Morning He holds it much more desireable to live a Beggar then to die a Traytor And that his Honour and Conscience should expose him to Tyranny and Violence then his Treachery or Hipocrisy buy out his temporall security He thinks it no great matter to trust that God with his Person and his Family who hath trusted him with his spouse and his Children Hence is the Gentleman's Prudence the Legitimate Daughter of Loyalty and Conscience not the Bastard of Covetousnesse and Cowardice 't is mixt of Discretion and Wisedome not Craft and Knavery He was never yet so blindly zealous as to worship a Golden Calfe for a God that so he might keep his Chest from being broken open Nor was he ever so absolute a Statesman as to call Rebellion Reformation for fear of Poverty or an Halter His naturall affection to wife and children is such that he would enjoy them for ever in happinesse and therefore his â—are is so to part with them now that he may meet them again in Heaven not in Hell hereafter His whole Policy is to avoid an aeternall though by incurring a temporall misery Such a Politician onely he thinks fit for Heaven that hath prudently managed his Lord's affaires upon Earth he cannot call him either a prudent or a faithfull Ambassador who prosecutes his own designe with more earnestnesse then his Master 's or acts more vigorously for the advancement of his own particular Interest then the Publick Good or his Prince's Honour It is his Prudence to secure what 's best by the losse of what 's Indifferent whensoever he is necessitated to part with one of the two and he chuses rather freely to part with that which he is only sure once to lose and by that lâ—sse become eternally happy then to throw away that which in spight of violence he might for ever have kept and can never part with without his utter ruine If tares must spring up amongst the good Corne in that field wherein God has intended him a labourer he had rather show by his activenesse that they were not sowne whilest he slept then by a covetous lazinesse give the Enemy an opportunity of Compassing his designes or occasion the disheartening of his brethren by withdrawing his shoulder and leaving them alone to beare the burthen in the heat of the Day He can think it a greater prudence with the Disciples of his Lord to leave his Father and his Net to follow a Saviour through Persecution into Heaven then with the Carking Fool to lie modelling out a Barne which may contain his wealth and in the mean time suffer his Soul to be stolne out of his Body by the sedulous craft of the seducer §. 12. His Behaviour in both Fortunes If Fortune smile upon him and be indeed such as he dare call her Good he makes it his businesse to be altogether as good as she and will be sure as well to deserve as to wear her Livery His care is that her good usage of him may be rather deem'd the just reward of his own Moderation and Good-Husbandry then the unmerited Bounty of so blind a Mistresse He makes his Prosperity a motive to his Piety not as others the opportunity of displaying his Vanity He proves by his example that he most happily enjoyes the World that Glories lest in the enjoyment of it He looks upon his present flourishing Condition rather as that which is not without ingratitude to be refused then with egernesse to be desired and upon what he now possesses as that which he knowes not how soone he may lose and therefore he makes himselfe now so carelesse an owner that if the wind chance to turne â—e may prove a cheerfull and Contented loser He dares not Phancy himselfe one jot the neerer Heaven for being thus mounted on the Deceitfull wings of Fortune lest when the contrary wind of adversity dismounts him and his unexpected fall awakes him from his pleasant dreame he should find himselfe to be really as low as he was before but seemingly high If Fortune be content to lodge with him as his ghest she is welcome But he cannot be so dotingly enamour'd of her as to entertain her either as his wife or his Harlot lest either an untimely divorce should break his heart or she should bring a Bastard for a Son and so at length shame and disgrace him He can neither so farre flatter her as to call her Goddesse which he knowes of her selfe to be no more but a name nor so farre Honour her as to aske her blessing because he knowes that whatsoever Goodnesse men are apt to ascribe unto her is but one of the meanest blessings of a Greater then she Laugh she never so heartily her pleasantnesse shall never overjoy him seeing for ought he knowes she either does or may ere long laugh at him and if she Frown he can frown as fast as she and that for her kindnesse He never relies upon her because he knowes she is naturally so unconstant nor can he see any reason why he should be proud of beeing her favourite because he may every where behold many of the most undeserving altogether as much in her Favour as himselfe To speak the whole the true Gentleman hath so slight an esteem of Fortune that he cannot vouchsafe her the Honour of a Beeing but leaves that to those poor Heathens who were indeed as blind as they supposed her to be Whatsoever blessings he enjoyes he received them as indeed they are as the bounties of an indulgent father with thanks and love and he useth them to that end for which he supposes so Good and Prudent a father would bestow them on a Beloved Son so that he may make them as much Instruments of his own Good as they are testimonies of his father's affection He looks upon his Prosperity not so much as a reward for doing well as an encouragement to do more and an opportunity of doing better Much lesse can he think his flourishing condition as many seem to doe a piece of Heaven's flattering Courtship where no more is intended then the affording him an opportunity of
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
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
one vice to keep him from another and being wedded so much to this is forced to abstain from it's Contrary Either he is tyed to his Chest with a Golden chaine which will not allow him the liberty of ranging into so many costly riots or else a lâ—aden dulnesse so much oppresses his soule that she cannot Soare so high in the vast Region of Debauchery So that if you find him free from any one vice he is to thank the Contrary vice and not the vertue for it or at best he owes it to an Infirmitie of Nature that he is free from both Indeed for the most part this Gentleman is as the Philosophers use to say of their first matter though not perfectly formed into all those Noble qualifications as they are usually miscall'd of the Compleat Gallant yet is he at lest in a remote Disposition to all or any of them As the Polypus is said to be alwaies of the same colour with the neighbouring object or as the Looking-glasse reflects as many different faces as are obviated to its own superficies So is this Gentleman not properly one but any Body of the Religion and the Humour and the fashion of his Companions as neer as his own weaknesse will permit him to Imitate them And this is it which Commonly purchases him the repute of a Civill a Courteous an Affable a Good-natured and sweet-disposition'd person Only because he knowâ—s as little how to be angry with a vice as how to be guilty of a vertue Such a Ductile soft and Compliant soul he has that as the Wax to the Seal he would fain smile upon every man in his own face and speak with every one in his own language He Complements and Praises and Flatters and performes all the offices of a Gentleman as his shadow in the Glasse only by reflection For a fair word he will part with his own soul and with a fair word he does often occasion the ruine of many more whilest he loves as much to flatter others up in their wickednesse as to be flattered up by others in his own Say and doe what you will so you injure not his person or estate nor rob him of his beloved ease you are sure to have his approbation and if for this he may have yours he thinks it a reward and encouragement great enough But I leave him §. 6. The Stately Gentleman There is yet another that challenges a roome in this paper and truely deserves his place as much as any If he will not be angry and in a rage swear to burne the paper when he finds himselfe set in the last and lowest place all 's well enough And this is that Stately and Majestick he whom I dare hardly name lest he should take it as an affront for though he hunts after a name and reputation amongst all men yet he looks upon it as a kind of Disparagement of his vertues and an undervaluing of his Honour to heare his name from any mouth but his own But most of all he esteems it prâ—phaned when mention'd by persons so inconsiderable as all those of our Colour unto such as himselfe have ever appear'd This is he who thinks himselfe as much too good to be a Christian as he thinks all Christians too mean to be accounted Gentlemen His onely God is his Honour and to give it something of a Deity he Phancies it to be singular and that there is none other besides it when alas this Idoll too is just nothing But such is the strange Omnipotence of Pride and Ambition this Gentleman can first create to himselfe a God out of nothing and then fall down and Worship the Idolized Vanity which his own Ridiculous Phancy has thus set up That he does indeed more esteem this Shadow then the true God he too loudly affirmes in all his Oaths for when he intends what he saith shall unquestionably passe for serious and creditable he swears by his Honour and Reputation Other Oaths he hath enow by the Glorious Majesty of Heaven and Earth which are but too litterally the Burthen of his discourse these as we said of the Gallant he uses not for Confirmation of the truth but as the sportive recreations of his tongue and the graces and Ornaments of Good Language He it is that wheresoever he be will see that all men doe their duties but himselfe And he doth something well herein except when by a proud mistake he calls an unmerited respect to his own Supposititious vertues their indispensible Duty He looks that all men should observe as great a distance from his person as he is resolved to doe from their vertues or as if allready he were where I wish by the much despised grace of Humility he may at last be found in heaven He expects no lesse observance and reverence from his Tenants then as if he were not only Lord but Creator of the Mannor as though he would be thought as much Master of the Vniverse as he is the slave of his own Ambition He walks up and down so wantonly and affectedly as if he intended thereby principally to Demonstrate to the world his great perfections and Excellency that he must take much pains to do amisse This Lordly Sir so long as he can but get a Cap and a knee from his Inferiours and the chair at every meeting with his betters he thinks that all the blessings of Heaven though a Crown of Glory be one of them can adde nothing to his Honour Were it but for this one reason he would never make it his businesse to come thither because he may justly despaire of ever being the best man there If it may be conferred upon him as an Honorary reward and upon the meritorious claime of his vertues he will perhaps be Content to weare the Crown but as a Gift he scornes it lest he should draw upon himselfe an obligation to the Donor by accepting it And as his wage he scornes no lesse to acknowledg it for as he has not by any labour Earn'd it so is he afraid to be look'd upon to his God in the relation of a servant In short this Gentleman Phancies himselfe endow'd with such a transfigurative excellency that as the Philosophers stone once found should turne all things it touch'd into Gold he supposes it able to turne all things into Gentile and excellâ—nt which he is in love with All his vices whatever deformity the dull eye of the world apprehends to be in them his over-weaning humour looks upon as no lesse then the most absolute of all vertues and he conceits himselfe so Immoveably fixed and setled upon the highest Pinacle of Honour that Basenesse it selfe shall never have any power to degrade him Thus ever conceiting himselfe placed at so great a height it is no great wonder if he become so giddy at length in all his actions and beholding others at so great a distance I marvell not that he begins to see men like Moles upon the
pampering up his lusts and making himselfe a Glorious sinner Seeing he has already received so bountifull a reward for doing so little he accounts it a shame for the future not to make himselfe a fit object for a greater by doing both more and better Such an Ingenuous Spirit hath the Gentleman that he thinks every reward for what 's past an obligation to future good services and he had rather wait with patience for all his arreares together then ever be thought to have received the last payment here If it be his lot to groan out his daies under the heavy pressures of affliction he is not like the Inconsiderate Drunkard who in the morning after his double Intemperance in drinking and sleeping complaineth that his head akes and begins to Curse his Pillow and his Bed-maker for his want of ease forgetting to turne that sinne out of dores which occasion'd all this the day before Nor like a Wretched and Impenitent Malefactor who when he is hurried away to a just Execution does nothing but cry out upon the hard-heart of his Iudg and the Rigour of the Lawes Cursing the Executioner but forgetting to repent him of the Murther or the Robbery which brought his Body into the hands of this executioner and will unrepented of deliver his Soul into the farre lesse mercifull of another hereafter But like a Naturall and hopefull child he seriously Considers his own Errors which provoked his father thus to Chastise him and so by stroking the hand and kissing the Rod and humbly begging pardon for his offence he sets his father's affections which before he had turn'd aside not lost into their own proper Channel again He looks upon his Afflictions with one eye as Corrections and so blames himselfe for the Occasion but blesseth God for the Charity with the other as Tryals and so makes it his care that he come not all Drosse out of the Furnace The same Fire which Consumes others doth but refine his soul and separating from it the more grosse and Terrene Mixtures makes it the fitter for Heaven He grudges not to undergoe the Winnowing so he may be sure to loose the Chaffe and be made all wheat such as his Lord may think fit to receive into his Garner He is ashamed to think that God should lose his paines and the more he thrashes find onely more straw but lesse Corne rather like good grain from the Mill he comes forth from the grinding more in measure purer in Colour and readier for use and service Though a Bryar or a Thorne may scratch or prick his heel a little in his way to Heaven and draw a little uselesse blood though he may sometimes be so intangled in the Brambles that he may be forced to part with something of his fleece and perhaps so much of the skin too as may make it smart a while Yet has he too high a soul to fall so much within the reach of these Creeping brambles as to receive from them the least Scratch in his face He alwaies carries an head as erect as his hopes are high and takes great care that neither his Religion his Honesty nor his Honour be made to suffer by it He dares not make either a Base Compliance with the vices of his persecutors the refuge of his Cowardice or the wings of the Potent by bribing their Ambition with Flattery and Dissimulation his Sanctuary of protection He will not attempt the lightâ—ning of his sufferings by a voluntary casting any part of his estate into the devouring Treasury of the Churche's Enemy nor hope to appease the wrath of a displeased God by bringing an oblation to the Avarice of his oppressors neither doth he essay to drown his sorrowes in the Bottome of his Cup But he flies and takes Sanctuary at the Hornes of the Altar and by a Magnanimity which becomes a Gentleman showes that true Honour is a Iewel indeed such as will not break with the Hammer His Religion like the Flint never so much discovers those Holy fires of zeale and devotion which were not before so apparent as when it most experiences the violence of the hardest steel And his Innocence is so perfectly Malliable that the more you beat it the broader it growes In short the Gentleman carries himselfe â—o evenly betwixt these Contrary windes that he is neither shaken by the one nor puff'd up with the other He is such in prosperity that he does not fear Adversity and such in adversity that he needs not to wish for Prosperity such indeed in both that it shall never repent him that he hath tasted either §. 13. His respect and affection for his Country The true Gentleman is no lesse Serviceable to his Countrey then Honourable in himselfe He cannot Phancy himselfe so great as to forget that he is but a creature and so made for something and 'till he can perswade himselfe to be a God who is his own End and Happinesse he cannot think that he was made onely to serve himselfe He that made him made him a Brother to many and he owes a duty of love unto them all He is not like a lump of Gold in the Bowels of the Earth which is neither for sight nor service but like that which having once received the stamp of the Prince is ever after Current and usefull to many Neither resembles he the Glow-worme or a Rotten stick in the Dark which hath no more light then will show it selfe to be something though no body by that light alone knowes what but illuminates nothing else about it no he rather emulates the Sun in the Firmament from which this Inferiour World receives all it's life and vigour Thus the Gentleman is continually scattering the rayes and Influence of his vertues round about him quite through all that lies within the Wide Sphere of his Motion As amongst the Elements the most Noble and Pure is alwaies the most active too and most profitable as well as most High and Distant And as the highest of Bodies to wit the Caelestiall cannot naturally rest but indeed by their Continuall and swift motion do never faile to labour for the Benefit of the whole world besides So is this Little Heaven and Glory of Mankind never without some commendable businesse and Employment and such as shall assuredly at last tend unto the great good and advantage of as many as lie within the Compasse of his Influence The Gentleman without doubt is made for some other end then to stand like a fair and goodly Tulip in a painted Pot in some window or other Corner of the Chamber onely to grace the roome without either smell or other apparent virtue He is rather like the sweet and lovely Rose which perfumes the Aire all about it and is besides no lesse Medicinall then fragrant If ever the Gentleman seem to be Idle he does no more but seem so He onely sets himselfe down a while as he would doe a Bottle of precious Water which has
much rather give away his estate then be cheated of it He would be cozen'd of nothing for fear of loseing the opportunity of bestowing much As he would not allow the unfaithfulnesse of a servant to prevent the Bounty of the Master so neither would he have the Master's negligence to occasion the servants dishonesty His Table is moderate that so his Charity and Hospitallity may exceed as he studies to be good himselfe so endeavours he to make every member of the Family as good as he and he will have his servants to be his Disciples no lesse then his Children Neither ever does he so wholy vindicate their service to himselfe but he allowes them time enough to pay what they owe both to God and their own soules If his condition of life be single he so behaves himselfe therein that no man shall thence be able to conclude either that he wants a Wife or his house a Mistresse So much chastity has the one and so much good order is there in the other But if he think it fit to change his Condition he endeavours to chuse a second selfe that may suite with the former that so they may be as neer as he can effect it one Spirit as well as one flesh Whom not long agoe he courted rather as a Vertue then a Mistresse he now uses as a wife and not as a servant not as 't is usuall of late calling her Mistresse and Lady before she be his wife whom he intends to make his drudge all her life time after Nor does he as too many marry onely for Money knowing that such are in danger of Committing Adultery after Marriage seeing they never Marry'd the Woman but her Portion With him Vertue and Love not Money and parentage make the Match and the question he askes is not What has she but What is she He makes Prudence and Religion the guides of his Love and so he becomes as good an Husband and Father as before he was a man §. 16. His Religion I have told you Sir already that the Gentleman is not ashamed to be call'd a Religious man although that Epithete be thought no better then a terme of debasement by the degenerate Gentry of our age He ownes a God and he Worships him and makes that Honour which he observes others to render unto God the ground of his respect to them He looks upon no man as a Gentleman but him alone who derives his pedigree higher then from Adam even from Heaven and he accounts all those who can brook any Dishonour or Contempt of their God that one Common father of us all as a Bastard and no Son It would be no Honour for him to seeke an acquaintance here upon Earth and therefore by his frequent Devotions he often goes to seek out a better in Heaven where he may be sure to meet with such as shall be worth his keeping He dares call every man a Fool to his face who with David's Fool suffers either his tongue or his heart to say There is no God If you aske him what Religion he is of his answer is ready of his mother's that is he is a true Son of the Church And yet is he onely so farre her Son as he sees her willing to continue his Saviour's Spouse Neither is he content to be still an Infant in Religion and to be taught onely as mothers use to teach their young children to say his prayers and his Creed by rote but he prayes and believes and practises all truely by heart Notwithstanding he never forgets his Mother nor neglects to Honour her with his Life and Substance He is alwaies more ready to take her Directions for the Forme and Method of all his duties then to be Disciplined by all those Chatting Dry-nurses which are so busy about him such as indeed have talk enough but alas no Milke whose whole businesse is indeed to make him undutifull to his own mother and to set light by all her Councells and Commands perswading him to believe that a true Child of God not subject to a Mother in any thing And they never show their venemous teeth more plainly then when they goe about to make him forget what this Mother of all Christians by a strict Command from her Dearest Lord has ever been most carefull to teach all her children to say OUR FATHER He goes not to Church to save his Credit or his Purse to see his friend or speak with his Tenent but to meet his Heavenly Father and Commune with his God and to take Directions from him how to behave himselfe the following week or Day When he is there he makes his heart accompany his tongue and his Eare keep time with the Preacher Every Morning and Evening like a Dutifull sonne he in private Confesseth his faults and begs his Father's pardon and blessing and for the better ordering of his following duties reads over with Care and Humility some part of those Directions which he had long since Commanded his servants to set down in writing for his use He chuseth his Religion not by it's Commonnesse but it's truth and often weighs each branch of it in the Balance of the Sanctuary that he may be sure it is full weight He takes it not up by votes nor as it is most evident too many do thrusts his hand at all peradventure into an Hat-full of Lots being content with whatever he hits on first for should he goe the first way to work he knowes he should be sure to have not what 's Best and Soundest but the Easiest and most Gainfull if the later it is an hundred to one that he shall draw a blank and be made an Atheist for his labour Here he dares not by any means follow or embrace what 's most in Fashion for that 't is clear is Hipocricy the cunning Sister of Atheisme or Atheisme shamed or frighted into conformity but he professes that which is most Ancient for that he may be sure will at last be found most true His Religion is not such a Young Light and Wanton Girle as pleases the vain Phancy of every giddy Interested professor but such a Grave Matron whose naturall Beauty and Constancy the Gray-hairs of Prudence and Sobriety have ever judged to be truly Venerable and most deserving of the Christian's embraces This is that worthy Lady which he dayly Courts to make her the Mistresse and Protectresse of his Soul and she it is alone that can give him a breeding fit for Heaven He showes how freely he can goe on in the wayes of Godlinesse without a Spurre and how base a thing it is and unbecoming his Quality to be driven into Heaven by force By his hast and cheerfulnesse in his race he evidences his sense of the Worth of what he aimes at And by his egernesse in the pursuit of another world endeavours to confute the folly of those who would linger out an eternity were it possible amongst the Onyons and Fleshpots of this
Aegypt As he was borne a man so he had his Inheritance upon Earth but as he is New-borne a Christian he leaves this trash to the Prodigall younger Brother expecting a Possession durable in the Heavens He feares as little the names of Precise and zealous wherewith the Divell in the Mouths of his Disciples thinks to fright him out of all Holinesse as they understand them who thus too frequently abuse them That Boysterous breath which the prophane world sends forth to deride and Crosse him in his intended voyage he like a skilfull Pilote so orders by the right Composing of his Sayles that he makes that his greatest advantage and furtherance which was intended for his ruine He can go to Heaven with any wind and with any Name where he is so sure to meet with a title of Honour a name written in the book of life even the Honour of all his Saints He cannot Phancy that to be any debasement of his spirit which carries him out upon so High and Noble atchievements but thinks it an Happinesse to goe into Canaan though it be through a Red sea and a rude Wildernesse whilest others alas feed so greedily upon the Quailes that they never say grace but in a murmuring that they have not more and better cheer He feeds more upon his hopes then his enjoyments and blesses his God for both And now this Religion which he has thus wisely espoused and entirely loves he dares not prostitute to Interest or Humour But as any man accounts the enjoyment of one thing which he principally loves enough to recompence him for all that he has been constrain'd to part with in his pursuit after it so the Religious Gentleman can freely part with both Humour and Interest with all he enjoyes and all he hopes for here for his Religion's sake being sure to find them all again hereafter in the fruition of Her whom he so sincerely loves Like a Prudent lover he removes all occasions of Iealousy from his beloved His Religion shall never have cause to fear that either his Pleasure or his Honour or his Profit shall gaine so much upon his affections as to become her Rivall §. 17. The Conclusion of this Character Thus Sir Whilest I goe about to give you the Character of a true Gentleman I am falne into that of a Christian and indeed no wonder for there is such a necessary Connexion betwixt these two that they seeme to be no more then the Different Names of the same man If you desire to have his picture in a lesse Compasse here it is The true Gentleman is one that is God's servant the World's Master and his own Man His Vertue is his Businesse his Study his recreation Contentednesse his rest and Happinesse his reward God is his Father the Church is his Mother the Saints his Brethren all that need him his Friends and Heaven his Inheritance Religion is his Mistresse Loyalty and Iustice her Ladies of Honour Devotion is his Chaplain Chastity his Chamberlain Sobriety his Buttler Temperance his Cook Hospitallity his Houskeeper Providence his Steward Charity his Treasurer Piety is Mistresse of the House and Discretion the Porter to let in and out as is most fit Thus is his whole Family made up of Vertues and he the true Master of his Family He is necessitated to take the world in his way to Heaven but he walkes through it as fast as he can and all his businesse by the way is to make himselfe and others happy Take him all in two words he is a Man and a Christian. And here Sir 't is time that I beg both the Gentleman's pardon and Your's for thus abusing his name and presuming to give you his Character whose excellencies are not to be Comprehended much lesse expressed by any one lesse then himselfe I have an Apology at hand for giving you this rude and Imperfect draught of his Picture that I give it you at all it is my obedience to your Command that you receive it so Mishapen and ill proportion'd besides the little experience and lesse skill of the Painter he has this to say for himselfe he could hardly tell where being absent from such as you Sir to find a true Gentleman to draw it by But either he was Constrained to take it from the Dead and then no wonder if his work fall short both of Complexion and life or by that faint Idea he had in his own mind and therefore he hopes he is excusable though he sometimes mistake in the Feature If you meet in any place with too deep a shadow where there should be more light he desires that beside the weaknesse of his eye you would consider the Darknesse of the Time and the uncertain light he saw by For we live so much in the Evening of the world when the thick and foggy mists of Ignorance darken the ayre and that fading light we have is so variously refracted by our Glittering Vices and so often reflected by the Disfigured glasses of Phancy and Humour that there is nothing troubles him so much as that he is unhappily furnished with so many excuses to plead for his Errour But if any will not be satisfied with this he yet layes claime to a further Priviledg of a Painter that is to be a little more talkative and to say something more in vindication of what he has done and thereby demonstrate that the excellent Originall he would have Coppy'd is either not at all or very rarely to be met with at this day in England SECT IV. §. 1. How few of the true Gentlemen are now to be found in England I Need not tell you Sir who have paid so dear for the sad changes that it is our hard hap to live in a reforming Age wherein most things grow every day new but very few things better And I do heartily wish it were as seriously Consider'd by themselves as it it well known to most rejoyced at by some and sadly lamented by others what a decrease and waning there has been in the Gentry of England within a few of the last yeares and that not only in the number of their Persons and largenesse of their Estates but even in the Excellencies of their Soules and the greatnesse of their Vertues As if it had been a small thing for them to live so long the Despised vassels of their Hypocriticall Adversaries the good Masters that have so long ruled us except they had been permitted by the severest kind of Cruelty to take vengeance of their own vertues and render themselves ten times more the wretched Captives and despicable slaves of their own Tyrannicall Lusts and Atheisticall Humours then before Indeed an Atheist and a Gentleman in the opinion of many have for a long time been either Synonymous or at least Convertible termes I dare not I confesse have such hard thoughts of all though I could heartily wish they would rather take some pains by their lives and Conversations to prove this
himselfe and how inconsiderately he runs himselfe upon those rocks he endeavours so carefully to avoid whilest nothing can lay him more open to shame then that which was the first parent of it his sinne which makes him a meer Laughing-stock to all but those that pitty him Let him remember how he daily provokes that God who is the onely Fountaine of all true Honour here as well as Happinesse hereafter to Laugh at him and have him in Derisiâ—n Will it be no shame for him to be found at last one of those wretched and Contemptible Creatures which shall have the door shut upon them and be forced to stand knocking at the Gates of Heaven with sighs and tears and like so many miserable starving beggars in bitternesse of spirit craving admission and yet for all their selfe-conceited Greatnesse be vouchsafed no more respectfull an answer then a Depart ye cursed and Be gone I know you not What shame and Disgrace can the Gentleman fear to suffer like this when he who pranced it up and down with no lesse security then Pride and vanity and laugh'd to see others take so much pains to goe to Heaven shall even then when he thinks himselfe so sure of all meet with a Scornfull repulse But if the Gentleman will venture this Disgrace because he phancies it to be yet at so great a distance yet I must tell him he is much mistaken to think he shall speed much better here below Is it no shame to be justly accounted by all who understand themselves a poor silly ignorant fool such an one as can please himselfe with a toy a rattle and can think himselfe the onely wise man in the world when alas all they who are wise indeed look upon him and Pitty him as the most silly despicable wretch under Heaven It is thus men commonly make triall of the Fool 's Genius they propose at once to his choise a piece of painted Glasse and a Diamond a Feather and a suit of Cloaths that so by preferring the gayerâ—toy before the pretious or the serviceable substance he may betray his Ignorance and Simplicity Alas Sir what can we judg the Debauched Gentleman to be better or Wiser then such a silly Deluded Idiot or as we call him a meer Naturall that sports himselfe with his own shadow and places his Happinesse in Dancing about in his party-colour'd Coat his Cap and his Feather Did the Gentleman but know his friends or durst he be so much his own as to entertain fewer Flatterers who Cover his eyes and stop his Eares so that he neither sees nor hears of himselfe what otherwise he might how soon would he grow ashamed of his own face Did he but know how even all they whose tongues are bridlea either by his power or Prodigality in his presence talke of him when they are out of it at their severall meetings doubtlesse this would bring him out of love with his own Gayety and Prettinesse The Stoick talkes of him with Contempt and Derision the Charitable Christian with as much Pitty and Compassion and what a shame is it for the Gentleman who alwaies thinks himselfe both the Best and Happiest man in the world either to deserve the one or need the other If he yet reguard nothing of all this but Contents himselfe with this Phancy that he can do as much for them and that he can think others as very fools as they think him and pitty them as much Alas how is he to be pitty'd for these thoughts whilest like a man in an high Fever he makes a Felicity of his Distemper and in the Lightnesse of his head Phancies he is amongst Angels and in as Glorious a Condition as they Let him consider how great a shame even this is to say he can laugh at or he can pitty he knowes not what Others know alas too well what in him they pitty They have most of them some time or other tasted of his sweets to their sorrow but found them at last bitter to their present joy and Comfort Let him then first tast of their's and then let him chuse whom he will make the Object of his Pitty I am Confident he would in the first place be thus Charitable to himselfe But this is not all the reason the Gentleman hath to be ashamed of his present course of life Is it not a disgrace for a man therein to be cheated wherein he hath ever thought himselfe to be the wisest of all men and to have such tricks put upon him by what he most Confides in as will cast a damp upon all his Iollity at once There 's no man but will confesse it an high degree of indiscretion in himselfe without a very strong temptation indeed to place his great Confidence and best Affections upon a meer cheat and yet that Gentile Sinner we speak of if ever any is highly guilty of this Folly He may assure himselfe if he repent not in due time Sathan will put the same cheat upon him whereby he so sadly beguiled his wise Brother in the Gospel whom in that very night when he Lullaby'd his soul into a groundlesse security by presenting to her eye the abundance of his riches he suddenly snatches away into the place of Torments and makes this addition to the rest of his Sorrowes that he derides his former security and laughs at his present misery But this is too Common and Copious a Theme to dwell any longer upon I durst not altogether omit to mention it because I have not yet met with any thing more frequently prevalent with the Gentleman to perswade him to sin then this fear of shame and Disgrace and if it have been so powerfull to hurry him on to his ruine I hope rightly apprehended it may have some efficacy in drawing him to his Felicity §. 6. A third Motive drawn from Aequity I shall but propose two Considerations more and these are such as much concern the Gentleman to entertain viz of Aequity and Honour And first in all aequity and justice the Gentleman ought to proportion his Gratitude to the Bounty which enrich'd him and to live a Gentleman is as little as can with any reason be thought a just requitall of his Goodnesse who made him more Honourable then others For it was not he himselfe by whom he was made better then another man neither hath he any thing which he hath not received It cannot therefore be Gratitude in him like a Spongy substance to suck in all which is proffer'd it but to return nothing again without a Squeezing Or like a black and heavy clod of earth to receive the most Courteous and enlivening rayes of Heaven and yet requite the Bounty neither by a present cheerfull reflection nor a future seasonable fructification neither yet to lie like a rotten Dunghill which repaies all the sweet Influence it participates of in a stenchy fume or a generation of Vermine He should rather labour to resemble the true Christall whose