day our Redemption was finish'd by our Saviour's rising from the Dead this change was made in the Apostle's time as appears by their so often meeting on the first day of the Week recorded in the Scripture and that they had our Saviour's Countenance and Authority for it by his appearing so often to 'em in their Assembly on that day I think one need not be so scrupulous about the day but submit to the decision of the Church who probably fetch'd it from the Practice of the Apostles Our Saviour tells us the Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath and 't is of more moment to observe the Duties of the day then to be able to answer all Objections and Contentions that ill designing Persons can raise against it That we dedicate a seventh day to God's Service according to his own appointment and upon the first day of the Week in memory of the great Work of our Redemption finish'd upon that day is satisfactory enough to me and if I sincerely perform the Duties of the day I make no question of Gods Acceptance For the resting from bodily Labour so strictly injoyn'd to the Iews I take to be partly abolish'd with the other Ceremonies only retaining so much as is necessary to support the Solemnity of the Day I think none can be too strict in consecrating to God that day as totally as our Frail Natures will permit and tho we can't be all the day besides the publick Service taken up in Prayers and Meditation we may do well to keep our selves out of the way of the World which will soon quench the Flame our Divine Exercises have kindled but there were nothing like the Conversation of Heavenly minded Persons when we can have such and there are Works of Mercy and Compassion very proper for that day which may raise our Minds to Love and Praises to God for making us Instruments in his hand for the good of any body In a word the best Instructor in the Duties of the Lord's Day is Love which will make us do all with diligence and delight by which I may suppose you are animated to what you do or desire to do on that blessed day I agree with you that the Duty of Prayer is manifest even by the Light of Nature That Supream Being that made us can only preserve us and to him we must apply for our well-being but Christians that are dedicated to God in Baptism should take care to sanctify all the Actions of their Lives by Prayer and never do that thing they dare not beg God's blessing upon If we did impute to God the happy success of all our Labours we could not be so wanting to our selves as to neglect that great Favour and Priviledge of a Christian of representing all our Wants and Necessities to God and engaging his Care and Providence in our behalf of beging his holy Spirit which he has promised to those that as it which will lead us into all Truth teaching us to â—â—cuse and condemn our selves for sin and then engage us to the Duty of thankfulness and here I know noâ— where to begin or make an end Innumerable are the Mercies we daily receive and sufficient to imploy all the moments of our Life in the Contemplation of them and were our Hearts truly thankful nothing could be wanting to keep us close to our Duties both to God and our Neighbour whatever different ways and modes we find of expressing it I dare be bold to pronounce That Person a true Child of God that in a deep sence o his own unworthiness looks upon all the mercies he enjoys as the favour and bounty of heaven for which he can never be sufficiently thankful And I do not know a stronger Foundation to build any Persons Conversion upon for if they are born of Christian Parents when they consider that Blessing and Priviledge which Thousands want it must needs engage 'em in his Service who has dealt so Lovingly with 'em But if an Alien from the Church of God should by some great Providence meet with the opportunity of being instructed in the saith how can he chuse but look upon this good Providence as the effect of Gods Merciful kindness to him and work a more kindly Obedience then all the Terrours of Hell I confess the threats of Hell is a way I am little acquainted with yet must own We cannot know Gods Mercy in its full extent without knowing to the full the miseries from which it has redeem'd us But this works naturally upon our Love and turns it into such a fear as works again by Love and makes our obedience chearful and free yet I shall not pretend to censure those that perhaps experience teaches to use harsher methods but I bless God for his more tender dealing with me for I am perswaded those Conflicts and Temptations so many find upon their Death-Beds are the effects of those horrours their teachers infuse into 'em for I may say with thankfulness I never saw any one in that condition of all my Friends that I have Buried And I make no doubt but the subtilty of the Devil is never wanting to make his advantage of our Fears Scruples and Superstitions when he terrifies us with Apparitions and Spectrums It is certainly a great Happiness to be free from the fears of 'em for which you have just cause to bless God and I can speak it by Experience Those Ominous Presages of Persons Deaths or Misfortunes never happen'd to me nor many of my Relations Who all held a Principle against Superstition or any observation of such things Your humble and uncommon Confession of your own Frailties is what we must all own as well as you if we chuse good Principles for our Conduct 't is all the Vertue we can pretend to the exact Performance depends upon many things not in our Power Your neglect and disregard of dressing and fine Cloaths suits the Temper and Inclination of the Wise and Men of Business 't is a weakness even in Women but a great Folly in Men and a true conjecture may be often made of the Intellects of both Sexes by their Dress You have a strange Happiness for a Man of Business to have so much liesure for Divine Contemplation in the Fields and other pleasant Places whereby you furnish your Mind with Pious Ejaculations which serves you upon occasion to obtain Gods Direction Blessing and Conduct in your Affairs 't is then the Business goes pleasantly on when the success is perfectly resignd to God 'T is pitty your great Love to your Wife should make you so uneasie that all your Philosophy could hardly furnish you with Patience enough to support a Months Absence Your excessive loving Temper which I perceive you do not take for a weakness but a Perfection gives you much reason to applaud your great Success in your choice of two Wives successively of so much Merit Tho' you seem so surprised at the 〈◊〉 Company you
sense of my bounden Duty towards God so also from a consideration of the Example of a Person of Honour I mean the late Lord Delamere who has left it upon Record to his Children That whenever he hapned which was very seldom to omit his Duty in this Kind tho upon never so urgent an occasion he always found some cross Interruptions and disappointments in 〈◊〉 business of that day Being now Madam to Sally out into the City under a nâ—cessity of making my self more particularly known in respect to the affairs I went about I will presume to suppose you might be inquisitive to understand what sort of Figâ—re 〈◊〉 proper for me to make As to my Cloaths I confess I was never over-curious affecting always to appear more plain and cleanly than gay and finiâ—al The first Suit of Apparel that ever mortal man wore came neither from the Mercer's Shop nor the Merchant's Warehouse and yet Adam's Bill would have been sooner taken than a Knight's Bond now The Silkâ—Worms had something else to do in those days than to set up Looms to become Free of the Weavers Our old Grandsire's Breeches were not worth near the Value of K. Stephen's Hose that cost but a poor Noble Adams Holy-day Suit being made of no better Stuff than plain Fig-leaves sowed together and Evâ—â— best Gown of the same piece However it was both necessary and convenient I should rather appear above than below my Quality and as such I adventured to visit my Auction-Room In the various Emergencies of each day I send up Ejaculatory Prayers to the God of all my Mercies for his Direction Blessing and Conduct as the matter does require and as God has Commanded who has bid me in all my Ways acknowledge him and has graâ—iously promis'd to direct my Paths In the Summer-time I rose early in the Morning and walk'd abroad into the Fields finding those occasional Meditations that such a walk presented me with Subjects for proper to raise my Devotion to a greater Fervour the Beauty of the Creation leading me by insensible steps to the Adoration of the Great Creator the Source and Fountain of all Excellencies My walking along the Strand a Mile from Dublin gave me a pleasant prospect of the Sea whose rowling Waves put me in mind of the Power of Omnipotence who commands both the Winds and the Sea saying hitherto shalt thou come but no further Leaving the Strand I walk'd up a Hill into the Fields by the side of Ballibaugh-lane which I thought one of the best Prospects about Dublin having Heaven Earth and Sea in view at the same Moment it represented to my thoughts the exceeding swiftness of spiritual Bodies which though far from Infinite yet have a motion quicker than the Eye and swifter than our Thoughts Thus by the things I have seen I have been led into the Contemplation of unseen things After about an hours Meditations in this Nature my usual way was to return to my Chamber unless a previous Appointment to meet any one about Business hinder'd me For though I had given the Conduct of my Auctions to Mr. Wilde who faithfully discharg'd the Trust I repos'd in him yet was I not so freed from Business my self as not to have Applications made to me both by the Binders and other Persons After some time being in my Chamber and having taken some Refreshment I went to Dick's in Skinner-Row where after calling for a Dish of Coffee my Questions were Where 's Darby he 's Dick's Servant but as honest a Lad as lives in Dublinâ— Is there a Packet come from England And that which prompted me to that Enquiry was That I then had hopes of hearing from my Wife distance and absence having so endear'd her to me that I was never well but when I was writing to her or hearing from her But if a Packet came and there was no Letter for me it struck me into such a Melancholly for fear Valeria was ill that I could hardly reconcile my self to a good Humor all that day Madam perhaps this will make you ask how long I have been absent from her Why Madam not above a Month but am fallen already to telling the Minutes and can scarce live at this cruel distance Methinks Madam I cou'd pass through an Army of Beauties untoucht for one Glimpse of the Dear Valeria for so I design to call her 'T is she I Love for why should n't I above Beauty Wealth and those Gaudy Trifles that dazzle the Eyes of others Neither can S nor the worst of her Enemies lessen my Opinion of her Might I talk of her Piety for she 's too modest to hear it mention'd I 'd affirm she 's so great a Scripturist that her Memory is a sort of Concordance and the only one I have occasion for And for the rest of her Life 't is nothing else but Devotion And which yet inhances her Value she puts me not off with a common Friendship 'T is true an indifferent Love wou'd ha'e been good enough for the Man that wou'd Court her with the blaze of Gold to the Fop that has nothing but Honour or Beauty that very Iest when found in a Man to plead for him I loved her for better Reasons and therefore ask for a nearer Intimacy a more lasting Happiness Sence is enough where Sences only Wooe But Reasoning Lovers must have Reason too No wonder if the Body quickly cloy But Minds are infinitâ— and like themselves enjoy A Woman of Sence and such I find Valâ—ria is a noble Prize had she nothing but the Treasure of her Mind All the World is pictur'd in a Soul I am sure 't is so and that she acts new Charms in every thing Then Madam if you ever Marry and wou'd be happy in Wedlock Marry for pure Love for Valeria and I shall then be upon the square with ye for we can love more in one day than others do in all their Lives She that marries a Husband on this Foundation will be still finding new Charms either in his Words or Looks for my own share I do assert whilst dignified sparks seek Diversion from their Misses and devote their Lives to the idle pursuit of a Hound or a Hawk I thank God my Fancy is not so rambling but I can confine it to One Dear Charmer to whom if she loves like me I 'll prove the most kind and tender thing in the World In a word I bend all the Faculties and Powers of my Body and Mind to please and serve her all I have or can command shall lye at her Feet neither do I love at so cold a rate as to desire any of the Goods of Fortune but for her sake and this loving Humor as Iris found in the like case will not only last for a day or a year but to the end of her Life then what shall I do for a sight of Valeria but it can't be had so that I am now constrain'd to have recourse to Philosophy
seen the Castle and other Rarities I was the next Sunday for going to Church the Place where the Lords Iustices usually go and accordingly thither I went in Company with Mr. Larkin After we had seen the State in which the Government rides to Church which indeed is very splendid as I hinted before we crowded into the Church where I endeavoured to compose my self in the most serious manner I could to attend the Service of God performed there I do not pretend to retain whole Sermons by heart but can have a satisfied Conscience in keeping only in my Memory a remarkable passage or two that suits best to the then Edification of my Soul much less then Madam shall I offer to describe this place of Divine Worship or Descant upon the Auditory but as 't is most natural for Mankind upon the presenting of fresh Objects to view them at least in a transient manner I found it so with my self here notwithstanding the Injunctions of God and my own Conscience to keep close to my Devotion but pardon me Madam if I am necessitated to declare I did not behold one tolerable Face among all those that are distinguish'd by the Name of the Fair Sex So that here I can truly say They were no Temptation to me and that I had no occasion to make a Covenant with my â—yes But for my self I could have been heartily content they had had a certain place of Worship from the Men assigned them in the Assembly as the Eastern Churches have but for what reason I know not But this Liberty Madam that I took to gaze and make Reflections was only while they were singing an Anthem with Vocal and Instrumental Musick there being two pair of Organs in Christ-Church of which one is a very noble one But when the Minister ascended the Pulpit I heard him with great Attention and Delight He was a Dignitary of the Church but his Name has slipt my Memory Retiring home from hence with what convenient speed the Infirmity of my Body would permit me I din'd in my Lodging with my Landlord H a Jolley Man in his natural Temper but not very serious in matters of Religion I made my Repast as short as I could as is usual with me upon such days and withdrew into my Chamber where I spent the remainder of the day in such Acts of Devotion and Meditation as were usual with me but I had some more particular Impressions upon my Spirits concerâ—ing the Divine Goodness towards me in respect to the now state of my Health That I hâ—d been enabled to go once again to the House of God And I will own to the Glory of the Divine Name that some touches in the Sermon I had heard that day concerning Thankfulness for Mercies receiv'd were very helpful to me in the course of this Evenings Devotion The next Week I went to see Patrick Campbel to whom by his Order I had sent several of Mr. Turner's History He treated me well enough the first time I saw him giving me my Mornings Draught and telling me I was welcome to Dublin But I said nothing then of the Books I sent him nor he to me which I thought somewhat strange The second time I went to him which was the Week following after the usual How-dee's were over I expected he shou'd have took some notice to me of the Books which he not doing I took notice of 'em to him and then it was I perceiv'd he had a Natural Aversion to Honesty for he began to shuffle at the very mention of ' em However resolving to be easie with him I took my leave of him for that time The third time I saw him he shuffl'd about my Books at that rate that a Stranger in his Shop to whom I offer'd to refer my Cause resented it And from that time forward only for demanding my own and telling him how unfairly he dealt by me he became my Enemy This Madam being the Person with whom I had the preceeding Scuffle if by this you don 't sufficiently see his Character give me leave to give it you which I will do impartially and without any respect to the Controversie I had with him He is of Stature rather Tall than otherwise his Hair reddish his Speech very broad like his Country no Schollar but of good Natural Parts very covetous and extreamly proud He had a very mean beginning for which no man ought to blame him for he cou'd n't help it himself and consequently 't was none of his fault but his intollerable Pride makes it necessary that he be often put in mind on 't I have heard some Persons say that had dealings with him That they had rather speak to the Lord Mayor about Business than Patrick Campbel and that he wou'd not look for so much respect He cares not to part with Money and where he can sâ—uffle he will He is of Vespasian's Mind and thinks no Gain is unsavoury What good parts he has he uses ill employing 'em for the most part to circumvent his Neighbour Of which his taking my Room over my Head is an undeniable Instance He understands the Doctrinâ— of Equivocation as well as a Jesuit and their Honesties are much alike only the Jesuits are the fairer Dealers He pretends extreamly to Religion and has got many a Penny by the Bargain He 'll commonly say Grace over a Choppin of Ale and at the same time be contriving how to over-reach you Candor and Fair Dealing are things he often mentions as a cover for the opposite Vices but never cares to make use of 'em unless sometimes to draw in a greater Booty This Madam is a part of his Character which shou'd I draw out at length it wou'd make a Pack too big for a Pedlar but having thus accidentally stumbled upon his Original 't will be Wisdom to leave him where he was first found Which yet I am unwilling to do till I have acquainted you Madam that I have enough by me to confirm every tittle of this Character without referring to any thing relating to my self for I have the History of his â—ife senâ— me from Dublin since I came over even from the time he sold Thread-laces in Glascow by the Name of Patrick Vre to the time that Patrick Campbel begged Pardon of the Company in Dublin for his pretty Experiment of turning Hodder into â—oâ—ker c. And this attested by several Eminent Persons in that City among whom Mr. Thornton the King's Stationer is one But having told him I 'll be a generous Enemy I intend this History of his Life shall be kept secret unless he shall hereafter provoke me to publish it From Patrick Campbel I rambled to the Ingâ—nious Mr. Ray's who is both Printer and Bookseller and the best scituated of any Man in Dublin and thence back to honest Ware 's witty Shaw's and grave Mr. Foster's who as they all deserve an honourablâ— Character which for brevity sake I here omit so I