therefore sent for you to audite them before-hand that so by your assistance I may either know my errours and repair whatsoever is amiss â—â—ilst yet I have a little time left me to do it in or if I have stated my matters rightly may appear with the better assurance at that Tribunal I have always found you faithful in your Doctrine and I do not doubt but you will be impartial in this application At this point I offered to go out and leave them private which he perceiving took me by one hand and the Minister by the other and then continued his discourse I will give you said he to the Minister the History of my life at least I will not conceal from you any main passage of it be it for me or against me that so you may pass a judgment upon my spiritual state and I desire you my dear Friend Sebastian to be present who have been privy to the most critical moments of it to the intent that you may witness against me before this Man of God if I falsifie in any thing This said he laid open the course of his life and amongst several other things which either I do not now so well remember or think not fit to repeat he delivered the substance of that whereof I have given you a large account before and then he conjured him in the Name of God to deal freely and plainly with him upon the whole matter The holy Man like a Jury in a manifest case without long deliberation quickly brought in a Verdict of comfort to him Which when Eulabes perceived with his eyes fixed upon him and a countenance somewhat cheared Well said he God be thanked if it be so as I hope it is for I rest assured Almighty Goodness despises not the meanest sincerity But I humbly and earnestly befeech you Sir give me also the Absolution of the Church that I may go out of the World under the comfort of so publick and authentick a Testimony Which when the Minister had solemnly performed he intreated him further to administer to him the Sacrament of the Lords Supper that so said he seeing as it were my Saviour crucified before my eyes and pouring out his Blood for sinners I may the more firmly believe the pardon of my own sins and upon the wings of Faith and affection raise my self towards Heaven This after the interposition of Prayers and Mediation and holy discourse was administred to him but Lord what an ecstasie of devotion was the good Man now in What tokens of humility affection thankfulness and intention of mind were then to be read in his countenance and deportment Most certainly Christ Jesus was present really though not carnally and his Soul fed it self most savourily upon him These things being done he dismissed the Minister for that time not without real expressions of his thankfulness to him for his pains and assistance nor without a liberal alms to be disposed at his discretion amongst the Poor earnestly intreating him to remember him constantly in the Prayers of the Church that thereby he might be holpen on his journey towards Heaven where he hoped shortly to arrive Some time after this when by some repose he had recovered a little strength his Family was called together to his Beds side with some others of his Friends and Relations all whom he most earnestly cautioned against loosness of life and profaneness of spirit assuring them in the words of a dying man of the great reality and infinite importance of Religion he charged them as they would answer it at that great Day which was certainly coming that they should not suffer themselves either to be debauched into carelesness and lukewarmness nor abused and cheated into phantastry and opinionativeness in Religion but persist in the good old way reverence their Minister keep to the Church and make the serving of God the greatest care and business of their lives Then he discoursed admirably to them of the vanity of the World the uncertainty of life the comforts of Religion and the joys of Heaven till his spirits began to be spent and his speech a little to falter At other times he retreated into himself and entertained converse with God by Prayers and holy Meditations in which what were the elevations of his Faith what the holy raptures of his Love what humble abjections of himself at the feet of Christ what resignations of himself to the will of God what pleading of the promises of the Gospel and recumbency upon the Intercession of his Saviour we could not be privy to further than as we saw his hands and eyes earnestly lift up to Heaven sometimes a stream of tears falling from his eyes and other times interchangeably a chearful smile sitting upon his countenance in which posture bodily strength being now exhausted he with a gentle sigh resigned up his Soul to God Thus I have given you the last passages of this good Man now no doubt in Heaven if I have not tired you with the relation though I confess I am not very apt to suspect that both because I have done it in compliance with your desire and besides I judge of other men by my self and because I am never weary of thinking or speaking of him therefore imagine other men may be of the same mind Phil. Ah! Sir so far from being weary of such kind of discourse that I could willingly have forgot all other things for it and been glad this Evening-Conference had continued till to morrow morning but I consider Devotion must not too much intrench upon Civility therefore I return you my hearty thanks for my good Entertainment and take my leave for this time Bioph. I thank you both for your good Company and your charitable offices towards my satisfaction and I do already assure you of this fruit of it that by your Conversation I have learnt that all Religion is not acting a part and playing the Hypocrite which I was apt to suspect heretofore for I see you are so really hearty and in earnest in it and yet men of greater sagacity than my self that I tell you truly I begin to think it becomes me seriously to consider of it Good night to you good Sebastian THE END The tioling humour of the age exposed Of good nature and complaisance Apologies for tipling baffled The real causes of tipling intimated and the mischiefs of it exaggerated Of Gaming and particularly of Chance-Games Want of business the occasion of Drinking and Gaming A Gentleman's Life as busie as other mens An estimate or account of the time and business of mans Life A Practical Demonstration of the littleness of our spare time Innocent and pleasant employments of Time Of Prayer and reading the Scriptures Of Study and Meditation the advantages and the difficulties of it Of friendly Conserence and the great benefits of it Drinking and Gaming are Levelling Practices The Pleasures of Discourse Discoursing an healthful Exercise Just occasions of Taciturnity or Reservedness sometimes in Conversation Of the use and abuse of Books and Reading Conversation improves a man more than Books and Study Discourse about religious matters recommended The importance of Religion Religion rests not in the mind only Religions Discourse as necessary in times of prosperity as of persecution Of Hypocritical Canting Common Discourse lawful Col. 4. 6. Of Disputes in Religion the vanity and mischiefs of them Religion the noblest Subject of Discourse Pleasantness of religious Conference Religious Discourse the most prudent Religious Communication Gentile About Prophane Discourse Of Drollery More Arguments for religious Conference Godly Discourse not Phanatical nor the Badge of any Sect. Godly Conference an effectual way to supplant Phanaticism what makes prophane men so bold in their assaults upon Religion Means to raise our Spirits to a fit temper for religious Communication Prudential advices about religious Conserence Of improvement of time A touch of Epicurean Doctrine Of the different prospects different men have of the other World Heroes that can despise Death Of News and News-mongers exposed Sebastian's strange News of a new-found-land An Allegoricai Description of the new Country Sebastian relates the grounds of the credibility of his Story Preparations for the Journey to Urania Philander transported with the contemplation of Heaven Christian Resolution The advantages of good company in the way to Heaven Scepticism displaying its humor and checkt by sober reason The Epicurean Creed The great consequence and general influence of the belief of a Judgment Scripture proof of a day of Judgment justified by reason It is just prudence to prepare for a day of Judgment thought the evidence were less than it is What kind of proof and what measure of evidence is to be expected in the Principles of Religion In order to the satisfaction of a mans judgment he must first come to indifferency It is greatly a mans interest that Religion should be true The moral demonstration of a judgment to come Mankind is of such a nature and endued with such powers as make it reasonable for him to expect Judgment The Soul of man proved to be immaterial The natural notions men have of God render it reasonable to expect that he will judge the World God not a necessary Agent There is an actual Providence in this World therefore there will be a Judgment in the next Prophecy a certain Argument of a Providence in the World Miracles necessarily argue a Providence More ordinary instances of Providence in the World A Vindication of Divine Providence in the obscarity of some of its Dispensations in this life A visible Providence over the Jews How it comes to pass that there is no greater difference in the last act of mens lives The wonderful comfort and advantages of being secured against a day of Judgment The different representations of Religion a great temptation to Seepticism A sure Religion Scrupulous and phantastical rules of preparation for the day of Judgment reproved Eulabes's History of his own Life and preparations for Judgment Eulabes his more special preparations for death towards the approaches of it
A Winter-Evening CONFERENCE BETWEEN Neighbours In Two Parts PART I. Prov. 27. 17. As iron sharpeneth iron so doth the countenance of a man his friend LONDON Printed by J. M. for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty 1684. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Must on the behalf of the Persons concerned in these Papers now in thy hands bespeak thy Candour in two or three Particulars following First That thou wilt not suffer thy Curiosity to carry thee so far as to be very inquisitive who they were or where they dwelt who held these Conferences for besides that the knowledge thereof would be of no use there are several other reasons why I cannot gratifie thee therein further than by giving their true Characters which thou wilt find subjoyned Secondly That whereas at the entrance of these Conferences and perhaps also here and there in other parts of them thou mayst observe some short touches of mirth thou wilt not be offended at them as ill comporting either with the gravity of the Speakers or the seriousness of the Design For if thou consider the humor of the Age thou wilt not find thy self obliged to impute it to the levity of Sebastians temper but to his discretion and wisdom that he doth accommodate himself to those he would gain upon as he that will catch Fish must suit his Baits to their Gust and Phancy Thirdly Because it is not unlikely but thou wilt take notice that the Interlocutors do now and then upon occasion use complemental Attributions towards each other and applaud one anothers Wit or Eloquence which being now put in print may to a severe Censor seem to savour of ostentation and look like clawing and flattering one another Therefore thou art desired to remember that this was done only amongst themselves and in private Conversation where such kinds of Civility are usually practised without offence or imputation As for the general Design of these Conferences I make bold to tell thee that it is apparently noble and generous namely to lead the way to more manly Conversation especially amongst the better ranks of men to demonstrate that the strictest Virtue is consistent with the greatest Prudence and Civility and in short to raise the dejected and depressed Spirit of Piety in the World The consideration hereof incouraged the Publication and I hope will sufficiently recommend it to thy Acceptance Farewel The Characters of the Persons in the two following Conferences Sebastian a Learned and pious Gentleman who takes all occasions of ingaging those he converses with in sobriety and a sense of Religion Philander a Gentile and ingenuous Person but too much addicted to the lightnesses of the Age till reclaimed by the Conversation of Sebastian Biophilus a Sceptical Person who had no setled Belief of any thing but especially was averse to the great Doctrines of Christianity concerning the Immortality of the Soul and the life to come and therefore consequently was much concerned for the present life Till at length awakened by the discreet Reasonings of Sebastian and the affectionate Discourses of Philander he begins to deliberate of what before he despised Eulabes a truly prudent and holy Man who made his life a study of and preparation for Death propounded as an Example for Imitation in the second Conference The Argument of the first Conference Sebastian visiting his Neighbour Philander after a little time spent in Civil Salutations is quickly prest by him to the too usual Entertainment of liberal Drinking which Sebastian at first modestly and facetiously declines but afterwards more directly shews the folly and unmanliness of it He is then invited to Gaming which he also excusing himself from and giving his reasons against Philander complains of the difficulty of spending time without such diversions Whereupon Sebastian represents to him sundry Entertainments of Time both more delightful and more profitable than the forementioned amongst which that of friendly and ingenuous Discourse and from thence they are led on to debate about Religious Conference the Vsefulness Easiness Prudence and Gentility of which are largely demonstrated of which Philander being convinced inquires the way of entring into it of continuing and managing of it In which being instructed by Sebastian he resolves to put it in practice The Argument of the second Conference In the former Conference Sebastian having convinced Philander of the great importance of Religion and the wisdom of making it as well the Subject of Social Communication as of retired Meditation Accordingly they two meet on purpose this second time to confer about it But Biophilus a Sceptical Person being in their Company he at first diverts them from their design by other Discourse till after a while under the disguise of News he is wheedled into this Subject before he was aware And then he puts them upon the proof of those Principles which they would have supposed Vpon this occasion the foundations of Religion are searched into and particularly that great Point concerning A Judgment to come is substantially proved Which being done and Biophilus thereby rendred somewhat more inclinable to be serious they then pursue their first intentions and discourse warmly and sensibly of another World and of the necessary preparations for it so long till they not only inflame their own hearts with devotion but strike some sparks of it into Biophilus also A Winter-Evening CONFERENCE BETWEEN Two Neighbours AT PHILANDER's House Sebastian A Good Evening to you Good Philander I am glad to find you in Health and I hope all your Family is so too Philander I humbly thank you Sir we are all well God be praised and the better to see you here for I hope you come with intentions to give us the diversion of your good Company this long Evening Sebast If that will do you any pleasure I am at your Service For to deal plainly I came with the resolution to spend an hour or two with you provided it be not unseasonable for your occasions nor intrench upon any business of your Family Phil. Business Sir at this time of the Year we are even weary with rest and tired with having nothing to do Sebast It is a time of leisure I confess the Earth rests and so do we yet I thank God my time never lies upon my hands for I can alway find something or other to imploy my self in When the Fields lye dead and admit of no husbandry I then can cultivate the little Garden of my own Soul and when there is no recreation abroad I have a Company of honest old Fellows in Leathern Coats which find me divertisement at home Phil. I know the Company you mean though I confess I have not much acquaintance with them but do you find it a melancholy thing to converse with the dead Sebast Why should you say they are dead no they are immortal they cannot dye they are all soul reason without passion and eloquence without noise or clamour Indeed they do not eat
no time will be so tedious as that which is spent upon it and so we have lost the whole design we were levelling at Sebast Who say you will discourse of Religion Why every Body sure that thinks of it for it is a matter that comes so home and close to every man that he must be a stark Sot and destitute of the common sense and discretion of a man that is not mightily affected with it For tell me is there any man so absurdly vain as to think he shall not dye Can any man that observes the frail contexture of his Body and the innumerable accidents he is subject to think himself immortal Or can he overlook the common condition of mankind and when he sees men daily drop away and dye in their full strength and in spight of all helps and advantages of preservation yet be so fond as to imagine he shall escape the common lot And seeing what happens to another man to day may befal himself to morrow or however he is certain that he cannot be of any long continuance in this World who I say that is sensible of this can chuse but pry beyond the Curtain and bethink himself what shall come after Is it not the very temper and constitution of our minds to be inquisitive of the future Is it not a great part of our Prerogative above Beasts that whereas they are wholly taken up with what 's present to them and neither mind what is past nor to come we by the largeness of our souls embrace both and do we not worthily count him an Ideot that is so short-sighted as not to see beyond his Nose end Doth not every Wise man provide for what may be and do not even the most cold and incredulous suspect at least there may some thing concern us after the present life and is there any man that can if he would never so fain quite rid his thoughts of it Sure therefore every man that thinks he shall dye that is every man that lives thinks something of Religion if it be but for fear of the Worst Perhaps you will say there are some men who though they know they shall dye yet think they shall dye as the Beasts dye and have no concern hereafter but are they worthy to be accounted men that can phansie such a thing A Beast indeed hath life and sense and motion and participates of some kind of phancy and memory but doth it understand a Discourse or weigh an Argument Is it able to infer from Premises to remember things gone and past and recal them to mind at pleasure Can it compare things together gather the result distinguish or pass a judgment upon appearances will any man be so ridiculous as to say Beasts are conscientious too that they reflect upon their own actions and accuse or excuse themselves accordingly or have they free will to determine their elections which way they please even against the interest of their senses Now he that considers all these vast differences will if he have the reason of a man conclude it very improbable that a Creature of this admirable make should be only designed to be a Pageant for a day and be totally dissolved at the date of this short life especially if he consider withal that these powers and capacities which we have shewn man to be indued with do not only put him upon the thoughts and expectations and desires of another state but do render him marvellously fit for it and capable of it insomuch that several of the noblest of these endowments are wholly in vain if there be no such thing and that a Man died as the Beasts do Besides all this doth not every man that hath eyes in his head to observe the admirable structure of the World conclude that it must be the Workmanship of a God and he a great a wise a good and a just Being and can he think so and not resolve there must be a great necessity of and reality in Religion that is in the reverend observance of that Great Majesty that deserves it and who hath both made us capable of performing it to him and obliged us thereunto Now if all or but any part of this be true who is so mad as to have no concern for this God Religion and another World and who is there that having any concern for them can chuse but think fit to make it some part of his business the employment of some part of his time and the Subject of his most serious debates Hath any man a most important Cause sub Judice and his Tryal drawing on and doth he never think of it or discourse his Case with his friends Hath any man a great Estate in a Foreign Countrey or a huge Patrimony in reversion and never speaks of it Hath any man either a considerable Friend or a formidable Enemy and never expresses himself concerning the one or the other Surely therefore seeing Religion imports all these Concernments a man may find those that will discourse with him on the Point Phil. I readily consent to you that the business of Religion is a most serious Affair and worthy of the greatest consideration but besides as I have said there are very few will correspond with a man in discourse about it To tell you truly I am somewhat of opinion that it is not fit for that kind of treatment As it is a sacred so it is a secret thing transacted only between God and a man 's own Conscience and therefore is rather the Theme of a man's thoughts the solitary employment of his own heart and so fit to be kept up in the Closet of his Breast and not so proper matter for Discourse Sebast And I as readily yield to you Dear Phil that the soul and spirit of Religion is very retired and inward and so inaccessible to other men that they can neither see it nor judge of it But though the first source and springs of it lye very deep yet why the streams of it should not issue forth both in words and actions I cannot comprehend I have read of a sort of men about the Apostolick times called Gnosticks who gave out that it was sufficient to retain an inward belief and a right sense of Christian Religion in their minds and hearts although they neither made profession of the faith with their mouths nor practised the laws of it in their lives and conversations This I look upon as an hypocritical artifice of theirs to the end that they might make a saving Bargain of Christianity a device to sleep in a whole skin and neither run any hazards nor put themselves to any difficulties for Conscience sake and if they got nothing by Christ Jesus they thought they would be sure to lose nothing by him But as I am very confident a man of your sincerity can harbour none of their designs so I assure my self what you have said is not upon their Principles Yet I
because as you wittily upbraided me my Conversation is most with the dead yet I am in good hope you are now mistaken and that the state of the Living is not so prodigiously bad as you represent it I know there are a sort of Tap-inspired Debauchees whose wit is broached with the Hogshead and runs on tilt with it that love to put tricks upon every man and every thing that is graver and wiser than themselves nor do I so much wonder at it considering the men forasmuch as if Religion be true they must expect to be damned and if it obtain its just veneration they must expect to be the scorn of mankind It is not strange therefore if they consulting their own interest either undermine it or blaspheme it that they may have their revenge upon it before hand But take courage Philander for these mens tongue is no slander neither upon due consideration is there more of wit than of Vertue in their Ribbaldry As for the more cunning part of them who will needs be sceptical and think to give proof that they have more wit than other men only because they have less faith and modesty who knows not how easie a thing it is to carp and make Objections and that a triffling captious Coxcomb can ask more Questions than a Wise man can answer As any man may pull down faster than another can build up It is one sign of a good judgment to be able to ask a discreet and pertinent Question and another to discern what satisfaction is fit to be expected and then in the third place there is such a Vertue as modesty to sit down and rest satisfied with such an Answer as the nature of the thing will admit of all which those captious Hypercriticks are destitute of And then for the prophane Droll every man of sense and good manners knows that Wit without Bounds is the very definition of scurrility and that it is an easie thing to please a man's self in the one if he have no regard to the other but will let fly at every thing that comes in his way For my part I look upon it as every whit as great an instance of dullness as of impiety to need so large a scope for wit as these men allow themselves A good and true Wit will find matter enough within the Bounds of sobriety and not think himself straitned though he spare God and Religion The men therefore you speak of are like blind Bayard bold and dull and if they now and then happen upon something more than ordinary who knows but the Devil may help them to it who is always very ready to assist in this Case Therefore my good Friend setting both these kinds of men aside who are not the Copy but the very scandal of the Age they live in let us consider impartially what else there is able to discourage such a way of conversing as we are upon I have made it plain already that all the reason in the World is for it and it is as certain that there are no Laws against it nor doth Authority so much as discountenance it in the least Besides there is I am confident as quick a sense of Vertue and piety in the present times as in the best times of our Forefathers And if there be some lewd and profligate men against it yet there are others and those of the best Quality who think it so far from unbecoming their Rank that nothing is more savoury and acceptable to them than pious Discourse And some of these as I am informed meet at one anothers Houses usually every Week or as often as their occasions permit and there whilst they walk in the Garden or sit together by the fire according as the Weather invites them they make it their business to reinforce upon one anothers minds the great Principles of Christianity to affect their hearts mutually with the consequences of them And when this is done they say they return home as much raised in their Spirits and cheered in their very Countenances as the most jolly Good Fellows do from their merry assignations Phil. This is a pretty piece of News you tell me But I pray you by the way do you know any of these men well Are they not Conventiclers I tell you plainly I suspect this practice looks asquint that way Sebast No very far from it I assure you Those I know of them are persons most observant of the Laws of their Countrey constant and devout Frequenters of their Parish-Church true Friends of the Clergy zealously affected towards the Common-Prayers and all the Offices of the Liturgy and do as much abominate and discountenance every Instance of that factious Gadding Gossipping pretence of Godliness as any sort of men whatsoever do or ought to do but having a quick sense of piety and a great concern upon them for another World they endeavour by the aforesaid means to preserve and improve this temper in themselves and to propagate it to others and this they do the more securely as being condemned by no Law and the more innocently as condemning none of those that do not imitate them But I do not mention this particular Club of persons with intention to make them a Precedent for all others for besides that their custom is only voluntarily taken up and upon no apprehensions of any necessary obligation upon them so to do for then it would be a great burden upon the Consciences of men there are also several inconveniences not unlikely to attend the practice if not prudently managed which I need not name that therefore which I aimed at in the mention of these mens usage was amongst other proofs to shew that the World was not so abandoned of true zeal and piety as you suggested that prophane Discourse hath not so universally obtained nor that godly Conference was so antiquated and exploded but that a Gentleman might still adventure to be found at it without impeachment of his prudence or dignity And moreover I humbly conceive that by how much the more there is of truth in your observation by so much the more are all serious and sensible men bound to put to their endeavours to turn the stream of Conversation from froth and folly to this great and important Concern For if this be out of fashion the more is the shame and it is a thousand pities but that we should strive to bring it into fashion if it were but to run down that prophane humour you speak of And especially to repair the dishonour done to the Divine Majesty by those scurrilous Libertines who with equal madness and folly let their tongues run riot against him What I shall we be mealy-mouth'd in a Good Cause when they are impudent in a bad one Shall we be ashamed to owne God when they defie him Is God so inconsiderable a Being that we dare not stand by him Are piety and Vertue things to be blushed at Is
fair occasions to speak worthily of God and to make advantage of friendly conversation towards the improvement of one another in morals as well as in secular or any other Concerns and can any one be so absurdly malicious as to call this Phanaticism Doth that deserve the odious Name of a Party which is the great and universal Concern of all Mankind Is that to be accounted the peculiar Shibboleth of a Sect which speaks a Good Man and a Christian Is that to be made a mark of infamy which the best men in the World wear as a Badge of Honour Are we minded that this word Phanaticism should have the power of an Ostracism and put a disgrace upon men for being too good If men in their Intercourses and Communications deliberated about setting forth of some new God or at least of some new Religion there were just Cause of such an odious imputation but to take opportunity to speak of the true God and the old Religion gravely and piously it cannot be that this should be Pruitanism unless it be so to be in earnest in Religion which God forbid Sure it is not the Character of any mere Sect amongst us to love God and if it be not then neither can it be so to talk of him affectionately since the latter is the easie and natural issue and expression of the former David I remember called his tongue his glory and is that alone of all the powers of Soul and Body exempted from any part in doing honour to the Creator Are all men Puritans when they are sick or upon their Death-Beds And yet then there are very few are so modish as to wave the talk of Religion or to talk lightly and drollingly of it Either therefore all dying men are Sectaries or else they teach us then what we ought to practise at other times if we be not unreasonably careless and desperate As for those that are really Phanatick and are continually canting in a loathsom manner of Religion those Parrots that talk without any sense or apprehension of what they say or those Ricketty Pharisees that are all head and ears and tongue but feeble in their hands and feet that talk but do nothing let these be called Puritans or Phanaticks or what men please But let no dishonour be reflected upon those that understand and believe what they say and live up to what they believe and profess For though it may please those who have a mind to put a slur upon this instance of real piety which I am vindicating to confound it with that other hypocritical guise of it which I have now condemned that so they may expose it to contempt and dishonour yet as it is certain these two are as different things as Sense and Non-sense or as Life and Varnish so impartial men being Judges that very Paint and Pageantry bears evidence of the excellency of that Sincerity which I am recommending For you know men do not use to counterfeit that which is of no value painted beauty is a great Argument of the desireableness of that which is true and native so there is certainly a very deserved admiration of holy Discourse and a great power and charm in it otherwise it would never be so artificially pretended to by such men nor especially be sufficient to give countenance as we find it doth to their sinister purposes and designs the World I say would not be so sottish as to be imposed upon by religious Cant nor designing Hypocrites be so silly as to go about to abuse the World this way if it were not an acknowledged Case that there is a real worth in that which they endeavour apishly to imitate So that the Objections against us are unanswerable Arguments for us and we have great assurance we shall carry our Cause when our very reproaches turn to our honour But what if after all this Phil I should take the boldness to assert that such holy intercourse as I am speaking of and especially under those Conditions and Qualifications I have put upon it is so far from Phanaticism or Puritanism or any Sectarian Odium that on the contrary if the practice of it became general amongst good men it would be the most effectual way in the World to dash those formal disguises out of Countenance and to put all Phanatical tricks out of all request and reputation This I believe will seem a Paradox to you at first but I am very confident you will be of my mind when you have considered That the only or at least the principal thing which that sort of men support themselves by is the Gift of tongue a peculiar knack of talking religiously For if you look into their lives and temper they have no advantage of other men and if you examine either their Principles or their abilities these will not mend the matter and yet they have strange authority and influence in the World they charm men into security of their honesty by their talk they cast a mist before mens eyes that they are taken for godly men let their pride and passion their covetousness and ambition be otherwise as palpable and notorious as they can This Talent of talking is so valuable it redeems them from suspicion with this Pass-Port they go undetected they are Saints from the teeth outwards and Fools admire them and so they compass their ends Now were all sincerely good men so sensible of this as they ought to be and would they in earnest apply themselves to grave and serious and pious Discourse in the habit of their Conversations these Jack-Daws would be deprived of their borrowed Feathers and those crafty men would not have a Mask or Vizard left them to cheat the World withal You will say perhaps they would out-shoot those good men in their own Bow and talk at an higher rate in hypocrisie than the other could do in sincerity But for answer Do but consider whether there be not a greater power in Life than in mere shew and pageantry whether that which proceeds from the thoughts and heart and Principles within be not likely to have more vigour and spirit than that which hath no root no foundation but is begotten and lives and dyes between the tongue and teeth Do not you observe that nothing so much disparages a Picture as the presence of him for whom it was drawn Life hath a thousand vigours and beauties which no hand of the Painter can reach and display So hath spiritual Life when it puts forth it self a spirit a warmth an air or whatsoever you will call it which cannot be so imitated but it will shame and detect the Rival The great mischief of the World therefore and the only security of hypocrisie is that the Truth and Life disappears and gives its Counterfeit the Stage intirely to act upon but let that appear and confront its Adversary and Hypocrisie will be sensible of an unequal match and blush or withdraw it self When I say
after so fair a Copy as well as I can therefore pray you if you have any further directions for the guiding of my hand let me have them Sebast I see you are in earnest God's Blessing on your heart for it All that I have to say or as I think can be said more may be summed up in these few following Cautions First You must remember that which was said before you are not always to be endeavouring at Discourse of Religion other Discourse so it be manly and pertinent is not only lawful but necessary in its season The Wise-man tells us there is a time for all things to overdo is to do nothing to the purpose and to exclude all other innocent and ingenious Converse for the sake of Religion is to make Religion irksome and the certain way to shut it quite out of the World Secondly Because religious Conference is not always a Duty therefore it is a peculiar season and opportunity that makes it at any time become so and consequently that is to be watched and laid hold upon My meaning is that when men are in drink or in passion it is no fit time to enter on this Subject for it will be but to cast Pearls before Swine it can do those persons no good at such times and it may do us hurt and Religion too But when men are in the calmest and soberest moods then is the only time for this intercourse Thirdly It is very adviseable that we make a distinction of persons as well as times for this business You know the World is not all of a size some are our Superiors others are our Inferiors or Equals there are some very acute and learned men some dull and ignorant some are captious others sincere and plain-hearted some prophane and others pious in a word there are old and young rich and poor cheerful and melancholy and abundance other such differences in mens circumstances All which require a peculiar Address if we intend to fasten any good thing upon them But of this I need say no more knowing to whom I speak Again fourthly It is a matter of prudence that our essays of this kind be rather perfective than destructive that is that we do not take upon us authoritatively to quash and controul other Discourse but rather take advantage of any occasional passages and hints from whence to improve and raise it insensibly to that we would be at Lastly That out of indulgence to the levity and in compliance with the curiosity of mens minds we should not always harp upon one String but sometimes designedly lay aside our business and then resume it again as in Musick to sink and let fall a Note and by and by get it up again that by such variety we may afford the more delightful entertainment to those that are our Companions And now I doubt I have quite tired you therefore it is time to bid you a good Night Phil. Dear Sebastian shall I tell you a plain truth When first we came together this Evening your Conversation methought was so much out of the mode that though I considered you as an honest Gentleman yet I suspected I should have uneasie Company with you But now I phansie you are like some of those old stately Buildings I have seen which are a little rough and weather-beaten without but for all that are substantially strong and express very admirable art within or as I have heard it was said of Socrates that he was like Apothecaries Boxes that had the Picture of an Ape a Satyr or perhaps a Serpent without side but contained excellent Medicaments so you that I feared would be my Disease have been my Physician and which is more have set me up for one too Sebast Nay then good night again if you be for Complements But if you have any real value for me I hope you will now do me the favour of your Company at my House some other Evening Phil. Never doubt it Sir your dead men shall scarcely haunt you more than I will do But good night heartily The End of the First Conference A Winter-Evening CONFERENCE PART II. Prov. xxvii 17. As iron sharpeneth iron so doth the countenance of a man his friend 1 Cor. xv 33. Evil Communications corrupt good manners A Second Winter-Evening CONFERENCE AT THE House of SEBASTIAN The ARGUMENT of the Second CONFERENCE In the former Conference Sebastian having convinced Philander of the great importance of Religion and the wisdom of making it as well the Subject of Social Communication as of retired Meditation Accordingly they two meet on purpose this second time to confer about it But Biophilus a sceptical person being in their Company he at first diverts them from their design by other Discourse till after a while under the disguise of News he is wheedled into this Subject before he was aware And then he puts them upon the proof of those Principles which they would have supposed Vpon this occasion the foundations of Religion are searched into and particularly that Great Point concerning A Judgment to come is substantially proved Which being done and Biophilus thereby rendred somewhat more inclinable to be serious they then pursue their first intentions and discourse warmly and sensibly of another World and of the necessary preparations for it so long till they not only inflame their own hearts with devotion but strike some sparks of it into Biophilus also Philander YOU see Sebastian I am as good as my promise and at this time so much better as I have brought my Neighbour Biophilus along with me Sebast I always took you for a man of your word but now you have not only acquitted your self but obliged me Biophilus Your humble Servant Good Sebastian I know you are a studious person yet I thought Company would not be unacceptable to you at this Season Sebast You are heartily welcome Sir I love my Books well but my Friends better Come Gentlemen will it please you to draw near the Fire the Weather is very sharp still Phil. The cold continues But thanks be to God the Evenings are not so tedious since I saw you last Bioph. How can that be Philander The Weather indeed may change on a sudden and become colder or warmer upon several accidents but seeing the Sun keeps his constant Course the interim of a few days can make no discernible difference in the length or shortness of the Evenings Phil. O but here is a Friend hath taught me an Art for that a way to make time longer or shorter at pleasure nay which perhaps will encrease your wonder both these seeming Contraries shall be coincident A man shall have more time to spend and less to spare more for his use and pleasure and none to be a burden to him Bioph. Can Art do that That is a noble skill indeed if it be possible to shorten a mans time and yet prolong his life Sure you speak Riddles however I pray make me Partaker of
man could hope for such a thing absolutely and not clogged with conditions As for death it self that would have no great matter of formidableness in it if it be either as I suppose it a perfect intercision of all sense or much less if it were as the men of your perswasion use to speak only a dark passage to another light But the mischief is that upon your Hypothesis a judgment must pass upon a man first before he can arrive at that other life Now that is the terrible thing if I were rid of the danger of that it would as you say well be my interest to believe all the rest in spight of all objections to the contrary Sebast I do not design to impose upon you for it is very true there is no passage into the other World without undergoing a Test or Tryal whether we be fit for eternal life or no. And it is most certain also that if a man dye an impious a wicked and base person it were better for him that either he had not been born or else that the grave and oblivion might cover him to all Eternity But what need this fright any man whilst he is alive and may provide himself accordingly especially since the grace of God puts it in our choice and power to be good and so qualified that we may be out of all danger of miscarrying in the Judgment For Biophilus can it be thought that God Almighty should seek the ruine of his Creatures or that he can have any design upon them to make them eternally miserable If he had there would not be the solemnities of a day of Judgment for he would not need to insnare us in forms of Law but might without more ado have destroyed us when he pleased and who could resist him or dispute the case with him Undoubtedly he is too great a Majesty to have any little ends to serve and therefore we can suspect no hurt from him and there could be nothing but the overflowings of his own goodness that provoked him to make us at the first and therefore there can be nothing of envy malignity or cruelty in any of his counsels and designs about us And that all these are not meer-sayings or sanguine conjectures of mine but real truth besides all other ways of probation you may be assured by this consideration that in all Gods demands from us as the terms and conditions of our happiness or which is all one in all the duties he requires at our hands and in all th obligations of Religion there is nothing severe and discouraging nothing extremely harsh and difficult much less impossible nay in truth if things be rightly considered I believe there will be nothing to be found in any institution of Religion that ever was heard of in the world that could go so much against the grain with men as to tempt them to run the hazard of dying eternally rather than to comply with it And if any such were to be found it were ground enough to assure us that such Institutions proceeded not from God for such is his Wisdom and Benignity that he can impose nothing as a severe Task-master purely to abridge our liberty or to break our spirits and oppress our powers but only to raise and improve us according to our utmost capacities and as necessary methods to train us up as Candidates for eternal life I will not deny but there are some restraints put upon us and some difficulties we must expect to encounter otherwise Religion would have no excellency in it nor could we have either the glory or the pleasure in obtaining our end and happiness if it were won without sweat and labour But I do confidently assert that these difficulties whatever they are we shall find just reason to undergo with all chearfulness if we do but compare what Religion promises with what it commands or imposes And as for the Christian Religion in particular all this which I have said is so remarkably true of that that if any thing hath been represented as a branch and necessary duty thereof which is of a contrary nature to what I have now supposed I do not doubt with great ease to make it appear that such suggestion is either a palpable mistake or a notorious scandal Why then I say should a man think either so ill of God or of himself as to be afraid or unwilling to fall into his hands You cannot forebode any evil from him if you are satisfied that he is perfect and happy full and glorious just and good and therefore you must condemn your self of prodigious folly in not complying with reasonable and equitable Laws and of being wilfully accessory to your own calamity if you dare not undergo his Judgment So that upon the whole matter there can be no reason why you should be unwilling to believe there is such a thing and that is all I desire of you at present and I heartily conjure you to be true to your self herein Bioph. Well I am resolved to be as indifferent as it is possible to be now therefore prove it Sebast That I will do with all possible plainness and sincerity namely I will make good that there is sufficient reason to incline a prudent man to expect and believe that after this life God Almighty will call men to account and judge them according to their former actions and behaviour Now you know it is the nature of Moral Arguments not to depend upon one single Evidence but to consist of the united force of several considerations accordingly my present proof of a Judgment to come as aforesaid must comprise these three particulars First I will shew that the nature and condition of Mankind is such as to render them fit and capable to come to an account and to undergo such a Judgment as we speak of Secondly That it is very agreeable to the Nature and Attributes of God according to those notions which we have of him that he should call Mankind to such an account and judge them Thirdly That God Almighty actually exercises and displays such a Providence in this present World as gives earnest before-hand that he really intends to judge it hereafter These three things make way for and succeed each other naturally and all together amount to a full proof of the Point in hand Wherefore when I have opened and made them out severally in the order I have laid them down I will leave it to you to collect the result of them 1. I say the nature and condition of Mankind is such as renders him capable of undergoing a Judgment in another World and therefore it is reasonable that he expect it accordingly This will appear by the instances following In the first place it is notorious that Mankind is endued with a large and comprehensive mind which is not confined to the meer objects of his senses and things present before him but hath a vast scope and prospect by
of man be Alas Biophilus whilst we dream the Judgment slumbers not whilst we doubt and dispute God is in earnest and the time draws on apace when Christ Jesus the Judge of the World shall come in the glory of his Father and of all the holy Angels the Heavens shall then melt away and the Earth be on fire from one end of it to another the dead shall rise out of their Graves and make an huge Assembly the Books of all mens actions shall be opened and the Devil together with every mans own Conscience shall be the Accusers Then shall all those that are conscious to themselves to have lived virtuously and holily look up with joy and comfort to see their Saviour become their Judge to find a vindication from all those unjust censures that have past upon them here below to come to an end of their labours a reward of their services the accomplishment of their faith and hopes Lord what joy will be in their countenances what glory upon their heads How the Angels smile upon them and welcome them to their journies end and Heaven opens in an admirable Scene of light and glory to receive them But on the other side all that are privy to themselves to have lived wickedly basely and unprofitably shall look pale and tremble and call upon the rocks and mountains to hide them from the face of the Lamb that fits upon the Throne for they shall see all black and dismal about them no tears will move pity no Rhetorick will perswade no excuses will be admitted no Appeal be allowed no refuge to be found nor Reprieve to be hoped for but they shall hear that dreadful Sentence Depart accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and shall see Hell open her mouth to receive them into unquenchable flames Bioph. I protest you speak with such feeling Phil. that your discourse hath more power upon me than all the Arguments that ever I heard in my life And I know not what is the matter but my heart trembles therefore let me once more intreat you to adjourn the remainder of this discourse till another time and in the mean while I 'll consider of it as I promised you Phil. Ah! dear Neighbour do not prove like that unhappy Felix in the Scripture do not go about to elude what you cannot evade no put not off this business a moment longer now that it seems God hath touched your heart quench not his holy Spirit it may be you will never be in such a temper again if you lose this opportunity Bioph. I assure you I like this temper as you call it so well that I do not desire to feel more of it But if you are resolved to go on to torment me I pray do me the favour first to answer me this question If these things be so as you represent them how comes it to pass that men unconcerned about Religion dye as comfortably oftentimes as any others The reason of my question is this because you will pretend that whilst men are well in health and swimming with the Tide of prosperity they may either artificially put off the thoughts of these things though they be true or the noise of business and the caresses of their senses may obscure all apprehension of another World But sure when men find themselves dying and that there is but one way with them it should be too late for them to flatter themselves or to admit of the flatteries of others then surely prejudices cease and men are at leisure to think the glory of the World cannot dazle their eyes when it is leaving them and they it what then I say can be the reason if these things be true which you speak so affectionately of that there is not as remarkable a difference in mens temper of spirit when they come to dye as there seems to be in their conversation whilst they are alive Sebast I apprehend your question very well and the reasons of your asking it too And for answer to it I pray tell me what is the reason that men that love their health and their Estates both very well will nevertheless be Drunkards and Whore-masters and Gamesters though they see by daily experience that these are very sure methods to out them of both You will tell me I suppose that they feed themselves with absurd and unreasonable hopes which fool their discretion or that they are bewitched and besotted with those kind of pleasures and so consider nothing at all Why just so it is here the things we speak of are undoubtedly true and the miscarriage in them is fatal but men are careless and incogitant and slip into the pit of destruction before they are aware they live merrily because they never think of any thing and they dye as sottishly as they lived Again there is another sort of men that are captious and conceited who will chop Logick as we say with God Almighty they will have not only their reason satisfied but their curiosity also or they will not believe they must see a Spirit and Heaven and Hell or one mush come from the dead to tell them News out of the other World or they will not be contented Now God will not indulge this humor of theirs and they are resolved to venture him that is they will be damned rather than forgo it Besides there are others take a great deal of pains to disbelieve they will use all the Arts of Sophistry all the tricks and evasions of wit intrench and fortifie themselves in their Atheistical conceits in a word they will cheat their own reason outface their own Conscience and bring upon themselves a stupid insensibility of all that is good and vertuous and so in conclusion they dye quietly and go silently into the bottomless pit To all this you must consider that it is very probable that many of these men may be very far from dying chearfully though we are not able to observe their Agonies and torments for it may very well be that when they once begin to consider what a desperate condition they are in the very thoughts of that together with their bodily disease in conjunction presently overwhelms their spirits and makes their passage out of the world more compendious but never the more comfortable But after all you shall find some of the aforesaid persons when they come to dye sadly bewail their folly and carelesness of this kind but where-ever did you hear of an holy and vertuous man that ever repented of his choice or pains in Religion or care of his Soul and sollicitude in preparation for this occasion It 's possible indeed such a man may express no transpoets because his body is like other mens and the strength of his disease may infeeble his spirits and cloud his reason and so interrupt the exercise of his faith and hope And on the other side the profane and irreligious man though perhaps as you
suppose he cannot or will not dissemble at the approach of death yet he may be sottish and insensible and then whatsoever difference of state they are entring upon there may be no discernible difference in their departure hence and so you see your question will not serve to the purpose you propounded it for Phil. Come Biophilus leave these sceptical artifices these captious questions do not seek out ways to muzzle your own Conscience or impose upon your reason a Judgment there will be and it is all the wisdom in the world to be prepared for it It is in our power by the grace of God to order matters so that we shall rather hope and wish for it than fear it and what vast odds is there between them two You are sensible that it is only a Judgment following death that makes death terrible at least to our minds and understanding Indeed it 's possible our bodies may be disturbed at the assaults of it but meer death can never shake our minds or discompose one thought if we are satisfied that all will be well after it and what an happy and desirable condition were it to be out of the reach of that King of terrours to see light through that dark Vault of the grave to out-live all a mans fears and to live to his hopes What a strange alteration will that one thing make in a mans projections and designs in his countenance and in his spirit and in the whole management of himself for who can be afraid of any other accident that hath no cause to fear death Who will be concerned about riches or be much discomposed whether his temporal affairs succeed well or ill that is provided for Eternity Who will stoop so low as to lay any stress upon fame and reputation that hath approved himself to God and his own Conscience and can stand the shock of the great Tryal of the day of Judgment He that is in a condition not to fear death will have no reason to fear men or Devils or Spirits or solitude or darkness but may be as bold as a Lyon and cannot probably be tempted either to express a mean passion or to do a base action to be sure he will crouch to no body flatter and humor no body for no body can hurt him and so his life is easie as well as comfortable forasmuch as he hath no body to please but God and his own Conscience But as I was saying this is to be prepared for Salvation is not a matter of course nor the Judgment a meer piece of state and formality but infinitely sacred and solemn the Judge is wise and holy and just the Tryal strict and severe the Doom irreversible the misery intolerable if a man miscarry as well as the felicity unspeakable if he stand right at that Tribunal and to all this the critical time draws on apace we feel our selves daily dying therefore it concerns us to do what is to be done out of hand Bioph. I am convinced that it is the wisest course to provide for the business you speak of if it could be done without too much trouble Phil. Ah! Biophilus can any care be too great in such a concern Can any thing seem troublesom that may at once secure us from all other troubles But the trouble is not great neither it is but being sincerely and heartily religious and all is done Bioph. That is soon said I confess but not so soon done Besides I am never the wiser for such a general advice for there are so many Religions in the World that it 's hard to know which to trust to Some sublime Religion to such an height of Spirituality as they call it that a man cannot tell what to make of it and again some make no more of it than honest Morality Some dress it up so fine and gawdily with so many Trappings and Ornaments that it 's hard to find what the naked truth of the thing is and others render it so plain and coarse that a man is tempted to despise it Some represent it so thin and subtle that a mans reason can take no hold of it and others propound it so grosly and absurdly that a man had need have a good stomach to it or he could not digest it Some make it a very easie thing a trick of Wit a meer Notion but the becoming of a Party or a bare believing nay a peculiar Garb an hair Shirt or a Fryers Girdle doth the business With others it is a matter of infinite difficulty and hath so many nice and strict observations belonging to it that they are able to discourage any pretence to it In a word it seems to me to be what the Painter pleases forasmuch as I see some describe it out of the pleasantness of their own sanguine phancy and others out of the black humor of their hypochondriac passions So that upon the whole matter I think I had as good maintain my own Character and withhold my assent till men are better agreed amongst themselves upon the point Sebast God forbid Biophilus for that you cannot do unless you will adventure to be damned as certainly you must if you be found to be of no Religion Bioph. Why have you less charity for men of my temper than for all the world besides Must a Sceptist be certainly damned if there be a Judgment Sebast Far be it from me to be uncharitable towards any men if I could help them but I must tell you I have less hope for that man that hath no faith at all than for him that hath a bad one and it must be a very bad Religion indeed that is not better than none For though by reason of the variety of Perswasions which you take notice of a man may be fatally so misled as to perish in a blind Devotion yet certainly he that is so phantastically wise as to be of no Religion at all cannot be saved But what need is there of either of these There are a great many false Religions it is acknowledged but there is a Truth too and that not so hard to discern as you represent it if a man sincerely apply himself to the search of it Bioph. Now you have nickt the business you think as if every Country had not the true Religion or every mans own perswasion were not the truth at least if they be allowed to be their own Judges Sebast Good Biophilus do not jest in these matters I know you are a witty man but do not turn the edge of it against your own Soul Come I 'll tell you a Religion that all the World shall agree in and my Soul for yours you shall be safe if you will comply with it Do not stare it is no more but this live soberly righteously and godly in this present world or if you will have it in other words resolve with your self not to do that thing whatever come of it that you
cannot answer to God and your own Conscience and do every thing within your power that may approve and recommend you to both and thence-forward fear not a day of Judgment Bioph. Now you speak to the purpose indeed that I must needs say is good counsel and such as I think all the World is agreed in therefore I thank you for it and I will try to follow it Phil. God prosper your resolution Biophilus And now Sebastian that we are happily come to this point I pray give me leave to put Biophilus's question a little more home to you I thank God I am sensible of the great day approaching and make some conscience of being provided for it but because I would not for all the world be mistaken in my measures in a business of that moment I crave the assistance of your judgment how far that care extends and particularly what it comprises The reason of my sollicitude herein besides the consequence of the thing it self is because I have heard it delivered as a standing Rule by some men That the only sure preparation is that a man live every day as if it were the last he had to live Which Doctrine hath often raised scruples in my mind and I suspect it may have had the like effect upon others and to tell you my thoughts plainly I look upon it as unpracticable and inconsistent with the common affairs of life for most certainly on that day which I thought would be the last I should live I would not fail to dismiss all other business whatsoever I would scarce eat or drink or sleep but wholly apply my self to acts of devotion Now if that rule be true Religion is a more anxious thing than I was aware and if it be not true I pray make me understand what is the truth in this matter Sebast I do not know why you should lay much stress upon my judgment in such a case but if you will have my opinion it is plainly this that the rule you speak of is far more devout than judicious for as you well observe since God Almighty hath cloathed our Souls with bodies and placed us in a world of business it cannot be that he should expect we should in the whole course of our lives so singly and solely apply our selves to the affairs of another World as we should think fit to do just when we are going off the stage and solemnly preparing our selves for an immediate appearance at Gods Judgment-seat If therefore those men you speak of had prescribed that we should every day think of the day of Judgment as not knowing how soon it may be upon us or that we should take care every day to advance in our provision for it they had delivered a great and a necessary Truth but when they speak as if they meant that we must do nothing any day but what we would do if we were sure it were our last day they thwart the very order of Divine Providence in the condition of men and the constitution of the world they condemn the practice and call in question the state of the best of men they lay a snare for the Conscience of the weak and timorous and in a word they obtrude an impracticable notion for the most concerning and necessary Truth But you are not to wonder or be troubled at it For though there is generally more defect of devotion than of knowledge in the World yet there are some particular men wherein the former exceeds the latter and such men please themselves in a pretty saying without being able to judge of the prudence of it and whilst they go about to awaken some secure and careless persons to a serious sense of their eternal concern are not aware that they afford matter of everlasting scruple and offence to those that are truly tender and conscientious It were easie to give you sundry instances of this superfine high strained Divinity but there is one I will mention for its affinity with that before us viz. you shall find it dogmatically delivered by some seeming great Casuists That in certain and indisputable things it is a mans duty to do that which is best of the kind and in uncertain and controverted cases to take the surer side Now if these things were laid down as prudential advices only to direct a man which way to incline himself they were very useful but to make them express measures of duty is to make more Laws than God hath made and condemn more things for sin than he condemns and consequently cannot chuse but imbroil the Consciences of men For suppose Prayer be better than secular business then upon this Principle I must turn Euchite and spend all my time in devotion Suppose there be fewer temptations in a Monastick life than in common Conversation then every one that is careful of his Soul must retire into a Cloister If there be difficulties attending Magistracy and publick Employment then I must fold up my hands and do nothing but go into my Cell and pray God to mend the World though I be called to the other If bodily exercises and Games have some snares in them I must allow my self no recreations nay I shall be put endlesly and anxiously to dispute whether it be better to give a poor man two pence or a shilling or five shillings c. whether I shall pray three times a day or seven times a day whether an hour or two hours And indeed every thing I go about will afford inextricable difficulties upon these Principles But that by the way only As for the business in hand trouble your self no farther than to live every day well and to be sure to do nothing you cannot answer be always getting ground and growing better and better as near as you can do every day something that may turn to account another day and then comfortably await Gods time Phil. I thank you heartily both for your direct answer and your digression and I pray pardon me if I come a little closer to you yet I know you live under a comfortable prospect of the day of Judgment and I am confident you neither would or could enjoy that even tranquillity if you were not upon sure grounds Now my request is that you will be so free with me as to make me acquainted with your whole management of your self For though I have a rule to walk by yet for fear I should misapply it and either through Superstition and Scrupulosity overgo it or by the carelesness of my own heart fall short of it I should be very glad to have an example to interpret it to me Sebast I clearly perceive you either love me too much or know me not so well as I thought you did in that you think of making me your example Alas Phil. little do you think how many follies and infirmities I labour under and as little what qualms and dejections of spirit I sometimes feel within my self Phil.