glorify, such as humility, and patiently bearing of injuries, that we place our honor and reputation in the contrary; that is counted noble and generous in the world's opinion, which is odious and abominable in the sight of God. If thy brother offend or injure thee, forgive him, saith Christ; if he proceed, forgive him: what until seven times? Ay, until seventy times seven times. But how is this doctrine received now in the world? What counsel would men, and those none of the worst sort, give thee in such a case? How would the soberest, discreetest, well-bred Christians advise thee? Why thus: If thy brother or thy neighbor have offered thee an injury, or affront, forgive him? by no means; of all things in the world take heed of that: thou art utterly undone in thy reputation then, if thou dost forgive him. What is to be done then? Why, let not thy heart rest, let all other business and employr ent be laid aside, till thou hast his blood. What! a man's blood for an injurious passionate speech, for a disdainfu! look! Nay, this is not all: that thou mayest gain amongst men the reputation of a discreet well-tempered murderer, be sure thou killest him not in passion, when thy blood is hot and boiling with the provocation, but proceed with as much temper and settledness of reason, with as much discretion and preparedness, as thou wouldst to the communion: after some several days' meditation, invite him, mildly and affably, into some retired place; and there let it be put to the trial, whether thy life or his must answer the injury. Oh most horrible Christianity! That it should be a most sure settled way for a man to run into danger and disgrace with the world, if he shall dare to perform a commandment of Christ's, which is as necessary to be observed by him, if he have any hope of attaining heaven, as meat and drink is for the sustaining of his life! That ever it should enter into the heart of a Christian, to walk so exactly and curiously contrary to the ways of God; that whereas he every day and hour sees himself contemned and despised by thee, who art his servant, his creature, upon whom he might (without any possible imputation of unrighteousness) pour down the phials of his fierce wrath and indignation; yet He, notwithstanding, is patient and long-suffering towards ther, hoping that his long-suffering may lead thee to repentance, anl earnestly desiring and soliciting thee by his ministers to be reconciled unto him! Yet, that thou, for all this, for a blow in anger, it may be, for a word, or less, shouldst take upon thee to send his soul, or thine, or, it may be, both, clogged and pressed with all your sins unrepented of, (for thou canst not be so wild as to think thou canst repent of thy sins, and yet resolve upon such a business,) to expect your sentence before the judgment-seat of God; wilfully and irrecoverably to deprive yourselves of all those blessed means which God had contrived for your salvation, the power of his word, the efficacy and virtue of his sacraments, all which you shall utterly exclude yourselves from, and leave your selves in such a state, that it shall not be in God's power to do you any good!1 Sermon on the text, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." FRANCIS QUARLES. 1592-1644. FRANCIS QUARLES was born at Stewards, near Romford, Essex, in 1592. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, whence he went to Li coln's Inn, where "he studied," says his widow, "the laws of England, not so much out of desire to benefit himself thereby, as his friends and neighbors, and to compose suits and differences between them." Subsequently he went over to Ireland, and became secretary to Archbishop Usher. On the breaking out of the rebellion there, in 1641, he fled to England for safety, and died three years after. "There is not," says Montgomery, "in English literature a name more wronged than that of Quarles; wronged, too, by those who ought best to have discerned, and most generously acknowledged his merits in contradistinction to his defects." True, his writings are occasionally defaced by vulgarisms and deformed by quaint conceits, but his beauties abundantly atone for his defects; the latter being comparatively few, while his works generally are characterized by great learning, lively fancy, and profound piety. "He too often, no doubt," says Headley, "mistook the enthusiasm of devotion for the inspiration of fancy. To mix the waters of Jordan and Helicon in the same cup was reserved for the hand of Milton; and for him, and him only, to find the bays of Mount Olivet equally verdant with those of Parnassus. Yet, as the effusions of a real poetical mind, however thwarted by untowardness of subject, will seldom be rendered totally abortive, we find in Quarles original imagery, striking sentiment, fertility of expression, and happy combinations; with a compression of style that merits the observation of writers of verse." His chief poetical works are his " Emblems," "Divine Poems," and "Job Militant, with Meditations divine and moral." His "Emblems" consist of a set of quaint pictorial designs, referring to moral and religious ideas, and each elucidated by appropriate verses. O THAT THOU WOULDST HIDE ME IN THE GRAVE, THAT THOU WOULDST Ah! whither shall I fly? what path untrod 1 "Will you intrust life to MURDERERS, and liberty to DESPOTS! Will you constitute those legisla tors, who despise you, and despise equal laws, and wage war with the eternal principles of Justice! Had the duellist destroyed your neighbor, had your own father been killed by the man who solicits your suffrage; had your son, laid low by his hand, been brought to your door pale in death and weltering in blood, would you then think the crime a small one? Would you honor with your conâdence, and elevate to power by your VOTE, the guilty monster! And what would you think of your Baghbors, if, regardless of your agony, they should reward him? And yet, such scenes of unutterable anguish are multiplied every year. Every year the duellist is cutting down the neighbor of somebody," &c. Read-an admirable sermon entitled "Remedy for Duelling," by Rev. Lyman Beecher, D. D., delivered shortly after Alexander Hamilton was murdered by Aaron Burr. Where shall I sojourn? what kind sea will hide What if my feet should take their hasty flight, Nor sea, nor shade, nor shield, nor rock, nor cave, 'Tis vain to flee; till gentle Mercy show THE WORLD. She's empty: hark! she sounds: there's nothing there But noise to fill thy ear; Thy vain inquiry can at length but find A blast of murmuring wind: It is a cask that seems as full as fair, But merely tunn'd with air. Fend youth, go build thy hopes on better grounds; Her joys upon this world, but feeds on empty sounds. She's empty: hark! she sounds: there's nothing in't; Shall sooner melt, and hardest raunce' shall first Ere this false world shall still thy stormy breast Thou mayst as well expect meridian ht From shades of black-mouth'd night, As in this empty world to find a full delight. She's empty: hark! she sounds: 'tis void and vast; Of flatuous honor should perchance be there, 1 A dry crust. It is but wind, and blows but where it list, And vanisheth like mist. Poor honor earth can give! What generous mind Her heaven-bred soul, a slave to serve a blast of wind? The painted film but of a stronger bubble, It is a world whose work and recreation A hag, repair'd with vice-complexion'd paint, It is a saint, a fiend; worse fiend when most a saint. But grief and sickness, and large bills of sorrow, Or, what are men but puffs of dying breath, Fond youth, O build thy hopes on surer grounds Trust not this hollow world; she's empty: hark! she sounds MERCY TEMPERING JUSTICE. Had not the milder hand of Mercy broke Hath earth a wound too hard for heaven to heal? Though in his day Quarles was mostly known as a poet, he was also the author of a few prose works, the principal of which is the "Enchiridion,' containing Institutions divine, contemplative, practical, moral, ethical, economical, political." Of this, Headley remarks, "had this little piece been written at Athens or Rome, its author would have been classed with the wise men of his country." The following are some specimens of it: If thou be ambitious of honor, and yet fearful of the canker of honor, envy, so behave thyself, that opinion may be satisfied in this, that thou seekest merit, and not fame; and that thou attributest thy preferment rather to Providence than thy own virtue. Honor is a due debt to the deserver; and who ever envied the 1 Compounded of sv (en), “in," and yup (cheir), "the hand:"-something held "In the hand," a "mannal.' Read an article on this treatise in the Retrospective Review, ix. 358. payment of a debt? A just advancement is a providential act : and who ever envied the act of Providence? If evil men speak good, or good men evil, of thy conversation, examine all thy actions, and suspect thyself. But if evil mer. speak evil of thee, hold it as thy honor; and, by way of thankfulness, love them; but upon condition that they continue to hate thee. To tremble at the sight of thy sin, makes thy faith the less apt to tremble: the devils believe and tremble, because they tremble at what they believe; their belief brings trembling: thy trembling brings belief. If thou desire to be truly valiant, fear to do any injury: he that fears not to do evil, is always afraid to suffer evil; he that never fears, is desperate; and he that fears always, is a coward. He is the true valiant man, that dares nothing but what he may, and fears nothing but what he ought. If thou stand guilty of oppression, or wrongfully possest of another's right, see thou make restitution before thou givest an alms if otherwise, what art thou but a thief, and makest God thy receiver? When thou prayest for spiritual graces, let thy prayer be abso lute; when for temporal blessings, add a clause of God's pleasure: in both, with faith and humiliation: so shalt thou, undoubtedly, receive what thou desirest, or more, or better. Never prayer rightly made, was made unheard; or heard, ungranted. Not to give to the poor, is to take from him. Not to feed the hungry, if thou hast it, is to the utmost of thy power to kill him. That, therefore, thou mayst avoid both sacrilege and murder, be charitable. Hath any wronged thee? Be bravely revenged: slight it, and the work's begun; forgive it, and 'tis finished: he is below himself that is not above an injury. Gaze not on beauty too much, lest it blast thee; nor too long, lest it blind thee; nor too near, lest it burn thee: if thou like it, it deceives thee; if thou love it, it disturbs thee; if thou lust after it, it destroys thee: if virtue accompany it, it is the heart's paradise; if vice associate it, it is the soul's purgatory: it is the wise man's bonfire, and the fool's furnace. Use law and physic only for necessity; they that use then otherwise, abuse themselves into weak bodies and light purses: they are good remedies, bad businesses, and worse recreations. If what thou hast received from God thou sharest to the poor, thou hast gained a blessing by the hand; if what thou hast taken from the poor, thou givest to God, thou hast purchased a curse into the bargain. He that puts to pious uses what he hath got |