REMORSE.

And first within the porch and jaws of hell,
Sat deep Remorse of conscience, all besprent
With tears; and to herself oft would she tell
Her wretchedness, and cursing, never stent
To sob and sigh; but ever thus lament
With thoughtful care; or she that all in vain
Would wear and waste continually in pain.

Her eyes reverted fast, rolling here and there,
Whirl'd in each place, as place that vengeance brought;
So was her mind continually in fear,

Tost and tormented with the tedious thought
Of those detested crimes which she had wrought;
With dreadful cheer, and looks thrown to the sky,
Wishing for death, and yet she could not die.

Sackville.

OF ANGER.

Anger is one of the sinews of the soul: he that wants it hath a maimed mind, and, with Jacob, sinew-shrunk in the hollow of his thigh, must needs halt. Be not angry with any without a cause. If thou beest, thou must not only, as the proverb saith, be appeased without amends, by having neither, nor damage given thee, but, as our Saviour saith, "be in danger of the judgment."

Take heed of doing unenviable acts in thy passion-as the revealing of secrets, which makes thee a bankrupt for society ever after; neither do such things, which done

once, are done for ever, so that no bemoaning can amend them. Samson's hair grew again, but not his eyes. Tune may restore some losses, others are never to be repaired. Do not in an instant, what an age cannot recompense.

He that keeps anger long in his bosom, giveth place to the devil. And why should we make room for him, who will crowd in too fast of himself? Heat of passion makes our souls to chap, and the devil creeps in at the crannies. Yea, a furious man in his fits may seem possessed with a devil, foams, tears himself, is deaf and dumb; in effect, to hear or speak, vain; sometimes wallows, stares, stamps, with fiery eyes, and flaming cheeks. Had Narcissus himself seen his own face when he had been angry, he could never have fallen in love with himself.

Thomas Fuller.

ON ANGER.

In contentions be always passive, never active; upon the defensive, not the assaulting party; and then also give a gentle answer, receiving the furies and indiscretions of the other like a stone into a bed of moss, and soft compliance; and you shall find it sit down quietly: whereas anger and violence make the contention loud and long, and injurious to both the parties.

Jeremy Taylor.

Hooker's anger is said to have been like a vial of clear water, which, when shook, beads at the top, but instantly subsides, without any soil or sediment of uncharitable

ness.

A NOBLE REPLY.

When Sir Matthew Hale dismissed the jury because he was convinced that it had been illegally selected, to favour the Protector, Cromwell was highly displeased with him, and at his return from the circuit, he told him in anger he was not fit to be a judge, to which all the answer he made was, that it was very true.

ANGER, WHAT IT DOES, AND WHAT IT HINDERS.

The first thing that hinders the prayer of a good man from obtaining its effects, is a violent anger and a violent storm in the spirit of him that prays. For anger sets the house on fire, and all the spirits are busy upon trouble, and intended propulsion, defence, displeasure, or revenge; it is a short madness and an eternal enemy to discourse, and sober counsels, and fair conversation; it intends its own object with all the earnestness of perception or activity of design, and a quicker motion of a too warm and distempered blood; it is a fever in the heart, and a calenture in the head, and a fire in the face, and a sword in the hand, and a fury all over; and, therefore, can never suffer a man to be in a disposition to pray. For prayer is an action and a state of intercourse and desire exactly contrary to this character of anger. Prayer is an action

of likeness to the Holy Ghost, the spirit of gentleness and dove-like simplicity; an imitation of the Holy Jesus, whose spirit is meek up to the greatness of the biggest example, and a conformity to God, whose anger is always just, and marches slowly, and is without transportation, and often hindered, and never hasty, and is full of mercy; prayer is the peace of our spirit, the stillness of our thoughts, the evenness of recollection, the seat of meditation, the rest of our cares, and the calm of our tempest; prayer is the voice of a quiet mind, of untroubled thoughts; it is the daughter of Christ, the sister of meekness; and he that prays to God with an angry, that is, with a troubled and discomposed spirit, is like him that retires into a battle to meditate, and sets up his closet in the out-quarters of an army, and chooses a frontier garrison to be wise in.

Jeremy Taylor.

PRIDE.

One riseth by another's fall, and some do climb so fast, That in the clouds they do forget what climates they have pass'd.

Warner.

THE EXPENSE OF ENVY.

Envy not greatness, for thou mak'st thereby
Thyself the worse, and so the distance greater.

Herbert.

THE GUILE OF FLATTERY.

O trustless state of miserable men,

That build your bliss on hope of earthly thing;
And vainly think yourselves half happy then,
When painted faces with smooth flattering
Do fawn on you, and your wide praises sing.
And when the courting masker louteth low,
How free in heart, and trusty too, you know.

Spenser.

FALSE JOYS OF INTEMPERANCE.

For the pleasures of intemperance, they are nothing but the relics and images of pleasure, after that nature hath been feasted; for so long as she needs, that is, so long as temperance waits, so long pleasure also stands there; but as temperance begins to go away, having done the ministries of nature, every morsel, and every new goblet, is still less delicious, and cannot be endured but as men force nature by violence to stay longer than she would! how have some men rejoiced when they have escaped a cup, and when they cannot escape they pour it in, and receive it with as much pleasure as the old women have in the Lapland dances; they dance the round, but there is a horror and a harshness in the music; and they call it pleasure because men bid them to do so; but there is a devil in the company, and such as is his pleasure, such is theirs; he rejoices in the thriv