'Sir, I pray, give my brother Farrer an account of the decaying condition of my body, and tell him, I beg him to continue his daily prayers for me: and let him know, that I have considered, that God only is what he would be; and that I am, by his grace, become now so like him, as to be pleased with what pleaseth him and tell him, that I do not repine, but am pleased with my want of health and tell him, my heart is fixed on that place, where true joy is only to be found and that I long to be there, and do wait for my appointed change, with hope and patience.'

GEORGE HERBERT.

241

HOW'S DEVOUT MEDITATIONS,

&c.

I. I HERE purpose, by the grace of my good God, which I most humbly beg that he will be pleased always plentifully to afford me, to write down some meditation or reflection, as often as I can conveniently, from this time forward. And that for these two reasons: first, to oblige myself frequently to enter into a serious contemplation of the great God, and of the most proper means to render myself acceptable to him: and next, that, by help of these meditations and reflections, I may be able to make a judgment of the state and condition of my mind for the time past, and to compare it with that of the present, in order to make my life as uniform

as is possible in all virtue: for all which purposes, I most humbly beg the assistance of my gracious God.

II. There is one picture which a man should be drawing all the days of his life; the picture of God upon his soul: and, though the resemblance must needs be extremely faint and imperfect, yet, by a constant application and meditation upon the beau

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ties of the original, he cannot fail to make an admirable piece.

III. Prayer, unaccompanied with a fervent love of God, is like a lamp unlighted; the words of the one, without love being as unprofitable, as the oil and cotton of the other, without flame.

IV. Faith is as necessary to the soul, as the sun is to the world: were it not for these bright prolific lights, both the one and the other must remain dark and fruitless.

V. Had we, (what we can only have by a divine illumination of our reason, which I beg of my good God to vouchsafe me,) had we, I say, true notions of God, and eternity, right notions of ourselves, and of the world, they could not fail to create in us thoughts full of humility towards ourselves, full of contempt towards the world, full of the highest adoration towards God, and full of earnestness to acquire a happy eternity.

VI. The faculty of thinking justly, is a more desirable talent than that of eloquence in speaking; the one being in order to an advantage only in expectation, whereas the other is the assured mark of a mighty advantage already received; the one tends to the advancement of interest or reputation, the other to the increase of wisdom and virtue; the one may make a man more agreeable to the world, the other will infallibly render him most agreeable to himself, and, what is infinitely more valuable, most acceptable to God.

VII. My adorable God, I humbly beseech thee to accept the sacrifice I here, in all humility, and, I trust, sincerity, desire to make thee, of the re

mainder of my life; to be entirely employed, with the utmost vigour, both of my soul and body, in thy service and adoration. And I humbly implore thee, to bestow upon me every grace, and every virtue, which may render me acceptable to thee, and worthy of thy service. Pardon, I beseech thee, all the heinous sins and offences of my life past, for the sake of thy blessed Son, my Saviour Jesus Christ; and be pleased to bestow upon me, a stedfast faith, an ardent love, an humble and perfect obedience, and a will, capable of no other inclination, than what it shall continually receive from the absolute guidance of thy divine will; to which, I beg it may be ever perfectly subservient, with all readiness and cheerfulness. And, if any action of my life, or thought of my soul, should ever, in the least, be contradictory to it, I heartily renounce both that and myself. My good God, as I could not have taken this resolution without thy particular mercy, so, I know, that I shall never be able to maintain it, without thy continual assistance. Give me, therefore, of thy great goodness, entirely to overcome all my passions, and to contract and draw all my affections into one constant and ever-flowing stream of love to thee. Let neither the world, nor life itself, be ever able to withdraw the least part of them from this channel. But, as all my thoughts and actions are continually before thee, so I humbly beseech thee, that they may never be unworthy of thy divine presence, for Jesus Christ his sake, thy blessed Son, my merciful Redeemer.

VIII. That is an admirable expression in the first collect in the morning prayer, "Thy service is

perfect freedom."

And a noble freedom it is in

deed, to have the soul released from the insupportable slavery of ignorance and vice, and set at liberty, to range in the spacious and delicious plains of wisdom and virtue; to have it delivered from the harsh and turbulent tyranny of insulting passions, and established under the gentle and delightful government of right reason. O my good God, grant my soul this happy freedom, and set my heart at liberty, that I may cheerfully run the ways of thy blessed commandments, and suffer no impediment to obstruct my course!

IX. Nothing can be truly valuable, that will not be valuable an hundred years together. To demonstrate this truth to our understanding, we have but to consider the millions of years that have preceded this hundred years, and the vast eternity that preceded them; the millions of years that must succeed this hundred years, and the boundless eternity that will succeed them: and, after a serious and just comparison between the one and the other, we shall find a hundred years a most contemptible portion of time. After the same manner, we have but to consider riches, honour, reputation, and even life itself; they must all have an end, as to any particular person, within a much shorter compass, than that of an hundred years: and, upon such a consideration, we shall be forced to acknowledge, that our contempt would be bestowed upon them, with much more reason and justice, than that high esteem and veneration which most men think their due. And it is, indeed, much more worthy of a wise man, to labour to despise, rather than to procure them,