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struction that he is then working, that the pleasures of his sin are base and brutish, unsatisfying in the enjoyment, soon over, shameful in their story, bitter in the memory, painful in the effect here, and intolerable hereafter, and for ever: yet in despite of all this, he runs foolishly into his sin and his ruin, merely because he is a fool, and winks hards, and rushes violently like a horse into the battle, or like a madman to his death. He that can think great and good things of such a person, the next step may court the rack for an instrument of pleasure, and admire a swine for wisdom, and go for counsel to the prodigal and trifling grasshopper.

After the use of these and such like instruments and considerations, if you would try how your soul is grown, you shall know that humility, like the root of a goodly tree, is thrust very far into the ground, by those goodly fruits which appear above ground.

Signs of Humility.

1. The humble man trusts not to his own discretion, but in matters of concernment relies rather upon the judgment of his friends, counsellors, or spiritual guides. 2. He does not pertinaciously pursue the choice of his own will, but in all things lets God choose for him, and his superiors in those things which concern them. 3. He does not murmur against commands*. 4. He is not inquisitive into the reasonableness of indifferent and innocent commands; but * Assai commanda chi ubbidisce al saggio. No. 6.

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believes their command to be reason enough in such cases to exact his obedience. 5. He lives according to a rule, and with compliance to public customs, without any affectation or singularity. 6. He is meek and indifferent in all accidents and chances. 7. He patiently bears injuries *. 8. He is always unsatisfied in his own conduct, resolutions, and counsels. 9. He is a great lover of good men, and a praiser of wise men, and a censurer of no man. 10. He is modest in his speech, and reserved in his laughter. 11. He fears when he hears himself commended, lest God make another judgment concerning his actions than men do. 12. He gives no pert or saucy answers when he is reproved, whether justly or unjustly. 13. He loves to sit down in private, and if he may he refuses the temptation of offices and new honours. 14. He is ingenuous, free, and open in his actions and discourses, 15. He mends his fault, and gives thanks when he is admonished. 16. He is ready to do good offices to the murtherers of his fame, to his slanderers, backbiters, and detracters, as Christ washed the feet of Judas. 17. And is contented to be suspected of indiscretion, so before God he may be really innocent, and not offensive to his neighbour, nor wanting to his just and prudent interest.

SECT. V.

Of Modesty.

MODESTY is the appendage of sobriety, and is to chastity, to temperance, and to humility, as the * Verum humilem patientia ostendit. S. Heir.

fringes are to a garment. It is a grace of God that moderates the over-activeness and curiosity of the mind, and orders the passions of the body and external actions, and is directly opposed to curiosity, to boldness, to indecency. The practice of modesty consists in these following rules:

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Acts and Duties of Modesty, as it is opposed to Curiosity.

1. Inquire not into the secrets of God, but be content to learn thy duty according to the quality of thy person or employment; that is, plainly if thou beest not concerned in the conduct of others; but if thou beest a teacher, learn it so, as may best enable thee to discharge thy office. (Ecclus. iii. 21, 22, 23.) God's commandments were proclaimed to all the world, but God's counsels are to himself and to his secret ones, when they are admitted within the veil.

2. Inquire not into the things which are too hard for thee, but learn modestly to know thy infirmities and abilities; and raise not thy mind up to inquire into mysteries of state, or the secrets of government, or difficulties theological, if thy employment really be, or thy understanding be judged to be, of a lower

rank.

3. Let us not inquire into the affairs of others that concern us not, but be busied within ourselves and our own spheres; ever remembering, that to pry into the actions or interests of other men, not under our charge, may minister to pride, to tyranny, to uncha

ritableness, to trouble, but can never consist with modesty, unless where duty or the mere intentions of charity and relation do warrant it.

4. Never listen at the doors or windows: for besides that it contains in it danger and a snare, it is also an invading my neighbour's privacy, and a laying that open which he therefore enclosed that it might not be open. Never ask what he carries covered so curiously; for it is enough that it is covered curiously. Hither also is reducible, that we never open letters without public authority, or reasonably presumed leave, or great necessity or charity*.

Every man hath in his own life sins enough, in his own mind trouble enough, in his own fortune evils enough, and in performance of his offices failings more than enough to entertain his own inquiry: so that curiosity after the affairs of others cannot be without envy and an evil mind. What is it to me if my neighbour's grandfather were a Syrian, or his grandmother illegitimate, or that another is indebted five thousand pounds, or whether his wife be expensive? But commonly curious persons, or (as the Apostle's phrase is) busy-bodies, are not solicitous or inquisitive into the beauty and order of a well governed family, or after the virtues of an excellent person; but if there be any thing for which men keep locks, and bars, and porters, things that blush to see the light, and either are shameful in manners, or

* Ecclus. vii. 21. Ne occhi in lettera, ne mano in tasca, ne orecchi in secréti altrui.

private in nature, these things are their care and their business. But if great things will satisfy our inquiry, the courses of the sun and moon, the spots in their faces, the firmament of heaven and the supposed orbs, the ebbing and flowing of the sea, are work enough for us: or, if this be not, let him tell me whether the number of the stars be even or odd, and when they began to be so: since some ages have discovered new stars which the former knew not, but might have seen if they had been where now they are fixed. If these be too troublesome, search lower, and tell me why this turf this year brings forth a daisy, and the next year a plantane; why the apple bears his seed in his heart, and wheat bears it in his head: let him tell why a graft taking nourishment from a crab-stock shall have a fruit more noble than its nurse and parent: let him say why the best of oil is at the top, the best of wine in the middle, and the best of honey at the bottom, otherwise than it is in some liquors that are thinner, and in some that are thicker. But these things are not such as please busy-bodies; they must feed upon tragedies, and stories of misfortunes and crimes: and yet tell them ancient stories of the ravishment of chaste maidens, or the debauchment of nations, or the extreme poverty of learned persons, or the persecutions of the old saints, or the changes of government, and sad accidents happening in royal families among the Arsacidæ, the Caesars, the Ptolemies, these were enough to scratch the itch of knowing sad stories: but unless you tell them some