I cannot tell: This fame Truth is a naked, and open Daylight, that doth not show the Masques, and Mummeries, and Triumphs of the world, half so stately, and daintily, as Candlelights. Truth may perhaps come to the price of a Pearl, that fhoweth beft by Day: But it will not rife to the Price of a Diamond, or Carbuncle, that sheweth best in varied Lights. A mixture of a Lie doth ever add Pleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of Men's Minds, vain Opinions, flattering Hopes, false Valuations, Imaginations as one would, and the like; but it would leave the Minds of a Number of Men, poor fhrunken Things; full of Melancholy, and Indifpofition, and unpleafing to themselves? One of the Fathers, in great Severity, called Poefy, Vinum Dæmonum; because it filleth the Imagination; and

yet it is but with the Shadow of a Lie. But it is not the Lie, that passeth through the Mind, but the Lie that finketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the Hurt, fuch as we spake of before. But howfoever these things are thus, in Men's depraved Judgements, and Affections; yet Truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth, that the Inquiry of Truth, which is the Love-making, or Wooing of it; the Knowledge of Truth, which is the Presence of it; and the Belief of Truth, which is the enjoying of it; is the Sovereign Good of human Nature.

The first Creature of God, in the Works of the Days, was the Light of the Sense; the last was the Light of Reason; and his Sabbath Work, ever

fince, is the Illumination of his Spirit. First he breathed Light upon the Face of the Matter, or Chaos; then he breathed Light into the Face of Man; and still he breatheth and inspireth Light into the Face of his Chofen. The Poet, that beautified the Sect, that was otherwise inferior to the reft, faith yet excellently well: It is a Pleasure to ftand upon the Shore, and to fee Ships toft upon the Sea: a Pleasure to ftand in the Window of a Castle, and to fee a Battle, and the Adventures thereof, below: But no Pleafure is comparable to the ftanding upon the vantage Ground of Truth; (A Hill not to be commanded, and where the Air is always clear and ferene): and to fee the Errors, and Wanderings, and Mifts, and Tempests, in the Vale below: So always, that this Prospect be with Pity, and not with Swelling, or Pride. Certainly, it is Heaven upon Earth to have a Man's Mind move in Charity, reft in Providence, and turn upon the Poles of Truth.

To pass from Theological and Philosophical Truth, to the Truth of civil Business; it will be acknowledged, even by those that practise it not, that clear and round dealing is the Honour of Man's Nature; and that Mixture of Falfehood is like Alloy in Coin of Gold and Silver, which may make the Metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding and crooked Courses, are the Goings of the Serpent; which goeth bafely upon the belly, and not upon the Feet. There is no Vice, that doth so cover a Man with Shame, as to be found falfe and perfidious. And therefore Mon

taigne faith prettily, when he enquired the reafon why the Word of the Lie fhould be fuch a Difgrace, and fuch an Odious Charge? Saith he, If it be well weighed, To fay that a Man lieth, is as much as to fay, That he is brave towards God, and a Coward towards Men. For a Lie faces God, and fhrinks from Man. Surely the Wickedness of Falfehood, and Breach of Faith, cannot poffibly be fo highly expreffed, as in that it fhall be the laft Peal, to call the Judgements of God upon the Generations of Men, it being foretold, that when Chrift cometh, He fhall not find Faith upon the Earth.

II. Of Death.

EN fear Death, as Children fear to go in the Dark. And as that Natural Fear in Children is encreased with Tales, fo is the other. Certainly, the Contemplation of Death, as the Wages of Sin, and Paffage to another World, is holy, and religious; but the Fear of it, as a Tribute due unto Nature, is weak. Yet in religious Meditations, there is sometimes, Mixture of Vanity, and of Superftition. You shall read, in fome of the Friars' Books of Mortification, that a Man should think with himfelf, what the Pain is, if he have but his Finger's End preffed, or tortured; and thereby imagine what the Pains of Death are, when the whole Body is corrupted and diffolved: when many times

Death paffeth with less pain, than the Torture of a Limb: For the most vital parts are not the quickeft of Sense. And by him, that spake only as a Philofopher and Natural Man, it was well faid; Pompa Mortis magis terret, quàm Mors ipfa: Groans and Convulfions, and a discoloured Face, and Friends weeping, and Blacks, and Obfequies, and the like, fhew Death Terrible. It is worthy the observing, that there is no Paffion in the Mind of Man so weak, but it mates and masters the Fear of Death. And therefore Death is no fuch terrible Enemy, when a man hath so many Attendants about him, that can win the Combat of him. Revenge triumphs over Death; Love flights it; Honour aspireth to it; Grief flieth to it; Fear pre-occupateth it: Nay, we read, after Otho the Emperor had flain himself, Pity (which is the tenderest of Affections) provoked many to die, out of mere Compaffion to their Sovereign, and as the trueft fort of Followers. Nay, Seneca adds, Nicenefs and Satiety; Cogita quàm diù eadem feceris; Mori velle, non tantùm Fortis, aut Mifer, fed etiam Faftidiofus poteft. A Man would die, though he were neither valiant nor miferable, only upon a Weariness to do the fame thing, so oft over and over. It is no less worthy to observe, how little Alteration, in good Spirits, the Approaches of Death make; for they appear to be the fame Men, till the last Instant. Auguftus Cæfar died in a Compliment; Livia, conjugii nostri memor, vive, et vale. Tiberius in Diffimulation; as Tacitus faith of him; Jam Tiberium Vires, et Corpus, non Dif

fimulatio deferebant. Vefpafian in a Jeft; fitting upon the Stool, Ut puto Deus fio. Galba with a Sentence; Feri, fi ex re fit Populi Romani; holding forth his Neck. Septimus Severus in Dispatch; Adefte, fi quid mihi restat agendum. And the like. Certainly, the Stoics bestowed too much Coft upon Death, and by their great Preparations, made it appear more fearful. Better faith he, Qui Finem Vitæ extremum inter Munera ponit Naturæ. It is as Natural to Die, as to be Born; and to a little Infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other. He that dies in an earnest purfuit, is like one that is wounded in hot Blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the Hurt: And therefore, a Mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert the Dolours of Death. But above all, believe it, the sweetest Canticle is, Nunc dimittis ; when a Man hath obtained worthy Ends, and Expectations. Death hath this alfo, that it openeth the Gate to good Fame, and extinguisheth Envy:

Extinctus amabitur idem.