versity. What men ever on earth have been more sorely afflicted, have underwent greater losses, disgraces, labors, troubles, distresses in any kind, than did the holy Apostles? Yet did they most heartily rejoice, exult, and triumph in them all." Such a wondrous virtue hath piety to change all things into matter of consolation and joy. No condition in effect can be evil or sad to a pious man: his very sorrows are pleasant, his infirmities are wholesome, his wants enrich him, his disgraces adorn him, his burdens ease him; his duties are privileges, his falls are the grounds of advancement, his very sins (as breeding contrition, humility, circumspection, and vigilance,) do better and profit him whereas impiety doth spoil every condition, doth corrupt and embase all good things, doth embitter all the conveniences and comforts of life.

III. Piety doth virtually comprise within it all other profits, serving all the designs of them all: whatever kind or desirable good we can hope to find from any other profit, we may be assured to enjoy from it.

He that hath it is ipso facto vastly rich, is intitled to im mense treasures of most precious wealth; in comparison whereto all the gold and all the jewels in the world are mere baubles. He hath interest in God, and can call him his, who is the all, and in regard to whom all things existent are 'less than nothing. The infinite power and wisdom of God belong to him, to be ever, on all fit occasions, employed for his benefit. All the inestimable treasures of heaven (a place infinitely more rich than the Indies) are his, after this moment of life, to have and to hold for ever so that great reason had the wise man to say, that in the house of the righteous is much treasure.' Piety therefore is profitable, as immediately instating in wealth and whereas the desired fruits of profit are chiefly these, honor, power, pleasure, safety, liberty, ease, opportunity of getting knowlege, means of benefiting others; all these we

cundiæ, sed magis ut correctiones et medicamenta stultitiæ, et adjumenta virtutis, ut malleationes sive fabricationes, et tunsiones, sive ablutiones, et candidationes.-Guil. Par. de Sacram.

Εκείνους μὲν γὰρ ἐπεκούφιζεν ἡ χαρὰ τῆς μαρτυρίας, καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων, καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν ἀγάπη, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ πατρικόν.-Euseb. v. 1. Mart. Lugd.

shall see do abundantly accrue from piety, and in truth only from it.

The pious man is in truth most honorable. Inter homines pro summo est optimus, saith Seneca, Ep. xc. whom Solomon translateth thus; the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor.' He is dignified by the most illustrious titles, a son of God, a friend and favorite to the Sovereign King of the world, an heir of heaven, a denizen of the Jerusalem above :* titles far surpassing all those which worldly state doth assume. He is approved by the best and most infallible judgments, wherein true honor resideth. He is respected by God himself, by the holy angels, by the blessed saints, by all good and all wise persons: yea, commonly, by all men for the effects of genuine piety are so venerable and amiable, that scarce any man can do otherwise than in his heart much esteem him that worketh them.

The pious man is also the most potent man; he hath a kind of omnipotency, because he can do whatever he will, that is, what he ought to do;† and because the Divine Power is ever ready to assist him in his pious enterprises, so that he can do all things by Christ that strengtheneth him.' He is able to combat and vanish him that is ó irxvpòs, the stout and mighty one;' to wage war with happy success against principalities and powers.' He conquereth and commandeth himself, which is the bravest victory and noblest empire: he quelleth fleshly lusts, subdueth inordinate passions, and repelleth strong temptations. He by his faith overcometh the world' with a conquest far more glorious than ever any Alexander or Cæsar could. He, in fine, doth perform the most worthy exploits, and deserveth the most honorable triumphs that man can do.

The pious man also doth enjoy the only true pleasures; hearty, pure, solid, durable pleasures; such pleasures as those, of which the divine psalmist singeth: In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore : that all joy in believing,' that gaiety of hope,' that incessant

* Κατ ̓ ἀλήθειαν ὁ ἀγαθὸς μόνος τιμητός. Aristot. Εth. iii. 3.

Tantum quantum vult potest, qui se nisi quod debet non putat posse.-Senec. Ep. xc.

rejoicing in the Lord,' and greatly delighting in his law,' that continual feast of a good conscience, that' serving the Lord with gladness,' that 'exceeding gladness with God's countenance,' that 'comfort of the Holy Spirit,' that 'joy unspeakable and full of glory; the satisfaction resulting from the contemplation of heavenly truth, from the sense of God's favor, and the pardon of his sins, from the influence of God's grace, from the hopes and anticipation of everlasting bliss; these are pleasures indeed, in comparison whereto all other pleasures are no more than brutish sensualities, sordid impurities, superficial touches, transient flashes of delight; such as should be insipid and unsavory to a rational appetite; such as are tinctured with sourness and bitterness, have painful remorses or qualms consequent.* All the pious man's performances of duty and of devotion are full of pure satisfaction and delight here, they shall be rewarded with perfect and endless joy hereafter.

As for safety, the pious man hath it most absolute and sure; he being guarded by Almighty power and wisdom; resting under the shadow of God's wings;' God upholding him with his hand, ordering his steps, so that none of them shall slide, holding his soul in life, and suffering not his feet to be moved;' he being, by the grace and mercy of God, secured from the assaults and impressions of all enemies, from sin and guilt, from the devil, world, and flesh, from death and hell, which are our most formidable, and in effect only dangerous enemies.

As for liberty, the pious man most intirely and truly doth enjoy that; he alone is free from captivity to that cruel tyrant Satan, from the miserable slavery to sin, from the grievous dominion of lust and passion. He can do what he pleaseth, having a mind to do only what is good and fit. The law he observeth is worthily called the perfect law of liberty:' the Lord he serveth pretendeth only to command freemen and friends:

* Quid enim jucundius, quam Dei Patris et Domini reconciliatio, quam veritatis revelatio, quam errorum recognitio, quam tot retro criminum venia? quæ major voluptas, quam fastidium ipsius voluptatis, quam sæculi totius contemptus, quam vera libertas, quam conscientia integra, quam vita sufficiens, quam mortis timor nullus, &c.? -Tert. de Spectac. 29.

'Ye e are my friends,' said he, if ye do whatever I command you' and 'if the Son set you free, then are ye free indeed.'* And for ease, it is he only that knoweth it; having his mind exempted from the distraction of care, from disorder of passion, from anguish of conscience, from the drudgeries and troubles of the world, from the vexations and disquiets which sin produceth. He findeth it made good to him, which our Lord inviting him did promise, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest: he feeleth the truth of those divine assertions, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee:' and 'great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.'

As for knowlege, the pious man alone doth attain it considerably, so as to become truly wise and learned to purpose. Evil men,' said the wise man himself, who knew well, understand not judgment; but they that seek the Lord understand all things.' It is the pious man that employeth his mind on the most proper and worthy objects, that knoweth things which certainly best deserve to be known, that hath his soul enriched with the choicest notions; he skilleth to aim at the best ends, and to compass them by the fittest means; he can assign to each thing its due worth and value; he can prosecute things by the best methods, and order his affairs in the best manner; so that he is sure not to be defeated or disappointed in his endeavors, nor to misspend his care and pains without answerable fruit. He hath the best master to instruct him in his studies, and the best rules to direct him in his proceedings: he cannot be mistaken, seeing in his judgment and choice of things he conspireth with infallible wisdom. Therefore ὁ εὐσεβῶν ἄκρως φιλοσοφεῖ, “the pious man is the exquisite philosopher.' The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.' The fear of the Lord' (as is said again and again in Scripture) is the head (or top) of wisdom.' A good understanding have all they that keep his commandments.'

Farther the pious man is enabled and disposed (hath the

* Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐλεύθερος, ἀλλ' ἢ μόνος ὁ Χριστῷ ζων Chrysost. ad Theod.

power and the heart) most to benefit and oblige others. He doth it by his succor and assistance, by his instruction and advice, which he is ever ready to yield to any man on fit occasion he doth it by the direction and encouragement of his good example: he doth it by his constant and earnest prayers for all men: he doth it by drawing down blessings from heaven on the place where he resideth. He is on all accounts the most true, the most common benefactor to mankind; all his neighbors, his country, the world, are in some way or other obliged to him: at least he doth all the good he can, and in wish doth benefit all men.

Thus all the fruits and consequences of profit, the which engage men so eagerly to pursue it, do in the best kind and highest degree result from piety, and indeed only from it. All the philosophical bravados concerning a wise man being only rich, only honorable, only happy, only above fortune, are verified in the pious man: to him alone, as such, with a sure foundation, without vanity with evident reason, those aphorisms may be applied. They are paradoxes and fictions abstracting from religion, or considering men only under the light and power of nature: but supposing our religion true, a good Christian soberly, without arrogance, in proportion and according to the measure of his piety, may assume them to himself as the holy Apostles did: I possess all things, I can do all things,' he may in a sort say after St. Paul.

As for all other profits, secluding it, they are but imaginary and counterfeit, mere shadows and illusions, yielding only painted shows instead of substantial fruit.

If from bare worldly wealth (that which usurpeth the name of profit here) a man seeketh honor, he is deluded, for he is not thereby truly honorable; he is but a shining earth-worm, a well-trapped ass, a gaudy statue, a theatrical grandee with God, who judgeth most rightly, he is mean and despicable: no intelligent person can inwardly respect him. Even here, in this world of fallacy and dotage, the wisest and soberest men, whose judgment usually doth sway that of others, cannot but contemn him, as master of no real good, nor fit for any good purpose; as seeing that in the end he will prove most beggarly and wretched.