I loath and utterly abhor myself, and from the bottom of my heart repent in dust and ashes. Behold, O Lord, I am impure and vile, and have wallowed in the puddle of mine own corruptions; the sword of thy displeasure is drawn out against me, and what shall I plead, O thou Preserver of mankind? Make me a new creature, O my God, and destroy the old man within me. Remove my affections from the love of transitory things, that I may run the way of thy commandments. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and make thy testimonies my whole delight. Give me strength to discern the emptiness of the creature, and inebriate my heart with the fulness of thy joys. Be thou my portion, O God, at whose right hand stand pleasures for evermore. thou my refuge and my shield, and suffer me not to sink under the corruptions of my heart; let not the house

Be

of mirth beguile me; but give me a sense of the evil to come. Accept the free-will offerings of my mouth, and grant my petitions for the honour of thy Name; then will I magnify thy mercies, O God, and praise thy Name for ever and ever.

1993

THE VAIN-GLORIOUS MAN.

His Vaunt.

WHAT tellest thou me of conscience, or - a pious life? They are good trades for a leaden spirit that can stand bent at every frown, and want the brains to make a higher fortune, or courage to achieve that honour which might glorify their names, and write their memories in the chronicles of fame. "Tis true, humility is a needful gift in those that have no quality to exercise their pride; and pa

tience is a necessary grace to keep the world in peace, and him that hath it in a whole skin, and often proves a virtue born of mere necessity. And civil honesty is a fair pretence for him that hath not wit to act the knave, and makes a man capable of a little higher style than fool. And blushing modesty is a pretty innocent quality, and serves to vindicate an easy nature from the imputation of an ill breeding. These are inferior graces, that have got a good opinion in the dull wisdom of the world, and appear like water among the elements, to moderate the body politic, and keep it from combustion; nor do they come into the work of honour. Virtue consists in action, and the reward of action is glory. Glory is the great soul of the little world, and is the crown of all sublime attempts, and the point whereto the crooked ways of policy are all concentric. Honour consults not with a

pious life. Let those that are ambitious of a religious reputation abjure all honourable titles, and let their dough-baked spirits take a pride in sufferance (the anvil of all injuries), and be thankfully baffled into a quiet pilgrimage. Rapes, murders, treasons, dispossessions, riots, are venial things to men of honour, and often coincident in high pursuits. Had my dull conscience stood upon such nice points, that little honour I have won had glorified some other arm, and left me begging morsels at his princely gates. Come, come, my soul, Id factum juvat quod fieri non licet. Fear not to do, what crowns thee being done. Ride on with thy honour, and create a name to live with fair eternity. Enjoy thy purchased glory as the merit of thy renowned actions, and let thy memory entail it to succeeding generations. Make thy own game, and if thy conscience check thee, correct thy saucy conscience,

till she stand as mute as metamorphosed Niobe. Fear not the frowns of princes, or the imperious hand of various fortune. Thou art too bright for the one to obscure, and too great for the other to cry down.

Bur hark, my soul, I hear a voice that thunders in mine ear

I will change their glory into shame. Hos. iv. 7.

Psal. xlix. 20.

Man that is born in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that pe

rish.

Prov. xxv. 27.

It is not good to eat too much honey; so for men to search their own glory is not glory.

Jer. ix. 23.

Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might,