thing that is not very material, for I have business of much greater concernment; neither can I draw the saw of contention with any man about things less pertinent. I expect no answer, I need none, I desire none, but expect that you will employ your good parts in any thing rather than in being ingeniosus in alieno libro.' Your talents can better, if you please, serve God, than by cavilling with or without

reason.

JEANES.-Whether or no the controversy between us be not material, but less pertinent; whether your letter be so satisfactory, as that it needs no answer; as also, whether I cavil without reason; (to cavil with reason is a catachresis as harsh as 'ratione insanire,' and as hardly justifiable, but by a licentia poetica,') are things in which I refuse you for my judge, and appeal unto the learned and unprejudiced reader.

Secondly, That you neither expect nor desire an answer from me, may be very probable; but that I was obliged to return you one, I have three reasons that convince me.

First, By my silence, the truth, which you have wronged, would suffer.

Secondly, Your papers have been, with a great deal of diligence, published, and if I should not give them an answer, I should be accessary to the funeral of my own good name. And

Thirdly, A friend of yours, when he gave me this your letter, told me, that I could not answer it, and that you were, as he thought, infallible. Now I thought it my duty to undeceive him, who, having your person in too great an admiration, greedily swalloweth whatsoever falls from your pen, though never so false and erroneous.

CHRISTIAN CONSOLATIONS;

TAUGHT FROM

FIVE HEADS IN RELIGION:

I. FAITH; II. HOPE; III. THE HOLY SPIRIT; IV. PRAYER; V. THE SACRAMENTS.

I

TO THE READER.

THIS manual of Christian Consolations, derived from Five Heads of great importance in Religion, was written by a late Reverend Prelate of our church, and is now printed according to his own copy.

The papers were presented by him to a person of honour, for whose private use they were designed: but, as the noblest spirits are most communicative, that noble and religious lady was pleased to impart them for the good also of others. We read in the Evangelists, how that the holy Jesus, who "went about doing good" (that is the short, but full, character which Saint Peter' gives of him), did, by a miracle of mercy, bless five loaves to the feeding of a very great multitude. And may the same Almighty goodness bless and prosper whatsoever spiritual good is contained in these FIVE HELPS and DIRECTIONS FOR A CHRISTIAN'S COMFORT, to the refreshing and trengthening of such souls, as truly hunger and thirst after God! May the serious and devout readers taste and see how good the Lord is, that his loving-kindness is better than life,-and that the light of his countenance, the sense of his favour, is infinitely more heart-cheering, and brings with it a truer and larger satisfaction, than the increase of "corn, and wine, and oil"," doth to the

men of this world, who only or chiefly "mind earthly things," and unwisely place their felicity in the fading and empty enjoyments of this present life.

It is a good thing, then, that a man should both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord; for, "he is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him."

He who is the God of love, and even "Love itself; he who is the ever-flowing fountain of goodness, will not fail to fill the hungry with good things. Such a Christian hath meat to eat which the world knows not of; he feeds on the hidden manna: he hath (as St. Austin said of St. Ambrose) 'occultum os in corde ejus,' and with this he doth 'sapida gaudia de pane Dei ruminare.' "The Father of the world, who openeth his hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing, giving to all their meat in due season";""he is as ready to fulfil the desire of them that fear him; he will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." And here, from the character and qualification of the persons (them that fear him, and them that walk uprightly) it highly concerns us to observe, and to lay it to heart, that a sincere desire and serious endeavour to fear God and walk uprightly, is a necessary and indispensable condition to qualify and make us meet for the receiving of the best of divine favours and blessings. We must first walk in the fear of the Lord, if we would

Lam. iii. d 1 John iv.

e Psalm cxlv.

'Psalm lxxxiv.