he was inclined to believe. His reservedness grew on him; so that it disgusted most of those who served him. But he had observed the errors of too much talking more than those of too cold a silence. He did not like contradiction, nor to have his actions censured; but he loved to employ and favour those who had the arts of complaisance; yet he did not love flatterers. His genius lay chiefly in war, in which his courage was more admired than his conduct. Great errors were often committed by him; but his heroical courage set things right, as it inflamed those who were about him. He was too lavish of money on some occasions, both in his buildings and to his favourites; but too sparing in rewarding services or in encouraging those who brought intelligence. He was apt to take ill impressions of people, and these stuck long with him; but he never carried them to indecent revenges. He gave too much way to his own humour almost in everything, not excepting that which related to his own health. He knew all foreign affairs well, and understood the state of every court in Europe very particularly. He instructed his own ministers himself; but he did not apply enough to affairs at home. He believed the truth of the Christian religion very firmly, and he expressed a horror of atheism and blasphemy; and though there was much of both in his court, yet it was always denied to him and kept out of his sight. He was most exemplarily decent and devout in the public exercises of the worship of God; only on week-days he came too seldom to them. He was an attentive hearer of sermons, and was constant in his private prayers and in reading the Scriptures; and when he spoke of religious matters, which he did not often, it was with a becoming gravity. His indifference as to the forms of church government, and his being zealous for toleration, together with his cold behaviour towards the clergy, gave them generally very ill impressions of him. In his deportment towards all about him, he seemed to make little distinction between the good and the bad, and those who served well or those who served him ill. He loved the Dutch, and was much loved among them; but the ill returns he met from the English nation, their jealousies of him, and their perverseness towards him, had too much soured his mind, and had in a great measure alienated him from them, which he did not take care enough to conceal, though he saw the ill effects this had on his business. He grew, in his last years, too remiss and careless as to all affairs, till the treacheries of France awakened him, and the dreadful conjunction of the monarchies gave so loud an alarm to all Europe; for a watching over that court, and a bestirring himself against their practices, was the prevailing passion of his whole life. Few men had the art of concealing and governing passions more than he had; yet few men had stronger passions, which were seldom felt but by inferior servants, to whom he usually made such recompences for any sudden or indecent vents he might give his anger, that they were glad at every time that it broke upon them. He was too easy to the faults of those about him when they did not lie in his own way or cross any of his designs; and he was so apt to think that his ministers might grow insolent if they should find that they had much credit with him, that he seemed to have made it a maxim to let them often feel how little power they had even in small matters. His favourites had a more entire power; but he accustomed them only to inform him of things, but to be sparing in offering advice, except when it was asked. I had occasion to know him well, having observed him very carefully in a course of sixteen years. I had a large measure of his favour, and a free access to him all the while, though not at all times to the same degree. The freedom that I used with him was not always acceptable; but he saw that I served him faithfully, so that, after some intervals of coldness, he always returned to a good measure of confidence in me. I was in many great instances much obliged by him; but that was not my chief bias towards him. I considered him as a person raised up by God to resist the power of France, and the progress of tyranny and persecution. After all the abatements that may be allowed for his errors and faults, he ought still to be reckoned among the greatest princes that our history, or indeed that of any other country, can afford. Burnet's Own Times, bk. vi. 136. John Norris, of Bemerton, 1657-1711. (Handbook, pars. 343, 461.) A platonist theologian: and a man of fine genius and spirit. Angels' Visits. How fading are the joyes we dote upon, But those which soonest take their flight, Are the most exquisite and strong, Like angels' visits short and bright; As when two souls in love combine: Add but eternity, you'll make it Heaven.. Out of nine stanzas. The Parting Miscellanies, p. 14 A Divine Hymn on the Creation. No power can justly praise him but must be He comprehends his boundless self alone: His works to fathom, much more him. Short by a whole infinity, Of his all glorious Deity: He cannot have the full and stands in need of none. How large thy empire, Love, how great thy sway! What complicated wonders in thee shine! Has one way to be greater yet; Love will the method show 'Tis to impart; what is't that thou O Sovereign Passion canst not do? Thou mak'st Divinity itself much more divine. Out of fourteen stanzas. Ib., p. 68. Our Conversation in Heaven. And now since it appears to be a thing of so much reason and becomingness, and of so great use and advantage to have our conversation in heaven, we think we should easily be persuaded to enter upon this heavenly dispensation of life. The region we now converse in is very incommodiously seated and of an un wholesome complexion, such as does not agree with the constitution of the soul, where she is always sickly and out of order, full of weaknesses and indispositions: why then do we not change our abode, and remove our dwelling into our native country, where there is a purer air and a more healthy climate? When we hear or read a description of a very pleasant country, such as the Bermuda Islands, where the sky is serene and clear, the air temperate and healthy, the earth fruitful and entertaining, where there are walks of oranges and woods of cedar trees; though we have no probable prospect of our going to dwell there, yet we can't chuse but often think, and sometimes dream of it, and wish ourselves the happiness of so pleasant an abode. Why then do not our thoughts dwell more in heaven, where besides the far greater delightsomness of the place, we have a particular interest and concern to invite us thither? 'Tis the hope of arriving at heaven at last that supports our life upon earth. Practical Discourses, vol. ii. 131. Fifteenth edition, 1740. 137. Matthew Henry, 1662-1704. (Handbook, par. 395.) The commentator; his works abound in ingenuity and good sense. Esau's third Marriage. Gen. xxviii. 6–9. This passage concerning Esau comes in, in the midst of Jacob's story, either, i. To show the influence of a good example. Esau, though the bigger man, begins to think Jacob the better man, and disdains not to take him for his pattern in this particular instance of marrying with a daughter of Abraham. The elder children should give to the younger an example of tractableness and obedience: it is bad if they do not: but it mends the matter pretty well, if they take the example of it from them as Esau here did from Jacob; or, ii. To show the folly of an after-wit: Esau did well, but he did it too late. He saw that the daughters of Canaan pleased not his father; and might he not have seen that long ago, if he had consulted his father's judgement as much as he did his palate? And how did he now mend the matter? Why truly, so as to make ill worse. 1. He married a daughter of Ishmael, the son of a bondwoman who was cast out, and was not to inherit with Isaac and his seed: thus joining with a family which God had rejected, and seeking to strengthen his own pretensions by the aids of another pretender. 2. He took a third wife, while, for aught appears, his other two were neither dead nor divorced. 3. He did it only to please his father not to please God. Now Jacob was sent into a far country, Esau would be all in all at home, and he hoped so to humour his father, as to prevail with him to make a new will and entail the promise upon him, revoking the settlement lately made upon Jacob. And thus (1) He was wise when it was too late, like Israel that would venture when the decree was gone forth against them, Numb. xiv. 40, and the foolish virgins, Matt. xxv. 10. (2) He rested in a partial reformation and thought by pleasing his parents in one thing, to atone for all his other miscarriages. It is not said that when he saw how obedient Jacob was, and how willing to please his parents, he repented of his malicious design against him: No, it appeared afterwards that he persisted in that, and retained his malice. Note, Carnal hearts are apt to think themselves as good as they should be, because in some one particular instance they are not so bad as they have been. Thus Micah retains his idols, but thinks himself happy in having a Levite to be his priest. Gen. xxx. 37. It becomes a man to be master of his trade, to be not only industrious but ingenious in it. Gen. xlii. 17. With those who fear God we have reason to expect fair dealing. The child Samuel grew before the Lord.' Serve God as well as you can, and he will help you to serve him better. 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. Those know not what true religion is, all whose care it is to make it cheap and easy to themselves. Job i. 17. When Satan has God's permission to do mischief he will not want mischievous men to be his instruments in doing it, Eccl. xii. 11, 12. The great Selden subscribed to this truth, when he owned that in all the books he had read he never found that on which he could rest his soul but in Holy Scripture, and especially Titus ii. 11, 12. |