553.

Prayers denied, often profitable.

We, ignorant of ourselves,

Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit,

By losing of our prayers*.

554.

Prayers insincere, ineffectual.

The gods are deaf to hot and peevishy vows;
They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd
Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.-

30-ii. 1.

It is the purpose, that makes strong the vow;
But vows, to every purpose, must not hold2.

555.

The evil of feigned prayer.

26-v. 3.

That high All-seer which I dallied with,
Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head,
And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.
Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men
To turn their own points on their masters' bosoms.

556.

Supplication.

Whereto serves mercy,

But to confront the visage of offence?

24-v. 1.

And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,—
To be forestalled, ere we come to fall,

Or pardon'd, being down?

Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes,

36-iii. 3.

Which after-hours give leisure to repent. 24-iv. 4.

* This shows that Shakspeare had a most correct idea of the nature of the Divine sovereignty:-"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."-Rom. ix. 15.

y Foolish.

"When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay."-Eccles. v. 4, 5.

558.

True repentance.

Arraign your conscience,

And try your penitence, if it be sound,

Or hollowly put on.

But lest you do repent,

As that the sin hath brought you to this shamea,—
Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven;
Shewing, we 'd not spare heaven, as we love it,
But as we stand in fear.

5-ii. 3.

Try what repentance canc; What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one can not repent?
O wretched state! O bosom, black as death!
O limed soul, that, struggling to be free,
Art more engaged!

36-iii. 3.

When I would pray and think, I think and pray
To several subjects: Heaven in my mouth,

As if I did but only chew His name;

And in my heart, the strong and swelling evil
Of my conception.

Pray, can I not,

Though inclination be as sharp as will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect.

5-ii. 4.

36-iii. 3.

May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 't is seen, the wicked prize, itself

a 2 Cor. vii. 10.

b Spare to offend Heaven. "But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."-Rom. ii. 5.

Buys out the law: But 't is not so above:
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence.

36-iii. 3.

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below :
Words, without thoughts, never to heaven go.

564.

Fall of man and redemption.

36-iii. 3.

All the souls that were, were forfeit onced;
And He, that might the vantage best have took,
Found out the remedye. How would you be,
If He, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you aref? O, think on that,
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new madeg.

5-ii. 2.

565.

Consolation to believers.

Now, God be praised! that to believing souls
Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair! 22-ii. 1.

Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell: Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, Yet grace must still look so.

15-iv. 3.

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. For all have sinned and come short of

the glory of God."-Rom. iii. 10, 11. 23.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."-John iii. 16.

f If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"-Ps. cxxx. 3.

"And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," &c.-Eph. iv.

The flesh being proud, Desire doth fight with Grace. For there it revels, and when that decays,

The guilty rebel for remission prays.

Poems.

To tell you what I was, since my conversion
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.

572.

Faith in supernatural power.

10-iv. 3.

What impossibility would slay

In common sense, sense saves another way h. 11—ii. 1.

573.

Benediction.

What heaven more will

That thee may furnishi, and my prayers pluck down,

"Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Rom. iv. 18-21.

"Furnish," that may help thee with more and better qualifications.

The best wishes, that can be forged in your thoughts, be servants to you!

576.

The same.

The best and wholesomest spirit of the night

11-i. 1.

Envelope you.

5-iv. 2.

The benediction of these covering heavens
Fall on your heads like dew!

31-v. 5.

The grace of heaven,

Before, behind thee, and on every hand,

Enwheel thee round!

37-ii. 1.

God's benison go with you; and with those

That would make good of bad, and friends of foesk!

Before the wound do grow incurable:

For, being green, there is great hope of help.

583.

Comparison.

22-iii. 1.

When the moon shone, we did not see the candle.
So doth the greater glory dim the less;
A substitute shines brightly as a king,
Until a king be by; and then his state
Empties itself, as doth an inland brook
Into the main of waters.

9-v. 1.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."-Matt. v. 2.