Horfe, I fhould proteft this Horfe is mine, because I love the Horfe, or I do not know why I do proteft, because my Opinion is contrary to the reft. Ridiculous, when they fay the Bifhops did anciently proteft, it was only diffenting, and that in the Cafe of the Pope.

1.

G

Lords before the Parliament.

REAT Lords, by reafon of their Flatterers, are the firft that know their own Virtues, and the laft that know their own Vices: Some of them are afham'd upwards, because their Ancestors were too great. Others are afhamed downwards, becaufe they were too little.

2. The Prior of St. John of Jerufalem, is faid to be Primus Baro Angliæ, the first Baron of England, becaufe, being laft of the Spiritual Barons, he chose to be firft of the Temporal. He was a kind of an Otter, a Knight half Spiritual, and half Temporal.

3. Quef. Whether is every Baron a Baron of fome Place?

Anfw. 'Tis according to his Patent; of late Years they have been made Barons of fome Places, but antiently not, call'd only by their Sir-name, or the Sirname of fome Family, into which they had been Married.

4. The making of new Lords leffens all the reft. 'Tis in the Bufinefs of Lords, as 'twas with St. Nicolas's Image: The Country-Man, you know, could not find in his Heart to adore the new Image, made of his own Plum-Tree, though he had formerly worfhip'd the old one. The Lords that are antient we honour, because we know not whence they come;

but

but the new ones we flight, because we know their beginning.

5. For the Irif Lords to take upon them here in England, is as if the Cook in the Fair fhould come to my Lady Kent's Kitchen, and take upon him to roast the Meat there, because he is a Cook in another place.

Marriage.

1.OF all the Actions of a Man's Life, his Marri

age does leaft concern other people, yet of alP Actions of our Life 'tis moft medled with by other People.

2. Marriage is nothing but a civil Contract; 'tis true, 'tis an Ordiance of God; fo is every other Contract, God commands me to keep it when I have made it.

3. Marriage is a desperate thing; the Frogs in Afop were extreme wife, they had a great mind to fome Water, but they would not leap into the Well, because they could not get out again.

4. We fingle out particulars, and apply God's Providence to them: thus when two are marry'd and have undone one another, they cry it was God's Providence we fhould come together, when God's Providence does equally concur to every thing.

Mar

1. SOME

Marriage of Cofin-Germans.

OME Men forbear to Marry Cofin-Germans out of this kind of scruple of Confcience, because it was unlawful before the Reformation, and is ftill in the Church of Rome. And fo by reason their GrandFather, or their great Grand-Father did not do it, upon that old Score they think they ought not to do it; as fome Men forbear Flefh upon Friday, not reflecting upon the Statute, which with us makes it unlawful, but out of an old Score, because the Church of Rome forbids it, and their Fore-Fathers always forbear Flesh upon that Day. Others forbear it out of a Natural Confideration, because it is obferved (for Example) in Beafts, if two couple of a near Kind, the Breed proves not fo good. The fame Obfervation they make in Plants and Trees, which degenerate being grafted upon the fame ftock. And 'tis alfo farther obferv'd, thofe Matches between CofinGermans feldom prove Fortunate. But for the lawfulnefs there is no Colour but Cofin-Germans in England may Marry, both by the Law of God and Man; for with us we have reduc'd all the Degrees of Marriage to those in the Levitical-Law, and 'tis plain there's nothing against it. As for that that is faid Cofin-Germans once remov'd may not Marry, and therefore being a farther degree may not, 'tis prefum'd a nearer should not, no Man can tell what it means.

Meature

1.

Beulure of Things.

E measure from ourselves, and as things are for our ufe and purpose, fo we approve them. Bring a Pear to the Table that is rotten, we cry it down, 'tis naught; but bring a Medlar that is rotten, and 'tis a fine thing, and yet I'll warrant you the Pear thinks as well of itself as the Medlar does.

2. We measure the Excellency of other Men, by fome Excellency we conceive to be in ourselves. Nah, a Poet, poor enough, (as Poets us'd to be) feeing an Alderman with his Gold Chain, upon his great Horse, by way of fcorn, faid to one of his Companions, Do you fee yon Fellow, how goodly, how big he looks; why that Fellow cannot make a blank Verfe.

3. Nay, we measure the goodness of God from our felves, we measure his Goodness, his Juftice, his Wifdom, by fomething we call Juft, Good, or Wife in our felves; and in fo doing, we judge proportionably to the Country Fellow in the Play, who faid, if he were a King, he would live like a Lord, and have Pease and Bacon every Day, and a Whip that cry'd Slash.

1.

Difference of Ben.

HE Difference of Men is very great; you would fcarce think them to be of the fame Species, and yet it confifts more in the Affection than in the Intellect. For as in the Strength of Body, two Men fhall be of an equal Strength, yet one fhall appear ftronger than the other, because he exercifes, and puts out his Strength, the other will not ftir nor ftrain himfelf. So 'tis in the Strength of the Brain, the one endeavours

endeavours, and ftrains, and labours, and fludies, the other fits ftill, and is idle, and takes no pains, and therefore he appears fo much the inferior.

1.

THE

Minifter Divine.

HE impofition of Hands upon the Minister, when all is done, will be nothing but a defignation of a Perfon to this or that Office or Employment in the Church. "Tis a ridiculous Phrase that of the Canonifts [Conferre Ordines] 'Tis Cooptare aliquem in Ordinem, to make a Man one of us, one of our Number; one of our Order. So Cicero would underftand what I faid, it being a Phrase borrowed from the Latines, and to be underflood proportionably to what was amongst them.

2. Thofe Words you now use in making a Minister, [receive the Holy Ghost] were us'd amongst the Jews in making of a Lawyer; from thence we have them, which is a villanous Key to fomething, as if you would have fome other kind of Præfecture, than a Mayoralty, and yet keep the fame ceremony that was us'd in making the Mayor.

3. A Prieft has no fuch thing as an indelible Character; what difference do you find betwixt him and another Man after Ordination? Only he is made a Prieft, (as I faid) by Defignation; as a Lawyer is called to the Bar, then made a Serjeant: All Men that would get Power over others, make themselves as unlike them as they can, upon the fame Ground the Priests made themfelves unlike the Laity.

4. A Minister, when he is made, is Materia prima, apt for any form the State will put upon him, but of himself he can do nothing. Like a Doctor of Law in the University, he hath a great deal of Law in him,

but