Meditations Divine and Moral

A ship that bears much sail, and little ballast, is easily

overset; and that man, whose head hath great abilities, and his

heart little or no grace, is in danger of foundering.

The finest bread has the least bran; the purest honey, the

least wax; and the sincerest Christian, the least self-love.

Sweet words are like honey; a little may refresh, but too much

gluts the stomach.

Divers children have their different natures: some are like

flesh which nothing but salt will keep from putrefaction; some

again like tender fruits that are best preserved with sugar. Those

parents are wise that can fit their nurture according to their

nature.

Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge,

fitter to bruise than polish.

The reason why Christians are so loath to exchange this world

for a better, is because they have more sense than faith: they see

what they enjoy, they do but hope for that which is to come.

Dim eyes are the concomitants of old age; and short-

sightedness, in those that are the eyes of a Republic, foretells a

declining State.

Wickedness comes to its height by degrees. He that dares say

of a less sin, Is it not a little one? will erelong say of a

greater, Tush, God regards it not.

Fire hath its force abated by water, not by wind; and anger

must be allayed by cold words and not by blustering threats.

The gifts that God bestows on the sons of men, are not only

abused, but most commonly employed for a clean contrary end than

that which they were given for; as health, wealth, and honor, which

might be so many steps to draw men to God in consideration of his

bounty towards them, but have driven them the further from him,

that they are ready to say, We are lords, we will come no more at

thee. If outward blessings be not as wings to help us mount

upwards, they will certainly prove clogs and weights that will pull

us lower downward.