ried herself with so much lowliness, that whoever had seen and not known her, could not but have mistaken her for the meanest of the maids that waited on her. Whenever she appeared in the midst of those devout and pious virgins that dwelt with her, she always seemed both in clothes and voice, and garb, and gait, the least and most contemptible of all the rest. So studious was the piety of those days to keep the lustre of their own perfections from sparkling in their eyes, and not fondly to admire the glimmerings of their own light; being so far from falsely arrogating to themselves those excellencies which they had not, that they idustriously concealed those excellent perfections which they had.

I cannot better conclude this chapter, than with the excellent reasonings of St. Gregory of Nyssa against priding a man's self in any external ornaments or advantages, where he thus entertains the proud man: "He that looks to himself, and not to the things that are about him, will see little reason to be proud. For what is man? Say the best of him, and that which may add the greatest honour and veneration to him, that he is born of nobles, and yet he that adorns his descent, and speaks highliest of the splendour and nobility of his house, does but derive his pedigree from the dirt. And dost thou not blush, thou statue of earth, who art shortly to be crumbled into dust. who bubble-like containest within thee a shortlived humour; dost thou not blush to swell with pride and arrogance, and to have thy mind stuffed with vain idle thoughts? Hast thou no regard to

1

Epitaph. Paulæ ad Eustoch. Filiam. tom. i. p. 175.

the double term of man's life, how it begun, and where it will end? Thou pridest thyself in thy juvenile age, and flatterest thyself in the flower, the beauty and sprightliness of thy youth, that thy hands are ready for action, and thy feet apt to dance in nimble measures; that thy locks are waved by the wanton motions of the wind, and a soft down overgrows thy cheeks, that thy purple robes put the very roses to the blush, and thy silken vestures are variegated with rich embroidery of battles, huntings, or pieces of ancient history; or brought down to the feet, artificially set off with black, and curiously made fast with strings and buttons. These are the things thou lookest at, without any regard to thyself. But let me a little as in a glass show thee thy own face, who and what thou art. Hast thou not seen in a public charnel-house the unveiled mysteries of human nature; bones rudely thrown upon heaps; naked skulls with hollow eye-holes, yielding a dreadful and deformed spectacle? If thou hast beheld such sights as those, in them thou hast seen thyself. Where then will be the signs of thy present beauty, that good complexion that adorns thy cheeks, the colour of thy lips, the supercilious loftiness in thine eyes, and all the rest of those things that now add fuel to thy pride? Tell me, where then will those things be, upon the account whereof thou dost now so much boast and bear up thyself? What shadow was ever so thin, so incapable of being grasped within the hollow of the hand, as this dream of youth, which at once appears, and immediately vanishes away?" Thus

1 De Beatitudinib. Orat. 1, tom. i. p. 768.

1

the holy man treats the young vapouring gallant, and levels his pride with the sober considerations of mortality. In his following discourse he deals with persons of riper years, and such as are in places of authority and power, and shows how absurd and uncomely pride is in them: which it might not be impertinent to represent, but fearing to be tedious, I forbear.

CHAPTER II.

Of their Heavenly-mindedness, and Contempt of the

World.

THE Soul of man being heaven-born cannot but partake of the nature and disposition of that country, and have a native inclination to that place from whence it borrows its original. And though it is true, in this corrupt and degenerate state, it is deeply sunk into matter, clogged and overborne with the earthly and sensual propensions of the lower appetites, the desires and designs of men creeping up and down like shadows upon the surface of the earth; yet does it often, especially when assisted with the aids of religion, attempt its own rescue and release. The mind of a good man is acted by manly and generous impulses; it dwells in the contemplations of the upper region, tramples upon those little projects of profit or pleasure which ensnare and enslave other men, and makes all its designs subservient to the interests of a bet

2

ter country. A temper of mind never more triumphant in any than in the Christians of old, whose conversations were in heaven,'' and whose spirits breathed in too free an air to be caught with the charms of the best enjoyments this world could afford. They looked upon the delights and advantages of this life as things not worthy to arrest their affections in their journey to a better. Justin Martyr, discoursing with Trypho the Jew, tells him, that "they were careful with all fear to converse with men according to the Scriptures, not greedily desiring to gain riches, or glory, or pleasure to themselves, concerning any of which no man could lay any thing to their charge; and that they did not live like the great men of his people, of whom God himself has left this reproachful character, that their 'princes were companions of thieves, every one loving gifts, and following after rewards.'

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Nay, Trypho himself bears them this testimony, though doubtless he intended it as a reproach to them, that having from a vain report chosen Christ to be their master, they did for his sake foolishly undervalue and throw away all the enjoyments and advantages of this world." Amongst us," says Tatian, "there is no affectation of vain-glory, no diversity of sentiments and opinions, but separating ourselves from all vulgar and earthly thoughts and discourses, and having given up ourselves to the commands of God to be governed by his law, we abandon whatever seems but akin to human glory." They [never met with opportunities to have advantaged and enriched themselves, but they

Phil. iii. 20. 2 Dial. cum Tryph. p. 308. 4 Dial. cum Tryph. p. 226.

3 Is. i. 23.

5 Orat. cont. Gra. p. 167.

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declined and turned them off with a noble scorn. When Abgarus the Toparch of Edessa offered Thaddeus (one of the seventy disciples) great sums of gold and silver for the pains he had taken, and the great things he had done amongst them, he refused them with this answer, "To what purpose should we receive good things from others, who have freely forsaken and renounced our own ?”1 As indeed in those times friends and relations, houses and lands were cheerfully parted with, when they stood in competition with Christ; they could content themselves with the most naked poverty, so it might but consist with the profession of the Gospel.

When Quintianus the president under Decius the emperor asked Agatha, the virgin martyr, why, being descended of such rich and illustrious parents, she would stoop to such low and mean offices as she took upon her; she presently answered him, "Our glory and nobility lies in this, that we are the servants of Christ."2 To the same purpose was the answer of Quintinus the martyr under the Dioclesian persecution, when the president asked him how it came about, that he, being a Roman citizen, and the son of a senator, would truckle under such a superstition, and worship him for a God, whom the Jews had crucified? The martyr told him, that "it was the highest honour and nobility to know and serve God; that the Christian religion, which he called superstition, ought not to be traduced with so base a name, seeing it immediately guided its followers to the highest degrees of

Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 15, p. 35.

Martyr. ejus apud Sur. ad diem 5 Feb. tom. i. ex S. Metaph.