wish I had greater leisure to impart my mind to you : but, I trust, our merciful God will supply all things by his grace, and guide and protect you in all your ways.. To his infinite goodness I bequeath you. Therefore, be not discouraged; serve him, and trust in him, and he will preserve and prosper you.

Be sure you give all respect to my wife, which will well become you, for she has ever had a great love for you. Never be wanting in your care to your sisters, but let them ever be most dear to you; this is a duty that you owe to the memory of your excellent mother and myself. And the like regard you must have to your younger sister; for, indeed, you owe it to her also, both for her father's and her mother's sake.

Serve God diligently morning and evening; recommend yourself to him; and have him before your eyes in all your ways. Be careful to take the counsel of those friends whom I have desired to advise you in your education. With patience hear their instructions, and diligently follow their counsel; for, till you have experience in the world, it will be far safer to trust to their judgments than to your own.

Lose not the time of your youth; but gather those seeds of virtue and of knowledge, which may be of use to yourself, and to your friends, for the rest of your life. And that this may be the better effected, attend to it with patience; and be sure to refrain from anger. Suffer not sorrow to cast you down; but, with cheerfulness and good courage, and in all sobriety and truth, go on in the race which you have to run. Be sure,

with a hallowed care, to have regard to all the commandments of God and do not allow yourself to ncglect them in the least respect, lest by degrees you come to forget them in the greatest; for the heart of man is deceitful above all things. Perform all your duties and devotions towards God, rather joyfully than pensively, for he loves a cheerful giver. As for your religion, let it be directed by those who are in God's church the proper teachers of it, rather than by your

own fancy, or by men who are singular in their opinions, and delight to go in ways of their own finding out you will certainly find soberness and truth in the one, and much unsteadiness and vanity in the other. The king, I trust, will deal graciously with you, and restore to you those honours and that fortune, of which a distempered time has deprived you, together with the life of your father: which I rather advise may be by a new gift and creation from himself, than by any other means, in order that you may pay thanks to him, without having obligation to any other.

Be sure you avoid, as much as you can, inquiring after those who have been sharp in their judgments towards ine; and I charge you never to suffer a thought of revenge to enter your heart. But be careful to inform yourself who were my friends in this prosecution; and apply yourself to make them your friends also on them you may rely, and bestow much of your conversation.

God Almighty of his infinite goodness bless you, and your sisters; perfect you in every good work; and give you right understandings in all things!. I am your most loving father,

THOMAS WENTWORTH.

You must not fail to behave yourself towards my lady Clare, your grandmother, with all duty and observance, for she loves you most tenderly; and she has been very kind to me. God reward her for it! And in this and all the rest, what I counsel you, the same I direct also to your sisters. And once more I do, from my very soul, beseech our gracious God, to bless and govern you; to save you in the day of his visitation; and to unite us again in the communion of his blessed saints, where there is fulness of joy and bliss for ever.

LETTER II.

Sir Matthew Hale to his children.-On leading a

I intended to be at Alderly this Whitsuntide, desirous to renew those counsels which I have often given you, for the everlasting welfare of your souls, and the due ordering of your lives and conversation. Young people are apt, through their own indiscretion, or the ill advice of others, to think such counsels dry and empty, the morose and needless interpositions of old age. But I am persuaded they will find better acceptance from you: and give me leave to tell you, they are of more importance, than external gifts and bounties; in which, nevertheless, I have not been wanting to you, according to my ability.

Therefore, since I cannot at this time deliver my advice to you in person, I shall do it by a letter; in which I shall confine myself to those things only that are of most present use and moment to you. By your due observance of my directions, I shall have a good opinion of your dutifulness to God, your obedience to your father, and also of your discretion and prudence; for it is certain, that as religion is the best means to advance and dignify human nature, so no man can be either truly wise or happy without it, and the love of it even in this life, much less in that which is to

come.

Every morning and every evening, humbly commend yourselves to Almighty God, in prayer; implore his mercy to pardon your sins, his grace to direct you, and his providence to protect you.

Every morning and evening, read seriously and reverently a portion of the Holy Scripture; and acquaint yourselves with the history and the doctrine which it contains. It is a book full of light and wisdom; it will make you wise to eternal life; and it will furnish you with directions and principles to guide and order your conduct safely and prudently.

Be strict and religious observers of the Lord's day. Resort to your parish-church twice that day, if your health will permit; and attend diligently and reverently to the public prayers and sermons.-They cannot reasonably expect a blessing from God during the rest of the week, who neglect their duty in the due consecration of this day, to the special service of God, which the day requires.

Be very careful to moderate your passions, especially anger; it inflames the blood, disorders the brain, and, for the time, exterminates not only religion, but

common reason.

Receive the blessings of God with much thankfulness to him ; for he is the fountain of all the good which you do or can receive.

Bear all afflictions and crosses patiently. The great God of heaven and earth is he who sends them to you, though possibly evil occurrences may be the immediate instruments of them. You owe to Almighty God an infinite subjection and obedience. To expostulate with him is rebellion and as it is your duty to submit, so it is your wisdom and prudence; impatience will not discharge your yoke, but will make it more galling, and hard to bear.

Learn not only to be patient under your afflictions, but also to improve them. Learn by them how vain and unprofitable the world, and its pleasures, are, which a sharp or lingering sickness renders utterly tasteless. Learn how weak a thing human nature is, which is brought down to the gates of death, by a little disorder in the blood, in a nerve, in a vein, in an artery. And since you can have so little dependence on a temporal life, which is shaken and shattered by any small occurrence, accident, or distemper; learn to lay hold of eternal life, and of that covenant of peace and salvation, which Christ has brought for all who believe and obey the Gospel. And if you thus improve affliction, you will be the gainers by it; and certainly there is not a more probable way to be delivered from

it, (if the wise God see fit,) than thus to improve it. For affliction is a messenger, and it has a voice; and that is, to require mankind to be patient and humble, and to acknowledge Almighty God in all their ways. And if men listen, and conform, to the voice of affliction, it has done its errand; and it will either leave them, or at least give them singular comfort, even under the sharpest sufferings. And sorrow, which is but for a moment, being thus improved, will work for us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

I am now on the shady side of three-score years. I write to you what you have often heard me in substance speak. And possibly when I shall leave this world, you will want such a remembrancer as I have been to you. The words that I now, and at former times, have written to you, are words of truth and soberness; and they proceed from a heart full of love and tenderness to you all. If I should see you act amiss, and not reprove you; or if I should find you want counsel and direction, and not give them to you; I should not discharge the trust of a father. And if you do not thank fully receive my admonitions, you will be defective in the duty which you owe to the Almighty, and to me. May the God of heaven give you wisdom, constancy, and fidelity, in the observance of all my counsels!

am your ever loving father,
MATTHEW HALE.

LETTER III.

Sir Matthew Hale to his children.—On conversation.

Dear children,

I thank God I came well to Farrington this day, about five o'clock. And as I have some leisure time at my inn, I cannot spend it more to my own satisfaction and your benefit, than, by a letter, to give you some good counsel. The subject shall be con