He That Discovers Himself, Till He Hath

Demean Thyself More Warily In Thy Study Than In The Street. If Thy Public Actions Have A Hundred Witnesses, Thy Private Have A Thousand. The Multitude Looks But Upon Thy Actions; Thy Conscience Looks Into Them: The Multitude May Chance To Excuse Thee, If Not Acquit Thee; Thy Conscience Will Accuse Thee, If Not Condemn Thee.

Tis Not, To Cry God Mercy, Or To Sit And Droop, Or To Confess That Thou Hast Fail'd: 'tis To Bewail The Sins Thou Didst Commit: And Not Commit Those Sins Thou Hast Bewail' D. He That Bewails And Not Forsakes Them Too; Confesses Rather What He Means To Do.

Sin Is A Basilisk Whose Eyes Are Full Of Venom. If The Eye Of Thy Soul See Her First, It Reflects Her Own Poison And Kills Her; If She See Thy Soul, Unseen, Or Seen Too Late, With Her Poison, She Kills Thee: Since Therefore Thou Canst Not Escape Thy Sin, Let Not Thy Sin Escape Thy Observation.

If Thou Expect Death As A Friend, Prepare To Entertain It; If Thou Expect Death As An Enemy, Prepare To Overcome It; Death Has No Advantage, But When It Comes A Stranger.

Virtue Is Nothing But An Act Of Loving That Which Is To Be Beloved, And That Act Is Prudence, From Whence Not To Be Removed By Constraint Is Fortitude; Not To Be Allured By Enticements Is Temperance; Not To Be Diverted By Pride Is Justice.