Eusebius, Lindamor.
Euseb.
POor Bird! thou wert just now so high upon the Wing, that the tir’d Gazers fear’d thou hadst lost thy self in Heaven, and in thy fatal stooping seem’st to have brought us thence a Message, that so rellishes of that place, that I should be troubl’d to see thee so rudely entertain’d, if that Circumstance were not necessary to the Instructions of thy Message; some Birds, you know, Lindamor, we usually beguile with Chaff, and others are generally drawn in by appropriated Baits, and by the Mouth, not the Eye. But the aspiring Lark seems compos’d of more sprightly, and refin’d Materials, she is ever a Natural, though no Native, Persian, and the Sun makes not a cloudless Visit to our Horizon, which that grateful Creature gives not a welcome to, both by Notes, which, could he hear them, he would think worthy of him, and by a flight as aspiring as if she meant he should hear them; and, in a word, so conspicuous is this Creatures fondness of Light, that Fowlers have devis’d a way to catch her by it, and pervert it to her Ruine: For placing broken Looking-glasses upon a moveable Frame betwixt their Nets, the unwary Bird, while she is gazing upon that glittering Light the Glass reflects, and sporting her self in those Beams, which derive a new Glory from their very being broken, heedlessly gives into the Reach of the surprizing Nets, which suddenly cover her, and which the Light it self kept her from seeing. The Devil is like this Fowler, Lindamor, and you, or I, had perhaps resembl’d the unhappy Lark, if sometimes Providence did not both graciously, and seasonably, interpose, and ev’n when we were come near enough to have been cover’d by the Nets, rescu’d us from them; for it has ever been that old Serpent’s Policy, and practice, to take the exactest measure of our Inclinations, that he may skilfully suit his Temptations to them; well knowing, that that Dexterity gains him a Devil within us, that conspires with him without us, to make us Instances of that Truth which represents Things divided against themselves as ruinous. If therefore, the Tempter find by Experience, that you are indispos’d to be wrought upon by common Temptations, to forget the Practice of Religion, that you have Unconcern’dness enough not to be much distracted with the empty and trifling Chaff, Youth is wont to be caught with, (which perhaps seldome employ any of your Thoughts so much as those of Scorn, and Pity) that the very Gain and solider Goods of this World (for which many thought wise Men lose those of the next) cannot make you so greedy, nor so fond of them, as he desires. If, I say, the Devil have sufficiently observ’d how uneasie it were to intice you with common Baits, he will alter his Method strait, and attempt to catch you with Light. He knows as well as I do, that you have a Curiosity, or rather a Greediness of Knowledge, that is impatient of being confin’d by any other Limits than those of Knowledge it self; and accordingly, seldome, or perhaps never disturbing or frightning you, he will let you freely sport your self about the glittering Intellectual Glass, Men call Philosophy, and suffer you not onely to gaze upon all its pieces, and survey a pretty Number, but peradventure, pry into more than one; and among so numerous, and delighting Objects, I fear, that if you will frankly own what my own Guilt makes me suspect you of, you must confess, That he had made you so share your Time, that you should scarce have left your self any for Heavenly Themes, and the Meditation of Death, (which consequently might have then surpris’d you, had it invaded you) if Providence had not mercifully snatch’d you out from between the Nets you were allur’d to, before you were quite involv’d in them; and by Sickness, or else, by Means (in other cases) so unlikely, as outward Distractions, call’d your Thoughts home by driving them away from those enchanting Studies, whose Light might much likelier have betrai’d you into the Net, than have shewn it you.
Lind.
Though I am not surpris’d to hear Eusebius, yet I am glad to hear a Scholar talk at this rate, and believe with you, that many a one that was neither Crow, nor Wood-cock, has perish’d in this Snare; and we have known but too many great Scholars, so intirely taken up with writing, and reading of Books, with learning this Science, and with teaching that, that by setting themselves such Tasks, as requir’d and imploi’d the whole Man, Death has undiscernedly stoll’n upon them, and unawares intruded into their Studies, where their restless Ambition to inrich the Mind never left them the leisure to prepare it, to leave the Body, but either made them surpris’d Instances of that sad (but true) Observation of Seneca, Plerosque in ipso Vitae apparatu Vita destituit, or else made their Condition like that of Archimedes, who was so busie in tracing his Circles, that he took no notice of that victorious Enemy that came to dispatch him.
Euseb.
I allow, that ‘tis the Innocence, as well as Pleasure of Knowledge, that deceives those Learned Men; but they, as well as others, must remember, that ev’n the wholsomest Meats may be surfeited on, and there is nothing more unhealthy, than to feed very well, and do but very little Exercise. And I take it to be as true of the Intellectual, as the Material World, that it profits not a Man if he gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul. Whatsoever therefore Philosophers do tell us, of a wise Man, that he is no where banish’d, because he is a Citizen of the World; I must think a Christian every where in Exile, because he is a Citizen of the Heavenly Jerusalem, and but a Stranger and a Sojourner here. It was not absolutely in the capacity of the Father of Lies, that the Devil boasted, that the Earth was his Dominion; for, as our Saviour himself stil’d him, The Prince of this World, I find, that he has all things here so much at his Devotion, that there is no place that he cannot lay an Ambush in, since he can pervert ev’n Light it self, to hide his Snares. Let us, therefore, hereafter indeavour still to stand upon our Guard, as remembring our selves to be in an Enemy’s Country, where Distrust is the onely Mother of safety; and since Providence has so graciously presented us a Lesson, our Books would not have taught us, against such a fondness of them, as is injurious to Piety, and dangerous to the Soul; Let us justifie, better than this silly Lark has done, that saying of Solomon, Surely in vain the Net is spread in the sight of any Bird. Let not Philosophy any more take up our Life so, as not to leave us leisure to prepare for Death, and study a Science which shall most benefit us in another World, and which alone will do so there: No, we may visit Athens, but we should dwell at Jerusalem; we may take some turns on Parnassus, but should more frequent Mount Calvary, and must never so busie our selves about those many things, as to forget that Unum Necessarium, that good part which shall not be taken away from us.
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