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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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jSummum Bmum , or Tultfos' Or&mn ff Moore's Iteopia ; tor that it comprefeettdeth not onely an idea of good BJfe , frttt aba a plat-forme of good workes , which leadeth the way to true and sempiternall felicitie . " Fearful ,
however , of thus incurring the chaise of self-conceit > he adds , €€ but least , in kissing nay onrne hands , I might seeme ito doat with jyarvissus , falling in lqae with myowne shadowy and by transcending tbe due proportion ^ of nourishment , should fcurne all into
illhumour ; I ceferre the goodnesse of the matter to your Lordship ^ learned judgment , and sublymed wisedornes relish" He then requests the Chief Justice to allow his name to " bee as a foster-father to this wandering
orphant . " Tiere is next a prefatory address Cf to all weake Christians , that have a stesire to be saved . " Then follows an aliuskxi to Heathen fable , according to the motley "custom ' of the author ' s age ; '' Who seethnot , that the great number
of men at this day , are so lulled aslcepe in'the chaireof seciiritie—that they can ps hardly be awaked as Endymion from liis eadlesse sleepe ? " The Author adds , * The consideration hereof moved me , according to my simple art aad skilL to frame this book , as a
Watch-Beit , to sound m the eares of all mea , not a stroke alone , but twelve , in twelve several chapters * which may serve as jthe wheels of a Watch-Bell , to enforce it to yield forth the more shrill sound ; thereby to awake the most drowsiehearted sinners from their secuiitie
and careless living / He then recollects " the twelve fountains of water in Eliin , " and wishes that his book may afford " so sweet a recreation" as they gave * ' to the people of Israel , 9 am . that it may yield a healing plate ter to every wounded soule , no lesse effectual ! , then the leaves of the tree of life
( which bare twelve severall fruits , ) to faeale the nations /' Under the first chapter , "Of the Shortness , Frailtie and Miseries of Man ' s Xife , " ^ author comments on Job idv . 1 , which he thus renders : "Maa that is borne of a woman is of
ahort continuance , and full of miseries * Jlee sbooteth forth as a flower and is cut downe ; he vanisheth also as a shadow , and continueth not . " Whence he takes occasion thus to degrade human nature , and might almost lead . his
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reader to s «|) pose , that the author ^ Job bad writtpa io tike Latin t ^^ gue . " He saith not pir but kem ^ that he might expresse the basenesse of the matter / of the which this most proud ereatnr ^ was made * For he is called
Jwmv 9 ah kurno , because he was created aad made of the earth . Neither was he made of the best of the earth , but of the slime of the earth , ( as the Scriptore testUkfth , ) being the most filthy and abject part of the earth : among ail bodies the most vile element . Among
all the elements the earth is the basest ; among ail the parts of the earth , none is more filthy and abject than the slime . Wherefore man was made of that matter , than the which there is nothing more vile and base /* My
author proceeds to account for the miraculous conception in a way , I apprehend , rather unusual , while the manner in which he treats the subject in a tenth impression , shews how dit ferent must have been the ideas of
decorum among his readers , from those > vMch prevail at present . But before I quit this author ' s strictures upon that " . most proud creature" man , it may be not unentertaining to quote the following illustrations of his subject : " The . peacock ,- a glorious fowle , wheii he beholds that comelv fan and circle
which he maketh of the beautifull feathers of his . taile , he reioyceth , he ietteth , and beholdeth euery part thereof ; but when he looketh on his feet , which he perceiueth to be black ,, and foule , he by aad by with great misliking vaileth his top-gallant , and seemeth to sorrow . lp
like manner , a great many know by experience , that when they see themselues to abound in riches and honors , they glory , and are deepely conceited of themselues , they praise their fortune , and admire themselues , they make plots , send appoint much for themselues to peribrme in many
yeeres to come : this yeere they my we wil beare thi « office , and the next yeere that : afterward we « hall haue . the rule oi such a prouince : then we will builda palace iti such a city , whereunto we ^ H * adioyne such gardens of pleasure , and such vineyards : and thus they make a very large reckoning afore hand , who , if they
did but once behold their Feete , if they did but thinke vpon the shortnesse of their life , so trunsitorie and inconstant , how soone vvonld they let fid their proud feathers , forsake their ar rogancy , ft » d chango their purposes , their minds , their Hues , and their manners i- — " fhe prophet DmH iii Ws P « al » eB
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§ 90 Bwh-W ^ m , No , XXVL
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1821, page 590, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2505/page/22/
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