gourd of Jonah, that notwithstanding we take great delight for a season in them, and find their shadow very comfortable, yet there is some worm or other of discontent, of fear, or grief that lies at the root, which in great part withers the pleasure which else we should take in them; and well it is that we perceive a decay in their greenness, for were earthly comforts permanent, who would look for heavenly?

All men are truly said to be tenants at will, and it may as truly be said that all have a lease of their lives, some longer, some shorter, as it pleases our great Landlord to let. All have their bounds set, over which they cannot pass, and till the expiration of that time no dangers, no sickness, no pains, or troubles shall put a period to our days; the certainty that that time will come, together with the uncertainty how, where, and when, should make us so to number our days as to apply our hearts to wisdom, that when we are put out of these houses of clay we may be sure of an everlasting habitation that fades not away.

All weak and diseased bodies have hourly mementos of their mortality. But the soundest of men have likewise their nightly monitor by the emblem of death, which is their sleep, for so is death often called; and not only their death, but their grave is lively represented before their eyes by beholding their bed. The morning may mind them of the Resurrection;

and the sun, approaching, of the appearing of the Sun of Righteousness, at whose coming they shall all rise out of their beds, the long night shall flee away, and the day of eternity shall never end. Seeing these things must be, what manner of persons ought we to be in all good conversation?

As the brands of a fire, if once severed, will of themselves go out, although you use no other means to extinguish them, so distance of place, together with length of time, if there be no intercourse, will cool the affections of intimate friends, though there should be no displeasance between them.

A good name is as a precious ointment, and it is a great favor to have a good repute among good men. Yet it is not that which commends us to God, for by his balance we must be weighed, and by his judgment we must be tried; and as he passes the sentence, so shall we stand.

Well doth the apostle call riches deceitful riches, and they may truly be compared to deceitful friends who speak fair and promise much, but perform nothing, and so leave those in the lurch that most relied on them. So is it with the wealth, honors, and pleasures of this world, which miserably delude men and make them put great confidence in them; but when death threatens, and distress lays hold upon them, they prove like the reeds of Egypt that pierce instead of support

ing, like empty wells in the time of drought, that those that go to find water in them return with their empty pitchers ashamed.

It is admirable to consider the power of faith, by which all things are almost possible to be done. It can remove mountains, if need were; it hath stayed the course of the sun, raised the dead, cast out devils, reversed the order of nature, quenched the violence of the fire, made the water become firm footing for Peter to walk on. Nay, more than all these, it hath overcome the Omnipotent himself, as, when Moses interceded for the people, God said to him, "Let me alone that I may destroy them!"-as if Moses had been able, by the hand of faith, to hold the everlasting arms of the mighty God of Jacob. Yea, Jacob himself, when he wrestled with God face to face in Peniel, "Let me go," said that angel. I will not let thee go," replied Jacob,

till thou bless me!" Faith is not only thus potent, but it is so necessary that without faith there is no salvation; therefore, with all our seekings and gettings, let us above all seek to obtain this pearl of price.

Some Christians do by their lusts and corruptions as the Israelites did by the Canaanites, not destroy them, but put them under tribute; for that they could do, as they thought, with less hazard and more profit. But what was the issue? They became a snare unto them, pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides,

and at last overcame them and kept them under slavery. So it is most certain that those that are disobedient to the command of God, and endeavor not to the utmost to drive out all their accursed inmates, but make a league with them, they shall at last fall into perpetual bondage under them unless the great deliverer, Christ Jesus, come to their rescue.

God hath by his providence so ordered that no one country hath all commodities within itself, but what it wants another shall supply, that so there may be a mutual commerce through the world. As it is with countries so it is with men: there was never yet any one man that had all excellences; let his parts, natural and acquired, spiritual and moral, be never so large, yet he stands in need of something which another man hath, perhaps meaner than himself, which shows us perfection is not below, as also that God will have us beholden one to another.

["My honored and dear mother intended to have filled up this book with the like observations, but was prevented by death."-Note by Simon Bradstreet, Jr.]

[The matter on the succeeding pages was at a later date copied into the same journal by her son Simon, with this note: "A true copy of a book left by my honored and dear mother to her children, and found among some papers after her death."]

TO MY DEAR CHILDREN.

This book, by any yet unread,
I leave for you when I am dead,
That, being gone, here you may find
What was your living mother's mind.
Make use of what I leave in love,

And God shall bless you from above.

MY DEAR CHILDREN:

A. B.

I, knowing by experience that the exhortations of parents take most effect when the speakers leave to speak, and those especially sink deepest which are spoke latest, and being ignorant whether on my death-bed I shall have opportunity to speak to any of you, much less to all, thought it the best, whilst I was able, to compose some short matters (for what else to call them I know not) and bequeath to you, that when I am no more with you yet I may be daily in your remembrance-although that is the least in my aim in what I now do, but that you may gain some spiritual advantage by my experience. I have