As they can stand against the strongest head The world can cast; that cannot cast that mind Whilst all what malice from without procures, Still roll, where all th' aspects of misery And how turmoil'd they are that level lie With earth, and cannot lift themselves from thence; Whose ends you see, and what can be the best VOL. VIII. PART II. S This concord, madam, of a well-tun'd mind Of Heav'n, that tho' the world hath done his worst To put it out by discords most unkind; Yet doth it still in perfect union stand With God and man, nor ever will be forc'd And this note (madam) of your worthiness Daniel has executed an elegant translation from Marinoa description of beauty, with which we shall conclude our extracts. I. "O beauty, beams, nay, flame How much more dear, so much less-lasting beams. II. Wing'd Love away doth fly, The sweet, the fair, the dear. Succeeds an obscure night, And sorrow is the hue of sweet delight. III. With what then dost thou swell, O youth of new-born day! Wherein doth thy pride dwell, O beauty made of clay! Not with so swift a way Whilst it doth freely shine; This lightning flash and show, With that clear spirit of thine, Will suddenly decline; And you fair murth'ring eyes Shall be love's tombs, where now his cradle lies. VII. Old trembling age will come With wrinkl'd cheeks and stains, With motion troublesome; With skin and bloodless veins, That lively visage reaven, And made deform'd and old, Hates sight of glass it lov'd so to behold. VIII. Thy gold and scarlet shall Pale silver-colour be, Thy row of pearls shall fall Like wither'd leaves from tree; And thou shalt shortly see Thy face and hair to grow All plough'd with furrows, over-swol❜n with snow. The rose, of flowers the eye! Both wither in the air, Their beauteous colours die ; And so at length shall lie, Depriv'd of former grace, The lillies of thy breasts, the roses of thy face. XI. What then will it avail, O youth advised ill! In lap of beauty frail To nurse a wayward will, Like snake in sun-warm hill? Pluck, pluck betime thy flow'r, That springs, and parcheth in one short hour." ART. III.-God's Plea for Nineveh; or, London's Precedent for Mercy. Delivered in certain Sermons within the City of London. By Thomas Reeve, Bachelor in Divinity. Woe unto thee, oh Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be? Jer. 13. 27. Return, return, oh Shulamite: Return, return, that we may look upon thee. Cant. 6. 13. Then said he to the dresser of the vineyard, behold this three years I come seeking for fruit on this fig-tree, and find none; cut it down, why cumbreth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then thou shalt after that cut it down, Luke 13. 7, 8, 9. Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. Lament. 3. 40, 41. Noli negligere, quòd vos prius Dominus peccantes sustinet; quia quantò diutius exspectat, ut emenderis, tantò graviùs judicabit si neglexeris. Aug. de util. Pan. ag. Quot habuit in se oblectamenta, tot habuit holocausta; convertit in numerum virtutum, numerum criminum. Jeron. hom. 33 in Evang. London: Printed by William Wilson, for Thomas Reeve, living at the Bunch of Grapes, in Chancery Lane, near Lincoln's Inn. 1657. This is a singular theological plant which flourished in the city during the time of the Commonwealth, and partakes a little of the gloominess of the atmosphere in which it vegetated. The author, an apprentice in divinity, a slip of one of the universities, and a preacher of repentance, was a man of great tenacity of purpose and invincible perseverance in action-qualities highly necessary for the production of a work like this. It is dedicated to one Thomas Rich, Esquire, whom Reeve calls his honoured friend, and a very eminent citizen of London. We shall endeavour to give an account of this book, so far as it is possible to describe what is so strange and so irregular. Although we learn from the title page, that the Plea was delivered in certain sermons, it is impossible to find any convenient divisions, or stages in it; it is, in fact, a huge discourse, one enormous lecture-the very Leviathan of sermons, on the repentance of Nineveh, as described in the book of Jonah. "And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" Jonah 4. 11. The design is to make London, which is described as a Nineveh in corruption, a Nineveh in repentance: the author has adopted the following ingenious mode of treating his subject. 1. A digging for water, and should not 3. The stream which should flow from 4. The channel in which it should run, city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand &c. it, spare Nineveh, that great that cannot, persons |