Chapter XIV: Appendix

EXTRACTS from Fletcher's manuscript "Book of Devotions," referred to on p. 38.

CHRISTIANA PRAECEPTA.

Contemplare Dei Natum, legesque benignas;
Omnia te Christi vita docere potest.

Appage te mea mens absisque philautia longe,
Filius ipse Dei sua nunquam vota secutus.
Ut mea vota Deo mactarem, se duce, laetus
Sponte sua summo paruit patri inter olivas.

Porcina qui quaerit Divina solamina perdit.
Ne dapium ventrisque tui mala gaudia quaeras;
Mens tibi pura nequit saturato ventre vigere.
Cibus enim nimius Divinae particulam aurae
Certo affigit humi Coelique afflamine privat.

Ne doleas si pauper habes seu scommata mundi,
Seu risus hominum titulos et praedia sola;
Pauper cum Christus vilique a plebe jocatus
In turpi ligno vitam componat amaram.

RESISTE TENTATIONI HIS CONSILIIS.

Daemona ne dubita te certo vincere posse,
Hunc tunc haud dubio Christo auxiliante fugabis.
Ne ruas in vetitum, brevis est et fluxa Libido:
Sperne Voluptatem, dirum pone linquit acumen.
Crede mihi, Satanae minimam ne cedito partem;
Fortiter ac subito plagam repelle priorem.
Numinis auxilium precibus rogato benignis.
In cruce pro culpis morientem cernito Jesum.
Coelestes palmas, et Tartara dira memento.
Offert judicium cita mors, hilaremque triumphum.
Viribus indomitis, rigidisque resistito membris
Daemonis impetibus; Christus hunc _appage_ vicit.
Vivida sit fides, te certa corona manebit.

There is no need either to point out, or to apologize for, the shortcomings of Fletcher's Latin verses. They are little more than private memoranda for use in prayer and meditation, written in Latin, perhaps, as a kind of cipher. The following resolutions are interesting:

"Haec Deo juvante facere decerno.

3 edere die. quod ubi primum violaverim, pauperibus b. asses
dandi et venia per horam petenda erit, nullo fulcro utens.

Pueros nunquam ob doctrinam castigare, sub eadem poena.

Precans nunquam jacere, sed stare vel genu flectere."

This may be translated:

These things, God helping me, I determine:

To take food three times a day; for a breach of this rule,
twopence to be given to the poor, and pardon to be implored
for an hour, using no bodily support.

Never to punish the boys for their lessons, under the same
penalty.

Never to lie down while engaged in prayer, but stand or
kneel.

LE BONHEUR DU CHRETIEN.

Heureux qui n'a point de desir,
Heureux qui se fait violence,
Qui se prive des vains plaisirs,
Et se plait dans la dependance.
Heureux l'homme de bonne foi,
Simple, sage, plein d'innocence,
Qui, toujours severe pour soi,
Pour son prochain est rempli de clemence.

Heureux qui cherit le silence,
Qui ne parle que utilement,
Et se repose uniquement
Sur la Divine Providence.

Heureux qui connaissant son extreme indigence
L'expose au ciel incessamment,
Et qui de son Dieu seulement
Attend toute son assistance.
Heureux qui n'a rien d'affecte,
Heureux l'homme sans volonte,
Et qui, vide de lui meme,
Est tout plein du vrai Dieu qu'il aime.

Heureux qui penetre des besoins du prochain
Lui partage son coeur, son Esprit, et son pain.
Heureux celui qui l'edifie.
Heureux celui qu'on humilie,
Et qui sait profiter de ses abaissements.
Heureux qui n'a jamais de vertus chimeriques,
Et qui cherit ses domestiques
Comme s'ils etaient ses enfants.
Heureux qui ne va point par des routes obliques,
Heureux, plus heureux qu'on ne croit,
Qui marche constamment dans le chemin etroit.
Heureux qui par ses soins, par son economie,
Sait amasser pour l'autre vie,
Et menager si bien ses precieux moments
Qu'il n'en pert pas un seul en vains amusements.
Heureux qui se voit sans attache,
Qui se fait petit, qui se cache,
Et qui ne suit jamais ses propres mouvements.
Heureux qui sur la grace uniquement se fonde,
Qui sait, et ne croit rien savoir.
Qui peut, et qui n'a du pouvoir,
Que pour obliger tout le monde.
Heureux celui qui du Sauveur
S'Efforce d'etre la copie.
Heureux celui de qui le coeur
Goute la parole de vie.
Heureux qui sait aimer, craindre, croire, esperer,
Comme le fait un vrai fidele.
Heureux qui sait perseverer,
Et soumettre a l'esprit une chair si rebelle.
Heureux l'homme nouveau, qui souvent dans son coeur
Trouve une utile, douce, et sainte solitude,
Et qui fait toute son etude
De la croix de son Redempteur.
Heureux le grand sans tyrannie;
Heureux le petit sans envie;
Heureux l'homme toujours egal,
Qui ne pense d'autrui ni ne dit aucun mal.
Heureux qui gemit et qui prie
Pour le prochain comme pour soi,
Et qui sent pour le vice une horreur infinie.
Heureux qui se fait une loi
De son devoir qu'il aime, et qu'il veut toujours suivre.
Heureux qui souffre tout et ne fait rien souffrir;
Heureux celui qui sait bien vivre,
C'est le moyen de bien mourir.

Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.

* * * * *

MEN WORTH REMEMBERING:

A SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES.

_Price 2s. 6d. each, Handsomely Bound in Cloth._

NOW READY, THE NEW VOLUME

By F. W. MACDONALD.

FLETCHER OF MADELEY.

CONTENTS.--Early Life.--Settles in England.--His Connexion
with Wesley and the Methodists.--Spiritual
Discipline.--Enters the Ministry.--First Years at
Madeley.--Difficulties and Discouragements.--Controversy and
Correspondence.--Trevecca College.--The Calvinist
Controversy.--Wesley's Proposal.--Failing Health.--Residence
in Switzerland.--Return to England.--Marriage.--Last Years.

IN THE SAME SERIES.

I.

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.

By JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D.

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Review._

II.

HENRY MARTYN.

By CHARLES D. BELL, D.D., Honorary Canon of Carlisle, and Rector of Cheltenham.

"A worthy record of a noble life."--_Whitehall Review._

"In every way a most delightful volume."--_Rock._

III.

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IV.

STEPHEN GRELLET.

By WILLIAM GUEST, F.G.S.

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THOMAS CHALMERS.

By DONALD FRASER, D.D.

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VIII.

ANDREW FULLER.

By his Son, ANDREW GUNTON FULLER.

_Letter from the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon to the Author:_--

"Venerable Friend,--I thank you for sending me your 'Andrew
Fuller.' If you have lived for a long time for nothing else
but to produce this volume, you have lived to good purpose. I
have long considered your father to be the greatest
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have made me think more highly of him as a _divine_ than I
had thought before. But I now see him within doors far more
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of tender love which had never been revealed to me either by
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father as far back as the year 1815. An excellent addition to
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Remembering.'"--_Christian World._

IX.

ALEXANDER DUFF, D.D., LL.D.

By THOMAS SMITH, D.D.

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Duff, both in private life and in public work, has executed
his task with much skill and fine sympathy."--_Outlook._

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"As an original study of a great man by one of his most
intimate friends and co-workers, it would be impossible to
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Leader._

X.

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD.

By ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., F.R.S.E., Edinburgh.

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of Rutherford."--_Scotsman._

"An admirable and delightful biography, written with great
literary grace and equally great spiritual sympathy. A most
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hundred years ago."--_British Messenger._

XI.

RICHARD BAXTER.

By the Very Rev. G. D. BOYLE, M.A., Dean of Salisbury.

"The Dean of Salisbury has given in a popular form a
trustworthy and attractive summary of a somewhat puzzling and
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his majestic prowess as a casuist, his yearning for a real
and comprehensive unity amongst Christians, and, above all,
his childlike resignation to God's will. All these topics are
delightfully descanted upon by the Dean of
Salisbury."--_Clergyman's Magazine._

XII.

JOHN KNOX.

By WM. M. TAYLOR, LL.D.

"A bold and vigorous sketch of the illustrious preacher, for
whom a claim is made that 'if not pre-eminently the Scotchman
of history,' he is certainly 'one of the three mightiest,' of
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"An admirable biography of John Knox. The volume forms the
most compendious and trustworthy and, perhaps we may add,
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general reader."--_Liverpool Daily Post._

LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes

Made minor punctuation corrections. Spaced the oe ligatures. Transliterated the Greek text. Reindexed and moved Footnotes to end of main text, before Appendix.

End of Project Gutenberg's Fletcher of Madeley, by Frederic W. Macdonald