Think Not Thy Love To God Merits

Let The Foundation Of Thy Affection Be Virtue, Then Make The Building As Rich As Glorious As Thou Canst; If The Foundation Be Beauty Or Wealth, And The Building Virtue, The Foundation Is Too Weak For The Building, And It Will Fall: Happy Is He, The Palace Of Whose Affection Is Founded Upon Virtue, Walled With Riches Glazed With Beauty, And Roofed With Honor.

Gaze Not On Beauty Too Much, Lest It Blast Thee; Nor Too Long, Lest It Blind Thee; Nor Too Near, Lest It Burn Thee. If Thou Like It, It Deceives Thee; If Thou Love It, It Disturbs Thee; If Thou Hunt After It, It Destroys Thee. If Virtue Accompany It, It Is The Heart's Paradise; If Vice Associate It, It Is The Soul's Purgatory. It Is The Wise Man's Bonfire, And The Fool's Furnace.

Seest Thou Good Days? Prepare For Evil Times. No Summer But Hath Its Winter. He Never Reaped Comfort In Adversity That Sowed Not In Prosperity.

Proportion Thy Charity To The Strength Of Thine Estate, Lest God Proportion Thine Estate To The Weakness Of Thy Charity. Let The Lips Of The Poor Be The Trumpet Of Thy Gift, Lest In Seeking Applause, Thou Lose Thy Reward. Nothing Is More Pleasing To God Than An Open Hand And A Closed Mouth.

A Lamb Appears A Lion, And We Fear Each Bush We See's A Bear.