upwards, singing as he rises, and hopes to get to heaven, and
climb above the clouds; but the poor bird was beaten back with the
loud sighings of an eastern wind, and his motion made irregular
and inconstant, descending more at every breath of the tempest,
than it could recover by the liberation and frequent weighing of
his wings; till the little creature was forced to sit down and
pant, and stay till the storm was over; and then it made a
prosperous flight, and did rise and sing, as if it had learned
music and motion from an angel, as he passed sometimes through the
air, about his ministries here below; so is the prayer of a good
man."

Again:--

"I am fallen into the hands of publicans and sequestrators, and
they have taken all from me; what now? Let me look about me. They
have left me the sun and moon, fire and water, a loving wife, and
many friends to pity me, and some to relieve me, and I can still
discourse; and unless I list, they have not taken away my merry
countenance and my cheerful spirit, and a good conscience; they
still have left me the Providence of God, and all the promises of
the Gospel, and my religion, and my hopes of heaven, and my
charity to them too; and still I sleep and digest, I eat and
drink, I read and meditate; I can walk in my neighbor's pleasant
fields, and see the varieties of natural beauties, and delight in
all that in which God delights, that is, in virtue and wisdom, in
the whole creation, and in God Himself."

Here, Antony, is true wisdom. True, indeed, is it that no one can take
away from you your merry countenance, your cheerful spirit, and your