with unspeakable delight. Instead of all libraries, to read which is endless labour, with little use and often with harm, while there is always weariness and anxiety, I will give thee this little book in which thou wilt find all arts. Here thy grammar will be to consider my words, thy dialectics faith in them, thy rhetoric prayers and sighs, thy physic meditation on my works, thy metaphysics delight in me and in the eternal things; thy mathematics will consist in the weighing and measuring of my benefactions, and, on the other hand, of the ingratitude of the world; thy ethics will be love of me, which will give thee all instructions concerning thy conduct both towards me and towards thy fellow-creatures. But thou must seek all this learning, not that thou mayest please others, but that thou mayest come nearer to me. And in all these things, the simpler thou art, the more learned shalt thou be; for my light inflames simple hearts.
(We must consider Christ Himself our best Leech.)
6. "Hast thou seen how the leeches contrive divers remedies to defend and prolong life? But for what purpose shouldst thou trouble about the length of thy life? Does it, then, depend on thee? Thou didst not come into the world when thou didst wish it, and thou wilt not leave it when thou wishest, for my providence decides this. Consider, therefore, how thou canst live well, and I will consider how long thou shalt live. Live simply and uprightly according to my pleasure, and I
