TO MY SUCCESSOR.

  If thou chance for to find
  A new house to thy mind,
  And built without thy cost;
    Be good to the poor,
    As God gives thee store,
  And then my labour’s not lost.

We will now, by the Reader’s favour, suppose him fixed at Bemerton, and grant him to have seen the Church repaired, and the Chapel belonging to it very decently adorned at his own great charge,—­which is a real truth;—­and having now fixed him there, I shall proceed to give an account of the rest of his behaviour, both to his parishioners, and those many others that knew and conversed with him.

[Sidenote:  Ordained Priest]

Doubtless Mr. Herbert had considered, and given rules to himself for his Christian carriage both to God and man, before he entered into Holy Orders.  And ’tis not unlike, but that he renewed those resolutions at his prostration before the holy altar, at his induction into the Church of Bemerton:  but as yet he was but a Deacon, and therefore longed for the next Ember-week, that he might be ordained Priest, and made capable of administering both the Sacraments.  At which time the reverend Dr. Humphrey Henchman,[22] now Lord Bishop of London,—­who does not mention him but with some veneration for his life and excellent learning,—­tells me, “He laid his hand on Mr. Herbert’s head, and, alas! within less than three years, lent his shoulder to carry his dear friend to his grave.”

[Sidenote:  “The Country Parson”]

And that Mr. Herbert might the better preserve those holy rules which such a Priest as he intended to be, ought to observe; and that time might not insensibly blot them out of his memory, but that the next year might shew him his variations from this year’s resolutions; he therefore did set down his rules, then resolved upon, in that order as the world now sees them printed in a little book, called “The Country Parson;” in which some of his rules are: 

  The Parson’s knowledge. 
  The Parson on Sundays. 
  The Parson praying. 
  The Parson preaching. 
  The Parson’s charity. 
  The Parson comforting the sick. 
  The Parson arguing. 
  The Parson condescending. 
  The Parson in his journey. 
  The Parson in his mirth. 
  The Parson with his Churchwardens. 
  The Parson blessing the people.

And his behaviour towards God and man may be said to be a practical comment on these, and the other holy rules set down in that useful book:  a book so full of plain, prudent, and useful rules, that that Country Parson, that can spare twelve pence, and yet wants it, is scarce excusable; because it will both direct him what he ought to do, and convince him for not having done it.

[Sidenote:  First sermon]