coniecture proued true for presently an earthquake swallowed vp the lodging with this Mignion of Fortune and al them of the family euen in the sight of S. Ambrose being not yet farre off Prosperity the stepdame of vertue plants and waters whom shee pleaseth but is soone wearied by the inconstancy of her loue shee supplants them not without amazement shee applies her selfe vnto them for a time by some miserable happines but in the end shee crosseth them and ouerthrowes them and therefore Valerius Maximus sayd truely That greatnes riches were nothing but frailty misery and like vnto little childrens babies toies and what hope then is there in such things But some Idolatrous flatteror of Princes will perswade them that all things yeeld vnder their power and vndergo what yoake it shall please them to impose To this flattery I will oppose the sincere confession made by Canute a powerfull King of England who adds words to the effect for a memorable example to al the monarchs of the world Seeing the sea begin to flow he commanded his chaire to be set vpon the shore sate himselfe downe in it and still obserued the waues as they approched Then the Prince begaÌ„ this speech Stay ô sea the Land whereon I sit is mine thou art on it and in that respect thou doest belong to mee neuer yet any one gaine-sayd mee but was punished I forbid thee to mount any higher beware thou doest not touch nor wet thy Lords garments The sea had no more respect then eares but trembling at the voyce of a greater Monarke came on his course and did wet the Kings feete which was the thing he expected then hee added Let all the Inhabitants of the world know that the power of Kings is so weake as the least creature guided by the Almighty disdaines it Whereunto the embleme of Alcâ—… doth allude representing the Beetle a little weake animall yet banding against the Eagle findes meanes to reuenge himselfe for creeping into her feathers he is carried by her into her nest where he breakes her egs and doth extinguish the race We reade of Sapores King of Persia who hauing besieged Nifibis a Christian Towne hee was chased away by an Army of Hornets and Waspes which succors they did attribute to the prayers of Ieames the faithfull Pastor of that Church I omit the miserable Prelate of the Abbey of Fulden in Germany who was pursued in the end deuoured by rattes notwithstanding all his force and deuices whereof the Tower built in the middest of the riuer of Rhine beares witnesse Plinie makes mention of Conies which did vndermine ouerthrow a Towne in Spaine Moules ruined another in Thessaly Frogs made the Inhabitants of a certaine Towne in Gaule to abandon the place But it is well knowne to all men how God incountered the arrogancy of Pharao King of Egypt with armies of diuers smal beasts If the lâ—…ast wormes of the earth opposing against the great enterprizes of great men ouerthrow them and what hope then is there in this world What shall wee say more but with Lipsius That the most shining Diamond of constancy a vertue so necessary in the inconstancy of Fortune is not to bee transported with hope nor feare a supernaturall ornament neere vnto God which makes man free from passions exempt from the insulting of Fortune and makes him a free King subiect to God only whose seruice is to reigne as the wiseman sayeth The 29. Argument taken from the vnprofitablenesse of life The freeing from a most vaine vanity should not make man sad Death is a freeing from a most vaine vanity SAlomon a powerful King wise and rich hauing sought examined and tasted all that is excellent pleasant happy in this world yet in the end hee cried out with a true voyce in the booke of truth Vanity of vanities all is but vanity The Paraphrase vpon this Sermon doth teach vs that the end of it is to let the world know That they deceiue themselues to their great confusion which either within aboue or vnder the world hope to finde any thing so firme wherein there is assured contentment no sayeth hee there is nothing in the world but is inconstant without stay fraile most vaine And in truth when man hath past his youth and leaues his passions comming to a more perfect age his life promiseth felicity yet vpon condition that hee shall imploy himselfe with all his force either to heape vp store of riches or to purchase much credit or to wallow in voluptuousnesse but after that hee hath toyled turmoyled and killed both body and soule she leaues him empty lost finding her deceite too late For Had man of wealth such store That much still heap't vp more And held in his free hold A spring of liquid gold His coffers seeing fill'd With treasures still instill'd Pearles that best choises please Brought from the bloody seas And in rich labour could To breake his fruitefull mould A hundred Oxen yoke Yet would desire still choke His throate with thirst of more And yet of all the store His heart affects to haue Hee carries nothing to his graue Euen as Boetius exclaimes against sencelesse greedinesse for in truth all shee hath is nothing shee desires all shee hath not and that is infinite she gapes alwaies after gaine one lucre sommons another and she holds al lost that she cannot attaine vnto Finally Couetousnesse is the anuile whereon are forged the chaines of iniquity to binde and â—…ast couetous men headlong into hel these chaines are foure Impiety Inhumanity forgetfulnesse of Gods Iudgements and Distrust whereby we may inferâ—…e that in stead of happinesse there is nothing heere but misery Now comes the second Ambition which knowes no bounds and hath neither end nor meane if shee possesseth this day a whole Countrey to morrow shee will seeke to conquer a new Kingdome after this conquest she wold seaze vpon all the world and theÌ„ pierce through the earth to finde new words a strange thing as Valerius saith that man should thinke his glory hath too streighr a lodging in this world which notwithstanding was sufficient for al the gods but it is more strange that man should bee so tormented for the enioying of a handfull of earth who hath the fruition of the Sunne the heauen and of all the elements in regard wherof this earthly Globe is nothing for the Sunne alone by the iust computation of Philosophers is a 166. times bigger then the earth Why should a little portion of this little earth breed him so much care Hee that hath more should he care for lesse Man hath the common enioying of the principal of life of the sea heauen and stars and must he for a little point of earth depriue himselfe of the quiet enioying of al these things which be farre greater An ambitious man is alwayes shaken with feare and musâ—…led with enuy he feares continually the crosses of fortune
Queene of Nations falsesly held to be eternall where art thou destroied ruined burnt and drowned in vaine do they seeke thee for thou art not where thou were built And you Constantinople Venice and Paris your day will come and why not Seeing that whole Monarchies runne swiftly to their ruine the Assirian Persian Grecian and Romaine are perished You Turkes you florish for â—…lme but behold 〈◊〉 Scâ—…thians prepare to wrest the reines of the world out of your hands and what wonder if that riues which by nature is apt to tiue if that which is easie to melt melt if that which is corruptible decayes and if that which is of a mortall condition dies Without doubt if there be any thing to be amazed at it is how we are borne how wee subsist amiddest a thousaÌ„d deaths which reigne vpon vs we haue but one narrow entry into life but wee haue an infinite number to go out which are very large and slippery And yâ—…t o strange brutishnesse we wonder how we die and not how we liue Let vs then conclude with the Spirit of God That euery man is dust and shall returne to dust for such is his condition The 13. Argument taken from the benefit which the thought of death brings Whatsoeuer doth multiply life should be precious to them that loue life The Meditation of death multiplies life Therefore the meditation of Death should be precious to them that loue life A Great Philosopher obseruing the vncertenty of the time of death and finding that life must infallibly fall by a bullet by iron by a dart a stone a haire as Fabius the Pretor was choakt in drinking milke with a kernell as the Poet Anacreon with a flie as Pope Adrian 4. with a splinter be he neuer so well armed as Henry 2. the French King whom a splinter of Captaine Lorges lance flying into the beuer of his caske wounded in the head whereof he dyed by the rush of a doore as Iterenius the Sicilian in the Venerian act a ridiculous death as Gallus Pretorius and Titharius a Romane Knight who were smothered in the bed of lust By the holding of their breath without constraint as it happened to Comon by delight as to Chilon who hearing his sonne commended for that hee had wonne the prized the Olimpike games was so moued with affection as he dyed yea in laughing as old Philemon who hauing seene an Asse eate sigges vpon his table he commanded his seruant to giue him drinke whereat hee did so laugh as hee fell into a hickeâ—… and so dyed Yea life is ruined by the pricke of a needle as in Lucia the daughter of Marcus Aurelius who pricking her selfe dyed By the tooth of a combe like to Rufynius the Consull who combing himselfe hurt his head and ended his life That great Philosopher I say considering that so many accidents and ten thousand others not to bee foreseene might in an instant take away life gaue this wholsome counsell That wee must dispose of euery day in such sort as if it should close vp our life within the compasse of the twelue houres Consider saith hee how goodly a thing it is to consummate life before death and then to attend without care the time that may remayne and the better to induce vs thereunto let vs remember the aduice which Iesus Christ gaue vnto his Disciples of him selfe I must doe saith hee the workes of him that sent me whilst it is day the night comes and then no man can worke Ioh. 9. By the day hee signifies life by night death and his will is that whilst we liue we should doe our duties without any procrastination for that night is neere that is to say death But when a well setled soule saith the same knowes there is no difference betwixt a day and an age shee then beholds as it were from aboue the dayes and successe which shall follow her and laughs at the course and continuance of yeeres The same Seneca doth also make a pleasant discourse of Pacuâ—…ius the vsurper of Syria who being at night buried in wine as as if he had prepared his owne funerall caused himselfe to bee carryed from the table to his bed in the meane time his friends clapping their hands danced and sung He hath liued hee hath liued and there passed no day but this was done And the Authour addes what he did in an vnseemely manner let vs doe with reason that night approching and ready to lay vs in bed let vs sing with ioy I haue runne the course of my prefixed life and if God doth adde an increase of tomorrow let vs account it for gaine In doing so euery day shall bee a life vnto vs and by the multiplication of dayes our life shall be multiplyed and why not seeing that in what day soeuer we dye we dye in our owne proper day as the fame Seneca saith calling the present day that proper day seeing the dayes that are past are no more ours being so lost for vs as they can bee no more restored As for the future we cannot call them ours being not yet come and may bee wrested from vs in an instant by many accidents Moreouer what is there in an age that wee find not in one day the heauen the earth the inhabitants thereof the day and night by the reuolution of the heauens But you will say This pensiue thoght of death hammering continually in our heads doth hasten our death Answ. You are deceiued a wiseman thinkes quietly of it and in thinking of it aduanceth nothing no more then the marriner in seeing the sayles still and the wind to blow it is by the wind and sayles not by his looking that he is carried into the Port So by the waues of this life not by the meditation of death wee are carried to the graue Let vs then end with the saying of the Philosopher Musonius That he imployes not the day rightly who resolues not as if it were his last The 14. Argument taken from a Simile Euery sweete and sound sleepe is pleasing Death is a sweete and sound sleepe Ergo. A Naxagoras sayed there were two excellent instructions in Death the one in sleepe the other in the time going before our birth Let vs now consider of the first instruction We see that most of the heathen Philosophers haue saluted death with the name of sleepe Plato in the end of his Apologie of Socrates Tully in his booke de Senectute Obsenie fayth hee there is no thing so like vnto death as sleepe Homer faith that sleepe death are brother and sister twinnes Let vs obserue with Plutarque that Homer shewes their similitude terming them twinnes for they that are so doe most commonly resemble And in truth wee cannot denie but there is betwixt them great affinitie It is one of the causes of death the cold vapour vndigested and quenching the naturall heate a vapor which appeares vpon the superficies of the bodie which they also
A Combat betwixt Man and Death OR A Discourse against the immoderate apprehension and feare of Death Written in French by I. Guillemard of Champdenier in Poictou And Translated into English by EDW. GRIMESTON Sargeant at Armes attending the Commons House in Parliament LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes. 1621. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL St. THOMAS RICHARDSON Knight Sargeant at Law and Speaker in the Commons House of Parliament And To all the Knights Citizens and Burgeses of that honourable Assembly Most worthily honour'd BOund by your many bounties to some publike seruice of acknowledgement and gratitude I could not in al my poore faculties finde any so neere fit for your graue acceptance as this last of my aged labours Which though a worke farre from all worth of receit and countenance of so many exempt and exemplarie Iudgements and learning for elocution and substance yet for the good suggestion of the subiect and obiect I presum'd you would not disdayne it euen your owne noble names inscriptions Good Motiues beget good actiues and the speedie way to proceede deaths victor in the contemplatiue man is to practise in the Schoole of the Actiue There is no such schoole as yours to teach the conquest of corruption and iniustice which euery man must first subdue before hee conquer their conquerour I suppose therefore I set all mens steps in the way to his conquest in shewing them your Olympus where all equall and Common-wealth Combats are consummate in my therefore bold dedication to you Besides when combats were anciently intended Hercules the Father and Fautor of combats was inuok't and all your vnited vertues composing one Hercules in exploring and extirpating all the priuie Thefts and violences of inhumane iniustice whose conquest is necessary Vsher to the Combats and conquest of death to whom but to your Herculean faculties could this Combat with so sacred decorum be consecrated And your still willing-to bee-well-employed old Seruant holding these humane readings and writings no vnfit contentions for his age to sweate in hee hopes your most honour'd and liberall imputations will allow him not to carry your club idlely nor for onely office or fashion But be this allusion held too light for your grauities My humble endeuour to serue you worthily I am sure is serious enough And therefore euen for the diuinitie of his President that accepted the Will in his weake seruant for the worke I thrice humbly implore your religious imitations resting Euer your most dutifull bounden ED. GRIMESTON The Preamble WEe reade of a certaine Philosopher called Egesias who had so great dexteritie to describe the mournefull face of this life and such grace in setting forth the smyling countenance of death as all men went ioy fully vnto it yea many rauished with the loue thereof did hasten their ends Such Philosophie at this day were very seasonable if euer these hideous Eclipses in the firmament these rainie cloudes in the ayre this contagious poyson dispersed ouer all that intestine alteration which doth silently murmure within the bowele of Christendome that thicke cloude of the East which threatens bourely to fâ—…ll vpon our decayed houses are so many defiances which Death sends to mortall men to summon them to the Combat All men must vndergoe it of necessitie no man can free himselfe by flight there is onely one remedie which offers it selfe vnto vs that speedily and without delay wee make a fayned Combat against death to haue some happy presage of victory As Alexander the Great did from a duell performed at pleasure conceiuing that he should get the victory of Darius for that the souldier which acted his person did vanquish him of Darius In like sort let vs trie at the least this triall will teach vs what wee can dâ—…e or rather what wee cannot to the end that after the knowledge thereof we may haue recourse to him who makes perfect his power in our weakenesse to the Eternall who alone can rescue vs out of the pawes of death Hee will teach vs moreouer how much many are to be blamed at this day which liue in the light of the Sunne of Iustice to bee so fearefull at the time of death when as poore Pagans were so resolute But you will say vnto mee What doctrine can wee expect from Pagans by whom mans life is not instructed but ruined as saith Lactantius and who are the Patriarkes of Heretickes as Tertullian doth witnesse I answere that if wee had put on Christ after the perfect stature of a Christian man this labour were in vaine But for this we may not vtterly condemne all humane Philosophie but the truth which it hath spoken must be pulled away as from an vniust detayner saith S. Augustine Moreouer long since the maximes of Aristotle and other Philosophers were allowed in the schoole of Christ namely in that which concernes naturall things in which ranke naturall death is Humane Philosophie in so much as she hath yeelded herselfe a seruant to diuine truth hath not beene reiected but imbraced of the first most cleere sighted fathers of Lactantius I say who hath written that Philosophie doth not hurt when as the spirit is seasoned with religion Of Clemens Alexandrinus who saith learnedly That although the Doctrine of our Sauiour be of it selfe sufficient seeing it is the power and wisedome of God yet by the doctrine of the Grecians if it bee not more fortified it is yet vnable to repell the insulting of Sophisters and to discouer their ambushes It is the bedge and rampar of the Lords vine These great spirits saith he in another place being free from passions are accustomed to ayme point blanke and hit the marko of trueth Thus he speakes and therefore Lipsius did not forbeare to call it the meanes and reconciler of diuine and humane Philosophie To conclude that great Diuine Nazianzene as if hee had vndertaken the ouerthrow of this present obiection teacheth that this Doctrine should not be basely esteemed for that it seemeth so to some But wee must hold them sinister and impertinent Iudges who desire to haue all men like vnto themselues to the end they might hide themselues with the multitude and auoide the censure of ignorance Finally wee confesse that in the mysteries of Christ he that will follow the opinion of Philosophers shall stumble continually But the first death whereof we treate is no mysterie of Christ but a thing as common as life What Ensigne-bearer then shall we follow in this Plato or Aristotle 〈◊〉 or Seneca both the one and the other but our owne aduice aboue all and aboue our owne aduice the holy Philosophie of the Word of God Ariadnes clue to guide vs in this labyriâ—…th Let Seneca vndergoe his owne Law I haue freed my selfe from all saith hee I carry no mans bookes I yeeld much to the iudgment of great personages so I attribute something to my owne Horace saith I am not bound to sweare to the words of any master whereas the gale of
certentime of the death passiō of our Sauiour Tertullian sayes that it was in the 30. yeare of Iesus Christ and the 15. of Tiberius but Ignatius and Eusebius witnes that it was in the 33. yeare of Christ and the 18. of Tiberius Onuph rius Mercator and other late writers will sweare that it was in the 34 yeare of Iesus Christ and if we yeeld some thing to antiquitie we shall beleeue that Iesus Christ was 50. yeeres old when hee was crucified and that it was not vnder Tiberius but vnder Claudius to this the Iewes discourse tended Thou art not yet 50. yeeres old and yet thou sayest thou hast seen Abraham If in this so holy a thing where there is not any cause of blind passion there appeares such apparent contrarietie what shall wee thinke of History where as the penne puft vp with passion and transported with flatterie or slander hath eyther aymed too high or too low at the white of truth the onely commendation of an historie And admit wee should find writers void of all passion the which seemes impossible if we except the secretaries of God who were guided with the holy Spirit yet their Histories should be vncertaine for the most part for that they haue not beene spectators of the times places and persons necessary circumstances in a History how can they know them seeing that many times that which is done in our owne Towne in the streete yea in our house is concealed from vs Nay the most exquisite and most certaine science is nothing but vanitie trouble of mind saith Salomon And if wee shall rightly obserue it we shall find the most learned most disquieted and the most vnlearned most at rest S. Augustine hath seene it and was amazed crying out with S. Paule The vnlearned rise vp and lay hold of heauen and we are plunged into hell with our learning It is the reason why Nicholas de Cusa hath written bookes of learned Ignorance where hee commends them that make not so great account to know and vnderstand many things as to doe well and liue well Knowledge then being for the most ignorance in this life cannot contayne any subiect to loue life And therfore wee will conclude That seeing in all the degrees of life there appeares no sufficient reason to desire it so vehemently that this desire is not commendable but to be blamed namely in man who being man for that hee hath a reasonable facultie should not will any thing much lesse affect it with passion but by a true iudgement of vnpassionate reason An Obiection All that is ordayned for the seruice of God is grounded vpon good reason Life is ordayned for the seruice of God ANswer That life is good which in all her motions actions and meditations seeks nothing but the humble seruice of her Creator but it it a chiefe point of their seruice that man liuing should doe that honour vnto his Lord to giue certaine credit vnto his oath and to the writings of his testament sealed with his bloud Verily I say vnto you that whosoeuer heares my words and beleeues in him that sent me hath eternal life the which is repeated in many other places Whosoeuer hath this certain assurance of faith in him what can he feare death nay rather desire it seeing that in heauen by this death which serues vs as a bridge to passe thither we shall be like vnto the Angels and shall doe the will of our heauenly Father obtayning the Petition which we should daily make vnto him by the expresse command of his Son in the Lords prayer Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen Let vs say the will is good which aimes directly at the honor of God so long as it shall please him to keepe it in his fauour but yet death is better which the Eternal sends to giue vs thereby a better life The 11. Argument taken from the description of Death No Cessation from a labour vnprofitably renewed is vnpleasing Death is a Cessation from a labor vnprofitably renewed THere is no neede of Eagles eyes to pierce into the truth of this argument the least attention will comprehend it For what is this life but a daylie weauing of Penelopes Webb it is finished in the euening but the night vndoes it in the morning we beginne againe with as great eagernes as if it had neuer beene The which made Seneca to poure forth these complaints When shal we cease to weaue daily one worke I rise and then goe to bed I hunger then fill my selfe I am a cold and then I warme me There is no ende the head and tayle hold fast together whereas the same things in their courses doe incessantly approch and recoyle againe It is day and night comes sōmer appears and winter doth aduance still they walke one rounde I neither see nor doe any thing that is new I doe but goe about this wheele sayth the same Philosopher If I be layed I say when shall I rise and when will night fill vp her measure to glut me with distemperatures vntill day sayth Iob Chap. 7. It is the true bodie of the infernall shadow of Ixion who tied vnto a wheele turnes about perpetually There is not any one so dul but sees this earthly Labyrinth and yet no man will leaue it Euen so they that are borne in a prison affect not their libertie so they that dwell among the Cimmerians in darknes desire not a cleere skie So the children of Israel would not leaue the house of bondage they quarrelled with Moses who spake vnto them they cursed him and being come forth they would haue returned often what was the cause custome which was become another nature feare to finde worse in their iorney ignorance a cruell beast No man will leaue this miserable earth fearing to fall into greater miserie so much doth the loue of the place custome retaine the inhabitants in their miseries saith Seneca Many floate miserably betwixt the torments of life the horrour of death they will not liue yet know not how to die like to Vlysses in Homer who tooke fast hold of a wild Fig-tree fearing to fall into bottomlesse Charybdis but yet ready to leaue it if the feare were past So Tiberius confest that hee held the Empire as a Wolfe by the eares the which if hee might without danger haue abandoned hee would willingly doe it So Seneca and so experience doth teach that many keepe themselues close in life like vnto them whom a violent torrent hath carryed into some rough and thornie places But let vs learne of a silly woman That death is the calme port for the stormes of this sea to the end that with her wee may take pleasure in it Monica speaking to her sonne S. Augustine vsed these words As for me my sonne I take no more any pleasure in any thing in this impure world what should I doe here longer in
kind of death was the worst That sayth hee which the Lawes haue ordained inferring thereby that a naturall death is not euill but that which crimes haue deserued the which is not giuen by nature but by a hangman and yet not so much by the execu tioner who is but the instrument as by a villanie perpetrated which is the true cause So sayd S. Peter Let none of you suffer as a murtherer theese malefactor or too curious in other mens affaires But if any one suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God in that behalfe The 24. Augument taken from the testimonie of wise men All wise men in the conflict of Death depose that death is not euill But that is true which all wise men depose c. THe troupes of Christian Martirs heathen Philosophers marching so boldly vnto death are so many witnesses without reproch to conuince them of falshood which hold death to be so great an euill Let vs be carefull lest this blasphemie creep into our thoughts that they were in despaire or mad No no their verie enemies dare not speake it haâ—…ng knowne that they were for the most part men famous in pietie iustice vertue and wisedome and for such as were recommended by all men The Ecclesiasticall Historie is gored with thousands of such Martires the author of the tables hath set downe some in the end of his first booke of whom I make no mention But behold the manly courage of Blandina who by her ioyfull countenance doth summon vs vnto death whereunto she doth march with such a grace and state as if she had gone to a nuptiall feast Then followes happie Tiburtins conuerted vnto Christ by Vrban in the yeare 227 who marching vpon burning coales seemed to tread vpon Roses These Christians with infinite others as well ancient as moderne had neuer any horror of death but haue desired it yea sought it as a refreshing and refection to their bodies soules but for that no man doubts but the zeale of Christians hathmade them continue constant vnto the death and the diuine power had so fortified their resolutioÌ„s that neither their reason could be swallowed vp nor drowned by the horror of persecution Let vs come to others of a multitude let a few suffise Socrates accused by the Athenians to thinke ill of the Gods for that he reiected pluralitie adored an vnitie was condemned to dye before the which he would first censure his iudges saying To feare death O my Lords Areopagites is to make shew to be wise and not to be for it is to seem to know death to be euil which they vnderstand not He did so little apprehend death as when as eloquent Lisias had giuen him an Oration artificially penned which hee should vse for his Apologie whereby hee should be absolued he read it and found it excellent yet he sayd vnto Lycias If thou hadst brought me Sicionian shoes admit they had beene fit for my foote yet would I not vse them for that they were not decent for me So thy discourse is most eloquent and fluent but not fit for men that are graue and resolute The executioner then presented him poysoÌ„ in a cup which Socrates tooke with a constant hand and demanded of him as a sicke patient would doe of the Physition to recouer health how he should swallow it then without any stay drunk it vp after which he walked a little then tooke his bed his boy vncouering him felt his parts to grow cold Socrates being wak't directed his speech to Criton who aboue all others wished him a longer life and to make him thinke of it had propounded vnto him his children his deare friends that for their sakes if not for his owne hee would preserue his life which was necessarie for them No no answered hee God who hath giuen me my childreÌ„ wil care for them when I shall be gone from â—…ce I shall finde friends either like vnto you or better neither shall I bee long depriued of your company for you must soone come to the same place Then as if he had by this potion recouered his health hee cried â—…ut O Criton we owe a Cock to Aesculapius be not forgetfull to sacrifice vnto him Let vs obserue that in the last passages of life he was in no sort amazed but dying ioyfully comforted his suruiuing friend and let vs not doubt but hee who was the first among the seuen Sages of Greece knew before Demosthenes that which this Orator spake couragiously to Phiâ—… King of Macedon who threatned him to cause his head to be câ—…t off Well saith hee if thou giuest mee death my Countrey will giue mee immortality And doublesse Socrates liues and will liue eternally so the suruiuing hauing seene the assurance of his death held him most happy as going to liue another life and in another place And Aristippus that ioyfull Philosopher beeing demanded in what sort Socrates was dead In that manner said he that I my selfe desire Inferring that death was more to bee wished for then a happy life Let vs heare a second that is Theramenes to whom they presented a great cup of poyson the which he dranke resolutely and returned the cup to Critiâ—… the most cruell of the 30. Tyrants which had condemned him Theramenes therein alluding to the manner obserued at this day in Germanie which is that hee which drinkes to any one sends him the same glasse full of wine that hee may pledge him These deathes are full of courage but behold a woman dying who exceedes them all and that onely to incourage her husband to dy it is Arria the wife of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This woman being aduertised that Petus was condemned to what death hee would choose went vnto him to perswade him both by word the effect to dislodge out of this life she had a naked dagger vnder her gowne and giuing her husband heâ—… last â—…well shee thrust her selfe to the hart and drawing it forth againe with the like courage she held it vnto Petus and spake these her last words vnto him Pâ—… non doleâ—… Pete O my deere Petus it doth not paine mee and then dyed Let vs seale vp these examples with two women who commonly doe passionatly loue the presentation of their children yet a certen Lacedemonian hauing heard that her Son fighting valiantly had beene slaine in battaile O sayd shee this was a braue Sonne not lamenting the death of her Sonne but reioycing at his vertue Another hearing that her Sonne returned safe from battaile and that hee had â—…d shed cryed out vnto him There is a bad report of thee thou must eyther deface it or not liue holding it better to dye then to suruiue an Ignominie Obiection If the greatest fauorites of God haue feared death it is to bee feared But Dauid Ezechias and others fauored by God feared Death and especially Iesus Christ the only and wel-beloued Sonne of God feared
matter perisheth not and is not reduced to nothing but flowes dayly vnder new formes This matter is bounded the starres and the heauen which roule about it make it to bring forth creatures continually and man sometimes but by some rare constellation as the Naturallists speake The heauens I say are bounded and their motions limited Wherefore I maintaine it is not impossible that in an eternity of time that which is limited and bounded and hath once met and is ioyned may yet againe meete and be reioyned if we consider that it is not by chance but by fatall necessity that this Vniuerse roules without ceasing as al they among the Pagans which haue had any vnderstanding haue acknowledged Yea one of them said that who so would demande proofes thereof must be answered with a whip but behold a most certaine proof all creatures euen those that haue no vnderstanding tend alwayes to their ends propounded and all encounter in one vniuersall end If there were not a certaine prouidence in the world which prescribes to euery creature that end which it knoweth not and makes it containe it selfe the world should not be a world that is to say a most excellent and well ordained composition but the greatest confusion that could be imagined Seeing then that the heauens in their motions the starres in their coniunctions the causes in their order euen vnto the last may encounter together so those things which wholly deâ—…d of them may bee redâ—… 〈◊〉 the same estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a maxime in Physicks that the matter and the Agent haue such power after the death and destruction of the creature as they had during his life what then can hinder it but by the position of the same causes and the same circumstances of time concurring the same effect may be repaired Moreouer the thing which is no more is no farther from being then that which hath not bene and there is no impossibility but that which hath had no being may come to light neither is ther any repugnancy but that which hath bene once liuing may come againe to life yea and who knowes whether that which is now hath not beene often heretofore I should beleeue it if I did giue credit to the eternity of the world As for the similitude of clay which the Obiect or not vnderstanding me doth presse so strongly it is very fit in this matter for the workeman which hath made a man and then hath wrought it to make a horse and then confounded it to make an ape and in the end an Eagle may if hee please returne and make the same man which he had made first and hauing vndone it may make a horse and so consequently one after an other in infinitum not that hee can make them all foure subsisting at one time therein the Obiector fights with his shadow and not with my saying And to demonstrate the power of Nature turning about her circle returning backe to the point where she had begun and passing ouer all the circumference of the circle to repaire that in place and time which she had dissolued shee would leaue for an earnest penny the Phenix the only bird of his kinde which is seene in Arabia and which the Egyptians in their Hierogliphicall letters painted to describe by his long continuance the immortality of the soule This goodly birde after many ages past to renew himselfe casts himselfe vpon a pile of stickes layd together the which hee doth so beate with his wings and with the helpe of the Sun which hangs perpedicularly ouer him as it takes fire and consumes the body out of which springs a little worme and of that a little birde which being couered with feathers in the end flies away and becomes the same Phenix You will question the truth hereof if the same Nature did not as much or more in the silke-worme whose egge is no bigger then a graine of millet it discouers a little woolly worme the which without dying transformes it selfe into a moth that changeth into a flie which hath scales and this becomes a butterflie which beating it selfe continually layes egges of these egges come little wormes and so consequently by an infinite circulation Wherefore these diuerse changes and formes happening in our bodies should not amaze vs but rather assure vs that hauing bin carried farre about they shall returne to their first estate seeing that their walkes and this Vniuerse haue their limits and bounds and seeing by the testimony of the wise man that which hath beene is now and that which is to come hath also beene God calling backe that which hath past that is to say as the Diuines expound it that God by his administration makes the Creatures succeeding one an other returne in their order as if they went about a wheele which kind of speech is taken from the celestiall Spheares which gouerne the seasons signifying that those things which happen by time are wheeled about with the reuolution of time which containes them These are the words of no vulgar Diuines whereby wee may see how much they yeeld to this opinion The end of the first Booke The Second Booke The first Argument taken from the Immortalitie of the soule That which is free from Death in the principall part should not feare it Man in his soule his principall part is freed frem death Therefore hee should not feare it IF all men could vnderstaÌ„d without doubting perswade themselues without wauering that their soules at the departure from their bodies are happilie immortall there is not any one without contradiction but would goe cheerefully and resolutely vnto death considering the miseries of this life and the heauie burthen of the bodie for it is the sepulcher of the soule as Plato saied The soule is a plant transported from heauen into a strange soyle into a body of earth where it sighs pines away and desires to depart The greatest thing in the world sayth Periander is contayned in a litle space Socrates maintained that the true man was that within which is lodged in the body as in an Inne S. Bernard exhorts the bodie to know it to intreate his guest which is the soule well The which Anaxarchus did apprehend who being beaten in a mortar did crie out couragiously to the tyrant Nicocreon Beat beate O hangman the flesh and boanes of Anaxarachus So M. Laeuius seeing Galba a great Orator with a deformed bodie sayd That great spirit dwels in a poore cottage But S. Paul shewes it better then all these If this earthly lodging be destroied if this bodie returne to ashes we haue a mansion with God And the body is the clothing of the soule the which Esop obiected to one who abused the beautie of his body He are my friend sayd he thou hast a faire garment but thou puttest it off ill Man is a caualier his body is the horse the spirit is the rider if the horse be lame blind